Flip.
Early mornings were somewhat chaotic with student's were back at their makeshift desks and talking cheerily amongst themselves before classes started. Paper planes were sailing above and into targeted student's turned backs. Some boys huddled secretly in a corner while they perused the latest lingerie mag.
Yui glanced around and noted the change of date. Somehow, she returned to the classroom and was leaning against the doorframe of the classroom with Keiko's friends. It was another time skip between the nurse's office and now.
From the hallway, she heard "IDIOT! ROTTEN EGG! KNAVE!" The flock of girls peeked around the corner just in time to see Keiko's uplifted skirt and a flying punch. Yusuke had been plowed onto the hallway floor and a golf ball sized bump was forming on his cheek while Keiko ranted in the hallways. She turned for a moment and the teen scrambled to his feet and sprinted away.
"Why that…" Keiko balled her fists angrily at her sides and grumbled under her breath.
"Is it over?" Bob-girl asked warily from the doorframe.
"Why are you hiding? Keiko spied the three girls from the doorframe.
"Because Urameshi-kun's so frightening!" Bob-hair shrieked.
"Also, who would risk a skirt flip from that guy?" Yui added with a smirk and watched Keiko's cheeks turn a colorful shade of crimson. The other two girls continued their conversation as usual like Yui was absent.
"To think Keiko talks with him like it's nothing…" Bob-hair wondered aloud.
"Even the teachers are afraid of him." Pigtails added.
"He's a little naive and low class, but he's not poisonous." Keiko defensively disputed.
The two girls launched into a montage of all the deeds Yusuke had done, but Yui began to tune them out. It was a pattern. People continuously asserted how bad Yusuke's reputation was and Keiko defended him to the other's everytime.
Flip.
The geometry lecture was underway and Yui had returned to her seat. Once more, time had skipped and without barely a reaction Yui lazily continued note taking with class. As the skips occurred often, she began to acclimate.
She surveyed the room and students were listening to Mr. Akashi's lesson. From her seat, she could glance over at the window. Mr Iwatogo was mid convo with three other students. One was Yusuke and Iwagoto was griping and poking his chest while the other two students huddled against the school wall. Yui wasn't sure why Yusuke was the only one getting the tail end of a lecture. It seemed all three were skipping class at the same time.
Life was not kind to Urameshi when it came to school life.
Flip.
Yui blinked slowly from her chair as she watched the forms outside vanish instantly. Iwagoto reappeared in the middle of substituting for a literature class and paused as Yui walked to the window. Iwatogo was criticizing Urameshi a few seconds ago, and now he was conducting class as usual.
Yui rubbed her temple in exhaustion. She was beginning to mentally strain every time there was a jump in time and felt displaced. What was she even doing? People around her were acting as if the gaps in time had no effect on them. They carried on as if nothing strange was occurring around them and Yui seemed to be the only one that was having a mental breakdown in class.
Yui inspected her shoulder and the mark had colored into a purple bruise. Somehow the mark had transferred from one timeline to the next.
"Miss Hito. Are you interrupting my class?" Iwagoto expressed his displeasure.
Yui dismissed him offhandedly with a wave of her hand and she returned to her seat.
"I'm warning you, Hito." He slapped his textbook close.
"Continue." Yui ordered.
Iwagoto shot a disbelieving look in Yui's direction and cleared his throat, "I will decide when the lesson continues as the authority here. Not you." He added.
Yui found the familiar strawberry milk in the cubby of her desk again and with a defiant visage poked the whole at the top.
"Hito, there's no eating or drinking in class!" Iwagoto warned.
"Not for teachers, right." Yui raised her arms back and with a 'swoosh' pitched the carton forward. The carton clipped Iwagoto's ear and exploded against the blackboard behind him painting his shoulders in pink splatters.
"Drink up, Mr. Iwagoto." Yui said with a smirk on her face.
Flip.
"I must be tripping." Yui said half-heartedly. Iwagoto continued the lesson sans strawberry milk without missing a beat. As if Yui hadn't just pitched a carton against the blackboard.
Defeated, she slumped to her desk and allowed her head to rest on it's cool surface. Pigtails glanced at her curiously, but said nothing.
Nothing she did mattered, Yui was realizing. No matter how many strawberry milks she chucked, time would just reset as if it never happened. It was the same with the Akashi incident too.
Flip.
The bell signaled the end of the school day and Yui was removing her shoes from her cubby along the getabako rows. Beside her, Keiko was sweeping a small pile of love letters that had fallen out of her cubby.
"Must be nice being popular." Yui mused wistfully. Keiko flipped one of her pigtails over her shoulders and she donned her street shoes for the walk home.
"I could do without the love letters." She said guiltily as she bunched them into a ball and threw them in a bin nearby.
"All those confessions, straight in the trash. Ouch." Yui shook her head.
"Once you've read one letter, you've read them all." The sharp girl said with a smile.
"I wouldn't know." Yui casually said. She slipped on her sneakers and tied her green laces.
"You've never gotten one?" Keiko asked.
"Mm. Never." Yui left some of the extra weight in books in her cubby and shut the door. She turned to see Keiko eyeing her suspiciously.
"That can't be…" The chestnut haired girl brought a finger to her chin in thought.
"Right? Who wouldn't appreciate this." Yui dramatically flicked her hand across the length of her body and Keiko heartily cackled in response.
"Well, do you like anyone? Is there any special person on your mind lately? Maybe you should write the letter instead?" Keiko suggested.
"No, there's no one-" Chocolate eyes briefly flitted through Yui's mind.
"Like that." She finished sheepishly.
"Oh, please." Keiko scoffed. "Like I would believe that…."
The sound of hushed murmurs seeped through the crowd of students and both girls turned to curiously gaze at students that were congregating in front of the school gate. Some classmates occasionally glanced at Keiko and their whispers amongst each other renewed.
"What's going on?" Keiko uttered to herself.
Both girls were curious to discover what had suddenly brought the student body together and Yui followed Keiko as she strode to them. The group of students quieted as they observed the two girls approaching.
"C'mon, don't keep it to yourselves." Yui goaded as the students looked nervously around hoping someone would volunteer the information.
"Haven't you heard?" A boy with glasses sneered at Yui.
"Um, no." Yui deadpanned.
"Too bad. It's the best news I've heard in awhile." He said and a group of boys erupted into jeers and fits of laughter. Keiko, frustrated, yanked the boy by his collar.
"Tell me what's going on!" She demanded, inches from his startled face.
Bob-hair, who separated herself from the crowd, lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Keiko…"
The chestnut haired girl met her eyes.
"They say Urameshi was hit by a car."
Keiko's hand dropped to her side and her mouth opened and shut as she failed to voice her response. The color in her face disappeared and her features relaxed into a state of blankness.
Yui was struggling to grasp this bit of news herself. It was only this morning that she watched Yusuke slink off campus.
"That can't be." Yui added absentmindedly.
"Only way to confirm it is if we all showed up at the funeral!" The group of boys broke into another wave of laughter.
"Shut up!" Keiko screeched, snapping out of her stupor. "That isn't funny."
"It's funny to us." The boy with glasses added.
Yui decided just once she would acquiesce to the indignant wrath that was boiling at the lack of disregard for the situation. Yui cocked her fist back and connected with glasses and heard the crunch of a nose shattering beneath her knuckles. The boy flew backward into the crowd of jeering boys and they sidestepped allowing him to fall to the ground.
"Eat glass, fucker." Yui advanced on the boy and cocked her fist for another blow.
Flip.
It was a housing unit. The unit was hugged on each side by a line of several other units and those lines made rows creating a neighborhood. However, the unit Yui was standing outside of was the only one with it's door open. The lights from inside flooded the small grass area outside and illuminated the faces of several groups. She glanced around quickly and surmised that she was on the outskirts of all the groups. She spotted a few teachers, her classmates, and neighbors among them. Inside the small flat, a young woman with sepia hair hugged her knees to her chest.
The woman's forehead dropped listlessly to her knees and haggard sobs wracked her shoulders as she weeped. Behind her, Keiko was being consoled by her two friends while they fussed around her unsure of what to do. A few teachers exited the small unit and behind them Yui glimpsed the location of a small shrine with an unfavourable picture of Urameshi propped against the back.
So, it was true. Urameshi was dead. This was happening. Yui felt the corners of her eyes sting, but she couldn't pinpoint why. She had barely known the boy for a few days and spoke to him in passing. Yesterday was the first time she had a proper conversation with him. And, Keiko was right. Despite being a well known pain in the ass, Urameshi wasn't inherently bad. It all just felt...unfair.
She heard yelling from behind her and a hoarse carrot topped kid, Kuwabara, was being detained by two other classmates. They struggled to pull him back as he kicked up a fuss.
"Come back and fight me! COME BACK, YOU IDIOT!" He wailed.
"Kuwabara, you're in front of a procession." One of them complained. They uttered apologies over their shoulders as they dragged the larger delinquent out of sight.
Yui suddenly felt unsure what to do with herself. She had an innate sense of displacement partially caused by flitting from school to Urameshi's home. Mostly, she perceived she didn't belong here with people that were truly mourning their loss. She should be comforting Keiko instead. She was traversing the enclosed space to check on Keiko when she heard chuckling from above.
"Pfft, that fool."
Yui tilted her head looking for the source of sound and floating several feet above her head was Urameshi in his signature green uniform. Her eyes widened in disbelief. There was no way.
"What the-" Yui struggled to form the words. "Urameshi?"
The specter was hovering with his eyes fixed in the spot Kuwabara was just standing moments ago. From his perch above, he was observing the mourners come and go and they settled on the backs of two older men. Iwagoto and Akashi were standing several yards from the entrance to the unit, making rude comments among themselves.
"Those mindless jerks. At least, he did something good before he died. Our school's reputation is going up." Iwagoto insidiously remarked.
"Who knows? He could have kicked the boy when the car flew by." Akashi added slyly, covering his mouth with his hand.
"Nonsense!" Urameshi ground out angrily. His ghostly form was stalking the two teachers when two bulky hands reached forward and yanked the teachers back by their collars.
"Comparing those boys' behaviour with yours, who are the mindless jerks now?" Takenaka yanked the two teachers around by their lapels and roughly let them go before stalking off towards the shrine. Iwagoto 'hmphed' and left with Akashi in a disgruntled fashion.
"Pricks." Yui commented.
"Yeah, agreed." Yusuke muttered.
"Urameshi?!" Yui desperately waved in the specter's face. "Can you hear me?"
However, there was no reaction in his countenance that indicated he saw her. She was certain he just responded to what she said even if it was in passing. Instead, he stared past her and floated through her into the small unit. The sensation of a spirit flying through her sent ice down her veins.
"Hello?!" Yui hollered, but none of the people loitering in the yard glanced in her direction. She flicked dirt at them, snapped in their faces, and tugged at their shoulders as she circled the yard, but the students were immobile to her hounding actions. They didn't see or hear her.
"WAKE UP!" She shouted to no one in particular.
Discouraged after exhausting all her attempts, Yui slumped to the ground. If she was going to shout into the void, she could at least do it correctly. She clapped her hands into a cone before directing her verse to the skies above.
"YUSUKE URAMESHI, YOU DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE!" The shout reverberated throughout the area and she chuckled darkly as the results were the same. Keiko left with bob-hair and pig-tails without sparing a glance in Yui's direction. She was alone in her revelation. Not that it was Keiko's fault. Takenaka briefly reappeared outside after giving his condolences and left shortly after.
Yui silently watched as a woman strode by with a small child. When they left, they had traveled a block away before the woman kneeled down and held her son.
"I didn't save you at all!" A shout was belted skyward.
Yui searched and found Urameshi was hovering far above her once more accompanied by a woman floating atop an oar. They were too far away for Yui to discern their features, but she could deduce they were speaking to each other. She squinted her eyes at the other spirit, but couldn't make out any details in the dark.
"It just gets stranger and stranger…" Yui dismissed in wonder. She had officially hit her limit for oddities of the day and didn't have the energy to be stupefied with another occurrence of weirdness. She felt mentally exhausted as bizarre incidents piled up.
Finally, the last mourner left and Yui was left sitting alone in the door to the unit was still open. Yui stood up and cautiously traipsed the yard to the entrance. There was a chill coming from the room and Urameshi's mother remained crestfallen on the floor, alone. None of it seemed right. There was a shawl nearby and Yui placed it around the older woman's shoulders. There was no response from the grieving woman, but it was the only thing Yui could do for her at that moment. Ahead, the humble shrine's candles were still lit. Yui slowly kneeled on the cushion and grasped her hands in prayer.
"Even Hito's here?" She heard a puzzled voice in her vicinity.
Yui's eyes snapped open and she slowly peeked to her left. Copper eyes met chocolate brown and Yui cryptically smiled as Urameshi sputtered in astonishment at being located.
"Wait a second, can you...see me?" He rapidly tapped his fingers to his chest while waving a hand in her face. It reminded Yui of her floundering in the yard desperate to catch anyone's attention.
"Mm." Yui quietly nodded. "And likewise, you can see me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He hesitantly questioned.
"I'm not entirely sure yet. Perhaps, two ghosts in one room." Yui revealed quietly. Truthfully, she couldn't identify the reasons why no one saw her attempting muddled interactions in the yard. Yet, she was easily having a conversation now.
"Oh, you mean Botan?" Yusuke raised a thumb behind his shoulder towards the exit of the unit and Yui surmised this Botan was waiting outside.
It was not what Yui meant.
"She's just my spirit guide." Yusuke nonchalantly explained. "She brought me to my own soul-watching night."
'Weird,' Yui thought. And she shuffled her legs awkwardly underneath her.
"So, what brought you here? It's not exactly where a good student would be on a school night." He queried with a knowing smirk creeping to his lips.
"You. Dumbass." Yui retorted hotly.
"Real nice, Hito. You have a real lack of sympathy for the dead." He half-heartedly accused as he poked her shoulder with his forefinger. Cold spikes dotted Yui's shoulder after every tap.
"Well, it's not like I wanted you to die." Yui thoughtlessly added.
"I know, I know…" Yusuke mulled over as he buried his hands in his pocket. "It was kind of the theme of the night." The delinquent contemplated.
"Oh?" Yui chimed in.
"Yeah, all these people I never expected to care showed up and made a fuss." He slowly descended and inspected his one shrine with a serious glint in his eye. "Takenaka, Kuwabara, you…" He broke into a grin, "Nice right hook, by the way."
"You saw that?" Yui started with a chill. It meant not all incidents were reset. At least, not entirely. She had assumed after the strawberry milk timelines that nothing she attempted would matter in the long run. It seemed that she was not entirely correct in her initial assumption.
"Just because no one saw you chuck strawberry milk doesn't mean you can get away with everything." He said somewhat peeved. "Anyways, I have a magic oar ride waiting on me."
"Eh?" Yui skeptically questioned.
"It's a ghost thing." Yusuke said with a wave and he glanced over at the form huddled against the wall before quickly ascending through the ceiling and disappearing.
"Bye, Urameshi." Yui wistfully said with a wave. The finality of saying goodbye left a void and she returned to offering a small prayer for the wayward spirit.
"Bye, Urameshi...you. You, there."
Yui heard a raspy voice from behind her and turned around to find another pair of chocolate brown eyes staring quizzically at her from swollen lids. Urameshi's mother hobbled over to Yui's side from the floor and she felt two hands grasping her shoulders firmly as the older Urameshi leveled a sobering stare at her.
"Were you speaking to my son a moment ago?" She asked with the last remains of tears gathering at the corners of her lashes.
Yui nodded dumbly and immediately regretted it once the woman in front of her hopefully smiled in her direction.
"Are you some kind of psychic?' She reached down and held one of Yui's hands between her own.
"No, more like...a shadow." A shadow has an apt description rather than a ghost. People could see her, but she was just part of the background Yui internally mused.
"Is he okay?" She gripped Yui's hand tightly and her gaze moved over to the photo on the shrine.
"Yeah, he's the same as usual." Yui's fingers closed around the older woman's hand reassuringly. "He had an appointment to keep, so he left." She watched the older Urameshi's expression transition to disappointment, but traces of a hopeful twinkle remained.
"Alright." She sniffed once more, and her head fell to rest on Yui's shoulder as she trembled quietly. Yui stiffly tensed, uncertain what to do. With no indication that the woman was done grieving, she allowed her hands to periodically softly pat the woman's shoulder.
Flip.