13 / Stab in the Heart, You're Too Late

Growing up, Yugiri had always been told to trust her instincts. It was a lesson her old teacher had imparted time and time again; trust your instincts and you'll survive.

The courtesan had seen many men lose themselves to their passion, to their anger, to their grief, to their terribleness; the violent ones looked like everyone else.

(and who would care if the whore was dead?)

Her teacher was only seventeen when Yugiri was introduced to her. Yugiri was seven then, already beautiful, already the makings of a legend and her teacher, smiling, told her so. At twenty-two, the woman had left. A man had bought her contract and they had rode into the sunset. Her teacher left her, offering a smile and the same advice, "Trust your instincts". Yugiri was just twelve, then, already excelling in the arts, in writing, in everything; at thirteen, she became a courtesan, and just months later, slept with her first client. Eventually, as she excelled, Yugiri rose through the ranks, living in luxury as her manager grew greedier and fatter and the glares of her peers surrounded her. And then, one day, she perished.

Oh, she had struggled as the blade came to her neck. Her attacker had revealed themselves too early. Yugiri had panicked, of course. The blade had been so close, so close, so much pain. Her instincts had flared up too late and she had lost her head.

Nowadays, Yugiri didn't have to worry too much about danger.

The modern world was relatively safe...for a zombie, anyway. So long as she didn't lose her head, she'll be fine.

...except she didn't feel fine.

Her instincts were flaring up again. Danger was afoot. Or something close to it.

Yugiri had noticed the young man during one of their shows, a few weeks after Arpino. It only took one look for the courtesan to recognize the lust, the wanting.

Many of their fans, mostly young men, had directed similar looks her way. Her bandmates would get their share of looks, too. Most of them were innocent enough, that much Yugiri could recognize.

The young man, on the other hand, was a different sort of beast altogether. But Yugiri figured he would get bored. They always did. Men were like that. If you weren't satisfying enough, they'll move on.

(but then again, she was dead because one of them just couldn't move on)

Since the young man had done nothing (yet), Yugiri just kept watch, kept her distance with the rest of Franchouchou none the wiser. But lately, Saki had been glaring a little too much, and Sakura, sweet Sakura, would have such a strange expression on her pretty face, looking once or twice in the distance before going to Yugiri and making small talk, keeping her within her sights, sometimes moving within the line of sight of the boy. Saki did the same thing too when she went to talk to her and that had been enough to confirm that they knew. They had seen him.

Yugiri should have known.

Their leader was used to the danger and could recognize it a mile away and if she knew, their second-in-command wouldn't be far behind. Sakura had probably suggested that they keep an eye on Yugiri for fear that the stranger would try to do something stupid.

Yugiri is touched; she should have expected it, really. Sakura and Saki were, in a strange way, the ones that looked after them. Saki with her roughness and Sakura with her kindness.

(but they had been too late)

The meet-and-greet ended with very little problems a few minutes ago; Kotaro was talking to the organizers while the last of the fans left and the rest of Franchouchou began putting the remaining merchandise away. Leftover photos, a few signed autographs, t-shirts that never sold out.

While Sakura was busy controlling Tae, Ai, Junko, Lily and Yugiri were putting things away. Saki had gone over to talk with their manager, returning a few minutes later, the car keys in her hands. Their leader nodded the courtesan's way.

"Shades asked one of us to get the car ready, you know...the usual. Here. I'll go and help the Egghead keep Tae under control." Standing on the stage, Sakura let out a yelp as Tae escaped her grip. Luckily, no limbs had been lost in this endeavor. Saki shook her head and Yugiri tried not to laugh, offering an amused smile instead. From what they could vaguely gather from Tae's behavior, it appeared the older woman had caught a whiff of something and had made it her job to find it and eat it.

Yugiri took the keys from Saki and nodded.

The courtesan just needed to head out back, start the car and wait for the rest of the girls and Kotaro and then, they'll be home free. Kotaro had figured that they should always be ready for a quick getaway, just in case.

It was a simple job.

Nodding at her other friends, Yugiri left for the back door. The van had been parked just a bit away from the back entrance of the convention center.

It was outside, under the moonlight, that Yugiri felt her instincts flare up.

She had not noticed the stranger until she approached the van. He had been hiding behind the vehicle, using it as cover, waiting, only revealing himself until Yugiri got closer.

He had a smile on his face, a hand behind his back while the other was busy waving at the courtesan.

Yugiri just stood there, keys in hand. The van was lonely behind him, looking so far away. Most of the parking lot was empty. Almost everyone had already left. Now, it was just Yugiri and the stranger.

"Hello, Five," the young man began, inching closer; a hand still behind his back, the other held out as if he wanted to shake the courtesan's hand. Yugiri stood still, staring at him. "Hello, hello…" he repeated and Yugiri just stared.

The courtesan wasn't frightened. She had been alone with many men in her time to truly be frightened by the mere presence of this stranger. Yugiri's eyes narrowed, realizing what he was trying to pull...that was, if his stunt involved anything beyond friendly greetings. If someone else had been asked to get the car ready, Yugiri didn't even want to think about it.

"Five…" he called again, his smile getting wider. He was getting closer, approaching slowly, hand still behind his back. He was still too far. Yugiri needed to be closer to defend herself should the stranger try anything. She could strike his neck, leave him breathless. He'll live and she'll be gone. Simple. "Five, Five," he went on, still too far, getting closer. "Won't you leave with me?" Not close enough. He was still too far, too far out of reach.

Yugiri's gaze hardened, stopping the young man in his tracks momentarily. It appeared that he hadn't expected that. "I think not."

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me…" Yugiri continued, uncaring at the hurt look that appeared on the stranger's face, uncaring of what the stranger hid behind his back. "I suggest you leave. Now."

"..wha-what!? Five...why…?" The stranger's face breaks into shock, unable to believe the words she's saying. He tries approaching her, eyes wide, hand still behind his back. Yugiri stays her ground. He's closer now...getting closer for her strike andー

"Five!"

Behind them, someone is calling for Yugiri.

The courtesan turns, eyes widening slightly when she sees Sakura approaching, looking mighty nervous as she gets closer.

With Yugiri distracted, she cannot see the stranger's face. Can't see how his expression turns cruel and angry the closer Sakura gets. Sakura doesn't notice the looks either, she's more concerned about Yugiri and getting her out of the situation as fast as she can. "O-one?" Yugiri begins, stammering slightly. "What are you…?"

"Manager's calling for us." A lie. Yugiri's sure of it. Sakura's staring at the side, she never stares to the side unless she's unsure about something, unless she's nervous. It was a bad habit. "S-so! I came to get you! Co-come on!" Sakura moved to grab Yugiri's hand, both still oblivious at the stranger behind them.

Yugiri should have never lost sight of the stranger.

(it happened so fast)

The stranger let out a snarl, running between the two girls, glaring at Sakura and before Yugiri or Sakura could react…

...there was a knife buried deep in Sakura's chest.

/…..

Okoba felt like he had been nursing a headache all day.

He had not been sleeping well for the past few days, the coffee had finally ran out and everyone back at the office had commented that he looked like he had seen one too many ghosts.

It was a story Okoba couldn't really explain. How do you explain to your coworkers that you drank almost half a cabinet of sake in just a few days? How you finished all the coffee in your house and how, in between all that drinking, you found out that the dead had come back to life?

Well, actually, scratch that last part about the dead.

Okoba was a reasonable man. He understood the difference between the impossible and the possible and reviving the dead fell into the impossible category. That was just a given. It was also possible that those bottles had done most of the thinking for him that day, so there was that. He was just thinking too much about it.

The most likely explanation was that the girls just looked alike and nothing more. Sure, Three and Four sounded almost exactly like the deceased Ai Mizuno and Junko Konno but that didn't really prove anything. There were people out there that had the same voice, had the same face. It was inevitable that that would happen once in a lifetime.

Still, curiosity was a bitch and so, here he was again.

A few days prior, he had began tracking Franchouchou's movements; concerts here, meet-and-greets there.

The girls had been extra busy ever since they released that calendar months back. His assistant managed to snag one during a concert and had showed it to Okoba.

It was a pretty thing; twelve pictures in all for each month but it was one picture in particular that caught his attention and, privately, freaked him out a bit.

The picture in question was the one from October, where the girls disguised themselves as the living dead. They were dressed casually, skin blue almost rotten, a few bandages here and there, some stitches, a dog in the middle and One and Three's heads were in the hands of Five and Four respectively. The girls had made for very convincing corpses.

Okoba still remembers gulping when he had seen the picture.

People online, however, had just commented that the effects of the picture were well-made and despite freaking out a few of their fans, they loved it for being on point with Halloween. Some began to speculate that Franchouchou was planning a Halloween special at some point. The girls could certainly pull it off, if the makeup was anything to go by.

As of now, here he was, in the mostly empty parking lot of the convention center where the girls had just had their latest meet-and-greet. The event had ended a few minutes ago, cars had emptied the lot, and Okoba was just hanging about, hoping to catch the girls and their mysterious manager. Although he still wasn't so sure what he'll say if he caught up to them. What did he want to say, anyways? "Hey, I noticed that your girls look like the dead...may I ask you some questions?"

Yeah, right. That'll go over pretty well.

Okoba didn't even know what he was waiting for. What he wasーhuh?

There, hiding behind the van, barely visible against the growing night, was a young man. The guy was tall, maybe twenty or twenty-two years old, Okoba couldn't really tell. He wore all black. Black shirt, black pants, black jacket. Black everything.

Okoba was already getting bad vibes just looking at him. The stranger had something in his hands that he kept examining over and over but the reporter was too far away to tell what it was.

Not really sure what to make of the whole thing, Okoba stood his distance and waited.

(a few hours later, Okoba realized he should have called the police before everything escalated)

The reporter immediately noticed one of the girls exiting the building and approaching the van. He immediately recognized the girl as Five, the bewitching beauty of the group (the one that looked like the dead courtesan, Yugiri). Five hadn't seen the boy yet, and by then, it was just a matter of time.

Okoba didn't know what to do. He was too far away. He could still see them but if the guy tried something, even running wouldn't change a damn thing. If the reporter was noticed before the stranger tried anything, chances are that that weirdo would panic and do something stupid and then, it would all be over. Whatever it was.

The man couldn't really make out what they were saying but it was obvious from Five's body language that she was having none of it. Probably took the guy by surprised, too, if his reaction was anything to go by. And then, One appeared. She was walking a little too fast towards Five, she stopped, she talked and tried to pull Five away andー

Okoba hadn't seen the knife yet. He just saw movement, the stranger pushing Five and One apart before crying out, "BITCH!" a knife in his hands, plugging it deep unto One's chest.

/…..

Sakura didn't really know how to react to the knife that was currently buried deep in her chest.

She was dead, so it didn't matter and yet, the pain was coming. It was slow, slow and scary. That was the weird thing, really. She was already dead so pain shouldn't have been a problem.

It was hard to remind her brain of that, however.

Saki had complained about it once or twice. About the pain.

Their brains, despite being as rotten as their bodies, still worked quite well. Their nerves still worked. They could feel what they had felt in life, dead or not. Sometimes, the pain was there, sometimes it just wasn't. There had been no pain when that lightning hit them. Their fingers had felt itchy for a few days however, but other than that, nothing more. Junko had mentioned feeling faint for a bit after Kotaro accidentally ran her over but the pain was just a memory as soon as she got up again. Anything else they suffered was mainly discomfort. But Sakura remembers that odd burning in her throat when that wild boar tried to eat her head and how long it lasted before disappearing one day. And when that second truck hit her, well, Sakura couldn't really remember any pain.

They were dead and yet they still felt alive.

And now, Sakura was short of breath, her eyes were losing focus and the pain, oh, the pain. It seemed insufferable one second and manageable the next, rinse and repeat. Her brain couldn't rightly decide what she was feeling; are you dying? are you dead?

The knife was the problem, really. It had made her brain forget she was dead. Maybe if she took it out, she'll be fine again. But, ah, her brain was still lost. Pain, pain, calm, pain again.

Sakura barely reacted when Yugiri grabbed unto her, holding her close before she cried out, a glare on her pretty face before striking the stranger in the neck with a well-placed chop. The stranger gasped, holding unto his neck, breathing hard. Yugiri pushed him aside, her attention on Sakura. But Sakura couldn't see Yugiri. Her eyes were lost, she was breathing fast, she was unable to comprehend what was happening even as Yugiri helped her sit down. Her friend turned towards the stranger again but Sakura didn't know what was happening. She couldn't breath, the pain, the pain...gone...no, it was back again...pain, pain.

The stranger had recovered his breath and was staring at Yugiri, then at Sakura and the knife he had buried on her chest and then...he fell. He was falling. Sakura's eyes lost focus again, so she didn't see Kotaro Tatsumi appear, radiating rage as he held onto an old shovel, staring through dark lenses at the stranger by his feet.

And the pain was still there. Still there...there...

/…..

Okoba couldn't believe his eyes; he wanted to cry out but his throat was suddenly dry, his heart beating like a drum.

The man had just watched some weirdo stab a girl right in the heart.

(he's too far away, he's not sure...and oh god!)

One was breathing hard, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Five, on the other hand, reacted with mild panic and rage. The older girl moved quickly, like a viper, striking the stranger in the neck and pushing him as far away from her injured bandmate as possible.

And then, just as quickly, the weirdo was falling to his knees, then he was on the pavement. There was a man standing behind him. He had sunglasses and was holding a shovel in one hand.

But Okoba took little notice of it all. He moved to grab his phone, hands fumbling due to his own growing panic. He couldn't get the damn thing out of his pocket. His hands were shaking, his eyes were glued at the girl. The girl called One with a knife sticking out of her chest.

(oh god, oh god! That girl was dead! That girl was dying! Quick, quick! Call an ambulance!)

Okoba moved his eyes away for just a second, his phone still stuck on his pocket. He turned towards the group again, hoping, wondering, if they had called for help yet. Except, they hadn't.

The man was kneeling before One, whispering, talking to her, trying to get her attention. Five, too, talked to her, she seemed slightly panicked but she didn't let go of One. Still, the injured girl did not respond.

When Okoba finally, finally, got his phone out of his pocket he heard a loud gasp. It was the rest of Franchouchou. They carried a few boxes and some equipment but they threw it to the ground the moment they spotted One and Five in the ground. They rushed towards the man and the two girls, a few of them panicking upon seeing the knife still sticking out of One's chest. The girl, Zero, let out a loud growl, glaring at the weirdo in the floor and would have jumped at him had Two not held her back. The others, Three, Four, Five and Six, crowded around One, blocking her from sight.

No one was calling an ambulance. No one was calling for help. And for a moment, Okoba isn't so sure what to think, what to do. He has his phone, he could justー

The man with sunglasses gets close to the group, both hands on who Okoba can only assume is One, before a small cry breaks into the night and then, there's a loud clank, as steel meets pavement. Okoba can barely make out the knife as it's thrown to the side, as far away from the group as possible. Immediately, the girls are on their feet, Three and Five helping One to her own and now Okoba can see One clearly. The middle of her shirt is ripped right where the knife had been buried. Her eyes are lost, her breathing still harsh. The girls are already guiding One towards the van, the sliding door already opened thanks to Six.

For a moment, Okoba just stands there, shocked. He's about to run towards them, demand to know what the hell they are doing...their friend needs to go to the hospital! She's dying! She's bleeding to death! She's...she's…

...Okoba still sees One as Five and Three help her sit down.

There's no blood.

The knife had penetrated skin, the ripped fabric was proof of that.

Even from this distance, Okoba should have seen the blood. At least a bit of it. One's shirt was a light color, the blood would have been too noticeable. But there's no blood. There's a knife. There's a weirdo but no blood.

And suddenly, Okoba is back where he started. He's seeing ghosts. He's seeing the dead. He remembers Minamoto and her broken head. He remembers Nikaido and her crash. He remembers Mizuno and the lightning. He remembers Konno and the plane. He remembers Yugiri and time. He remembers Hoshikawa and her heart.

Okoba takes a deep breath, pockets his phone, and as fast as he can, starts walking the opposite direction. He walks as fast as his legs can take him, far away, far away from the girl with no blood, far away from his thoughts, hoping that no one has seen him.

He's almost out of the parking lot when he hears the van start and seconds later, it's gone.

Okoba stops walking.

They didn't see him. They didn't see him.

Then, he turns and runs towards where he last saw the van. Okoba finds the weirdo sitting on a bench, not too far away from where the van was parked. He goes to check on him. The guy's still breathing. There's a bump forming on the back of the weirdo's head. Okoba can make out the knife hiding under his belt.

Okoba turns away from the unconscious man towards the back entrance of the convention. There's nothing there. The boxes are gone. Probably left with their owners not too long ago. Then, Okoba turns towards the place he was sure One had fallen. There's no knife, there's no shovel, there's no blood, no nothing. Okoba kneels on the ground, feels it. Nothing but dirt and oil. There's no blood, no metallic smell.

Okoba slowly gets up. His face is turning pale, his hands are shaking as they begin to pass over his hair, messing it up, trying and failing, to hold unto something, anything that would keep him sane.

Reality was strange.

Reality was scary.

"Oh...g-god...oh, god...god…"

There's no blood. There's no blood. There's noー