The next day passed by excruciatingly slow pace. Horohoro no longer cared about anything camp related, and even though he was supposed to be doing the assigned activities, he spent the rest of the day sitting quietly next to Ren's corpse, trying to believe that there was a way out of the horrible mess. Occasionally, he'd glance at the paper cranes and curse the gods for being so selfish to take Ren away from him, and then he'd curse himself for not making enough cranes, if that could have made a difference. Then, he'd curse Hao ten times more for killing him. He would also, every now and then, reach over to stroke stray deep purple locks from Ren's face, and tears were constantly dripping in silence to the cold tile floor.

He must have been there for hours, ignoring all the people who came in and out. On two occasions, Yoh entered, and he, too, looked truly regretful for Ren's death. He sat next to Horohoro for a few minutes, trying to console him and engage him in conversation. But nothing interested the heartbroken Ainu, and he didn't acknowledge Yoh's presence at the slightest.

Faust could have gone crazy with troubles. He wanted to kick Horohoro out of the hospital and tell him to stick his Ainu nose somewhere else, but he knew that would be too cruel. Instead, when his patience ran out, he decided to try something he'd have to entrust Horohoro to keep secret.

He crossed the room, pulling up his own chair next to Horohoro.

"What do you want?" the boy muttered without looking up at all.

"You alright, kid?"

"What does it look like?"

Faust sighed. "I have a way to bring him back, I think, but you can't ever tell no one, you hear me?"

Horohoro looked up, shocked. Who exactly was this doctor? Some kind of insane scientist?

He shook his head. "Forget it, doctor. I don't want you to turn Ren into a freaking Frankenstein or Faust's Monster or whatever crap you're planning."

"Look, kid, if you really don't want him back that much, I'll change my mind," Faust snapped. "Now shut up and listen."

Horohoro blinked, and uncertainly nodded. "Yeah, I'm listening."

Faust looked around to make sure no one was around. He closed the door, sat back down, and said in a low voice, "Kid, you ever heard of shamans?"

Horohoro's eyes widened. So Faust was a shaman too? "Y-yeah," he replied quickly. "Yeah, I have."

Looking furtively around again, the doctor continued to speak. "I'm what you punks might call a witch doctor, but don't get me wrong, I ain't no pagan tribesman or whatever. I have a sixth sense to see ghosts and to control them, and with that comes special spiritual power called furyoku, you got me?"

"Yeah."

"With my furyoku, I think I'd be able to put some life back in your friend there, but you can't tell anyone. You promise?"

"I promise."

"But," Faust said. "I'll have to make a deal with you, kid. One person alone doesn't have enough furyoku to ressurect someone. Since you're a human, I have to borrow part of your soul-"

"Hold it one second, doctor," Horohoro interrupted. "Who says I'm a normal human, huh?"

Fasut blinked. "I'm not joking around with you, kid, this is serious stuff."

"I know that," Horohoro replied. "The thing is, though it's really hard to believe, I'm a shaman too...and so was Ren. And all of my other friends."

Surprised, Faust answered, "Really, kid? Good, then, this'll be a lot easier." He looked around again, to make a final check that no one was within earshot or sight. "OK, then," he said quietly. "Ready to bring your friend back to life?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, doctor."

"You sure, kid?"

"Sure I'm sure."

"OK," Faust said, rolling up his sleeves. "Then you're gonna listen real close and do everything I tell you to do, okay?"

Horohoro nodded nervously. "Yeah."

"Good. Then let's start, kid."