Youko's front door flings open with a loud boom as Mayumi's dad quickly hurls himself over to his daughter's body, which is sitting and wrapped in blankets on Youko's living room couch.

"Is she burned anywhere!?"

Kumiko walks up behind him as she walks out of the kitchen, "I said she was fine over the phone…"

Youko sighs as she walks past everyone that's crowded into her house and closes the front door.

"Okay, everyone's here. We need to figure out what to do with her body."

All the girls in Youko's gang are sitting on the living room floor, and they all look at each other. A girl with black, fluffy hair and glasses speaks up. "I can't keep her at my place, my parents would freak out." All the other girls talk over themselves and agree that they can't either.

Youko sighs and walks over to everyone, "Then it's between me and Kumiko."

Kumiko smiles a little and quickly speaks up, "My parents already know that she's alive again and stuck asleep. I can keep her in my room, I've already been taking care of her so I know what to do to keep her okay."

"I'm sure she'd be fine with that." Youko looks over to Mayumi's dad, "You cool with that?"

He sighs and stands up, his posture slightly hunched and worn looking. "Yeah, it'll be a few days while I deal with the insurance company and get a new place, so I appreciate it."

Kumiko's face lights up even more and she nods quickly. Everyone begins to talk amongst themselves about what just happened, but Youko stays a bit away from the group, thinking to herself.

"Her dad really did change after she died." She looks up at the ceiling and keeps thinking, "But where are you right now, Mayumi? Shouldn't you be here?"

Mayumi's eyes look out longingly at the pink horizon, the Spirit World's sun never setting, yet the sky appearing in a perpetual state of sunset. The endless fields of yellow grass spread across the visible plains she can see as she rests her back on the gates she once entered to meet Koenma.

"Could've at least given me somewhere more comfortable to sit."

She sighs and pulls out the pack of cigarettes that Youko had placed on her offering table at the funeral, and opens it. She doesn't really care about her promise anymore, it doesn't matter anyway now. She pulls out a stick, flicks it across the top of the pack, and puts it between her lips.

She drags it for a long while. Memories of her whole life go through her head, how things were so much more simple when she was a kid. The way her dad acted, the people around her talking about her, the way every system would try to systematically tear her down just for how she was born less lucky than other people, all of it just went right over her head back then. She wishes she could go back and relive it all, not to do anything different, but to just feel carefree like she used to.

She remembers first meeting Kumiko. She tries to think about something else, her eyes squint and a small grunt escapes from her lips as she moves her head up in a vain attempt to rattle the memories she doesn't want to think about to the back of her mind, but they just flood in even more from the back, becoming all she can think about. How, out of everyone in her life, Kumiko was the first one to walk up to her and talk to her when they were so little they could barely even speak properly. How Kumiko was the only person to ever ask her about the things she liked, tried to get involved in those interests, and get involved in her life.

She remembers Kumiko being so supportive of her, how she encouraged Mayumi's tough persona and stood by her when no one else would. Mayumi thinks about how much she was around Kumiko. She'd go over so often, since she'd go to the bathhouse every couple days. How Kumiko's eyes would light up like stars in the sky just because Mayumi was there. Suddenly, she feels her eyes beginning to flood over with tears. She can't stop thinking about how happy Kumiko was to see her no matter what the situation was, without fail.

How loved it made her feel in a world where she felt so isolated and alone.

Her legs begin to slide up and her knees get closer to her face. Mayumi begins to choke on air, her chest unable to hold it properly anymore. She gently takes the cigarette out of her mouth and snuffs it out next to her, then she shakily hides her face into her knees. Her arms wrap around her legs tightly, wishing she could hold the person she's thinking about in her arms instead of feeling the fabric of her own skirt in them.

She quietly cries to herself, unable to keep her thoughts from filling her head. The memories loop and loop, each memory making more tears fall and patter against her skirt.

"Mayumi Matsui."

Her head jolts up as she looks in front of her, recognizing the slightly nazily voice. It's Koenma, his small stature standing there in front of her. He continues, "There's no need to act like such a baby."

Mayumi feels a pang of anger hit her chest, and begins to angrily yell. "You're the one who made me like this! Why did you have me do all of that shit if-!"

"I've received Sayaka's report. The results on it show that there are people who need you in their lives, and that you actually have a bit of decency hidden underneath all those layers of garbage. It's actually a good thing you threw that egg."

"W-What…?"

"The entire point of the egg was that it was feeding on your spirit energy. It would lead you to your body again, or devour your soul depending on how you acted with it. It would've left nothing left of you if it hatched, with all the negative energy you fed it."

That rubs Mayumi the wrong way. She doesn't recall doing anything that egregious when she was dead, just arguing with Lena and beating up those girls when she was in Youko's body. There's no way those outweighed everything else she did, like helping spirits find peace and doing random cases for Spirit World to help them out. She decides to not push it further since they're still the people with control over her fate, but she puts it in the back of her mind.

Mayumi sniffles a bit and wipes her eyes and nose, looking at Koenma. "What are you getting at here?"

"I was impressed by you throwing that egg. Very impressed. Not many people these days would throw everything away with such little thought to save another person's life. With your added experience with death, I believe you could be very useful."

"...Useful…?"

"Mhm."

"Does that mean… I'm getting my life back…?"

"Mhm."

Mayumi's face freezes, her eyes in shock. Time basically stops in her mind as it hits her. She's coming back. She's going to be alive again. Suddenly a wave of pure excitement and ecstasy crashes over her, and she jumps up, yelling.

"HELL YEAH! I'm going to be alive again!"

As Mayumi's excitement spreads even further and she begins to pump her fists, Koenma speaks up.

"Try not to act too excited. This is a big thing, and the Spirit World council has to do a lot of discussions on this. We also have to find out when your soul wavelength will match up with your body's so you can re-enter it."

"That's fine! Oh man, I can't wait to get back to- wait, what did you mean I could be useful?"

"We will discuss that later. Lena!"

Lena suddenly pops in next to him with a smile, her fingers in a snapping position. "Did you tell her?"

"Yes, you can take her back to the living world."

Just hearing those words makes Mayumi even happier. She suddenly and quickly steps towards Lena, and hugs her tight.

"I'm gonna be coming back!"

Lena lets out an exasperated gasp as all the air is crushed out of her lungs and she tries to hug back. After she's done being strangled half to death and Mayumi steps back, she catches her breath. She looks at Mayumi with a lightly concerned expression.

"...Your eyes are red. Are you okay?"

The feeling of her half-wet cheeks stained with old tears hits her, and she quickly rubs her face with her hands, putting on a cocky grin and dismissing the concern. "I'm fine! Forgetting about all that," Mayumi puts her right hand into a fist and hits it against her left palm, "I can finally get back at those Nagoya guys with my own body!"

Lena sighs and facepalms, "Is that really the first thing you think of when we tell you all of this?"

"Why do you care!?" Mayumi darts a glare over to Lena, and Lena puts her hands up.

"I'm just saying!"

Koenma clears his throat and both of them look over to him. "Now that that's settled, just wait for us to get it all sorted out and I'll tell you the results when I get them."

Mayumi smiles warmly at Koenma and nods, feeling a lot warmer towards him after all this. "That's fine, I can wait around. I've been doing that this entire time basically anyway. Thanks for everything."

"If you mean it, you'll stop calling me a toddler."

Mayumi awkwardly grins and feels a bit called out, "Er, alright, I'll stop with that. I owe you that much."

"Good. I'll see you soon."

Lena walks over to Mayumi's side and smiles, "Ready to go? I know where all your friends are. Why not tell them the news?"

Mayumi's cocky grin comes back and she nods, "I was planning on it. Let's get going."

Lena looks over to Koenma and bows a bit, "Thanks for your graciousness, Enma Jr."

She stands up straight and puts her right hand up, flicking her fingers.

Suddenly, she and Mayumi are floating up in the night sky in the living world again. Mayumi looks all around and lets out a triumphant cheer. "Hell yeah! I'm back!"

Lena claps a little and laughs with her, "I'm so happy for you! I found it hard to not come tell you early when I first heard. We had to talk to the council and everything beforehand."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad everything's working out for me again."

Lena happily smiles, "I'm glad you've become a glass half full kind of person over these few weeks. You used to be the most sad excuse of a girl I knew for a while there."

Mayumi's death glare returns as she shoots her gaze over to Lena, "Where do you get off on being so blunt!? I swear-"

Lena begins to laugh and they playfully argue with each other for a while, enjoying the moment and reveling in the fact Mayumi gets to come back.

Lena and Mayumi scout the ground illuminated by street lights below as a puzzled look crosses Lena's face. "I didn't think they'd leave Youko's house so quickly."

"I'm sure they all just went home. Maybe Youko is walking the person who took my body to their place."

"That would make sense. Let's see… oh! There's Youko and Kumiko!" She points down to a dark, empty street sidewalk.

Mayumi quickly looks to where Lena is pointing and without saying anything, begins quickly descending down to them.

"Heyyyy!"

Youko shoots up from her relaxed posture and quickly looks up, startling Kumiko. "There you are! Where the hell have you been!?"

Mayumi lands quickly in front of her and grins, "I've been stuck in Spirit World! Anyway, guess what!? I'm coming back soon!"

"You're kidding!"

"Listen, basically I threw that Spirit Beast egg thing to save Kumiko, right? And then-"

Suddenly they both notice Kumiko standing there with an open mouthed smile and Mayumi's body on her back like she's waiting patiently to actually be noticed. Mayumi's cheeks redden a bit when she looks at Kumiko and remembers what she was thinking about earlier, so she quickly looks to Youko and tries to get her mind off that.

"Tell her I'm coming back soon!"

"Oh, right. Mayumi is here, she said she's gonna be coming back soon."

Kumiko's eyes light up like the stars just like Mayumi remembered earlier, which only makes her more flustered. Kumiko quickly begins talking, her voice frantic and excited.

"Really!? Oh thank God, I was so scared after you just vanished! Was that you with those tribal tattoos in the doorway?"

Mayumi is snapped out of her flustered expression and looks extremely confused, "Tattoos? What?"

Youko looks from Mayumi to Kumiko, "She looks like she has no idea what you're talking about."

Kumiko quickly shakes her head and drops it, figuring she'd ask more later. "Nevermind, as long as you're okay that's all that matters! Um, everyone agreed that you should stay at my place… your dad said he's dealing with the insurance people and wanted you to be somewhere safer than wherever he could take you. So… we decided on my place."

An innocent and excited smile spreads across Kumiko's now red cheeks, and Mayumi rubs the back of her head a bit.

"Y-Yeah, tell her that's fine."

Youko sighs, "She said that's fine."

Lena floats down after eavesdropping for a while and Youko looks at her. "Oh, hey… Lena, right?"

"Yes! I'm glad you remembered. You know, Mayumi almost didn't get to come back here, it was a whole big ordeal. I've never seen her look so sad!"

Mayumi quickly cocks her head to Lena and gets angry, "Why come down here at all if you're just gonna start saying stupid shit!?"

Youko hears this and grins, beginning to tease a little, "If you need someone to cry to, I'm here."

Mayumi glares over at Youko then shouts, "Shut up!"

Kumiko quickly butts in, trying to defend Mayumi, "Stop teasing her like that! Tell us what happened, Mayumi! You almost didn't get to come back?"

Everyone begins walking again, and Mayumi explains everything to Youko, who in turn repeats it to Kumiko. Everyone eventually reaches Kumiko's house.

"Youko, can you grab my key? It's in my left pocket."

Youko goes to the left side of Kumiko and gets the keys, since Kumiko is holding Mayumi on her back. Youko opens the door for her.

"There. Make sure you take care of her."

"You're telling me that like I'm not the one who's been taking care of her."

"I'm not the one who left her window open for arsonists."

Kumiko's face grows red with embarrassment and resign, knowing she messed up there.

"Sorry, Mayumi… it's my fault your house is gone…"

Mayumi groans, "Youko, stop opening your big mouth and go the hell home. And tell her I said it's fine, I'm just happy she's not hurt."

Youko shrugs and turns around, "Mayumi said it's fine and she's just glad you're not hurt. Oh, Mayumi, I got to tell you something."

"What?"

"Tomorrow me and the group are going to this concert. They finally have my favorite band touring over here, so I'm not missing it for anything. Come hang out if you want, I'll look out for you."

Mayumi puts her hands behind her head and closes her eyes, "Alright, I'll come by if I'm not doing anything. I'm gonna be sticking around with Kumiko for a bit though."

"Alright. Kumiko, Mayumi said she wants to hang out with you, just so you know."

Kumiko's face lights up and she nods excitedly, "Oh, okay! I know it's just your body, but I'll let you stay in my bed and I'll sleep in a sleeping bag, I have one somewhere…"

Kumiko quickly walks inside her house before Mayumi can interject, so she just sighs and looks at Youko with a small smile. "Thanks for everything, Youko. I'll see about tomorrow."

"It's nothing, just looking out for you."

Youko walks away, waving her hand without looking back. Mayumi turns back around and walks through the door to Kumiko, feeling a lot better about everything now. Lena looks over to Youko before she goes in and yells a bit so Youko can hear, "Thanks for helping us out today!"