Chapter 5: Deep-fried!
The cold night air breezes through Mayumi and Lena's hair as they float above the city. Mayumi carefully looks at the golden egg and spins it around on the tip of her finger.
"How the hell is this even a test?" She looks over at Lena. "You should know, you're working for Spirit World."
"I don't know a thing. Enma Jr. keeps this kind of stuff to himself."
Mayumi groans and looks up into the night sky. Lena crosses one arm over the other and thinks quietly to herself about what Koenma had told her.
"This is only between me and you, Lena. That egg feeds on energy emitted by the person who is carrying it. However, we both know Mayumi's case is… different. And not just because she's coming back to life. When it hatches it'll either turn into an angel and lead her soul back to her body, or more than likely turn into a devil and try to devour her soul. When that happens, you know what to do.
Lena sighs softly. "Always putting the work on me.."
Mayumi looks over and raises an eyebrow as she tosses the egg up and catches it as it falls.
"The hell are you mumbling about?"
"None of your concern. And stop tossing that thing around, you'll break it!"
Mayumi just rolls her eyes and slides her skirt up, putting it in the hidden pocket she used to put her cigarettes in.
Lena floats closer and looks at her uniform more closely.
"I've been wondering, why is your uniform so different to everyone else at your school? You, Youko, and the other girls you hang out with, all wear the same looking ones."
Mayumi looks at her with a bored expression.
"It's because the miniskirts they try to make us wear show too much. Guys creep on girls all the time, the uniforms don't help. Other gangs do different stuff with their uniforms but we keep it simple."
Mayumi smirks a little.
"We hide weapons under them too. I don't do that, but Youko hides chains under her skirt. I forgot who, but someone in the gang has a knife under theirs. Anyway, point is, we do it to go against what everyone wants for us."
Lena shrugs.
"It sounded good at first until you started talking about hiding weapons. Say, how do you even get your skirts longer?"
Mayumi's face turns red. She floats away a bit and looks off to the side.
"...I sew them."
Lena blinks a few times. Her eyes go wide, and her voice sounds like its in utter shock.
"You like sewing…? And actually do it for other people too?"
Mayumi's eyes snap to Lena with a stare as sharp as knives. "What, I can't have hobbies!?"
Lena throws her arms up in the air. "When did I say that!? That's a whole new sentence! I just didn't expect it, that's all!"
Mayumi stays silent, crosses her arms, and they quietly float around together. Mayumi's face getting more and more impatient. She restlessly spins around in the air.
"Damn! Koenma could've given me SOMETHING to do while we wait for this stupid thing to hatch!"
"What about making sure they don't cremate you?"
Mayumi freezes in place. Her face warps into panic as her hands slap into the sides of her head.
"Damn! I didn't even think of that!"
"Again, you seem to not think much."
"Shut up! Is there some way to talk to anyone and tell them not to deep-fry me!?"
"What an elegant way to put it. Anyways, yes. There is." Lena points at her head. "You could always enter someone's dreams and talk to them."
Mayumi pats the sides of her head repeatedly.
"Who the hell is gonna believe that I'm actually talking to them!? I died a few hours ago! They're probably gonna dream about me anyway!"
Lena's mouth twists into a sly smile.
"My, confident that people are thinking about you? I thought you said everyone would be better off without you."
Mayumi's face contorts into more anger than panic.
"Shut up! How is it even possible to be this annoying!?"
Lena shrugs.
"Listen, just go try it. I'll show you how."
Mayumi crosses her arms and sighs, calming down to think.
"I guess we could check on my dad. He's the closest to my body. He's probably passed out drunk."
"Grab my oar then."
Mayumi hesitantly reaches out for it and looks at Lena, Lena rolling her eyes.
"Come on, I won't dart off like before. We're on a time limit here. I won't mess with you." And with that, Mayumi sighs and slowly grabs the oars paddle. Lena begins to slowly fly. Very very slowly.
"Are you a damn grandma on the road? You can go faster."
"And I thought you wanted me to take it easy."
"You just said you weren't gonna pull this shit again!"
Mayumi's face contorts in anger as she yells and they both get into a shouting match, Lena flying at a better pace while they argue.
At Mayumi's house…
Mayumi and Lena float down to her house, both passing in through the roof. They land in the living room and look around, Lena covering her nose.
"I don't think I've ever smelled so much alcohol."
"Dads been boozing. It always smells like this."
As Mayumi begins to walk around the house, Lena's face has a twinge of sadness on it. The house is in utter disarray, the kitchen is covered in beer bottles and random clothes with dirty dishes strewn about every room. The house just genuinely does not smell good, with a hint of something else smelling bad alongside the booze stained carpet floor.
"Mayumi, do you really live like this?"
Mayumi just shrugs and peeks into her dad's room.
"Yeah. I don't bother cleaning anywhere but my own room. Everywhere else is my dad's issue. He isn't in his own room either. I swear, if he's passed out in my damn room…"
Mayumi and Lena peek into her room, and are both greeted with nobody. Lena walks in and looks around.
"My, you really do take care of your room. It sticks out compared to everywhere else."
"Where is it!?"
Lena looks over at Mayumi who looks visibly angry as she looks at her large study desk. Papers are strewn about all over it.
"What? What's missing?"
"My damn sewing machine! I die for a few hours and my dad must be pawning my shit off already!"
Mayumi shouts obscenities and looks around the rest of the room, looking around her closet but not being able to physically touch anything. There was something desperate about the way she moved. Lena could see past her tough exterior for a moment. Lena couldn't blame Mayumi for the armor she had built up around herself.
"Mayumi, let's just try somewhere else. I don't think your dad's here."
Mayumi sighs and nods.
"Yeah. Let's just go. I don't want to be here anyway."
They both float up through the roof, back into the night sky, silence stretching between them. Lena looks over at Mayumi with an understanding expression.
"Hey, Mayumi… your dad-"
"I don't need a pity party." Mayumi crosses her arms. "I've been dealing with this since I was in diapers. The only thing to pity here is that me dying gives him one more excuse to act the way he does."
Lena just looks at Mayumi quietly and nods.
Mayumi closes her eyes to think.
"Come on. We can try Kumiko. Out of everyone, she'd understand."
At Kumiko's House…
Lena floats around her house with a curious look. She's never seen a setup like it. Next to a regular two story house is a large building that looks like it's regularly open for customers. Lena reads the words on the front of the building.
"Fujiwara Sentō…? Why does she live right next to a bathhouse?"
Mayumi floats up behind Lena.
"Kumiko's family runs a bathhouse. It's their whole thing. They have their actual house built next to it."
"Wow! I've never heard of something like that!"
Lena's face lights up, wanting to lighten the mood. Mayumi just sighs and floats to Kumiko's actual house.
"Yeah, well it's not like we can use the thing. Come on."
They both glide over to the back window and go inside. Mayumi walks over to Kumiko with a soft smile, while Lena looks around the room. It's small and cozy, with most of her stuff being light pink and cutesy. Her school uniform and bag are haphazardly tossed on the floor, since she couldn't be bothered to actually put them away or clean after what happened.
"My, she has a very girly room…"
Mayumi crouches down a bit to get to face level with Kumiko.
"Hey, Kumiko. I thought I'd drop by."
Mayumi stops slowly when she sees a small tear falling from Kumiko's eye. Mayumi suddenly can hear her thoughts and can see her dream as if she was inside of it. It's all white. Only Kumiko and her are there, with Kumiko in her light blue pajamas running away from Mayumi and the words "You just go die then!" playing over and over. It all echoes and stops, to be replaced with Kumiko softly crying and speaking in a hushed tone.
"I'm so sorry… don't go…"
Mayumi's face lowers and her expression softens. Regret spreads across her face, and her eyes are filled with remorse. She walks over and reaches out, grabbing Kumiko's hand, entwining their fingers. Kumiko quickly turns and looks at Mayumi, her eyes wide and tears lightly flying out from how fast she turned.
"I'm supposed to be the one apologizing." A gentle smile crosses Mayumi's lips. "I'm sorry for being such an asshole. You had every right to be mad, so don't cry over something so stupid."
Mayumi's free hand moves up and wipes her tears.
"Listen, enough sad stuff, okay? You're getting all depressed over nothing! You told me not to go, right!? Well, it's hard to explain, but I'm a ghost, and I can come back if I take care of this stupid egg thing and-"
"M-Mayumi, you're crushing my hand…"
Mayumi's eyes widen and she quickly let go. Kumiko quickly reaches back out and takes her hand again. She sniffles and has a tearful smile. Mayumi sighs and smiles more, sounding confident and pointing at herself with her free hand.
"I need you to take care of my body and make sure to tell everyone not to cremate me, alright? My hearts already beating again, go sneak in my window and open my casket if you need proof. And tell my jackass dad I'm alive and to not go selling all my shit."
Kumiko laughs a little, her tears falling even more as she closes her eyes.
"You know he just gave your sewing machine to Youko, right?"
"What!? That dirty-"
Kumiko's eyes meet Mayumi's. They both silently look at each other for a while. Both have dopey smiles on their faces.
"...I guess that's everything. So get a grip, you were a wreck at my funeral. You said I was cool, right? I'll show you how cool I am when I come back and kick those Nagoya guys asses, alright?"
Mayumi gives her hand one last squeeze and Kumiko suddenly shoots up in bed, making Mayumi jump back a bit. Kumiko looks all around and breathes quickly, but sees no one. She moves her hand in front of her and shakily breathes. "M-Mayumi…?" She Jumps out of bed, and bolts outside her room.
Mayumi sighs with a soft smile. Lena's face is twisted into a sly smile and she talks with a sultry tone.
"Look at you lovebirds! You're gonna make me melt just watching! I didn't even have to tell you how to enter her dreams."
Mayumi quickly turns to Lena and her face is a deep red.
"W-What the hell are you talking about!? We aren't together! We're both girls! Why the hell were you even watching us!? I thought you stayed outside!"
Lena continues to slyly smile.
"I'll make sure to tell her that."
Mayumi flicks her hand through the air. "Don't you dare!"
Lena clears her throat and puts her hands together.
"Wouldn't it be a better use of your time to let me take you to your place rather than arguing all day? I'm sure that's where she's running off to."
Mayumi quickly runs over, jumps through the window, phasing through it, and begins floating again. She begins shouting and waving her arms.
"All you do is play damn games! Come on and do your job!"
"Keep being so rude and I'll fly you down to Hell next! You do some favors for someone and they act like you're their taxi service!"
Lena quickly floats over and puts her hand up, her oar materializing out of the air. She quickly hops on it and sits, Mayumi sitting right next to her.
"You're not dragging me around this time."
"You're no fun."
Back at Mayumi's house… again.
Mayumi and Lena quickly float to the window to Mayumi's room and see Kumiko fiddling with it and opening it. She quickly climbs in, a bit sloppily since she's never done it before. She falls on her hands and knees and quickly dashes to the casket. Mayumi follows and yells.
"You can't go hurting yourself just to see me!"
Kumiko flicks open the casket and stares down at Mayumi.
Mayumi's body's cheeks are a rosy red, her chest rising and lowering gently.
Kumiko's lips begin to quiver and she breaks down sobbing, planting her face into Mayumi's chest and choking out words.
"You're back… thank God…"
Mayumi floats behind Kumiko and scratches at her own hair with one finger, her face red and her eyes looking away and up at the ceiling. Lena has a warm smile, her hands together as she watches Kumiko cry.
Kumiko's face lifts up and looks at Mayumi's.
"Don't leave me again…"
Notes: I actually have had this chapter up for a bit on AO3, but wanted to rewrite all my other chapters I wasn't satisfied with first. But now that I've done that, I can get back to actually writing new stuff! Thanks for reading!