"The hell?! EVERYTHING is going wrong!!! YUMI!!!"
I was screaming at the top of my lungs, scrambling, slipping, and flailing as a flock of zombies surrounded me, gnashing their decaying teeth and groaning in unholy unison. Yumi? She was perched atop a crumbling gravestone like it was her throne, laughing hysterically. Her bright, lively voice echoed through the misty graveyard.
"Oh, come on, you're fine!" she shouted between fits of giggles. "Besides, aren't you having *fun*?!"
"*Fun?!*" I spat, dodging a zombie's outstretched arms. "How is this fun?! And why the hell are we even here?!"
She tilted her head, her dark eyes glinting in the faint moonlight. "What's more fun than playing with the dead?"
Her smile widened into something grotesquely cheerful. "Think about it! They don't whine, they don't complain, and they don't judge you. They're perfect companions!"
"Yumi, they're trying to *eat me*!" I retorted, ducking another attack.
She hopped down from the gravestone, her energy nearly bursting as she twirled around the decaying bodies like they were dance partners. "You don't understand, do you? This is their nature. They don't *want* to hurt you—they just *are*. But me? Oh, I *love* this chaos. It's so... alive!"
She erupted into an evil, almost manic laugh that sent shivers down my spine. Her normally calm demeanor was gone, replaced by something almost... wild.
But then, for a moment, her laughter faltered, and I saw it—a glimpse of something else.
---
**Flashback**
Yumi, sitting alone at her desk in class, eating a small bento box she packed for herself. She wasn't just quiet; she was invisible, as if the entire room had agreed to ignore her existence. Her eyes weren't even on her food—they were staring blankly at the floor, or maybe through it, into some abyss only she could see.
At lunch, she sat under a tree in the schoolyard, the shadows swallowing her figure as she watched the others laugh and talk with their friends. She wasn't bitter. She wasn't angry. She was just... there.
Every day after school, she walked home alone, her steps slow and deliberate, like she had nowhere to be and no one to see.
---
**Back to the Cemetery**
Now, that same Yumi was grinning like a maniac, her eyes gleaming with excitement as the graveyard came alive. Zombies clawed out of the earth, groaning and growling, while translucent ghosts floated ominously above, their forms flickering in and out of focus. Some of them had twisted faces frozen in eternal screams.
The yokai she summoned were worse. One had a gaping, tooth-filled mouth where its stomach should be, drooling a sickly black fluid. Another was a shadowy figure with elongated limbs and no discernible face, moving with unsettling, jerky motions.
"YUMI!!! STOP!!!" I yelled as one of the yokai lunged at me. I dodged it, barely, but tripped and fell flat on my back. A zombie took its chance, sinking its teeth into my leg.
But... it didn't hurt. Not even a little.
"What the—?!" I looked down to see the zombie gnawing on me like I was an old bone. No pain, no blood.
"Don't worry," Yumi said with a mischievous smirk. "You're already half-dead, remember? Perks of my little experiment!" She leaned closer, her grin widening. "You can't die, but that doesn't mean you won't *suffer*."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of it all, but I ended up laughing. Hysterically.
The sound of my own laughter startled me, but I couldn't stop. I was losing my mind. And Yumi? She was loving every second of it.
After what felt like an eternity, she snapped her fingers, and the creatures dissolved into nothingness.
"Let's go," she said cheerfully, as if we'd just finished a stroll in the park.
I could barely stand, let alone walk, but she didn't seem to care. She just grinned, her energy as high as ever, as we made our way back.
**The Walk Home**
We walked in silence, Yumi practically skipping beside me while I hobbled along like an old man. My body was covered in dirt and saliva (again), but she looked radiant, a satisfied smile plastered across her face.
When we finally reached my house, I turned to her, unsure of why I was even thanking her. "Uh... thanks, I guess?"
She didn't respond, just gave me that knowing smile of hers.
As I opened the gate to my house, a sudden thought hit me like a ton of bricks.
"Wait a second," I muttered. "She's behind me, isn't she?"
I whipped around, fully expecting to see her grinning at me, but instead...
She was opening the gate to the house next door. My jaw nearly hit the ground.
"W-what?!" I stammered. "Y-you're my... *neighbor?!*"
She glanced over her shoulder, her expression softening into something almost shy.
"After all these years..." I muttered, the world around me slowing as the weight of the revelation sank in.
She turned fully to face me, her usual smirk replaced by a small, genuine smile. "Let's walk to school together tomorrow, okay?"
I couldn't speak. Couldn't even move. I just nodded dumbly as she disappeared inside her house, leaving me standing there, dumbfounded.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?