CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

The three of us turned away from Black-Withers Hall and started walking towards the Crescent Moon Academy gates.

 Above us, the sky darkened from blue to pastel purple.

 And I realized that I needed to ask my friends for help.

 "Shion, listen. Azuki came up to me earlier. Before I came and got you from the nurse's office," I began.

 Shion's expression was unreadable. Not annoyed, not concerned—just blank. That was never a good sign. She took a breath.

 "Yeah… Look, Ryu, I get it. Could you not bring that up?"

 "No, it's not about that. This is about Azuki. She… she told me that she's dying."

 She tilted her head slightly, a slow, deliberate movement.

 Sizing me up.

 "So let me get this straight." She held up a finger. "The raccoon is dying." Another finger. "She told you she needs you to save her sacred tree." A third. "And you actually believed her?"

 I sighed. "Look, I don't know if she's really dying, okay? But something's wrong. She said her sacred tree is in danger of being cut down by a lumber company."

 Shion stopped walking.

 "You okay?" asked Yuki. "What's wrong?"

 Shion's eyes quickly flicked to Yuki. I could make out her outline. Yuki gently floated from one foot to the other. I guess that was nervousness from a ghost.

 Finally, though, Shion answered her.

 "A lumber company? That's… uncharacteristically mundane coming from her."

 I nodded. "Exactly. And that's why I'm concerned. If she'd said something like, I don't know, ridiculous-"

 "Like a dragon?"

 I rolled my eyes at her. "Oh, you're a riot. But you get what I mean, and that's why I'm concerned. She seemed so sincere about it."

 Shion snorted. "So, what you're telling me is that the tanuki is finally calming down, and you think that's a problem?"

 Despite what she said, I heard a strange inflection in her voice. Shion was trying to cover up the fact that she was actually concerned about Azuki.

 "…Alright, that's weird," she admitted, but quickly covered it with a smirk. "Maybe she just lost her taste for hyperbole."

 I shot her a look.

 "Shion… she's your friend too," said Yuki.

 Shion rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll help. But if this turns out to be a big waste of my very valuable time—"

 "It won't," I said.

 She hummed, unconvinced.

 "You know what would make life so much easier?" Shion said, crossing her arms. "If you actually had a phone like a normal person."

 I frowned. I had one—just yesterday.

 Before it melted making some impossible jump through space and time.

 "I… I'll get one."

 She cocked an eyebrow.

 "…Tomorrow," I admitted. "Before you say anything, I can't get it this evening. I have work at Shin'yume-sou."

 "You should get to that before Natsumi says anything," said Yuki.

 Shion let out a slow, dramatic sigh and tapped her temple. "Blondie, you really aren't making a case against the 'actual dragon' theory. What do you do, send smoke signals?"

 I ignored that. "I have to work with Natsumi tonight. My room at the onsen doesn't pay for itself. I don't have time to go into town. But tomorrow, I'll go with you to Shin'yume proper and get a phone."

 Shion smirked. "Oh, so you finally asked me on a date."

 "That is not what I said."

 But she just chuckled to herself like she won something.

 Then I remembered. I still had homework to do.

 I looked at the time and groaned. "There's no way I'm finishing all of this tonight."

 Shion stretched her arms over her head. "Sucks to be you."

 "Oh my god, would it kill you to show a single shred of sympathy?"

 "Ha. It already did," she grinned.

 Yuki floated closer.

 "You've got the time, Shion. You don't need to sleep. Just let Ryu copy."

 Shion opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped.

 Slowly, she lowered her arms and grinned. Just enough to show the tips of her fangs.

 "Oh?" she said sweetly. "You need a favor?"

 I sighed. "Shion… oh damn it—"

 "Copy my homework?" she leaned in slightly. "Of course you can, Ryu. I'd be happy to help you out."

 "…For a small favor," I said flatly.

 She winked.

 I rubbed my temples. "You just fed from Inego an hour ago."

 "Waste not, Blondie," she said, flashing her fangs.

 I held out my wrist. Of course, Shion didn't hesitate.

 Her fingers curled around my arm—ice-cold, strong—and she brought it up to her mouth.

 There was a sharp sting, then warmth.

 Then… I felt something shift beneath my feet.

 Like sinking into a fever dream.

 My vision swam. My head went light.

 Shion. Yuki. Crescent Moon Academy.

 Earth. Everything felt far away.

 I felt a film, like a sheet of plastic or Saran wrap being lifted off my eyes.

 And then—clarity.

 I felt the sky stop spinning.

 Everything gradually returned, and I blinked several times.

 Suddenly, I could see Yuki.

 Not just a presence, not just a chalk outline hanging suspended by thin air—I could actually see her.

 She looked like a faded photograph, washed out and faded, but she was there.

 Her eyes blue like a winter morning. Hair white as mist.

 I didn't react. I didn't say a word. I wasn't even sure what I was seeing.

 But something in me felt off. Different.

 Shion pulled away and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

 I flexed my fingers. I felt… fine. But I wasn't sure if that was the truth.

 My mind flashed back in Inego lying in the hospital bed back in the nurse's office. No one seemed concerned that he was changing into something else.

 What the hell was happening to me?

 Casually, I said, "So… does your bite change people?"

 She shrugged. "Yeah. Makes 'em paler. Maybe a pint lower, but that's it."

 "Why? Is something wrong?" asked Yuki.

 I shook my head.

 Inego. Azuki. Shion nearly breaking down earlier. Oh yeah: Ken.

 I couldn't deal with something else now.

 I rolled my sleeve back down and tried to rub some warmth back into my arm. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

 She waved lazily. "Try not to die before then."

 She turned and took a few steps back towards the academy.

 I felt her steps ripple through the earth, each one ringing in my bones like an unspoken farewell.

 I didn't look back as I left Crescent Moon Academy behind me.

 I felt Yuki's presence before I saw her.

 She was always there, floating at the edge of my vision, soft like an old chalk drawing after the eraser has been over it once. Barely a shadow.

 Only now - she wasn't a shadow. 

 She was there. Real.

 The fading sunlight filtered through the grey forest's dead canopy, bathing her form in a soft, golden glow. I turned to face her fully, and the sight nearly stole the breath from my lungs.

 Her silvery hair caught the dying rays of the sun, cascading down her back like spun moonlight. Her figure hovered gracefully, untouched by gravity, and for the first time, I saw the color of her eyes clearly—an impossible shade of blue.

 They were almost glowing. Christmas lights under fresh snow.

 I stopped walking. I couldn't help it.

 Yuki noticed my stare, tilting her head curiously. "Ryu?"

 I swallowed hard, the words sticking in my throat. "I… I can see you. Really see you. Your eyes—they're blue."

 She gasped softly, covering her mouth with her fingertips.

 "They are?" she whispered, her voice fragile as glass. She examined her hands, her body, as if noticing them for the first time. Her brow furrowed gently in confusion. "I—I don't even remember if they were blue when I was alive."

 Her gaze flicked back up, locking onto mine. Her expression shifted, becoming vulnerable, almost timid. It was a side of Yuki I'd never seen, something hidden beneath the playful ghost I'd come to know.

 "You can't deny it now," she said. "Shion's bite is doing something to you. I don't care what she says."

 "You said yesterday that it was 'bringing me closer to death.' What the hell does that mean?"

 She furrowed her brow, resting her chin between her thumb and index finger as she thought.

 Damn it. She looked way too adorable.

 "She's not stealing your lifeforce or anything… but when she feeds from you it makes your spiritual energy stronger. You're certainly perceptive enough to see me now," she grinned.

 "Shion said she was only taking blood. Why is it different for me?"

 I continued to walk while Yuki floated beside me.

 Her cold presence had long since become a comfort, and truthfully, I was glad I had her to rely on.

 Yet, I couldn't pretend I hadn't heard Shion and Hibana's warnings.

 "Leave Yuki alone."