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"Oh shit."
Oka stared at the body. It was a girl, around her age, with gray hair, still tied up into a ponytail. Upon prying them open, her eyes were gray too. She seemed to have died of internal bleeding, with the bones in her entire arm and half of her ribs absolutely wrecked. Oka regularly went dumpster diving to find objects she could sense the energy of for practice, and she had found some really weird stuff, but this was a first.
Oh god, what the fuck do I do with this? she thought. I should report this to the police, or, or, something!
But then those intrusive thoughts kicked in. The ones that tell her to take risks. The ones that encourage her to try things she knows she shouldn't do.
Keep it, they told her. See what you can do with it. Now THAT'S real magic.
She picked up the body- the corpse was unexpectedly light -and headed home through the maze of alleyways she usually frequented, slowing to a stop when she arrived at her abode- the platonic ideal of a haunted house.
The door of the Occult Room (although there was still a sign left up from the previous owners that read "Pipis Room") flung open as she kicked it, and she stumbled inside. She dropped the body unceremoniously and attempted to catch her breath. Well, I guess I'm in too deep to give up now, she thought, sighing. The girl looked around the room, messy hair shaking as her head swiveled around, assessing the various and sundry bookshelves to see which dusty old tome would have what she needed in it. Necronomicon? No. Tome Of Monsters? Maybe if this goes wrong. The Wild Book Of Se-no, and I need to hide that damn thing. She ran her fingers over a large, black book that was taller than it was thick. Aha! This one. Necromancy For Dummies.
The ritual was fairly easy to set up. The candles were lit, the cuts were made, and the words were spoken, making sure to pronounce the names correctly. She grabbed a bow of Cheezits (Extra Crispy of course) and scuttled back to let the magic happen. Literally. I'd better keep my distance. I've seen Practical Magic enough times to know that when you resurrect somebody you don't fucking stand over the body.
Over the course of a few minutes, the magic began to flow. The room went darker than dark, not an absence of light but rather the presence of its opposite counterpart. It was like negative light. The candle flames turned blue, and began to flicker violently. Most people would expect the room to go cold, but it actually became quite warm, as all the heat was sucked out of the body. Unlike most people, Oka was unfazed, as for her, it was Tuesday. However, she did jump when the eyes opened.
The figure sat up and blinked, a confused expression on her face. She looked empty, as one would expect of a goddamn zombie, but something about it looked strikingly... natural. As if she looked like that before she died. As if she had always been an emotionless husk. "Where am I?" She quickly looked around, startling the poor occultist. "Who are you?"
"Um, I-I am Oka Ruto," she said with as much bravery as she could muster, which wasn't much. "This is my home."
The girl put her hand up to her forehead as if she had a headache, and grimaced. "How did I get here?" She paused, before adding, "...and why am I so cold?"
"You're, uh, dead. Sort of." Oka sighed. "I found your body in a dumpster, and so I took you home, and, uh revived you."
The undead girl analyzed Oka carefully, causing her to freeze in fear. "Are you undead too?" she asked.
"U-uh, no."
She looked genuinely shocked. "But you're so pale!"
Oka blushed profusely. "I, um, don't get out much." At least not during the day, she added mentally.
"Huh." She seemed to realize something, and grew solemn, but she said nothing.
"Is something w-wrong? Tell me who you are, and w-what happened to you."
She took a deep breath. "I am Ayano Aishi. And, well..."
She had gotten them alone. Sure, two corpses would be more annoying to dispose of, but the blonde was following the brat around like an excited puppy. She would deal with that one second. She was clearly a pushover.
Or so she thought. She was quickly and easily overpowered due to her fatal underestimation. She struggled, and managed to get out of her grip, but in a frantic flurry of blows, the stupid puppy dog of a girl killed her.
The school couldn't afford the bad publicity of an attempted murder, much less killing in self-defense. So instead of calling the police, they threw the body and the weapon in a dumpster and made them agree to never speak of the incident again.
They left her to rot.
"That's... terrible..." Oka said honestly when she finished speaking. "You've been wronged."
Ayano silently stood up and grabbed the knife. The occultist initially froze, but her fear turned to confusion when the sharp implement was placed carefully in her hand. Most of the blade was caked in dried blood, but the few bits that were clean glistened in the light of the candles. "Do it. Put me back to how I was. I could never have my senpai now. I can't even go back to school. Or anywhere else."
Oka stared at her, and slowly turned her gaze down to the knife. No. She cast it aside, throwing it to the side of the room. "No," she said aloud. "No."
The wronged girl let out a small sob. "Why? Why torment me like this?"
Oka shook her head and put her hands on either side of the tortured soul's face. "You can stay here. I'll take care of you. I'll make you food. We can watch movies, or play video games, or, or, practice magic, whatever you want!" She paused to catch her breath. "I don't want to see you go. Not after what's happened to you." She moved one of her hands to the girl's shoulder. "It can't end like this."
Ayano gave a small smile. "Alright."