In Which Airi Makes a Bargain

The first sign of trouble the next day was Kazuko’s absence in math class. This alone would have been quite normal—Kazuko often skipped class—but several of Kazuko’s friends were also missing.

Then, during Airi’s next class, a student knocked. “The principal wants to see you.”

That was how Airi ended up in the principal’s office at lunchtime, sitting stiffly beside Kazuko. The brown-haired girl was there, too. Her shorn braid sat on the principal’s desk, looking as important as a murder weapon.

Airi eyed Kazuko, whose flushed cheeks betrayed her, even as she stared defiantly ahead. Was that pride or shame on Kazuko’s face? Airi couldn’t tell. She maintained a neutral expression as the principal turned his attention to her.

“You know why I called you in, don’t you?”

Airi chose to play dumb. “No, sir.”

The principal smiled, though his eyes were stony. “Then let me refresh your memory. Yesterday, a teacher heard a scream from a classroom on the second floor, so he went to investigate. And what did he find? You and your friends had cut this young lady’s hair and fled the scene. Tell me, isn’t that correct?”

Airi felt like every breath she took was too loud. “That’s correct.”

How am I supposed to get myself out of this situation? She risked a glare at Kazuko. Finally, the queen bee’s careless arrogance had caught up to her.

“Bullying will not be tolerated at this school. Before I inform you of the consequences, do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Expulsion. Suspension. The potential consequences swirled through Airi’s head, quickening her thoughts.

“...I was afraid of her.”

“What?” The principal stared at Airi. So did Kazuko.

Airi avoided Kazuko’s eyes. “I was afraid of Kazuko. That’s why I didn’t stop her. I know it doesn’t excuse my inaction, sir, and I’m very sorry. But you should know—” and Airi took a deep breath, knowing there was no going back from here. The lie unspooled like thread from her tongue: “Sir, Kazuko bullies me, too. That’s why I was afraid of her. You should know that Kazuko is kind of... the queen bee of the school, sir. She...”

“That is so not true, sir!” Kazuko blurted.

Forcing herself to ignore Kazuko, Airi said in her most tremulous voice, “Please, sir. I’m telling the truth.”

“I was under the impression that you were friends with her.” The principal’s eyes were filled with concern now, as well as suspicion.

“No, sir. I don’t know her that well,” Airi said, even as she thought of all the photos on her phone that she’d have to delete. There was that one where Kazuko had accidentally spit part of her drink out while Airi was taking the photo, turning the photo into a blurry mess. And the time Kazuko and Airi had gone to the mall right when it opened to snag the best deals. She felt a twinge of regret as she continued, “I’ve never bullied anyone, sir. You can ask her.” She nodded at the brown-haired girl.

“She didn’t cut my hair. She just watched,” the brown-haired girl said after a moment’s pause.

Airi forced herself to look into the brown-haired girl’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said, hoping that she sounded convincing. Her gaze flickered over to the braid on the desk. What a stupid, pointless way to get in trouble. Well, if Kazuko wanted to get herself expelled, she was not taking Airi down with her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want...”

Perhaps her apology was more genuine than she’d thought, or perhaps the stress of the previous day was finally catching up to her, but Airi felt her eyes well with tears. Luckily, that seemed to convince the principal.

“Next time, tell a teacher immediately, understand?”

Sensing that freedom was near, Airi nodded obediently.

“You may go. We’ll speak again tomorrow.”

Keenly aware of Kazuko’s eyes burning into her back, Airi pushed the door open. Once she was out of earshot, she ran, her footfalls slapping the tiled floor.

After school, Airi headed straight for home. She passed by several of Kazuko’s followers on her way without bothering to say hello to any of them. It felt oddly thrilling to not have to wait for Kazuko and head home together in a group. Yet a part of her was a little sad.

Ridiculous, that was what she was. She hadn’t even liked Kazuko! If she could have avoided being bullied some other way, she wouldn’t have become friends with any of them.

Besides, Kazuko was smart. She would have done the same if she’d been in Airi’s situation. That old saying... all for one, one for all? Foolish. No point in everyone going down with one person.

These were the thoughts racing through Airi’s head as she pelted down the sidewalk. Crossing the street, she barely noticed the car speeding down the road towards her until it honked at her.

Annoyed, she turned her head. It was a blue sports car, shiny new, and it sped closer every second. Did the driver have any intention of stopping?

That face...

She knew it.

Kazuko’s eyes gleamed at her from behind the wheel of the sports car. What had Kazuko said about that car? “My dad gave it to me for my birthday.” Several of Kazuko’s friends were piled in the back seat. She herself had sat in the back seat of that car many times.

Airi lifted her hand to wave and stopped mid-motion. Unease wormed its way through her chest.

This wasn’t the way to Kazuko’s house or the convenience store. Or the mall, or any of her usual haunts.

She heard a sound like an engine revving, accelerating. She blinked at Kazuko, unable, despite herself, to look like anything but a deer in the headlights. Say something! “Wait—” But, of course, it was futile to say that to an accelerating vehicle.

The car rammed into her. The initial pain was blinding and Airi couldn’t breathe, but it subsided after a few seconds and gave way to a heavy numbness, spreading through her whole body. She bent, pressed her hands to asphalt, vaguely aware of the blood trickling from her mouth. She coughed and the ground stained red. She had to get up, had to get out of the street... but her arms and legs felt funny. They wouldn’t move.

As the edges of her vision fuzzed and blurred, Airi heard a familiar voice scream, “Bye, traitor!” Shouts of agreement, growing fainter. Someone even laughed. She was almost grateful when the world vanished, taking with it the pain and leaving a cool blackness in its wake.

Friends don’t kill each other.

So why am I dead?

Floating in the darkness, Airi had plenty of time to think. She ran through every mistake she could’ve made leading up to that moment. But no matter how she considered it, she couldn’t figure it out.

Airi had done what anyone would have done! Had she misjudged Kazuko? Had Kazuko harbored some deep hatred for Airi that she’d managed to hide all this time? Or, had Kazuko simply been infuriated by the fact that she’d gotten caught and decided to take it out on Airi? That didn’t make sense!

The only other thing she could think of was that Kazuko had felt betrayed by Airi’s lie to the principal. Which was ridiculous! Airi had only done what she’d needed to in order to avoid getting in trouble. She’d thought Kazuko would understand.

Airi drifted for what felt like an eternity. The blackness was all the same, a dense nothingness with only her thoughts to keep her company.

Death.

Was this where her mother had gone after the final beep of the heartbeat monitor? If she drifted long enough, would she find her mother?

Suddenly the darkness had teeth. They gleamed at her in a curved grin like a knife blade. There was something wrong with that smile; it didn’t look like it could fit on a human face.

The teeth spoke.

“Lonely out here, isn’t it?”

Airi didn’t think it had been a long time since she died, but the sound, after the long silence, spooked her. Luckily, she had no heartbeat to quicken, no palms to sweat.

“It’s not bad out here,” she thought to herself. “There’s a lot of time to think.” But of course, the teeth couldn’t hear her.

“How careless of me,” said the teeth. “You don’t have a body anymore, do you? Your friend saw to that. Shall we fix that?”

A moment later, Airi felt something like a breath of springtime, settling into frozen earth. She took a deep breath and found that she had arms and legs and fingers she could wiggle. Never before had she felt so fond of her body. She also felt much more vulnerable. A body can be harmed; it can be torn apart by things like giant, sharp teeth.

“There, isn’t that better?” asked the teeth.

“Thank you,” said Airi, and the sound of her own voice was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard. She hesitated before asking her next question, curiosity and fear warring within her. “Do you have a body, too?”

The darkness around her swam, and Airi got the feeling that something large was moving around her, though she could see nothing. The teeth parted in a laugh that showed off their sharp points, elongating to impossible lengths. It was all Airi could do to bite off a scream.

“Was that a satisfactory answer for you?” asked the teeth.

“Who are you?” Airi asked.

The teeth said nothing, and Airi got the feeling that the thing, whatever it was, didn’t want to answer her question.

“What do you want with me?” she tried.

This time, the teeth replied, “I want to make a bargain with you.”

By now, Airi was fairly sure that the thing was a demon of some sort. And she might be a fool, but everything in her screamed that, however doomed she was already, it could get much worse if she accepted the bargain.

“You’re hesitant,” said the demon, amused. “You’ve already died. That’s the worst thing that can happen to a human. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that what you wanted to avoid most of all?” Its voice became cloying. “You were doing so well. All cut short, because of your friend. Your soul is all that remains, and even that will fade away soon. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

“You can bring me back to life?” Airi breathed. To live again... to feel the sun on her face and get a second chance. Suddenly, she wanted to live again, more than anything.

“I gave you your body back, didn’t I?” said the demon. “I can do more than that. If you accept, I can reincarnate you in a world even better than your own. Or... if you decline... I suppose we’re done here. Your soul will be gone soon.”

Burning cold seeped into Airi, leaching out the springtime from her veins. She felt herself dissolving into nothing again. After the reprieve, it was even worse than the first time she’d died, a painful slow death just like her mother’s.

“No! Wait!” Airi wheezed.

The teeth smiled once more. “Do you accept?”

“I... I have questions.”

“Of course. By all means, ask away,” said the teeth, taking on a charmingly polite tone.

“What do I have to do in return?” Airi demanded, bracing herself for the worst. To be honest, she couldn’t think of anything worse than death. Even if she lost her soul or something, she’d be alive.

“Not much at all,” promised the demon. “I only need you to live out a long, happy life in that other world. So, do we have a bargain?”

“This other world,” Airi said. “What’s it like?” She’d read a few books about other worlds, and depending on what kind of world it was, she knew she could be launched into anything from a dystopian hellscape to a fantasy RPG kingdom.

Here, she swore the demon’s voice became wistful. “Oh, it’s a lovely place. Full of life and magic, much more vivid than your own world. Why don’t I show you?”

A dazzling light parted the darkness. After her eyes adjusted, Airi saw a spherical world floating in the starless darkness. It was a myriad of greens and blues, so bright that her eyes watered. The world was surrounded in a sparkling membrane, like the glass around a snow globe. When she looked at the demon, its mouth practically drooled.

“Why don’t you go there yourself, if this world is so great?” she asked.

“I can’t, not anymore,” the demon growled. “I was banished a while back. I’m still rather sentimental about it.” But its teeth looked anything but sentimental; they gnashed furiously. “Now I can only peer into it, as one peers into a goldfish bowl. But you’re different. Your soul can slip into this world, and luckily for you, I have just enough strength to let you in.”

“So you reincarnate me, and I help you get into this world?” Airi asked, a million questions buzzing through her head.

The demon said eagerly, “Yes, but you needn’t do anything. All you have to do is live in this world awhile.”

“And after you get into this world? You’ll kill me. No thanks,” Airi said.

“Far from it. Our bargain ensures that as long as I live, so do you,” the demon promised.

“Okay, and why me? Plenty of people die every day. Or,” Airi’s eyes narrowed. “...do you present this bargain to everyone who dies? Are you a devil collecting souls, or something?”

“I do not waste my time with such pointless things,” purred the demon. “I approached you because I sensed a kindred spirit. You and I are similar in many ways.”

Looking at the demon, Airi doubted the sincerity of its words. She certainly didn’t think she had anything in common with it. However, she had two choices: either believe the demon and accept its bargain, or, well, vanish. Forever.

She looked at the swirling clouds on the world’s hazy surface. She turned back towards the demon’s teeth. “When you get in, this world will be destroyed, won’t it?”

The demon grinned at her. “Perhaps. But not to worry. You, body and soul and all of that, will live on. So, you agree?”

With a sense that she was hurtling towards her doom, Airi nodded.

“Say it!” the teeth hissed.

“I agree to your bargain,” she choked out.

The next sound she heard was a terrible scream of triumph. She thought she would be torn apart by the sheer volume, but the demon breezed past her, whipping her hair in the opposite direction. The next thing she knew, a writhing mass of darkness, almost like a planet itself, slammed into the barrier surrounding the other world. The nothingness around her absorbed most of the impact, but even so, Airi’s skin tingled.

When the darkness retreated, the barrier looked unchanged, until Airi got closer. She saw what appeared to be the faintest of cracks in its iridescent, rippling surface. It was far too small for the demon to get in, but...

“In you go,” said the demon’s voice from all around her, and she felt the darkness push her down towards the barrier. “Quickly, before the barrier closes back up. I haven’t the strength to crack it again.”

“Wait,” Airi said in a panic. “Tell me more about this world. What are the people like? Wha—” The darkness shoved her through the crack in the barrier, and the demon’s voice disappeared. So did the darkness and the silence, replaced by the whoosh of wind.

Later, Airi wished that her senses hadn’t been so overloaded and underused. As it was, she caught glimpses of a violet sky, impaled with the brightest stars she’d ever seen. They glowed and winked like colorful pins. She couldn’t see the crack in the sky anymore, but one of the stars seemed to have detached from the glittering tapestry above. It fell all around her, trailing green sparks.

The feeling of falling lasted only a moment. There was a splash, and an explosion of green sparks, and she was submerged in ice-cold darkness that snuffed out the green light of the star. She tried to suck in a breath and filled her lungs with water. How embarrassing, to die again after just being reincarnated—

She remembered her bargain with the demon. It wasn’t likely that she’d be given a third chance at life.

Struggling against the current, Airi heaved herself towards the light and the surface. Air—it felt like heaven. Through gasping breaths, she looked around for a boat or a rock, something she could grab onto.

“Here, take my hand!” shouted an old woman’s voice, cracked with age. Airi barely managed to locate the woman's hand, waving on the bank of the river.

Once she was lying on the wet grass on the riverbank, Airi’s strength failed her. She felt the adrenaline leave her veins, replaced by a dull, aching tiredness and a pounding in her head. Her limbs felt heavy.

She vaguely recalled getting up and following the old woman through a crowd of people. Voices buzzed around her. They seemed to be discussing something... something about a star falling. Old men grumbled, “We haven’t had one in a hundred years.” “More than that.” Women whispered, “Could it be...” and eyed the sky nervously. Airi stumbled into the paths of a few children who nearly knocked her over. They seemed to be the only unconcerned ones, chasing one another and screaming with excitement.

Somehow, she wound up in front of a wooden door. The old woman unlocked it and Airi saw a bed in the corner of the small room. She didn’t remember collapsing into it, but she must have, because she soon fell asleep.