Graveyard Horrors

Pepperoni, Sausage, Pineapple, Pepper… Akane looked over the different pizza options, her eyes falling to the toppings section of the menu. Could she really put any toping she wanted onto her Pizza for just 150¥…? Whatever ¥ was… Seemed like code for something but the girl wasn’t really sure what it meant. Looking back to the pizza section she located something else and decided she wanted it.

“Are you ready to place your order?” The waitress asked. Like the host she too was a little concerned by the fact that a child had demanded seating. Did she even have the means to pay for what she’d get?

”Yes! I want the Everything Special please!” Akane exclaimed, moving the menu so the waitress could see before jabbing a finger at the picture of what she wanted.

“And what would you like to drink?”

”Mmm… Orange!” Akane scanned the menu again pointing out the orange looking beverage when she couldn’t find the juice option she’d seen at the other restaurant.

“Alright I’ll put your order in. It will be about twenty five minutes.” The waitress stated, taking the menu with her as she left.

Twenty five minutes seemed like a long time to have to wait but Akane’s stomach grumbled in response to her concerns. She could wait if it meant answering the monster in her belly.

“She was supposed to be dressed and prepared for the mourning today at one! What do you mean you can’t find her! This is outrageous! What kind of sick person would steal a body from the funeral home!?”

A body? Like, as in a non-living human? Was he talking about a person? Akane’s foxlike ears strained to hear more of the conversation to help piece together what little she could from the man’s distressed behavior. A few of the grossly concerned faces around the restaurant drew reassured breaths and sat back into their seats after realizing the man apparently worked with one of the city’s Funeral homes. So weird. To think people would do stuff with a body… Even Mitsuoki didn’t leave bodies lying around. She’d heard plenty about Mitsuoki’s companions from Kouta, the ones represented by the stone monument he’d apparently built as a memorial to them having lost their lives some time before her own existence became realized. She watched as the man cursed, hastily paid for his meal and then left, peeling out of the restaurant’s parking lot in his vehicle. Poking her pizza Akane deemed it to be cool enough to actually eat now and pulled a cheese layered piece off the platter.

”You have such cute ears.” The girl stated with a smile, resting her head in her hands.

Akane cupped her hands over her ears, giving the girl a confused look. Cute ears? What was cute about human ears anyway?

”No. Not those ones silly. These ears.” The black haired girl reached up to her head and made floppy motions with her hands to indicate the ears on top of Akane’s head. The manifestation of her fox ears…

”You can see my ears!?” Akane’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened in surprise. And here she had thought the only living human who could actually see her fox ears was Shiro! To think there was actually someone else around who could see her spiritual form! Akane wasn’t even bothered by the strange looks she got from nearby customers inside the restaurant. The statement and Akane reaching up to fox ears that none of them could see was a very strange thing to see for those who couldn’t see beyond the physical realm of existence.

”And you have a big fluffy tail too. I have to admit you look so adorable I feel like I could just eat you up right now.” The visiting girl gave Akane an innocent looking smile, taking in the girl’s physical, and spiritual appearance.

Not having much to talk about with the newcomer, Akane focused on her pizza which she was beginning to realize was a bit much even for her usually ravenous appetite. ”Want some?” Akane held up a slice and offered, going back on her earlier defiance in letting the mystery girl eat her pizza.

”No thanks. I’m not in the mood for pizza.” Mary Sue raised the palm of her hand to politely refuse.

”You’re not hungry?” Akane once again found herself tilting her head in confusion. Why had she come into a pizza place if she wasn’t hungry for pizza?

”Oh no. I am hungry, just not for pizza.”

”What are you hungry for then?” Akane asked, now slightly curious what it was Mary Sue was hungry for. A string of cheese dripped off the slice she held and landed on her plate.

”Want to come with me and find out?” Mary Sue asked, her voice brimming with unusually high levels of enthusiasm.

”Nh!” Akane nodded eagerly, her mouth filled. She’d dared another bite of pizza before officially calling it quits.

”Then if you’re finished you should come with me. I’ll show you what I want to eat instead of pizza.”

Yeah okay it was a graveyard… But why were they here? Akane’s fox ears twitched. This really felt weird all of a sudden… Like they were in a place where they shouldn’t be. “But I thought we were going to get food?” Akane’s earlier enthusiasm now being dwarfed by an increasingly prevalent sensation of dread.

”It’s a wonderful place to eat in private when you don’t want to be disturbed.” Mary grinned, leaning down to meet Akane face to face.

Creepy. This was all too strange and creepy. This girl suddenly felt very disturbing to Akane. ”I don’t think I want ice-cream anymore. I… should go…” Backing up on all fours while still in a sitting position, Akane moved to distance herself from the girl before turning around and jumping up to run away. An action that might have been successful had one of Mary’s hands not grabbed her wrist. The feeling of dread rushed across Akane’s very existence and she yelped in surprise at how icy cold Mary’s hand was. Deathly cold! It was way to warm out for someone to be as cold as Mary was. ”Let me go!” Akane turned to face Mary, pressing her free hand against Mary’s own hand in an attempt to pry herself free from the icy grip.

The bottle cap! She wasn’t sure why she thought about it just then but… Akane reached into the pocket of her shorts and drew forth the old bottle cap she’d retrieved from Greig’s shop. What exactly it was that compelled Akane to throw it at the hollow? She didn’t know. Maybe it was how desperate and hopeless her current situation felt. But she threw the cap. In that moment something very peculiar happened… Under the shade of the graveyard trees, lamps that’d been turned on to provide some light within the shade immediately went out, casting the middle of the graveyard into a mysterious darkness. Akane wanted out of this frightening and terrifying situation and she subconsciously started wishing someone was here to help her. The bottle cap landed and from it poured forth a cloud of oddly shaped shadows.

”What is this!?” Averibus hissed, attempting to shield herself from the fox-like shades that’d sprung forth from the girl’s trinket. Akane couldn’t see the hollow through the darkness and she didn’t want to see it. Everything about her was terrifying and Akane had no intentions of becoming a Hollow’s lunch! She ran, Averibus’ summoned corpse made an attempt to catch the girl but she avoided getting caught by its decayed reach. She broke free of the shadows, dashed to the edge of the graveyard and scaled over the wall of the cemetery before making a break for a more populated area of the city. Akane didn’t stop running until she had located the city’s local Shinigami patrol.