“You would be correct.”

“Aha, I knew it!”

“Impressive that you got it right on the first guess.”

“I had a roommate who was really into anime and Japanese culture. She would always bring up some trivia so I guess enough rubbed off that I can recognize certain names.”

“Is that why your Japanese is so good? I was surprised with how fluent you spoke when you greeted me.”

“Huh?” Seodra looked confused at his comment before her face morphed as if a huge revelation had come to her, “Oh right, I should’ve explained this first; I’m not speaking Japanese right now.”

…

Kokoro gave a blank blink, now it was his turn to look confused, “But, you’re--”

“Check out my mouth,” the ruby girl interrupted, pointing at the part in question with both her fingers, “Look closely, notice anything off?”

Leaning in, Kokoro examined the woman’s pillowy lips as she spoke. Something abnormal was happening, her lips weren’t forming the words she was speaking! 

Seeing his intrigue, Seodra continued, “We call it Spiritual Communication here. Think of it like a device giving out a signal. When I speak, my soul is giving out a spiritual signal which yours can receive.” 

While she was saying one-syllable words, her mouth would move as if she was speaking multi-syllable words and vice versa. 

“Languages are like frequencies,” she explained, “Right now I’m speaking English since I was talking to my friend with it earlier before I spotted you. Do you notice the difference?”

The ruby woman moved closer as she spoke again, “Now I’m speaking my home language, Irish. Do you notice the difference?”

Even though Kokoro was hearing the exact same words being said, the pattern in which her mouth moved was completely different. The only contrast was the slight change in the pronunciation of her words but it was Japanese he was hearing.

“And now, I’m speakin in englesh boeht wit a very 'eavily Iresh accent. Do you nahtice de defference?” continued Seodra, she giggled to herself for having to speak like that. She hasn’t spoken like that since she was a child or when she was with her parents, it was almost embarrassing doing the voice in front of someone else, “My words and the intent behind them are sent as one frequency but when you receive it, your soul automatically converts it to a frequency you know. Usually, it’ll be whatever language you think in.”

Witnessing the whole experience was so jarring that Kokoro's head started hurting staring at it so intensely.

“If you’re getting a headache then you should stop paying attention to it,” she advised, turning away from him before continuing on the path she was setting them on, “I promise, in a week or two it’ll stop bothering you and then eventually you’ll stop noticing it as well.”

“So what language are you hearing me in?”

“Right now English, only because I was getting too much of a kick out of how strong your accent was in Irish. Don’t even get me started on Gaelic.”

“...I-is that bad? Because I know a bit of other languages, I can try speaking in those.”

“I’m messing with you, don’t worry about it,” she told him, pulling Kokoro forward to get him moving again, “Overall it doesn’t matter outside of specifics. While miscommunication can still happen in this world, just make sure you’re always speaking with intent and there shouldn’t be anyone you can’t speak with. Now come on, let’s make your first day here fun.”

“And where exactly are you taking me?”

“You’ll see.”

With how vague the answer was, Kokoro replied, “Can it not be someplace loud. My head is still pounding not just from learning about spiritual communication but processing the whole thing about me being dead.”

“That dampers my plan a bit,” Seodra mumbled to herself, “Back-up plan it is!”

While the ruby woman had grand plans for the two of them, settled with leading them to a special area. When they had first arrived Kokoro thought of it as a simple marketplace, though it was set upon the weird landscape of purgatory, the people who constructed the area did their best working around it. 

Stands were everywhere even on top of the uneven grounds, some in places that made Kokoro wonder if the owner was insane or made peace with the fact that his entire building could collapse at any moment. A variety of billboards had plenty of creative imagery hanging over each shop in some way as an indicator. The decorations still hung off of every tree and building with many fancy stones and displays of flashing lights he hadn't seen before; he wanted to assume neon lights but the sign they were put on was made out of wood and had no electrical equipment put around it.

The lively crowd also surprised him. There were people dressed in clothing he had only seen in books or history documentaries. A group of Buddhist-looking Monks politely passed by him before stopping to give way to a couple of Vikings and going to chat with a witch doctor.

Seodra spoke again after giving the white-haired ghoul a moment to take it in, “This is one of the many shopping districts here. As you can see, it got quite a diverse amount of attires and no, a costume party is not happening nearby. This is just something you’ll need to get used to. But if you look closely, you’ll see this place has a stronger base to your home.”

On second look, Kokoro did get what she meant. Through all the different people he was seeing, he did notice there were more people of Asian descent dressed in more casual attire than any other group there, especially among the store owners. Moreover, the specific designs of the decorations seemed to favor the familiar base.

“I assumed you’ll want at least one place that feels somewhat familiar so you don’t feel too out of water here,” Seodra told him, eyeing some of the shops, “I would’ve preferred going to the festival nearby I heard they were having today but that’ll obviously be too noisy for you.”

Kokoro gave a small apology, scratching his cheek, “Sorry, maybe another time.”

“Oh is that a date you’re offering?”

“No,” was the cold immediate answer Kokoro gave, he didn’t even blink when he said it.

There was an unprecedented silence for a moment before Seodra told the amber-eyed ghoul, “...You know, while I was kidding it still stings getting rejected that coldly. Flatter me a little, don’t make me sound like a hellish option.”

“It’s nothing personal I promise,” he defended himself, though he undeniably felt more liberated speaking the way he did since he’s not on the clock. Masking one’s words can be taxing at times, that’s one of the benefits of being dead, now he no longer has to care about what he says to people, “It’s more of a Me thing than you.”

“If you say so,” huffed Seodra, she’ll swallow her damaged pride for now since it seemed like his words weren’t tipped with malice, “Well if we see each other again, I wouldn’t mind taking you to a district I’m more familiar with.”

“It would be appreciated.”

The duo had traversed the marketplace a bit, seeing all the common antics that take place. People arguing over prices, the quality of the good, not knowing what something does, and the classics of someone being way too entitled. But alongside them, there were people performing tricks, playing with fire, and doing whatever shenanigan they could to attract potential customers to be interested in what they’re doing. It breathed in a nostalgic feeling walking through it all, back at a simpler time where things felt more lively. If the sky weren’t a common reminder, he might’ve forgotten that this wasn’t earth.

“Do you find it weird?” he finally asked as they were walking.

“You got to be more specific here,” Seodra responded, he had no idea how vague his statement was for a veteran like her. That can be applied to a lot of things here that she wouldn’t think twice about anymore.

“Purgatory, the fact that it exists.”

“Of course, I don’t think there’s a single person who came here who wasn’t a bit queasy about this place’s existence. Few concepts really explore the realm of the in-between and even then it’s more of a footnote to the big picture; a place meant to be moved on from yet here we are.”

“Exactly. It feels weird that between the literal fires and misery of hell below us and the utopian heaven there’s…. this. That’s like being alive but isn’t and I’m still trying to get my mind around it.”

Seodra shrugged, “Relax, you’re doing better than most people. My first reaction was, ‘Oh fuck there is an afterlife’ and then I spent my first month here living like a hermit contemplating my life.”

“Damn,” Kokoro commented, even his stone face showed cracks hearing her.

“What!? Do you blame me? Stuff like this makes you wish that maybe you should’ve taken different actions in your life,” as she was speaking, the ruby girl looked at her wrist where there seemed to be a strange bracelet on her wrist, “Where if you had made changes in your life when you were younger then maybe you would have fewer regrets in your life and wouldn’t have to deal with such bothersome things.”

The white-haired man examined the bracelet she was eyeing, spotting that the chains were in the shapes of golden handcuffs that connected each other, between them were a rainbow array of gems.

“Is that what she woke up with?” he thought to himself. Compared to his own, hers seemed less gnarly but something was emitting off of it he couldn’t put his finger on. It sparked Kokoro into asking, “So you have one of these chains too?

Holding up his own he says, “I’ve been wondering about them and now I’m even more confused seeing yours look so fashionable.”

Seodra’s body shuddered eyeing the chains attached to his arm, “Yeah, yours is certainly more bone-chilling to look at.”

“Why do we have such things? And why does yours look like that?”

“Huh, mine?” She stammered, her voice seemed shaken from the simple question.

“Don’t you at least know why we have it? If I hear why yours is the way it is then maybe I can get an idea of the reason behind mine.”

Suddenly Seodra’s face started turning red as she started running away, “Ah, you know what? I’m hungry for some ramen noodles, let’s get some.”

The Irish woman pulled out a small ruby gem, its vermillion hue being comparable to her hair, momentarily flashed it to her white-haired company before continuing on her hasty departure.

“Hey wait,” Kokoro called out, about to chase after her. His confusion was only growing quicker by the second, “Who drags a stranger unfamiliar with the land to the market of all places and leave him alone? And do all Irish folks say Ramen Noodles? Pick one! It’s either ramen or noodles.”

His efforts to get answers were cut short, as well as his ongoing internal rant about unnecessarily expanding words. A black blur slashed through the air between them before crashing into the ground. clods of dirt that were knocked up rained from the sky and a puff of dust filled the area of the crash site.

Despite his vision being skewed from the dust, Kokoro found himself marching forward through the mess. Trying to make his way through, he called for Seodra to see if she was ok; whatever dropped from the sky landed closer to her than him. It was difficult getting his voice out to be heard, him speaking in a stagnant voice aside, there was an uproar among the crowd. While most of it sounded more like confusion than panic, it caused enough of a ruckus to drown out a monotonous person trying to call out for someone.

Through the chaos, a voice broke through that Kokoro heard.

“Shikata ___”

“That’s Seodra,” thought Kokoro, he looked around trying to discern where it came from.

“Shikata r__”

Being in his head, he thought, “It doesn’t sound like she’s in danger but her voice does seem… alarmed.”

“R__!”

“What is she saying?”

“RUN!”

“From what?”

A timely shout from the crowd answered his curiosity, “DEMON!” 

Hearing such a supernatural concept being called out in real life, or whatever you can call his existence at the moment, was so foreign and off-putting that his mind couldn’t process it for the warning being given. Instead, what came to mind were more questions.

Crossing his arms as he pondered over such obvious intentions.

His poorly timed thought session was interrupted when the low but ghastly sound seeped into his ear like an invasive worm, and an unsettling chill, one that wasn’t felt in years, was felt in his bones.

Slowly Kokoro turned his head toward the sound’s origin. He could feel a menacing presence nearby and a jitter sensation crawled up his chained arm.

The dust dissipated enough for him to see a silhouette of what crashed into the ground, and what he could see wasn’t human. It was a creature that had a heavily grotesque form, with only the being recognizable as human-shaped, and its tall physique loomed over him by over half his entire body.

Whatever it was had noticed Kokoro’s presence as well, glaring back at him with bloodshot eyes that pierce through the dust cloud; the intensity felt as though it was setting its sights on Kokoro’s very soul.