"Her heart's failing! Get the defibrillator! Three... two... one... again! Three... two...one.."

"Ah, you're awake," A monotone voice filled Saiko Paath's head, and her eyes fluttered open. The sun filled her ocean blue eyes and she had to blink to see for a moment. It was cloudy, and a beautiful day outside. Confusion set in as the last place she remembered was her hospital bed. She'd been afflicted into a comatose state after being hit in the head from a stray baseball from the stadium. She'd finally given up on staying conscious and had succumbed to the pain, yet here she was. Was it heaven?

The voice. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and a person stood in front of her with long black hair, and lavender eyes. Dressed in a school uniform, Saiko could only tell they were a female due to the skirt they were wearing.

"Welcome to the Afterlife," They greeted her, the lack of emotion in their voice surprising Saiko. The girl was holding a dark gun, and stared at her. "I see you're the newest one here. Name?"

"The Afterlife?"

"I asked you your name," The person repeated, ignoring her confusion. Saiko looked around, confounded at her surroundings as she saw a school.

"Saiko," She said quietly, looking down at the ground. "Saiko doesn't understand, is this Heaven?"

"Hell no," The person scoffed, annoyed that they had to explain once again. They rolled their lavender eyes, frustrated. "This is the Afterlife, I told you. See here? This is the school. I don't have much to tell you, but don't fall into a normal school routine or you'll be obliterated."

"Obliterated?"

"Yes. You will die... but for real."

The girl disappeared without a trace as she ran far away, leaving the confused Saiko still on the ground. Shakily, she stood, gasping as she did. It had been so long since she had used her legs- hell, it had been forever since she'd even moved on her own free will. She smiled, moving her hand in awe.

"Just what do you think you're doing! Ugh, you're so stupid!" A feminine voice rang out from behind her, and she turned to see a pink haired female smacking a brunette male.

"Ow!" He cried out, rubbing his cheek, and Saiko just stared in confusion. They hadn't seemed to notice her yet. "Cana, that was unnecessary."

"It was extremely necessary! How could you say that?!" She huffed, and turned towards the blue haired female. The girl's blue eyes widened as her gaze landed on Saiko. "Um, Akinari, I think we've got a newbie here."

"Oh!" The male dubbed Akinari exclaimed, waving as a greeting. He had brown hair that hung in his face with bright emerald eyes. He also wore a school uniform along with the girl. "Hello... Sorry, we're awkward... welcome to the Afterlife?"

"Hi," Saiko greeted as well, trying to keep her excitement under control. She hadn't talked to someone in such a long time, that this was refreshing. "So... what is this place?"

"The Afterlife!" The pink haired female repeated, her pink pigtails standing out against her pale appearance. "This is a sort of purgatory. None of us accepted that we were dead, so we were sent here. I'm Cana, by the way. How about you?"

"Saiko."

"Psycho?" Akinari's eye's widened, surprised that her name was the crazed term. It was a common misunderstanding, but it still bothered Saiko to explain it. "What kind of name is that-"

"S-a-i-k-o," Saiko explained, used to always having the constant confusion. Like everyone else, they were also in school uniforms while Saiko was still in a hospital gown. "It's okay!"

"Come on, Akinari," Cana punched him and he hissed in pain, cursing. Saiko's eyes widened as Akinari didn't retaliate to the hit. That wasn't something she was used to. "She has a different name, but don't be mean."

"Sorry..." He sighed, crossing his arms. "It was just strange. Anyways, since you're here... you must have had a pretty messed up life, in order for you to be sent here. Would you like to join our organization? We fight against the people who imprison us in the Afterlife."

"Um-"

"MOVE!"

Cana pushed Saiko out of the way, and Saiko's eyes widened as she watched a dagger lodge itself into the pink haired girl's chest. Cana choked as she fell to the ground, Akinari catching her gracefully as the girl screamed in pain.

"Cana!" Akinari shouted, but didn't have quite as much of a panic as Saiko thought he should. Instead, he just seemed... annoyed. Pulling out an elaborate gun from his belt, Saiko was extremely confused as it looked as if he was ready for a fight. "Ugh..."

"Um, shouldn't we get her to a hospital or something?" Saiko tilted her head slightly, watching as Akinari shook his head. "And Saiko thought she was crazy..."

"We can't die in the afterlife," Akinari explained, his eyes scanning the environment as he looked for the perpetrator. "But we feel the pain. It hurts the same..."

"Ah."

"Look out, here she comes!"

Saiko and Akinari stared as someone floated down to them. She had long red hair with eyes to match, and dark wings to coincide with her dark persona. A malicious smirk sat on her face.

"Ditching school hours, are we?" It almost seemed like she was pouting as she shook her head at Akinari. As her gaze shifted towards Saiko, her eyes widened. "Y...you."

"This is Saiko!" Saiko gestured to herself, not quite heeding the warnings Akinari was attempting to give to her. "Saiko thinks this Afterlife business is weird, but Saiko will deal with it. Who are you?"

"Saiko," The redhead did not answer Saiko's question, she merely turned on her heel and took flight once again. She disappeared, causing Akinari's jaw to drop.

"Well, I've never seen that before..." Akinari stood, leaving the bloody Cana on the ground while Saiko stared, confounded. "I'm surprised she didn't try to kill us... That's what she normally tries."

"Um, who is she..?"

"No one knows," Akinari replied simply. "We call her "Akuma" but no one knows for sure. Just stay away from her, or she'll do what she did to Cana, to you."

"Okay.." Saiko sighed, still extremely confused but deciding to trust the two she'd met first.  "She seems dangerous, anyway. Saiko wouldn't ever want to harm people."

Hey everyone! Hope you're all as excited as I am for this :) Cana and Akinari are my characters if you were confused.

*edited* if anyone was wondering why they got an update for this

Thanks for reading!