Not long after...

"Remind me why I agreed to stay at your place ?" You asked, lying shirtless on Aji's bed, which she let you use just to examine you.

"Because I didn't tell you I was going to study you ?" She replied with a dark grin that didn't help you feel good at all.

At least she made you remember that being Gifted was something uniquely human that didn't apply to demi-humans. It didn't take long for you two to get to Aji's place, a humble appartment at the third story of a small building. In there, there wasn't much to see, clean rooms, classic furniture, nothing much to expect from an appartment. The only thing special was... That you suddenly found yourself unable to move, with Aji giggling behind you as she whispered to your ear.

"Now, little spirit, I want to study you a bit, so behave."

...

Nothing more to say about how you arrived here... It was pretty quick. Now you knew that Aji had powers over spirits and other dead beings such as you, but you weren't as prone as she was to see the secrets lying in your body. And your own body didn't seem eager either, as anything Aji tried yet seemed to fail, and even though she was still keeping that dark grin on her face, you could guess it wouldn't last that much longer.

"Come on." She muttered to herself. "There might be something that works... I'm sure I know something like that..."

While she struggled to find a way to get whatever she was looking for, you could either stare at the blank ceiling or talk with her. You were curious about why she wanted to study you so much, and because of that chatting seemed like the better option, at least for now.

"Remind me why you want to study me ?" You asked, hoping that you would get at least something close to a real answer.

"Because spirits fascinate me, like most kitsunes." Aji replied, seemingly hastily as she looked still lost in thoughts. "And I want to understand how dead people can come back to life just like that."

Hearing this confused you a bit. "Just like that" ? What does that even mean ? You haven't heard at all about similar situations in the past, no matter how much time you spent learning about everything remotely close to the Emergence and the Gifted.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'come back to life just like that' ?"

"You didn't know ?" Aji asked, looking at you with an intrigued look. "More than half of the Gifted were killed before coming back to life with their strange abilities."