Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Watery sunlight spills through the blinds, falling across Karube’s face and making him squint as he wakes. He groans quietly and rolls away from the light, squeezing his eyes shut as he tries to coax sleep back to him. It slips further and further from his grip as consciousness wins, thoughts swirling into the forefront of his mind. Last night crawls into his head, the school and the bathroom and the ghost. 

Karube’s eyes fly open. 

The ghost. Niragi. 

He flips back over. Had it all been a dream? It must have been, surely. Then his eyes settle on the pair of broken glasses sitting on his table. He sits up, heart galloping. If the glasses were there, then … 

“Niragi?” he calls. 

Drifting through the wall, Niragi trails along to then pause at Karube’s desk. His head dips as the looks at the pages of a textbook on the tabletop. Unlike last night, he seems more translucent, like the sunlight is draining the monotone colour and contrast from him. Karube sighs in relief and rubs a hand over his face. Niragi glances back at him. 

“Oh, you’re awake,” he says, even sounding quieter than last night. 

Before Karube can reply, his mother pushes into his room, elbowing the door open as she works her hair up into a ponytail. She’s already dressed for work, but clearly still in a hurry. With her hair up, she drops her hands to her hips, looking at her son. 

“Daikichi, you’re still in bed? Come on, get up already or you’ll be late for school,” she chastises. 

Karube blinks widely, stiffly sat up. His gaze flicks from his mother to Niragi then back to his mother. She frowns slightly at him, her own eyes turning to look around the room, following his flicking gaze. Niragi just stands there, stock-still. Seemingly not seeing Niragi at all, she sets her eyes back on Karube and ruffles a hand through his sleep-messy hair. 

“I left you breakfast on the table. Your dad and I won’t be home ‘til late, okay? Dinner’s in the fridge,” she says, “Now get up, and don’t forget to lock the door when you leave.” 

Leaning in, she presses a kiss to the top of his head and he shifts away, embarrassed. Still not seeing Niragi, she turns and leaves the room. Karube runs his hand through his hair, his face slightly pink. Niragi shifts, leaning against the desk, a small smile curves his lips. 

“Your mom seems nice,” he says. 

“She didn’t see you,” Karube replies, confused. 

Niragi shrugs, “I’m surprised you still can. People usually can’t see me during the day.” 

Karube hums in thought, swinging his legs off the side of his bed. His gaze turns back to the glasses sitting on his desk. They’d been hidden away in that painted-over cupboard for years, Karube’s probably the first person to touch them since Niragi died. The thought still makes his stomach twist in knots. He pushes the feeling down. 

“Maybe it’s because I’ve got your glasses?” 

Niragi glances sideways at them, frowns slightly. 

“Maybe.” His gaze shift towards the clock further along on Karube’s desk, “You should get ready for school.” 

Karube huffs lightly, joking, “What are you - my mother?” 

“I’m not kissing your forehead,” Niragi shoots back, a hint of amusement across his transparent face. Karube laughs and Niragi smiles lightly, then he drifts away to give Karube some privacy to get dressed. 

Karube yanks on his uniform, forgoing doing up the buttons on his blazer. He grabs his bag up from the ground where he’d left it that night - well, morning - then turns to carefully pluck up the broken glasses from his desk. Cradling them in his palm, he glances around his room. If he just shoves them in his bag, they risk accidentally getting even more broken. He hums quietly in thought. His dad wears reading glasses, maybe he has a spare case lying around that Karube can use. 

Stepping out of his room into the hallway, his eyes fall on Niragi and he pauses. There’s framed photos lining down the wall and Niragi is stopped in front of one, looking closely at it. Karube’s knows which one it is without having to get any closer: a family picture, from way back when Karube was a kid and more of a 'cute hassle' as opposed to the 'utter disappointment' he is now. They looked happy then, his parents. Karube too. 

Clearing his throat, he starts down the hall. Niragi looks towards him. 

“I think my dad’s got a glasses case I can steal, so these don’t get more broken,” Karube explains casually, turning his gaze down to the broken lens instead of sparing any glances towards the pictures. Niragi nods, turning to follow as Karube passes by him. 

He’s not supposed to go in his dad’s office, but at this point there’s little more he can do to ruin his dad’s expectations of him, so what does it matter to break this one little rule? Shoving the door open, he walks in and around his dad’s tidy desk, setting Niragi’s glasses down so he can dig through the drawers. As he does, he can see Niragi looking around in his periphery. 

“What does your dad do for work?” he asks. 

Karube shrugs, “Boring office shit.” 

Niragi raises a brow at him. 

“You don’t know what your dad does for work?” 

“Let’s just say me and my dad don’t see eye-to-eye about a lot of stuff. We’re not that close anymore.” He finally finds a pair of his dad’s old glasses. Taking his dad’s out of the case, he puts them into the drawer and replaces them with Niragi’s. Closing the case, he shoves it into his bag. 

After scoffing down breakfast, he shoves on his shoes and starts walking towards school. Niragi drifts along with him. Light spills directly through him. Karube can just barely see him, having to squint to make out the finer details of his features. It’s like he’s made fully out of pale silky gauze, even the usual dark inkiness of his hair and eyes have faded to a sheer greyish almost-nothing. His head turns on a swivel as they walk along, like he’s trying to take in every inch of the scenery around them. 

Karube yawns, feeling his jaw pop, and rubs a hand over his face before turning his gaze towards Niragi. A thought pops up. 

“You don’t sleep, right?” Karube says, “What did you do all night?” 

Niragi looks at him, then quickly looks away again. 

“I - uh - had a look around your house,” he answers, his voice still quiet. He lightly clears his throat, “The sunrise is nice from your roof.” 

“We’ll have to figure out something for you to do overnight, I guess.”

Niragi pauses to think. 

“I like reading. And turning the pages doesn’t take too much energy like other stuff.” 

“We could stop by a library if you want?” 

Niragi nods. 

Karube pauses, then shifts the straps of his backpack, “I was thinking … maybe my friends could help us out? Ann and Chishiya are really smart, and Kuina would be good back up if we run into trouble.” 

Niragi goes quiet. 

“I don’t -”

“You don’t have to answer now,” Karube cuts in, “but think about it maybe? They’ll be at school today, so you can meet them,” he pauses, “but if my mom couldn’t see you, I guess they probably won’t be able to either. It’d be easier at night, right?” 

Niragi nods shortly and Karube shifts his bag again, awkwardly. They continue walking in silence, Niragi going back to looking around and Karube upping his pace as he realises he’s going to be late if he keeps trailing along like he is. 

Karube only gets a few metres in through the school gates before a familiar voice is calling out to him. Turning, he sees Kuina hopping up from a bench beneath the shade of a tree. She marches towards him, her skirt swishing around her legs, her phone gripped in her hand. Behind her, Ann and Chishiya get up too, following slower after her. As Kuina reaches him, she shoves her phone in his face. 

“What is this?” she asks, her tone annoyed and accusing, “Did you bring someone with you last night?” 

Karube grabs her wrist to steady her hand, looking at the phone screen. He smirks when he sees the picture, the one he’d sent at 3am. There he is, and there’s Niragi’s blurry dark reflection. He makes a point of squinting at the picture. 

“What do you mean?” he asks, letting go of her wrist. 

She turns the phone back to her, zooms in, then shoves the phone at him again and jabs her finger at the blur. At his side, he can feel Niragi lean in, the brush of a chill against his shoulder and ear. 

“That! There! What is that?” she demands. 

He laughs, pushing the phone away. 

“Maybe it’s a ghost?” he teases. In his periphery, he sees the slight glow that is Niragi stiffen. Kuina’s face scrunches at him. 

“That’s not funny. Did you mess with it or something? Is it an edit?” 

“Kuina, do you really think I was fucking around with a photo app at three in the morning?” 

“But there’s something there!” 

“You were almost late again,” Chishiya cuts in as he reaches them. 

Karube shoots him a look. 

“I’m here, aren’t I?” 

“Barely.” 

The bell starts to ring and they quickly rush inside. 

Hurrying to their classroom, they pause at the door to peek in. Truthfully, Ann should be class president, but she’d taken no interest in the role, leaving it to get snatched up by some other student who was now talking to the teacher, giving the group enough time to sneak in and sit down. They hurry in, taking their seats before the teacher can look up and see them. Karube and Kuina sit at the back, Chishiya’s a few seats a head of them by the window, and Ann’s more towards the middle of the classroom. 

Niragi drifts along, unaffected and unseen, coming to stop at Karube’s side between his desk and the window. He leans to look through the glass, sunlight shimmering through him. 

“It’s so different during the day,” he murmurs to himself. 

Classes start and Karube watches how Niragi becomes utterly rapt. Karube can barely make heads or tails of the lessons, hardly even listening as the teacher drones on, but Niragi’s engrossed in it. His dark eyes light up, Karube can hear him murmuring answers before other students even speak up - and he’s correct on every question. He picks up on things Karube doesn’t even have a grasp on. 

It doesn’t take long for Karube to realise that Niragi mustn’t have been just any student, he had to have been a top student in his grade. No doubt he could’ve gotten into any school he wanted to after graduating. Something pangs in Karube’s chest then, realising that Niragi would never have that chance. Not to graduate, not to go on to higher education, not to be an adult with a job. 

Those thoughts consume him. He can’t even take notes, his mind swirling with everything that Niragi’s missed out on. His pen is poised in hand, hovering above the paper of his notebook as he writes nothing. Beside him, he can still hear Niragi confidently murmuring correct answers. Karube glances towards him, his gaze trailing over his eager expression, his dark attentive eyes locked towards the front of the classroom. 

Finally, the bell rings for lunch and Karube sighs softly in relief, tossing his pen down and shoving his books away. Students start to get up and move around the classroom. Ann and Chishiya hop up too, heading down to Karube and Kuina’s corner. Chishiya drops into the chair in front of Karube, turning its back towards the window. Ann moves the chair in front of Kuina closer to her desk. The two girls share a look, smiling at each other and Karube rolls his eyes, amused. Apparently they’d started dating shortly before he’d started at this school, he’d arrived right in time to witness their gooey 'honeymoon period'. 

As they eat, Karube turns thoughts over in his head, trying to figure out the best way to phrase it without revealing too much. Eventually, he gives up trying to be smart about it and just goes with his gut. 

“About that ghost story - what do you guys really know about it? How did it start?” he asks, picking at his food. 

“Curious now? What happened to your whole 'ghost don’t exist' stance?” Ann muses back. 

“Maybe he saw something last night?” Chishiya adds with a teasing hint of amusement. Karube just rolls his eyes. 

“Just call me curious. What do you know about it? Is the ghost supposed to be someone in particular? Who started it?” 

“It’s just a story that’s been passed down. Older students tell it to the newbies when they start high school to scare them. It’s been going on for …” Kuina pauses, “for years now, I think.” 

Karube deflates a little, “So no one knows anything about the actual story?” 

Ann sips her drink, quirking a brow at him. 

“'Actual story'? There probably isn’t an actual story, somebody probably just made it up years ago,” she says. She frowns at him, “Are you messing with us again? Like with that picture?” 

“Well, there is the gym teacher,” Chishiya muses thoughtfully. Karube turns his gaze on him. 

“What about the gym teacher? Which one?” he asks, trying to keep the pressing tone out of his voice and partly failing. 

“Coach Imaeda.” 

The lights suddenly flicker. The one above them goes completely out, staying dark even when the others come back on. As the other three frown up at the darkened bulb, Karube glances towards Niragi. His face is tense, dark eyes blown wide, his chest flutters like he can’t catch his breath and his mouth trembles. Again, Karube feels the urge to reach for him, to comfort him somehow, but he can’t. He can’t even talk to Niragi right now. 

“That’s weird,” Ann murmurs, squinting up at the bulb as if she could discern the reason for it going out. 

“Ugh, that coach guy gives me the creeps,” Kuina says with a dramatised shiver, seemingly moving on quickly from the light situation. 

“Why would Coach Imaeda know about the ghost story?” Karube pushes, his eyes turning back to Chishiya. 

“He went to school here.” 

“When?” 

“A decade ago, maybe? If the story’s as old as everyone says it is, maybe he was around when it started,” Chishiya replies indifferently, jabbing at his lunch with his chopsticks. 

“Maybe that creepo was the one who started it,” Kuina adds. 

Karube frowns, his gaze flicking shortly sidelong towards Niragi again. Even if gym was his best class, he hadn’t paid much attention to the teacher, just going with the flow of the class and passing by on his skill alone. He resets his focus. They have a class with him at the end of the day, he’d have to see if he could get anything out of the guy. He wasn’t so optimistic to think that he’d outright say anything about Niragi, but maybe he’d still slip up. 

As lunch comes to a close, they tidy up and Ann and Chishiya move back to their own seats. Karube pulls his book back out then glances subtly to the side to look for Niragi. He frowns when he sees that Niragi’s sat on the ground, his back pressed to the wall, drawn tightly in on himself. He’s shaky and flickering like the night before. Karube reaches down, subtly waving his hand to try and get his attention. 

“Niragi?” he says quietly, hoping to not be overheard, “Talk to me, what is it?” 

“Imaeda was one of the people who killed me,” comes Niragi’s whispered reply. 

Karube jerks in surprise, his head snapping towards Niragi, “What?” 

Niragi doesn’t answer, just curls tighter in on himself. His dark hair falls over his face, his glasses flicker in and out, Karube can see the slight mottling of bruises starting to appear. In a way, Karube is relieved that the light above him is already blown, but his chest still hurts to see Niragi looking so small. 

“Karube?” Kuina says from beside him and he twists to look at her. 

“What?” 

She frowns at him, pressing her lips into a line, “What are you mumbling about over there?” 

“Uh - just talking to myself.” 

Kuina puffs a sigh, “Jeez, you must still be tired.” 

“Ha, yeah, I guess.” 

Niragi disappears as soon as gym class starts. Karube glances away for a moment and when he looks back, Niragi is gone without a trace. Moments later, Coach Imaeda is walking into the middle of the gym and calling them into order as the class begins. Karube’s effort for the next 50 minutes is minimal, he spends most of his time staring across at Imaeda. Could this really be one of the people who killed Niragi? And he was just here teaching like it hadn’t happened? Did he regret it? Did he even think about Niragi anymore? 

Surely not. If he did, if he had any regrets, wouldn’t he have done something? Said something to someone? Turned himself in? Karube grinds his teeth, a burning anger in his chest. 

“Hey Coach,” he calls out as class ends. His anger whets the edge of his tone, but he tries to keep it out of his voice. 

Coach Imaeda is almost thirty years old but looks older, wearing a creased coaching sweatsuit. His gaze is turned leeringly towards a group of girls heading off towards the locker room, but he snaps to look back as Karube approaches. Karube can see now what Kuina meant by 'creepy'. 

“Karube, what can I do for you?” Imaeda asks, teacher-polite but his tone sounds bored. 

“I heard some students saying you went to school here?” Imaeda waits, unaffected. Karube steels himself, trying to appear casual. “Do you know about the ghost story people tell around here? About the second floor boys bathroom?” 

“Didn’t think you’d be interested in that kind of cra-” he clears his throat, cutting himself off as he seems to realise he shouldn’t curse in front of a student, “stuff.” 

Karube lets it slide, shrugging. 

“Call me curious. Was it around when you were in school here? Do you know who started it?” 

Imaeda shifts. He laughs shortly, a forced kind of sound, “That was almost ten years ago, Karube. My memory’s not that great.” 

“You don’t remember anything?” Karube presses, his gaze unwavering, “A story like that sticking around for so long, I figured someone would want to make a claim to it.” 

“You should be getting to cleaning duty,” Imaeda says finally, dismissive. 

Karube forces a tight smile. 

“Right.” He turns to leave, then glances back, “I heard a story about some kid going missing around ten years ago, thought it might be connected, you know? What was his name?” He pauses, faking thinking, humming, “Ah! Niragi, right? Did you know him?” 

Imaeda stiffens, just slightly, but enough that Karube clocks it and has to hold back a triumphant grin. 

“Like I said, it was ten years ago. It’s a long time.” 

“Kid going missing, it would’ve caused a memorable stir, right?” 

A muscle ticks in Imaeda’s jaw, “He was no friend of mine. Now go get to work, Karube.” 

Karube holds his gaze a moment longer, challenging, then smiles easily. 

“Yeah, sure thing, Coach.” 

Heading off to go clean up with Kuina, Ann, and Chishiya, Karube can’t help the frown that pulls at his mouth. His brow is furrowed. Niragi still hasn’t come back and Karube’s not sure if he’s hiding from Imaeda or if it’s just the daylight keeping him away. He doesn’t even know what he should do to find him, if he can simply call out to him and that’ll make him come back. Niragi’s glasses are still in his bag, so Karube can’t imagine he’s gone far, but he’s still worried. 

Kuina pokes into his side with the end of her broom. 

“Did you talk to the coach?” she asks. 

Karube sighs. Setting his broom aside and crossing his arms, he leans against the nearest wall. Their cleaning duty goes quickly forgotten as the trio tune in, waiting to hear what he’d found out. 

“He said he didn’t remember anything,” Karube replies. 

“Well, it was a decade ago,” Ann says. 

Karube cuts in, “I think he’s lying.” 

“Why would he lie about some dumb ghost story?” Ann counters back. 

He shuffles, gaze flicking away, knowing he can’t tell them what he knows, knowing he can’t talk about Niragi in any blasé way. At least not until Niragi gives him permission to. He shrugs. 

“I don’t know, he was just acting weird when I brought it up. Maybe he knows more than he’s willing to say - or maybe Kuina was right and he’d made it up back then and now he’s embarrassed about it.” 

Karube doesn’t think he’s creative or smart enough to have done that though; maybe it was one of the other people who’d also killed Niragi that had made it up, but he wouldn’t be able to figure out their names until Niragi came back. He huffs quietly, worrying his teeth over his bottom lip as he glances up and down the hall. There’s still no sign of Niragi, not even a flicker or a hazy glow or a shadow. 

He pushes off the wall. 

“I’m gonna run to the bathroom,” he says. 

Taking his bag, he quickly heads up to the second floor bathroom. Stepping inside, he checks that the stalls are empty and then jams the door to not risk getting interrupted. He sets his bag on the counter, digging into the pocket to find the glasses case. Thumbing along the joint of the case, he looks around the bathroom. 

“Niragi? Are you here?” he says into the silence, worry pinching in his chest. 

“Did you talk to him?” a soft voice replies. 

Karube breathes a sigh of relief as Niragi slowly materialises into the room. He’s a little easier to see now than he had been in the sunlight and more stable than he had been in the classroom, no longer flickering. His dark fringe falls around the frames of his glasses, his inky eyes peering across at Karube as he shuffles awkwardly. 

“You’re back,” Karube says, the worry ebbing away, “I - yeah, I talked to him. He said he didn’t remember anything about the story, but I think he’s lying. And he definitely remembered you.” 

Niragi blinks at him. 

“You mentioned me?” 

“I wanted to see if he’d react.” 

Niragi inhales shakily, giving a short nod. 

The bell rings to signal the end of the day. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Karube says. 

He turns to tuck the case back into his bag, hauling it up onto his back. As he heads towards the door, Niragi drifts over to his side. As they trail out into the hallway, Niragi starts to fade again in the afternoon light shining through the school’s windows. 

Heading downstairs, through the front doors, and towards the front gates, Karube takes a moment to watch Kuina and Ann strolling along arm-in-arm. Kuina waves goodbye to Chishiya as he turns to leave the other way. Niragi seems to watch as Chishiya walks off alone, a small frown pulls at his lips. Karube quirks a brow at him. 

“What is it?” he asks quietly. 

“He walks home alone?” Niragi questions. 

“Chishiya? Yeah. His dad’s some big fancy doctor, they’ve got a nice place in the city. No idea why he goes to school here,” Karube replies, hopping down the steps and strolling towards the gate. “Why?” 

Niragi goes quiet for a moment, drifting along in line with Karube’s loping strides. His expression is still pinched in thought, seeming to weigh whether he was going to explain or not. Finally, he exhales an unneeded breath. 

“I walked home alone when I was alive, it was when they’d get me.” 

Karube’s brow furrows, disconcerted, “'Get you'?” 

“They’d … wait for me, then they’d grab me. Decide whatever they were going to do to me that day.” His voice shakes a little. “Wreck my books or pelt me with baseballs or …” He trails off, wobbly, and clears his throat. “I tried to take different routes, but they always found me.” 

“Did you tell anyone?” 

“It didn’t help. Made it worse, actually.” His long fingers brush underneath his bottom lip. His voice goes quieter. “I think it’s why they killed me.” 

“Because you told on them?” 

“I don’t know if they originally planned to kill me, I think they were just going to …” He trails off again, Karube sees his jaw twitch, tongue working behind his teeth, “but then I did something that pissed them off.” 

“We can talk about it later,” Karube says gently, “Or just not at all, if you want.” 

Truthfully, Karube does want to know what happened to him, but he doesn’t want to push. He’d seen what happened the night prior when he’d talked about it, the devolution in him, the bruises and the blood and the flickering; he remembers the forceful pulse that had knocked him back when he’d first stepped into the bathroom, his shoulders still ache a little from where he’d hit the wall. 

The rest of the walk is quiet, which probably works in Karube favour since he looks less like a weird kid talking to himself. Niragi looks around like he had when they were heading to school, in that 'scared to miss something' way. Karube’s been living around here for nearly his whole life, but he can’t quite remember how different it looks compared to a decade ago. For him, it’s been gradual; for Niragi, it’s a leap, things that were there when he was alive are now gone or aged. 

They make it back to Karube’s house and he unlocks the door, heading inside, his shoes kicked off and left haphazardly in the entrance. He curves around towards the kitchen to grab himself a drink. Niragi drifts down the hall to the lounge room, heading towards a few rows on the bookshelf that actually have books on them, the rest are full of knickknacks and framed pictures. He leans to look closer at the titles as Karube trails in to watch him, sipping from a soda can. 

“They’re pretty much all my mom’s,” he says. 

“You don’t read?” Niragi asks, hovering a fingertip along the spine of a book. 

Karube shrugs, “Nothing could really keep my attention. I like manga, I guess, but I mostly just borrowed stuff from my friends.” 

Arisu, Chota, he hasn’t seen either of them for a while now. What were they doing? What was he missing out on not going to school with them anymore? Did they miss him? Memories of hanging out with them, eating cheap ramen and flipping mindlessly through Arisu’s manga collection, it makes his chest ache to think about. 

“She’s got the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle? All three books?” Niragi says with the hint of a smile, leaning towards the small volumes. Karube blinks back into focus. 

“Huh? Oh, Murakami, yeah, Mom likes his stuff.” He looks at the book spines, “Did you want to read them? I’m sure she won’t mind. She works so much she doesn’t get the chance to just sit around and read anymore. It would give you something to do at night, right?” 

“I was reading the first one before I died.” 

Karube nods, then reaches out to grab the book off the shelf. He turns the book in his hand. His mother had read to him when he was younger, now he couldn’t even remember the last thing she’d read him. How long had it been? He knows he’s a bit old for it now, but he misses it. Setting his bag down on the ground and the book onto the coffee table, he drops onto the couch. He thumbs at the condensation on the outside of the can, dragging his nail over the thin metal. 

“Did you want to talk about what happened to you?” he asks carefully. 

Niragi moves to sit on the other end of the couch. He shuffles awkwardly, fiddling his hands in his lap and not meeting Karube’s eyes. 

“It was bad,” he says quietly. 

“We don’t have to talk about it.” 

“If you’re going to help me, you should know what happened.” Niragi says. He takes a breath, as if the motion of it helps calm him. “There was five of them; Arata, Saguchi, Imaeda, Ota, and Kanemoto. A week before they …” Another uncomfortable shift, his thumb rubbing over his knuckles. “Killed me, they’d almost broken my hand. I couldn’t hide it, I could barely even hold a pencil to do my school work. I told a teacher what happened, but he wanted to try and solve it in-school, so he called them in. They -” Niragi’s expression crumples slightly, “They lied, they played it off as an 'accident', that they were just 'messing around and didn’t mean it'. The teacher took their side, he didn’t want to deal with it, he didn’t even call their parents.” 

Niragi’s thumb digs across his knuckles and it’s only then that Karube notices the bruises there, like a shoe-print over the back of his hand. Karube stays quiet, a frown creasing his lips, his eyes flickering over the blurry dark haze of Niragi’s figure. Another shuddering inhale, then Niragi continues. 

“I knew they were mad. I knew they’d retaliate because I’d gotten them in trouble, I just didn’t know when. It took a week, it was a Friday, I was staying late to study for this big upcoming test. They grabbed me when I was leaving, dragged me back inside, to that bathroom.” He rubs a hand across his face, his knuckles bumping his glasses. “Arata, it was his idea. He said I should’ve 'held my tongue', and they all laughed like it was some joke. I didn’t get it, but then he …” He swallows thickly, “He pulled out this big needle.” He blinks back dewy black tears, the air chilling around him. Karube can feel it even at their distance. “The other four, they grabbed me and shoved me onto my knees, then Arata made me - made me …” He muffles a short sob into his palm, squeezing his eyes shut. “He made me pierce my tongue.” 

Karube can’t even find words to say, he just stares, shocked. Niragi continues shakily, still not looking at Karube. 

“I - I threw up on his shoes. I couldn’t help it. My mouth was full of blood and I was crying and I couldn’t breathe. I guess it really pissed off Arata. He hit me, knocked me down, then he started kicking me. After that, I - I don’t remember. There was just pain everywhere and I passed out, then … nothing.” He sniffles quietly, “I woke up and I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I knew I was dead. I’ve been stuck there - in the bathroom - ever since.” 

Karube is silent in his aghast horror. They’d beaten him to death. Had none of them tried to stop this Arata guy? Had none of them thought he’d gone too far and tried to step in? How long did it for take them to realise that Niragi was dead? Did they even try to revive him or did they immediately jump to hiding his body? Did they even care that he was dead? Did they feel guilty at all or did they only care about themselves? Questions run through his mind but he can’t bring himself to ask any of them. 

Instead, without thinking, he lunges across the couch to throw his arms around Niragi. For a moment, he feels solid as Karube’s arms curl around him, then the shock seems to hit them both and he goes intangible again, making Karube fling his hands out to catch himself of the arm of the couch. They’re face to face for a moment, staring at each other. Pushing back, Karube drops onto the middle cushion of the couch and crosses his legs, his brow furrowed in confusion. 

“That was … weird, right?” Karube starts. 

“You shouldn’t be able to touch me,” Niragi says. He reaches a hand out and it goes right through Karube’s shoulder, leaving an icy tingling feeling in its wake. Frowning, he lets his hand drop away, back into his own lap, fiddling his fingers again. “I was thinking about what you said this morning, about your friends.” 

“You want to tell them?” 

“I …” Niragi pauses, “These people are dangerous. If you’re alone, you could get hurt.” He looks down at his hands, his thumb prodding at the point of his knuckle. “You can change your mind if you want, and just put my glasses back in the bathroom. It’s okay.” 

Karube frowns slightly. These guys had killed Niragi and hidden it for years; drudging up the past risks putting himself in danger, but he can’t just give up, not when he now knows what happened to Niragi. He shakes his head, his expression firmly determined. 

“No way, I made a promise. I said I was going to help you and I am. These guys shouldn’t get to walk around with no punishment after what they did to you,” he replies, unwavering. 

Niragi meets his eye, searching across his face, then he slowly nods. 

With it being easier to see Niragi during the night, Karube decides to hold off on texting the other three until it’s closer to sundown; Ann and Chishiya would probably be done with their study classes by then as well. So they watch tv while they wait, and Karube lets Niragi pick what they watch as he flicks through channels and between streaming apps. It’s interesting to see what he picks, but Karube can’t help but find himself amused, noting a lot of the stuff is what Arisu would’ve picked. He realises Niragi and Arisu are kind of similar in a quiet, nerdy way. 

It makes him think about Arisu again. Were he and Chota doing okay since Karube had left? If they were being bullied, they would’ve told him, right? They hadn’t been able to meet up in a while, but they’d been texting. He shakes the thoughts off. Arisu’s worst bully had always been his own father anyway, ever since his mother had died, and at school people didn’t give him much attention. 

As the sky outside dims to orange, a trail of blue-purple on the horizon, Karube picks up his phone to text a message through to the group chat, telling them to come over. Kuina replies first, to no surprise since she made up the majority of the texts in the chat. 

what for?

Karube frowns, tapping along the screen keyboard. 

it’s about what happened at the school last night 

i’ll explain the picture  

He can see Chishiya reading the messages, but he doesn’t send anything. Ann’s text comes through next. 

Can’t you just text it? 

Karube huffs. 

just come over!!!

A line of ‘ok’ reactions pop up beside his text and he huffs a breath, shaking his head as he tosses his phone aside and tunes back into the show. Niragi is leaned forward, arms propped on his thighs, his gaze intensely focused on the screen. Cute, Karube thinks, a lopsided smile pulling at his mouth. 

Eventually there’s a knock at the front door and Karube hits 'pause' on the remote before hopping up. Niragi doesn’t follow, but gets up from the couch as he watches after him. Heading back down the hall, Karube pulls open the front door to find Kuina, Ann and Chishiya all there. He pulls the door further open to let them through and they trail inside, kicking their shoes off. 

“So what’s this about? If this is another joke and you dragged us all the way here just to say you edited the picture, I’ll hit you,” Kuina complains, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder. 

“Not a joke,” Karube reassures, motioning up the hall towards the living room, “I want you to meet someone - and I’ve got something to ask.” 

“What is it?” Ann asks. 

“Later, just come on.” 

They head into the living room. Niragi stands by the couch, stiff, waiting for a reaction. The three look towards Karube, seeming bored and confused. 

“What are we doing here, Karube?” Kuina asks. “Meet who?” 

Niragi deflates and Karube frowns. 

“You can’t see him? He’s right there,” Karube says, pointing across the room at Niragi. The three glance to where he points, then they turn to stare warily back at him, concern in their eyes. 

“Karube, are you okay? Have you gotten any sleep?” Ann asks carefully. 

There’s a slightly distress crease across his face. 

“I’m fine, just - hold on -” He heads for his bag, tossing the books out onto the coffee table until he can dig out the glasses case. He pulls them from the case and shoves them towards the trio, “Here.” 

If they’re why Karube can see Niragi, maybe they’ll help the others see him too. Confused, Ann slowly reaches out to take the glasses by the non-rusted bent arm, pinching it between her fingertips. Her brow creases, bemused, and Kuina and Chishiya lean in to look closer, both staring curiously. 

“You don’t wear glasses, where did you get these?” she asks. She lifts the glasses up towards her face, squinting at the cracked lens, then she gasps and Karube lunges forward the catch the glasses as they slip out of her hands. 

“Careful!” he chastises, “but you see him now, right?” 

“H-how?” 

“What are you two talking about? See who?” Kuina says. 

Chishiya reaches out to pluck the glasses out of Karube’s hand. He turns them carefully in his fingers, looking closer at the broken lens and the rusted stained arm. He frowns. 

“Is this blood?” he says. Glancing up, he seems to finally notice Niragi too and stiffens slightly. He lifts the glasses towards him, lining the frames with the ones Niragi’s wearing. “These are your’s?” 

Kuina looks between the three of them, tense and antsy. 

“This isn’t funny. I can deal with Karube teasing me, but you guys too? What the hell? Did you guys plan this together?” she complains.

Ann looks pale, still staring at Niragi. Chishiya passes the glasses back to Karube while stepping towards Niragi, leaning side to side to note how he could see right through him. Niragi just stares back at him, shifting slightly, uncomfortable under the scrutiny. Suddenly, Chishiya shoves his hand right through Niragi’s gut. 

“Hey!” Niragi snaps, jumping back, dragging hands down his front. 

“Chishiya!” Karube snaps too, aghast at the rudeness. 

“Complete intangibility,” Chishiya murmurs to himself, unfazed, a chill tingling in his fingers where they’d passed through Niragi. 

“Who said that?” Kuina said, looking around, her eyes wide, “Seriously, what’s going on?” 

Karube turns back to her, takes her hand to press the glasses carefully into her palm. She looks at the glasses then back up at him, her expression pinched with confusion. He holds her gaze for a long beats then turns to look towards Niragi. Slowly, Kuina follows his line of sight, then jolts back, her hand almost slipping out of Karube’s. He squeezes her wrist gently, the takes the glasses from her hand to put them back in the case, closing it for safety. 

“I’d like you to meet our school ghost,” Karube says, breezing a hand towards him, “This is Niragi.” 

“'School ghost'? L-like from the story?” Kuina asks shakily. Ann is gripping her arm, still clearly wary of Niragi. 

“Yes, but the story is total bullshit.” He glances between Kuina and Ann, “You don’t have to be scared of him.” 

“He’s a ghost,” Ann replies tensely. 

“He was in the bathroom, but you brought him back here? With the glasses?” Chishiya cuts in, still looking closely at Niragi, who hurries away around the couch to reach Karube’s side. Chishiya follows after him. “Why didn’t I see you when I stayed overnight at the school?” 

Niragi eyes him, arms defensively crossed over his stomach in case Chishiya tries to take another jab, “I don’t know.” 

“It was you in the picture Karube sent. Did you make the lights go out at school today too?” Kuina asks quietly, still wary like Ann. 

Niragi immediately looks embarrassed, ducking his head. 

“I didn’t mean to,” he replies softly. 

“Let’s all just sit down and I’ll explain everything, okay?” Karube says. 

They sit and Karube starts to explain it all, right from when he’d first heard the sounds after sneaking into the school, thinking it was them trying to mess with him. It takes longer than it should to get everything laid out, only because Chishiya and Ann kept cutting in with questions, all manner of how’s and why’s. Kuina, at least, just listens, but her eyes keep drifting over to Niragi. There’s a curiosity in her eyes as her gaze searches over Niragi; Karube wonders how much of finer details she sees, like the bruise over his knuckles or the tears in his uniform. 

He doesn’t tell them the whole story about how Niragi had died, simplifying it to its baser points, the bullies and the bathroom and revenge for getting told on. They don’t really need to know all the details and Niragi doesn’t seem eager to tell them either. If fact, Niragi stays quiet for the most part, sitting silently aside as Karube talks until there’s nothing left for him to say. Then there’s just quiet as they take it all in. 

Ann takes a deep breath, the first to break the silence. 

“So you want to solve a decade old missing person’s case?” she questions. 

“Well, technically I’ve already solved it,” Karube starts, motion laxly towards Niragi, “I know what happened and who did it, I just don’t know what they did with Niragi’s body - but what I want is for them to be punished for it.” 

Ann sighs quietly, her eyes searching across him. 

“You’re really determined to do this, aren’t you?” 

“I am, I promised,” he says, “Listen, I’m not going to force you to help me -” 

“Oh shut it, of course we’re going to help,” Kuina cuts in before he can finish. She looks to Ann and Chishiya, “Right?” 

Chishiya nods shortly. Ann sighs again, exhaling through her nose. 

“Give me these guys’ names, I’ll see what I can dig up on them,” she says. 

Niragi recounts the names to her and the three pause at the familiar surname. 

“Wait, Imaeda? Like Coach Imaeda?” Kuina asks, grimacing. 

“Oh, right,” Karube says, “I - uh - should’ve mentioned that.” 

“Well at least we’ll get a new coach if we can get him arrested,” Ann mumbles, typing the names into the notes app on her phone. 

The front door opens and Karube jolts slightly. He grabs his phone to check the time. Are his parents home? Is it that late already? It had taken a while for them to get here and then for him to explain everything. He lunges to grab the glasses case, shoving it back into his bag and sweeping his notebooks in afterwards to hide them. Karube’s mom walks down the hall to the doorway of the living room, loosening her hair from her ponytail and snapping the hairband around her wrist. 

“Oh, hey kids. Didn’t know you had friends over, Daikichi,” she says, then glances around the room, “Are Arisu and Chota here too?” 

“Um, not tonight, Mom. This is Kuina, Ann, and Chishiya,” Karube says, introducing each of them. Chishiya glances subtly towards Niragi, who’s clearly going unnoticed. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss,” Kuina says politely, “We were actually just on our way out. We’ll see you tomorrow, Karube.” 

There’s a slightly edge to her tone and the way she glances his way, as if to instead say 'we’ll keep talking about this tomorrow'. They smile politely to Karube’s mom, then make their way down the hallway to put their shoes on and leave. Karube sees them out, Niragi drifting along with him. They say their goodbyes and Karube closes the door, then heads up the corridor towards the kitchen where his mother is grabbing a drink from the fridge. 

“They seem like a nice group,” she says, motioning with her soda can towards where the trio had left. 

“Yeah, they’re cool,” Karube says, pushing up to sit on the counter. His stomach rumbles loudly and his mom laughs. However, he can see her exhaustion in the circles under her eyes. 

“Guess you haven’t had dinner yet, kiddo?” she says. 

“Not yet. We got a little distracted. You go sit down, I’ll heat it up. We can eat together,” he offers, swinging one leg back and forth, his heel bumping against the cupboard door. She reaches out to ruffle his home-bleached hair, chuckling. 

“Thanks.” 

Standing silently aside, Niragi just watches how they interact, a pang of hurt in his chest as he remembers his own mother. What had happened to her after he 'disappeared'? Was she still alive? If she was alive, did she still think of him or had she moved on? He can feel his throat tighten, a stinging teariness behind his eyes as he realises how much he misses her. 

Feeling the emotions swelling, he takes a step away, drifting out into the hall where he can’t see them. He trails away to Karube’s room, drifting through the closed door and sinking into the shadows. Sitting against the wall, he curls in on himself. The silence and the dark are a familiar comfort and he lets it engulf him. 

Karube takes the dinner from the fridge, heats it up, and sets the table all before he notices that Niragi’s presence isn’t hanging around with him. Frowning, he glances around and finds no trace of him in the kitchen. He thinks to call out, but he doesn’t want his mother to overhear and ask questions. Heading down the hall to the living room, he finds that Niragi’s not there either. His smile is slightly tight when his mother looks his way. 

“It’s set up on the table, I’ll just take my stuff to my room,” he says, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. His mother lifts the book in her hand, the one he’d pulled down earlier for Niragi. 

“You reading this?” she asks. 

“Oh, yeah, I was going to check it out,” he lies offhandedly, “You don’t mind, right?” 

She smiles, “Not at all. It’s a good one.” 

Getting up off the couch, she holds it out to him and he takes it, then scoops up his backpack from the ground beside the couch. She passes by him and he waits until she’s out of sight to hurry down the hallway to his room. He pushes into his room, flipping the light on and quietly closing the door. His eyes quickly fall on where Niragi is tucked in on himself against the wall beneath the window. 

“Niragi? You okay?” he asks, setting his bag down on his chair and the book on his desk. Niragi’s head lifts. His dark eyes meet Karube’s, then flick away as he leans his cheek onto his drawn-up knees. 

“I think I’m just … tired,” he replies softly, shrugging, “I haven’t had to be around so many people for so long.” He wraps his arms imperceptibly tighter around his legs. “You should go have dinner with your mom.” 

Karube nods slowly. 

“Oh, okay, so you just need a recharge? That’s fine. I’ll leave the book in here with you if you want to read it.” 

“Thanks,” Niragi murmurs, “Can you turn the light back off?” 

“Sure.” 

Karube spends the next few hours hanging out with his mother. His father comes home, eating and heading to his office, but not before asking Karube about his homework and then frowning disapprovingly at the answer he gets. Karube’s mother quickly shoos him away before an argument can break out between them. All the while, Niragi stays in Karube’s room, quiet in the peaceful darkness. 

Eventually, Karube showers, dresses, and drops into his bed, sleepily saying goodnight to Niragi before rolling onto his side and facing the wall. It doesn’t take him long to fall asleep, he has none of the trouble finding sleep like Niragi had when he was alive. Within an hour, Karube is snoring quietly. 

Niragi clicks on the dim desk lamp, sitting in the chair and flipping through the page as he reads. 

It’s not long before he’s getting distracted though. Karube’s not to most stationary sleeper, he shuffles and rolls around, dragging Niragi’s attention. Looking away from the book, he turns on the chair to glance at Karube as he rolls over in his bed, his cheek smooshed against his pillow. 

Moving from the chair, Niragi crouches by the side of the bed, looking at his sleeping face. His lips are slightly parted around even breaths, and he can just make out the specks of his freckles. He’s attractive, Niragi can tell that much, he’s not blind to it. Just today he’d seen how girls had ogled him, staring when he wasn’t paying attention, tittering about him just out of listening range. He could date any of them, but he didn’t even seem to care, it was like he didn’t even notice them. 

A confusing feeling twists in his chest, it’s almost jealousy but not quite. 

Nobody had ever given him that kind of attention when he was alive, they’d barely even looked at him. He doubts any of them even really cared when he went missing. It’s no lie to say he wasn’t particularly popular in school. 

Karube, though - people liked Karube, and Niragi can see why. 

He leans a little closer, eyes tracing over the curve of his dark lashes against his cheeks, his mussed-up blonde hair. Karube sighs out a sleepy breath and Niragi feels it against his cheek. His mind drags back, to the couch, to Karube hugging him. 

He’d felt that warmth of his, for just the flash of a second when Karube’s arms had wrapped around him. It’s been so long since anyone’s touched him, since anyone’s been able to. He lifts his hand, reaching out. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to touch Karube or if his hand will go right through him, but there’s only one way to find out. 

Carefully, he touches his fingertips to Karube’s cheek, meeting the solidity of him. His eyes widen. He can feel the soft smoothness of his skin, his warmth ebbing up Niragi’s fingers. Karube doesn’t react, just goes on sleeping, softly snoring. Emboldened, Niragi runs his fingertips along Karube’s cheek, sliding along the side of his head through his hair. Despite the bleach-job, his hair is soft. 

As Karube shuffles in his sleep again, Niragi quickly yanks his hand back, feeling the warmth draining away. When Karube doesn’t wake up, Niragi relaxes. He slides onto his knees and folds his arms onto the edge of the mattress, leaning his chin on top of them as he looks at Karube. A quiet sigh passes his lips. 

“I wish I’d known you when I was still alive.”