Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had to have been, what, at least 3 months?

Onoda had been searching for a place near his college to live that wasn't overwhelmingly large or expensive. He wanted a nice little apartment that was close enough that he could bike to school without winding himself before class, and he had yet to find one.

Until now.

It was because of the flyer that he had seen whipping through the air on a strong breeze earlier, it's pink color catching his eye. He had drawn his eyes back to the road, knowing that with his grace he could end up dead if he paid a fraction less of attention to his immediate area. Well, he had planned on focusing on the road. The pink flyer somehow dropped from the air and flew directly into his face.

Onoda made a strangled noise before promptly falling off of his bike, and on to the road. Hissing as he rubbed his raw knees, he saw the pink flyer skittering away with another breeze as he righted his bike, but eventually it got caught in the spokes of his front wheel as the wind shifted.

Sighing, Onoda plucked the pink paper from his wheel and was going to throw it in a nearby trashcan until he read the words printed in a bold black telling of an apartment for rent.

“Well, I might as well go and check it out.” He said to himself.

It was a 5 minute ride from where he had found the paper, and was amazed at the sheer size of the building. He figured the odds of him being the only person to look at the apartment were slim, but he wanted to try anyways. He asked the man at the front desk if there was still an apartment for rent, and the older man kindly smiled and lead him to the top floor where he produced a key from his pocket. He unlocked the door and stepped to the side to let Onoda through to inspect the place, but Onoda already knew it was perfect.

Within the week he had moved into his new apartment with some help from Naruko, Imaizumi, and his mother. With the four of them unpacking together, it took about 3 ½ hours to get all of the work done. Onoda’s mother insisted on cooking for them all that night, as it was later in the evening and she wanted to thank the boys for helping out.

As she cooked, Onoda and Naruko went together to look at the other hallways in his apartment while Imaizumi headed in the other direction to try and find the bathroom once again. Onoda and Naruko laughed as they checked out all of the rooms in the apartment, wondering why there were so many and also wondering how Onoda got as good of a deal on the apartment as he did.

After about a half hour, Onoda’s mother called for them to eat.

Naruko raced Onoda to the kitchen like they did when they were still in high school, and just like in high school Naruko won.

“Naniwa’s Speed Man has won it again! Ka ka ka!!” Naruko shouted as he slid into the kitchen. Onoda just laughed and he finally walked in, only seeing his mother and Naruko.

“Where is Imaizumi-kun?” He asked.

“Hmm? He might have not heard me, Sakamichi why don’t you go look for him?”

“’Kay!” He chirped before he turned out of the other doorway leading to the kitchen. He continued to trek down the halls, peering into doorways and rooms for Imaizumi.

“Imaizumi-kun, it’s time to eat! Imaizumi-kun?” Onoda kept calling but he heard nothing in response. He began to hurry further down the halls and shrieked as he nearly collided with someone wearing a black shirt.

“Imaizumi-kun, you scared me! It’s time to eat.” Onoda said before he turned around, only to come face to face with Imaizumi.

Who was decidedly not wearing a black shirt, but a blue one with a white bunny on the front.

Imaizumi’s face was nearly as pale as the white of his shirt as he stared over Onoda’s head. Onoda himself was a bit scared as he heard a loud growl from behind him.

“Gross! What are you doing here? This is my house, get out!” The boy in the black shirt brushed past Onoda and Imaizumi, completely towering over them at the same time. He glanced behind him and saw that they were stock still, staring at him with wide eyes.

“Well?! Come on, get out! The door is this way. I thought I locked the door…?” The last part was mumbled to himself as he turned the corner leading to the doorway. As Onoda and Imaizumi followed him they said nothing but glanced at each other with confused faces, Imaizumi’s still considerably pale.

They soon turned the corner shortly after the boy in black did, but he had disappeared.

“What? We were less than 5 feet behind him! Where did he go?” Imaizumi whispered. Onoda merely shook his head.

The both headed back to the kitchen walking stiffly. Naruko was laughing at something Onoda’s mother had said, the table was full of all of the food she had made.

“Where were you boys? It’s been 10 minutes since you left to go find Shunsuke…” Onoda’s mother trailed off seeing how pale the boys’ faces were.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She said. Onoda and Imaizumi looked at each other; know what the other was thinking.

“It was nothing!” They said in unison.

“Let’s eat Imaizumi-kun!” Onoda said with a weak smile.

It was unspoken, but they both had agreed to not bother Naruko or Onoda’s mother with the possibility of a ghost or another tenant in the building.
*Time Skip*
Onoda couldn’t sleep.

It had been 2 hours since everyone left, Imaizumi being the last to leave. He lingered behind to see if Onoda wanted him to stay overnight to make sure nothing happened, but Onoda had refused and cheerfully stated that he could handle himself if anything were to happen. Imaizumi hesitantly left at Onoda insistence, but he kept glancing back as he walked with Naruko to the elevator. He waved lightly at Onoda and motioned for him to call if anything happened. Onoda smiled and waved back while nodding his head.

He didn’t really intend on calling.

If there actually was a ghost in the house, he could deal with it himself. He didn’t need to bother Imaizumi with his problems.

Well, that was what he told himself before he rolled over to be face to face with someone else.

Onoda shrieked as he rolled off of the bed, his cry startling whoever was in his bed causing them to shriek as well.

“W-w-who are you??!?” Onoda shouted.

“Gross! Who am I? Who are you would be a better question! I told you to get out of my house didn’t I? And instead you crawled into my bed with me! So gross!” The boy in black shouted.

“T-this isn’t your house, I bought it today! Well…” A glance at the clock told him that it was past 1 AM. “Well, more like yesterday I guess…But I bought this place none the less!” Onoda’s voice shook when he spoke, but he was proud his voice didn’t crack at least.

The boy in black didn’t look impressed.

“Listen Zaku, I don’t think you’re getting it. This.” He gestured to the entire room. “This is my room, my house. I’ve lived here for about 3 years now. Are you getting it now? This can’t be your house because it is my house.”

Onoda was shaking on the floor as the boy sitting on his bed towered over him. Even if Onoda stood up he doubted he’d be taller than the pale boy. While the boy wasn’t speaking, Onoda took the chance to finally get as good of a look at him that he could in the poorly lit room.

He was extremely thin, Onoda noted. As he was very tall. He wore a form fitting black long sleeved shirt and Onoda couldn’t tell what type of bottoms the boy was wearing as he was under the covers of the bed (which were Love Hime themed, limited edition). His head was mostly shaven with the exception of what appeared to be a blond Mohawk that striped his head. Judging by the shaven part of his head, his hair was originally a shade of dark brown or black. His eyes were wide and seemed to be as black as coals and his mouth was bared in a mockery of a smile that sent more shivers down Onoda’s spine.

During the time Onoda took to inspect the boy in black, he in turn also took time to look at Onoda.

“Stop shaking and tell me who you are.” He told Onoda.

“A-ah, um, Onoda S-Sakamichi…” He stated timidly.

“Gross. Alright Sa-ka-mi-chi, take this time to leave and I won’t involve the authorities.”

“I…I won’t leave. This isn’t your house!” Onoda held his breath, hoping that the boy wouldn’t get physical with him for speaking up.

“Give me one reason to believe you. If you can prove to me that this is your house then I’ll leave. But you can’t.”

Onoda merely pointed to the bed. The boy in black raised an eyebrow

“What is that supposed to mean?” He asked blandly.

“I-It means that you s-should look down. That’s my bed, Naruko-kun and Imaizumi-kun helped me carry it up here earlier…” Onoda tried to sound confident, but found that he failed miserably.

The other boy took one glance at the bed spread and shrieked, flinging the covers off of him and bolting to the other side of the room.

“Gross, so gross! My cousin has sheets like that! How old are you, like 12?!?” He growled.

Onoda pouted slightly. He liked his sheets, they were cool! He mentally shrugged and claimed the boys reaction as a victory.

“So you’re telling me that you don’t own those sheets?” He asked.

“Of course not! That’s so gross, that show is all about magical girls!”

Onoda smiled and said “Then that proves it, this is my house!”

A sharp sound brought Onoda’s attention to his alarm which had been set for 2:15 AM so he could watch an old rerun of Love Hime on T.V. By the time he looked back to the boy, he had once again disappeared.

Chapter Text

Onoda basically started to sleep with one eye open. He never knew when the boy in black would appear to yell at him for being in his house, and if it weren’t for Imaizumi seeing him too, Onoda probably would have thought the boy was a hallucination due to lack of sleep. He continued to go to school regularly, but he started to spend more and more time after in the library just to put off going ‘home’.

Needless to say, he didn’t feel very welcome.

He kept wondering how the boy got in and out of the house without making a sound or somehow alerting Onoda to his presence. He figured it might be that the boy was getting in through the roof. The apartment had a pull-down stairwell that lead to the roof, but the stairwell made an awful screeching noise when it moved even an inch.

The first time Onoda tried pulling it down he nearly had a heart attack. When he finally climbed up it, however, he found that the roof had a view that made up for it completely. The roof seemed to only have one access point, and it was through the door Onoda had just exited. Originally Onoda had thought that the house simply had sky lights, but the windows were removable and a ladder was placed next to them. He figured that this was where the boy was coming in, but there was no way he could climb up the building…Right?

Onoda shuddered, imagining the boy climbing much like a lizard would up the walls of the building. A strong gust of wind sent something toppling near him, drawing his attention away from his (hopefully) unrealistic thoughts.

A lone chair now lay on its side. Onoda moved to right it, and found a box filled with dead plants near it. After he set the chair upright, he inspected the plants closer and found them to be flowers of sorts.

“What type, I wonder…” He mumbled to himself. He reached forward to gently touch one of the wilted petals until he heard an ungodly screech.

“Pigiiiiiiiiiiiii! Don’t touch them!”

Onoda fell backwards and landed hard on his rear as the boy in black once again appeared. He held a look of pure contempt and Onoda couldn’t fathom why.

“I-I wasn’t going to-“

“Going to what?! I saw you about to touch them! Don’t put your gross hands all over them, she worked so hard to-” The boy broke off abruptly, still seething with rage just barely contained.

Onoda opened his mouth to try and claim his innocence once again, but the boy surged forward with one of his long arms outstretched. Onoda gave a yelp and covered his head, thinking the boy was aiming to harm him. All he felt was a cold, almost wet sensation meet his arms and face.

At first he thought the boy had somehow managed to get a hold of some water from somewhere, but as he opened one of his eyes he saw that his skin was still dry. The cold feeling had disappeared, and with it Onoda thought that the boy had disappeared once more as well.

He was mistaken.

Chapter Text

As Onoda fully opened his eyes and pressed a hand to his rapidly beating heart, he heaved a sigh. He immediately caught his breath in the back of his throat as he saw the boy staring at him no more than two feet away, his eyes hard and leering.

“Just what are you?” He asked sounding almost…wary?

Onoda didn’t understand the question and began to stand up, but the boy recoiled as if he was slapped.

“Gross! D-don’t get up! Don’t come near me!” The boy shouted while still moving backwards.

“What are you talking about? I haven’t…done anything?” Onoda tried to make it sound like a statement, but it came out more like a question.

“You’re dead.” The boy stated bluntly, gesturing to Onoda’s entire body with his hands.

“I-I’m what? I’m sorry! If you want, I’ll leave but please don’t hurt me!” Onoda panicked, waving his hands in a worried fashion.

“…That’s not what I meant, Zaku. I meant you yourself are in a state of…not living. Dead, you’re dead.” The boy tried to awkwardly clarify.

Onoda looked at the boy strangely, wondering what he meant. He finally managed to pull himself upright and brushed his clothes off, picking a few dead leaves off of his pants.

“I still…Don’t understand what you mean? I’m not dead, see? I have feet.*”

“…Well then how do you explain that I can’t touch you, Sa-ka-mi-chi?” He said, sounding slightly aggravated.

As if to prove his point, the boy took a few tentative steps closer to where Onoda stood. He extended his hand as if for a handshake, and Onoda took a step forward to grasp his hand.

But as their fingers were supposed to meet, his hand slid right through the other boy’s hand.

Onoda paled considerably, and barely heard the taller of the two say, “See? You’re dead. That would explain why you won’t leave my house.”

Onoda didn’t notice when the boy stopped talking, shivers wracking his body. His hand still felt cold from where the other touched him, the same cold wetness that he had felt earlier.

Onoda finally composed himself enough to look up at the other boy, but he had once again disappeared.

It wasn’t he who was dead, he finally understood. It was the other boy who had died and clung to this place.

*****

The rest of the night passed in a blur to Onoda. The boy hadn’t reappeared all of a sudden at any point demanding that Onoda leave this house as soon as possible, but he still felt on edge. Once he finally settled in bed, he was terrified of turning over to find the boy’s face in his once again.

It was a rather lacking night of sleep.

The next morning Onoda woke up with a resolve. He figured that the boy might be clinging to this house not only because he didn’t realize he was dead, but because he hadn’t finished something he wanted to achieve. Onoda wanted to help the poor boy move on or finish what the taller had originally started.

Onoda felt awkward as he was about to leave the apartment, not sure if the boy was elsewhere in it or if he simply faded in and out of existence now and then, but he still called goodbye from the doorway before he locked it up and left to the nearest bookstore or library.

*****

It was a mistake coming here.

Well, that might be rude to think, but Onoda was in a rush to find a book on how to move spirits to the afterlife or how to make peace with them. And the person who came to his aid wasn’t a fast paced person.

Unfortunately it was Sugimoto, who was the librarian aid.

“Onoda-kun, I’m an expert on these things! Trust me, you’ll need…This book,” A large book was place in his arms, “This one…This one, ooh~! And these ones too!” A small bookshelf worth of books was placed in his arms, said limbs shaking under the sheer weight pressing against them.

“S-Sugimoto-kun, are these books all about helping a spirit with moving on? Do I really need all of them?” Onoda asked.

“Onoda-kun, were you even listening? I’m an expert in this field; I’ve been told by many I have a gift for hearing spirits!” Sugimoto seemed to swell with pride.

“A-ah I see…” Onoda laughed awkwardly.

Onoda went to the counter with Sugimoto carrying a few of the books to help out. After checking out the books, Onoda waved his thanks to Sugimoto who smiled and told him to come back any time.

Just as Onoda was about to exit the building, a hand firmly grasped his upper arm nearly spilling the books he held.

“Onoda-kun, one more thing,” Sugimoto started, looking more serious than Onoda could ever recall. “About the boy in your house…Check the room near the bathroom. The jammed one. Just give it a good push, and I think you’ll find something important in it.”

Onoda was shocked, how had Sugimoto known? He never once mentioned the tall boy, and how did Sugimoto know about the jammed door near the bathroom? Just as Onoda was about to ask him the questions laying heavily on his mind, Sugimoto released his arm, gave him a weak smile, and turned back inside of the store.

‘That was strange…’ Onoda thought as he turned on his heel to walk back to his apartment. He had never been so glad he hadn’t taken his bike, there was no way he could ride it and carry all of the books at the same time.

As he walked up the stairs to his building, he began to wonder if maybe Sugimoto really did have a gift. How else could he have known about the jammed door? Unless he was just stalker-ish in a way…

The only way Onoda figured he could find out was to open the door near the bathroom.

*****

He had been standing and starting at the jammed door for longer than he would like to admit. It wasn’t that he couldn’t open it, he was sure that if he shoved hard enough it would open easily…

It was the boy he was worried about.

‘What if there’s a dead body or something in there? No, I can’t think like that! What would Kotori-sama* do…?’ Onoda thought to himself, a vivid image of the horrors he could find behind the closed doors fresh in his mind.

After another 5 minutes of confirming his resolve, Onoda firmly braced his right hand against the door while in his left he held the knob (to make himself feel better, he felt proud that his hands shook only a little).

Onoda took a shaky inhale through his mouth, and with a surprising amount of brute force managed to push the door so it swung into the dark room.

“Oh.” Was all he managed to get out as he tumbled inside.

Chapter Text

The room was pitch black, the dim light filtering in from the hall being the only source of light to make its way inside of the room despite the fact it was only 5:30 at night.

“Oh.” Was all he managed to get out.

It looked like a funeral parlor, white sheets covering every bit of furniture inside of the room while dust covered the rest of it.
Onoda didn’t dare to take a step inside until he had a flashlight securely in his hands (he made sure to put fresh batteries in. He had seen enough horror movies to know how that went over). After only a few steps in he saw the light switch on the wall adjacent from the door. It took a few seconds for the light to finally kick on, and the sheer size of the room amazed Onoda.

The walls were a pale cream in color, fading sunflowers adorning them. Boxes upon boxes were stacked everywhere; the only clear spaces were the couch in the corner of the dusty room and certain areas of the hardwood floor. Childish drawings covered the walls, the art progressively becoming better. Small writing was in the corners of each drawing, depicting a date and a supposed age of the artist.

Onoda walked closer to the most ‘recent’ of all of the photos, an image of a woman surrounded by flowers.

It was a beautiful picture, there was magnificent detail in the woman’s face and her clothes had appropriate creases. It was obvious to Onoda that whoever drew this really cared about the woman in the picture. Most of it was done in black charcoal, but there were bits of it that were done in graphite. There was only a bit of color in the portrait, the flowers in the background (a soft shade of yellow with deep brown centers-‘Sunflowers’, Onoda mused to himself), and the woman’s eyes which were a deep brown and incredibly warm.

The rest was colored in with varying shades of black and grey, shadows stretching across the page.

The only noticeable thing that Onoda noted about the woman was even though she looked beautiful and warm, she looked sick.

‘Maybe the artist didn’t color her skin for a reason…” Onoda thought somewhat sadly.

She looked gaunt and weary; the most alive thing about her was her eyes.

Onoda took another step closer to read the writing in the corner. The date listed was about 4 months prior, and the name was scribbled in a messy fashion, barely legible.

“Midousuji…Akira?” Onoda mumbled softly, wondering if he had gotten the name correct.

A low growl caught Onoda’s attention, his body shivering as he thought the temperature was dropping in the room.

He had completely forgotten about the boy in black for a little while. How stupid of him.

“Get. Out.” Said a voice behind him.

“I-I won’t! I wanted t-” Onoda stuttered out quickly.

“I don’t care what you want, what I want is for you to leave! Haven’t you invaded my house enough as is?” Interrupted the boy in black.

“I haven’t. I want to tal-“

“Well I don’t want to talk, just leave already!” Interrupted the boy again.

“But-”

“Just leav-”

“Will you let me finish?!?” Onoda snapped, through with being interrupted.

The boy in black clamped his mouth shut, but his eyes spelled death if Onoda wasn’t careful with his words.

“I’m sorry for snapping, but you’re being unreasonable! I need you to listen to me for once, I’m not the one who’s dead. Please, just-just look around you! There has to be a bright light somewhere, go to it and things will get better!” Onoda started off strong, but his voice had dropped to just above a whisper as he finished.

‘Who am I to tell him to go?’ Onoda thought, thoroughly conflicted.

“What are you talking about, Zaku? Yes you are. And there is no light around me, so how about you look for the light instead.”

“T-There is no light around me either! Listen, what do you do with the rest of your day? Where do you go?” Onoda asked.

The boy faltered for a second before he stuttered out, “I-I’m sure I do more with my day than you do with yours! I don’t glue my ass to a couch and watch children’s T.V. shows, that’s for sure!”

Onoda winced as the boy was probably right, he did spend a fair amount of time watching Love Hime. He only had one last thing to try…

“What is your name?” Onoda asked.

The boy in black froze, his eyes wider than normal. Onoda saw his eyes flick over to the drawings on the walls, no doubt looking at the corner of the drawings for help.

“It’s Midousuji Akir-“

“You didn’t remember.” Onoda interrupted him, “You only knew because you looked at the drawings.”

Midousuji stiffened his posture, his body going rigid.

“Okay, so what? That doesn’t mean I’m a ghost, I’m not dead!”

Onoda finally relaxed. Despite knowing that Midousuji couldn’t touch him, the thought of what he could possibly do to him scared Onoda.

“I could...Try to find you help?” Onoda offered meekly.

“Gross! I don’t want help, I’m fine! As I said a second ago, I’m not dead I am still alive!!” Midousuji insisted avidly.

Onoda took shaky steps past Midousuji towards the door.

“I-I have a friend who could…help?” Onoda questionably offered, but Midousuji had already disappeared by the time he reached the door.

Chapter Text

Onoda paced in front of the door, checking the watch on his wrist every minute or so.

“Where is he?” Onoda wondered aloud.

“Where is who, Zaku?”

Onoda jumped, turning fast to see Midousuji behind him.

“A-A friend is coming over today! We used to be in the biking club together.” Onoda explained.

“You? Biking?” Midousuji scoffed. There was no way a person as tiny and fragile looking as Onoda rode a bike. A good breeze could knock the kid over, for God’s sake!

“Ah! Yes, I’m a climber!” Onoda cheerfully said, missing the bitter tone in Midousuji’s voice.

“…Is that so?” Midousuji started blandly, “I bike as well, I’m the Ace of my team and an all-rounder.” He finished, pride evident in his voice.

Onoda smiled and began to speak, but loud, repetitive knocking and constant ringing of the doorbell alerted him to his friend’s arrival.

“Oh! He’s here!” Onoda cheered.

Midousuji stared at the door with disdain written clear on his face as he asked, “And who exactly is ‘He’?”

Onoda opened the door and ushered whoever was outside in, before closing the door behind him. Midousuji raised a brow at the boy’s appearance, he looked vaguely familiar.

“This is Sugimoto-kun!” Onoda exclaimed.

Sugimoto seemed to be looking directly at Midousuji, and with him being one of the extremely few people that could ‘see’ him, it left Midousuji a little unnerved.

“Wow, Onoda-kun! I can tell why you called upon an expert like me to help you in this situation. He’s pissed and wants you to leave, that I can tell you right now.” Sugimoto said.

“Well, I think you should listen to your friend there, Zaku. He’s smarter than Father Flanagan and the others that you brought to try and ‘help’ me.” Midousuji said, referring to the priest and other exorcists that had come to lead him to the other side.

Onoda only ignored Midousuji and began to speak to Sugimoto.

“Sugimoto-kun, I know he wants me to leave but he needs to move on! It can’t be good for him to just stay here for the rest of…The rest of eternity!” Onoda protested.

Sugimoto nodded sagely and began, “True, it takes a toll on a spirit to stay in the realm of the living when they are gone-“

“I’m not dead!” Midousuji interrupted.

“-But this entity in the room is far from dead. In fact, this is the most alive spirit I’ve ever encountered! Spirit’s energy fades after time, and the landlord told you this house was vacant for only a short period of time before you came here. About a month, perhaps? That would be long enough for the energy to be very faint, but his presence is almost overpowering in nature.” Sugimoto finished.

“His presence? So you can only feel his presence and not see and hear him?” Onoda asked.

“That’s correct. Even with my advanced skills, I can only get a general feel for where he is and what he wants to say. His emotions are very straightforward.” Sugimoto clarified.

“And what emotions is he showing?” Onoda wondered.

Midousuji began speaking before Sugimoto could, “Contempt, resentment, wishing to be left alone…”

Onoda merely ignored him again, instead listening to Sugimoto who had begun to speak.

“He shows quite a multitude of emotions, most of them attached to this place and in one room in particular. Anger, sadness, joy, hesitation, and regret mostly. Above all else would be lonelin-Oh. That almost feels like bloodlust…Onoda-kun, I can’t do anything to help you. He isn’t dead, so I can’t send him to the other side.”

Midousuji vanished from Onoda’s sights and Sugimoto almost immediately relaxed.

“Onoda-kun, although he isn’t dead you would be best to let sleeping ghosts lie. She was important to him, it seems like she was all he had…” Sugimoto left it at that as he put a hand on Onoda’s shoulder briefly before departing.

Onoda had a good idea where Midousuji was, and headed to the roof to confirm his suspicions. Midousuji sat in the chair near the box of dead flowers, his hands clasped in front of him, his arms resting on his knees. Onoda pulled a small stool over before sitting down adjacent from him. They sat in silence for a bit before Onoda awkwardly cleared his throat and apologized softly.

“Midousuji-kun, I’m…I’m sorry. I’m sorry I tried to make you leave even though you aren’t dead, I’m sorry I invaded your privacy, and I’m sorry…for your loss.” He finished lamely.
Midousuji seemed numb to his words, and they both sat in silence for a moment longer before Midousuji sat up straighter.

“…She was sick. Really sick. And I felt helpless because I couldn’t do anything for her.” He began. “She always, always smiled. Even when she must have been in pain, she would smile at me and tell me she was so…so proud of me. I hadn’t even done anything worthy of her praise, yet she still gave it to me so freely.” He took a shaky breath, “I would spend as much time as I could with her, and it became easier for me to see her when I got a bike. That was when I started racing, and I began winning. For her, for her
praise, so it wasn’t just empty words she fed me, so I felt like I actually deserved those kind words she told me.”

Onoda said nothing, waiting for him to finish.

“She started to get better,” He continued, “She was going to be let out of the hospital next Sunday. I had a race that day, and I spent all of the preparation time looking for her. She never came. Her fever had gotten worse and she collapsed. I visited her the next day to tell her I won, but her fever spiked even higher shortly after I got there. Even as she was being wheeled out of the room for surgery, she smiled so…brightly. She told me she was proud, that she couldn’t have wished for a better son…” Midousuji trailed off.

“She died later that day. It took me a few weeks to realize that she was really gone and not just at another hospital that was going to give her false hopes of recovery. I continued to live with my aunt for a while, but even seeing her every day just…hurt. She looked a lot like my mother. So, I left. And moved here.” Midousuji gestured to the place where they were sitting as he finished.

Onoda had no idea what to say. It finally dawned on him that he really had no idea just who Midousuji was before all this. As he began speaking, Midousuji interrupted him.

“She wasn’t perfect you know. Damn well near it, but she wasn’t perfect. Whenever they allowed her home for a weekend, she had no idea how to do basic things. She couldn’t even change the channel on the T.V., and god did it irritate me when I was younger…” Midousuji trailed off with a weak laugh, his head bent forward preventing Onoda from seeing his face.

Onoda had no idea what to say, unable to comprehend how he could possibly make a strong willed person like Midousuji feel any better about this situation.

“I’m sorr-“ Onoda began, but was interrupted.

“Are you sorry though? How could you understand what she meant to me?” Midousuji asked tiredly, unable to raise his voice or his head to face Onoda.

Onoda remained silent for a moment before he spoke out quietly, “I lost my dad. I know what it’s like to lose a parent, and I know how it hurts, but if you don’t want my sympathy I’m not going to force it on you Midousuji-kun…”

“…” Midousuji said nothing, slightly shifting his position in the chair.

The two of them sat in silence that started out almost hostile, but became more civil and relaxing as time passed. Midousuji refused to lift his head, and Onoda continued to watch the city bustle on the streets below.

As the sun was starting to set, Onoda stood up and stretched, his back popping from being in an uncomfortable position for so long. Onoda pulled his phone out from his pocket, glancing briefly at the time before he smiled at Midousuji.

“Midousuji-kun, I’m going inside to start supper, would you like to join m-“

“I’m sorry.”

Onoda turned back to face Midousuji, but found the seat by the dead flowers once again empty as if he had never been there at all.