Chapter Text
“If you hadn't come to me... I'd be lost.”
That day, in the bookstore, Mikado had no way of knowing his entire world was about to change. The still image of grotesque, or even normal-looking, human forms standing off to the side had become a constant in his life. Some times a man, a darkened gooey blob of a human, a person with a gaping hole through their chest... Everyday was a living nightmare that he needed to carefully traverse. No one could see what he could see. No one took his gentle “what if...” suggestions seriously.
“What if you could see ghosts? What if horror stories were true? What if I told you that there was a person standing over there in soggy clothes with hollowed out eyes and blood dripping from their mouth?”
His questions were stated from careful lips, wringing his hands as he tried to ignore those... things. If they took him seriously, maybe he could finally talk to someone. Maybe he wouldn't need to be alone. But each cautious word was received with chide laughter.
“Good one, Mikado!”
“I didn't know you liked jokes. There's no way any of that is real!”
“Ehh... I certainly wouldn't wanna live in a horror movie. It's an interesting thought, but c'mon. You don't believe in that stuff, do you?”
And Mikado, disheartened, would chuckle back. “Of course not. It was... it was just a thought.”
He never blamed anyone for not taking the bait. It wasn't like he had ever wanted to see these scary things his entire life. Always running. Always wondering. Always wishing.
'Because what I'm seeing isn't real.' Mikado chastised as he slipped his glasses from his face at the sight of a young woman standing near the front of the aisle he was in.
“You removed your glasses? Even though your eye sight is bad?”
A soft, enthusiastic voice called him back to reality. He was at work. He couldn't let anyone think he was weird. But there was a draw to the man's voice-- to his presence. When Mikado turned around, he couldn't help but stumble.
It was the first time he met the man that would take hold of his core and save him from the loneliness of the unknown. The fear, well...
“Mikado-kun, if you're with me, I promise you won't be afraid anymore.”
The fear was another matter. A trauma... or a reflex. But cautious as he was, Mikado couldn't help but hope. Hope that what the man-- what Hiyakawa Rihito had said was true. That he wasn't alone and he wouldn't need to be. Then maybe... that fear would settle into something more manageable.
“Mikado-kun. This is fate.”
Mikado didn't believe in fate. Or at least, he never had before. Back then it had been a startling rush. The first exorcism one that Hiyakawa, quite literally, took into his own hands. He never knew, standing reluctantly-- cautiously, hopefully at Hiyakawa`s side the next day that fate would become a word that truly bound them together. One that once held no meaning to Mikado, that was a lifeline for Hiyakawa, would save them both from their haunting pasts and forge a brighter path toward the future along the way. Even if it did have its oddities and struggles.