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There's a party today.
It's a celebration organized by the new tenant of the house. The place has been on the market for the past three years, empty and waiting for a new owner since the last one left.
Issei is glad. He'll finally have some visitors after enduring long bouts of silence and loneliness.
He's excited to meet Rin's friends.
They begin to trickle in shortly before supper time. One of them even carries in a tray of food he's prepared for the gathering.
It's thoughtful, Issei thinks. Not leaving all of the preparations to Rin. Alleviating some of the host's duties by providing nourishment for the night.
Another friend has brought a few drink choices to choose from. That one is a bit loud and somewhat unbearable, though. He kind of reminds Issei of an old friend of his…
Soon the house is filled with visitors, all of them chatting and catching up with each other. Some joke around and carry on as good friends do.
Issei used to have some of those. Before the incident.
Rintarou's the center of attention, though he heaves a sigh of relief when one of the identical folks guffaws or says something loudly and everyone turns their attention to them.
Issei leans against the nearest wall and admires the moment that relief washes over Rin's expression. His beauty really shines through during those moments.
The lamp next to Issei flickers, and Rintarou's eyes dart to it. He gently smiles when the flickering stops, a knowing look his eyes. His glance passes over Issei, hovering on him for a moment before the visitor with sun-kissed skin strikes up a conversation. Rin straightens his posture and politely responds to his prompts as the man talks with him.
The night moves along and Rin slips away from his company to retrieve a boardgame from a cardboard box he's yet to unpack. He brings it back into the room where everyone congregates and sets it on top of the table. A few visitors look excited as they recognize the game. A few others protest with groans. One fellow in particular smiles brightly and asks where Rin had acquired the board.
"Last week at a pawn shop." Rintarou declares, unpacking the gamebox to position the board in the middle of the table. "I figured it'd be fun to try since it's so close to Halloween."
A small gaggle of men gather around the table and find their places to sit. Issei chooses to stay back so he can watch the events unfold from a safe distance.
Rin purchased the game to play with Issei when the house was quiet and nothing interesting was happening on social media. It was a quick game with only four rounds, but the point isn't determining who wins or loses.
It is a means of having a conversation.
Rintarou makes a big show when he places a wooden, heart-shaped piece onto the center of the board and pins it in place with his hand. He coaxes the others to place a few fingers on the piece and then corrects his posture, sitting on folded legs with his shoulders pushed back. Rin has always been respectful with Issei.
"Hello? Is there anyone here with us?"
The planchette glides over the board and hovers over the capitalized word: YES.
"Nah, man, 'm not doin' this!"
Rintarou chuckles while his friends tease the startled blond to sit back down.
"It's dif'rent than playin' Kokkuri-San! The piece is movin' on its own! Not like when Aran pushed the yen 'round an' asked 'bout Samu openin' a restaurant when we were kids!" The frazzled blond jabs a finger towards his identical counterpart beside him with dark chocolate hair.
The man referred to as Aran rolls his eyes. "We aren't asking anything scary, 'Tsumu!" He grabs the blond and yanks him back to his seat. "Now get yer fingers back on the planchette!"
'Tsumu' reluctantly does as he's told with a wobbly frown gracing his lips. The sun-kissed man with white hair softly chuckles beside Aran.
Once everyone's settled again, Rintarou returns to sitting with proper posture.
"Are you friendly?"
The planchette moves across the board again to hover over 'YES' once more. Tsumu's shoulders tremble a little less.
Issei leans on the back of the couch to get a better view of the board. He watches closely so he can see the alphabet printed across its surface.
"May we ask you some questions?"
The game piece doesn't move for a moment. Right as one of the men starts to give Tsumu some grief for scaring off the spirit they were talking to, the piece moves again.
A-F-E-W
"Oh, good. They don' wanna talk fer long." Samu smacks the back of Tsumu's head to shut him up.
Issei glances at Rintarou through his browline, waiting for his next request.
"Can you show us a trick?"
One of Issei's eyebrows raise in question. The room falls silent; everyone holds their breath while waiting for the spirit's answer. Then, the TV flickers on–its volume blaring as a buzzer emits from its speakers.
The sports channel. Volleyball. One of Issei's favorite things to watch with Rin during supper. Rintarou asks for the remote and mutes the television.
"What happened to you?!" The man with large cat-like eyes and dark hair blurts out.
Issei's contemplative pout forms on his lips as he watches the men around the board squirm uncomfortably.
"Akagi! You can't just—!"
M-U-R-D-E-R
Akagi leaps up to his feet when the planchette stops moving. Wonder and interest mixing in his eyes. "No way!"
But Issei is focused on Rin, watching for any sign of a reaction–any break from his usual unimpressed expression to see if his joke landed with its target audience.
Then Issei sees the slight uptick in the corner of Rintarou's mouth. He feels his skin begin to tingle; radio static buzzes throughout his form. He could jump up to the moon after receiving that precious reward.
Looks like all of those late nights communicating in the kitchen or exchanging notes in the bathroom were working in his favor.
"Ya never said you were livin' with a murdered spirit, Sunarin."
"What if he wants revenge?!" Tsumu latches onto Aran and shoves his face into the man's chest. His arms lock around Aran's torso and he doesn't let go, trembling and whimpering like a scared animal. Aran fights furiously to get out of the twin's embrace.
"The spirit wouldn't take it out on us, Atsumu." The tanned one answers, studying the board curiously.
"I'm not sure, Kita-san," Rintarou supplies ominously. "He likes to toss stuff around the house sometimes."
That was once.
Okay, maybe twice.
There was a bug in the silverware drawer. Issei was startled.
"How old'r you?" Samu asks genuinely, watching the board. The boys quiet down and come together to place their hands on the boardgame's planchette again. It drifts slowly down to the row of numbers.
2-7
Not much older than the circle of men currently sitting around the table.
"What's your name, Spirit-san?" Kita respectfully asks before anyone else is able to give a reaction.
Issei shifts his weight from one foot to another. He steps around the couch to find a place behind Suna and peers over him to watch as the planchette moves across the English alphabet.
M-A-T-S-U-K-A-W-A
"Nice to meet you, Matsukawa!" Akagi is alight again, buzzing with excitement. It's beginning to wear Issei down, honestly.
"Isn't that the name of the family who owned the house before you bought it, Rin?"
Rintarou dips his chin quickly in response to Aran's question.
Issei reaches out towards the nape of Rin's neck and lets his fingers graze along his bare skin. The host shivers violently before whipping around to look at Issei with a playful glare.
Well, through him, anyway.
"Don' move so suddenly, Rin!"
"Anyone else feel a chill all of a sudden?!"
"So spooky!"
Rintarou's eyes dart back and forth behind him. His smile fades with a sigh to regain his facade for the group. He turns back around to face the men with a reverent look. "We should say goodnight. I don't want to keep him here with us asking annoying questions."
No, please do. Issei doesn't have much planned for the rest of the night otherwise. Maybe phasing through some walls, flickering a few lights…writing a note on the glass of the bedroom window for later...
"Thank you for your time, Matsukawa-san." The group says mostly in unison. "We hope to speak to you again."
Issei sighs. He folds his arms across his chest and lumbers away, leaving the party alone to clean up the boardgame. Issei retreats into the entryway of the home and looks up at the top of the stairs. The landing there opens to a path on the right and leads down a hallway where a room is sealed shut so that no one can enter. Even Rintarou hasn't stepped foot inside of it. For every attempt he made, Issei was braced against the door on the other side, stopping him from being able to crack it open.
Issei doesn't want to reveal all of his secrets to Rin. Not yet.
As the crowd begins to thin out, Rintarou cleans up any traces that there was a gathering to begin with. He carries dishes to the kitchen to wash off in the sink. Rintarou is caught off guard when the dishwasher beside him pops itself open, but he gently smiles and opens it further to place some of the items that he's rinsed off inside.
"Thank you." He tells Issei, his tone breathy and gentle.
Issei shrugs, even though Rintarou doesn't see it. Rin hasn't been able to see him since he's moved in, anyway. It's never the right moment for Issei to reveal himself. He's not ready to show Rin the wounds he bears for the rest of his spectral life that reveal how Issei met his end.
Once Rintarou finishes the dishes, he returns to the living room to collapse onto the couch. He picks up the television remote and powers the device on. Rintarou watches the screen for a moment, recognizing the teams playing in the match. He pauses before changing the channel.
"Do you want to watch this game? It's got that team you seem to like."
Issei hovers behind the couch, watching the rally and identifying the players.
"Or should I find us a movie to watch instead?"
The television's screen goes fuzzy as if it's losing signal. When it flickers back to normal, a different show is playing on it. Suna nods, understanding Issei's answer. "I'll find a good one for us, then. It's close to Halloween. There's bound to be a movie marathon streaming somewhere."
The pair settle on a channel playing an older movie and fall into a comfortable silence as it plays. Rintarou stretches out, taking up the length of the couch and makes himself comfortable. Issei leans against the back of the couch, his arms crossed over each other and his chin resting atop of them.
Issei is content with how things are. He could have had a tenant who tried to exorcise him. Or one that would have demolished the house. Instead, he found himself paired with a fairly chill and tech-savvy guy.
Rintarou spent a good portion of his first month confirming he wasn't alone in the house with some infrared cameras and an EMF device. He set up little traps to catch Issei's movements and recorded his actions. Issei had a fun time playing around with the machines set up throughout the place. He spent the month changing radio stations to his preferred ones and found ways to express himself to Rin. He wrote messages in the steam left on the bathroom mirror for Rin to see after he had finished taking a long bath. They formed somewhat of a bond during their forced proximity.
Though, Issei does wish he could talk to Rin about the movie without interfering with its broadcast. Their limited communication was frustrating from time to time.
By the end of the movie, Suna softly snores on the couch with a dead cellphone loosely gripped in his hand. Issei had long abandoned watching the movie in favor of watching Rin, soaking in any information he could about the slumbering beauty.
As the movie credits scroll on the screen, Issei grips the cover from the arm of the couch and pulls it over Rintarou. He drops the cover once it reaches Rin's shoulders, careful not to disturb the human's respite.
Issei doesn't think twice when he uses his hand to brush back some hair that has fallen into Rintarou's face and tucks it behind his ear. Issei squats beside the couch so his face is at the same level with Rin's, then leans in to press a ghost of a kiss onto his forehead.
"Can I keep you?"
The sentence is on the tip of his tongue, yet Rin will never hear the waiver in his voice or how softly Issei speaks to him. He'll never notice Issei's longing that he suppresses deep within himself to feel Rin's warmth--just once. He's tired of being the cold chill that washes over Rin's shoulder. Instead, Issei feels a faint prickle in his fingertips as they pet the human's cheek… It's reminiscent of the same sensation you feel when your arm or foot falls asleep.
That's the closest Issei can ever get to Rintarou.
The predicament is slowly killing him inside. Even if he's already dead.
Please, let me keep you.