It wasn't a great start.

Yosuke had forgotten that with his headphones in he wouldn't be able to hear his alarm and as such didn't wake up until late in the afternoon. Chie had messaged him when she arrived, but a few hours of Yosuke not responding had led to some pretty heated texts.

baaaaaaaaaack!

...

...srsly?

yosuke i spent an entire day helping ur sorry butt and this is how im repaid? THX FOR CARING JERK!

and another thing dont even think about asking us for n e thing u selfish dick!

Yosuke drug a hand down his face and sighed. This would take more than a five minute phone conversation. A conversation he simply did not have time for.

"Shit!"

He pressed the unlock button on the side of his phone again and froze when he discovered the time. Was it really that late? He should have been at the station twenty minutes ago. As he started to tear through the boxes of clothing he had, he went over the route he had to take to get to his new job. There was one stop he kept struggling to remember the name of, but he was confident that'd he'd recognize it once he actually saw the board.

"Damn!"

The desperate young man barely had time to swish around some mouthwash and run a brush through his hair a couple times before he remembered that he also needed to find all the documents his manager had requested he bring. He had intended to set them out the night before, but in his complete and utter exhaustion, he'd forgotten. His unpacking was now taking the form of 'throw everything on the ground and sort later'. Yosuke didn't even want to think about what he was tossing everything onto, and he'd clean all his stuff once he disinfected the entire apartment, but right now he had to find those papers or he'd be without a job before he even started.

"Finally!"

He snatched the folder out of one of the random boxes he'd failed to label (what a surprise), and he pulled a coat on, hoping that he didn't look too disheveled as he sprinted down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. There wasn't time to get his bike and find a place to lock it up. Maybe if he'd actually left on time he could have enjoyed the easier trip on a bike, but as it stood, he'd do well to get there only ten minutes late. Great first impression. He was really knocking this 'being independent' thing out of the park.

After dodging cars, bikes and pedestrians, he finally arrived at the station and felt around for his wallet, pulling out his pass for the train.

"Fuck," he muttered, realizing he'd never reloaded the card.

Did he have enough on him to pay for the trip? Surely he'd brought something. And what was that stop again?

"Fuuuck," he whispered, scanning the intimidating board above him.

Had there always been this many stops? He couldn't remember it being this overwhelming when he originally lived here. He pulled out his cell to try and search for the directions to the restaurant, but groaned when he saw he had zero reception. What good was having upgraded to a smartphone if he couldn't use the damn thing when he needed it?

An attendant. How stupid of him—he could ask a worker!

He maneuvered between the growing crowd of people until he found the queue for the manned line next to the ticket barriers. There was a foreign couple who were clearly lost, and although Yosuke felt like the world's biggest hypocrite, he couldn't help but curse under his breath. He tapped his foot impatiently and looked around nervously. He was gonna be so late. He was gonna be so fired.

"Sir?"

Yosuke's attention turned to the worker and he nearly ran to the counter.

"Can you tell me which line I need for this address?"

He held up the now crumpled paper and pointed at the messily written address. The attendant moved closer, no doubt to try and decipher his horrific handwriting, and finally drew back to answer with which line. Yosuke thanked him and he took off to the ticket machine, completely flustered that he was wasting even more time. After flying through all the options, and practically flinging his change at the thing, he grabbed his printed ticket and bolted for the train. He tried to apologize to every person he bumped into, and it was horribly rude, but he couldn't afford any more delays. The one thing he was thankful for was the promptness of Japan's trains—a trait he should definitely think about incorporating into his daily life.

Once the car arrived, he slipped inside and tried to position himself where it would be easiest to get off once he arrived at his stop. He hoped he hadn't looked like he was running from someone when he tore through the station, but he supposed it was too late now to wonder about his level of suspiciousness. His eyes were looking at, but not seeing, the buildings as they zoomed through the city, and he began to second guess himself again. Was he ever going to get his stuff together? Had he really changed at all from that awkward kid from Inaba?

...

From?

Strange how now he felt more like a country boy after three something years, than the city boy who'd spent most of his life in this overwhelming jungle.

What the hell was he doing?

It was really a shock that he'd made it on time. Surely the universe was cutting him some slack, and maybe all those awkward moments that it had delivered him had been in preparation for this move. He was fine with having been stuck in a few trashcans in Inaba if it meant this was going to be easier.

He stood in front of the small restaurant and took a deep breath, taking a split second to look at himself in the reflection of the darkened windows. He looked like shit, but he wasn't actually starting today—just paperwork and orientation. What would that entail anyway? Maybe he should have brought a brush with him after all.

"Hanamura, right?"

Yosuke's head snapped in the direction of the voice. "Ye-yessir. Yosuke Hanamura," his voice shook slightly as he bowed in the direction of who he could only guess was his new boss.

The man that stood at the door was probably the most intimidating guy Yosuke had ever seen. He stood well over six feet tall and was built like his previous profession had been tearing down buildings with his bare hands. However, gruff face and ominous demeanor aside, he looked less like the murderer he had sounded like over the phone.

The moment after Yosuke had introduced himself, the man's face shifted to one of pure amusement. "Ah, cut that bowing crap out. I'm Hiroki Ishikawa, the owner of this dump. Good to see you're here on time! Ya know, I actually fired our bouncer last night for being late every damn day. Hate tardiness. You'd do well to remember that. Speaking of, I need to call that guy back about that application. Seems a position opened up... Unless you wanted to change your original application?" Ishikawa's grin spread wide and he looked at Yosuke with the most serious of eyes.

Bouncer? What the hell kind of place was Yosuke going to be working in?

"With all due respect, I think I'll stick with my original one," Yosuke answered, hoping that it was the correct one.

His boss let out a bellowing laugh. "Of course, of course! I was only messin' with ya, kid. You're too scrawny to even intimidate some of these drunk business guys we get."

It stung, but it was fair.

"Anyway, let's get all this legal stuff out of the way so I can show you around. Lots to do today. Hope we have a uniform in your size... Eh, it's fine. Your first night is a slow one so it won't be too bad."

First night... Wait, was he being serious? He was actually gonna work the floor, day one!?

Yosuke moved to cover the folder he was holding. "Uh... Sir, I—"

His boss wasn't having it. "Come on, kid. Let's get going! Prep work ain't gonna do itself!"

He was probably dead. All his limbs were numb, and he was pretty sure he was both waterlogged from dishes and dehydrated from the constant running around. Slow night. What bull.

"I'm home," he quietly called to the still dark and creepy apartment.

Home was quite the stretch, but hey, what else was he gonna do?

At least he'd been able to take free food home and his coworkers seemed helpful. Sure, he'd never worked harder in his entire life, but everyone had some teamwork and sense of urgency—unlike Junes. Yosuke set the bag he'd grabbed on the counter and stopped, remembering his earlier promise to himself. Was he really up to cleaning tonight?

"Dammit," he cursed, seeing an inch of dust where he would have been eating.

That answered that.

He stuck his meal in the tiny fridge and grabbed the few cleaners he had (courtesy of his mother's nagging), along with some towels. He'd do the kitchen and bathroom. The rest would still be grungy and waiting in the morning.

Thankfully, nothing was set in too badly, and it was mostly just dust that covered the apartment. He'd been able to finish up in about an hour, but now he was too tired to even eat. And, now that he'd stopped moving, he realized just how cold the place was. Almost colder than outside. Then again, night did make things progressively more chilly.

Even though the poor guy just wanted to crawl, uniform and all, under the covers and pass out, he knew he wasn't ready to take his job to bed with him. Time to test the remodeled bathroom that was the only redeeming feature of his shit apartment. He unpacked the only two towels that he had and began to change out of his work uniform. It was kind of strange to not be able to open a linen closet and have two dozen towels to choose from, but he just kind of figured that was part of 'making his own way'. Pretty serious talk considering he was lamenting over some laundry.

"Okay... Let's see how this water pressure—WHOA!"

It was clear that the faucet hadn't been turned on in ages and air sputtered out of the pipes, the walls seeming to creak at the sudden change in pressure.

"Dude... this fucking place," Yosuke groaned, checking the temperature as the water calmed down and poured out in a normal fashion. "The whole building is gonna fall down and crush me while I sleep, I swear."

After the half hour the young tenet allowed himself to soak, he begrudgingly left the bath and went to settle in for bed, only to notice that his heater was on.

"What the..."

He couldn't remember having turned it on, but he was also almost delirious at this point.

"I'm gonna burn this place to the ground if I don't get my act together..." His exhaustion was no excuse. Yosuke could hear his mom harping on him all the way from Inaba.

Still, it was nice (ignoring his forgetfulness) to have a warmed bed to wrap himself up in. Sleep would come much easier tonight.

He had to force himself out of bed that morning. Literally, force himself out.

But he had responsibilities to deal with.

He opened the tiny fridge, ready to use its emptiness as an excuse to get out and buy groceries on the way back from the post office. The leftovers stared back at him, a reminder that he also had other obligations later.

"And work... kill me," he whined.

It was day two (basically) and he was already searching for excuses to be lazy. Wouldn't it just be easier to starve and hide under the covers?

And then another problem came to mind.

"Nooooo, Chie," he scolded his forgetfulness.

She was going to kill him for ignoring her yesterday. He knew those messages meant she still expected a message coupled with a dozen apologies. It was the least he could do anyway.

hey dude i am so sorry. i passed out and then woke up late and was almost late day one. pathetic huh? then i went home and crashed and woke up a few minutes ago. thank you so much for the help, i mean it. sorry i was such a dick yesterday.

There, polite—or at least their version of politeness—message out of the way. Yosuke was sure it was far from over with her and simply went back to heating up his food. He had maybe... four hours? Yeah, four sounded right—until he had to be at work. He could get to the post office, buy some cheap (totally healthy) food, purchase those dumb light bulbs and hopefully look up some basic ways to insulate this damn place. As he stood there in the kitchen, he found himself start to gently shiver. How was it still this cold? Was this place held together with literal string and hope? Scratch that, it probably—TOTALLY—was.

His phone buzzed against the now much cleaner counter.

ya w/e i bet u got fired already

If he'd been a single minute later yesterday he totally would have been. Like that bouncer... Did his boss really need one? That guy was built like a mountain and seemed like the kind of person that you didn't want to be on receiving end of his anger. No thank you. Yosuke would just keep his head down and do the best job he could.

nope. and i actually worked day 1. so crazy. i feel like i died and got reborn this morning.

He was lucky the previous tenant had left their microwave behind, but knowing how this place was, the thing was probably haunted or something. However, the ding sounded and nothing frightening jumped out when he opened the door, so mission successful, or whatever.

Yosuke lazily chewed the (surprisingly) tasty reheated food and thought about when his next day off would be. Was it rude to ask? After all, he still had a lot to take care of and he was pretty wiped out from moving. Plus, didn't most people receive their schedule day one? Who was he kidding, day one had been unconventional from the get-go.

pffft u just suck w/ actual work mr. junes prince :p

Junes hadn't been the most physically demanding job, and he couldn't argue that he was pathetically out-of-shape—he couldn't picture himself working out or doing anything remotely close to that, but there was just a special kind of evil that had occurred last night. How could one tiny restaurant/bar/thing be that damn busy. You'd think that the place sold food and drinks that could double as cure-alls.

stfu i just gotta get my feet wet and i'll be good. my boss is scary but seems cool so eh. i'll pick my battles. got free food!

Enough of that. Time to fake the adult he was still trying to become.

He'd done it. He'd actually set up his account and information with the post office, bought light bulbs, a few other amenities and he went and bought food—even a vegetable or two! Yosuke was practically on cloud nine as he jogged up the stairs to his apartment with a good two hours left before his shift started.

Then he opened the door.

Then he plummeted back to earth and got wedged between a couple of rocks.

"Ugh."

Even though the grimy window was blocking some of it, the sun was revealing all the dust and who-knew-what-else on the ground of his apartment. He saw the faint line of... something surrounding his bed and resigned himself to cleaning before the cleaning he'd be doing at work later.

So, Yosuke put his minimal groceries away, changed the light bulbs, hung the cheap curtains he'd bought, and finally started to clean the filth. Thankfully, just like last night, it was mostly dust that had evolved into dust bunnies that had taken on a life of their own. That being said, dust was surprisingly hard to clean.

"How can nothing get you up!?" the still teen whined and continued to wipe up the same stubborn spot he'd been dealing with for the past five minutes.

But, an hour later, he finally completed the living/dining/bedroom area. He'd touched up what was left in the kitchen and unpacked the final few things in there, but it was only after he opened the window that he could smell a difference. There was something about an aired out space that sent some relief through him. Plus, a clean window seemed to make a world of difference. With his final couple of minutes, he stood proudly in the corner and observed his victory—cause he was here to win the war, not every battle. The rest could wait, and would have to.

With all the boxes rearranged snugly in one corner of the already snug room, he got to at least appreciate some of the limited space and admired the bare floor that would no doubt remain that way for maybe twelve hours.

"Time to get ready," he groaned, also knowing he was going into another battle in less than an hour. But, he knew the route today, so... victory number two still felt pretty good.

Work was work. It was about the same as the night before, but he'd been determined to get that second wind this time. He knew more about what he was up against, and even his co-workers had commented on how well he was adapting after only one full shift.

"I'm home," he called, trying to make this a cathartic process he could cling to at the end of a shit day. Someone there or not wouldn't matter if he could trick his brain into thinking he wasn't all alone.

Yosuke tried get back onto a schedule of: food, shower and sleep. How hard could it be without distraction? He plopped down on his bed after his bath and allowed himself to finally take a deep breath and dispel some of the stress that still weighed down on his shoulders.

Because that day off was tomorrow.

And it was going to be AWESOME.

The tired young man glanced around the room and hummed in satisfaction... Until he noticed something weird.

"What the..."

He wasn't imagining it. There in the corner, next to his tiny pile of boxes, was a pair of glasses. He stood and crossed the room, picking them up and turning them over and over in his hand. Gray. Weird band of colors on the side. Definitely not his style and definitely not there earlier that day.

"How?"

Had something accidently been packed up in his stuff and fallen out when he was gone? Maybe Chie had left them?

yo. are these yours?

He attached a picture he quickly took of the glasses to his message and waited for a couple minutes.

yuck no way! those look like dude glasses n e ways

Yosuke couldn't argue that they did seemed more suited for a guy, but that didn't mean crap. The only thing that gave that away was more the size and less about the style. Girls didn't normally have a head this big.

He even tried to see if they, for some crazy reason, were his dad's.

No. Call your mother sometime.

Good. An answer and slight guilt trip. Parents were fantastic.

Then who the hell did they belong to? He could ask his absentee landlord, but he doubted someone so ancient even remembered what they had for breakfast. No way someone had actually wanted to break in to this crappy place... right?

Out of nowhere, the same chill he'd felt the past couple of days came back with undeniable force. This time, Yosuke felt his bangs brush against his cheeks, his clothes fold against his skin and the room drop at least ten degrees.

And this time he'd made damn sure the window and door were shut.

But, just as he started to turn, the brand new light bulbs started to flicker in the room and he froze.

The teen felt a sense of dread fill his limbs and he broke out into a cold sweat. Suddenly, he didn't want to turn around. Memories of cheesy horror movies he'd suffered through with Chie and Yukiko came to mind as temperature continued to drop. Was this shithole actually haunted? But he couldn't argue the feel of the glasses in his hand remained frigid despite his sweaty palms having been holding them for minutes now.

Or that now there was an undeniable presence behind him.

"Oh God..."

It slipped out before he could stop himself and he smacked a hand against his mouth like that would save him, somehow. The presence had a weight to it that he couldn't describe even if someone asked him to, and it was damn close to him as far as normal, respectful personal space went. The glasses in his hand seemed to grow that much colder as the 'being' grew nearer, and his blood froze while his muscles burned. His blood pressure had never bottomed out before, but he was pretty sure this is what that felt like. However, Yosuke knew he couldn't remain stuck and he mustered the most courage he could.

"Wh-who's there!?" he cried as he whipped around, trying to sound as fierce as a squeaky voice would allow.

But there was nothing.

Nothing but a now brightly lit room that remained the same temperature as the Arctic.

He let out a heavy sigh and tried to still the almost violent shaking he'd just now noticed. Pfft, ghosts. How insane. How nuts was he going already? There was a rational explanation if he'd just calm the hell down and think for two seconds. Temperature? Winter freeze warning that night. Draft? He still hadn't purchased anything for insulation so of course the wind was going to find a way though. Presence? His brain was trying to create something to give his stupid ghost theory some sane reason for existing. Besides, who actually believed in ghosts these days besides old people and paranoid weirdos? And Yukiko, but that was more for fun than anything.

He rolled his shoulder to release the last bit of tension. "Whew... Time for be—"

Click.

This time he couldn't deny it. He couldn't trick himself. His eyes widened to a painful degree as he watched the latch on the door lock and the heater kick on.

"No...No, no, no—nonononoNO!"

Yosuke scrambled back into the kitchen and threw the glasses towards the door in some half-baked attempt to protect himself.

"Wh-who the fuck is there!?"

There was NO WAY this was happening. Ghosts were just made up bullshit!

"Answer me!"

Impossibly, his eyes stretched further as his jaw practically unhinged at what he was seeing. At first, the form was just like paler static on a TV, then a more distinct outline came into focus with some features distinguishable and finally an easily recognizable form of a human was what was left. Although it appeared like Yosuke was looking at someone through a pair of lenses that blurred his vision of just that particular thing, he could definitively see a young man right by his front door. Sure, the guy looked like he was ready to phase out at any moment as parts of him would fade in and out every couple seconds, but he was there. He was there and staring right at the frightened teen.

"Wha... What are you?" Was all Yosuke could think to ask at that moment.

The young man remained silent.

He looked all grayed out—like the color just wouldn't load, or whatever ghosts did. Gray eyes, hair, clothes and even his skin was almost white. Still, he didn't look like any creepy ghost Yosuke had seen in those B movie horror films Yukiko had shown him. The guy looked plain and Yosuke found that he felt the slightest bit less frightened when he came into focus. No creepy girl with long hair that covered her face and some tattered dress.

His adrenaline plateaued and Yosuke tried a more polite question, forcing his voice to stabilize. "Who are you?"

This time, the ghostly figured parted his lips and spoke in a voice so low that Yosuke had to crane to hear it.

"Yu."

"Yu?" Yosuke repeated, curiosity beginning to replace the terror.

'Yu' nodded.

"Um... Are you... a—uh, g-ghost?" Because how did you sound calm asking someone that?

The spirit tilted his head slightly at that.

It was like watching a channel on an analog TV that refused to focus, only the screen was isolated to one thing and it made it seem creepy as hell. Even the guy's voice sounded like there was white noise just barely in the background.

It seemed to take less effort to answer simply so the teen decided to keep the questions to single word responses.

"Do you live here?"

Yu nodded.

"Do you know how long?"

A headshake this time.

Although he no longer felt like the ghost was a threat, he still asked the most important question.

"Are you... going to hurt me?"

"No."

Yu pointed to the door and heater to indicate as such.

"... So, you turned on the heater last night."

A nod.

Yosuke paused to reassess the situation. The aura the ghost gave off was actually pretty calm, and even his voice through the static was calming. As they stood there, Yu seemed to stabilize and during the quiet he began to examine his limbs and the room around him.

"Yu, um..."

The young man turned and looked at him curiously.

"Are those your glasses?" Yosuke pointed down by the ghost's feet.

Yu looked down. "...Yes."

"Ah, I see..." One mystery solved, ten more opened. "What year do you think it is?"

The young man looked like he was thinking for a moment. "2011?"

Yosuke didn't say it, but did conclude that, that was more than likely when the guy had died. "Oh, well... it's 2013... now... yeah." He wasn't sure if correcting him was going to freak him out now that he thought about it.

"Oh." Yu sounded disappointed, but seemed more confused than anything.

The teen tried to remember all the questions he'd heard people ask ghosts in movies. "Do you know where you are?"

"Yes." At least Yu's voice was starting to have less crackle and pop to it.

"How old are you?"

"17."

Damn. What the hell happened to this guy? Not like a family could manage to fit in a place like this, and if he died here, he had to be living alone.

Then Yosuke had a thought and slapped a hand to his face, seeming to startle the ghost momentarily. "S-sorry! I just realized I hadn't told you my name. I'm Yosuke Hanamura. It's—uh, nice to meet you."

Yu nodded. "Yu... Narukami."

Two words. Progress.

"Are you here all the time?"

Yu gave another nod, but stopped midway. "I... think."

"Do you ever leave this apartment?"

"No."

Yosuke edged away from the corner of the kitchen he'd back himself into, and started to carefully walk towards the start of the of the living area. Yu eyed him with interest, but didn't seem frightened. Of course, why would he be?

The current tenant still wanted to verify. "Are you... scared of me?"

The previous (or maybe still present) tenant shook his head.

For whatever reason, that affirmation made Yosuke feel relieved. "Good."

But he'd run out of questions to politely ask, and now it felt really weird for him to have moved closer without more to say. "Um... Do you wanna ask me anything?"

"Age?"

"Oh! I'm 19. Just moved in, but you—er, probably knew that... already... heh." Still a social disaster even with a ghost. Wait... wouldn't that make more sense? Ugh, he had no clue about social anything.

Yu began to quietly laugh, the white noise behind his voice a little more prevalent, but not alarming. Actually, it sounded kind of nice, like a fan running while you tried to fall asleep.

"College?"

Yosuke shook his head and looked away in embarrassment. "Nah, I actually failed the exams on my first go. I decided to move out here to study. Like that makes any sense, huh?"

His new companion only seemed amused.

"Work." It wasn't a question this time.

"Yeah, started yesterday and it was hell... Thanks for turning the heater on... and off too now that I think about it," Yosuke replied, remembering his manners.

Yu nodded with a small smile.

Now the fear was basically gone and the teen wanted to test some stuff. "Can you... move things? Like, can you do more than turn a lock or press a button?"

The young man took his first step, causing Yosuke to jump a little, and Yu reached out for a banana Yosuke had left on the counter. Even though his arms looked like they were threatening to disappear, Yu still managed to slowly lift the fruit up and then set it back down.

"Huh, wow," Yosuke answered in almost disbelief.

Now the big one was here, and he was too damn interested in the outcome to think about the consequences. "Can you... do that with me? Like touch my arm, I mean."

This time Yu looked uncertain, but still walked cautiously up to the willing test subject. Up close, Yu looked less 2D and more tangible, but still like a character in an old black and white film. Yosuke could feel his heart racing in anticipation as he raised his arm up for the ghost to touch. Sure enough, Yu placed his fingertips against Yosuke's skin and it felt like ice was sliding over him without the melting sensation; in fact, it felt like painless static electricity was passing through him. It was still a little terrifying, but it was more amazing than anything.

"That's... incredible," Yosuke whispered to himself, but Yu laughed softly once more.

How many people could say they got to experience this kind of thing? Why wasn't he moving away in absolute shock at the very least? And even Yosuke didn't have a clue why he wasn't pissing himself right now, but it was like the thrill was too strong for him to really be bothered. Had he always adjusted this quickly?

Yu brought him back from his wonderment. "Are you... scared?"

His deep voice had more crack to it up close, like an old record, but his concern was clear. Yosuke met the uneasy eyes of the spirit in front of him, and a dumb grin spread across his face.

"No."

Author's Note: Boo. I'm not dead. Unlike Yu. (Ha, jokes)

Thanks for all the... everything! You guys rock!