A/N: I don't own OFJ. Otherwise, please enjoy!

Takasu, Wakasa, and Tatsumi were all hanging out together one day when Tatsumi decided to tell them the story of something strange he'd been experiencing recently.

"Did you know I saw a ghost around here?" he began. Wakasa and Takasu immediately started and turned to stare at him in shock, amazed that the normally practical Tatsumi would speak of the supernatural.

"Really?" they queried in unison.

Tatsumi nodded seriously, showing them he wasn't trying to exploit their gullibility.

"Yes," he assured them. He described to them his encounter with it–he had first seen it in the stairwell when he was heading out early to school, before the sun had risen. He had been a little tired, but there had been no mistaking what he had seen before him as a ghost. It was short and slight, veiled in blue-green haze. Even its hair was blue green, tangled like that of a water spirit, hanging down over its face and covering up its expression. Water, water, it had whispered eerily. Tatsumi thought of himself as a sensible person, one who didn't believe in ghosts, and even if they did happen to be real, wouldn't be scared by one, but seeing the ghost that day a chill had dripped down his spine, as cold as ice water. He had stood there paralyzed until it had moved away, and had ended up being late to school despite having started out early. A few other times after that he had caught glimpses of it, but he had always dashed away, irrationally frightened it might do something to him.

Hearing his description, dark looks of fear formed on the faces of his two companions. He understood: it had been pretty frightening. But they weren't watching him, they were looking beyond him into the entryway.

"Veiled in blue-green haze, you say?" Takasu asked, sounding as if the temperature in the apartment had suddenly gone glacial. "Like someone wrapped in a cloth made of shimmery water-like fabric?"

"Yes," Tatsumi replied, surprised by the accuracy of his description, "how did you know?" It was then that he saw where the blond and redhead were looking, and his gaze drifted to follow theirs. As soon as it did, an identical dark look of fear appeared on his face to match that of his companions. There, standing in the entryway was the ghost he had seen that morning, looking as frightening as it had before. This time it was even dripping water, what a petrifying sight! The drops echoed loudly as they fell from the fabric covering the ghost's form onto the hardwood floor of the apartment.

"Hello," the spirit said in its unnerving voice. It raised its head, and the hair fell off of its face.

Tatsumi looked closer and was enormously relieved. It wasn't a ghost after all but a young child, dressed in the soaking wet cosplay of a ghost.

"May I come in?" Mikuni asked. Tatsumi nodded, thinking he must be immensely uncomfortable in that wet clothing, and the child entered the apartment.

"Thank you," he continued, "I was worried you would ask me to leave."

"No, no," he replied. How could he turn away a child?

He turned back to Wakasa and Takasu to see their reaction. They were still trembling and holding each other tight; it seemed they still thought he was a ghost. The two them were pretty naive, after all, it was no surprise they believed in ghosts.

The child was peering at the two men, taking in their strange colorations.

"Wakasa, Takasu?" he asked, recognizing them. "It's me, Mikuni."

The two men relaxed slightly, peering back at the child.

"Mikuni?" Takasu replied. "It's really you? We thought it was a real ghost."

The boy pouted. "I am a real ghost," he insisted. Tatsumi gave him a disbelieving look, but he supposed that kids had overactive imaginations sometimes, maybe this kid really thought he was a ghost.

"So this is where you've been staying, Wakasa?" Mikuni continued. "Looks nice."

"Oh, right," Wakasa said, suddenly realizing he needed to make introductions. "Tatsumi, this is Mikuni, the neighborhood ghost. Mikuni, this is Tatsumi, he took me in."

Mikuni smiled at Tatsumi, who reflected the boy still looked a bit ghostly even after his true nature had been revealed.

"Tatsumi, how nice to meet you," he said. He reached out and took both of Tatsumi's wrists in his hands, his grip surprisingly strong. "Won't you let me become your friend, too?"

Wow, he's strong, thought Tatsumi, it's hard to believe he's just a kid.

"Weren't you hanging around the park yesterday?" he asked, remembering when he'd last seen the 'ghost'.

"Huh?" Mikuni replied, his expression confused. It was clear he had no idea what Tatsumi was talking about, even though it had only been the day before. "You saw me there? What was I doing?" He smiled a charming smile, his forgetfulness made cute by his diminutive features.

"He's dumb," chided Takasu.

"Yeah, really," Wakasa agreed.

In response to their criticism, Mikuni reached out and seized their cheeks, pinching them hard with his flexible fingers. They both cried out in pain, and he admonished them, telling them he wasn't stupid and that they were being mean.

"Hey, don't you want to dry off?" asked Tatsumi, worried about the boy's health if he continued to wear his wet clothing.

"Oh no, I like the water," Mikuni replied, smiling shyly at the black-haired man. His eyes suddenly sparkled as a light bulb went off in his brain. "Oh, that's why I was at the park, I was swimming in the fountain!"

Tatsumi gave him an odd look, wondering what sort of person swam in a fountain in a park, but the boy was friends with Wakasa and Takasu; after all, he should have been prepared for any kind of eccentricity. Besides, he was talking about someone who habitually dressed up as a ghost, if you added swims in park fountains to his description, it was clear which of his oddities was the stranger.

"Well, is there anything I can get for you?" he asked, still wanting to help the boy.

"Some hot tea would be nice," Mikuni replied, and Tatsumi hurriedly got up to boil some water for tea. He handed the warm cup to the boy when he was finished. Mikuni took a large sip and sighed gratefully at the heat of the liquid.

"Ah, that's better," he said.

He stayed with the three men, clothes slowly drying, until dinner time, when Tatsumi made beef stew for Takasu and Wakasa per their request. When Tatsumi offered the child a bowl; however, Mikuni turned him down, saying he couldn't possibly eat something so rich. He would be content, he added, with just some light rice and vegetables.

"Yeah, Mikuni doesn't eat a lot," Wakasa said, hearing the exchange. "That's how he still looks like that, even though he's our age."

Tatsumi was astounded. Mikuni was high-school age? He looked like an elementary school kid, a middle schooler at the oldest. He hardly believed it, but Mikuni nodded, confirming what Wakasa had proclaimed.

"Isn't there anything else you want?" he asked, worried Mikuni might be malnourished.

"Oh no," Mikuni replied lightly, waving the remark away with his fragile hand. He paused, then added shyly, "unless, do you have Aquari?"

Tatsumi narrowed his eyes. "The fancy water?"

"That's right," Mikuni assured him. "Do you think I could have some?"

Tatsumi stared at him, confused by the strange nature of his request and Mikuni misinterpreted his silence for a refusal, burying his face in his hands with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry for being so forward!" he apologized.

"No, that's okay," Tatsumi replied, reassuring the childlike boy. He reached into the fridge and took out the bottle of Aquari he had just happened to pick up at the supermarket the day before. He didn't quite understand why Mikuni would want fancy water when he could have asked for something else, but he passed the bottle to the ghost cosplay-wearing boy. Mikuni accepted it gratefully and drank some down daintily, remarking on how good it was.

"Thank you so much," he told Tatsumi happily.

"Have as much as you like," said Tatsumi, weirded out by his behavior.

"Really?" Wakasa cut in, "Tatsumi, you're too nice." He beamed brightly at his roommate.

"It's not fair," Takasu added, looking significantly less pleased with the golden-eyed man.

Handing the bottle back to Tatsumi, Mikuni suddenly got up to leave. Looking surprised, Tatsumi watched him stroll back towards the entranceway.

"Mikuni likes to explore," explained Takasu, who had recovered from his sense of injustice. "He can't sit still for long."

"Thanks for having me," Mikuni said, bowing, then scampered back out the door and disappeared. Tatsumi carefully put the Aquari bottle away, saving it for the boy's next visit. Watching what he was doing, Wakasa and Takasu suddenly became unsure of the stability of their positions in Tatsumi's household. Would Mikuni replace them?

"Do you like him better than us?" Wakasa asked anxiously. "Was it because he didn't ask for much?"

"Are we a burden on you?" Takasu chimed in. "Did we eat too much beef stew?"

Tatsumi glared at them to shut up, and Takasu scowled and sulked.

"Fine," he said, pouting, "we can always Dumpster dive and bring you food."

Wakasa latched onto the idea, suggesting to Takasu the best places they could go. Tatsumi listen to the two of the brainstorming, wondering what kind of life a person would have to live to know the best places to Dumpster dive. He was glad he had saved Wakasa from that life: the blond deserved better than such a harsh existence.

"I don't need you to do that for me," he cut in, not wanting them to get to serious about their food salvaging plans. Now that Wakasa had a better life, he didn't his roommate to have to go through anything like the hardships he'd had to go through to survive before Tatsumi had taken him in. Wakasa lived with him now, and Tatsumi mentally promised himself that he would always provide the blond with enough to make up for whatever lack he'd had to endure in the past.