Hi guys! I hope you're all good, it's been a while!

So I wanted to post this chapter and the one after it quickly so I didn't send this one to my beta reader because I didn't want to overwhelm her, meaning this one's not edited so let me know if there are any mistakes please! The next one should be edited however and I'll post it as soon as I heat back from her!

Enjoyyy!

Previously...

She kept reading the rest of his information in a low muttering voice. While he just sat on her bed and waited for her to finish up. Part of him thought she was justcurious about him. He watched her silently until she suddenly stopped flipping the sheet she had been holding to check whether or not there was any writing atthe back. He saw her look through the other sheets she already read before she raised her head and looked at him with an expression of dread.

"Ren?" She said, her expression turning curious, making him start at the sudden use of his name without an honorific. "I think you might not be dead after all."

Ch9: Almost confirmed

Ren looked at her, dumbfounded. Did she just say…?

"What?"

"I can't find your death certificate." She said. "And there's no information that proves your death."

"Maybe they still haven't filed it in or something, just because a sheet of paper isn't there doesn't mean I'm not dead! Look at me, I'm a ghost!" He said sounding a bit on edge.

"Oh, right. You've been here for nine days, and you said you were dead for a week before that, so it would make you dead for what? Like sixteen days?" She said. "No one capable of doing their job would forget filing a death certificate for sixteen days!"

"Maybe they just forgot to put it in the envelope!"

"Ren, even your dental records are in here! Everything from your birth certificate to your school records is in this!" She smacked the papers on her desk, exasperated at his denial. "They didn't forget it! Even if they have, there are places in other documents that would point out that you're deceased. There's nothing in here that does!"

Ren put his head in his hands, leaning forward. "That doesn't make any sense! If I'm not dead then how come I'm … like this?" He gestured to himself.

"I honestly don't know." She said, running a hand through her hair. "Are you sure that you died when that car hit you?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

He looked at her like she was a lunatic. How could she seriously ask him that? A car crashed onto him so hard it smacked the soul out of his body, how could he have possible survived that?

"I mean, did you stick around to see the paramedics declare the time of death and put your corpse in a bag? Or did you attend your funeral or something?"

"I…No, I was sure I was dead since I became a spirit, so I didn't see the point of waiting for the ambulance." He said. "And what kind of twisted person attends their own funeral, anyway?" He said.

"That's not the point. The point is, we have no definitive proof that you're actually dead." She retorted as she started slowly pacing around.

"You mean besides the fact that I'm a spirit?" He said with, sarcastically.

"Why are you so against this, anyway?" She stopped her mouvement and looked at him, frustrated after this argument.

"Because if you're right…if I'm not dead, and I'm a spirit, then that would mean I belong to neither the world of the living nor that of the dead!" He took a deep breath. "That would mean, I'll be stuck like this for god knows how long, Kyoko!"

Her expression softened. She didn't see it from his perspective, she was just giddy at the thought he might still be alive. Now that he explained, she felt frustrated herself. "We don't know anything for sure yet." She said. "We'll go check the funeral homes, we'll also check the hospital records for the day of your accident."

"How are we supposed to do that?" He asked, sounding calmer, resigned even.

"My mom's a nurse, remember?" She smirked. "We'll sneak into the hospital and use her ID to check the computer database on her day off, easy peasy lemon squeezy."

Ren looked at her intently for a moment before shaking his head. "You really are corrupted!" He chuckled. "But won't that get her in trouble?"

"Only if we get caught!" Her smirk turned even more devious. "And who will be able to catch a ghost in the act?"

"Uh huh…" Yeah, he definitely wouldn't want to represent her in court any time soon.

"Okay, so we'll check the funeral homes tomorrow and check to hospital on Thursday since that's when my mom is taking her day off."

"What about school and work?" He reminded.

"I only have the morning period and my boss is closing the pharmacy tomorrow, he has a wedding to attend." She said as she started putting Ren's Identification papers back in the big envelope.

"Hey, Kyoko-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks…for doing this, I realize that I acted like a jerk when I blackmailed you into helping me out, but seeing you go all out like this for me…well, I appreciate it."

She froze mid-movement, taken aback by what he said. It's true that she started off helping him in order for him to leave her alone, but recently, that didn't even cross her mind. She just wanted to help. She wasn't doing it to get rid of him, she was doing it … for him? 'No, no, no! What are you saying, Kyoko?! He's the enemy!' A part of her she had always believed to be her sensible side screamed. 'But it's been fun having him around…' Her treachourous, less sensible but way more honest subconscious added.

'What? No, focus!'

She internally shook her head and cleared her mind. She looked at him and smiled "You're welcome, Ren-san!" She said, deciding to tuck her sudden realization for later consideration.

"Ren-san?" His eyebrow was arched comically. "You've been calling me 'Ren' throughout the evening, don't you think it's awkward reverting back to the honorific right now?"

"H-Have I?" She asked, blushing. "I'm sorr-"

"Don't be!" Ren interrupted her apology. "I don't mind and besides I like it better if you ditch the honorific anyway." He smiled brightly and for a moment Kyoko wasn't sure about anything anymore.

"Oh…Okay." She said.

'I've been calling him Ren this whole time?!' She yelled in her mind before remembering Kanae's words from this morning, apparently, she didn't just 'slip' after all. 'See? You do like having him around!' Her inner demon whispered.

Oh, Damn.

"That was the last one." Kyoko sighed and plopped down on a bench. "None of them had a 'Tsuruga Ren' nor a 'Hizuri Ren' in their records." She huffed, making a stray hair bounce off her eyes.

"Perhaps I was…cremated?" He suggested, sitting cross legged on the ground, facing her.

"Um, most crematories go through funeral homes so they'd still have you in their record if you were cremated." Kyoko affirmed. She has done her research and she was now almost sure her dead friend isn't so dead after all.

"Then, the hospital records are our last hope to confirm my…vital state." He groaned. He really hoped he was right about the death certificate being forgotten, but now that they were sure he wasn't buried or cremated and unless his parents had him mummified or frozen or something, the chances of him being alive were quite high.

It didn't take them much time to go through the funeral homes since the receptionists were so kindly cooperative and he had to admit, Kyoko played the mournful girlfriend very convincingly. She had said that 'Tsuruga Ren' was her boyfriend and that his family was against their relationship so they didn't allow her to attend the funeral. She said she didn't even know where he was buried and that she really needed to at least visit his grave and pay her respects before moving on with her life.

Her little acting session made Ren's jaw drop. He didn't expect her to shed actual tears, but there she was, being handed a tissue by the kind receptionist who murmured her condolences.

Very K-dramatic if you ask him, but it got the job done and he had nothing to complain about.

Kyoko looked at him and saw him spacing out. Thinking he was swimming in melancholy again, she tried to think of something that would make him feel better and realized they still had half of the afternoon to themselves "You know, I still have your bucket list with me." She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a neatly folded sheet of paper.

"Maybe we can give one of these a try since we have some free time."

"You do realize that if I'm not dead, completing that bucket list won't make much sense, right?"

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy." She went through the items of the list. "How about this?' Making a bracelet out of one stone from every park in the area'." Kyoko read. "It's a sunny day and we have enough time."

"I don't know…"

"Oh, come on!" She pleaded. "Please?"

He looked at her pretty pout and her -fake- sad eyes, amused that she chose that expression to convince him. He didn't have the heart to say no after seeing how much she wanted him to go and quite frankly he didn't think he could even if he wanted to, Kyoko looked like a girl on a mission and he had a feeling she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Alright." He agreed, earning a cheer from her.

"There's a small park a couple of blocks away, let's start with that one!"

Ren and Kyoko cruised through Tokyo's parks, enjoying the scenery. The falling autumn leaves, colored in red, yellow, orange and caramel brown, the sudden flock of birds that would fly above them as it migrated towards warmer regions, the autumn breeze that blew through Kyoko's long, dark locks as they searched for the perfect 'stone'.

It all felt very romantic until a park keeper would approach Kyoko for her suspicious behavior. Which would make Ren squirm with laughter as she explained that she lost an earring or a necklace, ironically enough, since they were collecting stones to make a piece of jewelry themselves.

All in all, it was a pleasant afternoon. It got Ren's mind off of his predicament and it gave Kyoko an opportunity to have some fun. Besides the occasional sleepover with Kanae, she spent all her time studying and working, so this definitely was a nice change.

And Ren enjoyed seeing her act more like her age.

"Why don't you go to the room, while I go borrow one of mom's scrubs and a mask before she gets home." Kyoko said, unwrapping her muffler as she kicked off her shoes.

"Oh, so you're sneaking in wearing a disguise?"

"Well, duh! I'm not gonna casually walk in like a dummy!" She said. "Not everyone's invesible like some people."

Ren rolled his eyes -a habit he believes he picked up from Kyoko- and brushed away her words. "I thought that maybe you'd go pretending to be sick or injured or something."

"All my mother's coworkers know me so that won't be possible." She explained. "They'd call her saying they saw me and the next thing we know, she's have the doctor run full tests on me." She chuckled.

He snorted and shook his head exasperatedly. "Alright then, I'll be in the room.

After taking a neatly folded pair of light blue scrubs from her mother's closet, Kyoko joined Ren who seemed to be arranging the stones they collected on her bed.

"Oh, you're already starting?" She said, putting the scrubs in her backpack. "I found some thread and needles in mom's room, for the bracelet."

"Yeah, but how are we gonna assemble them? We'll need to make holes in the stones and that ain't easy." Ren grimaced.

"Bummer…" Kyoko thought for something that might help them. "Oh, we've got a drill with some small driver bits, that would do it!" She said before running downstairs to the tool box.

When she came back with the instrument, Ren looked at her with an uncertain expression.

"Are you sure you know how to use that?"

"Of course, since it's been just mom and I, I learned to embrace handy work." She said, screwing the small driver bit on the chuck of the drill. Looking at it, Ren thought it looked more fit for dentistry than 'handy work' as Kyoko said. The thing was ridiculously small, but it was just what they needed, he supposed.

They got started on their craft, piercing pebbles and attaching them together with a thread. Mixing and matching the different hues of the gravel. They were quite the sight, all serious and focused on their task.

"Well…It looks …decent." Kyoko said, as she observed the 'bracelet' from afar.

They had put it on her pillow and stood up a couple of feet away from her bed to admire their work.

"You can say it bluntly you know? It looks horrifying!" Ren chuckled. "It actually looks like something a woman from the stone age might wear."

Kyoko burst out laughing at that. "I'm pretty sure that even people from that time would have had a better sense of fashion."

"Still, it was fun making it."

"Totally!" Kyoko said, leading them to high five.

"Why exavtly did you put this in your bucket list again?" She asked.

"I don't know, it felt like I'd have a piece of Tokyo everywhere I go and I wanted to have it burried with me."

In the morning, Kyoko used the excuse of not finding her keys. Her mother said that she could use hers, and of course, since she had her hands busy making breakfast, she told Kyoko to get them from her purse. Which in turn allowed her to grab her mother's ID.

Ren leaned on the door frame and applauded her for her ingenious way of thinking. It truly was remarkable how she manipulated her mother to give her permission to delve in her purse.

"It's for the greater good!" She said, as she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast.

After filling her stomach and kissing her mother goodbye, she made her way out of the house along with the phantom.

Once near the hospital, she went to the underground parking and changed into the scrubs, she tied her hair in a bun similar to her mothers and secured the surgical mask over her ears.

"Meet Mogami Saena!" She said, spreading out her armsin a dramatic pose for Ren.

"You do look quite similar, the only way to recognize you would be through your nose and you already have that covered. Pun very much intended!" He winked.

She chuckled and walked towards the elevator. "Let's go, I have a chemistry test in a couple of hours, the quicker we get this over with, the better!"

A/N: At least it's not a cliffy right? Well, not exactly...

Please let me know xhat you thought of this chapter, the more you review the more I'm motivated to write!

Also, are there people who still think Ren's actually dead? If yes, tell me what are your theories about the lack of evidense that he is, if no tell me what you think happened?

Love you all! Thanks for reading!

Kris: Lol yes, glad to be back even if it takes me a couple of months everytime xD and hmmm Ren is alive...or is he? XD well, I can't tell for sure that's why this chapter's titled 'almost confirmed' xD but yeah I'm really happy you enjoyed the previous chapter and I hope this one will please you too! Thanks a ton for the read and the cute review as always, love you!

Guest: Lol bomb dropped! XD glad you had fun reading that chapter, do tell if you enjoyed this one as well! Thanks a lot for reviewing!

Lolo: Well, Monsieur/Madame is served! Do you like this chapter now that you've (hopefully) read it? Thank you for reviewing, it means a lot!

Guest2: Awww you're too nice! I'm glad you're having fun with this story. Thanks a lot for your kind words and your support it means the world to me!

Guest3:THANK YOU SO MUCH ZJFKZVJDDBFKAJ I'm so happy to hear you enjoy my writing and as for that one chapter is ADD, I do feel kinda guilty about it but c'mon I was -and still am- pissed at Ren and I had to let it out somewhere xD don't worry though, I will start writing fluff the moment he redeems himself lol Thanks a lot for taking the time to write such a beautiful review!

Guest4: Well, someone's in a hurry lol I would've appreciated to read your thoughts on the chapter before demanding an update but oh well, here it is anyway, hope you'll enjoy it!