A/n:It is now 1AM, and only a day late from Halloween so I'm lowkey proud of myself for managing to upload this. Part two of Ghost AU is here! This AU needs a title now though, I'm tired of calling it Ghost AU lol.

I'm happy with this instalment, for a change, and I have a few more planned out in this series, the last scene specifically is already written so I just need to connect the dots and fill the gap in between. Although now that my office has resumed full-time, and with me adopting a kitten I don't really get the time to write as often as I would like to, so maybe this story will only reach it's end by next Halloween hahaa.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this!

Tale 15

-x-

Hiromi had tuned out her teacher's voice little after the class had begun, something she had become an expert in lately despite having spent most of her life sitting on the edge of her seat, trying to memorize every single word her teachers uttered. But just a few months ago, the brunette had discovered more important things to devote her time to and ignoring what was being taught in class came as naturally to her as breathing these days. Especially since the past few weeks her only friend had been dodging all her questions and her mother had decided to enrol her in a cram school in the near future, which led to her mind being consistently preoccupied with trying to find an answer to her own questions and a way to not let her mother force her to put more studying in her schedule. Currently Hiromi's attention was taken over by going through the brochures of various cram schools accessible by train that were also suited to improve her weak points, her mother had demanded a final answer by the end of the month because she knew just how indecisive Hiromi could be when it came to picking things out for herself.

"Well, well model student Hiromi chan isn't paying attention in class today. Is she feeling okay? Do we need to call a Doctor?"

Hiromi looked up expressionlessly, Takao had appeared, as always, out of nowhere and was now carelessly floating in a sleeping position right above her desk. She passed him an impassive look with an almost unnoticeable shake of her head, and went back to skimming through the brochures under her course books. It had only been a few months since he had appeared in the middle of her class without a warning, making her scream so loudly, that her teachers and her classmates had kept their distance from her for a very long time. She remembered throwing her shoe at him later on that day, when she met him at their usual meeting spot, for embarrassing her in front of others, but to him the expression on her face had been priceless and he still laughed just as hard as he had the first time whenever the incident was brought up. So it was only a matter of time, before Hiromi managed to develop an immunity to Takao's unannounced apparitions, even though the latter was getting more creative with every passing month, as this was his revenge for her not being scared by his ghostliness the first time around.

Today, she managed to be colder than usual as she had recently realized that Takao was not keeping his side of the bargain, as had been agreed upon during their first meeting.

It was infuriating because Hiromi had been working very hard on finding out a way to get him to move to the other side, where he belonged, even if their progress had been considerably non-existent, she was at least keeping her promise.

On the very next day after meeting Takao, Hiromi had spent all her free time in their town library looking for books that dealt with spirits and afterlife, the librarian had given her a very suspicious look as she checked out the books under Hiromi's name until the brunette had managed to make up a lame excuse about school projects. But she had soon discovered that reading wasn't one of Takao's strong point, and it wasn't only because he couldn't physically hold the books, his attention span was shorter than a toddler's and his grasp over characters was as good as a middle school freshmen's.

So Hiromi had taken to reading the books out loud, with Takao interjecting when something mentioned in the book was different from something he knew. They had an ever growing list of fallacies and Hiromi had started to wonder that why the living wasted so much time speculating this nonsense when most of their guesses had just turned out to be duds. From fall to winter, they had gone through over twenty books, majority of which were bought online, as on her second trip to the library, the librarian hadn't seemed too accepting of her lie and Hiromi did not wish to mess up her reputation in her only comfort spot all over town. And yet, despite all of this, all the two had managed to find out till now was that the 50 year-long nap thing was definitely a lie.

Even more disappointing than reading books for Takao, Hiromi thought, had been when the Music Room Guy was nowhere to be found. They waited at his usual haunting spot for weeks, Takao even snuck her out of her house and into the school after midnight on multiple occasions, because they assumed that the ghost was wary about appearing during the daytime, but they hadn't managed to catch a single glimpse of him still. A few days after another late night stakeout, Takao did some digging around among the lower spirits and found out that the Music Room Guy had gone on a vacation as the school scenery had become dreadfully boring for him. So the two had no choice but to continue with their reading quest, until the second ghost returned from holiday.

As an early Christmas present, Hiromi had managed to clean every inch of the haunted bathroom, in her head she knew she was doing it more for her own mental peace rather than for Takao, but he was so touched by her efforts that in return he had been pulling funny pranks on the girls who used to bully her, and as amusing and satisfying it was for her to watch, she'd asked him to stop his shenanigans within a week as she felt that there was no point in it anymore. Ever since she'd met Takao in October, her time in and around the main part of the school was so limited that the girls had just stopped bothering her. Coupled with Takao scaring her in the middle of class and the rumours about her sneaking into the scary Old Building every single day, the students and some teachers, had decided that it was best if she was just left alone and Hiromi couldn't be more grateful for it.

Mid-term exams, Christmas and New-Year had passed, and it was on the first day of her new semester that Takao informed her that he was tired of the stupid books and he'd rather prefer to wait for his ghost friend to come back in complete silence than listen to Hiromi read yet another day. They'd spent all of last week just talking and hanging around and the brunette had seen this as a chance to ask her questions about the history of the Old Building, but Takao had been reluctant in answering almost all her questions, he'd even suggested going back to reading the book she had on her that day which was enough to shock her, but the questions he did manage to answer had been blatant lies.

She could tell when he was lying so easily and it didn't surprise her that he hadn't noticed this yet. But she had been watching him closely for over two months, even spending the time she wasn't with him thinking about him so now reading his expressions or figuring out which emotion the swirls in his eyes were indicating wasn't too difficult for her. Takao probably hadn't spent as much time staring at his own reflection, which is why, she thought, he wasn't aware of just how much of a big giveaway his eyes were when it came to figuring out what he was feeling.

So Hiromi had decided to ignore him until he came forward with at least some truthful answers to her questions, but of course, Takao would take some time to figure that he was being punished.

"You're getting better at ignoring me, Hiromi chan."

His voice was barely a whisper but his dejected tone sent a cold shiver down her spine and it took Hiromi a lot of effort to not look up from her brochures and check whether she had really hurt his feelings or whether he was just pretending to act hurt so she would pay attention to him.

"I knew this day would come eventually, when you would get tired of us ghosts. It's a shame it had to happen so soon, especially since the Music Room guy is back from his vacation and has agreed to spare some time to meet us."

Her grip around her mechanical pencil tightened as two options immediately popped into her head, Hiromi could either continue to ignore him until he figured what he had done wrong and offered her valid answers to her questions, or she could forget all about her minor grudge and go meet another ghost.

It wasn't everyday that girls her age got the chance to hang out with not one but two entities from a different realm at the same time, and she would be a fool to let this chance pass. After all she didn't really need Takao's help to figure out what had happened in her school, she had access to internet and newspapers and libraries, sure Takao would be able to give her a more of a first-person experience of the incidents but this was something she could wiggle out of him whenever she wanted.

Hiromi raised her head slowly, narrowing her eyes at the floating figure to show that she was listening. Takao broke into a crooked grin as the swirls in his eyes spun faster than usual out of excitement, he made a whooping gesture with his hands, triumphing over winning her attention and she rolled her eyes to show her annoyance.

"Meet me at the entrance as soon you're done with classes. I'll be waiting for you, okay?"

Hiromi nodded as inconspicuously as she could and the very next second Takao disappeared without a trace. She hadn't realised that she had been holding her breath and once he was gone, she automatically let out a relived sigh. Her classmate sitting next to her turned to pass her a curious look but Hiromi returned her attention to the boring brochures on her desk. Her heart had picked up pace at Takao's parting words and she could feel the heat spreading across her cheeks. It was stupid really, how these little things affected her and made her read a little too much in between the lines. Takao did toss out invitations like these quite often so she should've gotten used to it by now, but since the new year had started she'd find herself blushing at even the silliest instances.

She had to work hard to remind herself that she'd end up turning into those foolish girls of her age if she kept this up and wasn't able to keep her feelings in check. Takao had pretty much been in her room more often than any other living friend of hers, he had even sat on her bed and held her hand as he had flown her out of her room and she'd never felt anything then, so why was her heart beginning to behave so strangely now?

Ever since she had met Takao her list of unanswered questions just seemed to get longer and longer.

x

As was her usual routine, Hiromi waited for club activities to commence and for the student body to get busy after classes ended before making her way to the Old Building. She'd gotten much better at blending in with her surroundings and could make her way towards the practically abandoned area completely undetected. At times however, she did wonder, what would happen if a ghost or any other supernatural being abducted her, her parents would never know where to look for her. Her existence on this plane was only relevant to a few people and yet if she vanished, they would never be capable of bringing her back. So every time Hiromi stepped inside the Old Building and the wooden floorboards creaked under the weight of her steps, she'd suddenly feel very aware of the fact that in here her existence was no different than that of the spiders clinging to the webs in the dusty corners of this building.

"Woah, woah, Hiromi chan, what's with that scary look on your face?"

Hiromi bit down on her tongue hard to hold in a scream and almost tasted blood, as Takao had appeared right in front of her out of nowhere and was currently peering into her face so closely, as if the concept of personal space did not exist in his ghostly brain. She was forever grateful for the dim lighting around the building as it always helped her hide the blush that crept up on her face whenever Takao got too close for comfort these days.

"I was thinking about...stuff." Hiromi replied through gritted teeth as she pushed past his weightless figure with some discomfort, the weird sensation of coming into physical contact with him was something she hadn't gotten used to.

She could only imagine how hard Takao would laugh if she told him that she had been thinking about how she was no different than the spider hanging down from the ceiling, metaphors and subtext were not his forte after all, and as him shoving his face right into hers had embarrassed her enough for today, Hiromi decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

"Well I think you should soften down a bit, and also let me take the lead," Takao said as he skipped a few steps ahead of her, looking over his shoulder with his eyes swirling with excitement and a sense of pride he added, "Not all ghosts are as nice as me when it comes to meeting humans. You wouldn't wanna make our only valid lead angry by glaring daggers at him, now would you?"

Hiromi only grumbled to herself in reply as she didn't want to give Takao the satisfaction of being right, and silently positioned herself behind him as they climbed up the stairs to the second floor where the Music Room was situated. As far as her expression was concerned, she wasn't sure how she was supposed to keep a straight face now that Takao had mentioned that the ghost they were going to meet could potentially attempt to eat her, or at least that's what Hiromi assumed he meant when he said that the Music Room Guy wouldn't be as nice as him.

As the crooked sign of the room finally came into view, she felt herself become increasingly conscious about the expression on her face, whether she should keep her arms pinned to her side or cross them across her chest, or whether using formal language be better than speaking casually? She wanted to smack Takao for setting off her paranoia right before they were about to meet their only valid lead in their investigation of the afterlife.

All of these thoughts were put to an abrupt halt when Takao slid open the door to the Music Room and an eerie creaking sound echoed through the corridor, from her place behind Takao, Hiromi couldn't quite clearly see the interiors of the room and as if reading her mind, Takao stepped aside from the doorway and grinned at her, the whirlpool in his eyes spinning with a hint of mischief.

"After you." He whispered, with one hand motioning towards the room that seemed like a dark and strangely silent abyss from where Hiromi stood.

She stared at him in horror, her mouth dropping open in shock, he wasn't actually expecting her to enter first, was he? After all the talk about how they couldn't be sure about this other ghost enjoying her company, Takao had to be out of his mind to think that she'd just waltz into an unknown territory without an introduction.

He held her gaze for a minute, before stifling a snicker. "Just kidding, Hiromi chan."

"I know it's uncomfortable for you, but I think it might be best if you held onto me until we know it's safe." He spoke in the same low tone as before and if Hiromi hadn't been filled with dread and eagerness over finally meeting another ghost, she wouldn't have let the joke he just pulled pass so easily.

Takao raised left hand slightly, gesturing for her to link her arm with his, "I don't want to be caught off-guard if he gets upset and put you in danger. You can let go as soon as we know he doesn't plan on attacking."

Reluctantly Hiromi followed his instruction, there was no logic in trying to argue with him over this as this was Takao's realm and she didn't yet know enough about it to challenge his claim. So despite of coming in physical contact with Takao being at the top of her 'things I never want to try again' list, Hiromi managed to keep a straight face as she held onto his elbow and they entered the dark room together.

As she had come to experience more often in the recent months, touching Takao or even being too close to him was a nauseas feeling that was almost impossible to get used to. The first time he had flown her out of her room, the minute their feet had touched the ground Hiromi had taken some time to hurl every meal she had eaten that day, while Takao stood in a corner and laughed at her, mimicking the scene from that night every time he had the chance to annoy her. So even if it was the disconcerting atmosphere in the room that made her sway on her feet, maintaining a stable step became difficult while holding onto Takao. Internally she cursed her luck, the last thing she wanted to do was make a weak impression on this new ghost and could only hope that they'd be able to decipher his intentions towards her quickly.

The room in itself presented a very different atmosphere than the bathroom on the third floor, and Hiromi admitted to herself that it's upkeep was impressive. Just like the bathroom in the floor above this, the room seemed to have stopped in time with the desks and the chairs resembling the styles of eras bygone. What made them striking was that it was all arranged in a circle, quite unlike any classroom Hiromi had ever seen, and in the centre of this circle stood a pure white piano, the only object that seemed like it didn't belong with anything else present in the room. There was a bright shine that surrounded the large instrument, just like how the red and blue flowers in Takao's bathroom were always covered with fresh dew, which made Hiromi wonder whether that piano had always been a part of this Music Room or had it appeared when this space was surrendered to the spirit world.

Leaning against the piano, the glow of which formed almost a sort of halo around the figure, was the infamous Music Room Guy, who to Hiromi looked much more like a Music Room Child. She had half a mind to turn to Takao and ask him if this kid standing in front of them was really the scary ghost they were supposed to be looking for, but her logical side reminded her that she shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. No matter the size, the being in front of her still belonged to the supernatural realm so she was better off being cautious. While in her head she had pictured a towering, bulky looking man with two heads, the Music Room Guy was actually a head shorter than her, and to Hiromi's relief, didn't have swirling whirlpools for eyes which made it easier for her to study him without losing concentration.

His face while full with boyish features, held a sinister feeling to it, the kind that made cold shivers go up and down her spine if she stared at him for too long. His tousled hair was a shining platinum blond in colour and combined with the bright ivory ram horns that were sticking out of his head, his whole appearance posed a stark contrast to Takao's. Hiromi wasn't sure what she was supposed to make of the odd horns or that the ghost resembled a sweet 13 year old who was hiding a dark secret, so she turned to Takao and with the effort that she could manage in the moment, she nudged him to start talking.

"So this is the…" Takao began confidently, his voice echoing across the empty room, making the other ghost raise an eyebrow with interest. That was until Takao stammered and looked at her, the pools in his eyes came to a sudden halt as he studied her with a pained expression on his face, before finally turning away from her again and finishing his sentence quite resolutely, "Acquaintance I told you about."

Acquaintance.

Hiromi didn't know until this moment that it was possible for words to sting, for them to feel like a stab in her back. Holding onto Takao was already taking such a toll on her body, his words now felt like the last nail in the coffin. Her knees weakened and she almost wobbled out of balance as sadness filled up inside of her. After all the time they had spent together in these past few months, the laughs and the jokes, the lengthy conversations about life and death, the comfortable silence as they watched the sun set, the midnight flying sessions, had Takao really labelled it all off under 'acquaintance'?

Was Hiromi the only one who was in over her head for thinking that they were more than that, that they were actually friends?

He's playing it smart, the logical voice in her head reasoned with her, he probably doesn't want the other ghost to think he's weak enough to befriend a human. It reminded her that he had wavered for a moment before answering and that made it obvious that he didn't believe in his statement. But even her sound rationale couldn't keep her from feeling betrayed, hurt and confused at the same time.

Not that Hiromi was given much of a chance to sort her emotions out as the resounding silence that settled in the room after Takao's statement didn't please it's owner very much. Fixing his pale blue eyes on her, the Music Room Guy addressed her directly.

"Are you not afraid of us?"

It's a trick question, don't answer it, is the first thought that came to Hiromi's mind. But as she faced the ghost's impenetrable gaze, she realised that the conversation won't move forward if she didn't give him what he wanted. If her experience with Takao had taught her anything, it was that ghosts took their fear factor extremely seriously, and if she made a mistake now it could easily cost her her life.

Her ego however, refused to let her respond with a 'yes', even if deep down that was the truth, Hiromi didn't want to admit it in a situation where she was clearly outnumbered by the enemy. She couldn't even find it in herself to trust Takao after what he had just said, and the thought that this could all just be a set up, Takao's grand plan to abduct her with the help of his fellow ghost friend did cross her mind a few times.

It was then that she understood, the answer was quite simple. While it was true that she couldn't very well tell the ghost whose territory she currently stood in that she wasn't threatened by him, the Music Room Guy wasn't the only ghost in the room. Hiromi could still prove to him that she wasn't afraid of ghosts without it coming off as an insult to his scariness, for the lack of a better word.

"I'm not afraid of Takao." She stated loudly, and after considering it for a minute, she undid her hold on his arm and felt herself regain her strength and could finally stand up straight without feeling like she would topple over herself any second.

More than anything, Hiromi was aware of Takao's eyes on her and without even glancing in his direction, she knew that the whirlpools in his eyes were spinning furiously as he attempted to mask the humiliation from her claim. Tit for tat, she thought to herself, he wasn't the only one with a reputation to uphold.

"I see." The Music Room Guy's eyes lit up with satisfaction for a brief moment at her words as his face curled into a sneer, "Humans like you do appear time to time, though not always such a treat to look at." He winked cheekily at her and Hiromi, with much difficulty, held back a grimace.

"So dude, the trick you told me about is totally not legit." Takao spoke up loudly, with a hint of impatience and annoyance in his tone, he took a few steps forward to ensure that Hiromi was still positioned behind him.

"Firstly, Takao kun, I've told you countless times that you must address me as Mizuhara senpai, since I have been around much longer than you." The other ghost, Mizuhara sighed tiredly, as if this was the millionth time he had repeated himself, "And secondly, how do you know it's not legit if you haven't actually managed to complete the task yet?" He asked, raising his eyebrows smugly at Takao, who immediately considered his words as a confused look settled on his face.

Hiromi couldn't help but wonder how Takao had managed to stay afloat in this world for so long with this kind of intellect. Naturally she felt that it was time for her to take over the conversation or they'd never get a useful answer.

"Actually, Mizuhara...san," She felt odd addressing someone who looked younger than her with honorifics, but since the ghost had gone out of his way to mention his seniority, she thought it wise to follow his instructions, "We've been researching the process of moving on to the afterlife quite thoroughly and we haven't yet come across anything that falls in line with what you have suggested."

Silence followed her statement as Mizuhara immediately began to avoid eye contact with either her or Takao. She turned to Takao to exchange a triumphant look but the minute she looked at him, he turned away. Hiromi bit her tongue to keep herself from screaming out loud, was he really going to pick this moment to throw a tantrum about her admitting that she wasn't afraid of him? Shaking her head in exasperation at his immaturity, Hiromi folded her arms across her chest and put Mizuhara under her intent stare, hoping to get him to come clean with the truth as soon as possible. She noticed then that even Mizuhara found it difficult to look at Takao's eyes for too long, and she couldn't help but wonder if this feature was unique to Takao and if it was another mystery worth looking into.

The deafening silence in the room coupled with the boring gazes of herself and Takao made the boyish ghost squirm and fidget for a few minutes before he finally sighed loudly in defeat and threw up his hands.

"Fine! You got me! It's just something I made up so Takao kun would shut up and leave me alone."

Next to her Takao let out a loud gasp of surprise, but Hiromi had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Mizuhara san, you mentioned that you've been around longer than Takao and while I understand your reasons for attempting to rid yourself from his company, surely you must have some legitimate knowledge about the process?" Hiromi spoke carefully, making sure that she stroked the ghost's ego enough with her words to keep him from deflecting and answering her as truthfully as possible, and still annoyed with Takao she made sure to threw in an indirect insult.

"To be fairly honest, I have no clue about the 'Afterlife'." Mizuhara replied, sporting the same defeated tone from earlier, he began to pace across the room as he continued to explain what he knew, "Ever since I can remember, I've never once felt the need to pass on, you know?"

"I've always enjoyed being this," He gestured happily to himself, "this floating mass that is allowed to do whatever it wants, go wherever it wants. No rules or restrictions, no boundaries or limits. Who would want to give up a life like this?" He said, a wide and crooked grin spreading across his face as he stopped his pacing to face her again.

Hiromi turned her attention to Takao, she'd never seen such a serious expression on his face and even the speed with which the pools in his eyes spun was considerably lower than usual. It looked like he understood exactly what Mizuhara meant, but at the same time was too afraid to admit it for himself.

"Well Takao wants to, and I want to help him." Hiromi answered with determination for both of them, even though Mizuhara hadn't posed his remark as a question.

"In that case, the only genuine information I can give to you is that the best place to start would be a shrine." Mizuhara said, his icy blue eyes shining with sincerity for the first time today, "While I haven't personally witnessed anything like this, I've heard about many Priests being involved with exorcism of spirits even in the present day." A small smile graced the ghost's lips as he watched Hiromi nod enthusiastically at his words while Takao huffed in annoyance, so he let out a soft chuckle and added, "And this time I'm not lying."

They left the music room shortly after, with contrasting opinions and an invitation for Hiromi to come and hang out at the Music Room if she ever got bored with Takao and his bathroom. Takao was quick to dismiss all of Mizuhara's claims, stating that he could never trust him again and how his overly familiar behaviour towards Hiromi was highly suspicious. As much as she wanted to point out that Takao himself had acted overly familiar when they'd first met, she kept it to herself and let him vent his feelings about how he couldn't believe that Mizuhara had tricked him. Hiromi however, felt that there was some truth in his claims about exorcism still surviving as a practice in shrines, and she wanted to get started on investigating this lead as soon as possible.

After they'd shared their thoughts with each other on the somewhat fruitful meeting with Mizuhara, a comfortable silence settled between the two of them as they were both lost in their own worlds, trying to make sense of what they had learned today in their own ways. It was when the orange sunlight streaming through the window in Takao's bathroom began to dim, that he cleared his throat loudly, breaking Hiromi's train of thought with ease.

"About what I said earlier-"

"I know you didn't mean it." She interrupted him immediately, relief spread through her whole body as she realised that her worst assumptions weren't true for a change.

"Phew! I thought you'd be furious with me." Takao grinned sheepishly, running a hand through his hair, and he too, looked relieved now that he'd managed to clear the air.

"How could I? You actually played it smart for a change." Hiromi smirked at him, and his grin turned into a pout. Of course she wasn't going to tell him that not only had she been furious, but she'd been close to tears and had even doubted his intentions towards her, not when Takao had been considerate enough to admit that he hadn't meant what he had said.

"I don't think of you as just an acquaintance by the way, just stating it out loud for the record." He said, ignoring her jab at him, a shy smile graced his face for a moment before he quickly turned away from her.

"Thank you." Hiromi murmured hopefully loud enough for him to hear her, as she struggled to rid herself of the warmth spreading across her cheeks from his smile.

"More like an annoying ringing in my ear that refuses to go away."

- x -

A/n: Max's design is also based on misdre's Halloween art of the characters from last year, if my description didn't help you visualise it well, you can find it on twitter or tumblr. They have a really cool design for Kai and Rei in this set too, but as much as I want to write them in as ghosts, I think I'll end up making Rei the Priest and Kai a teacher at Hiromi's school.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you thought of it!