A/N: *introduces characters in chapter 1* *writes them out in chapter 2* I do hope there's some character growth, what do you guys think lol? There is just a short epilogue left after this, so this story is just about done!

-1-

"Um… hello…" Sena cupped his drink close to his body. Seijuro sat across from him in the booth. "You don't seem the type to be a…" Sena motioned with his hands, searching for the right words.

"Paranormal investigator," Seijuro supplied. He was cutting up everything on his plate precisely – sausage, eggs, whole-wheat unbuttered toast. When he'd sat down, he'd laid on the table: a pager, a briefcase, and a notepad. Despite the summer heat, he was wearing a suit with a perfectly knotted tie and a pressed white shirt. His haircut was exact, his gaze severe.

"Ah, right. Paranormal investigator. Uh, so, what do you suggest?"

"The smiling man-"

"Takeru."

"Takeru, right, well he can be driven out with some holy items." Seijuro reviewed his notes. "There's a wide range to choose. He's a common demon type. It should be fairly straight forward. As for the water spirit- Kakei?- it should also be simple in repelling him. Entities with bodies have weaknesses. That is just a natural property of having a corporal expression," Shin was cutting up a sugar cube to add into his coffee.

"And Akaba?"

"His description gave me the most pause. Can I hear that recording you brought?"

Sena played it, much to his embarrassment. Good morning, dearest. Listen as I softly serenade you. Wake up to the sound of my voice, sweet one.

"He seems rather fond of you."

"Unfortunately," Sena said glumly to his eggs.

"Are you sure you want to get rid of these entities?" Seijuro seemed almost too interested in Sena's answer. He was leaning forward, eyes even more intense. Sena sweated under the scrutiny.

"Yeah, they're not the kind of people… beings… that I want that attention from."

"Who do you want. Attention from."

Sena blinked at Seijuro's curious punctuation. "Well, a human would be nice."

Seijuro nodded. "Good."

"What does that have to do with investigating this?"

"It doesn't." Seijuro dug into his briefcase and extracted a jar full of coarse, multi-colored granules. An herbal smell emanated from the jar. "My research suggests that you summoned the water sprite." Seijuro took Sena's face in both hands and tilted it to the side, getting a better look at where Sena had bandaged his cheek. "It seems like you performed an inadvertent blood summoning."

Seijuro let go of Sena's face, and Sena realized he'd stopped breathing. He reached up to touch the bandage. "Well… that doesn't sound good."

"The only way to undo it is by blood magic. Take two handfuls of this mineral salt and dissolve it in boiling water. Add two drops of blood. Then just pour the mixture down every drain in your house."

"Every drain?"

"If you want the water sprite completely gone, then yes, every drain."

"I see… And for Takeru?"

Seijuro dug into his bag again, and produced a bundle of herbs tied together with twine and a black box. From the black box, Seijuro took out a single, golden match.

"Strike the match at your house's front door and light these herbs there, too. Then brush the top of every door frame with its ashes."

"Every door frame?"

"In order to rid your home of the smiling man, then yes, every door frame."

"And Akaba? I'm guessing do something to every speaker in the house." Sena tried to joke.

Outside, the skies which had been bright blue and sunny, suddenly were overcome with dark and roiling thunderheads. The sky opened up to a downpour of rain.

"My research suggests something more serious," from his bag, he took out a small container of gasoline. "Will you accompany me to perform some exorcisms?"

-2-

Sena decided to exorcise Kakei first. He was the most understanding and probably would take this whole the thing in stride.

"He's polite," Sena told Seijuro as they hurriedly made their way up the dirt path to the house. The rain hadn't stopped, and they shared an umbrella. "Uh, the most polite at least…"

While Sena filled a copper pot with water (he refused to use the black cauldron hanging above the fireplace that his grandmother had loved to cook with), Seijuro inspected the room with a blinking device. It beeped every once in a while which made Seijuro's furrowed eyebrows furrow even more. Sena held the mineral salt in his hands anxiously as he waited for the water to boil. Suddenly, the kitchen was filled with a frenzied beeping. Next to Sena, the faucet opened up, and Kakei materialized.

"What are you doing?" Kakei asked. One hand was in the sink. (Sena was pleased to note that Kakei was following the "minimal water waste" rule. The water meter was already incredibly high for a single occupant household.)

"Um," Sena said. "I've, um, been meaning to talk to you about something."

"Why? Is it because I'm not wearing the swim trunks? They're uncomfortable. And I am using less water like you asked."

"What? Oh, my God you are naked." Sena busied himself with pricking his finger and adding two drops of his blood into the water and ignoring the once again nude Kakei.

Seijuro tossed his briefcase aside. "So you're the malignant water spirit." He was loosening his tie and rolling up his sleeves.

"Who is this?" Kakei turned to face Seijuro. His free hand was growing talons.

"He's… we need to talk about a lot of things. You see…" Sena dumped the mineral salts into the boiling water. The water turned black, then blue, and finally settled on a sea green color.

"You want me to leave?" Kakei bared his fangs at Seijuro; Seijuro flexed his fists.

"I'm sorry, it's just… It's just not working out right between us," Sena took the pot off the boiler. He took a deep breath and poured some of the mixture down the drain. Kakei hissed, and melted away, leaving just a puddle.

"Now on to the rest of the house," Seijuro said, no less relaxed.

-3-

The last drain was the bathtub in the master bathroom where it all started. Kakei was waiting for them. Still naked. He asked: "Can I have a moment to say goodbye?" Sena nodded. When Seijuro didn't move, Kakei added: "Privately."

"Be alert," Seijuro said as he closed the door behind him.

Sena set the copper pot on the counter. He was trying to make eye contact (since he didn't want to risk looking anywhere else) but it was hard when the other person didn't have eyes…

"Anyway…" Sena cleared his throat. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I… understand." Kakei crossed his arms.

"What… what's gonna happen when I finish the ritual?"

"I'll go back to where I came from. It's not so bad. Some annoying people, your grandmother notwithstanding."

"You knew her?"

Kakei pursed his lips, petulant. "She was the one that'd suggested I meet you. She thought we'd be… a striking couple. So much for that."

"My grandmother had lots of ideas…"

"She told me she could never predict what you liked." Kakei jerked his to the door, where Seijuro was waiting. "As long as it's not that Yamato fucker."

After a beat, Sena picked up the copper pot once again. "Goodbye, Kakei," Sena said softly, and poured the last bit of the mixture down the bathtub drain. Kakei waived. He melted away, and everything swirled down the drain with a hollow echo that reverberated through Sena's bones. And that was it for Kakei.

-4-

Seijuro entered the bathroom again and scanned the room with that same beeping device; judging from the lack of eyebrow action, it was the good kind of beeping. Seijuro approached Sena and took his hand and then wrapped a small bandage around his finger.

"We don't want another accidental summoning pact," Seijuro said. The bandaid had cartoon footballs on it. Sena wanted Seijuro to kiss it better, but decided to keep that thought to himself.

-5-

It wasn't long before Sena's other… guests… noticed the departure of Kakei. Akaba kept jumping from speaker to speaker until he decided to hit the pair with equally jarring radio silence. The house lights flickered before turning off completely. Sena felt Seijuro crowd close to him and tense up.

"Ah, don't worry," Sena whispered, trying to ease the tension from Seijuro, "he does this a lot."

The lights turned back on, and Takeru was standing in front of them, dark shadows flaring around him. His wide, toothy smile was present but looking more menacing than ever before as he took in Seijuro's protective stance over Sena. The black shadows boiled at the sight.

"So." Takeru snapped his eyes to Sena. "Heard you kicked Kakei out. Does this mean you're gonna take me up on that date offer?"

Sena shuffled nervously. "Takeru… we know this has been coming for a while now…"

"I could make you come for a while," Takeru winked.

"I can see why you want him removed," Seijuro said. He stepped in front of Sena, muscles twitching.

"Let's… let's not do anything hasty," Sena popped his head from around Seijuro's frame. "I just need some space, Takeru."

Takeru pouted. "I promise you're making a mistake, baby."

Sena rolled his eyes and headed to the entrance. Takeru followed him, a cloud of shadows roiling around his feet.

"Seriously Sena? I'll change, I swear," Takeru said as Sena lit the bundle of herbs with the golden match. "I'll stop locking you out of your closet when you're trying to change." Sena pressed the ashes against the main door's frame. "I'll stop getting into bed with you." (Seijuro appeared from around the corner, glaring.)

At the last door, the master bedroom's closet, Takeru finally sounded desperate. "Look, wait, I'm sorry… Your grandmother said we might get along."

"My grandmother told you that?"

"She hates being wrong, so let's prove her right."

"I…" Seijuro was waiting out in the hallway again, and Sena's mind kept circling back to him. "I think we need to take different parts."

"Damn. I hate being wrong." Takeru ran a hand through his hair. For the first time, he wasn't smiling. "Well, she was right about one thing… you sure are fucking cute." Takeru bent low and kissed Sena, quickly brushing his cold lips against Sena's soft warm ones. "One last parting gift."

"You're always pushing the line," Sena mumbled, red faced. "Bye Takeru."

"See you, cutie. I'll tell your grandma hi," Takeru said as Sena brushed the ashes against the door frame. Takeru faded into the shadows, his wide, white smile the last thing visible before it, too, faded into the darkness.

-6-

In the headlights of Seijuro's car, with only a rusted, broken gate as a guard, was the decrepit radio tower. The heavy rain pelted against the steel lattice work and the chain-link fence. Inside the car, with the radio tuned to a smooth jazz station, Seijuro was guiding Sena through a complicated web of newspaper clippings and notes.

"The voice sounded familiar," Seijuro said, uncapping a thermos of hot tea. "There was a radio host that disappeared almost ten years ago from Tokyo; he was well known, but never showed up to work one day. Would you like to guess his name?"

"Akaba."

"There was an intensive search, but only his car was found, miles away from his destination, and he was declared dead. There weren't any suspects, but without a body or murder weapon, nothing could have been proven anyway. I followed the investigation in my earlier days and had my own suspicions."

"Are we going to… exorcise him? Here?"

"Yes. The best method is closure."

"What about the gasoline?"

"In my days on the field, I've found it's best to err on the side of caution."

Sena sipped on his drink, steeling his nerves for what was to come. The lack of contact from Akaba's part concerned him. He was usually fairly talkative, which now, in hindsight, made sense. But the entire scenario disturbed Sena deeply. He held the newspaper clippings in his hands, reading over and over the shocked headlines about Akaba's disappearance and presumed death. This wasn't like the other two scenarios with Takeru and Kakei who had always been some supernatural entity. Akaba had been a person; he had been admired and successful, and then he had been murdered.

The car radio crackled, the music becoming distorted. Seijuro didn't notice as he double checked their supplies.

"Don't do this, Sena."

"Are you ready?" Seijuro pulled his raincoat on, umbrella in hand.

"S-sure."

-7-

The first step they took inside the radio tower, Sena fell through the rotting wooden floors.

"Are you alright?" Seijuro turned on a flashlight and shined it to where Sena lay in a crumpled heap over some moldering pallets. The fall was much higher than Sena thought.

"I think... hah…" Sena tried to regain his breathing under control. One of his ankles was burning. He tried flexing it and winced. "Ah… I think I hurt my ankle."

"Stay where you are, I'm going to find some stairs." Seijuro sounded frustrated, his eyebrows furrowed like never before. "I'll see you soon."

Sena closed his eyes and leaned back against the boxes that had cushioned his fall. A lot more of his body was hurting, so he focused on following Seijuro's footsteps instead until they faded away from his hearing range.

"He's concerned for you," Akaba's voice crackled from Sena's pocket. "Very touching."

Sena kept his focus on his pained breathing. "It's… ah… good to hear from you."

"Fuu… You'll have to try harder to get rid of me."

"Akaba… Akaba, I'm sorry. For what happened to you."

"Don't make me leave… There's nothing afterwards."

"W… what?" Sena clenched his eyes and forced himself to sit up. He flipped open his phone and turned on the flashlight, looking around.

"Just radio silence. I was here for a long time. By myself." Aside from several storage boxes and old equipment, there was an exit, one of the doors unhinged and showing a pitch black space.

"Kakei and Takeru told me about… ah… moving on. That's… ngh… that's where they met my grandmother… And she's with my grandfather."

"You don't understand. I don't remember what happened before this. There was nothing except for this place, and then there was you."

"No, Akaba," Sena rubbed at his eyes weakly. "You need to move on."

"Being here wouldn't be so bad if you were with me. Will you keep me company?"

Sena's body felt compelled to leave. It was always a bad idea to split up from the group especially concerning their situation. But Akaba's voice was beckoning. Sena rolled shakily to his feet, favoring his right foot, and limped to the door.

-8-

"Take a left."

"Down the hallway."

"Second door on the right. Open it."

"Walk all the way to the back wall."

"Touch the circuits."

"What?" Sena found his outreached hand inches away from exposed circuitries. He was out of breath. He suspected his ribs hadn't remained intact after the fall.

"We get along very well, don't you think?"

"You had... You had an important interview the next day…" Sena's phone crackled softly as Akaba listened. His hand was still trembling in place from all the effort to not reach out any farther. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Something caught his eye in the corner. Part of the roof had caved in. He shined his phone camera at the wreckage, at the tips of white finger-bones peeking out from the edge of shattered tile and splintered wood flooring. Sena's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. "And your fans were looking forward to it… Y-You were killed… W-what... happened that night?"

"It was raining…" Akaba said slowly. Realization colored his words, made his speech slower. Akaba's voice was being overwhelmed with static interference, his volume increasing in order to be heard. "This building was abandoned even then. I was just passing through. The floors were weak."

The hairs on the back of Sena's neck stood.

"I fell." Akaba's, clear as day, said behind Sena.

-9-

Sena had never seen a ghost before. It was unnerving. Akaba looked almost like a regular person, but there was something just off about his movements to make him uncanny, like there was a missing frame in his motions. His hair was a shocking red, his eyes piercing.

"You're lovely, nightowl... I'm glad I got to see you..." Akaba reached out with his fingers, but Sena felt nothing more than a cold chill on his cheek. "Don't do this."

"You have friends waiting for you on the other side." Sena could feel more control seeping into his body. "You won't be alone."

Akaba let his cold caress remain against Sena's cheek for a beat longer. He smiled, very slightly, before nodding. Sena blinked, and he was alone.

-10-

Akaba had fallen through shoddy ground, seeking shelter from a bad storm after his car had stopped working. There had been no wood pallets to cushion his fall, and he'd died in the dark. His car had been picked up by vandals, and Akaba was left to rot. Sena wasn't sure if that was much better than being murdered.

Seijuro joined Sena a bit later, concerned hands checking Sena's injuries.

They gathered Akaba's bones in a canvas bag and carefully made their way out of the tower, Seijuro carrying Sena. The rain had let up significantly when they emerge outside. It was barely drizzling. Sena whispered goodbye as Seijuro poured gasoline over the canvas bag. And, as Sena dropped a golden match on top of it, he thought he may have heard Akaba's voice, softly, wish him farewell.

-11-

It was at the ER, while they waited on Sena's X-ray results (and after numerous apologies over the whole thing), that Seijuro asked Sena out for a cup of coffee.