At school, Hikaru walked down the hall anxiously and kept glancing about him, wondering if Kaoru was with him. He hoped so. He had left that morning without waiting for or seeing his imposter of a brother. He didn't want the spirit to realize that he was planning on getting Kaoru back into his body. The only question was how to do that exactly. He just had to wait for Dad, he guessed, but he wished that he would hurry up already. It was already fourth period! You would think Dad could have found something out by then.

He was so unaware of his surroundings that he bumped right into Tamaki. "Woah, Hikaru. Are you in a hurry?"

Hikaru looked up to find Tamaki's camera right in his face. "Damn, Tamaki, keep that thing out of my face."

Behind Tamaki, the rest of their friends laughed. Kyoya sent a death glare around the group. "Tamaki has been following me around all morning with the thing. He said he was documenting the daily life of a brooding teen."

"And he deleted my footage," Tamaki sighed, turning his camera onto his friends.

"You deserved it."

Tamaki laughed but turned his attention back on Hikaru and zoomed in just slightly. "So how goes the life of the quiet but deadly one?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Tamaki, I am neither of those."

"SHUT UP!" Tamaki shouted suddenly.

Hikaru looked at him dubiously. "What? I just was saying –"

"No, not that," Tamaki said, pausing the camera, and started fiddling with it. "I swear to God that I just saw Kaoru standing behind you, Hikaru."

Hikaru was instantly at Tamaki's side as he rewound the video. The rest of the group leaned in. "Are you sure you saw –?" Haruhi started.

Tamaki shushed her. "Just watch."

He played it again. It was Hikaru, glaring at the camera and talking to Tamaki, but then Tamaki paused. In the background was a faint, glimmering image of Kaoru, staring off at something off screen. He looked real but… not. Hikaru looked up and stared at the empty spot in the hallway where Kaoru had stood.

"Hikaru, where's Kaoru?" Honey asked quietly.

Hikaru looked back at his friends in somewhat of a daze. He found them all looking at him expectantly. "He's fine guys," Hikaru said but they all continued to stare. Hikaru yanked Tamaki's camera from his hand and started walking away quickly. "I'll give this back to you later, Tamaki! I've got to show Kaoru!" Hikaru called as he walked faster.

The bell rang and Hikaru didn't even care. He could skip the rest of the day and he wouldn't care. Quickly, he scooted into the nearest bathroom and headed straight for the handicap stall. Thankfully no one else was inside the bathroom. So he was free to lock the stall door and flip on the camera. "Kaoru?" he whispered into the quiet bathroom.

The image appeared in front of the camera instantly. It was a faded out version of Kaoru but it was him nonetheless. The screen showed Kaoru frowning and talking soundlessly into the camera. He began pacing around in the small space in the bathroom.

"Kaoru, I can't hear you," Hikaru said.

Kaoru looked up, still with the frown, but he looked even angrier, if that was possible. But Hikaru laughed. "You're standing in the toilet," he said, gesturing to his brother. Kaoru's translucent legs passed right through the toilet water and disappeared out of sight.

Ghost Kaoru flipped him off before stepping away from the toilet.

"Have you heard from Dad?"

Kaoru shook his head.

"Are you doing okay?"

Kaoru stared at the camera for a second before shaking his head again.

Suddenly, Dad appeared in the stall too. "It's gonna get cramped in here," Hikaru joked. Neither Kaoru nor Dad laughed.

"There's a ritual," Dad burst out. "But we have to do it fast before Kaoru's link with his body is broken. I will guide you through it, Hikaru, but it may take a lot from you."

"Should I go back home and get everything ready before fake Kaoru gets home?" Hikaru asked his father.

"You definitely should. Kaoru and I will meet you there," he said. And suddenly, the two were gone. Not even Tamaki's camera would pick anything up.

"Fucking ghosts," Hikaru cursed. He quickly deleted the video of Kaoru and left the bathroom. He stowed the camera in his locker and slipped a note into Tamaki's locker with his combo on it. Tamaki could retrieve it his self. Then he tore out of the school before he could be stopped.

On upon arriving home, Hikaru went immediately to his room. He found his father laughing at a blank wall. "What's going on?"

"Kaoru got stuck in the wall again," Dad laughed. "I've left him in there the whole ten minutes we've been waiting for you. You could say that he's a little mad."

Hikaru smiled, wishing he could see that for himself. "Let's get down to business. What do I have to do?"

Dad proceeded to list off a ton of ingredients for the binding spell. It was things like something personal of Kaoru's, a drop of blood of the spell-binder, a lock of the deceased's hair. They collected everything quickly except the hair. They could grab that when fake Kaoru came through the door. Then Hikaru had to copy down the steps and words of the ritual. The pressure was settling in.

And finally Dad said the last thing they would need: the spirit's name. It was the only thing they needed to complete the spell.

Kaoru didn't tell his father but he wasn't feeling so good. It was so bad that he couldn't even concentrate on Dad and Hikaru's discussion of the ritual. It felt like his blood was boiling and something was being pulled from his body.

He stood away from the others, near the wall, and stared at the ground until suddenly, Kaoru fell through the floor with a scream.