(Don't) Look At Me

by Lleimi

Reimi, a clairvoyant who has spent most of her life avoiding social interaction, comes across a mysterious spirit that forces her out of her comfort zone and into the life of her kind neighbour, Lloyd.

Lately, something new had been wandering the halls. At least, Reimi was sure of it. For the past few weeks, every so often, she'd seen a fuzzy black silhouette; be it rounding a corner, or trailing up or down the stairs, only for her to follow it and find nothing.

Despite seeing spirits of all types throughout her ghost-seeing life, and having found most of them to be good or neutral natured, she was nervous. No spirit was the same, be it their behaviour, strength, or appearance, however, Reimi couldn't help but find this ghost's actions disconcerting.

It seemed humanoid in shape, but distorted in form which tended to mean it didn't have much self-awareness, and that could be quite dangerous from Reimi's experience. When a spirit wasn't yet aware of their being or situation, they were at more of a risk to be violent and lash out in their confusion. Reimi knew she needed to find out more in case the spirit became volatile later.

Luckily, it wasn't long before she got a proper sighting of the spirit. One day, when she was walking up the stairs to her flat after a long day at work, she managed to catch another sighting of the ghost in question. She saw a dark shape trailing up the adjacent stairs down the hallway that continued to the next floor. Without thinking, Reimi rushed after it; however, once she had made it up the stairs to the spirit's position, she froze on realising it wasn't alone.

The spirit stood closely to a brunette-haired man, who she recognised as the tenant that lived directly above her, and who was currently already looking at her, having heard the loud, hurried sounds of her footsteps coming from behind him. Reimi looked between the two with a slight frown on her face, before solely looking at the spirit.

'Do they know him?' She thought to herself.

"Uh, can I help you?" The man asked, clearly concerned by Reimi's strange behaviour.

"No," she said a little too quickly, a little too rudely, making her flinch at her own response.

Flustered by the situation, Reimi grabbed the ghost's wrist without a word and dragged them to her apartment, not daring to look back at whatever expression her neighbour was staring at her with.

"Um, hello. I'm sorry to have pulled you away like that," She began now that they were alone in her apartment, "I just wanted to know why you were following that man… Do you know him? Do you want something from him?"

Only a static kind of noise responded.

"I can help," She continued, but before she could say more, Reimi was suddenly propelled away from the ghost and thrown across her living room. Her head struck the back wall making her tumble to the ground. Gripping her head in pain, Reimi could only squint up at the spirit and watch helplessly as it floated up through the ceiling into the man's apartment.

Quickly, Reimi went over to her desk and grabbed anything she could to write on and scribbled an array of warding symbols onto pieces of paper. She folded them up and shoved them in her pocket, grabbed the small pouch of salt out of her day bag and left her apartment. Without much of a plan, Reimi scrambled up the stairs and hurriedly knocked on the door.

The man opened the door, clearly confused and worried to see her again. Trying to not let that get to her (she was mostly used to it, but it still kind of hurt), Reimi looked over the man to check if he was hurt. She sighed relieved to see that he wasn't.

"Uh-" He began, but Reimi cut him off, anxious to do what she came to.

"Uh, hello, sorry, you can help me- I-" She paused as she looked passed him into his flat to see the fuzzy figure hovering in the living room. "I-I need sugar, I mean, if you don't mind, sorry," She stuttered, stumbling over her words.

The man blinked at her, taking a minute to process.

"Ah, sure, just a minute," he agreed kindly, slightly surprising Reimi.

"Thank you so much. Take your time."

As soon as, the man was out of sight, Reimi went about the room as quickly and quietly as she could, hiding the crudely made talismans around the room (in books that look already read, under furniture, etc). To finish it up she messily piled salt in the corners of the room, before dashing back to the front door, outside the man's apartment. Ideally, she would have liked to have done this in every room of the man's apartment, but there was no time.

Fortunately, though, it seemed to have been enough, as the ghost was no longer in sight, making Reimi feel a little more relieved, although she knew the situation wasn't fixed until she found out more about the spirit's intentions.

"Is this enough?" The man asked with a polite smile as he handed Reimi a small bowl of sugar.

"Yes, more than enough. Thank you so much," She replied a little awkwardly, before looking down at the bowl in her hands. She couldn't help but smile at the pretty mix of teals and blues that coated it. "It's pretty," she mumbled to herself.

"Uh, yeah, my mum made it. She was a potter," He replied smiling, rubbing the back of his neck.

Reimi noted the 'was', but didn't comment on it.

"It's lovely, I'll make sure to take good care of it. I'll bring it back soon," She assured, trying a smile of her own, then began to turn away.

"My name's Lloyd," He quickly added, before she could leave. Reimi stopped mid turn and felt stupid for not having asked his name sooner.

"Oh, right, sorry, I'm Reimi,"

"Reimi," He repeated, nodding to himself. He looked back to her and smiled again, "See you again, Reimi."

Reimi was taken aback by the kindness in his eyes and softness in his tone. He was clearly wary of her before, understandably so, but he was still showing her kindness. That was…rare. Reimi was used to being avoided like the plague by people who saw her behave strangely.

That kindness made Reimi's brain stutter.

"Uh, yeah. See you," She said, unable to look him in the eyes. She turned away from him to leave, but immediately jumped, her hands tightening around the bowl so she didn't drop it. She barely held in her startled scream as she came face to face with the distorted spirit stood in from of her.

She let herself breathe out her silent scream.

"Reimi?" Lloyd asked from behind her.

Unable to take her eyes off the ghost, Reimi just gave an awkward laugh as she side-stepped around the figure and turned back around to face Lloyd.

"Sorry, it's nothing, I just spaced out for a moment," She tried to convince him before giving a small wave as she walked back toward the stairs down the hallway. She couldn't help but keep looking back towards the spirit that was still hoovering outside Lloyd's apartment, so it did seem as if the talismans and salt worked. Reimi would have preferred to stick around a little while longer to see what the ghost did next or at least try to interact with them again, but Lloyd hadn't closed the door and was watching her leave.

Catching his gaze by accident, Reimi gave him an awkward wave, then went down the stairs back to her own apartment. Reimi sighed as she closed the door behind her and looked down at the bowl of sugar in her hands. That was stressful. After pouring the sugar into her own sugar jar, Reimi fell heavily onto her sofa. She was at a loss at what to do next, and her head still hurt.

It had been her own fault, she knew that when she touched spirits that that gave them the power to touch her in return. But she felt she hadn't had any other choice - she'd panicked at what the fuzzy figure might do to the young man.

"What do I do?" She mused to her living room.

She didn't want to spread talismans and salt throughout the complex because there were neutral and good spirits living there, too, and it would be unfair on them.

Her thoughts were taken back to the tenant upstairs. He seemed nice and cheerful. He smiled a lot, Reimi noted. She tried to remember when he moved to the complex, but she couldn't be too sure - she did her best to avoid her neighbours. She estimated about a year ago?

Reimi sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

"She was a potter."

'Could it be…?' Reimi wondered to herself, 'No, no, I shouldn't assume. She might just be retired.' Despite thinking that, she didn't completely cross out the notion.

Tired, Reimi paused her thoughts on the subject for the meantime and went about her routine of eating and showering before going to bed.

The following morning, Reimi, with washed bowl in hand, took the stairs up to Lloyd's apartment, carefully looking out for the ghost as she did so. She reached the man's door without any sightings of the ghost, then tentatively knocked on the door. Interacting with people were not her forte, so she held some trepidation as she heard steps approach the door.

The door opened not long after and she attempted a friendly smile as she held out the bowl.

"Sorry to bother you in the morning, but I wanted to return this as soon as possible," She apologised, as she tried to subtly look into his apartment. No sign of the spirit.

When she looked back at the man - Lloyd, she was taken aback by the smile he threw her way. It looked genuine.

"Thank you so much, and don't worry, I was already up to go to work anyway," He beamed, taking the bowl gently from her hands.

Reimi bobbed her head in understanding then, after a moment of thought, asked, "Uh, did-has anything bad happened to you lately? I-I mean, have you been hurt at all?"

She knew what a bad idea it was to ask these kinds of things to people, it always made her come across as suspicious, but she really wanted to make sure Lloyd hadn't been hurt in her absence, especially when she knew that a lot of spirits were more active during the night.

To her surprise, he seemed thoughtful of the question, then shook his head.

"Nope, nothing like that has happened. I've not even nicked myself that much at work lately," he said somewhat proudly. Reimi smiled at his childlike reply.

"Ah, that's good," she replied, relieved, before finding herself curious to his words, "'Nick yourself'?"

"Oh, I'm a wood-worker. I use a lot of saws and stuff. My hands are always a mess," He explained, lifting one of his hands from the bowl to show her.

The hand was very dry and cracked, full of callouses and small scars. Reimi looked it with concern and wondered if she should pick up some cream for him on her way back from work later, but quickly threw the thought away realising how strange and presumptuous that would be.

Wood-work suited him, she thought. It was cool.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'll leave you alone. I need to head to work. Have a good day," She finished, about to turn to leave.

"Wait, how do you commute?" He suddenly asked, halting her movement.

"Bus," She answered a little wearily.

"Same here. Do you want to walk to the station together? I'm ready to go, I just need to grab my bag," He assured eagerly.

"Uh, sure," She said, trying to hide her nervousness.

"Great! One sec." Lloyd disappeared back into his apartment and quickly returned sans bowl, swinging a backpack onto his back. "Let's go," He smiled.

Reimi nodded in response, trying a smile of her own, before it almost instantly fell as they stepped further into the hallway. Her eyes fell on a distorted figure down the hallway. The spirit was stood, looking out of the window at the far end of the hallway (there were two on every floor of the apartment complex, one at each end of the hallway).

Without really thinking, Reimi started, "Ah, sorry, I just need to check something," then hurried down the hallway toward the window, but slowed as she approached the ghost.

She carefully came beside them, but the spirit didn't even move to look at her, they just continued to stare out the window. Reimi tried to follow their line of sight, however, she couldn't tell what in particular they were looking at. The window looked over a busy intersection, each road lined with a variety of buildings and shops.

"Reimi?" She heard Lloyd call from down the hallway.

Reimi panicked that the ghost would take notice and return to Lloyd's side, but, luckily, the ghost didn't flinch. She felt foolish for having approached the spirit with Lloyd around, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Regretting her actions, she hurried back to Lloyd's side and ushered him down the stairs.

"Sorry, I just needed to check something," She said vaguely.

Fortunately, Lloyd didn't ask further and the two left the building without incident. Reimi glanced up at the window as they walked away from the apartment complex and saw the fuzzy figure still stood, staring out at the view below. Reimi would have to look into that later.

"What do you do for work, Reimi?" Lloyd asked, breaking Reimi away from her thoughts.

"Oh, I'm a secretary at a mineral analyst laboratory," Reimi told him, "I'm sorry, it's pretty boring," she added sheepishly.

"Uh, I don't know what that is," Lloyd replied, just as sheepishly, but he seemed interested all the same.

Reimi smiled, "It's just a place that researches rocks and minerals to see how they work, what they're made of, etc."

"Oh, cool!" It sounded like he genuinely thought so, too.

"I don't do any of the cool stuff, I just do administration and managing."

"Do you like it?"

"It's okay. I find it interesting when I get to talk to the labticians about what they're working on," She explained.

'It's more convenient than anything,' She thought. Working at the lab gave Reimi access to some useful spirit affecting materials, such as, rock salt, iron and gemstones.

"How did you get into wood working?" She asked, not wanting to talk further about her own work.

"My dad," He smiled cheerfully, after a short pause, seemingly faltering from the sudden change of subject, "He got me into it as a kid and I loved it. We work together."

Reimi smiled at that. "That's lovely. You get to do what you love with someone you love."

"Haha, yeah," he said rubbing the back of his neck "I'm really lucky."

"I wondered why I always smelt sawdust," Reimi mused, more to herself than Lloyd.

"Oh, man, really? I'm sorry," He said, smelling himself.

"No, no, it's a nice smell," She quickly assured, waving her hands in front of her, while berating herself internally.

Lloyd blinked at Reimi's words, before a large smile spread over his face, as well as a light pink colour.

"Haha, really?" He laughed.

Suddenly, embarrassed, Reimi changed the quickly began talking.

"I guess your family are a creative bunch. Your mother a potter and your dad a wood-worker. Did you ever try pottery?"

"No, I- Well, My mum had already passed by the time I was older enough to try, and… I don't know. I just never could find it in me to learn from someone else," He spoke openly, but the small smile he gave at the end told Reimi it was hard to talk about.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried like that," Reimi apologised gently.

"It's fine- I like talking about her. And, to be honest, I'm probably too heavy handed to be a good potter, haha," He laughed, rubbing the back of his head - a habit he appeared to do often, Reimi noted.

"What about you? Did you inherit anything from your parents?" He asked, looking genuinely interested.

"Err," Reimi started nervously, but was relieved when her bus began approaching the station. "Oh, here's my bus! Hope you have a good day, Lloyd," She finished, rushing over to her bus.

"Uh, yeah, you too! See you later," She heard Lloyd call after her.

A little too impatiently, Reimi hopped onto the bus and sat on a seat in the far back. She didn't want to think about her parents, and was startled when Lloyd asked about them - not that that was his fault, they were already on the subject of family. Instead, she tried to turn her thoughts to other things.

'That spirit is most probably not his mother after all,' She came to realise, although she had already been doubtful of that theory anyway.

She started thinking about the young man himself. He was a little strange, Reimi thought. He had already witnessed some of Reimi's odd behaviour and he was still talking to her, even trying to get to know her. She had tried to observe his behaviour for any insincerity or pretense, but she had yet to find any. He seemed quite innocent and naive actually. He was cute, Reimi thought with a smile.

Throughout the day, Reimi found her mind often drifting to the brunette wood-worker without her realising. A co-worker even commented that she was smiling a lot, making Reimi flush before waving it off with a laugh.

Later, when she was making her way back up to her apartment, she stopped to great the little black soot spirits that hopped around the halls. They were small, black, fuzzy creatures that Reimi found to be really cute. They were harmless little spirits that were born from forgotten memories, and they loved attention. Reimi patted their little fuzzy heads with her finger and chuckled as they jump around happily at the action.

"You guys are so cute."

"Reimi?"

Reimi froze in her crouched position.

"What are you doing?"

Reimi stood up quickly, then turned around with what she hoped was a genuine smile.

"Oh, hi Lloyd, I thought I saw a spider. How was work?"

"Uh, yeah, it was good," He told her, an unsure tone in his voice. "A spider?" He the asked while looking around the floor.

"Y-yeah."

"You like spiders?"

"Mm-hm," Reimi didn't have any special feelings towards spiders.

She glanced at the spirit behind Lloyd's shoulder. They were back following him it seemed. Reimi squinted at them. Were they less fuzzy than normal?

"Um, Reimi?"

"Ah, sorry, spaced out for a second," She laughed awkwardly. "I'm going up now," She said, beginning her ascent up the stairs.

However, when she was halfway up the stairs, he said again, "Reimi?"

She stopped, nervous, and looked down at him, "Y-yeah?"

He didn't say anything at first, looking like he was debating something, then said, "Ah, it's nothing," with his usual kind smile.

Reimi tried to smile back, but she could feel it wasn't quite right. The two continued up the stairs with a strange air between them. Reimi said goodbye as they reached her floor and Lloyd continued upward. She waited until she heard his apartment door close upstairs before went up to his floor and looked to see where the ghost had gone. It was back at the window.

Carefully, she approached the dark figure until she was standing beside them.

"Um, do you remember anything?" She asked them quietly.

To her surprise, they looked toward her instead of ignoring her like she'd expected. However, that was all they did before turning back to look out the window back down at the intersection. Reimi stood with them for a little while, feeling torn about leaving them alone. Eventually though, she went back to her apartment in fear Lloyd would find her and think she was following him.

For the next few days, Reimi tried to carry on as 'normal' as possible while keeping an eye on the wandering spirit. She noted that with every day, it seemed to gain a little more shape, a little more definition. That was a good sign - it meant they were remembering themselves. During those days, Lloyd, without fail, had waited for her so they could walk down to the bus station together. She tried not to think too much of it, but Reimi felt happy every time she saw the brown-eyed man. However, she still maintained her cautious nature.

They kept their conversations light; hobbies, work, music, movies, games, books, etc, however, there were times when she would catch Lloyd hesitating. He would look thoughtful, as if considering something, but then it would pass and his usual smile and chatter continued. Reimi choose to ignore these moments, fearful of what they might mean.

It wasn't until a week later that another ghost incident occurred.

Reimi walked downstairs to the ground floor of the apartment complex to meet with Lloyd as their usual routine, however, Reimi stalled when she saw the spirit latched onto Lloyd's back.

"Reimi? What's wrong?"

"Uh, no, nothing," She said but, by the way she was rummaging in her messenger bag for her rock salt, her words probably weren't the most convincing.

"Are you sure?" He said, taking a step toward her.

Taking her chance with Lloyd turned to her, Reimi approached him quickly and threw the handful of salt she had behind him across the front door's threshold, while she simultaneously pulled off the spirit off of his back with her other hand. She suddenly felt herself go limp as her eyes fell closed. In her panic to stop the ghost from leaving, Reimi had forgotten the fact that it takes spiritual energy to make physical contact with a spirit, and doing something as forceful as pulling one of another person completely drained her, causing her to black out.

When she regained conciousness, her eyes were heavy and her body felt languid. Someone was shouting something close to her.

"Reimi! Reimi, wake up," It was Lloyd, but he sounded frantic. It hurt to hear him that way.

"What's wrong, Lloyd?" She asked, forcing her eyes to fully open. It was then she realised the position they were in. She was on the floor, with Lloyd holding her up in his arms. She wanted to push him away in embarrassment, but she didn't have the energy.

"You passed out! Thank god you're awake."

"How long was I out?"

"Almost a whole minute," he told her worriedly as he began awkwardly pulling his phone out from his pocket with her still in arms. "Ambulance, I need to call an ambulance," he muttered to himself, distraught.

"Lloyd, no, stop," Reimi quickly said, reaching out for his phone to stop him. "It's nothing. It's just low blood sugar. I just need some orange juice or something."

She was still feebly trying to get out of his arms, but her body wasn't listening.

"But-" He began to protest, but Reimi cut him off.

"Please, Lloyd," She begged.

He looked at her, clearly torn at what to do, but was apparently unable to deny her pleading.

"Okay, okay. Orange juice, orange juice, I can get orange juice," He was still panicking a lot, and suddenly, Reimi felt herself being lifted of the ground, being bridal carried back up the stairs.

"L-Lloyd, I can walk," She said, not actually knowing if that were true or not.

However, he didn't seem to hear her, too determined to get her what she needed. And before she knew it, she was being gently placed on the sofa in Lloyd's living room. He then dashed into his kitchen, which led to an array of rushed kitchen noises. Reimi could only watch after him in awe, she was overwhelmed with his behaviour- she'd never come across someone who cared so much.

And, as quickly as he had left, Lloyd returned to her with a glass of orange juice in hand. He carefully gave her the glass, then sat himself on the coffee table in front of her. She thanked him gratefully and slowly drank the tangy liquid. She was a little put off once she saw how intently he watched her, as if she would faint again at any moment.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, concern etched over his whole face.

Reimi smiled at the kind man, "Yes, Lloyd. I'm fine. It was just a dizzy spell from low blood sugar."

Again, he didn't seem convinced. Reimi couldn't blame him, she was indeed lying.

"Let's go," She smiled, downing the orange juice and standing up. To her relief, she didn't even wobble as she got to her feet, but her mind was a little foggy and body still drained.

"Let's go? You're still going to work?" He asked, astonished as he followed her out of the apartment.

"Yes, I'm completely fine now, thanks to you," She reassured. "Now, let's go, I don't want to make you any later than I already have."

Reluctantly, Lloyd followed her to the bus station without another attempt to stop her. They waited for their buses like usual, but Reimi could feel Lloyd's worried eyes on her. Not long after, Reimi's bus approached the station.

She turned to smile at Lloyd, "Thank you, Lloyd. Truly. Have a good day at work."

"Wait!" He called out to her as her foot stepped onto the bus. "This is my number. If anything happens, please call me," He pleaded, squeezing the number into her hand.

Reimi looked at the scrunched up piece of paper in her hand, then smiled appreciatively at Lloyd with a nod, not having much time to respond as she was worried about keeping up the queue into the bus. After tapping her card against the card reader, she found a seat as the bus rumbled into motion. Seated, she smoothed out the piece of paper and looked at the numbers scrawled across it. Reimi smiled at the rough handwriting and wondered when he had wrote it. Hesitantly, she tapped the number into her phone and saved it into her contacts, but she was sure she would never call it.

The work day dragged, her body fighting her with every move she made. She got some respite at lunch, and the food helped, but it didn't relieve the heaviness in her bones. She'd never felt so relieved when it was time to head home.

When she got home, she washed up, changed out of her work clothes into casual wear, and settled onto her sofa, flicking through an array of takeaway menus. She had no energy to cook. Then, making her jump a little, a knock came from her door. Tentatively, Reimi got up and opened the door.

It was Lloyd. With ghost in tow.

"Hey Reimi, how was work? Do you feel okay from this morning?" He asked, holding paper bag in his hand.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Work…was long," She smiled with a small laughed. "Thank you for checking on me, you didn't have to."

"It's fine- I wanted to. I, uh, was worried. Also, I brought something," He started shyly, before lifting up the bag. "I went to a bakery and bought a couple of things they recommended."

Reimi took the bag, unsure if she should really accept the gift, and looked into it to see an assortment of pastries and desserts.

"This is too much. I can't accept this, Lloyd," She said, holding the bag out for Lloyd to take back, troubled by the gift.

"No, no, I bought them for you. I want you to have them, please," He said, gently pushing the bag back toward her, looking at her pleadingly- earnestly.

Reimi stood there, staring down at the bag in her hands, as she considered her options.

Eventually, she heard herself say, "Share them with me?"

Lloyd eyes widened slightly at the suggestion, before smiling with a sigh.

"If that's the only way you'll accept them, then sure. I'd love to," He beamed at her.

Reimi shyly returned a smile of her own, then took the bag from him fully, before awkwardly inviting him in (bowing to the ghost apologetically as she closes the door on him). To be honest, Reimi was quite uncomfortable with other people in her home. She had a lot of books on spirits and otherworldly phenomena, as well as items she used to ward off or pacify volatile ghosts. Most of it could be explained away as just a hobby or interest she occasionally dabbled in, but even that put people off.

"Oh, were you ordering food?" Lloyd asked, having seen the menus on her sofa.

"Yes, I'm too tired to cook," Reimi admitted sheepishly.

"Mind if I join? I haven't eaten yet either- I'll pay for everything, though!"

"That's fine. But you don't have to pay for mine. Let's just pay for our own," She smiled. She would be uncomfortable if he paid for her, and to be honest, she felt like she should be offering to pay, seeing as he bought her pastries, but didn't feel brave enough to offer.

He seemed to think about it for a moment before he agreed.

"Okay," he smiled, not fighting her decision.

After welcoming him in, Reimi placed the pastries in the kitchen and brought out some drinks for them both. The two sat on the sofa, Reimi putting considerable room between them and, after an awkward start, they eventually managed to fall into comfortable conversation. They picked a menu and ordered their food, followed by Reimi suggesting finding something to watch on TV while they waited for their food. As they flicked through the channels, they talked about the shows they went by and their day. When their food eventually arrived, they settled on some sort of food show.

After they finished eating and tidied up, Lloyd spotted the game consoles under her TV and suggested playing some games while they snacked on the pastries and cakes he brought. Reimi liked the idea and agreed.

When she returned from the kitchen with the bag of pastries and two small plates, she was unnerved by the sight of Lloyd stood by her bookshelves.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" he asked conversationally, still browsing her collection. Then quickly turned around when she didn't intially reply, "Sorry! I didn't mean to be nosey, I just wanted to see what books you read, but I should have asked first." He rubbed the back of his head regretfully.

As Reimi had feared, Lloyd had noticed the books she kept of ghosts and the like. She had hoped that if he did go snooping around her bookshelves, that the mix of genres and other types of books would dilute the strangeness of that particular kind.

"It's fine. Don't worry," She assured, hoping her face didn't show otherwise. "Mmm, I'm not sure, I just like reading all types of subjects," She half-lied. She tried to keep her voice light and casual, while she busied herself with setting up one of the games they planned to play.

She heard Lloyd make a hum noise of understanding. He seemed to drop the subject and the two continued the evening playing games, chatting and eating sweet treats. It was the most fun Reimi had had with another person in a long time.

That afternoon seemed to spark a weekly ritual for the two. Every Friday, the pair would spend their evenings together (alternating between flats) eating, talking, watching TV and playing video games. Reimi didn't mean for it to happen, and the phone number she was sure she would never use, became the most contacted number in her phone.

During the time the spirit had been following Lloyd, it had been gradually gaining form, and a month later, that fuzzy, distorted figure solidified into an elderly gentlemen with a sweet smile. He wore a white shirt tucked into tanned, tailored trousers with smart brown shoes. When Reimi first saw him in his real appearance, she felt so relieved and happy for him. It meant that he had finally remembered who he was, and now, Reimi might finally be able to help him move on.

Reimi approached him carefully where he was stood by the window.

"H-hello?"

The spirit- the elderly man, turned around at the sound of Reimi's voice and gave her a kind smile, bowing to her in greeting. She immediately bowed back to him in return.

"Do you remember now?" She asked gently.

He nodded.

Reimi assumed he could not talk yet. Sometimes it took a lot of power for spirits to be able to speak, and unfortunately, that meant that not all could. However, it might just be a matter of time for this ghost.

"Is there- I mean, would you happen to know what it is that you'd like to do before you pass on?" She asked, because sometimes they didn't know. Luckily, the old man nodded again and gestured out the window.

Reimi stood beside him and peered out beyond the glass.

"The intersection?"

He nodded.

"D-did you die there?"

Yet again, he nodded.

"I'm sorry," She didn't know why she was apologising. She already knew he had died, and so did he. She just felt guilty for reminding him of his reality.

The old man smiled at her and shook his head slowly, as if to say, "It's all right."

"And, Lloyd has something to do with it?" She asked, looking over at said man's apartment.

He smiled and nodded.

"Relative?"

He shook his head, "No."

"Colleague?"

No.

"Friend?"

He tilted his head, like he was thinking, then smiled and lifted his hand up, horizontal and flat, then rocked it from side to side.

"Kind of," Reimi translated it to.

"Reimi, you're already here!" Lloyd's voice from behind her made her flinch in surprise. "Sorry, were you waiting long?"

"Ah, no, not at all," She reassured, but it came out a little nervously as she worried if he had heard her talking to the spirit at all.

The smile on his face grew even larger, before he rushed over to her like an excited child, "Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Just the view," she lied, gesturing out the window.

He made an 'ah' sound, then came over to look out the window as well. Reimi watched as he looked down at the view, before he paused at the intersection, his smile disappearing, replaced my a small frown. He looked sad.

"Lloyd?" She called quietly. She tried again when he didn't respond, "Lloyd? Are you okay?"

"Uh, huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," He told her, his smile reappearing, but this one not reaching his eyes. "Let's go."

Reimi decided to leave the subject alone for now, but she knew they'd have to revisit it if it had anything to do with the spirit of the old man - which she had to assume it was. She followed Lloyd into his flat for their weekly hang-out but not before she gave a little hidden wave to the elderly man ghost. She had wanted to get rid of the rock salt and talismans she had placed in Lloyd's apartment, now that the spirit was docile, but she had never found the right opportunity - and it already looked as if he had vacuumed since then, so the salt was gone.

Even though the ritual started from a night of getting takeaway, the two didn't always order in when they spent time together, they liked to cook together as well. This particular night the two had fun making home-made pizza, which during the making of, Reimi ended up banging her head a cupboard door that Lloyd forgot to close.

"Ow!"

"Oh god, I'm so sorry, Reimi. That sounded painful," Lloyd said panicked, and was immediately by her side and began to lightly rub where her head had been hit.

Reimi squinted through the pain and looked up at Lloyd, laughing, "It's okay, it was my fault."

"Oh, Reimi," He laughed fondly, but still looking regretful.

There was a strange pause where the whole apartment went quiet, Reimi looking up at Lloyd with her gently rubbing her head with his thumb. The two stared at each other for a moment, before Reimi couldn't breath in the silence.

"Um-" The sound instantly breaking Lloyd out of his trance.

"Oh, uh, sorry!" He said, his voice wavering as he quickly went into his freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen peas, then holding it to her head. "This should stop it from swelling," He added, but didn't move back away from her, staring into her eyes again. Reimi was at a loss at what to do, but found she also couldn't look away from his chocolate eyes that were staring at her like she was the most precious thing on this earth. Suddenly, making her breath hitch, Lloyd gently brushed some of her bangs out of her face.

Panicked, Reimi held the bag of peas herself and took a step away, "Ah- we should check the pizzas."

"Ah, yeah, right, I completely forgot," he laughed, but it sounded a little strained.

The two busied away in the kitchen and after some effort, they managed to get back their laid-back rapport and spent the rest of the night watching bizarre movies that neither one had heard of. Overall, another good evening, if not for a few strange moments that made Reimi's heart squeeze unusually.

Some days later, Reimi finally realised what those odd sensations meant.

It was a Saturday, and Reimi was taking out her rubbish at the apartment complex's bins area, and was sorting through it (into plastics, paper, etc), when she overheard Lloyd's voice. Smiling, she followed the sound to the grassy seating area set up outside the apartment building.

"Bud, she sounds crazy. You should stay away from her," Some guy with long red hair said in an exacerbated manner.

Lloyd was sitting on one of the picnic benches with a couple of people that Reimi assumed were his friends by the comfortable vibe they had with each other.

"She's not crazy. She means well," Lloyd argued back sternly.

Reimi didn't mean to stay and listen, but she was stunned still by Lloyd's argumentative tone - she'd never heard it before.

"You think she means well," The red-haired man corrected.

"Lloyd, I hate to agree with Zelos, but she literally left weird voodoo notes in your apartment. You need to be careful," Another, slightly younger-looking, man with silvery almost-white hair chimed in.

"I told you, they're talismans - things to ward of bad energy, I looked them up. She wrote them on such cute stationary, too," Lloyd laughed fondly, looking down at something, but Reimi couldn't see at what exactly since she could only see the back of his head from where she was hidden.

Her heart immediately sank at his words. They were talking about her, and Lloyd had found the talismans…

'Since when? How did he know it was me? Why didn't he say anything?' Her thoughts were frantic with shock and a feeling of betrayal. She felt like the air had been knocked out of her.

"Sure, but it's still weird that she did that, let alone an invasion of privacy," A woman with dark purple hair added, clearly confused and a little angry at her friend's naivety.

"You don't know her, I really feel like she's…trying to protect me from something, and she's so…" Lloyd trailed off, making Reimi wonder what he was going to say.

'So what?'

"From what though? Bad feng shui? Lloyd, even if she thinks she's helping you in some way, it's from something that doesn't exist. She might be unwell," The red-head, 'Zelos,' continued to argue.

Deciding she had heard enough, Reimi quickly left the area and rushed back up to her apartment. For a while, she just stood, staring blankly at her living room. Eventually, she made her way over to the sofa, sat down and hugged her knees close to her chest.

She shouldn't have been surprised. This is why she never grew close to people to begin with. But Lloyd had been so nice and sweet, and she'd taken advantage of that. She'd forgotten herself. She couldn't even blame his friends either - she would be concerned, too, and everything they said was true. She was used to it, and she knew it was her fault things had progressed this far.

But it hurt, it really hurt. More so than it had ever hurt before. More so than any friends she'd lost in the past, and she knew why- she finally knew why. It was because she… Well, it didn't matter any more, she needed to start fixing things. Lloyd's friends were right - they couldn't stay the way they were.

So, for the next week, Reimi avoided Lloyd everyday. She caught the earlier bus to work, she made excuses why they couldn't meet up, and she spent all the spare time she had looking into the identity of the spirit that still roamed the halls of their apartment building. She knew what he looked like now, so she looked up the obituaries around the time he had first appeared.

Roger Wells, born on 2nd November 1947, he died at the age of seventy-six. He hadn't had any living relatives at the time of his death, and had appeared to be living alone in a residential area for the last ten years of his life. His cause of death wasn't disclosed on public records, so Reimi had to work that out on her own.

'I wonder how he came to know Lloyd then,' she wondered, trying to quell her heart at the pang of sadness from thinking of the brunette wood-worker.

To take her mind off of him, she hurried downstairs to clear up the rock-salt she had put at the apartment building's entrance.

"Reimi?"

Reimi froze where she was crouched on the floor.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously with an amused lilt in his voice.

She slowly stood up and tried a smile but didn't look him in the eyes, "Just cleaning up."

"Ah, okay…" He uttered, before an awkward silence fell between the two. "How have you been?"

"Okay- Busy. We probably won't meet for a while," She explained, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Busy? Even in the evenings?"

"Y-yeah, there's some stuff I need to do."

"What kind of stuff? I'm always willing to help with anything," He offered eagerly.

"No, there's nothing you need to help me with," She gave a smile, then began to turn away to the stairs.

"But I want to help you," He pushed, stopping her from taking the first step.

His words were as kind as they were painful, and it came up in her harsh words.

"But you can't, Lloyd," She said turning back to look at him. His hurt expression made her instantly regret her words and tried to backtrack. "I mean- it's okay. It's not- It's not something I need help with," She stuttered as she tried to offer a reassuring smile. He didn't reply, so she began the steps up to her apartment, but before she was out of earshot, she said, "I'm sorry, Lloyd."

She flopped down on her sofa and leaned forward to bury her head in her hands. She was furious with herself, she had had no right to talk to him like that. She really needed to stay away from him. After a while of being sat there, beating herself up, Reimi wiped the wetness from her eyes and took a shower.

Another week passed with Reimi trying to help Roger figure out why he was here, and what his connection to Lloyd was. She only got small pieces of time with him as she has been purposefully doing overtime to avoid Lloyd, as well as still getting the earlier bus to work.

Roger had been happy when she called his name and that she knew who he was, however, there was still a communication barrier - he was still unable to speak. From her short 'conversations' with him, she had deemed that the intersection was where he had lost his life, and a car accident was the cause of it. She asked if Lloyd was the driver, he wasn't. She asked if Roger in anyway felt Lloyd was the cause for his death, he shook his head 'no'. She didn't actually believe that was a possibility either, but wanted to ask to make sure.

Did he feel sorry for anything towards Lloyd? No. Did he feel thankful for anything towards Lloyd? Yes. Okay. Now they were getting somewhere. But thankful for what? Unfortunately, that was all Reimi was able to get that week. She hoped that the following week would bare more clues into getting Roger to pass on.

When the first day of the week came around, Reimi returned from work around eight P.M. only to be met by a purpled-haired woman outside the building. She looked familiar, but kept on her way.

"Reimi?" The stranger inquired.

Reimi stopped and turned on her feet.

"Yes?" She properly looked at the woman, and realised where she has seen her before. She was one of the friends sat with Lloyd on the picnic bench.

"Ah, hi, I'm Sheena, a friend of Lloyd's," She introduced herself, a little self-consciously it seemed.

"Hello," Reimi said simply. She was wary and hoped the conversation would pass soon.

"Er…" She trailed off, and thought for a while before finally continuing, "I'm really sorry. I-I saw you there that day, when you were walking away - I put two and two together, and…" Again, she trailed off, and Reimi remained silent - waiting. She's heard it all before, she can take it.

"I- After that day, Lloyd told us that you had been busy lately, and eventually he was pretty sure you were avoiding him. He's naive, but not an idiot. And I thought, 'Good. That's good. She realised she was being…'"

"Creepy," Reimi offered.

"'strange.' And I was relieved… But Lloyd- Lloyd's not been doing well since you stopped hanging out with him. At first he was confused, and worried as to why you were suddenly working so much, but then he was just sad- miserable. He started asking us what he did wrong."

"Nothing," Reimi heard herself whisper. "It was all my fault."

"We were waiting for it to pass. All of us, but- and I know it's only been a few weeks, but we can tell it's not going to just 'pass.' He's liked you-"

"It's okay!" Reimi interjected suddenly. "It's okay. You don't need to say all this. You guys were right about me before. It's weird- I'm weird. My behaviour was…unhinged- I understand that."

"No, no- I mean, well, I don't know. Lloyd really believes…in you. And, again, Lloyd is naive, but he's not an idiot. And if he believes that you're a good person, then I would like to get to know you, too."

"To make sure I'm a good person," Reimi interpreted.

"No, no-"

"It's okay. It's not wrong to think that way, but you don't need to get to know me. I'm going to continue as I am, and that includes giving him his space," Reimi was trying to stay calm, but she was failing. It was hard for her to hear that Lloyd was suffering when she was doing everything in her power to stop that.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go now. I hope you weren't out here long," and with that Reimi hurried upstairs, away from Sheena.

Reimi didn't sleep well that night.

The next morning, Reimi stepped out of her apartment complex, and was greeted with a cup of coffee shoved into her face.

"Morning, Reimi!" Lloyd beamed at her from behind the cup.

Reimi stood stunned, not quite sure at what she was looking at or if it was even real. As if realising that, Lloyd took her hand and put the cup into it, gripping her fingers around it. All the while, Lloyd was still smiling.

"Morning," She mumbled uncertainly, after she realised she hadn't replied.

"Let's head to the bus stop," He smiled, leading the way. "How have you been?"

Reimi, still stupefied, said dumbly, "Y-yeah, fine. What about you- I mean, what are you doing here, Lloyd?"

"I'm on my way to work," He said like it was obvious.

"But your shift doesn't start until later," She said suspiciously.

Lloyd just shrugged. "Just feel like going earlier"

"Really?" She wasn't convinced.

"Yup. How's your coffee?" He swiftly changed the subject.

She hadn't drank any yet, then as if reminded, looked down at the cup in her hand questioningly. She glanced between the man and the beverage before taking a tentative sip.

"It's good," she said surprised.

Lloyd smiled, clearly glad, before his expression turned worried.

"Reimi, uh, Sheena- my friend, came over yesterday," He began.

Reimi stared down at the lip of her cup, holding her breath as she waiting for what was to come.

"She told me… that you overheard what my friends were saying that day, and she told me what you talked about yesterday, too."

Reimi prayed that her bus would arrive soon, but knew it was still a little too early.

"Reimi, my friends don't know you, and I love them, but I know that you would never do anything to hurt me in any way," He assured with desperation in his voice.

Reimi tried her best to hold herself in a calm manner as she replied, "You don't know that, Lloyd. We've only recently started talking to each other. I've left strange things in your apartment, and behaved weirdly. Listen to your friends, Lloyd. Stay away from me, and I will stay away from you."

She tried to walk ahead of him, but he was quick to stand in front of her to stop her from moving forward.

"But I don't want to stay away from you," his voice was loud, but he wasn't shouting. "I'm not wrong about you, Reimi, and if you would just explain everything to me, I would accept it."

A part of Reimi believed that to be true. And that's what scared her the most.

"That's dangerous, Lloyd. You should listen to your friends, I would be worried if I were them, too."

"We are friends, Reimi," He urged, seemingly sensing how she was trying to push him away.

Reimi braced herself for what she planned to say next. What she hoped would be the final strike to have him stop fighting against her.

"Lloyd, I really appreciate you spending time with me, but I think while the people around you fear for your safety because of me, I do not feel comfortable to do so. Also, Lloyd, you are a really kind person, but you 'humouring' me, just so we can continue our hangouts, doesn't make me happy."

"It's not-"

"Please stop, Lloyd," Reimi begged. She could feel the build up of pressure behind her eyes and she wasn't sure how long she could keep the tears at bay.

Her prayers answered, her bus finally arrived and Reimi rushed on without looking back. She heard Lloyd call her name, but she didn't react. She just wanted this day to be over. Unfortunately, the day went by in a miserable slog, and Lloyd hardly left her mind.

When she finally returned home, she went about her home routine of washing up and changing before she went out to talk to Roger. As she reached the last step onto Lloyd's floor, she turned to the window Roger normally stood at to find nothing. Reimi's eyebrow scrunched together, confused and surprised. She searched the floor more thoroughly and still found nothing, so she looked on the floor above, and the floor above that, until she had checked all the floors in the building. Perplexed and worried, she returned to Lloyd's floor and stood by the window Roger usually stood at.

'Where is he?' She thought, concerned of the well-being of her spirit friend.

Unsure what to do next, she found her eyes looking out the window at the dark view below. She couldn't see much, but when her gaze met the intersection, she saw a familiar figure stood under a street-light by one of the crossings.

"Roger?"

She ran out of the apartment complex and made her way to where she saw Roger's silhouette.

"Roger, why are you here?" She asked as she jogged up to the ghost.

The ghost turned to face her with a kind smile on herself then, to Reimi's astonishment, said, "My time's running out, Reimi."

"Roger! You can talk now," She cried out happily, before that happiness was quickly wiped away by his words, "Wait, what? Running out of time? That doesn't happen for years, I thought."

Reimi had been taught by her grandmother that ghosts whom roam the human realm have a limited time before they can solve whatever is keeping them there and help them pass on. If they can't solve it in that window, the ghost cannot pass on and has to stay permanently on the human plane. It normally is a huge window, though. Reimi's grandmother had told her that the opening could years. But Roger had only been dead for around a month and a half.

"I can feel it," is all he said.

"How soon?" Reimi asked, panicked.

"An hour."

"An hour?!"

"Okay, okay," Reimi started pacing and rushing her words out. "What do you need? What did you want from Lloyd?"

"I just wanted to talk to him and thank him," He said as if it weren't important.

"I can do that, I can go get him," Reimi assured hurriedly about to run off until Roger spoke.

"No, Reimi, it's okay. I know… It's hard for you, I mean I can't understand how hard it's been for you all this time, but I have seen how things have hurt you," Roger spoke calmly, which only made Reimi panic more.

"None of that matters now, I need to make sure you pass on with no regrets, or you'll be stuck here forever," She urged direly.

The elderly gentleman smiled sadly.

"Reimi, you've already done more than enough."

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything for you," Reimi said with frustration.

"That's not true. I could tell you were trying you best for me this whole time. Even before I had my memories and hurt you. I'm very sorry about that-"

"No, no, that was my fault," Reimi quickly reassured.

"No, Reimi, it's not. None of it's your fault, dear."

Reimi stood there, staring at Roger, feeling useless.

"No," She said shaking her head. "Stay there, I'll be right back," She told him with determination, and she ran off back to her apartment complex.

She put aside her current feelings toward Lloyd, their situation, and her fear of making him completely disregard her as a normal person, as she knocked on his door with a firm fist. He opened his door after a short moment, and she tried to ignore how his face lit up from the sight of her, and how her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of him.

"I'm sorry, I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but I- I need your help," She rushed out.

Lloyd's face turned to one of concern.

"Anything. What's wrong?"

"Could you follow me? I'll explain on the way."

Without even questioning her, Lloyd started to put on his shoes and grabbed his keys as he closed the door behind him.

When they got out of their building, Reimi started her explanation, though nervously, "Uh, to start with, do you know a man called Roger Wells?"

Lloyd's face dropped at the name and confusion filled his eyes.

"Yeah, he's a friend I used to hang out with… until recently when he just disappeared. Is this about him? Is he all right?"

Reimi's heart sank at having to tell him the bad news, but she knew she didn't have time to soften it. Roger didn't have the time.

"I'm so sorry, Lloyd, but he… he's passed on," She said sombrely as they tracked on.

Lloyd's steps stalled at what he had heard, "Oh…"

"I'm so sorry," She repeated.

"I wondered what had happened to him. How did he pass?" His voice was strained.

"I-I'm not sure, but we can ask," She said, keeping her eyes forward.

"Ask who?" He asked curiously.

"Uh, let's just keep going."

Reimi kept silent the rest of the way, as did Lloyd.

When Roger saw the two approaching, Reimi heard him say, "Oh, Reimi," sympathetically.

"It's fine, just say what you want to say, I'll repeat it to him," She assured, trying a smile at the elder.

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked beside her.

"Roger wants to say some things to you, before he… before he leaves," She told him, then turned to Roger. "Go ahead."

Roger smiled gratefully as Reimi, and faced Lloyd to say his peace, even if the latter couldn't see him.

"I want to thank him for helping me across this intersection every time he saw me here. I want to thank him for spending time with me even after helping me cross the road. I want to thank him for being my friend," He listed in a warm and fond voice.

Lloyd listened to Reimi as she repeated Roger's words verbatim. He was clearly confused, but didn't interrupt her.

"I had been alone for so long, I didn't realise how lonely I was until I met Lloyd. It was the happiest I've been in the last decade. And I wanted to say goodbye and that I'm sorry I left without a word."

Tears gathered in Lloyd's eyes as he asked, "How did he go? Was he alone? Why wasn't I told of the funeral?"

Brushing aside her surprise that Lloyd was humouring this situation at all, seeing as getting Roger's words across was more important at that moment.

"I went in my sleep, natural causes, it's nothing he needs to worry about," Reimi kept the unconvincing tone to herself. "I'm sorry he didn't hear about my funeral, but it was because there was no funeral. As far as the government knew I had no one, and there was no way they would know about Lloyd or even know there was someone to contact."

The tears had already began to fall and Lloyd was sniffling at the words Reimi repeated. Even Reimi felt some tears threatening to spill.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't there for you," Lloyd sobbed. The sound broke Reimi's heart.

"But you were, Lloyd," Roger protested. "You were like a grandson to me. And I hope I can ask you for one more favour."

"Anything," Lloyd sniffled.

"Can you help me across, one more time?"

"Of course."

Reimi pressed the button for the traffic lights, and the three waited.

When the man lit up green, Reimi gestured to Lloyd to go first, beside where Roger stood, and they started walking. Reimi stayed behind the two, as they slowly strolled forward. Reimi's chest tightened with every quiet sob she heard erupt from Lloyd. Once they reached the other side, Roger was gone.

"He's gone, Lloyd," Reimi told him gently.

Lloyd nodded his head in understanding and began trying to rub his tears away, but they just kept falling. Reimi passed Lloyd a pack of tissues she had in her pocket and apologised for causing him pain. He took the pack of tissues with a 'thank you.'

Lloyd shook his head and said, "No, I'm glad I could be here for him."

Reimi quietly led Lloyd to their apartment building.

"I'm sorry, Lloyd," Reimi said regretfully when they reached his apartment door.

"Can you stay with me for a little bit?" He asked softly.

She couldn't deny his request when she saw his red eyes and depressed expression.

"Y-yeah, I can do that," She agreed before leading him to his sofa and asking him if she could use his kitchen. At his approval, Reimi made him some tea and sat beside him quietly.

"Want me to put the TV on for some white noise or maybe some music?" She suggested.

"No, no, that's okay," He said, and Reimi awkwardly sat down on the other side of the sofa, "Can we just talk?"

Despite the dread she felt at those words, but understanding that Lloyd was going through a lot, Reimi said, "S-sure."

Even though she said that, she struggled to find the words.

Luckily, Lloyd spoke up first, "H-How long have you been seeing him? Roger."

"About a month and a half," She answered after a moment of thought.

"Around the time we started talking," He stated with a tired smile, Roger departure heavy on his mind.

"Yeah," She confirmed uncomfortably, which was followed by another silence.

"So, Roger was the reason we started speaking," he recognised with a light chuckle. "I have so much to thank him for, too, but I didn't say anything…" His smile was wiped off as he realised how little he said to Roger.

Reimi quickly chimed in before Lloyd could fall into a pit of guilt, "You listened, which was more important to him at the time. And although he's not here any more, I believe he can still see and hear you. He knows Lloyd."

"At least, that's what I believe," She added, looking down at her lap.

"Yeah?" He asked, perking up a little. A sad smile returned to his face.

"Yeah," She mirrored his expression.

"So, you can see ghosts? Is that what the talismans are for?" he asked curiously, as he tried to touch on the subject in what Reimi assumed was meant to be a light manner. However, she wasn't ready to have that conversation yet; it was never going to be a 'light' subject for her.

"Lloyd, it's late" She started, getting up from the settee. "I know it'll be hard, but try to sleep," She finished as she turn to make her way to the door, however, her wrist was quickly grabbed before she could take a step. She looked down at Lloyd, confused.

"Reimi, thank you," he said giving a small smile.

"I didn't do anything."

"No, you've done a lot. You protected me when I didn't even know I needed protecting. I got to speak to Roger again and see him off. And I got to meet you," He spoke appreciatively, looking at Reimi in a way that made her stomach flip.

She tried to smile at him, but found it difficult to meet his eyes.

"Sleep well, Lloyd," She said, before leaving his apartment and making her way to her own.

She felt awful for leaving him when he'd just found out one of his friends had passed away, but it still felt so suffocating being around him, and even worse now that he knew her secret. She couldn't trust that he actually believed it, either. She had experienced this before when people would act like they'd believe her but later found out that they actually didn't, or at the time they believed her but somehow convinced themselves later that she had tricked them somehow.

So, despite Lloyd not being like anyone she'd ever met before, she couldn't let herself completely trust Lloyd. Or what if he told other people? What if the whole apartment complex found out? Would she have to move again?

To be honest, Reimi wasn't sure Lloyd was the type to be able to lie, or to spread rumours. She just didn't want to let her guard down. Tired, and dreading what the future would bring from that day onward, Reimi went straight to bed, although sleep did not come easily.

When morning came, Reimi readied herself for work, with Lloyd still heavy on her mind. She wanted to go check on him to see how he was doing, but she also was scared at what he might say to her about last night. Her fear won out, and she headed to the bus station, but not before glancing up the staircase that led to Lloyd's floor.

As she stepped out into the cold, early morning, she was immediately greeted by a take-out coffee cup. Reimi stood there, shook off the deja-vu and took the coffee offered to her with a quiet 'thank you'.

"Lloyd, shouldn't you still be in bed?" She asked, nervous at the conversation that would follow.

"I wanted to see you," he said smiling, though he also looked a little embarrassed, too. Reimi's heart flipped at his words. "And thank you for last night."

"It's nothing to thank me for. I did it for Roger," she said, her voice quiet, worried by the subject. "I'm glad you got to say goodbye."

"Me too," He smiled sadly, as they walked toward the bus stop.

"Still taking the early bus?" He suddenly asked a short moment later.

Reimi simply nodded.

"You don't have to buy me coffee. It's too much and it makes be feel bad," She said looking down at the beverage in her hand.

"Ah, sorry. It's just, lately, I felt like I needed an excuse to talk to you," He explained, creating an awkward silence that Reimi didn't know how to break.

"You don't need to take the early bus any more, and get the late bus back, you're exhausting yourself. …And it's worrying me," He said with an uncharacteristically serious tone, that made Reimi even more uncertain how to reply to.

"And I know…now," The silent implication deafening, "So, you don't have to avoid me any more."

After a tumultuous debate in her mind, Reimi eventually spoke. "Okay, I won't avoid you any more. I'll go back to my normal routine."

Lloyd's face broke out into an obviously happy and relieved expression.

"But we can't go back to before," She added, causing Lloyd's face to drop as quickly as it came.

"Why?"

"Lloyd, you're very kind, but, as kind as you are, I don't really believe that you believe what happened yesterday was real, and that you're not just humouring a crazy person's antics. And, if that's what you are doing, please know that that is not kindness, it's cruel," She explained, her chest hurting the more that she spoke.

Lloyd was quite to passionately protest and argue back.

"Why wouldn't I believe you? You're not the type of person to lie about something like that and, to be honest, a lot of things make sense now. Also, there's no way you would know about mine and Roger's friendship."

Reimi faltered a little by his fervent display, but found herself again to continue her persuasion, "How would you know? It's not far from where I live, I could have seen you two before, or I could have stalked you."

Astonished by the idea, he scoffed. "Stalked me? Reimi, we've lived in the same apartment complex together for a year, and you have never once looked at me - trust me, I know you had no idea about it."

Reimi was confused by what he meant, but pushed forward blindly, "I could be messed up and wanted to play with your head." She wasn't even sure what she was saying any more.

Lloyd gave her a unamused look, "You wouldn't do that."

"Do you really know that?"

"I know we haven't known each other long, but I really do trust you, as naive as that sounds, but I trust my judgement. I just hope you can one day trust me, too," He said earnestly.

"Can't we try to start again?"

Reimi struggled to deny him again, and her mind was going back and forth, debating what she should do.

"...But what about your friends, they're worried, and for good reason. I don't want to become a cause of contention between you and them," She tried another angle.

"You won't and you can't - we wouldn't be affected by this. And they'll understand one day - when they meet you, if you let them," He said, hesitating on the suggestion, as if worried at Reimi's reaction. "Plus, you're my friend, too."

Reimi was remained apprehensive, but she knew she couldn't win against Lloyd. And, she had missed him so much, which she knew was odd seeing how little a time they had known each other.

"O-okay," She uttered, hoping it was the right choice. "Let's start again."

The tips of Lloyd's mouth rose into a genuine grin, which burst into a happy laugh. He cheerfully tapped her coffee cup with his own.

"Here's to the last early bus we take,"

"You never had to take an early bus," Reimi reminded.

"I wanted to," He confessed easily.

Reimi hid her smile at that.

The next few weeks, Reimi and Lloyd walked each other to the bus stop like they used to, and occasionally messaged to check in. Reimi was relieved returning to her healthier work hours, but more than anything she was happy having Lloyd back into her life again. So much so that it scared her, but she tried to ignore those feelings to focus on the happier ones.

After some time, Lloyd tentatively asked if they could start their Friday night hangouts again, which she hesitantly agreed to. And it was just like it had been before. There was a little awkwardness at the start, but it wasn't long until they were back into the swing of things. Playing games, watching shows and movies, chatting and laughing like there was no pause in their friendship.

It had been a month since they started these meet-ups again when Reimi was at Lloyd's place curiously taking in his living room's interior while he was making them tea in the kitchen. She realised, despite having been to his apartment several times, she'd never taken much notice of how he'd decorated it; not because she wasn't interested, but rather because she was worried it would be seen as intrusive. She hoped, seeing how much Lloyd knew about her now, that it wouldn't be seen as intrusive to find out more about him.

She looked over the collection of DVDs and video games that were piled around the TV stand, she sought through the couple of books he had on word-working and crafting. Then she came to a shelving unit that displayed photos of family and friends, making her smile. As she looked over the shelves, she stopped as she spotted a familiar few pieces of paper fanned out neatly. She picked up the top one and saw her own rushed, scribbled handwriting.

She heard a noise beside her and was faced with Lloyd stood in the doorway of the kitchen holding two cups of tea and a guilty expression.

"Ah, I still don't know what they really do, but I looked them up," He started awkwardly sheepishly. "It's okay that I kept them, isn't it?" he asked, slowly putting the teas on the end table next to the sofa.

She remembered him saying so to his friends that day at the picnic table and being surprised he had bothered. He was speaking quite awkwardly because he knew it was a dangerous subject.

"I'm surprised you didn't throw them away," She said quietly, putting the talisman back where it was.

"Why would I? You made them for me, right? The characters are so cool and the stationary is cute," he laughed fondly, looking at the talismans on the shelf.

She looked at the stationary and cringed, she was in such a rush at the time, she didn't use normal writing paper and hadn't noticed she'd grabbed some of her cartoon-cat post-its

"Can I ask what they're for?" He asked carefully as he sat on the settee and held one of the cups of teas.

Reimi followed his lead and sat at the opposite end before she mumbled, "Google wasn't too far off, to be honest. They repel spiritual energy but only in a certain radius, and different types have different affects on spirits."

"Why did you want to repel Roger?" He asked, not with judgement or as an accusation, just curious and interested.

Even though Reimi knew that, she was still tense and wasn't sure if she should keep talking.

Lloyd appeared to sense this and quickly tried to change the subject, "You know what, we can talk about this later, let's find something fun to watch. Tell me how work was today."

Reimi ruminated in her thoughts as Lloyd panicked that he had gone to far.

"No, it's okay," She reassured him as he halted his fiddling with the TV remote. "I-if you want to hear it, I can tell you about it."

There was a lump in her throat, but she meant it. She wanted to try and trust someone. She wanted to trust Lloyd.

"Really? Yeah!" Lloyd's face lit up with childish excitement and his voice mirrored the expression. However, he tried to collect himself when he noticed Reimi surprised look. "I mean- I really want to hear what you've been doing, and going through all this time."

Reimi smiled fondly at his antics as she nervously went into her story of the last couple of months. "Well, do you remember that time we talked on the stairs, when I randomly came running up behind you?"

"Of course, it was the first time you talked to me," Lloyd reminisced.

"I try to keep my head down," Reimi explained, feeling guilty. Lloyd nodded in understanding as she continued her story.

"It actually started a few days before that when I had spotted something dark and distorted wandering the halls of our apartment complex…"

The rest of that night, Reimi told Lloyd everything from the time she first saw Roger to when they bid him goodbye. Lloyd listened intently with interest and chimed in with his own point of view at some parts of the story. They laughed at some of the misunderstandings, but could still speak seriously at some of the harder parts of theirs and Roger's story. Reimi was surprised how cathartic it felt speaking so honestly to Lloyd, and he never once made her feel like she was a freak.

After that day, a dam seemed to break and Reimi became steadily comfortable enough to answer any of Lloyd's questions about ghosts, spirits and her abilities. Including ghost's she had met in the past, the different types she had learned about, and ones she sees day-to-day like the innocent little soot sprites. However, she never spoke about her background, which meant her family, heritage and upbringing; as well as her hardships with human relationships in the past and how she came to so fervently push people away. Those subjects were still too painful, and Lloyd never tried to bring them up either.

The pair grew even closer over that time and their messaging and meet-ups increased; and as happy as she was, she found herself having more secrets after meeting Lloyd. One in particular that she could never tell him.

"Uh, Reimi?" Lloyd started cautiously, pulling her from her thoughts.

They were currently grocery shopping together, another thing they started doing together. Reimi had been out some fresh vegetables when Lloyd started speaking.

"Yeah?"

"Um, you can say no, but some of my friends are coming over this Saturday and… I was wondering if you wanted to join?"

Reimi's grip on the lettuce she was holding tightened a little, before she haphazardly dropped it into her basket as her mind went frantic with worried thoughts.

"Uhhh," The sound expelled from her mouth, as she pretended to look at the vegetables with unfocused eyes.

"No pressure or anything, seriously," he reassured, "It's just, it's a friends hangout, and you're my friend, so…"

A silence hung in the air while Reimi placed some spring onions in her basket.

"To be honest, I wanted to give my friends a chance to redeem themselves to you," He admitted, making her look up for the first time. She had assumed it would be her that needed to redeem herself.

"They don't need to-" She started.

"I do- I need them to. It might be childish, but I'm still angry at them. They're good people- really good people and I love them, but they hurt someone else I really love… so…"

Reimi's heart flipped and her face felt warm, even as she told herself, he was speaking in terms of 'friends.' Not that she wasn't happy by that at all. She was elated that he felt that way about her, and tried to squish the ungrateful part of her that wanted more.

"Not that I should expect you to give them that chance… And it's not your responsibility to solve the issues I have with my friends- Ah, sorry, it was a bad idea, nevermind, I'm sorry Reimi, I should have never asked," He profusely apologised, receding the invitation.

"I'll think about it," She said after a while, giving him a small smile.

He looked at her with owlish eyes, "You really don't have to."

"I know," She assured.

"Then, thank you," He beamed back, then grimaced as Reimi playfully threw a packet of tomatoes in his basket (knowing his distaste for them). The two continued their food shopping, teasing each other as they did, then returned to their own apartments.

Reimi thought about their conversation from earlier as she put away her groceries. She knew Lloyd hadn't told them about her abilities, didn't plan to and definitely didn't expect her to, so she didn't have to worry about that. However, she didn't have any decent explanations for her unusual behaviour if they asked. Also, it had been a long while since she socialised with multiple people and was nervous at the concept.

She knew it would make Lloyd happy, though… And it would be good if she could put them at ease, but what if she didn't? What if she made it worse? What if they ended up hating her? What if Lloyd ended up hating her?

Reimi closed the fridge door gently and made her way over to the settee. Lloyd had seemed so excited when she said she'd think about it… She knew what her answer was, but she wasn't sure it was the right one.

A couple days later, Saturday morning came around and Reimi moved slower than usual as she washed and dressed. Lloyd had messaged her earlier checking in on her to which she gave a generic positive response. She didn't think he bought it, however, as he reiterated that she didn't have to come up if it was too much. She answered that she'd see him there, making the lump in her gut grow larger.

As she stood before Lloyd's apartment door, the laughter and chatter she heard behind it seemed to mock her, but she also feared it all ceasing when she opened the door and revealed herself. The uncomfortable and put-off looks, the prolonged silences, along with the feeling of being unwelcome. The thought of that being how she spent her day made her want to march downstairs, out the building and as far away as one of the local buses would take her.

Instead, with Lloyd in mind, Reimi rapped on the door harder than she meant to and waited as the nausea in her stomach worsened. It wasn't long until Lloyd stood in front of her with his ecstatic smile (although, Reimi thought she could see some worry there, too) and greeted her cheerfully.

"Reimi!" He beamed, then surprised her with a tight hug.

Reimi and Lloyd didn't often share physical contact, and the few times it did happen it created a strange atmosphere; it also made Reimi worried her feelings would be exposed in those moments.

She quickly realised he was trying to comfort her fears and encourage her.

"H-hey, Lloyd," She attempted to hide her nerves, but was genuinely happy at Lloyd's greeting. She always found it so endearing that he always greeted her like they hadn't seen each other in years, despite the fact that they saw each other every day.

He pulled away from her with a squeeze of her shoulders and a reassuring smile, sensing her nerves.

"Let me introduce you to everyone," He began.

Reimi plastered a polite smile on her face like a shield and listened as Lloyd introduced them one-by-one. The tall red-head man was called 'Zelos,' the short silver-haired one was 'Genis,' and, lastly, the lady with dark-purple hair 'Sheena' who she had met with before.

"Everyone, as you already know, this is Reimi," He announced afterwards.

"Hello," Reimi tried to sound happy, but cringed a little as it came out flat.

The three, as Reimi had feared, looked awkward and uncomfortable, glancing away and fidgeting. Reimi itched to leave.

It was Sheena who broke the silence first.

She threw herself down into a ninety-degree bow and loudly said, "We're so sorry, Reimi."

After a moment, she glared at the two men stood beside her who then followed her lead after meeting her fierce gaze.

"We're so sorry for speaking behind your back when we didn't even know you," She continued.

"Y-yeah, we were just worried about Lloyd, but we shouldn't have assumed things about you, especially when Lloyd's been pining-" The smaller of the three was swiftly elbowed in the ribs by a red-faced Lloyd.

"Genis!" He scolded, looking flustered, which very much confused Reimi, but she was too busy listening to them to question it.

"Lloyd has always been telling us how great you are, and how you even took our bad-mouthed concerns to heart when you overheard them, which we appreciate, but Bud didn't take it so well. It made us realise, it wasn't a good thing, and that we were in the wrong, not you," Zelos stated, in an uncharacteristically (from what Lloyd had told her about him) subdued manner.

Reimi was probably a little more surprised by Zelos's apology than the others, as she remembered his words being the most cutting and the most ardent in his opinions.

"We ended up hurting both of you," Sheena added regretfully.

Reimi looked at the three and struggled to find an ounce of deceit or shallowness in their words or countenance. Over the years of her life and seeing how people behave to her 'oddities', she had grown quite good at indicating when people are being fake and when they're being genuine. It was overwhelming seeing three people in a row, right in front of her being honestly sorry for how they spoke about her when there's people who had treated her so not-so-kindly and still to this day probably didn't think they did wrong by her.

Stunned, it took her a while to realise she hadn't said anything in almost a minute, but quickly rectified that with a spew of reassurances.

"No, I did things that warranted your concerns. I won't be doing anything like that again," She said, then realised she hadn't apologised to the person who mattered most. "I'm sorry for doing things that invaded your privacy, Lloyd - I won't do that again," She apologised, bowing to Lloyd.

Lloyd took a step closer to her, not that he had been far to begin with, and reassured her fervently, "You already explained everything and I said I understood, so, please don't apologise or bow to me like that."

Reimi stood upright and smiled at Lloyd gratefully.

"You don't have to forgive us now, but I hope we can slowly get to know each other and prove that we're not those harsh, judgemental people," Sheena told her, a hopefulness in her expression and tone.

"We double that," Zelos added playfully, as he patted Genis's head, who tried to swat it away.

Reimi gave a shy but real smile to the group, "Thank you."

"Okay, with that in mind, should we start with some boardgames?" Lloyd suggested to the group.

Everyone agreed and Lloyd took to getting out some of his boardgames while Reimi offered to get drinks. Sheena offered to help and the two made their way to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry if I was rude to you that night," Reimi voiced after an awkward bout of silence.

"You weren't. I was the one who blind-sided you outside your own home. As if I had any right to get on your case about invading privacy," Sheena said, berating herself.

"No, what I did was worse. I should have never-"

"Stop," Sheena interrupted laughing, "We're never going to know each other if we keep apologising to each other like this."

Reimi smiled, "You're right."

"You know," Sheena started somewhat quietly, "Lloyd always wanted to talk to you. As soon as he moved into this place a year and a half ago, he told us how there was a woman who he kept seeing that never really looked at anyone," She continued with a knowing smile, but Reimi didn't really understand it. "He spoke about you a lot. He seemed worried about you at first, but…" She trailed off without finishing and just surmised, "Well, he always noticed you."

Reimi felt her heart flip and her stomach flutter at hearing that, but she reminded herself that Lloyd was someone who couldn't leave a lonely person alone.

"I'm really lucky that he did," She smiled thinking of the brunette. "He's the first real friend I've made in… well, ever," She realised, and then felt embarrassed that she had voiced that out-loud.

Her embarrassment grew worse as Sheena stopped her movements and turned to Reimi with a soft expression, "Hopefully we can change that."

Reimi nodded with an appreciative smile.

The two brought in an array of beverages for the group and everyone sat around the coffee table that held a fantasy board-game, which the boys had chosen. The night went on with the group playing boardgames, video-games, watching movies and eating food they made together in the kitchen (which was quite chaotic).

Within the time they spent together, Reimi got a broad read on each of the crew's personalities. Genis was the youngest, the smartest and probably the biggest show-off, but not that far above Zelos. Despite his childish moments, Reimi found him quite endearing, like a little brother. Also, strangely, he reminded Reimi of one of her colleagues; a labtician she looked up to and who she occasionally spoke to about different minerals and their compositions. She had always wanted to be closer to her, but her abilities had always stopped her from trying.

Zelos was the most flamboyant and playful of the group, being loud and trying to make everyone laugh. He seemed to be the cause of a lot of friendly arguments, as well as a lot of the 'fun' moments that happened during the night. He was also kind in his own, clumsy way. Whenever Reimi felt lost in the noise and chaos, he wouldn't ground her, but pull her into it further - she assumed so she wasn't left out by accident.

Sheena, was the most easy-going of the group and easiest to talk to. However, she could also be just as loud as Zelos, though… those times were almost always caused by Zelos, him having aggravated her in some way. She was a bit more tactful at getting Reimi to open up and bringing her into conversations that she might not have much to say in.

And, of course, Lloyd was beside her the whole time.

Overall, it was a fun night, and Reimi enjoyed learning more about Lloyd's friends and the stories they told, especially when it was about Lloyd. The group eventually left in the late evening, but Reimi decided to stay behind to help Lloyd clean up, and to spend more time with him.

"So," Lloyd started nervously as he was washing the dishes, Reimi drying. "How was it? Was it stressful?"

"It was…a lot better than I had thought it was going to be," Reimi admitted.

"Really?" He asked, sighing with relief.

"Yeah, I was surprised how adamant they were to make things up to me," She told him, as he passed her another plate.

"Well, they were in the wrong."

"No, they weren't. They love you, they're good friends."

"I won't disagree to that, but I still won't condone their actions toward you," He said firmly.

Reimi smiled fondly to herself while she continued to dry the plate in her hands, grateful for his words.

After they cleaned up, they fell on the sofa tiredly.

They stretched out and lounged, when Reimi saw Lloyd sit up and face her with a nervous face.

"Hey, uh, Reimi? Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Reimi instantly replied wanting to reassure him.

"Well, -and you don't have to tell me, ever, because no matter what happened in your past I'll still feel the same about you, I mean at the end of the day you're you, which is all that matters," He rambled worriedly.

"Lloyd, it's okay," Reimi stopped him with a comforting voice, "Just ask."

"Uh," he began awkwardly, "Can I ask about your parents? You never speak about them, and I don't want to pry, but I can't help wanting to know more about you."

Reimi looked down at her lap, and tried to keep a neutral expression to avoid worrying Lloyd. It was a sore spot, probably her sorest spot, but it was Lloyd, and he made her feel warm and safe. Talking about her hardships didn't seem so hard with him.

"Well, I was raised by my maternal grandmother," Reimi smiled at the thought of her. "She loved me and I loved her. She had the same abilities as I did - it's inherited by the women in my family - so, I learned a lot from her and she helped me understand my abilities and spirits," Reimi explained calmly.

"She died when I was fourteen, but her spirit didn't leave until I was fifteen…she didn't want to leave me alone."

Lloyd didn't speak, but she felt the sofa shift under his weight as he moved closer to her.

"My parents…they couldn't legally kick me out, so, instead they ignored me until I was old enough to move out. They never accepted me because of my abilities…"

"But if it's inherited, doesn't your mother have abilities too?" His voice was quiet and flat, a tone she never heard him use before.

"Apparently, it skipped a generation, and my mother was hoping it would end there, but then I was born. You can imagine her disappointed when I started showing signs of seeing things other people couldn't."

With him now sat right beside her, she could see his hands clench into fists on his thighs.

"It was really hard for me to make friends as a kid when you knew your own parents were terrified of you and seemed to even loathe your very existence," She laughed sheepishly, before realising herself.

"Ah, sorry, I'm feeling sorry for myself. To be honest, I have come to terms with it, and I really, really appreciate my grandmother being there for me - I was lucky," She rectified.

"Reimi," Lloyd said.

She had been avoiding eye-contact the whole conversation, finding her lap a lot more interesting, however, his gentle voice made her turn to him. She almost turned away, overwhelmed by the adoration in his eyes, but was stuck still as he caringly pushed away some hair out of her face.

"I wish I had spoken to you earlier," He told her with such regret it almost sounded mournful.

The warmth of his hand stayed in her hair.

"Me too," She said back, dazed in the moment.

Suddenly, as if realising where his hand was, Lloyd swiftly pulled it back.

"I'm sorry," he abruptly apologise, looking ashamed.

"For what?" Reimi said, missing the warmth of his hand, troubled by his upset expression. "Lloyd, what's wrong?"

Lloyd glanced between her face and his hands, internally struggling over something.

Eventually, he spoke.

"I'm really glad I spoke to you, and met you. I want you to be happy, but I'm scared that by telling you this, I'll ruin everything. I don't want you to avoid me after I say this, but I feel like I'll regret it if I don't…"

Something dipped in Reimi's stomach, but with the desire to stop the torment in Lloyd's eyes, she urged him to speak.

"What is it?"

"I'm so sorry, but… I love you- I mean, of course I love you, but I love you in not just a friend sense, but-" At that moment Lloyd's hand fell from her hair to her cheek. "I love you," he said desperately looking into her eyes.

Reimi's heart was beating a mile a minute, the sound flooding her ears, and her face felt like it was on fire. She felt like she was on another plane for a minute. Was she dreaming?

When she finally came back to Earth, she wanted to clarify what she had just heard- she wanted to make she this was real.

"As in, you want us to be…together?" Her voice came out in a quiet rasp.

Lloyd smiled at her apologetically, his eyes full of sadness, "Yes, I'm sorry." He then began to pull his hand away from her face but, before she can even realise what she was doing, Reimi stopped him from removing it, placing her hand over his.

"Me too," She said, almost in a whisper, terrified of her own words. "Me too."

Lloyd's eyes widened and he began to ramble doubtfully, "R-really? Do you get what I'm saying? Do you get what you're saying?"

"You…want us to be in romantic relationship?" She inquired, her smile nervous. She was smiling from his endearing antics, but was still nervous that by some chance she had misunderstood.

Lloyd nodded firmly, "Yes."

"And I also want us to be in a romantic relationship," She confirmed, now smiling fully.

"With me?" He reiterated.

"With you," Her smile grew. "Only you," She reassured, looking at him lovingly.

For a moment, he still seemed to not understand her, but slowly, a large smile took over his face.

"Really?" He asked again.

"Lloyd!" Reimi laughed, playfully scolding his stubbornness.

Lloyd laughed, too, and looked at her adoringly as he put his free hand on the other side of her face.

Then, suddenly, he pulled back to look at her suspiciously, "You're not just being nice or going along with it are you?"

"Lloyd!" She laughed again.

"Okay, just checking," He smiled as his hands returned to her face and rested their foreheads together. Reimi smiled at Lloyd, her hands over his, but then her expression turned gloomy as she though of something.

"...But Lloyd, are you sure? Being with me…it'll be difficult," She told him, subtly reminding him of her 'baggage', her hands falling down to her lap.

Lloyd's hands left Reimi's face and followed hers to hold them.

"Reimi, this is more than I've ever wanted," He told her firmly, his smile so sincere.

Reimi blinked away some tears that threatened to spill at his words, and just beamed at him.

The following month went by in a blur, a happy, chaotic blur. Reimi had grown more comfortable in herself since she had met Lloyd and now being together, she was so happy that she had become a bit more open with the people around her. She didn't turn away from people who tried to talk to her, and she had even began to form a friendship with one of the labticians she had always admired, Raine Sage. It wasn't long before she realised why Genis had reminded her so much of the labtician - they were actually siblings.

It was a Sunday when she came bounding down the stairs to meet her boyfriend outside the apartment building. She beamed when she saw Lloyd approaching her with a colourful bunch of flowers.

"Are these okay?" He asked unsure.

"They're perfect," She assured, smiling up at him.

Lloyd smiled back and took her hand in his, as they began making their way to the bus station.

"You look beautiful," He told her as he looked at her in her white summer dress.

"Thank you," She stuttered, embarrassed, before sharing the sentiment, "You look lovely."

He was dressed smarter than usual; a button-down shirt with a pair of dark-blue slacks.

He scratched the back of his neck bashfully, "Thanks."

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked gently after a moment.

Understanding her concern, he nodded with a big smile, "Yeah! I'm excited to visit him."

She smiled back, "Me too."

The two had to take two buses to get to their destination, but the pair enjoyed the journey. The weather was nice and they were happy chatting and just being together. When they finally got to their stop, they followed the map on Reimi's phone to their desired location and luckily found it without much trouble. They entered through the large iron gates and walked through the paved pathway.

"It's pretty here," Reimi said as she looked around the grounds that were covered in little wild flowers.

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed in slight awe.

It took a while but after some time, they finally found who they were looking for.

"Hi Roger," Reimi greeted happily as she looked at his gravestone. "Sorry it took us so long to find you."

She began wiping down his headstone while Lloyd spoke.

"Yeah, sorry, buddy. But we're here now." He crouched down and arranged the flowers he had bought in front of Roger's gravestone. "I hope you like them. I didn't know what to get, but I thought these were the prettiest."

"We hope you're doing well, wherever you are now," Reimi said as she sat beside Lloyd, who had sat in the grass in front of his grave.

"Yeah, and that you've met up with all the people you've missed for so long," Lloyd added, smiling.

"Last time we spoke, you thanked me for a lot of things, but I didn't get to thank you at all, even when you had given me so much. I know you think I was just spending time with you as someone doing a 'good deed,' but it wasn't that.

"I genuinely looked forward to our meetings, be it helping you cross the road, walking you home or going shopping with you, I always enjoyed our time. You would give me advice," At this he glanced at Reimi, but she didn't question his pointed gaze and just gave an encouraging smile to continue.

"You told me stories about your life, your family and friends. I always learned something from talking with you… And I also want to thank you for giving me a chance to talk to Reimi," he laughed. "You knew how much trouble I was having, so you came to take matters into your own hands," he joked.

Reimi cocked her head, confused by what he meant. He smiled at her, then took one of her hands in his and kissed the back of it, before holding their held hands up proudly to show Roger.

"And it worked, we're together now," He announced joyfully.

Reimi laughed cheerfully at her boyfriend's antics, and thanked the man, too.

"Yes, thank you, Roger. And I'm sorry it took me so long to help you pass on." Lloyd squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I'm really glad I got to meet you."

The couple spent an hour and a half longer at Roger's grave talking about what they'd been up to and how life's going, etc. Before they left, they told Roger they missed him, and would visit him again soon.

The pair walked through the cemetery, Lloyd playfully swinging the arms between them.

"What did you mean earlier? You were 'having trouble'?" Reimi asked, too curious to let it go.

Lloyd smiled sheepishly and the playful swinging came to a gentler momentum.

"Uh," He hesitated, "I've wanted to talk to you since I first saw you, but I didn't have the courage. I could tell how closed off you were, and you didn't ever seem to want to interact with anyone. That didn't stop me from noticing you though.

"The way you would smile to yourself as you looked at something I couldn't see - now I have some idea. The way you were kind and polite to people but never letting anyone in. I found myself worrying about you, and before I knew it, I was thinking about you more often than I should of a stranger."

Reimi's face had been progressively grown hotter and her eyes wider as he spoke, and she suddenly remembered the conversation she had with Sheena in Lloyd's kitchen the month before.

"Are you upset?" He asked when Reimi didn't respond.

Reimi shook her head quickly, facing him. "N-no, I just can't believe I never noticed."

"I can," He smiled fondly, "You were trying to be invisible, which meant everyone around you had to become invisible, too."

"But you saw me," She said softly, looking at Lloyd with adoring eyes.

"I saw you," He grinned, "And you saw me…eventually," He quipped, making Reimi chuckle.

Then, as they stood before each other, she rested her hands on his cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss.

"I love you," She told him.

She pulled back, satisfied with his flushed face, but was quickly pulled back in, Lloyd giving her a firm kiss of his own.

"I love you more," He replied cheekily.

The two beamed at each other, before continuing their way and chatting happily about their plans for the rest of their day.