The Black Order headquarters was rarely quiet, but today, it was particularly chaotic. The usual culprits? Lavi and Tyki.

"TYKI! STOP PHASING THROUGH PEOPLE LIKE A FUCKING GHOST!"

Lavi's voice rang out through the hallway as he nearly dropped his entire stack of books, staggering backward with an expression of sheer violation. Tyki Mikk, exorcist, gambler, and professional menace, had just walked through him like it was nothing.

"Oh, come on, Lavi, you're acting like it's weird to use my abilities for convenience." Tyki grinned, stepping fully into the hallway as though he hadn't just traumatized a grown man.

"Convenience?! You just walked through me!" Lavi flailed dramatically, waving his arms as if to shake off the experience. "Do you know how violating that is?!"

"I didn't feel anything," Tyki said smoothly, dusting off his uniform with mock innocence. "Are you sure it's not just in your head?"

Lavi pointed an accusatory finger at him. "That's not how that works!"

Before Lavi could lunge at him (an effort that would fail spectacularly given Tyki could just phase through that too), Lenalee stormed into the hallway, arms crossed, her expression screaming so done with this.

"Tyki, we talked about this."

"I don't recall that," Tyki replied with an innocent smile.

"We literally had a meeting last week about it."

"Tch. I must have phased out of that conversation."

Lenalee's glare intensified. Lavi audibly groaned.

"Listen," she continued, rubbing her temples, "I get that you have your Eclipse Butterfly thing going on, and sure, being able to phase through walls is great for missions, but you cannot just walk through people like some kind of poltergeist!"

Tyki feigned deep contemplation. "I don't know, Lenalee. Isn't it a little rude to call my Innocence 'a thing'? It has feelings, you know."

Lavi smacked his forehead. "Tyki, I swear to God, if you start saying 'boo' after popping out of walls, I'm throwing you into the nearest river."

At that exact moment, Allen rounded the corner. His usual expression of polite exhaustion quickly shifted as he took in the scene.

"Oh no," he muttered. "What's happening now?"

Lavi pointed at Tyki accusingly. "This menace just walked through me!"

Allen blinked. "…Okay?"

"Okay?!" Lavi looked like he was going to combust. "That's not normal, Allen!"

Allen sighed. "Lavi, we work for a secret organization that fights mechanical demons and wields weapons literally blessed by God. And you're upset because Tyki walked through you?"

"It's about personal space, Allen!" Lavi flailed. "It's about boundaries!"

"I do respect boundaries," Tyki mused. "I just prefer to ignore them when it's funny."

Lenalee sighed and turned to Allen for backup. "See? This is why we had a meeting about it last week!"

Allen frowned. "Oh yeah… that was the one right after the meeting about Komui's latest robot explosion, right?"

"That was two meetings ago," Lenalee corrected.

"Oh." Allen considered. "So that was before or after Tyki phased into my room while I was changing?"

There was silence. All eyes turned to Tyki.

The man blinked, then waved dismissively. "Relax, Walker, I didn't see anything important."

"What does that even mean?!" Allen looked vaguely traumatized.

"I mean I left before it got awkward," Tyki said simply.

Lavi clutched his head. "It was already awkward!"

Allen, still horrified, took a deep breath. "I—Tyki, do you even knock? Or—wait, do you even use doors?!"

Tyki shrugged. "Doors are a human construct."

"They're there for a reason!" Allen snapped.

"Eh." Tyki leaned casually against the wall, then, just to be a little shit, partially phased into it. His smirk widened when Allen visibly recoiled.

Lavi turned back to Lenalee, exasperated. "Do you see what I mean now?!"

"I always saw what you meant, Lavi." Lenalee pinched the bridge of her nose. "But unfortunately, we haven't figured out how to discipline a guy who can literally slip through our fingers."

"Just because you can phase through everything doesn't mean you should," Allen grumbled. "What if you phase into something important? Like a meeting. Or a bathroom?"

Tyki wiggled his fingers ominously. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"I swear to god—"

Before anyone could throttle him, Komui's office door creaked open, and the man himself peeked out cautiously, his face pale as if he'd seen a ghost—probably because he had, multiple times now.

"Tyki, I swear, if I catch you appearing in my lab out of nowhere again, I will personally reassign you to paperwork duty for a year."

Tyki gasped, pressing a hand over his heart as if Komui had just struck him with a fatal wound. "Komui, that's cruel and unusual punishment."

"It's also a direct order." Komui narrowed his eyes.

Tyki pouted dramatically. "Fine, fine. I'll stop phasing through people."

A collective sigh of relief echoed through the hall.

"…unless it's an emergency."

Groans filled the air.

Lavi threw up his hands. "I hate this guy."

Allen, still recovering from the memory of his accidental Tyki sighting, muttered, "Join the club."

Komui pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm implementing a new rule. Effective immediately, Tyki is banned from phasing into any private rooms."

"You can ban that?" Lavi asked skeptically.

"I can try," Komui said wearily.

Tyki just smirked, stepping effortlessly backward into the wall until only his face was visible, floating eerily in the stone.

"You guys are no fun," he teased. Then, with a final cheeky grin—

—he vanished.

Silence fell over the group.

"…He's in my office, isn't he?" Komui deadpanned.

A loud crash sounded from inside his office, followed by an exaggerated oops.

Komui sighed, turned on his heel, and walked straight to his liquor cabinet.