Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Haruka never paid much mind to the graveyard by his apartment. Though he walked past it almost every day, he never once stopped to wonder how it got into such a sorry state. The grounds were old and overgrown, full of crumbling headstones with barely legible names. Twisting vines grew unhindered up the rusty wrought-iron gate, and the gnarled oak tree at the center creaked like hell whenever a storm came through. Lately, people had started throwing trash over the fence as well, soda cans and fast food wrappers swallowed up by the tangle of weeds.

Now and then, Haruka overheard the geezers around town grumble about what an eyesore the graveyard had become. It was a disgrace, really. Back in their day, people had more respect for the dead. Someone really ought to do something about it, they said, while never lifting a finger themselves.

But a dump like that next door kept the rent low, so Haruka couldn’t really complain.

That said, he didn’t love walking by the place at night. Most graveyards gave off an eerie vibe, but there was something particularly… Off, about this one. After the sun went down, Haruka got the distinct feeling of being watched whenever he got too close to that decrepit old fence.

He hoped to get home by sundown today so he wouldn’t have to deal with that creepy shit, but no such luck. Another lecture from his manager about scaring off customers meant it was already late afternoon by the time he left his shitty job stocking grocery shelves. After stopping to pick up something quick at the convenience store, Haruka found himself walking home under flickering orange streetlights and an inky black sky.

As the shadow of the graveyard loomed into view, the wind carried echoed voices to Haruka’s ears. At first he wasn’t sure where they came from; the graveyard usually sat so silent and empty, he didn’t want to believe anything could be moving around in there. Hesitating just outside the crooked iron gate, Haruka strained his ears to pinpoint the sound.

There it was again — distant laughter, a crunch of metal, the muted thud of something heavy hitting the ground. 

A shiver shot down Haruka’s spine. Something deep and instinctual urged him to run as fast as he could, high-tail it back home and hide under his blanket where it was safe.

That’s fuckin’ pathetic. He scowled at the cowardly impulse. What was he even freaking out about? Ghosts? Everyone knew ghosts weren’t real. If they were, he already would have seen one in the last year he spent living next to this nasty graveyard.

Another shout drifted out of the darkness, but Haruka didn’t flinch this time. There’s no ghosts, moron, he told himself, gripping the plastic bag with his store-bought dinner. I’ll prove it.

Low to the ground, Haruka crept through the gateway into the graveyard proper. It was tough to see — the lights on the street did couldn't quite reach these deeper shadows — but as his eyes adjusted, he could make out movement around the other side of the old oak. Haruka weaved through the  headstones as quietly as he could until he reached the tree, where he peered around the wide trunk.

About ten or so guys were spread out among the graves, just in front of some larger tombs toward the back. They leaned against the old stones without a care in the world, chatting and laughing in voices that carried through the night. The stench of cigarettes and cheap alcohol reached Haruka, and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. Dented beer cans and discarded take-out boxes littered the ground around them. A few feet away, Haruka noticed a headstone lying knocked flat by their feet, already covered in cigarette butts and other trash.

Of course it wasn’t ghosts. Just a bunch of brainless losers who thought they were so cool and edgy for meeting up in a graveyard. Haruka had half a mind to knock their lights out, and not just for wasting his time. People were always saying someone should do something about this place, after all. Maybe that someone would just have to be Haruka.

Then the earful he got earlier from his manager rang in his head, the hateful eyes of the people who called him a violent monster.  

And Haruka decided maybe this wasn’t his problem after all.

He’d only get in more trouble if anyone caught him fighting again. No one ever seemed to believe him when he insisted that he only started fights with assholes who deserved it.

He turned to leave, and noticed the beer can by his feet far too late. It bounced off the toe of his sneaker and hit another headstone a few yards away. Haruka winced at the loud clang that reverberated through the darkness, and all eyes turned towards him.

“What the hell — Who’s there?!” someone shouted, shining their phone’s flashlight in Haruka’s direction.

Maybe he could just pretend he didn’t hear. If he didn’t react, these guys could get back to their stupid party, and Haruka could go home and enjoy his cheap noodles in peace.

A thick hand landed on his shoulder. “Hey, I’m talkin’ to you, asshole!”

If only it was that easy.

“No one,” Haruka said, and shook the guy’s hand off. “I’m just passin’ through.”

“Hey, I know that guy!” another voice called over. “Ain’t he the one Sho got in a fight with last week?”

The rest of the little group started to close in, all trying to get a good look. Haruka held up his hand to block the many lights now pointed at his face. Of course, it was just his luck that these punks already knew him. The chances of walking out of this without getting his hands dirty were looking worse by the second.

“Forget about Sho.” One of the guys, already sporting a black eye, made to grab Haruka’s arm. “That’s the asshole who slugged me the other day. I’d recognize that stupid hair anywhere!”

Haruka jumped back out of reach and readied his fists. “You want another bruise to match?” He met their hostility with a ferocious grin. “Come and get it!”

The fight was over in a matter of minutes. None of those morons could take more than one or two hits, crumpling to the ground when Haruka's fists found their mark every time. The murky darkness didn’t slow him down one bit — Honestly, Haruka could've beat them with his eyes closed.

Haruka watched them run off with their tails between their legs, dragging off the guys who couldn’t walk on their own, and heaved a frustrated sigh. All that commotion only made a bigger mess, with clumps of grass and dirt torn up here and there. More of the headstones had toppled over during the fight, some of them cracked from the impact of Haruka throwing someone against them. 

He couldn’t fully blame the punks for all the damage. This sort of thing always seemed to happen whenever Haruka tried to do a good thing, and he was always the one who got blamed for it.

Well, the least he could do was try to clean up some of the mess. “What a pain,” he grumbled to himself, already leaning down to pick up a crushed beer can. 

It took a few minutes to gather up the worst of the trash left behind. There was no way Haruka was about to pick every cigarette butt out of the weeds, but he could take care of the bigger stuff. He found where he dropped his dinner and pulled out the box of noodles, so he could stuff as much of the trash as he could into the plastic take-out bag instead. He’d just have to carry all of it to the dumpster outside his apartment, as annoying as that would be.

Wiping his brow, Haruka tilted his head back to gaze up into the silhouetted branches of the oak. Something glinted in the dim moonlight, and he made out the shape of a crow perched just over his head. It stared down at him, unblinking.

“My, he even cleans up after himself. What a chivalrous hero!”

Haruka nearly jumped out of his own skin when the new voice spoke up. For one insane second, he thought the crow had started talking to him. In the next second, he noticed another person standing across from him, leaning against the tree trunk.

Dressed all in white silk, the stranger reflected the moonlight in a way that made him seem to glow in the dark. His skin was almost as pale as his clothes, smooth like polished porcelain. Dark red hair framed his face, falling in gentle curtains around a black leather eyepatch and one glittering ruby-red eye. Long golden tassel earrings swayed gently over his shoulders when he tilted his head toward Haruka. A soft smile played at his lips, though it didn’t quite reach his eye.

But above all else, he was gorgeous — and that wasn’t a word Haruka used lightly. The man was almost otherworldly, ethereal. Like one of those statues he saw in textbooks sometimes; cold, rigid marble sculpted into flesh by an expert’s hands. Haruka almost wanted to reach out, to feel those soft edges for himself.

Will you get it together? Haruka shook himself out of the sudden trance that fell over him. What’s a guy like that doing here, of all places?

He was way too pretty to be part of the group from earlier, but something about him still put Haruka on high alert. Maybe it was the way he managed to sneak up on him without making the slightest sound. Either Haruka really let his focus slip after the fight, or this guy was way too stealthy.

“Where the hell did you come from?!” Haruka raised his fists again, teeth bared at the new threat.

The man’s smile slipped, his eye wide, incredulous. “You… You can hear me?”

Was that supposed to be some kind of joke? “You’re not exactly bein’ quiet anymore,” Haruka pointed out. “So are you tryna start shit too, or what?”

“Goodness, no,” the strange man laughed, light and quick. He took a step toward Haruka, hands clasped behind his back. “Quite the opposite, actually. I wanted to thank you.”

Haruka took a step away. This guy didn’t look all that tough — only a little taller than Haruka, and not overly muscular — but he knew better than to underestimate a possible opponent. If this was some kind of trick to make Haruka drop his guard, he had to be ready.

“Thank me for what?” Haruka asked, his whole body still coiled like a spring.

“For scaring off those troublemakers, of course,” the man said, gesturing to the crumbling stones around them. “They’ve been gathering here for the last week or so, vandalizing the graves and leaving their trash all over. It’s about time someone taught them a lesson.”

Haruka blinked at him, dumbfounded. Did he hear him right? This guy was actually thanking him for pounding those losers into the dirt?

Heat rose in his cheeks before Haruka could get a hold of himself. “I-It’s not like I did it for you, alright?!” he snapped, jerking his head away sharply. Hopefully the darkness would hide the flush spreading over his face. “I just — I live nearby, so it’d be a pain if those punks kept hanging around, that’s all!”

The stranger’s smile curled wider, and that one eye gleamed with delight. Haruka had the sudden impression of a cat who just laid eyes on some particularly juicy prey.

“Oh? Then what is that for, I wonder?” He pointed to the bag of trash by Haruka’s feet. Grinning in a way that made Haruka’s skin prickle, he said, “You could have just left as soon as the fight was over, but you stayed behind to clean up. It’s quite kind of you to volunteer your time like that.”

Haruka covered his face with both hands, furious to find his skin so hot to the touch. “Sh-Shut up already! It’s not like that!”

“But there’s still a lot of work to be done,” the man went on as if Haruka hadn’t just shouted at him. He glided forward, weightless and silent when he moved, and leaned down to lay one hand on a fallen headstone. “It’s a shame to see a sanctuary for the dead in such a state, isn’t it?”

Haruka kept quiet this time, grinding his teeth. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, even before the boy tried to ask.

Pale, slender fingers trailed over the weathered stone. “You know, the groundskeeper passed away some time ago, and no one has bothered to tend to these graves since,” he said, peering at Haruka from beneath long eyelashes. “We could really use the help of a strong young man like you to fix things up around here. And since you live nearby…”

He trailed off expectantly. Haruka curled his lip in a snarl. “Cleanin’ graves ain’t exactly how I wanna spend my free time.”

“Well, it’s not like I can force you.” The man straightened up again, tassels flashing, and turned his piercing gaze on Haruka again. “But if you do decide to help out, maybe the spirits here will reward you for a job well done.

“Just think it over, won’t you?”

Caught in his bright red eye, Haruka struggled to draw his next breath. There was something uncanny in the way this guy looked at him. Like he could see right through Haruka, right to where his heart thumped erratically in his chest. It froze him in place, afraid that any wrong move would be his last.

He shook his head to scatter those baseless fears. “Fine,” Haruka conceded. He stomped past the stranger, head bowed to avoid meeting his gaze again. “I’ll… Think about it.”

The man said nothing, but Haruka felt the heavy weight of that eye on his back as he hurried out of the graveyard. It was only once he passed through the gate and stepped out onto the street that he could finally fill his lungs again. He gulped down the cool night air, gripping at his chest. 

Damn, he wasn’t even this out of breath after fighting off those punks. Why did he feel like he just ran a marathon?

Who the hell was that guy?

Haruka took a different route to and from work for the next few days. Not because he was scared, mind you. Haruka Sakura wasn’t scared of anything. Not ghosts or ghouls, not spooky graveyards, and definitely not bossy one-eyed weirdos. 

And he definitely wasn’t afraid of how that one red eye might pierce him straight to the bone if he dared show his face there again.

He just felt like a change of scenery, that’s all. It was a much longer walk when he had to circle around out of the way, but that was just fine. As long as he left early enough to make his shifts, the extra distance didn’t matter. He could take his sweet time getting home as well, since there was no one waiting for him there.

It was a fine new routine. He could keep this up all year, in fact. Maybe he would never have to go near that graveyard ever again.

Or so he would have liked, but the image of that beautiful stranger just wouldn’t seem to leave him alone. Haruka kept catching himself daydreaming about shimmering snow-white silk, whenever he spaced out in the break room. Every glint of red or gold made him whip around, heart racing, only to find just the reflection of a car’s tail lights. When Haruka settled down in his futon for the night, he kept wondering if someone was waiting for him in the graveyard.

He told himself it wasn’t for that guy’s sake. Haruka wasn’t someone who went around doing community service just because a pretty boy asked him, alright? He was far more concerned about whether those punks were still meeting up in the graveyard after dark. If they wanted revenge, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to find where Haruka lived. Of course he would want to make sure they were gone for good, for his own safety.

And if he was heading over anyway, he might as well bring a few trash bags. Maybe gloves too, so he wouldn’t slice his hand open on a rusty beer can and die of tetanus. If he just so happened to run into the stranger in white again, he could throw it all at him and tell him to clean up himself.

So when the weekend rolled around, Haruka found himself at the convenience store early in the morning. He left weighed down with a box of trash bags, thick worker’s gloves, and enough snacks to last until dinner time. If he paced himself, at least.

During the day, the graveyard was far less sinister. Actually, it looked like a complete disaster. Haruka’s meager cleaning attempt the other day hardly made a dent in the litter scattered around, half-hidden in the overgrown weeds. Many of the headstones were broken or knocked over, so filthy Haruka couldn’t even make out what was on them. Several headstones had been spray painted over as well, crude graffiti drawn right over the names of the dead. 

Hands on his hips, Haruka hissed through his teeth. This was a way bigger job than just one guy should take on.

By the time the sun dipped low in the sky, painting the world in red and gold, Haruka had several full trash bags at his feet. There was still a lot to be done, but it was a decent start. At least he cleared off the worn stone path, where it stretched from the rusty iron gate to the ancient oak at the center. 

Haruka threw himself down in the tree’s shadow and shucked off his gloves. As he cracked into his snack stash, he couldn’t help but run through everything that still needed to be done. Here and there he managed to rub some dirt off the headstones, but too many had grime caked on so thick he’d need some robust tools to scrape them down smooth again. As for the graffiti, Haruka didn’t even know where to start. Maybe he’d have to do some research and come back.

What a pain in the ass, he growled inwardly, ripping into a bag of popcorn with his teeth. 

The noisy rustling of feathers drew his attention up into the tree’s crooked branches. Again he found a crow just over his head, beady black eyes watching his every move. Haruka couldn’t be sure, but he had the strangest feeling that this was the same crow from the other day.

“What’re you lookin’ at, huh?” Haruka said.

The crow tilted its head at him, and let out one loud caw.

Haruka rolled his eyes. “You don’t gotta be rude, man.” He grabbed a handful of popcorn and tossed it out into the grass, a safe distance from where he sat. “Take what you want and leave me alone, alright?”

The crow wasted no time, fluttering down to snatch pieces of popcorn from the weeds. Haruka watched it hop about for a bit, stuffing another handful in his own mouth. As soon as he did, he realized he was actually starving. And it was no wonder; he was so absorbed in cleaning that he worked right through lunchtime. 

The sun slipped behind the surrounding homes and apartments as Haruka devoured his junk food, plunging the graveyard into even deeper darkness. A chill rose goosebumps along Haruka’s skin as the temperature dropped the moment the last light vanished. It wasn’t quite fall yet, long days still clinging to the last dregs of summer, but night came with the promise of winter just around the corner.

And still, there was no sign of the real reason Haruka came back in the first place.

At some point, he had to call it quits. If that guy was going to show up, surely he would have done so by now. Waiting any longer would just be a massive waste of Haruka’s time — and he’d already wasted more than enough, if the huge sacks of trash waiting to be taken out were any indication.

This is so stupid, he thought, and cracked open the last can of soda from his stash. I’ll just chug this and head home—

“Hello there!”

Haruka inhaled the soda instead, immediately doubling over to hack and cough into the dirt. Carbonation invaded his nose, and it fucking burned. With watery eyes, he glared up at the bastard who caused this.

Dressed in the same all-white ensemble, the strange man looked just as untouchable as Haruka remembered. Though far less intimidating, from how his shoulders shook with barely-contained laughter. He held a hand up to his mouth, hiding a massive shit-eating grin as he watched Haruka suffer.

“I don’t think that’s how you’re meant to drink those,” he said.

“No shit!” Haruka clambored to his feet, still scrubbing soda and snot from his face. “You must think you’re real funny, huh? Showin’ up hours late and sneakin’ up on me like that!”

That ruby-red eye twinkled with mirth in the darkness. “It is a little funny.”

Unbelievable. “I’m goin’ home,” Haruka said, and went to gather up the trash bags.

“Ah, no — I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to startle you!” The man moved to block Haruka’s path, hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t able to come by until after sundown, so I’m really happy you waited, honestly!”

Haruka felt his cheeks redden and looked away sharply. “Who says I was waitin’ for you, huh? Maybe I was just—” He cast about for an excuse, eyes landing on a cracked tomb with a dick spray-painted across the front. “Enjoying the scenery,” he finished, lamely.

The man smiled at him, disgustingly self-satisfied. “The scenery,” he said. “Of course.”

Haruka scuffed his dirty sneakers against the ground, face burning despite the chill in the air. He really should have thought of something to say, during all that time spent waiting. Anyone could tell you he wasn’t much of a conversationalist even at the best of times. With the way this guy kept staring at him, Haruka wasn’t sure his tongue would work even when he did come up with something.

“So, you got a name, or what?” he asked, after an excruciating minute of silence.

The man tilted his head, golden tassels glinting in some light Haruka couldn’t see. “Yes, I do,” he said, and left it at that.

This fucker.

“Are you gonna tell me your name?” Haruka grit out.

“Hmm.” He tapped a finger to his chin, thinking it over. “Maybe if you tell me yours first.”

Haruka crossed his arms with a huff. “Sakura… Haruka.”

One eye crinkled up at the corner, satisfied. “Most people call me Suo.” The man straightened his shoulders, clasped his hands behind his back, and addressed Haruka properly, “It's truly a pleasure to meet you, Sakura-kun.”

“Y-Yeah, whatever,” Haruka said, tugging at the fringe of his hair. Why’s he being all formal now? Haruka seriously didn’t get this guy. The way he flipped on a dime from messing around to acting like a polite gentleman gave him whiplash. Was this all part of some elaborate joke? Was Suo just pretending to be nice, to lure Haruka into a trap? 

It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried it. Back when he was still in school, some popular guy or pretty girl would start acting like Haruka’s friend out of nowhere. They’d tell him all sorts of sweet lies, make him think they didn’t mind Haruka’s freakish hair and mismatched eyes. The first time it happened Haruka walked right into an ambush, when his supposed friend got a bunch of guys to jump him behind the school.

“You really thought we’d be friends with an ugly thing like you?” they laughed, raining blows down on Haruka’s back. “As if! You sicken me!”

In the end, Haruka used his fists to make the laughter stop, like he always did. When the next person came by with their pretty lies, Haruka knew better. He wouldn’t fall for it again.

Something about Suo felt different, though. There was nothing but genuine wonder in the way Suo looked at him. Even the darkest, most cynical part of Haruka’s heart found it hard to doubt that sincerity.

A shadow passed over Suo’s face, and his smile dimmed. “I suppose you’ll want to head home, before it gets too late.” He turned away, stepping off the cracked concrete path to walk among the graves. “Your family will start to worry if you're late coming home.”

Haruka scoffed. “Ain’t got a family.”

Suo came to an abrupt stop. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. That was insensitive of me.” When he looked back, it was with pity.

Nothing made Haruka’s blood boil quite like being pitied. Some days, he hated it even more than the usual disgust people showed toward him. He wasn’t some abandoned puppy or lost child who needed sympathy, and he wouldn’t let anyone look down on him. 

But he reigned in his temper, for now. The last thing he needed to do was blow up at one of the few people in this town to show him any kindness. “Knock it off before I break your nose,” he warned, nails digging into the meat of his palms. 

It was a good deal nicer than what he would normally do: Break his nose without any warning.

Where most people would probably try to get as far away from him as possible — and spit some nasty comment about Haruka’s appearance, while they were at it — Suo only laughed. Light and airy like wind chimes, so unconcerned with Haruka’s threat that he was a little offended.

Anything was better than pity, though.

“What I meant—” Haruka ground his teeth, determined not to fly off the handle. “Is that it’s fine if I stay out late. Got nowhere else to be, really.”

Suo blinked at him, processing the meaning behind his words. After a moment his face broke into a broad grin, bigger and brighter than the half-moon overhead. “Well then, perhaps you’d like to stay and chat for a while?” he asked.

All that dazzling light made Haruka have to look away, cheeks tinged pink again. “Only ‘cause I’ve got nothin’ better to do,” he grumbled, and took a seat on one of the thick, gnarled roots surrounding the old oak.

“Of course,” Suo said, with that glint in his eye like he saw straight through to Haruka’s soul.

To start, Haruka had no idea what to talk about. All he ever did was go to work and then right back home. No college classes, no friends, not even any hobbies — unless fighting counted as a hobby. Work was boring, so he doubted Suo wanted to hear about that, and talking about all the punks he beat down would probably just scare him off.

“Ah, so your battle with that group here the other day wasn’t a fluke,” Suo said when Haruka brought it up. “I wonder, do you always win so easily?”

“Always.” Haruka knocked himself on the chest, puffed out with pride. “No one in this town is any match for me!”

It took a little extra coaxing, but before long Haruka was regaling Suo with tales of his many victories. Suo listened with rapt attention, where he kneeled neatly across from Haruka. He never flinched away from the gory details, nodding along when Haruka described how he smashed someone’s face against the curb a few weeks ago. Actually, the more Haruka embellished the story, the more Suo leaned in, encouraging Haruka to go on.

Whether he was just humoring him, or a little touched in the head, Haruka found he didn’t mind all that much. He couldn’t remember the last time he talked this much, without someone telling him to put a sock in it. It was… Kind of fun. Suo was surprisingly easy to talk to.

Getting Suo to talk about himself was another thing entirely, however. Whenever Haruka asked anything at all, Suo deftly changed the subject. He dodged even the most basic questions, like if he was in school or working, or how long he had lived in town.

Or why he seemed to hang out in graveyards so often.

Even so, Haruka picked up on a few oddities here and there. Once, Suo mentioned a shop that Haruka was pretty sure went out of business before he was born. 

“Nevermind then, I must be thinking of a different store,” Suo waved the issue away, and refused to elaborate any more than that.

It was infuriating. Harkua had half a mind to grab him and shake him, as if answers would fall out of his ears. As the night wore on and Haruka’s throat grew sore from overuse, he got a little bit desperate. Surely he should have learned something about Suo by now, right? 

“Throw me a bone here, man,” Haruka sighed, pinching his brow. All he did was talk all night, but he felt exhausted beyond belief. “Like, a hobby, something you like to do when you’re alone, or whatever.”

He expected Suo to brush him off again, but he pursed his lips and actually considered it. “I like people-watching, I suppose,” he said at last.

Haruka stared at him. “People-watching?”

“That’s right.”

“Watching people isn’t a hobby, it’s just weird!”

“Regardless, it’s about all I can do these days.” Suo rose to his feet, legs unfolding with the grace of a deer. His silk pants weren't even dirty despite sitting on the ground for so long, still white as newly fallen snow. “But I think it’s about time we both turn in for the day. Take a look,” he added, and pointed toward the sky.

Haruka craned his neck back, squinting through the dark branches of the tree. Overhead, the sky had begun to regain some color. A gentle glow warmed the horizon, wispy clouds steeped in red from the oncoming sun. Dawn was still a little ways off, but they didn’t have much time before their sleepy little town would come to life for the day.

“Aw, shit!” Haruka jumped up so quickly that he nearly tripped over a root. “I gotta get ready for work!” He scrambled to gather up his things, cursing under his breath the whole time. All the trash he picked up still needed to go to the dumpster, and then he had to do his daily workout and shower before his shift started. At this rate, he’d probably have to skip breakfast.

How did he lose track of time like this? The whole night chatting away with Suo felt like it flew by in an instant, the sunrise interrupting them far too soon.

Suo watched him panic with some amusement. “Don’t let me keep you any longer, then,” he said. “Although, I'd appreciate if you came back again sometime. There’s still a lot more work to do here, after all.”

Haruka shot him a glare as he hefted a garbage bag over one shoulder. “You plannin’ to help next time, or just show up after all the hard work’s done?”

“Well, you’ve done such a good job already, I’d hate to get in your way.” Suo leaned back against a headstone, with just the ghost of the sly smile Haruka had come to recognize. It was subtle, but Haruka noticed the way his shoulders drooped, ever so slightly.

He must be ready to pass out too, Haruka thought, with a pang of guilt. Understandable, after listening to Haruka yap all night long.

Haruka wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily, though. “Next time, I’m gonna make you pull your weight around here!” He jabbed a fist in Suo’s direction, though it was slowed down considerably by all the trash bags he had to juggle. “Got that? No more watching from the sidelines!”

“Whatever you say, Sakura-kun,” Suo said, and waved as Haruka dragged himself and his load back out to the street. “Have a good day at work!”

The next time Haruka looked back, after he passed through the graveyard’s gates, Suo was gone. Only the old oak tree and the many crumbling gravestones were left, bathed in the first rays of the rising sun.

Sneaky bastard. Haruka grinned, as long as no one could see him, and went in search of the nearest dumpster.

Chapter Text

“Hey Nirei, you’re pretty good with computers, right?”

Across the rickety table in the break room, Nirei jolted in his seat, and looked up from his phone in surprise. It was rare for Haruka to initiate conversation at work, enough that it actually startled Nirei when he broke their tentative silence. He recovered quickly though, setting his phone aside to consider the question.

“S-Sure, I guess,” Nirei said, somewhat guarded. “Why do you ask?”

“I wanna do some research, but I’m no good with technology ‘n’ shit,” Haruka drummed his fingers on the coffee-stained tabletop. “Figured you might have a better idea where to start.”

“Fair enough,” Nirei chuckled. Over the last few months they worked together, Nirei had watched Haruka struggle with everything from a smartphone to a simple label maker. He wasn’t even allowed on the register anymore, since he was so slow punching in the numbers. 

Setting his own phone aside, Nirei went on, “Can I ask what you’re researching?”

Haruka hesitated.

Here was the problem: he actually liked Nirei. They weren't friends, exactly — not the kind that hung out outside of work, at least — but Nirei was basically the only person in town Haruka could hold a decent conversation with. 

Maybe it was because Nirei was a bit of an oddball himself. Normal enough at first glance, friendly and personable, sort of like an over-excited dog. It was only after the “secret” notebook came out that people started to have second thoughts. Once they saw his detailed notes, with everything from their shoe size to their parents’ names, most folks tried to keep him at arm’s length. 

It took a little getting used to, Haruka could admit that. The first time Nirei asked a bunch of questions about his fighting style, Haruka thought he was trying to find a weakness or something. Really, it was just Nirei’s way of getting to know someone better. So Haruka put up with it, begrudgingly, never admitting how much he liked the way Nirei listened to tales of past victories with stars in his puppy-dog eyes.

Right now, his expertise in gathering info made Nirei the perfect person to ask for help, and yet Haruka still hesitated. Because he liked Nirei. He was one of the few tolerable things about this stupid job, and if Haruka came right out with the truth, he might ruin that. The dude was more skittish than a neurotic chihuahua sometimes — eager to hear about Haruka’s skirmishes, but a trembling mess when confronted with real conflict. Haruka wouldn’t be surprised if the mere mention of a graveyard would have him shaking in his shoes over the possibility of ghosts.

So, Haruka had to go about this slowly, tactfully. Though tact was not something he ever had in great supply.

After a pause that was maybe just a breath too long to be normal, Haruka said, “I wanna clean up the — The park, next to my apartment.” He only tripped a little over his sentence, playing it cool as he continued, “I’m just not really sure how to do it. Figured I should do some research online, or somethin’.”

Nirei’s eyebrows jumped up, surprised. “You want to clean up a park?” He reached into his bag and pulled out a familiar notebook, flipped to a dog-eared page. “That sounds like a nice project, so long as — Wait,” He broke off, eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Haruka over the cover of his notebook. “Don’t you live next to that old graveyard?”

Right, okay. How could he forget: Nirei knew everything about everyone. And now Haruka looked even more suspicious for trying to hide. Off to a great start.

“Yeah, the graveyard.” Haruka rubbed his neck, skin hot with embarrassment. “Everyone’s always complainin’ about what a mess it is, and how someone should fix it up. And I’ve got free time, so…” He trailed off, with a wince.

Nirei’s frown deepened. “Is this some kind of mandatory community service?” he asked. Leaning forward, he cupped a hand around his mouth to whisper, “Are you in trouble with the law?”

“Wha — Hell no!” Great, even Nirei still thought he was some out-of-control delinquent. Haruka really wasn’t winning himself any favors here. “I’m just sick of living next to all that crap, alright?!” 

“R-Right, of course!” Nirei squeaked, recoiling slightly. “Sorry, it was rude of me to assume, I shouldn’t just—”

“It’s fine,” Haruka cut him off before he could completely spiral. He stood abruptly, plastic chair scraping against the dirty floor tiles. “Forget I said anything, let’s just get back to work.”

“W-Wait, Sakura-san!” Nirei made a motion like he wanted to grab Haruka’s arm, then seemed to think better of it. “You wanted to do some research about it, right? Let me help!”

Haruka blinked at him. “For real?”

A sunny grin split Nirei’s freckled face. “This is the first time you’ve ever asked me for help with something,” he said. “What kind of friend would I be if I turned you down?”

“F-F-Friend?!” Haruka staggered back like Nirei just punched him. “Who the hell said we’re friends, huh?!” He demanded, face burning. 

“Your shift ends at 5 today, right?” Nirei asked, unmoved by Haruka’s reaction. He checked something on his phone and nodded to himself. “I get off at 2 and have class until 4:30, so I can come and meet with you after that.”

“Hey!” Haruka smacked a hand against the table. “Don’t make plans on your own!”

Just then, the door to the break room swung open. Their manager stood in the doorway, hands on his hips and a thunderous look on his face. “Sakura, I can hear you all the way from the front!” he snapped, looking down his nose with venomous contempt. “Quit causing problems and go unpack the delivery that just came in!”

Haruka waited until the bastard turned away to roll his eyes. After one last commiserating glance shared with Nirei, he slouched off to do his job, like a good little wage slave.

At 5 o’clock on the dot, Haruka clocked out, chucked his brightly-colored uniform in his locker, and escaped the store before his manager found something else to yell at him about. He stepped out into a chilly evening, the slight breeze enough to make him shiver. Autumn had made itself known, with the season's first few red and gold leaves gathered in the gutter along the street. 

Haruka wondered, idly, if that old oak tree in the graveyard would shed the few leaves it held on to. He wondered if Suo would be wearing something heavier than silk the next time Haruka saw him. He wondered if the two of them would have to stop meeting at all, once the weather got too cold.

He shook his head vigorously, scattering those thoughts like falling leaves. That night of no sleep must be catching up with him, making him think about all sorts of weird stuff. It was far from his first all-nighter, but exhaustion always put him in a terrible mood.

His mood wasn’t helped by the fact that Nirei was late. Not that they really decided on a time to meet, other than sometime after Haruka’s shift. Nirei never actually said where they would meet either, come to think of it. Haruka just assumed he would come back to the grocery store, but maybe he expected Haruka to find him at school? Shit — Did Haruka even know the way to Nirei’s university?

Before panic could fully set in, a voice called from down the street, “Sakura-san, over here!”

It was the first time he’d ever seen Nirei outside of work. His style was flashier than Haruka expected, with a loud patterned shirt under his sleek bomber jacket. Nirei pushed up aviator sunglasses into his mop of blond hair when Haruka approached, brimming with excitement. “Ready to go?” he asked, bouncing on the balls of his leather shoes.

“Sure, I guess,” Haruka said, without the faintest idea where they were going.

Nirei led the way to the local public library, which was a lot closer than Haruka realized. It felt almost wrong for Haruka to step foot in a place like that (especially with the way the librarian glared at him over Nirei’s shoulder, while he checked something at the front desk), but Nirei assured him anyone was welcome.

“I thought about taking you to the university library,” he whispered, guiding Haruka through rows and rows of bookshelves. “But I’d probably need permission to bring a guest on campus, and you might kind of…” He glanced back at Haruka, eyes skirting quickly over his hair and face. “Stand out, a little bit.”

Haruka said nothing, only scowled back at him.

“A-Anyway, it shouldn’t be a problem to use the computers here!” Nirei dragged him around a corner, and pointed to a row of computers tucked away behind all the books. “I signed us up for a few hours, just to make sure we have plenty of time.”

Haruka didn’t even know they kept computers at the library before today. He always figured it was just a whole bunch of books, and the kinds of stuffy old people who had time to read them. This was a strange new world to him, and he worried if asking Nirei for help might have been biting off more than he could chew.

Nirei took charge before he could protest, sitting Haruka down in front of one of the machines. Immediately his fingers started flying across the keyboard, searching the internet and the library’s own database with practiced ease. Haruka could hardly keep up as he skimmed through different articles and videos, even as Nirei tried to narrate his own train of thought as he went. 

“No bleach, non-abrasive…” he muttered, darting back and forth between the screen and his notebook. “I see, and there’s different types of stone — Oh, do you know if any of the headstones need to be reset, Sakura-san?”

“Uh.” Haruka had no idea what that meant. “Probably?”

Nirei nodded, and made another note. “We’re gonna need some specialized tools if we want to restore any of the stones,” he said. “Getting our hands on the right kind of cleaner might be tough, and we’ll need to know what types of stones are there before we do anything…”

“I mean, there’s still a ton of trash to clean up first,” Haruka said with a shrug. Honestly, the idea of actually scrubbing down those headstones was a little terrifying. “Weeds and shit to pull up—” 

He stopped, replayed what Nirei just said in his head, and fixed him with an incredulous look. “Hold on, what d’ya mean ‘we’?!”

Nirei snapped his notebook shut and held it like a shield between them. “Well, I’m invested now!” A nervous giggle bubbled out of him. “And it’s not like you have to do this alone, right? Unless you need to get special permission for other volunteers or something.”

“Permission. Right,” Haruka said.

Nirei’s face fell. “You do have permission, right?”

“Of course I do — Sort of.”

When Nirei continued to look unimpressed, Haruka hurried on, “I mean, someone specifically asked me to clean up. I figured he knew what he was doing!”

“Who asked you? The owner of the graveyard?”

“Dunno, he looked around our age. Said his name was Suo.”

“Suo, hm?” Nirei tapped his pen to his chin and turned back toward the computer screen. “I don’t know anyone in town by that name, but if he’s our age, he might go to a university nearby.” His eyes took on a mischievous glint, already reaching for the keyboard. “Wanna look him up?”

Haruka’s stomach flipped over. Was it really that simple? Could they really pull up the man’s entire life story at the press of a button? Some small part of him wondered if Suo would be upset with him for snooping. He seemed like the kind of person who valued his privacy.

Curiosity won out in the end. Haruka gave Nirei a nod, and he entered the name into the search engine.

Just a surname wasn’t much to go on, though. Even when Nirei tried to narrow their search to just people who lived in or around the town, they were still left with a handful of random people named Suo. A dentist from a few towns over, a lawyer from the city, a few obituaries and birth announcements — but nothing that matched the mysterious man from the graveyard. 

“Maybe he uses an alias on social media?” Nirei suggested, chin resting in one palm as he scrolled through a page of irrelevant results. “Or, I guess it’s possible he’s not online at all… Kinda hard to imagine these days.”

Getting information this way was too good to be true, after all. Haruka would just have to smack some answers out of Suo the next time they met.

“In any case, I think we made a good start here.” Nirei pulled his backpack into his lap and slid the notebook back inside. Then he jumped out of his chair, looking down at Haruka expectantly. “Wanna head over there now?”

“Now?” Haruka repeated. He pointed out one of the library’s windows, at the deep red sky outside, the sun already halfway hidden behind the horizon. “It’s almost sundown, and it’s like a thirty minute walk!”

Unconcerned, Nirei swung his bag over one shoulder. “We don’t need to stay for very long. I just wanna take some notes on what types of stones are there.” Grinning, he added, “Plus, I’d like to meet this Suo-san for myself!”

Haruka was way too exhausted to argue. His head swirled with new information, while his body felt on the verge of collapse. All he could do was trudge along after Nirei yet again, through the gathering shadows until they reached the familiar rusty iron gates.

Nirei paused just outside the gates, gripping the straps of his backpack. The color drained from his face, ghost-white in the darkness when he turned to look at Haruka.

“Y-You first, Sakura-san,” he stammered, forcing a shaky smile. “You know your way around better than me, after all!”

Haruka rolled his eyes, unsurprised to be proven right about Nirei’s fears. He grabbed Nirei by the front of his jacket and pulled him through the gates, up to the nearest weathered stone. “Take your stupid notes so I can go home and sleep,” he groused.

Nirei wasted no time pulling out his notebook again, crouching down among the weeds to get a closer look at each stone. He worked by the light from his phone’s flashlight, diligently noting down information about each of the stones they passed. They didn’t go beyond the tree this time, to where larger marble tombs cast long shadows in the moonlight, but Nirei seemed satisfied.

“Okay, I think I know what we’re working with,” he said, when he straightened up at long last. “You’re free on Friday, right? I don’t have any classes in the afternoon, so we can meet up here then.”

It was a little unnerving how well Nirei knew his work schedule, but Haruka tried to swallow around it. “You’re really serious about helping, huh?” he sighed. “This ain’t a pleasant little walk in the park, y’know. It’s gonna be hard work.”

“Hey, I’m not afraid to get down in the dirt!” Nirei puffed out his chest. “I may not look the part, but I actually help my grandma in the garden all the time!”

Haruka wasn’t sure how well those skills transferred over, but he also found he didn’t really care right now. This whole thing was becoming more and more of a project, so he was glad to have the extra hands.

He decided to resign himself to his fate as grave keeper. “If you’re sure,” he said.

“Here, give me your phone and I’ll put my number in,” Nirei said, hand outstretched. Haruka handed it over, and Nirei exchanged their numbers quickly. “It’s a shame your mysterious friend wasn’t here tonight,” he added with a smirk, as he gave Haruka’s phone back.

“He’s not my friend,” Haruka snapped.

“Sure he’s not.” Nirei was already halfway down the path out of the graveyard. He waved over his shoulder and called out, “See you on Friday, Sakura-san!”

Left standing in the dark, Haruka gripped his phone like a lifeline. He stared down at the three numbers saved there: his manager’s, the store’s, and now Nirei’s.

I should ask Suo for his number.

Over the next few days, Haruka received more text messages than he ever had in the entire rest of his life. It took less than 24 hours for Nirei to get completely off-topic; relevant questions about tools and ideas for the graveyard quickly became random memes and photos of his crusty little white dog. Even when they were both at work together, and Nirei could easily just talk to him, Haruka felt his phone vibrate in his pocket again and again.

(How Nirei was able to fool around on his phone so much without their manager noticing remained a mystery.)

Haruka found himself going a little crazy just trying to keep up. Not because he really hated the attention — actually, it was kind of nice to have someone who wanted to talk to him. But it was overwhelming, all the same. It stressed Haruka out a bit when six new messages popped up in the time it took his clumsy fingers to send one.

When Friday rolled around at last, Haruka was about ready to throttle him. 

That is, until he showed up to the graveyard, still sore from his morning workout routine, to find Nirei bright-eyed and eager. Arms laden with all manner of shovels, rakes, and cleaning supplies, he looked like a tool shed come to life. It made Haruka feel more than a little unprepared, with just his thick work gloves and a box of trash bags.

“Where the hell’d ya even get all that stuff?” Haruka said, by way of a greeting.

“I just borrowed some stuff from my grandma.” Nirei held out a rake, grinning broadly. “Ready to work, Sakura-san?”

Haruka took the offered rake and stomped through the gates. Better to get started before someone came by and accused them of doing something nefarious. 

They split the labor, with Nirei handling the delicate work on the graves, and Haruka clearing out more trash and weeds. There was still a lot of ground to cover, and the place only became more overgrown the further he went from the front gates. Shrubs once planted with intention now grew wild and out of control, choked with invasive vines. Untangling what was meant to be here from what wasn’t was more trouble than it was worth, and Haruka considered just ripping it all out.

Around noon, Nirei took a break to get lunch. He came back with two boxes of take-out karaage, rice, and enough snacks to fuel them until dinner. Haruka tried to pay him back, but Nirei refused to accept even a single yen.

“You can get lunch next time,” Nirei said, cheeks puffed out like a hamster as he chewed. 

Next time. Haruka hadn’t planned for a next time; he never expected to have help on this project at all. To think that Nirei wanted to help out in the future as well… Haruka didn’t know what to make of it, so he just stuffed another piece of chicken in his mouth. Better not to question a good thing.

As they worked into the afternoon, Haruka noticed a number of crows starting to gather. First it was just one, perched on a low branch of the old oak. Then a friend came to join it, and another, and another. They fluttered down to perch on the graves closest to where Haruka knelt tearing out weeds, following his every move. Beady black eyes watching, waiting, expecting something.

It made him antsy.

Haruka shucked off his gloves and went to rummage through the snacks Nirei brought instead. He found a bag of popcorn and, just like the other day, tossed it out for the crows to have. All of them — about six now, Haruka counted — descended on the food, squawking and flapping and making a big ruckus around the oak tree’s gnarled roots.

Nirei came over to watch as well, wiping a smudge of dirt from the side of his face. “Is it okay for them to eat popcorn?” he asked.

“Fuck if I know,” Haruka grunted. “Can’t crows eat anything?”

Nirei shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to get some seeds for them instead, I suppose.”

The crow closest to them lifted its head and swiveled around to peer at Haruka again. He had the strangest, uncanny feeling that he recognized this bird — or that it recognized him. It looked exactly the same as all the others, but still, familiar. Haruka wondered if this was the same crow he fed the last time he came to the graveyard, the last time he met with Suo. 

“Yeah, I guess,” he said, unable to break eye contact with the bird.

Eventually, the crows withdrew up into the highest branches of the tree, leaving Haruka and Nirei to their work. As the shadows began to grow longer and the sun dipped toward the rooftops, they flew off one by one, until it was just the two boys among the gravestones.

Haruka tied off one last trash bag and chucked it toward the gates, ready to be taken out. He cast a sweeping glance around the property, taking in everything they got done today. Most of the trash in the first few rows of headstones was gone, with only the occasional cigarette butt peeking through the grass here and there. The worst of the weeds had been cut back as well, revealing stone pathways weaving throughout the property.

Many of the headstones themselves were much easier to read now, as well. Nirei had been so careful, so diligent, gently brushing dirt and grime from the stones as he worked his way back from the entrance. He managed to get through quite a few of them today, but there were plenty more to go — not even accounting for the ones that were broken or covered in spray-paint. Haruka wouldn’t even know where to start with those, but Nirei noted each of them down in his little book before they left.

He snapped the notebook shut with a contented sigh. “I think we got a lot of good work done today,” he said, surveying the nearest headstones with pride.

Haruka couldn’t help but echo that feeling, though it was tinged with disappointment. The whole time they worked, he kept glancing over his shoulder, expecting that bastard Suo to sneak up on him. He swore he could feel that red eye watching him now and then, but when he looked around, there was no one but Nirei and the crows. Once again, Suo got away with letting someone else do all the work.

“So, I’m not free next week,” Nirei roused Haruka from his thoughts, flipping through his notebook again. “But the week after that, I can make time in the afternoon on Wednesday — wait, no, you’re working then — I only have one morning class on Thursday though, so we could come back and—”

“Why are you helping me?” Haruka cut in. “No one’s makin’ you do this, and it’s not like I can pay you or anything.” 

Nirei gave him a quizzical look, head tilted to one side. “Because we’re friends, of course,” he said, matter-of-fact.

Haruka stared at him.

“And besides, it’s been too long since I had a project like this to really dive into,” Nirei went on. “There’s something satisfying about a job well done, don’t you think?”

“You’re kinda weird,” Haruka said.

Nirei snorted. “I’m gonna take that as a ‘yes’ for the Thursday after next,” he replied, jotting down another note. “If you end up coming by before then, don’t touch the headstones, alright? They’re pretty fragile, so just leave ‘em to me.”

They went their separate ways after that, Nirei teetering down the street with all his garden tools, and Haruka dragging his feet back to his apartment. Each step of the way, looking back over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of white silk.

Three days later, Haruka stood in front of the rusty iron gates alone. Nirei couldn’t make it, but that didn’t stop him from pestering Haruka about it constantly. Just yesterday he insisted Haruka swing by his house to pick up some of his grandma’s tools again, and shoved a huge bag of birdseed into his arms.

“So crows will keep you company, when I’m not there!” he had said, and laughed at Haruka’s baffled expression.

So here he was again, with a rake and a spade and a shitload of birdseed, all set to waste more of his time with this ridiculous little favor. 

And Suo still wasn’t here.

The crows were, however. There were even more of them today, already watching as Haruka meandered over to their tree. He threw out a few handfuls of seeds for them, and had to duck when they all swooped down to eat before he even got out of the way.

“Impatient brats,” Haruka muttered.

He set aside the seeds and picked up his rake, ready to tackle another patch of weeds.

It was much easier to settle into a rhythm, the more time he spent working here. Haruka yanked up weeds, picked up trash, and took quick breaks whenever his back started to ache from bending down. He scattered more seeds for the crows when he stopped for lunch, hunkered down at a safe distance to watch them squabble. The birds were starting to grow on him, strange as it was to admit. They kept him entertained, at the very least.

The crows wandered off once the food was gone, some retreating to the high branches of the oak tree, while others flew off into town. Without any seeds to fight over they were quiet, many pairs of beady black eyes watching over Haruka’s every move. He wasn’t a superstitious man, but Haruka couldn’t help but wonder if he had invited something unsavory into his life by feeding them.

Just after sunset, the rustle of many wings caught Haruka’s attention again. He hadn’t put out more seed for a few hours, but three crows flew right over his head, and he turned to see what all the fuss was about. 

There, balanced on one of the gnarled roots of the oak tree, stood Suo. The crows flanked him on all sides, some pecking idly at the dirt, others staring at Suo as if awaiting orders. Haruka could see the reflection of white silk in their eyes, even in the dim light.

Suo looked up at him, and smiled. “Good evening, Sakura-kun,” he said. “You’ve been hard at work again, I see.”

Haruka could only gape at him, his mouth suddenly dry and mind blank. Something about the scene in front of him, white and red and gold in a sea of inky black wings, stunned him speechless. Again, Haruka thought of the types of art you’d only see in textbooks or museums — something far out of reach to the likes of him.

He shook his head vigorously to kick-start his brain. “Those guys are gonna mob you, if you got any food in your pockets,” he warned. 

Suo chuckled. “No, I think they’ve had their fill for today.” Unconcerned, he stretched out a hand toward the closet bird, not quite touching its beak. With a glance back at Haruka, he said, “Did you know, Sakura-kun? Some people believe that crows are actually messengers of the gods.”

“That’s… Cool, I guess.” Haruka scratched at the back of his head. What the hell was he supposed to say to something like that? “What, uh, what kind of messages do they deliver?” he tried, cheeks burning already.

His smile turned indulgent as Suo leaned closer to one of the birds, cupping a hand around his ear as he pretended to listen. Suo nodded to himself, hummed in response to whatever he imagined the bird saying, really made a show of this one-sided conversation. One golden tassel swayed in the air between them, drawing Haruka’s eyes like a hypnotist’s pendulum.

After a moment Suo straightened up again and said, “This one tells me that you brought a friend here to help you last time. You must really care about getting this place cleaned up!” He steepled his fingers under his chin with a radiant grin.

Haruka flushed, and shot a death glare at the crow. It tilted its head at him and clicked its beak.

“If you were watchin’ us, you coulda helped out,” he grumbled. The thought of Suo spying on them from a distance, that single eye trained on Haruka from where he couldn’t see, made his skin prickle. 

Suo dropped his gaze and brought a hand to cover his mouth. “I would have, but, well…” He trailed off, suddenly bashful. “I’m actually quite shy, you see.”

You’re so full of shit. Haruka snorted to show his disbelief, but didn’t press the issue. Oddly enough, he wasn’t all that bothered this time. He knew Nirei wanted to meet Suo, but… Maybe that didn’t have to happen right away. Maybe it could stay just the two of them, for a little longer. Just Haruka, Suo, and their army of crows hanging out in a creepy old graveyard.

As if reading his mind, Suo turned his attention back to the flock gathered around him. He raised his arms, drawing the eyes of every crow to him, like a conductor in his place at the front of an orchestra. Feathers rustled, wings unfurled, and with one flick of Suo’s wrists, they rose as one and scattered. 

Haruka stumbled back a step, covering his head instinctively as he felt several crows brush past. The dark night swallowed them whole, until he and Suo were truly alone with the heavy silence. When Haruka lowered his arms, Suo had stepped down from the roots of the tree. Hands clasped behind his back, he watched the stars twinkle to life overhead one by one with an air of utter serenity.

“Did you — train them to do that, or something?” Haruka asked, cursing the way his voice wavered.

“Not really,” Suo replied. “They just know me well.” 

And just what was that supposed to mean? Every time Suo opened his mouth, he set Haruka more and more off-balance.

Sensing Haruka’s frustration, the corner of Suo’s lips quirked up. “I suppose you could say we tend to haunt the same places, the crows and I,” he said, eye still trained on the sky.

They stayed like that for some time, with Suo watching the rising moon, and Haruka watching Suo. Under the nearly-full moon Suo’s white outfit cast a cold, silvery glow around him. It made him seem so… Untouchable. A masterwork marble statue behind bulletproof glass, comically out of place in the dingey graveyard. Even with all the work Haruka had put into cleaning up around here, Suo made everything around him look dimmer in comparison.

“That friend of yours,” Suo broke the silence at last, soft voice rousing Haruka from his stupor. “Will he be coming back?”

“Uh, yeah,” Haruka said. “Next Thursday.”

Suo hummed. “I’m glad.” He finally lowered his gaze from the stars, his eye brimming with warmth when it landed on Haruka. “I’m glad you’re not doing this alone, Sakura-kun.”

Heat spread through him again, chasing away the chilly autumn air in an instant. “Y-You’re the one who told me to do this in the first place, asshole!” Haruka pressed cold hands against his burning cheeks, willing the blush to go away quickly. “If you were worried about someone doing all this alone, you shoulda just hired someone!”

“But then I wouldn’t get to spend my evenings with you,” Suo replied.

Why, oh why, did Haruka keep subjecting himself to this? Why did he spend every moment outside of the graveyard thinking about when he could come back, only to get teased again? He glared back at his tormentor, though the effect was surely diminished by his burning cheeks.

Instead, fumbling for a way to change the subject, Haruka pulled his phone out and gestured with it toward Suo. “You should just give me your number already,” he said, desperate not to come off as desperate. “Then you can talk to me whenever you want.” 

Suo’s eye grew as round as the moon, staring at Haruka’s phone like he had never seen such a thing in his life. “My… Number?” he asked, uncertainly.

“Your phone number, idiot.” Haruka didn’t think he would need to clarify that, but there was a high chance Suo was just fucking with him again. “You have a smartphone, right?” He unlocked his own phone to navigate to his contacts, squinting at the user interface. Shit, how do you make a new contact again—

A sudden chill crept over him and Haruka shuddered, glancing up to see if Suo felt it as well. He found his field of view entirely filled with pure white silk, one golden tassel dangling just in front of his face as Suo peered down at Haruka’s phone. A freezing aura radiated from him, seeping through Haruka’s hoodie the longer he stood in such close proximity. 

And yet, even with the man just inches from him, nearly brushing Haruka’s shoulder, he still felt so far away.

“A smart-phone,” Suo repeated in a whisper, spacing out the word unnaturally. The eyepatch blocked most of his expression from this angle, but Haruka could see his brows raised, lips parted slightly. “Fascinating.”

Instincts kicked in and Haruka balled his free hand into a fist, swinging for Suo’s face where it hovered over his shoulder. He expected to feel the crunch of bone, the familiar sting in his knuckles, but the impact never came. Suo dodged backwards with ease, almost too fast for Haruka to track his movements, gone in the blink of an eye. 

“Wow, you’re fast,” he said, unbothered by the fact that Haruka just tried to slug him. “You nearly got me there!”

It was shame that made Haruka’s face burn this time. Most people only got that close to him that quickly when they were closing in for an attack. His reflexes in those situations had saved his life many times over the years, but still — Haruka should have been able to control himself. If he actually broke Suo’s nose right then, it would mean the end of everything. 

Something felt off, though. For Suo to trigger his danger-sense that severely, he would have to be a lot stronger than he let on. And the way he moved, graceful and efficient when he jumped out of Haruka’s range… That wasn’t an accident. 

“You—” Haruka’s eyes narrowed, suspicious. “You’ve been in a fight before, haven’t you?”

Suo raised a brow at him. “What makes you think that?”

Haruka glared at him, unwavering, until Suo relented. “Alright, alright — I used to dabble in martial arts, that’s all,” he said. “Though I’m quite out of practice now.”

“Don’t look outta practice to me.” Haruka’s eyes swept up and down Suo’s slender frame, sizing him up again with this new information. A fresh flame sparked to life in his belly: the thrill of a new challenge. Grinning, he went on, “Why don’t we step out onto the street, and you can show me what you’re really made of!”

“No, thank you,” Suo said.

Haruka’s smirk stretched wider. “What, scared you’ll lose?”

“Absolutely.” Suo’s eye glittered, not a hint of fear to be seen. “I’d certainly be no match for you, Sakura-kun.”

Haruka didn’t believe him for a second. Suo didn’t strike him as a coward or a pacifist — not with how he hung around graveyards and enjoyed stories about Haruka’s battles — so there had to be some other reason he didn’t want to fight. Something that Haruka didn’t have the patience to pry out of him.

He prowled forward, fixated on Suo, scanning for any signs of weakness. If he could just find an opening, back Suo into a corner somehow, maybe he could—

A loud caw echoed overhead, startling Haruka and drawing both men’s attention skyward. Out of the gloom a crow materialized, and landed on a headstone right next to Haruka. Two more followed it, fluttering down to perch on stones flanking it. They each held something in their beaks; shiny objects that gleamed in the moonlight.

“Ah, they’re back.”

Haruka’s eyes shot back to Suo as he stepped off the worn stone path, gliding around behind the waiting crows. “Why don’t you see what they brought for you?”

“Wh— What the hell are you talking about?” Haruka stammered. Did he plan this, somehow, as a way to get out of Haruka’s challenge? 

Suo smiled back with something mischievous in his expression. “Crows are quite intelligent, you know,” he said. “They remember people’s faces, and sometimes bring gifts to those who treat them well. These ones want to thank you for feeding them.”

That sounded made-up, but Haruka didn’t know enough about crows to argue. When Suo inclined his head toward the birds again, Haruka held out a hand, poised to pull back if any of them tried to bite him. The crows remained peaceful, and dropped their offerings into Haruka’s palm: a bright red bottle cap, a polished white stone, and a 50 yen coin. 

Haruka stared down at the gifts, then back up at the crows. “Uh,” he said, dumbstruck. “Thanks?”

The crow closest to him made a low, rhythmic sound in its throat — almost like laughter. Disturbingly human.

“Perhaps you could consider that payment for all your hard work today,” Suo teased, pointing to the coin.

50 yen for hours of work would be an insult, if Haruka actually cared about getting paid for this. As it were, he only rolled his eyes and stuffed the trinkets in his pocket. 

He decided to put the topic of fighting aside for later, and instead asked, “Can you quit being weird and just tell me your damn phone number?”

Suo stiffened, but quickly schooled his features into something apologetic, before Haruka could read too much into it. “I don’t have a smart-phone,” he said. “Or any phone at all, actually.”

Who doesn’t have a phone these days? Haruka barely even knew how to use his, but he still had one so his manager could call him in when they needed extra hands. And to text Nirei, he supposed. “How do you keep in touch with anyone?” he asked.

“Well, you should always be able to find me here after dark, as long as the weather’s clear,” Suo said with a shrug. Then his eye gleamed, and he leaned down over one of the crows, bracketing it between his arms. “And if you need to contact me during the day, you could whisper your message to one of our feathered friends. They’ll deliver it straight to me!”

Haruka fixed him with a deadpan look. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid?”

Suo laughed, light as the frosty wind that blew around them. “Of course not, Sakura-kun.” He stepped around the headstone, within arms’ reach of Haruka again. “I actually think you’re pretty cool.”

It would have sounded like another joke coming from anyone else, but Haruka couldn’t find any trace of sarcasm in Suo’s words. He held his gaze this time, determined not to fluster or flinch, hoping that impenetrable red eye would give him just a hint of what Suo was thinking. After a heartbeat that seemed to stretch far longer, a shiver crawled down Haruka’s spine, and he had to look away. 

“You must be getting cold,” Suo said, though he didn’t seem affected by the weather at all. The thin silk of his changshan couldn’t be very warm, but Haruka never saw him shiver. Haruka couldn’t help but wonder what he’d look like with the ruddy flush of someone out in the cold for hours, the rosy cheeks and cherry-red nose. 

In stark contrast, Haruka shivered again and sneezed, as if on cue. 

Suo’s brow knit together with sympathy. “Why don’t you head home for the night? You wouldn’t want to get sick.”

Haruka sniffled defiantly, prepared to argue, before he sneezed again. “Fiiiiine,” he drawled. 

One sharp eye followed Haruka as he shuffled around to gather his things. He decided to leave the rake and shovel leaning against the old oak tree, since it was a pain to keep carrying everything back and forth. If anyone was willing to come and steal gardening tools out of a graveyard, they probably needed them even more than Haruka did. That just left today’s haul of trash, and the half-empty bag of bird seed for Haruka to haul away.

With everything slung over his shoulders, Haruka turned to give Suo a sidelong glance. “I’ll be back next Thursday with Nirei,” he said. “So try to get over your shyness by then.”

Suo smiled back at him, standing between the graves with a crow perched on either side of him. “Easier said than done, I’m afraid,” he chuckled and raised a hand in farewell. “But do tell Nirei-kun I appreciate his hard work, as well.”

“Tell him your damn self,” Haruka grumbled, under his breath so Suo wouldn’t hear. He readjusted his grip on the bird seed tucked under his elbow, and trudged off toward the orange glow of the streetlights.

The crows followed him. Everywhere. 

They waited outside Haruka's apartment and followed him to work in the morning. They flocked around the grocery store, making eyes at every customer that came and went during Haruka's shift. They went with him to get lunch, and stared him down until he gave up one of his meat skewers. And of course they followed him back home in the evening, roosting on his neighbors’ roofs and power lines.

They kept bringing him stuff, too. Junk, mostly; little trinkets they could fit in their beaks. Bits of colorful plastic, shiny rocks, and a handful of spare change. A few times they showed up with single earrings, necklace pendants broken off their chains, and one time, a wedding band. Haruka had to find a way to anonymously turn the ring over to the police, in the hopes it could find its real owner.

“I've read about people befriending crows online,” Nirei said, when Haruka had to explain why he was suddenly the crow king at work. He scribbled in his notebook with a manic gleam in his eyes. “I never thought I'd actually get to witness it myself!”

Haruka still wasn't sure if he liked it. He started to worry he'd get fired for attracting so many birds to their store. Or that the crows would give away his location to anyone who wanted to start shit.

That is, until the day that someone actually tried something. Four guys grabbed him on his way home from work the following Monday, dragging him toward a dark alley with a steel pipe against his throat. Haruka didn't even have time to plan his counter-attack before a shadow swooped down from the sky and directly into the face of the man holding him.

More and more crows swarmed the alley, screeching like all of Hell’s demons as they dive bombed Haruka's assailants. The men staggered out of the storm of feathers, swearing and screaming and doing their best to protect their eyes. They ran off into the night, sporting torn clothes and deep scratches along their arms. Haruka staggered out of the alley to find the flock as it returned to him, preening after their victory.

He splurged on a family-sized bucket of fried chicken that night, just for his new feathered friends.

Chapter Text

When they met up that next Thursday, Nirei had too many people with him.

‘Too many’ only equaled two, not much of a threat (especially with the crows still flocking around Haruka). Still, more than enough to trigger his defensive instincts. Was this some sort of trap? Was Nirei really the type of guy to hire some thugs to jump him? Did someone else put him up to this? It wasn’t impossible, and Haruka knew better than to let his guard down. Sometimes the people who seemed harmless were the most dangerous.

He tried to duck back around the corner before they noticed him, but it was too late. “Sakura-saaan!” Nirei’s voice called out. “Good morning!”

Haruka grit his teeth, steeled himself for a fight, and forced his stiff legs to carry him closer to the group. The two strangers flanked Nirei on either side, one a little shorter than Haruka and the other significantly taller. The latter waved enthusiastically as Haruka approached.

“Heya!” he said, loud enough to echo down the block. “You’re the leader of this little cleaning project, yeah?”

He was absolutely jacked, all hard muscle that made Haruka almost feel a little inadequate. Dressed in gray sweatpants and a tank top, he looked ready to work, with a white headband holding back wild orange curls.

“Nirei-chan talks about you a lot,” the shorter man said, at a more reasonable volume. His voice had a gentle, airy quality to it.

This one might have looked intimidating with his many piercings, but the effect was softened by the colorful hair clips pulling back pastel pink hair. He had soft, somewhat feminine features, and wore a loose blue cardigan with sleeves long enough to cover his hands. It hung off one shoulder, revealing the collar of a patterned undershirt.

Haruka didn’t know what to make of any of this, so he kept quiet. He stopped about five feet out from them — a distance where he’d have enough time to react if anyone started shit — and fixed Nirei with a hard glare. Around him, several crows fluttered down to perch on the graveyard’s iron fence.

Nirei gripped the straps of his backpack, eyes flickering up to the crows. “I-I thought it’d be nice to have a little more help!” He gestured to the two strangers. “This is Tsugeura-san and Kiryu-san, two of my friends from school! We had a bunch of gen-eds together last year, and kept in touch ever since.”

“Takin’ on a graveyard all by yourself is pretty gutsy!” Tsugeura’s eyes gleamed over his wide smile. “Very virtuous! I dig it!”

Nirei agreed with an enthusiastic nod. “Right? Sakura-san’s put a ton of hard work into this all by himself!”

Warmth spread to Haruka’s cheeks before he could control himself. “I’m just pickin’ up trash, stop makin’ it a big deal!” he snapped.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Nirei said, rivaling Tsugeura’s grin with his own. “You’re doing a great job!”

Haruka had half a mind to turn around and go home rather than endure whatever was happening here, but Kiryu drew his attention with a raised hand. “Can I ask a question?” He pointed to the row of crows lined up along the fence. “What’s with the birds?”

“Hell if I know,” Haruka said, with a glance back at the flock. Maybe if he played it cool, he wouldn’t become the ‘weird bird guy’ to Nirei’s friends. “I fed them a few times and now they won’t leave me alone. It’s a real pain in the ass.”

Kiryu brought a hand to his chin thoughtfully, oversized sleeve bunching up around his elbow. “That’s pretty wild, I’ve heard about people making friends with crows. Do they bring you gifts and stuff?”

Okay, apparently that was common knowledge to everyone but Haruka. “Uh, yeah, sometimes.” He left out the part about them dive-bombing his enemies, for now.

“That reminds me!” Nirei swung his heavy backpack around to rummage through one of the outer pockets. “I brought more seeds for them! Wanna try befriending them too, Kiryu-san?”

“Ohh, yes please!”

“I’ll pass,” Tsugeura said, eyeing the birds with apprehension.

All of them, and the crows, filed into the graveyard and decided on their tasks for the day without much input from Haruka. Kiryu and Nirei went to work cleaning and fixing more of the gravestones, chatting casually over their delicate work. Tsugeura, meanwhile, followed Haruka to the back half of the property, where weeds and trash still choked the narrow pathways between headstones.

“Just point me at whatever needs doin’, boss!” He cracked his knuckles, grinning down at Haruka.

Haruka tugged at the fringe of his hair, still wary. “I don’t care, just — just start over there or something,” he grumbled, and waved a hand toward somewhere far away from him.

Tsugeura bounced away obediently, picking up a fresh trash bag from Nirei’s supplies as he went.

For the first hour or so, Haruka’s danger sense prickled non-stop, keeping his nerves on edge. Each labored breath or crunching footstep from the other workers sent a jolt of adrenaline straight to his heart. It made his movements jerky, hands shaking, fingers numb where they scraped through freezing dirt. His mind was elsewhere, tracking the others’ movements, in case they tried to sneak up on him—

He didn’t notice the jagged edge of a beer can until it came to bite him. Haruka yanked his hand back with a hiss, drops of crimson painting the wilted grass beneath him. The sharp aluminum had sliced the skin right between his index and middle finger. Blood welled up from the wound, already forming a rivulet down his palm to drip from his wrist.

Stupid, Haruka scolded himself. So focused on the others, he didn’t see the danger right under his nose.

“Everything alright?” Tsugeura’s loud voice right over his shoulder made Haruka jump. “Woah, that looks like a nasty cut!”

“It’s nothing.” Haruka wiped his hand on his pants with a scowl. One of the reasons he often wore black: much easier to hide bloodstains.

Tsugeura’s brow furrowed, unconvinced. He straightened up to call over to Nirei, “Hey, Nirei-kun! Do you have a first-aid kit handy?”

Nirei’s mop of blond hair popped up from the rows of graves. He nearly tripped in his haste to reach his backpack, set out of the way by the great oak tree. Tearing through its contents, he found a small first-aid kit and rushed to Haruka’s side.

“I said I’m fine!” Haruka protested, even as Tsugeura pushed him to sit on the gnarled tree roots. His body tensed uncomfortably wherever the other man touched him.

“Stop squirming, this’ll only take a minute!” Nirei’s face was pale under his freckles, clearly affected by the sight of blood, but he held Haruka’s wrist firmly. Dabbing at the wound with disinfectant, he went on, “Doesn’t look too deep, that’s good. You probably don’t need stitches, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a doctor take a look, just in case.”

Haruka winced, more from the suggestion than the sting of the disinfectant. Doctors, like everyone else, never listened to him. They’d just send him off with a band-aid — that is, if they didn’t accuse him of trying to steal drugs first.

But he did his best to sit still regardless, while Nirei cleaned the wound and wrapped his hand with a clean bandage. Haruka flexed his fingers once he finished, testing his range of motion. From how the wound throbbed when he moved, he’d have to keep his first two fingers still while it healed.

Recognizing his frustration, Tsugeura put a gentle hand on Haruka’s shoulder. “Just take it easy today, alright?” he said. “You can tell me what to do, and I’ll take care of the hard work!”

“This was my stupid mistake.” Haruka picked at the edge of the bandage, avoiding their eyes. “None of this is your problem, anyway. Just go, I’ll figure something out.”

Over his head, the other three exchanged a look he couldn’t decipher. Kiryu shrugged with a sigh. “But it’s such a nice day today,” he said, wistful.

“Exactly,” Nirei agreed, as if that meant anything. “The weather won’t stay nice for much longer. We should finish what we can before it snows or something!”

“Mhm, mhm, not much we can do once it gets really cold.” Tsugeura nodded along.

Haruka could tell when he was outmatched. “Do whatever you want,” he snapped, cheeks burning.

And they certainly did. Under Haruka’s supervision, the three joined forces to clear out most of the remaining garbage. Every now and then they’d stop and ask Haruka for his opinion or advice, eager to follow his lead. Even the crows hung on Haruka’s every word, nestled on the branches and roots around him.

They worked straight through the afternoon, with only a few breaks here and there to eat and feed the birds. It was only when the sky began to darken that Tsugeura stood and cracked his back with a groan, eyes on the setting sun.

“We should call it a day before it gets late,” he said, expression grim.

“Why?” Kiryu set down the stone he just moved off the path next to its broken base. With his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, Haruka noted surprisingly toned arms under his loose clothes. He wiped his brow, smearing dirt across his forehead, and said, “I can still see alright. We’ve probably got, like, an hour before it gets really dark.”

“Well sure, but… We don’t wanna be here after sundown, right?” Tsugeura rubbed his hands together, glancing about nervously. He dropped his voice to a whisper (which was still about as loud as a normal person’s speaking voice), “‘Cause there might be, y’know… Ghosts!”

Haruka snorted, drawing the other’s eyes to him. “I’m here after dark all the time,” he said, with a dismissive wave of his uninjured hand. “No ghosts, just the weirdo who told me to do all this in the first place.”

“Ah, right.” Nirei grinned at him. “The mysterious graveyard friend.”

“Not my friend,” Haruka repeated, for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Maybe he’s a ghost,” Tsugeura said. He was white as a sheet himself.

“Stop that, you’ll scare poor Sakura-chan,” Kiryu teased. “He has to live right next door, you know.”

As if Haruka cared about ghosts. He rolled his eyes and hefted a trash bag over his shoulder without a word. This, at the least, he could do with one hand. The others followed suit, gathering up their supplies and bags for the day and dragging everything over to the nearest dumpster.

“I’ll make a groupchat so we can coordinate when to meet up next,” Nirei said, once all was done and dusted. He tapped away at his phone, bright screen illuminating his face in the growing twilight. “We shouldn’t wait too long either — Winter will be here before you know it!”

“Who said I want you all comin’ back?” Haruka groused. His phone vibrated in his pocket, no doubt Nirei’s doing.

Kiryu hummed, looking at his own phone. “If we get everything cleaned up, then we could talk about planting new flowers in the spring,” he said, ignoring Haruka’s protests.

“Ohh, great idea!” Tsugeura punched the air in excitement. “Some new shrubs in the back would totally make the place less gloomy, too! Don’tcha think, Sakura-kun?” He glanced down at Haruka, expectant.

“Whatever,” Haruka muttered. It was clear they were going to butt into his business, whether he liked it or not. “I don’t know shit about plants.”

“I think I know someone who can help with that too,” Nirei said. He put his phone away at last, and flashed a brilliant smile around at the others. “Leave the gardening to me. We’ll have this graveyard looking beautiful in no time!”

They bid each other good night, with the other three heading off down the street, and Haruka back toward his apartment. He passed the graveyard again on his way, cast in long shadows as the sun sank below the surrounding buildings. Haruka found his eyes instinctively drawn toward the great oak in the center, searching for the shimmer of white silk.

This time, Haruka wasn’t disappointed. His heart leapt into his throat when he spotted the glowing white figure strolling unhurried through the rows of graves. Haruka stopped dead in his tracks, caught between calling out to the figure, and hurrying away before he was spotted. He hesitated just a moment too long, as the figure turned his face toward the iron fence, gold tassels caught in the fading light.

Suo had a pleased smile on his face as he glided toward the edge of the graveyard, where Haruka stood frozen just on the other side of the fence. “Good evening, Sakura-kun,” he said. “You had quite the crowd with you today.”

Haruka huffed out an exasperated sigh, his breath coming out in a thick fog between them. “Are you ever gonna help, or just watch like a creep?”

“Well, you know what they say…” Suo looked away shyly, but still with that same damn smile. “Four’s company, but five’s a crowd.”

“No one says that,” Haruka said.

“Don’t they?” Suo’s eye glittered with mischief.

Haruka snorted again. “You’re such a pain to talk to.”

“And yet, you keep coming back,” Suo said. He leaned closer to the fence, close enough for Haruka to count each strand of dark crimson hair framing his pale face. “I wonder, Sakura-kun, do you like me?”

Heat bloomed across Haruka’s cheeks so quickly he went a bit lightheaded. Snarling, he shot a hand through the iron bars between them, making a grab for Suo’s collar with his good hand.

Suo dodged out of reach in one smooth motion, laughing. “Close one.” He smoothed out the front of his changshan, though there wasn’t so much as a wrinkle in the immaculate silk. He peered through the bars at Haruka again and said,, “Well, did you want to stay and chat for a while?”

“No, it’s fuckin’ freezing, and I’m exhausted,” Haruka said. “I’m gonna take a shower and collapse.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Suo’s voice was steady, but his smile dimmed ever so slightly. “I suppose I’ll be seeing a lot less of you, as the nights get colder.”

Haruka tried to ignore the way his chest ached at the disappointment in Suo’s expression. “You could always come talk earlier in the day,” he grumbled.

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it,” Suo said. He gestured to Haruka’s injured hand, stuffed in his pocket to hide the bandage. “Make sure you keep that wound clean, by the way. If it gets infected, you might just join me here before you know it.”

An involuntary shudder went through Haruka, and the cut twinged painfully beneath Nirei’s bandage. It almost sounded like a threat; an acknowledgement that Suo had been watching them all along. But there was no malice in Suo’s steady gaze, just gentle concern.

“Right, yeah. I’ll do that.” Haruka swallowed hard, fidgeting with the edge of the bandage again. “Anyway, uh… g'night.”

“Good night, Sakura-kun.”

When he got back to his apartment, Haruka went straight to the window overlooking the graveyard. The shadows had since swallowed the graves whole, without a trace of white silk or glittering red and gold.

Nirei and his friends came by a few more times over the next week, whenever they were free. Sometimes just Nirei, or Nirei and Kiryu, or Tsugeura and Kiryu but no Nirei. Whoever showed up always came with more supplies and plenty of birdseed, ready to tackle each next piece of their joint project.

And they all absolutely babied Haruka while his hand healed. Any time he so much as looked at a rake or bag of trash, someone would rush over and force him to sit back and relax with the crows. He wasn’t allowed to do anything more than supervise until the wound became just another scar that would fade with time.

That attitude was pretty weird, as well. Haruka never imagined he’d find himself in a leadership role when he took on this project. He wasn’t sure how to feel about giving orders to guys he barely knew. It kind of made him nervous, no matter how cheerful they were about it. If anything went wrong, they would definitely blame him.

Then a new face showed up one weekend, as Haruka and Tsugeura finished pulling out the last of the weeds along the back of the property. Nirei introduced him as Umemiya, owner of a garden center near their university. Apparently Nirei reached out to him about their “Graveyard Revitalization Project”, and he agreed to help with some landscaping work.

“We’ll have to wait ‘til spring to plant anything, but it can’t hurt to start planning things out now!” Nirei said brightly.

Suspicion turned over in Haruka’s stomach. This Umemiya guy was huge, with an intimidating set to his broad shoulders. Sure, he had soft eyes and a smile that made it feel like spring came early, but Haruka didn’t trust that easily. No one had muscles like that just from gardening.

He pulled Nirei aside, away from where Tsugeura and Umemiya were loudly discussing what kind of flowers could brighten up a graveyard. “This is a lotta people gettin’ involved now. Are you sure we can trust ‘em?” he asked in a hushed whisper. “This isn’t, like, a real project, remember? I don’t have permission for this, or whatever.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Nirei said. “People are already talking about how much better this graveyard is looking, after all. It’s part of the reason Umemiya-san agreed to help out in the first place!”

Haruka frowned. People talking behind his back was usually a bad thing. A dangerous thing, even. If the wrong people caught wind that he was behind the clean-up effort…

“People respect Umemiya-san,” Nirei went on, sensing Haruka’s concern. “He’ll make sure things are done right.”

“Hey, Sakura-kun, Nirei-kun!” Umemiya’s booming voice made both of them jump all the way from across the property. “C’mere, I want your opinion on these shrubs!”

Haruka and Nirei exchanged a look. Then Nirei shrugged, grinning, and hurried to rejoin the others. Haruka trailed him more slowly, distinctly off-balance.

It was mid November when “The Gravekeepers”, as Nirei named their group chat, decided to have their last meeting before winter. Most of the cleaning work was taken care of, so this was just to take stock of what would need to be done once the weather warmed up again. Which graves were waiting to be cleaned or reset, where the stone pathways needed to be fixed, and what dead plants should be ripped out to make room for new ones.

Nirei and Kiryu made their way through the rows of graves, making notes while Haruka sat under the oak tree tossing handfuls of seeds to the crows. The flock milled around and above him, pecking at the seeds and watching the others as they worked. They had taken a liking to Nirei and his friends lately, especially since Kiryu always made time to feed them. A few of them hopped between the headstones, following Nirei and Kiryu, as if double-checking their work.

“—hope we can get the rest of these restored,” Nirei was in the middle of a sentence as the two returned to Haruka at the tree, parting the sea of crows as they walked. “I’ll be really sad if it turns out some of these are lost causes.”

“It’ll work out,” Kiryu reassured him. He had a fluffy sweater pulled tight around his neck, the tip of his nose stained pink from the cold. “We just gotta put in the effort, right?”

“I sure hope so,” Nirei sighed. Stashing his notebook away in his bulky jacket, he looked up at Haruka. “Can you think of anything else that needs doing, before we break for the winter?”

Haruka rubbed his frozen hands together, wishing he had money for some nice warm gloves like Nirei wore. He thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I dunno. Suo said he’s lookin’ forward to the new bushes or whatever we plant in the spring.”

Kiryu’s face split into a cat-like smirk. “Isn’t that nice,” he said, with a sly glance toward Nirei. “Sakura-chan’s special friend approves of our work.”

“Yeah, Sakura-san’s definitely real friend.” Nirei’s own grin mirrored Kiryu’s.

Haruka’s felt his face flush. “He is real!”

“Of course,” Kiryu giggled. “Sakura-chan’s real boyfriend who goes to another school.”

“HE IS NOT MY—”

“By the way,” Nirei cut off Haruka’s outburst. “Umemiya-san told me his sister runs a cafe not too far from here. Wanna head over there to warm up?” He already started down the path toward the street but turned back to blink at Haruka, the picture of innocence.

“Fine,” Haruka seethed. “But you’re payin’.”

“Alright, alright! How about you, Kiryu-san? Do you wanna—” Nirei tilted his head to the side, brow furrowed. “Kiryu-san?”

Haruka followed his gaze, finding Kiryu stopped a few paces behind them. He had one mittened hand to his chin, lost in thought as he stared at a grave close to the gate.

Nirei called back to him, “Something wrong, Kiryu-san?”

Kiryu gave a little start, then shook his head. “No, sorry it’s just — I just noticed the name here,” he said, pointing to the grave in front of him.

Haruka fell back to peer at the stone as well. It looked like a newer one, at least relatively speaking. Still smooth and polished on the front, not yet worn down to rubble by neglect. Nirei or Kiryu must have wiped the grime off this one recently, because the name was perfectly clear, chiseled deep into the stone.

Forever in our hearts
Hayato Suo
1984 - 2004

Icy claws closed around Haruka’s lungs. Could that really be...?

“Huh, what a coincidence,” Nirei’s voice just next to him made Haruka flinch, though the others didn’t seem to notice. When Haruka met his eye, Nirei looked curious, but ultimately unconcerned. “Think he’s a relative of your friend?”

Haruka forced himself to suck in a breath. It burned going down his throat, but some of the pressure in his chest faded. A relative, yeah, Haruka told himself. That makes sense. He shrugged, not trusting his voice.

“Ah, sorry for the distraction,” Kiryu sniffled. “It’s way too cold here. Lead the way to that cafe, Nirei-chan!”

Haruka only glanced back over his shoulder once as they left. No figure dressed in white caught his eye this time.

He was distracted the whole way to the cafe, and throughout their meal. Even the steaming hot plate of omurice placed in front of him by the pretty barista barely roused him. A few bites were all he could manage, staring out the window while Nirei and Kiryu chatted, his mind elsewhere.

It made total sense that one of Suo’s relatives was buried in that graveyard. It explained why Suo spent so much time there, and why he wanted to clean the place up. Judging by the date on that grave, it was probably a cousin, or maybe an older brother. Someone Suo was close to, someone he would want to rest peacefully, without all the beer cans and cigarette butts.

Why wouldn’t he just say that, though? In all the times Haruka spoke with him, Suo never once mentioned having family buried there. Actually, he never talked about his family at all. Haruka still barely knew anything about him.

And the timeline didn’t quite match up either, now that he thought about it. Suo couldn’t be that much older than Haruka from the look of him, which meant he was born around ‘03-’04 or even after. How would he know someone who died around the same time?

There was still something missing, some critical piece that Haruka needed to begin unravelling the mysteries around him…

Someone tapped his shoulder, and Haruka did his best not to leap out of his seat. Damn, he was jumpy today. All because of that damn gravestone.

He looked over to find Nirei holding his phone out to him. “S-Sorry, I was feeling kinda nosy, so I looked up the name on that grave,” he said, with a sheepish smile. “What do you think? Does he look anything like your Suo?”

Haruka only had to glance at the screen for the blood in his veins to turn to ice. There, in full bright color, was a photo of Hayato Suo. Dark red hair framed soft cheeks and a slender jawline. Golden tassel earrings spilled over his shoulders, caught in the flash of the camera. He wore a passive smile, one that didn’t quite reach his single, ruby-red eye. The other, covered by a black leather eyepatch.

There was no mistaking him. It wasn’t a brother or a cousin or any other relative that died. It was Suo.

The tightness in his chest returned. Darkness crept in at the edges of Haruka’s vision, until his entire world narrowed down to just that picture on Nirei’s phone. Above the photo, the headline to the obituary read out:

Hayato Suo, age 20, passed away unexpectedly on December 13th, 2004.

“Aw, he was right around our age,” Kiryu said, from somewhere very far away. “That’s so sad.”

“I know, right? I wonder what happened,” Nirei pulled his phone back, though the image stayed burned into Haruka’s eyes. “The obituary’s kinda vague, but I guess there must have been an accident.”

An accident. Suo died in an accident almost 20 years ago. But I just talked to him the other day, Haruka remembered. But he’s dead.

“Sakura-chan? Is something wrong?” Kiryu placed a hand on Haruka’s shoulder and shook him slightly. “You look really pale. Are you getting sick?”

Pull yourself together, idiot! He couldn’t freak out here, now, in front of these people he actually kind of liked. Haruka scrubbed at his eyes, willing the image of Suo’s face to fade. “Sorry, just — Tired,” he grunted. Maybe he could cover how shaken he was with his usual irritation.

Nirei’s brow pinched together with concern. “Are you sure you’re not coming down with something? We’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors and—”

“I’m gonna head home.” Haruka stood abruptly, wincing as his chair scraped across the floor. “Thanks for the food.”

He fled into the chilly afternoon before anyone could ask any more questions.

Haruka began avoiding his own bedroom window. For the first time, he considered buying curtains. Thick, heavy, black-out curtains. He didn’t know what he might do if he saw that lone white figure out there, waiting for him. Beckoning him back to the gravestone that bore an all-too-familiar name.

He started taking the long way to and from work again. It meant waking up a little bit earlier most days, but that was the least of Haruka’s worries. Anything to make sure he never had to walk past that graveyard again.

If Nirei noticed the bags under his eyes, he didn’t mention it.

The Gravekeepers’ group chat remained active, even though they agreed to put the project on hold for the winter. Most of the time it was just normal chit-chat, but now and then someone would bring up plans for fixing up the graveyard in the spring. Nirei would send pictures of the flowers Umemiya recommended, or Tsugeura would mention bringing some other friends to help with the planting, and Haruka would have to turn his phone off for a few hours.

This is stupid, he thought some days, dragging himself to work at the ass-crack of dawn. There’s no such thing as ghosts. He’s just an annoying weirdo, and the name on that grave is a coincidence.

But that was definitely his obituary, he would answer himself. Who else could it be? His identical twin brother, twenty years older than him? With the same earrings? The same eyepatch?

There were no good answers. Haruka couldn’t bring himself to face the truth.

With each passing day, the crows that followed him grew more and more… antsy. At first, they just clicked their beaks when Haruka turned away from the graveyard. Then they started to squawk at him, or peck at his clothes, tugging him toward the looming iron fence. After a week, they stopped bringing him little trinkets in exchange for food. Two weeks passed, and they stopped accepting his food offerings entirely. Even a whole bucket of fried chicken couldn’t change their minds. The flock followed him at a distance now, watching Haruka with accusatory black eyes.

They hadn’t tried to hurt him, at least not yet. But Haruka still vividly remembered the bloody gashes down the arms of those men they did attack. He found himself flinching at the rustle of feathers, the distant caw of a crow.

“Fine,” he said one morning, to the flock all lined up on the power lines outside his apartment. “Fine.”

He brought flowers.

It was stupid, and pointless, and Suo would definitely make fun of him relentlessly, but it seemed like the right thing to do. The graveyard had been in such disrepair for years, after all. Who knew the last time Hayato Suo had flowers laid on his grave.

Haruka stood just outside the wrought iron gate, gripping that bouquet of flowers like his last tether to reality. It was cloudy today, having rained earlier, and a slight mist hovered around the rows of familiar graves. It cast a particularly gloomy mood around the graveyard, already deep in shadow as the sun drifted down somewhere behind the clouds.

A crow swooped low over his head and landed on one of the nearest stones. It hopped around to look at him, and cawed impatiently.

“Yeah yeah, I’m already here, ain’t I?” Haruka grumbled.

He drew in a deep breath of cold, damp air, and stepped over the threshold.

Hayato Suo’s grave was three rows back from the entrance, two in from the main path. Haruka stopped in front of it, staring at the name again while the tips of his ears went numb. He set the flowers down, then sat in front of the stone, knees pulled up under his chin.

His heart pounded in his chest, marking each second that passed in silence. It took every ounce of his self control not to bolt out of the graveyard and back to his apartment, where he could curl up safe and warm in his futon.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait too long. As the darkness became absolute, Haruka felt a shift in the atmosphere behind him. The air grew even colder, and a dim white light fell over the nearby graves. Haruka turned to find Suo leaning over the gravestone, arms folded on the rounded top. Crows flanked him on either side, perched all around on the other stones.

“Long time no see,” he said, smiling brightly. He wore the same white silk as always, earrings dangling where he looked down on Haruka. “I was starting to worry the weather would keep you away all winter!”

Haruka gave a non-commital grunt.

Suo tilted his head, reading the tense set of Haruka’s shoulders. Regardless, he went on, “I haven’t seen your friends recently, either. How is Nirei-kun doing? You work with him, right?”

While he spoke, Haruka pushed himself up and brushed dirt from his pants. He turned to face Suo fully, and really took in the ethereal glow that surrounded him. Clad all in white, he looked more like an angel than a ghost. Though surrounded by crows, with that gleam in his red eye — perhaps he was more like a demon.

“Hey,” Haruka cut off his attempts at small talk. Lifting an arm, he pointed to the gravestone between them. "Read this name. Now.”

Suo blinked at him. The smile dropped off his face, leaving his expression utterly unreadable. “Alright,” he said, and straightened up. He drifted around to the front of the stone, just beside Haruka. “It says Hayato Suo. Were you struggling with the kanji?” he added, with just a hint of his usual smirk.

Haruka didn’t rise to the teasing. “That’s your name, isn’t it.” Not a question. A statement of something they both knew to be true.

He could have imagined it, but Haruka thought he saw Suo’s eye darken. “It might be,” he said, quietly.

“Why—” Haruka stopped, swallowed, and began again, “Why is your name on this gravestone?” A question they both knew the answer to.

Suo’s smile was back, but there was something much more sinister about it now. When it didn’t match the shadow over his eye, it made Haruka’s skin crawl. He tilted his head down, tassels swaying, and reached out a hand to trace the name etched into stone.

“It has my name,” Hayato Suo said, “Because it marks my grave.”

Chapter Text

Haruka stared at him. Hayato Suo stared right back, unblinking.

“You’re dead?” he choked out, at last.

“That’s typically what this means.” Suo tapped the date on the gravestone.

Still, Haruka shook his head. “You — You’re fucking with me. You have to be.” It was impossible, unbelievable, so outside of everything Haruka had ever known. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

“And yet, here I am.” Suo waved a hand over himself. His voice was light, as casual as if discussing the weather, but his eye was a chip of ice.

Haruka raked one hand through his hair, then the other, black and white strands falling into his face. “Shut up, just — Shut up for a second.” His eyes darted between the engraved name and Suo’s face, desperate for some other explanation. “Ghosts aren’t real. This is some kinda prank, or, or—”

In a flash of blinding white, Suo vanished. Haruka caught the briefest streak of red  before he reappeared with just inches between them, arm pulled back, about to strike. Too fast for Haruka to dodge, all he could do was throw up a block and brace for a heavy blow. 

The blow never landed. Suo’s hand passed straight through the solid flesh of Haruka’s arms, and sank deep into his chest. Unbearable cold crackled out from the spot where Suo’s arm disappeared into him. For a moment Haruka was petrified, sinking in that dark red eye, icy fingers wrapped tight around his heart.

Then he staggered back, crashed against the gravestones in the next row, just barely managing to stay standing. Haruka clawed at his chest, expecting to find a gaping, bloody hole in the front of his sweatshirt. But he was completely unharmed — no hole, no bruise, not even a scuff of dirt where Suo hit him. Just the lingering cold, like someone dumped a bucket of freezing water over him. 

When Haruka dared to raise his eyes again, Suo stood ram-rod straight, arms clasped behind his back. “Is that enough proof?” he asked, in a tone utterly devoid of all emotion.

Haruka gulped down painful, frantic breaths, fighting to stay in control. The most base, animalistic part of his brain screeched that the thing in front of him was a monster, something wrong, something he couldn’t even dream of fighting. Every survival instinct urged him to run, but Haruka couldn’t bring himself to look away either. Terrified that the moment he turned his back, he’d find those freezing hands wrapped around his throat. 

The ghost's brow pinched, perhaps pitying the poor, frightened human before him. “You don’t need to be so afraid.” He raised a hand again, and seeing how Haruka flinched, frowned. “I can’t actually touch you — or anything, really — So I couldn’t hurt you even if I wanted to.” To demonstrate, he waved his hand back and forth through his own gravestone. What appeared as skin and bone passed right through the stone like sunlight through clear glass.

It was cold comfort. Just because Suo couldn’t touch him didn’t mean there weren’t other ways to hurt him. He was a ghost, for fuck’s sake. The laws of physics didn’t seem to have much hold over the world any longer.

“Most people can’t even see me,” Suo went on, his eye downcast. “Besides the crows, but they’re not really the same as human company. It’s been just me here, for quite some time.”

That was… Sad. Haruka got the impression from their earliest meetings that Suo was something of a kindred spirit; someone on the fringes of society, without many people he could trust. Someone who had been abandoned by the world a long time ago. Now he understood why.

He tried several times to speak, to find his voice somewhere under layers of existential fear. At last he managed, in a tone that only wavered slightly, “Th-There’s no other ghosts here?” 

Suo’s smile returned, but it was a broken little thing that didn’t belong on his face. “There used to be.” He stepped through his gravestone into the next row, brushing past the stones of other people long gone. “When I first came here, there were a few others still hanging around. Mostly older folks, though I’m not one to complain. But, one by one, each of them… Moved on.”

“Moved on… To where?” Haruka prodded.

Suo shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Haruka scowled at that answer, and he chuckled lightly. “No, honestly, I have no idea. Maybe they reincarnated, or went to the afterlife, or simply vanished. All I know for sure is that they’re gone.”

Haruka mulled that over, frowning. He had never given much thought to a possible afterlife. Then again, he never thought ghosts could exist, either.

“Why haven’t you moved on?” he asked, though the mere suggestion made something in his chest twinge painfully. “If you’re lonely here, you could’ve… Left.”

Again, Suo shrugged. “Perhaps I have unfinished business, as the old ghost stories say.”

“Like what?” 

“Hmm,” Suo tapped his chin, with an exaggerated pout. “I suppose I never got to try every flavor of tea in the world.” 

Haruka couldn’t help himself: he burst out laughing. Doubled over and clutching at his chest, he felt the shock and terror rush out of him all at once. It was just so ridiculous. Ridiculous that he was talking to a ghost this whole time, that he never put the pieces together before this, and that he was ever afraid of Suo. Ghost or not, Suo was still Suo. Still full of the same stupid jokes and bullshit.

It took him a full minute to pull himself together again, wiping away tears as he met Suo’s wide-eyed expression. “Guess this explains why you don’t have a smartphone.”

That startled a laugh out of Suo as well. “You caught me,” he said, breathless. “I’m dead, and I don’t know what a smart-phone is.”

Another round of giggles, somewhat manic on Haruka’s part. His hands still shook with adrenaline, and he clasped them together tightly. He had so, so many more questions to ask, but he needed to calm down first. Stuttering and stumbling around his words like a frightened child was beyond pathetic.

While Haruka worked on controlling his breathing, Suo bent down to examine the bouquet Haruka left on his grave. “I appreciate the flowers,” he said, reaching out, but not quite touching, one delicate red rose. “It's been a long time since anyone visited my grave. Trying to butter me up?”

Ugh. Haruka knew he'd make it a whole thing. They were really nothing special — just the first ones the florist suggested that Haruka liked — but Suo’s eye brimmed with warmth as he took them in.

Haruka averted his gaze sharply, as he felt heat bloom in his cheeks as well. “What about your family?” he asked.

Suo shook his head. “I think they left town, shortly after my death.”

“You think?”

“Well, I can't exactly go check, can I?”

Haruka raised an eyebrow, curiosity winning out over embarrassment. “So you can't leave the graveyard at all?”

“Nope. I rely on these guys,” Suo waved a hand to the crows, a captive audience to their conversation, “To be my eyes outside.”

Was that supposed to be literal? Could Suo actually see through the eyes of the crows? Or could he understand them, as if they were people?

Or was Suo just messing with him again?

Both of the former options were kind of scary, so Haruka decided to leave those questions for later. Instead, he asked, “Do you want to leave?”

Suo blinked at him, apparently surprised by the question. He thought for a moment, head tilted to one side. “Maybe I do,” he answered at last.

“Where would you wanna go?”

“I haven’t really thought about it.” Then, with a sly smile, “It would be nice if I could visit Sakura-kun whenever I want.”

Haruka flushed, at the same time as a shiver went down his spine. That sort of teasing took on a different undertone when a ghost said it. He wasn’t here trying to get haunted.

Unless… Maybe he was?

He would never admit it out loud, but Haruka did enjoy the time he spent with Suo. Ghostliness aside, the only thing that ever really kept him away was the graveyard of it all. The constant anxiety that someone would see Haruka hanging out (alone, apparently, talking to thin air) was exhausting after a while. Not to mention the weather; if only Haruka met Suo in the spring, rather than the brink of winter.

But if Suo could leave the graveyard… If they could meet anywhere else and stroll through town together, stop at any shop that caught Suo’s eye, maybe have lunch at that little café Nirei recommended…

Haruka shook his head, clearing out the mental image of a cozy life he could never have. Even if Suo could go wherever he wanted, he was still dead. There was no world where he could window shop and sip tea in a trendy café. He would remain exactly as he was, trapped in time, cursed to watch the world pass him by until he left it entirely. 

The realization made Haruka’s chest ache. Like it was somehow his fault; like he was somehow too late.

Lost in his own head, Haruka didn’t notice Suo drift closer until he felt the now-familiar chill against his face. His feet just skimmed the ground, knees pulled up so he could float inches away at Haruka’s eye level. 

“It’s rare to see you so lost in thought,” he said. “Care to share with the class, Sakura-kun?”

Haruka jerked away, too hot and too cold at the same time. Did ghosts have no concept of personal space or something? It would explain why this guy was always up in Haruka’s business.

“Nothin’,” he grumbled. He cast about for some way to change the subject to something less depressing and settled on, “Do you, like… Want to talk about what's changed since, y'know...?” Which was a terrible idea because Haruka barely knew anything besides his apartment and his job, but it was better than ruminating about death all night.

Suo looked taken aback for a moment, then chuckled into his hand. “Sure, why not.” Haruka’s eyes followed the way he bobbed in the air when he laughed.

Under the relative cover of the old oak, Haruka settled in for a long night. Now that his secret was out, Suo made no effort to even pretend to sit like a normal person. He hovered over Haruka’s shoulder or drifted into the open air overhead, unaffected by the pull of gravity. More than once he vanished entirely, only to pop his head out from some solid object, just to enjoy how Haruka scrambled back in a panic.

Suo was a little more willing to talk about himself as well, once they exhausted Haruka’s knowledge of the town and how his own phone worked. He still kept most of the details vague, but Haruka learned it was a car accident that killed him. A separate accident when he was a child cost him his right eye, though Suo still refused to give up that secret. He kept insisting it was a battle with a dragon or some bullshit, no matter how Haruka asked.

And it turned out that when Suo said he “dabbled” in martial arts, he actually meant that he trained in a mix of disciplines for most of his life.

“My skills are more than a little rusty by now,” he said to dismiss most of Haruka’s follow-up questions. “I haven’t been able to practice for twenty years!”

Somehow, Haruka very much doubted that. Haruka’s instincts didn’t lie, and Suo didn’t move like someone who spent the last twenty years sitting on his ass. He’d give anything to test his skills against someone who carried himself with the grace and discipline Suo did, even after death.

If only Haruka was born earlier…

An enormous yawn interrupted Haruka’s thoughts. Blinking up with bleary eyes, he saw the first fingers of dawn beginning to extend across the inky sky. Around them the crows, who had mostly settled in to sleep nestled against each other on the branches overhead, began to stir, feathers rustling in the frosty silence of early morning.

For some reason, the start of this new day shot a pang of anxiety through his belly. Walking away now, leaving Suo all alone in the deserted graveyard, with no one but the crows for company… It was harder now than ever before.

“You should probably go and get some sleep.”

Haruka watched Suo from the corner of his eye, his face in profile where he gazed up through the tree’s branches. Though he still emitted his own ghostly light, it appeared dimmer as the world around them brightened. It wasn’t just his light, though — his colors seemed washed out, faded, like an old photograph. His pale skin took on a grayish color, his hair a murky brown, golden tassels approaching silver. Even his eye, always such a bright crimson, had darkened to a color like old congealed blood when he turned to look at Haruka questioningly.

“Something the matter?” he asked, apparently unaware of the change. Though his voice was softer than usual, weary in a way Suo didn’t usually let show.

Haruka swallowed hard, fighting down the panic trying to dig its claws into him. “You — You look like you’re fading away.”

Suo held out a hand in front of him, head tilted as he examined his gray fingers. “So I am,” he said, unconcerned.

Was this it? Did speaking with Haruka fulfill some requirement for Suo to move on? After finally learning the truth about his friend, would Haruka have to say goodbye, just like that? 

It would be just his luck. The world loved to dangle good things right over his head, then snatch them away as soon as he started to hope. Haruka should have known better by now; this was how things always went.

But Suo wasn't all that worried. Rather, he stifled a giggle into his fist. “Goodness, your face right now. Don’t worry, this happens every morning.” 

“Every morning?” Haruka repeated.

“Yes, around the time the sun rises.” Suo stood and turned back to face Haruka as he floated away from the tree, down the path toward his own grave. “First I’ll turn gray, then I’ll become transparent. By the time dawn fully breaks, I’ll vanish entirely.”

Well, that explained why Suo often pushed him to leave before sunrise. It would be hard to pretend to be alive if he started going all see-through. 

“Where do you… Go?” Haruka asked, hesitantly. Even after talking all night, there was still so much he didn’t understand. All these ghostly rules Suo had to follow, and Haruka had to learn to live around.

“To sleep in my grave, I think.” Suo had reached his headstone, pulling up his legs where he hovered over it. “I always get very tired around this time too. It’s… Harder to move around freely.”

“You can’t, like, fight through it? Pull an all-nighter— Er, all-day-er?” Haruka corrected himself, flushing as he tripped over his words.

Suo smiled, bitterly. “Nope. You’re lucky you met me now, when the nights are long,” he said. “In the summer, I have a lot less time.”

And here Haruka thought it was the opposite. He would much rather stay out on a warm summer night than a freezing winter one. But no matter the weather, the sun would always come to cut their time short. What an awful way to exist, he couldn’t help but think. The graveyard suddenly felt more like a prison with its iron bars, the sun a watchful warden coming to force Suo back to his cell.

A crow cawed overhead, rousing some of the others to take flight out into the town. They drew Haruka’s attention to the streaks of yellow bleeding through the sky. When he looked back at Suo again, he saw him flicker for a moment, like an image from a busted movie projector.

“You should head home, Sakura-kun,” Suo said. He lifted his hand in farewell, the tips of his fingers already beginning to disappear.

Haruka couldn’t think of any words to soften this parting. He dragged his eyes away from Suo’s faded outline and crunched over frosted grass to the exit. There he paused, head tilted up to watch the crows swoop out into the sleepy town. 

“I’ll come back soon,” he said at last. “Even when it snows or rains or whatever, I’ll come visit. Even once we get this place all fixed up, I’ll keep coming by, if you want me to.”

He blushed furiously as he said it, cheeks radiating heat, shoulders hunched up around his burning ears. Though he was facing away, Suo must have noticed, because Haruka heard him huff out a fond little laugh.

“Thank you, Sakura-kun.”

A single ray of sunlight reached Haruka over the tops of the buildings, landing right in his eyes. Squinting against it, Haruka looked back one last time, only to find the graveyard deserted. Suo was gone, just like he said.

He’ll come back, Haruka reassured himself. This isn’t over.

His mind whirled as he trudged home and got ready to crash for a few hours before his afternoon shift. Things almost seemed normal again as he hung out with Suo. But in the cold light of day, Haruka could hardly believe what he knew to be true: he just spent all night talking to a ghost. Ghosts were real, actually and factually, and one of them haunted the land right next door.

And he couldn’t even tell anyone. Before this whole project he would have had no one to tell anyway, but now his fingers itched to open the group chat Nirei made. Just a quick message, just to say, hey guys, it turns out Suo actually was a ghost all along. You probably can’t see him though, so you’ll just have to believe me. I swear I’m not crazy!  

Somehow he didn’t think that would go over too well.

Haruka flopped down on his futon with a groan and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes until he saw stars. How was he supposed to sleep, when all he wanted to do was run back to the graveyard and pester Suo with more questions? How was he supposed to work later, when there was a lonely ghost who needed his help?

His… Help? Haruka already agreed to finish the job cleaning up the graveyard, Suo’s home — but was there more he could do?

Was there a way to set him free?

The librarian jumped in her seat when she looked up to find Haruka waiting at the front desk. Her eyes narrowed, clearly recognizing him. Haruka wasn’t sure if she was the same woman who was here when he came with Nirei, or if she just knew about him from the nasty rumors that followed in his shadow.

“Um.” Haruka scratched at his neck, slouching to appear smaller and less threatening. “Could I use one of the computers for a while?”

For a moment he thought the woman would reject him (as most people did), but then she perked up, shifting forward. “Oh, yeah — For the graveyard restoration project, right?” She looked at him in a completely different light all of a sudden, smiling with ease. “I heard you were helping out with that!”

“Uh, sure.” Haruka was already completely out of his depth. What was he thinking, coming here without Nirei to handle the social interactions?

“My great-uncle is buried there, apparently,” the woman went on, as she rifled through a stack of paperwork on her desk. “I didn’t even know, until my dad mentioned the restoration project the other day. Once everything’s finished, I’d love to go bring some flowers sometime!”

She pulled a clipboard out of the pile and held it out for him, grinning. “You and your friends are doing a really great thing for this town!”

Haruka felt the tips of his ears burn and had to fight down the urge to turn tail and run. “Y-Yeah, uh, thanks.” He took the clipboard and stared, unsure what she expected him to do with it.

“Oh, sorry, here’s a pen.” The librarian pushed a pen into his hand and pointed to the form in front of him. “Just put down your name and which computer you’re using. There’s a two-hour time limit, but if there’s no one else waiting, I don’t mind if you go a bit over that,” she added with a conspiratorial wink.

Eager to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible, Haruka jotted down his name and fled to the computer desks. He pulled up the hood of his jacket as he hunkered down at one of them. Hopefully, no one else would recognize him and start talking about embarrassing shit.

He hesitated, with his fingers over the computer’s keyboard. Now that he was here, what he was about to type into the browser's search bar felt comically stupid. Haruka could almost imagine Suo hanging over his shoulder, laughing in that infuriating way that made Haruka squirm.

“You’re just gonna google ‘ghosts’? Seriously?” he’d say, watching with that unnerving red eye. “Are you stupid?”

Haruka shoved the vision down. Suo doesn’t even talk like that, moron.

Predictably though, searching for ‘ghosts’ didn’t bring up any useful information. ‘Ghost rules’ only got him a music video, which wasn’t particularly helpful either. Scowling at the screen, Haruka stabbed at the keyboard again and again, trying to find the right combination of words that would tell him what he needed to know.

‘Why do ghosts haunt one place’ got him pretty close. He scrolled through pages about ‘famous’ ghosts and haunted locations. Top Ten Most Haunted Buildings in Japan, Investigating Japan’s Most Haunted Places, The Truth Behind Japan’s Haunted Houses — some of them were even pretty close by. That made Haruka shudder a bit. He did not want to come face to face with even more ghosts in the future. Just the one encounter was more than enough for him.

From there his research brought him to haunted artefacts, and the many different forms they could take on. Sometimes ghosts could possess an object instead of a place, apparently. Jewelry, antique furniture, family heirlooms — but for some reason a lot of them wound up in dolls. Really, really creepy dolls. Haruka closed out of the sketchy auction website he found himself on, suddenly paranoid that someone would see him considering haunted dolls for sale.

But why and how did these things become haunted? What made ghosts stick around, long after their deaths? 

A lot of people had the same theory as Suo: something about unfinished business, a goal they never got to accomplish while they were alive. Others claimed that ghosts only remained when someone died in a particularly gruesome or tragic fashion. Tortured souls and evil spirits, trapped between this world and the next, bent on bringing misery to the living they envied so much.

That didn’t seem right either. Suo could be annoying, but Haruka wouldn’t go so far as to call him an evil spirit.

Haruka drummed his fingers against the desk, leaning against the armrest of his chair. He couldn’t shake the feeling that all of this was kinda… Fake. All the spooky articles about haunted houses, the videos of "ghost hunters" screaming at shadows, the ads for EMF detectors and spirit boxes, the endless listings for haunted dolls (why was it always dolls?) — Haruka had a hard time taking any of it seriously. None of the supposed “real ghost activity” looked anything like the one he knew.

Goddammit. Was all of this just a huge waste of time?

He glanced at his phone to see he was already a little over his allotted two hours on the computer. There weren’t many other people around, but he’d rather not push his luck. After another excruciating conversation with the librarian about how to use their printer, Haruka left the library with a stack of the most promising articles he managed to find. It wasn’t much, but it was a place to start. 

Now he just had to hope Suo wouldn’t laugh in his face when he tried to bring it up.

Okay: this was the plan.

First: Gather all the tools he needed to make this work. For a few days Haruka wandered through town after work, peeking into shops he never even thought about before. He didn’t have a great picture of the kinds of things Suo would like, so Haruka mostly just went with his gut.

(And avoided anywhere that the staff followed him around, eager for the chance to accuse him of stealing.)

Next: Wait until he had a day off work. 

(Rare, because his manager hated him, but Nirei agreed to cover one of his shifts. “Enjoy your date with Suo!” he texted, with a winking emoji, and Haruka couldn’t even argue because he was skipping work to hang out with Suo.)

Finally, when he felt prepared at last, Haruka gathered up all his research and made sure to be at the graveyard just before sundown. He hugged a bulky duffle bag close to his chest, leg jiggling impatiently as he watched the sun creep below the horizon. Even with the long winter nights, he didn’t want to waste any possible time. He had to make the most of the limited time they had each day.

The crows pecked at the roots around him, pleased with the offering of seeds he scattered around earlier. They had chilled out a lot, since Haruka agreed to come back to the graveyard regularly. He still kept a wary eye on them, aware of how fickle they could be when he didn’t do what they wanted.

At last, the sun disappeared below the horizon. A few more minutes passed, just long enough for Haruka to start to worry, before a familiar chill washed over him and a voice right in his ear said, “Boo!”

Haruka’s whole body locked up so he wouldn’t jump or scream. He turned, stiffly, to deliver Suo his most deadpan glare. “That’s not gonna work anymore.”

With only the top half of his body protruding from the wide trunk of the oak tree, Suo met him with a dazzling smile. “Aw, you know all my tricks already,” he said. He slid out of the tree and came to rest a few inches above the roots, glittering white and red and gold with all his colors restored. “I’m very happy you came back, Sakura-kun.”

“I said I would,” Haruka snapped. “What, you didn’t believe me?”

“Forgive me for thinking my untimely demise might have scared you off,” Suo said. “I’m glad to be proved wrong, though.” His grin turned smug, but Haruka still sensed a bit of relief behind his words. Buried beneath the jokes, Suo really was afraid of being left alone again.

Well, that was the whole reason Haruka was here, wasn’t it?

Suo’s eye wandered to the bag Haruka still held in his lap, curiosity glinting in its ruby-red depths. “The crows told me you’ve been rather busy the last few days.” He folded his legs under him, hands crossed in his lap where he leaned closer to Haruka. “Did you bring me something interesting?”

This was the hardest part of the plan: Explaining himself in a way that didn’t sound stupid. Haruka struggled with words at the best of times, but he would have to plow full speed ahead. For Suo’s sake.

He dug into his bag and pulled out the now folded and crumpled pages he printed out at the library the other day. “I, uh, did some research,” he began, avoiding that intelligent eye.

Suo tiled his head to the side and waited patiently for Haruka to gather his thoughts and continue.

“Research about — About ghosts, obviously. And about, well, um — A way for you to, to leave this graveyard.”

“And what have you found?” Suo asked, expression unchanged. 

Maybe he didn’t believe such a thing was possible. After twenty years, Suo must have given up on ever being free again. Haruka would just have to find a way to prove him wrong about this, too.

Haruka took a deep breath, and unfolded his stack of papers. “S-So, most people think ghosts end up haunting things that they have a strong connection to, in life or in death.” God he hoped he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. “A lot of 'em end up in graveyards ‘cause that’s where their remains are, and I guess you — They still feel connected to their body, or something.”

“Makes sense,” Suo said. 

“But sometimes, ghosts can connect with another object, instead of being stuck in one place,” Haruka went on. He found a particular page and held it out for Suo to see. “If you could possess something like this instead, then you’d be able to go wherever it goes!”

Suo pretended to grab the paper just to humor Haruka, his fingers passing straight through as usual. When he leaned forward to take a closer look, his brows raised and his smile curled into something sly. “Are these haunted dolls?” he asked, snickering.

Shit — Haruka meant to print the page of haunted amulets instead. He swore he felt steam shoot out his ears as he snatched the page back. “No, forget about that—”

“What kind of doll do you want to put me in?” Suo steepled his fingers under his chin, grinning like a cat about to pounce on a juicy mouse. “Could you find something life-sized?”

“No, no dolls!” Haruka buried his face in his hands. His cheeks felt hot enough to melt ice. “Literally anything else — jewelry or something!”

Suo frowned in mock disappointment. “A doll would be more fun,” he sulked.

How do you expect me to carry a life-sized doll around?! Haruka wanted to scream, but he bit down on his tongue before it could betray him. He needed to get far away from the entire doll conversation.

“The last possibility,” Haruka barreled ahead, ignoring Suo’s shit-eating grin. “Some people think ghosts can haunt a living person.” He hesitated again, thumbing at the edge of the papers. “But, I dunno — It sounds pretty fake.”

“I imagine most things about ghosts do,” Suo said mildly. “You know, I didn’t even believe in ghosts when I was alive.”

Haruka fought the urge to roll his eyes. That makes two of us.

He laid out the creased pages across the roots for Suo to see and went on, “Anyway, does any of that sound like something we could try?” He couldn’t quite stop the eager note that crept into the question.

Suo considered him for a moment, expression falling to something more serious. He touched a hand to his chin as his eye darted over Haruka’s research, taking in the extent of it. Haruka might have imagined it, but he thought he saw Suo’s gaze linger for a time on the page about ghosts possessing or haunting living people. He tried not to get his hopes up about it.

“I suppose anything’s worth a try,” Suo conceded at last. A familiar glint of mischief sparkled in his eye. “So, how many haunted dolls did you bring to experiment with?” 

Okay, first of all: they would have to use an un-haunted doll for this to work. It would only become haunted once Suo was the one doing the haunting. Until then, it was just a regular creepy doll.

And second, “We’re not playin' with dolls, holy shit,” Haruka grumbled to himself.

He climbed down from the gnarled roots and turned his bag upside down, shaking out all the stuff he collected. Most of it was cheap jewelry he found on clearance at a nearby department store (where the salespeople were really pushy, and nosy about who he was buying jewelry for), but there were a few other trinkets mixed in. A cracked teacup he found at a garage sale, a weird mascot character keychain Kiryu gave him when he pulled it from a gacha machine, some books he thought Suo might like, a carved wooden cat that reminded him of Suo…

It felt pretty silly when he laid it all out like this. Haruka scrubbed a hand over his heated cheeks again, unable to meet Suo’s eye. “Look, it’s fine if you don’t like any of this—”

“Don’t overthink it so much.” Suo floated closer, blanketing Haruka with his familiar frigid aura. He reached out toward the little cat carving, still unable to touch anything material. “Let’s just try a few things and see what happens.”

Right, sure. This was just their first attempt. The first of many experiments. They could figure things out as they went.

Haruka placed the cat in his own palm and held it out toward Suo. “So, how do you possess something like this?”

“No idea,” Suo said. When Haruka made an exasperated noise, he laughed. “It’s not like anyone gave me a manual for how to be a ghost!”

This was already such a pain in the ass. “Okay, well — Maybe you could try to touch it, and like, focus really hard,” Haruka said, with a grimace.

Suo smiled like he thought Haruka was the dumbest person alive, but did as he was told.

After about a minute of intense focus, Suo looked up at Haruka expectantly. Right, he still can’t carry it, Haruka realized, and pushed himself to his feet. He brought the wooden cat to the gateway, and walked a few steps out into the street with it. Turning back toward Suo, he called out, “Okay, see if you can follow me.”

Suo floated just to the edge of the graveyard and paused. His mouth pressed into a thin line, uncharacteristically apprehensive. But he steeled his nerve, and took a step outside the boundary of his prison.

The moment both feet crossed the threshold, Suo froze, eye snapped wide open. Haruka watched the color drain from his face, body becoming fuzzy and transparent around the edges. His light dimmed, his whole form flickering like firelight, in and out of existence.

Haruka's heart plummeted, and he reached out for Suo instinctively. “Hey, talk to me! What’s happening?!” 

“I—” Suo barely got one word out, before he vanished right before Haruka’s eyes.

“Suo!” Haruka dashed back through the gate, searching frantically for glowing white, glittering red and gold. “Shit — Suo!!”

“I’m here,” his voice came from Suo’s grave. Haruka whipped around to find the other man kneeling in front of his headstone, one hand on his chest. 

Haruka almost tripped over the other graves in his haste to reach Suo’s side. “Are you okay? Did — Did that hurt?” 

Suo’s chest moved as he breathed, in and out, slow and deliberate. Haruka wasn’t sure why a ghost needed to breathe, but it seemed to steady him. “It feels a bit like when I go to sleep at dawn, but a lot more sudden,” he said. When Suo finally looked up at Haruka his expression was pinched. “I wouldn’t say it hurts, but it’s not exactly pleasant.”

Guilt churned in Haruka’s stomach. In all his research, he never considered something like this could be painful for the ghost, even if Suo insisted it wasn’t. “I-I’m sorry,” he said, and stuffed the stupid wooden cat into his pocket. “We can stop, I — I just thought—”

“No,” Suo cut him off, suddenly firm. He took another breath and stood up, face set with determination. “If there’s a chance this could work, I want to keep trying.”

Haruka chewed on his lip. “But if it’s hurting you—”

Suo’s eye softened. He hovered a hand over Haruka’s shoulder, the ghost of reassurance. “It’s alright, Sakura-kun,” he said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to leave.”

That wasn’t as convincing as he probably hoped it would be. Instead, it brought to mind a vision of Suo trying again and again to escape, disappearing and coming back all on his own, fruitlessly beating his fists against the bars of his cage.

Maybe Haruka couldn’t ease Suo’s discomfort, but he could at least be here to support him. A friendly face every time he reappeared, encouraging him to try again. If the two of them put their heads together, they were sure to figure out something Suo couldn’t have done alone.

Haruka sucked in his own deep, steadying breath, and nodded. “Alright, let’s try again.”

Over the next few hours, Haruka and Suo cycled through all the trinkets Haruka brought to experiment with. They tested different ways for Suo to ‘connect’ with the objects, from touching them to talking with them to sitting and meditating for a few minutes with them. Suo even suggested Haruka give each of the objects a name to help endear him to them, but Haruka suspected that one was just to embarrass him.

Regardless, none of it worked. Suo never made it more than one step outside the gates before he froze up and winked out of existence. And as the night drew on, Haruka started to notice it took longer and longer for Suo to come back. At first he would reappear right away, then after thirty seconds or so, then a few minutes…

Dread filled Haruka as he waited in the silent, deserted graveyard for Suo to return. What if this time, he was gone for good?

Even when he did come back, less color returned with him each time. He faded slowly until he looked like an old movie, though sunrise was still hours away. His eye became dull and black, lined with exhaustion, fixed somewhere far away while Haruka waited for him to catch his breath again.

“This isn’t working,” Haruka said at last, as much as it killed him to admit it.

“... No,” Suo agreed, at length.

“Let’s just, stop for now,” Haruka sighed. He couldn’t bear to keep torturing Suo like this, in service of nothing.

Suo nodded. He settled himself into a more comfortable position over his grave, kneeling with his hands folded carefully in his lap. It was the posture he took while meditating, head tilted forward and eye closed.

While he rested, Haruka gathered up the stuff he brought and crammed it back into his bag. It was all garbage, really. He was crazy to think any of this random crap would be something Suo could connect with or possess. Maybe this whole idea was doomed from the start — after all, most "ghost experts" online were probably just lying. Haruka came here and spewed a bunch of bullshit, and got Suo’s hopes up for nothing.

A cold breeze blew over him, and Haruka looked up to find Suo standing nearby, watching him pack his bag. Some color had returned, though he still appeared washed-out and dim. His eye was dark, expression grim, like he didn’t have the energy to keep up a smile.

“I have an idea,” he said. “Though I don’t think you’ll like it.”

Haruka was willing to try anything at this point. “Lay it on me.”

“You said earlier that ghosts can possess something they have a strong connection with. I think that’s what we’re missing.” Suo gestured to Haruka’s bag, and went on, “As nice as these gifts are, I don’t feel strongly about any of them in particular. Remember, we need something that I connect with more than my own remains.”

“That… Makes sense,” Haruka said slowly, thoughtfully. He didn’t like to think about Suo’s remains, buried just under their feet, but he had to get over that. “So what did you have in mind?”

Suo lifted a hand, and brushed it through one of his earrings. The tassel shimmered as it glided through his fingers, even with some of its usual gold color sapped away. “Perhaps these might work,” he said, looping the tassel around one finger. “They were a gift from my master, and I almost never took them off when I was alive. I don’t usually care much for material things, but these earrings are… Special.”

His earrings… Of course, it was literally staring him in the face the whole time! Why didn’t Haruka think of that first? “That’s perfect!” He jumped to his feet, unable to suppress a wild grin. “We just have to find the real ones! Suo, you’re a genius!”

That, at last, brought a smile back to Suo’s face. It was a little frayed around the edges, but far better than the gray, blank expression he had until now. 

“That’s the part you won’t like,” he said. The earring swayed back into place as he clasped his hands behind his back. 

“What d’you mean?”

“Well,” Suo cast his gaze back toward his grave, smile curling a bit more at the corners. “I’m pretty sure what you see me wearing now is exactly what I was buried in.”

Haruka stared at him, gears turning in his head until something clicked. His heart sank like a stone in frigid, dark waters. “You can’t be serious,” he croaked, throat tight.

“I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t think it had the best chance of success,” Suo insisted, though the gleam in his eye said otherwise. He looked more excited for this than anything else they tried tonight. “But if we want to try with these earrings, you’ll have to fetch them out of my coffin.”

Haruka closed his eyes, and breathed in slowly through his nose. He considered it, for a moment, and a wave of nausea crashed over him. Just knowing that someone he cared about was already six feet under, feeding the worms, made him want to scream or puke. But actually digging it up, laying eyes on Suo’s lifeless corpse—

“Can’t you — Y’know, phase through the ground and grab them?” Haruka asked, trying his best not to be sick.

Suo closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, just as he had the night Haruka first learned his secret, and shoved his hand into Haruka’s chest. “I can’t pick anything up, remember?” he said, his face just inches away, with that patronizing smile.

Haruka jumped back out of reach, rubbing his chest vigorously to restart his heart. “Don’t do that man, gonna give me a goddamn heart attack!”

Chuckling, Suo threw up his hands in defeat. “Sorry, but there’s just no way around it.” He didn’t look sorry at all, grinning like a madman. “I’m afraid you have to dig up my grave!”

Insane. It was absolute insanity what Suo was asking him to do. But if there really was no other way…

Well, Haruka was willing to try anything, right?