Tuesday, Afternoon.
Moriki High School, Rooftop.

The phone rang once, twice, before it was picked up. Tsuna couldn't describe the relief he felt when he heard Himura's voice speak from the speaker of the phone.

"H-hello?" Himura asked tentatively.

"It's Tsuna. I'm just calling in to check on you. You didn't come to school today, so we were a bit concerned."

"Oh… I see… I'm sorry for worrying you. I'm just…" Himura trailed off and Tsuna realised that his voice was shaking.

"You're just what, Himura? You can tell us, seriously! We're your friends, right?" Shizuki, ever the tactful one, interjected.

"I… I don't know what," Himura said quietly. "I… think I'm going insane. I hear a voice and it keeps saying that it loves me. It's scary, I'm scared, I…" He suppressed a sob.

"Himura…"

"I can't sleep or it'll find me. I don't want to sleep. I'm scared, I don't know what to do, I don't." He took in a jagged breath. "I think it's here, waiting for me outside my house. I don't want to go out."

Shizuki was uncharacteristically quiet. Sato looked grave.

"We understand. Stay in your house and be safe. We'll visit you later today," Sato said.

"Yeah." Himura's voice was very small and very tired. Tsuna felt sorry for him. "Thanks for, you know, not making fun of me."

"It's no problem. We're friends, after all."

-o-

Tuesday, Afternoon.
Moriki High School, Reception Room.

"The ghost hunters? Why'd you bring us here?" Shizuki asked, tapping his foot impatiently. "In fact, why aren't we going to Himura's house right this very second?"

"You cannot doubt that whatever's going after Himura is supernatural in nature. I was thinking that we might be able to get a charm from one of them, or we could be directed to a place where we could get charms," Sato answered patiently. Tsuna felt out of place with them, wondering why he was there. He wasn't exactly a friend of theirs, so he couldn't understand why they wanted him to accompany them in seeing Himura.

The door slid open just as Sato was about to knock on it, revealing a man Tsuna had never met before. If Tsuna had to pick a word to describe him, it would be 'monochrome'. The man had very pale skin, bordering on white, and he had coal black hair and eyes. He was wearing an entirely black and white suit as well, along with a top hat that was – of course – black.

A cool, assessing gaze swept over the three boys before it focused on Tsuna. Tsuna unconsciously took a step back and the corner of the man's lips twitched a little.

"You must be Sawada Tsunayoshi, I take it?" he asked. Tsuna swallowed dryly but before he could answer, Sato and Shizuki were already stepping in front of him and putting themselves in between the man and Tsuna.

"'The hell are—" Sato clamped his hand over Shizuki's mouth.

"Is there something you need, sir?" Sato asked, voice laced with forced politeness.

"The first thing you do in this school is frighten the students. Well done, Bermuda," Reborn's dry voice sounded from inside the room. Tsuna could see some movement behind Bermuda and soon saw Reborn roughly push Bermuda to the side. Reborn raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of Sato and Shizuki.

"Um, Reborn, do you have a charm that can ward away spirits or something?" Tsuna asked tentatively. Reborn shrugged.

"Yeah, we can make a few. Lal's particularly good at them. Would you like one?" Reborn looked amused. "You probably don't need it, though."

"It's not for me, it's for Himura. Something's following him around," Tsuna said and proceeded to explain what Himura had told him. Reborn rolled his eyes.

"I think you should get your friend to a hospital—"

"May I point out that the two boys accompanying Tsunayoshi seem to have traces of spiritual possession?" Bermuda interrupted. Reborn's eyes widened slightly and he whirled around to glare at Bermuda.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" he demanded. Bermuda just shrugged. Reborn turned back to the boys, all informality wiped from his face. "Come in and elaborate more about your situation," Reborn said and stepped back. Tsuna was about to follow when Shizuki burst out.

"We can't afford to do that right now! We have to get the charm and then get to Himura's house! If we really are haunted, then Himura has got to be haunted as well!" Shizuki crossed his arms and glared at Reborn. "Give us the charm right now!" he demanded. Almost immediately after, Sato had his hand on the back of Shizuki's head and forced him into a bow.

"I apologise for his rudeness; Shizuki is rather high strung at the moment. Please forgive him." A pause. "Although, we would really appreciate it if you would be able to create a charm for us since we urgently need it at the moment. We'll elaborate more after delivering the charm."

Reborn hesitated for a moment. Bermuda took the chance to disappear into the room and come out with a talisman. He held it out to Shizuki.

"I'll give you the charm on one condition," Bermuda bargained. Shizuki looked like he was seconds away from just tackling Bermuda to the floor and snatching the charm straight from his hands. Even the seemingly eternally unflappable Sato appeared a little frustrated.

"What?"

"I'll accompany you." Bermuda smiled. It was kind of an eerie smile but Tsuna felt nothing wrong from it so he just nudged Sato and nodded minusculely. This was the best they could get under such short notice.

"Alright," Sato relented. "We leave immediately."

-o-

Tuesday, Afternoon.
Moriki, Kikuno Road.

It wasn't just Bermuda who decided to accompany them, much to Tsuna's relief. Reborn had decided to tag along as well, not trusting Bermuda to be alone with the boys.

As the group walked towards Himura's house, a strange chill seemed to settle into Tsuna's very bones. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were chirping noisily, and there was no wind whatsoever. Reborn had loosened his tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons of his dress shirt while Bermuda had taken off his jacket. Tsuna, however, only could feel the icy coldness of a winter lake permeating through his entire body hitting him all at one go.

Tsuna phone suddenly began to ring, much to his shock. He jumped a little and fumbled as he tried to get his phone out and receive the call.

"H-hello?" Tsuna asked.

"…Tsuna?"

"Himura!" Immediately, Shizuki and Sato's attention snapped to Tsuna. "Is something wrong? What happened?"

"She's gone," Himura said quietly. There was relief in his voice, but Tsuna could also make something else out. He decided to ignore it.

"She's gone?" Tsuna decided to repeat for the sake of those listening in. "That's good, isn't it?"

"…" Himura's hesitation didn't give Tsuna any assurance.

"It has to be in order," Himura finally said. "She wanted to be in order. I wasn't second, I was third." That didn't make any sense.

"What are you talking about, Himura?" Tsuna asked, gripping the phone tighter. He could hear his heart pounding in his head.

There were no birds.

"Don't you realise?" Himura burst out suddenly. "We didn't finish properly! Akiyama wanted to keep the coin! We just threw the paper away! We didn't ask if she wanted to leave, we didn't move the coin out of the gate, we didn't…" his voice broke and Himura started to sob.

"Himura, what are you—"

"You're not getting away this time, you won't be able to run from me, that redstorm man can't help you, he's not here. He can't drive me away this time!"

The last thing Tsuna saw was Shizuki and Sato rushing forward to catch him as he fell.

-o-

Tsuna looked around him. He was in the science lab and Shizuki was in front of him.

"Shizuki—" Tsuna started but Shizuki just stood up from his seat, not even sparing Tsuna a glance. Before Tsuna could feel hurt or anything, Shizuki walked towards Tsuna and—

Shizuki walked through him.

"Sawada! Akiyama! You're finally here!" Shizuki grinned. Tsuna turned around to see Akiyama standing in the doorway. Behind him was Tsuna himself, looking a little awkward and out of place, constantly glancing down the hall, wondering if he should leave. It was incredibly unnerving for Tsuna to see himself in the flesh, even if the other-Tsuna couldn't see him.

"Yo! Shizuki!" Akiyama nodded. He entered the room, dragging other-Tsuna along with him, and Tsuna suddenly remembered what this was. When this was.

"Good evening Akiyama, Sawada," Himura greeted shyly. He and Sato were sitting at a table and Akiyama quickly ushered the others to that table before taking out something from his bag.

"Here's the paper!" he said, placing it onto the table. "And here's the coin."

"Cool, I've never done kokkuri-san before!" Shizuki said excitedly. Himura looked both curious and apprehensive. Sato, in the other hand, looked like he had a million other things he'd rather be doing.

Tsuna saw something move from the corner of his eye. He turned to the window to see what it was and his breath caught.

The science labs were on the third level, weren't they…?

A woman was outside the window, palms pressed against the glass and facing the group of four boys. Her straggly damp hair fell in front of her face, but Tsuna could see enough of it to know that she was smiling widely, anticipatorily. She was right there, right there, a splash of eerie and unnatural colour against the black backdrop of the night outside so why wasn't anyone saying anything?!

"They can't see her." Tsuna spun around to see the woman who looked like Aria standing behind him. "You can't see her," the woman continued somewhat sadly. "Not when you're not here."

"Oh right! I've forgotten!" Akiyama exclaimed. He walked over to the window, walked over to where that thing was, and opened it. "The window needs to be open so that kokkuri-san can enter the room," he explained as he walked back to his seat. To Tsuna's horror, he saw the thing enter the room through the open window. Immediately, he closed his eyes and covered his ears. He didn't want to see it, he didn't want to see what happened next.

The woman who looked like Aria didn't allow him the privilege of ignorance. He was forced to watch as Akiyama, Shizuki, Himura, Sato, and other-Tsuna went through the rituals to summon the spirit.

"Kokkuri-san, kokkuri-san…"

Akiyama asked a few questions before he ran out of things to say and prompted the other boys to ask questions as well. Other-Tsuna was the first one to give into Akiyama.

Just as Tsuna himself remembered doing, other-Tsuna took a deep breath and stared down at the paper and coin.

"When will my father come to visit me?"

-o-

After other-Tsuna asked his question, it was Himura's turn. Himura didn't really ask much, just generic questions he already knew the answer to, ask if he was testing the validity of the ritual. After that, it was Shizuki's turn to ask a question. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by an annoyingly catchy tune coming from his pocket. It was his phone.

Shizuki took his hand off the coin to answer his phone and the rest of the group, deciding that it was time to end the ritual, did the same. Akiyama picked up the coin, flipping it up in the air and catching it mid-descent.

"I'm keeping this," he said. "It's kinda cool to own something that's been used in a ritual! Does anyone want to keep the paper?"

"Nah," Shizuki replied. Himura shook his head and other-Tsuna simply looked away. Akiyama turned to Sato, only to be met with a deadpan look which was an answer in itself.

"Suit yourself," Akiyama shrugged and picked up the piece of paper as well. "We'll just throw this in the dumpster on the way out." At that, the five boys then picked up their things and made their way out of the science labs.

The thing giggled and trailed after them, dripping greenish droplets of water on the floor as it glided through the air, its now visible milky white-grey eyes trained on Akiyama's back.

Can you piece together what happened?

The part with akiyama is tsuna's dream, in case you were confused.

Reviews

tonguetyed nah, this is on the list of things i really want to write. nope, the ghost is an oc entirely, with no ties to the canon characters!