Wiping the tears from his eyes, Niko smiled sympathetically at Hanako as he did so; Ibuki joining him in his little crying session. It was honestly difficult to not shed a tear at the heart-wrenching story they had just heard.

“Hanako…I didn’t know that you went through all of that…” the teenager said, reaching out to pat her shoulder in sympathy.

“No matter how many times I hear it, your story still makes me tear up…” Ibuki added, attempting to ensnare Hanako in a tight hug. “You’ve had it really rough huh, Hana?”

The spirit effortlessly evaded both of their advances, sighing.

“What’s done is done, I guess. I don’t need any sympathy, thanks” she responded. “Well anyway, you seem well enough, Niko; so I’ll get out of your hair for now”

“Me too, I’ve got stuff to do, you see” Ibuki added, getting up and stretching her arms. “Guess we’ll see you at dinner then?”

Niko nodded in affirmative as his new supernatural acquaintances left his room; one leaving through the door and the other phasing straight through the flooring. Suddenly letting a sneeze, the teenager realised that he was still sitting in wet clothes; thanks to Hanako…

A few stray moving boxes littered Niko’s room, he’d only managed to get half of his unpacking done when he’d first arrived at Masahiro; but who actually unpacked all their stuff on the same day they moved in anyway? Grumbling about how his t-shirt was sticking to him, the new tenant of Masahiro walked over two medium-sized boxes in the corner of the room, which were labelled: ‘CLOTHES’ and began sifting through them for a few minutes before finally picking out a fresh black t-shirt and a pair of tracksuit bottoms that wouldn’t make a wet, squishing sound when he walked around in them.

Changing into his clothes was never a problem before he’d come to Masahiro, but with Hanako just walking through whatever wall she pleased, it was a little hard to change in peace. Nevertheless, Niko swapped clothes quickly, hoping not to accidently run into the small spirit.

Just as he finished putting his t-shirt on, the teenager suddenly felt like there was eyes on him. The sensation did not last for more than a couple of seconds though, it was as if the thing staring at him had suddenly looked away. Putting it down to his imagination, Niko walked over to the door of his room that was set ajar slightly.

Reaching for the handle, he froze almost instantly as he noticed the two brown eyes that were staring directly at him through the crack in the door. Niko and the eyes stared for each other for a couple of seconds, neither of them blinking at all…

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“H-Hi…” the teenager began, successfully resisting the urge to scream in shock. Are you a tenant here…?”

Despite the fact that they were just two eyes in the darkness of the crack, they were surprisingly good at portraying expression. Raising an eyebrow, they made Niko instantly reword his question.

“Uhm, I mean, of course you are! Sorry, I’m new here” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. “I’m Niko, by the way”

As the eyes rolled, a grey, clammy hand appeared from the darkness and clutched onto the edge of the door, which was followed by a second hand and then finally the person or entity that they belonged to.

A girl around Niko’s height emerged from the shadows, looking very casual about her sudden entrance. She looked like she had walked straight out of a black and white film, because there was not a spot of colour on here apart from grey, black and white. Her hair was cut short and neat, not at all like Hanako and Ibuki’s hairstyles. The girl only wore a plain white dress as she stood in front of Niko. However her most striking feature were her lips, which weren’t present on her face at all.

At this point, Niko wasn’t sure if he even wanted to ask…

“Erm…Can I help you?” he began, wondering if this new face was hostile or not.

The girl folded her arms and tapped her foot, occasionally glancing at her wrist.

“Are you maybe waiting for something?”

His response was met by an eyeroll and a facepalm. Despite her rather sombre and depressing appearance, this girl appeared to be very animated.

She made a writing motion in the air, asking for something to write on, which Niko understood; bringing her a couple sheets of paper and a black ballpoint.

‘Finally! Why did it take you so long to figure that one out?’ she scribbled down in a rush before showing it to the teenager standing opposite her. ‘Are you slow or something?’

Despite not having one, the girl’s tongue appeared to be pretty sharp…

“What? No, why would you even say that?”

‘Because somebody had to’

“Okay…so any reason why you decided to climb out of the shadows just now?”

‘To introduce myself to you. Obviously.’

“Riiiight…Well, once again, I’m Niko. Nice to meet you”

‘I’m Mieru. I live here, sort of”

“Cool. Uhm, could you maybe stop appearing in my room unannounced in the future?”

Apparently, Mieru had run out of paper, so she simply nodded in response to Niko’s question wearing a serious expression.

“Hey, Niko! Dinner’s done!” Ibuki announced as poked her head into his room. “Oh, I see you’ve met Mieru already, huh?” She waved as the voiceless girl smiled back at her. “You might want to come downstairs quick though, unless you’re okay with eating what’s left”

“Thanks, I’ll be right down” the teenager replied as he followed Mieru out of his room. “Wonder what Kaori’s cooking tastes like?”

“It’s really good! It doesn’t even compare to normal human food!” Ibuki replied, whilst Mieru nodded in agreement.

“Sounds good to me. Wait, hold on. What do you mean by ‘normal human food’?”

And with that Niko’s second night in Masahiro came to a close, but despite his interactions with his fellow tenants, he was only just beginning to scratch the surface of the secret that was known as Masahiro…