Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

HIRO

A noise startles me, and I open my eyes only to find myself peering straight into the eyes of a stranger looming over me.

“Fuck,” I yelp as I jerk back, basically elbowing Maddox in the face in my terror.

The ghost is scrutinizing me. He says something in Japanese that I definitely don’t understand, and when it becomes apparent that I don’t know the language, he holds up his middle finger, which I comprehend with ease.

“What’s wrong?” Maddox asks.

“N-Nothing. Sorry. Go to sleep,” I say as I try to pretend this random man isn’t hating on me.

I roll away from the ghost to bury my face against Maddox’s chest until I feel the ghost looming over me. Slowly, I look up and see that he has moved closer. He looks none too pleased about my existence for some reason.

“Hiro, not to alarm you but there’s a creeper staring at you and it’s not Natalie,” Reggie says, like he’s not the creeper spooning Maddox while Natalie is innocently (for once) sitting in the windowsill with Keaton not far from her.

“I’ve noticed,” I grumble.

“Hmm?” Maddox whispers.

“Nothing, sorry. Sleep.”

“He’s kind of cute,” Natalie comments. “He’s cute, isn’t he, Keaton?”

Reggie’s head snaps over to see what Keaton is going to say.

“Weirdly, I don’t tend to find aggressive people cute when they’re being hostile for no reason,” Keaton says.

The man is now flipping me off with both hands. Like what the fuck did I do? Exist?

“Hiro? Hon? What’s going on?” Maddox asks.

“Nothing, sleep. Go to sleep.”

“I would but something’s up.”

“It’s definitely not,” I lie as the man gets even closer. I feel like he wouldn’t mind smothering me a bit in my sleep. But it’ll be fine. It’ll definitely be fine. I’m sure of it. I’ll just burrow under Maddox’s arm, smash my face against his chest, and let sleep carry me away.

Which is easier said than done when McLoomy is looming over me.

“I’ll shield you with my body,” Reggie says as he climbs on top of me. And like… for being a ghost, why’s he so fucking heavy? Shouldn’t he feel like a cloud or something? Nope. Feels like a damn rock. I wave for him to get off, but when he doesn’t get the hint, I squeeze out from under him as he gasps.

“I was saving your life ,” Reggie snarls.

I want to ask from what but then I’ll wake up Maddox, who seems to have fallen back asleep.

At some point the ghost wanders off and I’m able to fall back asleep while Reggie whispers how creepy the man was in my ear, like he’s not also a bit creepy.

Yumi hurries us outside after we finish eating the largest breakfast I’ve eaten in a very long time. “We’ll take the subway since it’s pretty close. Maddox, I’m going to school for journalism, so I’d love to chat more about your job. Mom thinks I should do articles on fashion or media, but I’d really rather do something in the crimes department.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Good. My boyfriend loves books, so he and Hiro can discuss books while you and I chat.”

It’s such a beautiful day out that I find myself looking every which way as we walk. While Maddox and I live in the suburbs of a big city, I’ve never lived smack-dab in the middle of one. And Kyoto seems to have a bit of older charm to it. Some of the streets are narrow and quiet, but some are absolutely packed with people going to work or tourists. We aren’t too far from what appears to be a main road and pop out on it as we’re pushed into the flow of traffic that seems to get worse if we continue going to the left. Instead, she heads off toward a sign for the subway.

“Hiro actually works as a consultant with the department, so he knows quite a bit as well,” Maddox explains.

Her attention snaps over to me as she starts down the steps. “Really? I didn’t know that. What are you doing as a consultant?”

I glance over at Maddox who is looking elsewhere as he leaves me to figure this out. Imagine if I told her I was off chasing ghosts. If my newfound family found out about that, they’d be thrilled that I was only staying for a few days and probably wishing I was staying for less. But that still leaves me with the problem of: what the hell do I say to her? I have no specialty. I’m not some secret genius that figures things out. I can’t say that I have a degree in anything criminology related or anything similar.

“Are you like Sherlock Holmes?” she asks.

“With the drugs or intuition?” Maddox jokes.

“Neither!” I declare, which makes them both laugh.

“Fine, fine. No Sherlock Holmes. It was worth asking because that sounds like a good story for class,” she says.

“It does,” I agree. “I’m definitely not that fancy.” No… my “fanciness” comes from seeing the three ghosts who are currently glued to the glass of a cat cafe as Reggie squeals something about a kitten inside.

Yumi watches me for a second, seeming to realize that I’m trying my hardest to avoid answering. She doesn’t push it, and I decide that I need to talk to Maddox about throwing me under the bus.

Together, we head down into the subway station. “Hikaru should be around here somewhere,” she says, seeming to give up on learning about my consultant skills.

“So… I know you and your mom are okay with a drop in honorifics, but I realize it’s more appropriate to call people by their last names and to use an honorific when speaking someone’s name here in Japan, so what’s appropriate here?” I ask.

“For Hikaru? His given name is fine, I promise. He’s a residential advisor at the college and has a ton of foreign students in his wing, so most just call him Hikaru. He doesn’t mind, I promise; he actually prefers it. I guarantee that if you use his last name or call him Hikaru-san, he’ll ask you to call him Hikaru.”

As we step into the busy subway station, I immediately see a mass of ghosts hovering around as people move here and there. They all seem to be focused on one single point, and it sinks in exactly what it is as I catch sight of them.

“Hmm… I don’t see him yet,” Yumi says, even though I could tell her right where he is. I can’t see him either, but the ghosts from the pictures clearly haven’t left him alone.

“I think that’s him over there?” Maddox says as he stares right into the thickest part of the ghosts.

She looks to where Maddox is focused and nods. “Benefits of being tall.”

“Sure is,” he agrees with a laugh as we head toward the gathering of ghosts.

“That doesn’t look good,” Natalie says.

“Hiro… do you ever just wake up and go ‘Today, I’m not going to run headfirst into shit’?” Reggie asks.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the only direction Hiro knows how to head,” Keaton says.

And I don’t know why it irritates me a little. I want to tell them that I don’t want this. But I know it’s not their fault and I’m just getting upset for no reason.

Maddox, who’d been walking with Yumi, stops to look at me as she continues on toward her boyfriend. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong?”

I didn’t plan to say anything to Maddox because I don’t want to bother him with more of my nonsense, but I know he genuinely cares so I shouldn’t hide it from him. “I just… I fucking want one day without all of this bullshit… I wanted to have a vacation with you and relax and…”

Maddox reaches out and squeezes my shoulder. “I’m sorry. Are they that bad?”

“I can’t even see the guy… there are so many.”

“Do you want to go back? We can just tell them that I don’t feel good.”

The idea of going back sounds even worse than dealing with all of this. I didn’t fly all the way here to hide from the dead. “No! I didn’t come all the way to Japan to sit in my room. I’m just…” Upset? Overwhelmed? Discouraged?

I feel something brush against my leg and look down as Spite hops onto the scene. Since the raven doesn’t seem to know how to go through walls even though he’s a ghost, I’d wondered if he’d follow me all the way out here, but clearly, he’s a determined bird. He cocks his head to look up at me with a beady black eye before flying up to my shoulder and tugging a bit of my hair.

His talons dig into my shoulder, but I only find comfort in them. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m getting frustrated when the majority of people around me are here because of what I can do, and I love them all very much.”

“Yeah, but a horde of ghosts is much different than like… Reggie.”

“I’d rather take on a horde of ghosts than Reggie any day,” I tease.

Reggie gasps. “Excuse me? I am… magnificent . How dare you? Is it because I’m too magnificent? Do I outmagnificent you so much that it hurts inside?”

“Oh yes, it hurts how magnificent you are,” I grumble. “Can you guys try to see why they are here?”

“Of course,” Keaton says as he hurries over to a ghost who turns away from the gruff man strutting over to him.

“I’ll woo them, don’t worry,” Natalie says as she rushes toward them.

“Do you think he killed them?” Maddox asks.

“I don’t know, but if he did… he’s quite the prolific killer. There are at least twenty or thirty ghosts here. I guess ghosts are drawn to people, though, so not necessarily all of them would be his, but to have a following like this, it’d take a lot of death…”

Yumi looks back at us, probably surprised we’d stayed behind. So I take a deep breath and start toward them, plastering a smile on my face as I go.

I just have to walk through them. I just have to pretend they’re not there and step right through them. Focus… focus…

I step through the first one and shiver as a horrible feeling washes through my body. Now, I only have ten or so more to push through to reach Yumi and her boyfriend.

How simple.

“Just pretend they’re naked,” Reggie unhelpfully says.

“Ooh yes, I love naked people. I like to pretend to know what everyone looks like naked. Ooh! Hiro, would it help if I was naked?” Natalie asks, as if that would help anything .

“I would take his silence as a yes,” Reggie tells her.

“No!” I say.

“No what?” Maddox asks.

“You don’t want to know,” I respond, but I realize that I was distracted enough that I managed to get through most of them without grimacing and shuddering, so I’ll call that a win.

“This is Hikaru. Hikaru, this is my cousin Hiro and his boyfriend Maddox,” Yumi says as I finally get my first look at the man. He’s absolutely coated in ghosts. One is wrapped around him, another seems to be trying to pull him back, but they’re all fixated on him. They don’t even seem to care that I can interact with ghosts, which is rather concerning.

“Hi,” he says. “It’s wonderful to finally get to meet you. Yumi has been very excited and was so thrilled you two could come.”

“I’m really glad she reached out to me. I… probably should have reached out myself but…” I hesitate. “I don’t know… I guess I didn’t know how to go about it.”

“It’s okay,” she says with a smile. “Now let’s get going! First up is Fushimi Inari shrine. You’re going to absolutely love it.”

“The pictures online look gorgeous,” I say.

She hurries us off to the correct subway platform as Hikaru’s ghosts dutifully trail after him. They’re so… fixated on him.

“Hey… hey… hey…” Reggie calls as he waves his hand in front of a woman’s face, but she only has eyes for Hikaru. “But I’m so pretty! You won’t look at me even though I’m so pretty?”

“Maybe she likes the ladies,” Natalie says.

What if I’m thinking the worst and there’s something medically wrong with Hikaru? And I’m over here dubbing him a serial killer when he could have something he doesn’t even know about slowly killing him?

“They won’t even look at me,” Natalie says. “Hiro, look how bad it is.” She lifts her shirt, flashing everyone—me included. “They won’t even look at my rack! And it’s so nice.”

“It is really nice,” Reggie assures her. “Oooh. Maybe they want mine instead.” He lifts his shirt and absolutely no one is impressed. “Keaton… Hey, Keaton. I know you wanna look.”

“Your face tells me I shouldn’t even ask what’s happening,” Maddox comments quietly.

I lean in so I can whisper to him without anyone else hearing. “Natalie and Reggie are flashing them instead of communicating with them like I asked.”

“Ah…”

“We tried communication!” Reggie says. “It didn’t work. They won’t even look at me. See?” He stops in front of one and the woman just plows him out of the way like she doesn’t even notice Reggie’s there. “They only have eyes for this less superior man. I wish Keaton only had eyes for me.”

“You guys trying to get their attention?” a random ghost asks.

“Yeah. What’s going on?” Natalie asks.

“No fucking clue. I noticed them about a week ago because they follow this kid around constantly. I’m a nosy, nosy man, so I was following to see what might happen, but so far nothing. They just stare and follow. Stare and follow. I kind of got bored of it, so I wandered off until I saw you guys being nosy and remembered that I wanted to be nosy.”

“The subway is coming,” Yumi says as I hear it approaching. As soon as it arrives, we shuffle on, but now I’m boxed in a small space with all of these ghosts. There’s not much room to sit besides priority seating, so I grab a handle and keep myself tucked in the back with Maddox as the ghosts pack in around me.

The people inside the subway car are pretty quiet, unlike any of the trains or subways I’ve ridden in the US, and I don’t know if it makes it worse or better. I feel like it’s better that I don’t have to try to pay attention to anyone talking while I’m jostled around by ghosts that I have to use far too much power to make incorporeal, but it also makes it so they’re the only thing I can focus on.

They are all wearing modern clothes, and their lack of interaction or communication makes me wonder if they’re all newer ghosts, but… it’s hard to tell when they act like this. There’s also a mixture of age and ethnicity, although none of them are young.

“Shoo, now. Go find someone else to haunt,” Natalie says as she tries pushing one out of the subway car. The woman refuses to move. She just stays fixated on Hikaru.

“Hiro!” Yumi says, making me jump. “We’re getting off here.”

“Okay!” I reply as I follow her off. One of the ghosts bumps into me, slamming me back into Maddox, which is the only silver lining. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he says as he steadies me.

Quickly, I follow Yumi to the exit as people and ghosts crowd around me. I’m thrilled when we finally step outside and I can breathe a bit.

“How long are you two in Japan for?” Hikaru asks.

“About two weeks,” I answer.

“That’s awesome. I was actually a foreign exchange student in the US during high school. Absolutely loved it. Then I did a few months in England for college last year,” he says. “Yumi’s super jealous.”

“If you two ever want to go to the US, our spare bedroom is open,” I assure them.

“That would be fantastic,” Yumi says.

I look around at the masses of people streaming past, multiple tour groups mixed in.

“You weren’t kidding that this area is busy,” I comment.

“Right? And imagine if we arrived later,” she says as I see the hint of a shrine ahead of us.

“Oh wow, look at that torii gate,” I enthuse, forgetting all about the ghosts as I see the huge red gate many are taking pictures in front of.

“If you’re excited seeing that one, wait until you see the small ones. There are thousands of torii gates here,” Yumi says.

“What are torii gates?” Maddox asks.

“That red… thing,” I say, realizing that maybe I shouldn’t have been the one to answer that question.

He scrutinizes it. “It’s really neat, but it doesn’t look much like a gate.”

“They’re not like… what you’d think of as a gate,” Hikaru explains. “They’re there to mark the entrance of a Shinto shrine. They’re like… the entranceway from our world to the world of the gods.”

“This is so neat,” I say, wondering what it would’ve been like to come here with my mom. She lived nearby, so I’m sure she came here… I wonder what she could have told me about her experience here.

“This is gorgeous,” Maddox says as he takes it all in.

“I can take a picture of you two if you’d like?” Yumi asks.

Maddox thanks her as he hands her his phone. She waves us back before giving us a nod, and I try to look at her and not at the way the ghosts are pulling at Hikaru. It’s like they’re wanting to keep him back. To keep him away from… something.

Then I notice Reggie, Natalie, and Keaton watching us, and I nod them over.

“Can you do one more?” I ask.

“I can do as many as you’d like,” Yumi assures me.

“You know we can’t show up in pictures, right?” Keaton asks.

“I don’t care. I want you all here,” I say.

I grab Reggie’s hand and press it against Maddox’s back, forcing Maddox to feel him. Startled, Maddox looks to his right, where Reggie is standing, and even though I know he can’t see him, I’m allowing him to feel a part of him. Natalie grabs on to me, hugging me close.

“This is ridiculous. It’s not like we can be seen in it,” Keaton grumbles, but he’s willingly getting into position.

“But I’ll know you’re in it. So squeeze your ass in tight.”

Maddox reaches back and cups Reggie’s hand as she takes the photo.

“Fuck! You’re getting me right in the feels, Hiro. The feels ,” Reggie says quite dramatically, but as I glance over at Maddox, it looks like I’m getting him right in the feels too.

“Perfect!” Yumi says as she rushes over to show us. “Are you happy with those?”

“Very much. Thank you,” I tell her.

“Now we have a lot to see today, so you better get ready,” she says as she hurries up the steps to the shrine. Maddox and I are both simply awestruck as we fall into a flow of tourists snapping pictures and looking here and there. Yumi, who has surely been here often, doesn’t mind our gawking and shuffling speed as she chats with her boyfriend who smiles sweetly at her.

“I’m having trouble seeing him as a serial killer,” I mutter to Maddox since the two of them stayed back while we went up to get a closer look.

“It’s not always easy to figure out who is or isn’t a killer. I’m not saying he is one, but I’m just saying that first impressions are often easily changed. So don’t write off anything yet.”

“I totally thought Hiro was a serial killer when I first saw him,” Reggie announces.

Natalie nods with enthusiasm. “Ohhhh yeah, me too. Me too.”

“I was like ten ,” I grumble at her. “Reggie and Natalie are both declaring that they thought I was a serial killer when they met me!” This makes Maddox laugh instead of defending me. “First Patricia, now those two!”

Maddox simply shrugs. “I’m going to be real honest… I thought it a time or two myself.”

My attention snaps over to him. “What did you just say?”

“I’m sure I’ve told you this.”

“If you did, I erased it from my memory out of horror. You thought I was a serial killer?” I grab his arm and force him to face me.

Maddox is trying his hardest not to beam at me. “Alright… let me lay out some facts for you. Let’s say that I have a suspicious individual who happens to arrive every time someone is dead. There’s no clear indicator that he’s got an in somewhere. And whenever I interact with him, he’s suspiciously innocent but very vague. His stories rarely add up perfectly. But then… how is he always with dead bodies… unless he’s the one killing them.”

I gape at him. “He sounds like a magical and wonderful person!”

He raises an eyebrow.

“Who might also be a serial killer… fuck… fine! You’re the only one who had any reason for thinking that I might be a serial killer. The rest of you had no reason at all!” I declare.

“And me,” Natalie says.

“I was ten!”

“Mini serial killer,” she says. “I still remember the day you asked to touch my boobs.”

Reggie gasps. “Oh? He did ? And he was over here judging me for saying they looked nice. Keaton, does my chest look nice?”

Keaton just grunts.

“I didn’t ask to touch your boobs.”

Maddox scrutinizes me. “So we’re off the serial killer part and on to boobs?”

“Natalie is claiming that I asked to touch hers. Just… let’s enjoy the shrine! We shouldn’t be talking about this nonsense here anyway!” I say as we catch up with Yumi and Hikaru.

“Now for the truly magical part,” Yumi informs us as she steps into the flow of traffic. She leads us to where the torii gates are situated side by side down a long and winding path, making almost a tunnel to walk through. There are so many of them, lined down the walkway in such a fascinating arrangement. It’s truly a gorgeous sight.

“This is so neat,” I say. “Thank you both so much for bringing us here.”

“Of course,” she responds. “Now this goes on for a while . So we’ll just walk for a bit before turning around, then maybe grab some lunch and then go see some more stuff?”

“Perfect,” I say as I try to keep ahead of Hikaru; otherwise I can’t see a damn thing besides his plentiful ghosts. We walk for a while as the day starts to get warmer and I realize that I’m not sure how much longer I can keep my long-sleeved overshirt on to hide the bruises on my arms. I tug at the sleeves a little to see how high I can get them up before the bruises begin to show.

“You look like you’re sweltering,” Maddox says.

“It’s just because I’m so close to you,” I assure him.

“Smooth. You know, you’re just going to have to take them off. Tell them… it happened while doing some consultant work with me. A distraught… mother grabbed you.”

“Shredded my skin and bruised my arms all up?” I ask suspiciously.

“Yeah… she was very distraught.”

“Very distraught indeed,” I mutter.

Yumi turns to us after we’ve taken time to walk down the paths and check out the different buildings. “Would you two like to grab some lunch? The next stop is about half an hour from here.”

“Yeah, lunch sounds great,” I say, even though I’m not sure how hungry I am after that giant breakfast.

“Anything specific you two like or dislike?” Hikaru asks.

“I’m up for anything,” Maddox says. “Hiro isn’t a fan of raw fish but will eat just about anything else. And I will eat most things.”

After Yumi and Hikaru decide on their favorite place in the area, they head off as we trail after them.