Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izumi Kyoka was walking down the streets of Morioh, enjoying the weather and killing some time before a meeting, when she passed by the café. As chance would have it, she saw Rohan Kishibe sitting at his usual spot: a table as far from the others as could be. She waved to him, but Rohan just ducked his head into his sketchbook.

“Of all the people…” he thought. He didn’t hate Izumi, not by any means, but he did find her a bit pushy.

Persistent.

Peppy.

Whatever the word, he wasn’t quite in the mood to carry on a conversation.

Izumi walked over to his table, not taking a head duck for an answer, and took the seat across from him.

“Looks like you found me…” Rohan said flatly, lowering his book.

“I’m not going to be staying too long, I’ve got a meeting in an hour and a half.”

“So what are you doing here?” He pushed his sketchbook and other supplies off to the side. With another person around, they wouldn’t find a chance to be used anytime soon.

“Nothing special. I just saw you and thought I’d say hi!” she smiled, “Have you ordered anything yet?”

Just in time, a waiter made their rounds over to their table.

“I guess I am now,” Rohan replied, “A café au lait and a water.” The waiter nodded, and left.

Izumi put her chin on her hand and smiled. “You knew that was my favorite, didn’t you?”

“I remember lots of things about lots of people…”

He wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, or why, against his better judgement, he had even let it continue in the first place.
Perhaps he wanted the company? It wasn’t something he’d usually admit, not even to himself, but the feeling arose regardless. Perhaps something interesting could come out of today.

“Then why don’t you ever come and sit with me when I go out? I feel like I tell you all the time how I enjoy your company, as limited as it may be.” she teased.

Ruining the chance for her to get a reply, their waiter returned with their drinks.

----

“So what were you drawing?” Izumi asked. She looked over the sketchbook and saw a full page of doodles. Abstract and messy they were, though she felt she could almost make out designs forming in the center of the storm. ‘Deliberate Chaos’ was all she could think to describe it as before the page was shut.

“It’s nothing, really.”

“Don’t be modest. This is really good! Is this what you draw when you’re not working?”

Rohan shrugged. “It never hurts to experiment.” He leaned his chin on his palm. “With the new part of my manga starting, I think it’d be good to branch out, try other styles. I mean, heh, you’ve seen all the artbooks in that library of mine. I haven’t worked with half of what I’ve got.”

Izumi started aimlessly stirring her coffee and keeping her eyes down. He could feel the table shaking from her foot tapping.

“You alright?”

“Speaking of, that reminds me- I’ve actually got something I think we should talk about.”

Rohan reached for his glass. The nearly overfilled ice rattled against the sides the same way his thoughts were racing to only guess what was so important. He knew as well as anyone else did that ‘we should talk’ never brought anyone any good.

“Since Taro’s moved out, I was wondering if, well, just because our current place was so big...”

-go on, go on-

“could I possibly move in with you?”

Rohan nearly choked on his water. “‽‽‽”

Of all things considered, that hadn’t made the list.

Izumi continued, “I just don’t see any reason for staying in such a large place if it’s just gonna be myself. Think about it for a bit... I don’t like being alone, and you--” “Would rather be alone.”

She sighed. “I can be quiet--”

“Ha! You’re one of the most talkative people I know.”

“Coming from you! You probably say that about everyone.”

“Most everyone. But speaking of talkative people, have you said anything to Jugo about this?”

“I would’ve, but we haven’t talked in a while, and last I’ve heard, he’s got a girlfriend.”

“Really?”

“Well, it did come from a primary source, mind you.”

“Of course it did.” Rohan stole a glance at his watch. “Hey, what time did you say your meeting was? 4:00?”

“4:30.”

“Mhm.”

Rohan stood up and stretched. “Well, I feel like I should start heading back home.” He subtly dug in his pocket, then whipped out a set of keys and dramatically tossed them to Izumi. The catch took both hands, but as soon as she did, she smiled, leapt to her feet, and hugged him tight. “Oh, thank you!”

“Oi!”

Rohan froze at her touch, but Izumi quickly let go and backed off.

“Sorry, sorry!” she held out her arms a bit, “hug?”

Rohan sighed, “Come here,” he said with a slight smile.

Izumi moved the same as last time, but slower, more thoughtfully. She wrapped her arms around him, letting herself fall into the hug, and pushing her face into his chest.

With this time not being as much of a surprise, the warmth of it was felt by both. When was the last time this had happened? He leaned into the embrace and put his arms around her, holding her back. It still took him a bit, but this time it was… comforting. Of course, with Rohan being himself, he wasn’t going to admit it to anyone. Not easily.

But neither of them had the time for this-

He leaned in and whispered, “Oi, you’ve got ten minutes.”

“Oh? Oh, the meeting!” She scrambled off him, grabbed her drink, and took off. “I’ll pay you back later, see you tonight!” She waved goodbye as she walked out of sight.

“What did I just get myself into…?” he mumbled as he fell back into his chair. He grabbed his sketchbook and tapped his pen against the table. A thought grew in his head and he paused. “How long is this going to be for? No, no, don’t reconsider now. I can work around this. I’ve had to live in much worse conditions.”

Gathering his things, he stood up, pushed his chair back in, and, after a few seconds, there was a pause.

“Dammit. Now I don't have a house key… What did I just get myself into?”

Chapter Text

A knocking at the door, then silence.

And another.

And it doesn’t stop!

“Just leave me alone already…” Rohan whined to himself. But not even his silent anger stopped the knocking. Defeatedly, he got up and answered the door.

Standing and smiling beyond the threshold, in a lovely blue and black coat, was, none other than, Kyoka. She was already carrying a number of bags and had a suitcase rolled up beside her. "I wanted to come by last night like I said, but it took me longer than I thought just to get this much together!"

Rohan held out a hand and took a few bags, a first for him, and held the door open. She stepped inside and went up the steps to his office. "Did I wake you up?"

"I've been up for hours already."

"But it's only 7 AM?"

"7: 34 , yes."

"Mhm, important distinction. So did you not sleep well? Did you stay up late expecting me to arrive?" She smiled.

Rohan stared. "I slept enough."

He wasn't about to tell her that his valued sleep schedule was only a few hours long, which would be a bad sleep for anyone. But neither would he say that he was in fact kept awake expecting her to arrive. Or rather, by the slightly dreadful thought of having another person in his house, on a non-temporary occasion, for the first time in many, many years. The solitude had become familiar enough to him that he never felt lonely anymore, or so he tells himself. Though, he would admit, that at times the silence could be deafening.

Once Rohan shook away his thoughts, Kyoka was back at the door, having already set her other bags... somewhere in his home.

"Is this it?" He asked.

"I've got some more in the car that you could help me carry in." 

“More? Are you moving everything in today?”

Kyoka held her arms out for a hug from her new housemate, who dodged to grab the leftover suitcase from her feet.

Rohan waved her towards the door as he set the armload of bags and suitcase in a small bedroom down the hall. None of her other bags from earlier were here, uh oh.

Rohan looked down the path from his house, through the dense trees and around the well-kept garden. It wasn't a horrible walk to the nearest path, but to whatever road Kyoka had been parked on... there was no telling where or how far it was.

Luckily, no one needed to tell, as there was someone -a little someone- who was more than happy to do the job for them. Running up the stony path was a little white terrier dog: Maron. She trotted alongside her humans the whole way there and back with an energy that would've carried all the luggage in the world if she could. Of course, the little dog became luggage herself by the end of their walk, but what was she to do?

"I know , I know,” Kyoka knelt down to grab Maron. “I should've called before bringing her with me, but I just can't leave her at home all day!"

Rohan glared, having never been a fan of dogs, or any pets, especially not cats, and the similarities between the two was not lost on him.

"It is alright if she stays with me though, right?”

"Kyoka..."

"She's a very sweet dog, and so quiet! I bet you wouldn't even notice her if she was right in your lap," Kyoka laughed. Little Maron was too busy sniffing a rock to care about the humans discussing her.

"The dog can stay. For now."

"Yes!"

Once inside, Kyoka stretched and took a deep breath as she admired the house. From the lofts above the office to the rooms branching off of rooms, she knew she’d have a good time staying here. Just getting used to her new home (hers!) would be an adventure in itself. And her dog had already begun finding her way around the house, learning which stairs were too high and which doors would close if she dared look in them. 

She ran off to the spare bedroom and laid out on her bed. There wasn’t as much of a view in the room, save for a towering bookcase and a window into the trees. The air was cold, and got colder as the door was thrown open and another large bag was thrown beside her.

“Don’t leave your things lying around in the kitchen.”

“Rohan! Don’t throw things at me!”

“Relax, I saw where you were.”

“Still…”

He flicked the ceiling light on. “I’ve got some tea made if you’d like to join me upstairs.”

They sat side-by-side on the library/balcony overlooking his office. Everything lying out on his desk was microscopic from up there, and while the chairs weren't as comfortable as the ones on the ground floor, the view certainly made up for it.

"So," Rohan began, "you wanted to move in with me, because your apartment was becoming too big for you? Wouldn't you say my home is too big for two people?"

"Well, not for two people, and a dog."

"A little, unnoticeable, dog.”

She glared, "Did you ever consider that maybe the size of the apartment wasn't the only issue? I just don't like being alone. And you're quiet, but at least I'll still be living with a friend.”

"A friend?"

"Don't tell me you've never had a friend before, Sensei..."

"I have plenty of friends! But what makes you think that I'd be the best one for you to live with?"

"Well, you let me stay over, which is already something. Two, you’re actually a nicer person than you act like. And it's just fun to be around you, how you're always talking about all these mysteries and supernatural things."

"You find that fun ?"

"It's a weird-fun. I don’t know anyone else like that.”

“Because other mangaka,” sip “are boring.”

“Well, not everyone’s boring! Plenty are weird too, just not as-” “Weird?” “...interesting. Like Jugo! I got an offer to start working for him too, recently.”

“Kyoka, you’ve met him once and he nearly tore my house apart.”

“Nooo, he’s fine. But that reminds me! You’ve gotta show me more of your hypnotism!”

“I couldn't teach you any of it.”

“See? You take this all so seriously like no one I've ever met, but you're still always trying to help people."

"Someone has to. If no one takes the supernatural seriously, then everyone's in danger. I've seen things happen to people that you wouldn't believe."

Kyoka leaned in closer to him, too close. No, no, move back…

"So have I,” she whispered.

"...?"

"Did I never tell you?! Back in school, whenever I used to stay late for my clubs I always would swear that someone was following me around! I get that being in a computer room after dark or backstage in a theater at any time is creepy, but I know someone was there. Anyways, one night, I started leaving small things out to see if they would move overnight, and guess what?!"

"They moved."

"Of course! But not only that, I actually saw what was doing it - a ghost. Of course, they were a friendly ghost, most ones in schools are, and we actually did have a nice conversation until they faded away."

"Are you sure you weren’t just hallucinating?"

"Come on! I just wonder why all the things that follow you are so much worse."

"You know, you’re one of the things that follows me around too."

“Mhm, so they always get me too.”

At that, Rohan sipped up the last of his tea, cup clinking against the saucer as he set the pair back on the table. Outside, the sky had already darkened from deep purple to black.

Kyoka stretched and headed for the stairs, "I think I'm going to get ready for bed, I feel like I've had such a long day already."

Rohan thought about her story. It almost seemed... unbelievable. Even by his standards, and he had met a ghost. A few, actually. Perhaps he didn't want to accept that others could see the same things he could. Of course not, not with pride like that. But was it pride or fear?

Kyoka was just such a normal person to be seeing spirits. Perhaps there was more to her that even she didn’t realize. But still, normal people shouldn’t be able to do that. They were just that, normal. 

And normal people wouldn’t know what to do if a spirit decided to attack.

Chapter Text

Darkness fading into light with a soft ringing of static. Everything feeling so weightless and heavy and painful.

Another headache. This early? Give me a break…

It's easy to wake up on the wrong side of the bed when you're in the wrong bed.

Due to certain circumstances, sleeping in the downstairs bedroom, where the sun shone through the windows and onto Rohan’s face at the first sight of the sun, just wasn’t possible. Every sound made by his editor and dog felt amplified to the light sleeper. And proximity to his workspace be damned, he needed the sleep to do any work in the first place, even if it meant moving to the room on the opposite end of the house. Things begrudgingly worked out, until…

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch-

Oh, you sweet stupid dog.

Rohan shifted in bed. Upon opening his eyes, he was nearly blinded by a stray beam of light coming in from the window. Natural light illuminated the room with the same strength as the sticky-sweet stench of coffee which hung in the air. He lay still, not wanting his needed rest to end, not wanting to leave the warmth of the bed, but-

Scratch, scratch, scratch-

Rohan threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood, nearly fainting as he threw the door open to narrowly miss the little white dog staring up at him. Maron’s tail just wagged despite everything. The little paws leaped to lick at his feet.

He pushed the dog away with a foot. “Go! Go find Kyoka and bother her instead!”

The little dog shrank back and scurried off, claws scratching on the hardwood floor the whole way. Annoying little thing.

Rohan threw his head back in a yawn and tumbled over to the bed. He laced his fingers and held his arms up, then alternated stretching them across his chest, yawn, and as he started to bend forward, he caught notice of something in the doorway.

Lying where Maron had been just seconds ago: a small rock.

Nothing too unusual for a dog to carry inside, but as Rohan picked it up, everything about the rock became strange.

No, nope. He dropped the rock in his pocket. It’s too early to deal with anything weird.

The artist resigned and made his way downstairs as well.

No point in trying to sleep now.

Rohan threw himself into one of the chairs in his office with a sigh. The dull pain in his head felt as if someone had hit him with a rock instead of the thing just showing up at the doorstep. Rohan glanced at his desk, at the bookshelf, at the door. Maron walked up and obscured his view, and didn't stop for permission before jumping in Rohan's lap and curling up.

Sniff.

Rohan brought a hand to his sore forehead, and another to the dog's back. The wiry white fur was plenty warm under his cold hand. And the dog thought so too - she wriggled around and began licking his hand.

"Stop that!" Lick.

"That's gross!" Lick lick.

Rohan pulled his hands away and let the little dog settle down.

"Oh, Rohan, are you finally awake?" Kyoka reported from down the hall, "Would you like some coffee?"

"I'd like for you to get your dog."

"Was she bothering you?"

"She clawed at my door until I woke up. And now she won’t stop licking me.”

With the squeak of a door, Kyoka came into the office, smiling. "Well, that's what dogs do. Just set her down if you don’t like it. Coffee?"

"Sure."

Kyoka took the opposite seat as she handed him a cup of coffee. She swirled the mug and watched the creamy milk finish mixing with the dark coffee, turning the whole thing a lovely soft orange. As warm as it looked was as warm as it felt, as well. Almost overpoweringly sweet, but that’s why she always made her coffee separate.

She looked up, and saw that instead of simply enjoying his coffee, which was precariously balanced upon the towel laid over Maron’s back, Rohan had been staring at a rock in his hand. Studying every bump, every curve, and every chip as his drink grew colder by the second.
He didn’t seem to notice, though. He wasn’t noticing anything.

Kyoka stared at him just a bit longer, taking the time to appreciate how calm, how happy he looked when he was really interested in something. Oh, he really isn’t noticing anything today.

Rohan turned the rock in his hand. Its ridges were oddly even all around, almost like an acorn cap, but the weight- “I wanna talk to you about our work schedule this week.” -was shocking. It felt as if the stone was composed of solid tungsten- “So how did you sleep last night?” -ha, well, or something, and it was nearly completely smooth on the very top and bottom. “… wasn’t great since you’re usually up so early. Sorry, I guess I should’ve…” But the ridges, they were quite sharp, now that he ran a finger over them. A poke in the wrong direction was enough to draw a drop of blood. Huh.

“What’s so interesting, Rohan?”

He dropped the rock. It bounced off the rim of the mug and slid down the dog. Only the carpet kept it from chipping the floor. What was so interesting?

He whipped up towards her voice. “Hm? I guess I zoned out.”

Kyoka turned away, laughing enough to make her mug come dangerously close to spilling.

"What?"

"I've- I’ve just, heheh. It’s, ah, I've never seen you without that headband on! Your hair's so much longer than I imagined it.”

Rohan ran a finger along the scarred skin of his forehead. Yep. Gone. He posed an arm, holding his sleeve over his face, and kept his eyes down.

"So I take it you didn’t get great sleep last night.”

“I didn’t. Is the coffee you make always this sweet?"

“Have you even tried it yet?”

He glared and took a long sip.

“Anyways!" Kyoka interjected, "You made me forget what I was gonna tell you, so if it was something important, I’m kicking you out as soon as I remember it.”

“You can’t-” “I’m kidding! kidding… That’s another thing: I’ll teach you how to take jokes while I’m here.”

“Hmm.” Sip.

Time passed, and they sat drinking and enjoying each other's silent company. Kyoka couldn't think of much else to say, and she didn't exactly want to. She could tell from his persistent glare that Rohan just wasn't in the mood to talk. Perhaps he's still embarrassed from earlier.

“Well,” Kyoka started, setting her cup down, “I’ve got a bit of work I’d like to do before it gets too late in the day; maybe you could finish those last few pages for me in the meantime? Come on, Maron!”

The little dog’s ears perked up and she scrambled out of Rohan’s lap, taking his coffee with her.

In slow motion, the cup flew in the air as drops of black sunk in fast upon Rohan’s white shirt.

He sat there, paralyzed, staring between his editor and the dog who made a bad morning worse.

Rohan let out an exasperated sigh as he stood and sulked upstairs.

Kyoka looked at the overturned mug. Lying beside it, hiding behind the corner of the table, was the rock Rohan had dropped. And lying beside that rock was… yet another rock.

“Maron, you’ve been busy this morning.”

Kyoka sat in her bedroom-office and typed.

Words filled her screen, and filled various emails, pages of notes, and personal projects she thought would never get finished. Maron was asleep in her lap, occasionally kicking and causing a typo. She stroked down the dog’s back and scratched behind the ears to buy herself some more writing time. The dog’s kicking wasn’t her only distraction, however. Muttering and footsteps were heard from behind the wall, but not loud enough that they couldn’t be tuned out.

About every ten minutes, she gave herself a break to just breathe and stare out at her new room. From the expanding line of rocks and papers atop a stolen folding table to the bookshelf beside her. Rows and rows of all manner of books.

And they all looked a bit… boring. She just didn’t have the same interest in all the specifics and technical aspects of art as Rohan did, nor in architecture, nor in history. Though, the photos in them were nice. She had to wonder what else he had stowed away in all these rooms. Any fashion design books he had, and there just had to be a few, were probably going to be in the office.

Kyoka turned the corner around her room, and turned another into the office, and as she opened the door, the shuffling of papers and miscellany grew loud enough to be concerning. Her smile faltered when she saw that it was Rohan, now in a grey sweater, crouched down with his head in the fireplace.

“Looking for something?”

Rohan jumped to his feet with a shout and hit the back of his neck against the brick mantle. He fell back to his knees, and Kyoka ran over to him.

“Are you alright?” She asked, placing her own still-cold hands on the red spot. Rohan just glared. He bent down again, on his knees this time, and sifted his hands through the ashes.

“Looking for that rock you had this morning?”

“It seems to have wandered off, yes.”

“I just set it down in my office so no one would step on it. But did you see there was another rock next to it?”

“?”

“Yeah, one second.” She dashed down the hall and came back with three or four of the rocks. “They’re all alike, too. Maybe it’s a fossil.”

Rohan turned the stone in his hand.

Kyoka continued her investigation: “Is this even a rock? It’s so heavy and so sharp…”

Rohan held his own rock up in front of his eye, staring at both subjects at once. “What do you know about the different types of rocks?”

“Hmm… well, I know there’s a lot of them.” Kyoka weighed the rock in her other hand.

“Volcanic rocks are formed, essentially, from cooled lava. One of the most popular kinds is pumice, which is known for its incredibly low density.”

“Mhmm…”

“Meaning, that despite looking like a solid rock, it can actually be light as foam and will easily float in water. So whatever this stone is, it’s the complete opposite of that.”

“You think it came from a volcano?”

“It’s a possibility. I’ve heard of similarly sharp rocks, in some cases with exposed diamonds, suddenly appearing around volcanoes. Even ones which have been considered extinct have had these things show up.” -He paused, eyes catching the light shining off Kyoka’s phone as she became preoccupied with answering some annoying text message. And he smiled- “People have said that these exact rocks are actually a type of meteorite, and finding them symbolized that their site was religiously important in some ancient time. Of course, it’s only a few who say that, and those diamond rocks have never been found more than a mile from a volcano, which makes this one particularly interesting.”

“Wow, that is really interesting. I haven’t heard of anything like that ever.”

“Hmph, you would if you paid attention and read any of the articles I sent you!”

She held her phone to her chest. “Welllll-, maybe we could just go there and see it for ourselves! The company’s been waiting just anxiously for you to schedule our next annual research trip.”

“I’ll… consider it.”

“Yes! It’ll be so much fun! The beaches are just lovely, with all the trees, and-” “Hold on, our trip?” “-I’d love to see more of the waterfalls!”

“Oi, wait, please, don’t get excited. I just said it was a consideration!”