Yuu can do it!

'Ghosting' taken a little bit too far

Ito had been gone for five minutes.

One of the sofas had collapsed so they had decided to drag it out into another room to scrap later, and by the time they had come back, Kuroki had apparently decided to adopt the tiny monster that had tried to kill them not even a few hours prior.

Kinda makes them worry about what Enma was doing, it had been a while since they'd last seen him, but they're not going to think about that right now.

Ito sighed. "Okay, why is Grim here?"

"Cleaning," said Kuroki. Grim held up his feather duster in agreement.

"That is not –." They shook their head with a deep sigh. "That monster literally tried to kill us. Over clothes."

"How is this the thing you're normal about?" complained Kuroki.

"I need at least six days before I forgive people for attempted murder," Ito deadpanned.

The moment they turned their exhausted gaze on Grim, who had been, wisely, quiet this entire time, the monster's eyes welled with tears. "Don't be mean, human! Ain't you going to ask what I'm doin' here? That's what you people do, right? Talk about feelings and stuff? It wouldn't kill you to listen to me!"

Ito took a step back in surprise. How was the monster making them feel bad about being wary of someone that had attacked them?! How was that fair?! It actually might kill them to listen to him!

Grim must have taken their stunned silence as a cue to go on, because he pressed a hand to the white fur of his chest:

"I was born to be the greatest mage who ever lived! So I've been waitin' and waitin' for that black carriage to come for me..." The cat-like slant of his eyes lowered in apparent sadness. "For so long... but that Dark Mirror has no eye for talent! Was it really wrong of me to take initiative and come here myself?"

"Oh, Grim, that's..." said Kuroki, frowning.

"Yeah..." Ito agreed quietly.

Only for them to whip around to glare at Kuroki as a realization hit them: "Hold on, you didn't know either? Why'd you let him in, then?!"

"I don't know! He's cute!" Kuroki tried to defend himself. Emphasis on the word tried.

But Ito just shook their head and allowed it. The monster didn't seem all that intent on hurting them now that they weren't in the way of him getting into his coveted school, so they weren't in danger.

Besides, the flames from his ears made for steady light in a place with light fixtures so dim and muted by grime they may as well have been off.

Speaking of his ears, Grim jumped when a drop of water hit him in the head. "Gah! Can't either of you magic away these leaks? These flaming ears are my trademark, y'know! Can't have 'em getting doused!"

"Forgetting something?" Kuroki said, rolling his eyes.

Grim's forlorn expression quickly contorted into a smirk. "Ah, that's right! You can't use magic! You guys are kinda useless, aren't you?"

"Well, why don't you fix them, then?"

"I don't work for free. Now, if you had a couple of tuna cans, then we could talk."

Ito doubted that he knew how to do anything but spew fire, but they figured arguing the point wasn't worth it. The leaky roof wasn't going to deal with itself and, if Grim wasn't going to help, then it was up to them.

They set some buckets and spare pots under the leaks in the ceiling. Maybe they could even use the rainwater to mop if they managed to get enough of it, since the chances of the water being okay in a place like this were close to zero. Gotta love efficient thinking.