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Matsui Gou had long since accepted that the incessant pestering was just a feature of the land. In his (extensive) real estate shopping experience, the properties listed for cheap and stamped over in claims of hauntings were nothing more than creepy old builds that have seen love and subpar renovations over the years. His most recent place of residence, however, is starting to make him regret choosing the more cost-effective housing option.
When it comes to restless spirits, it tends to be the angry and vengeful ones that stir up the most trouble in Matsui’s experience. One perk of living exclusively in old victorian buildings (that he swears catch the best prices and aren’t to match his stylistic choices. mostly.) is learning the history of the land through communing with the late residents. Most had passed by natural means; very few had actual violent deaths. Up until most recently Matsui had assumed the most annoying lingering spirit one could encounter would be an energetic child with an obsession with revenge, however that one had been quite gentle and was fond of flowers. No, his most recent deceased roommate was proving to be the worst of the worst when it comes to obnoxious living habits (could he even call it that?).
Tsurumaru Kuninaga was the absolute worst being Matsui had encountered in his entire three and a half centuries of life. Not only were their habitual activity hours almost entirely opposite, but the spirit had so little regard for the amount of noise he made. The noise level paired with Tsurumaru’s fixation on surprises and pranks were starting to make Matsui regret his most recent project.
The large building had a solid foundation and elegantly timeless room layout despite its age, Matsui had been excited to restore and decorate this gem of a find. The house itself had been passed down the branches of only one family tree, which fortunately meant the upgrades and renovations made had matched nicely to the style of the original build; too bad that meant all the design choices were absolutely heinous. The land had only gone onto the market once the last member of the family in ownership had passed with no descendants to inherit the building. Matsui hadn’t been fortunate enough to land ownership of the house when it first went onto the market, it passed through three or four sets of hands before Matsui finally managed to snag it for his restoration endeavors. Matsui got maybe a week and a half of peace before Tsurumaru realized Matsui could see him and the spirit decided to pester his new roommate.
“If you move my design book one more time I’m leaving the blender on all night and changing my streaming passwords.”
Matsui was nearing his limits. He was not above trying to punch a ghost, but he knew it would have no effect on the deceased prankster.
“I just want to see what you’re working on Matsu! Why do your plans have to be so secretive, it’s my house too!”
“Was your house. My name is on the deed now. If you absolutely must know, I’m knocking down the wall in the downstairs study to open up the library to the bay window. It’d be nice to be able to read under the moonlight.”
“You should put in more spiral staircases. Houses always look better with spiral staircases.”
“You can have a spiral staircase when you can install it yourself.” Matsui glares pointedly at the milky apparition.
Tsurumaru laughs to Matsui’s great displeasure. Tsurumaru’s deep laugh carries through the house, booming and reaching from basement to fourth floor attic. As annoying as it was at times, Matsui had grown to find comfort in the sound.
The spirit’s jovial laugh can be heard most commonly after his execution of a childish and sometimes less than tasteful prank. Sometimes Tsurumaru’s pranks can be as tame as blowing out the half-dozen candles Matsui had been using as a light source to read during a power outage. Less innocent pranks definitely ranged in severity, but one in particular comes to Matsui’s mind as a prime example.
-
The chill of a mid-January winter settled snugly over the half-inhabited fixer-upper. Matsui had made plans to spend a long weekend with his brothers leaving the empty residence in the hands of his departed roommate (a terrible choice probably). As Matsui puts his outer layers on and tucks his scarf into his collar he leaves Tsurumaru with parting rules.
“Don’t touch the thermostat or third floor bedrooms, not that you should need to. I’m still working up there and the walls are still drying. My netflix is still logged in so knock yourself out there, no deliveries while I’m gone please.”
Tsurumaru salutes, a mildly mischievous grin on his half-transparent face causing Matsui to narrow his eyes at the apparition.
“Behave yourself please. I’ll be back Monday evening.”
With that, Matsui departs and leaves the spirit to his own devices.
Upon Matsui’s return, the house seemed to be wholly untouched, just much much colder than when he has left it.
“Tsuru, I’m home. You turned the thermostat down didn’t you, I specifically told you not to-“ Matsui’s echoing arrival was cut short when he was suddenly looking at the kitchen ceiling, the sound of running water gently drawing his attention.
Picking himself up off the (frozen solid?) kitchen floor, the vampire carefully investigates. Upon observation, Matsui finds that the kitchen window had been left open in conjunction with the running and overflowing kitchen sink, leading to a personal ice skating rink to form in the kitchen.
Matsui caught himself before raising his voice, feeling a headache build behind his temples.
Tsurumaru peeks his luminous half-grin into the room, giggles bubbling in his transparent chest.
“Are you surprised?”
That stupid line that never fails to make Matsui’s blood boil immediately. He really shouldn’t actually be surprised at this point, but the damage the water and ice was going to inflict on the kitchen would set his work back weeks if not months.
Matsui learned his lesson, very explicit written out lists of acceptable activities the next time he had to leave the house for an extended period of time.
-
The worst of the pranks, however, were the ones involving innocent victims.
Despite not being alive during the age of technology, Tsurumaru picked up on basic functions of Matsui’s cellphone, tv, and laptop fairly quickly. In Matsui’s opinion, he learned a little too quickly. The spirit dismisses his worries as having “observed the realtors and past owners and had a lot of time to practice,” not that it makes the vampire feel any better.
A feature Tsurumaru doesn’t fully understand (but still makes frequent use of) is online shopping. Numerous times has Matsui been drawn away from his restoration project to grocery deliveries or amazon packages. One particular instance of a pizza delivery gone wrong still haunts his memories.
-
It’s never a good idea for a vampire to go without feeding for longer than about three days, but Matsui is incredibly stubborn and also incredibly dedicated to his craft. Matsui was coming up on about eight days since his last meal, but he was only about halfway done reflooring one of the third floor guest rooms. He told himself over and over that he could stop and break to go feed only after this guest room was fully finished, but the laminate floor panels had been delayed a few days, and there was some questionable carpeting under the last layer of flooring which took him another two days to remove, and before he knew it he was starving. Matsui couldn’t confidently say that he regularly fed himself, but he’d never gone quite this long between feedings before.
A knock at the front door accompanied by an offensive aroma drew Matsui’s attention away from his own thoughts. He rushed down the two flights of stairs, covering his nose at the smell growing in intensity. Upon glancing through the peephole, Matsui frowns and opens the door to unhappily greet a teenaged pizza delivery driver.
“I didn’t order a pizza,” Matsui didn’t intend to snap at the poor kid, but the garlic smell was heinously overwhelming his senses.
“I triple checked that I’m at the right address, delivery instructions said it was the weird haunted house. Just pay up so I can leave please. This place gives me the creeps.” The delivery driver shivered as he scanned over the front porch of the house.
As much as the kid frustrated Matsui, the garlic smell gave way to the sweet, hot, irony scent of blood running through his young veins. Matsui swallowed. His mouth was watering. He could allow himself a quick snack while the flooring installation was already on pause. The kid shifted again, a wave of iron aroma assaulting his nose. Matsui’s mind was made up before he even consciously made a decision.
Before the poor delivery driver could open his mouth to make another annoying remark, Matsui grabbed the kid by his collar and yanked him across the threshold, muffling his surprised shout with a hand before kicking the door closed and sinking his fangs into the boy’s neck. It didn’t take long for the venom to shock the delivery driver’s nerves and for him to go limp and unresponsive in Matsui’s grasp. Matsui held onto him, draining the kid of all life and energy.
The commotion in the front entryway drew a certain spirit’s curiosity. Matsui’s cellphone said the pizza order should arrive any minute now, so the noise should obviously just be Matsui collecting the baked cheesy delicacy, right? What Tsurumaru did not exact to see was a discarded pizza half out of its box leaving a marinara trail to Matsui latched onto the neck of the unconscious delivery driver being sucked dry like a caprisun. Tsurumaru is very rarely rendered speechless, but he has no words for this particular occasion.
Once all the warmth had been drained from the delivery driver, Matsui release the corpse from his hold, letting the body hit the ground with a thud. The vampire tucks his hair behind his ear and meets Tsurumaru’s gaze. Matsui smiles tenderly, mouth still smeared with blood, and Tsurumaru can’t help but find him beautiful, especially framed by the moonlight streaming in the windows of the entryway.
“Thank you, Tsurumaru. I made a mess, huh. Leave the cleanup to me.”
Tsurumaru couldn’t help but nod dumbly in response.
-
Matsui Gou shakes himself out of his thoughts and returns to plastering up the new library wall. Despite all the extra work and unneeded stress Tsurumaru brings to his current restoration project, Matsui decides he enjoys the company. Maybe he wouldn’t mind making the late Kuninaga residence his permanent home. At the very least, Matsui could invite his brothers over to meet Tsurumaru, maybe even stay a while. But those were decisions and plans for the future. In the present Matsui will continue making this haunted house a haunted home.