welcome to the home page of "there's a ghost in my home, but it's better than being alone"! this is an a3! fanfiction i wrote and have published on ao3, but ao3 isn't the best site ever ethics wise so i figured i'd crosspost it on my own website.

it is a fanfiction, but you don't need a lot of knowledge of a3 because i took canon and threw it out the window. basically, the og plot of a3 is that everybody's one big found family. i took that away and made everybody suffer! largely unedited since i first posted each chapter.

TWS: suicide, car accidents, death, etc. heavy stuff.

This was it. His final moment. A thirteen year old boy named Masumi held a rope in his shaking hands. He was going to tie this, tie it to the ceiling, and he’ll finally know peace. It’s not like his parents will notice until the housekeeper comes in and sees his corpse. Would anyone even care? He’ll have a quick funeral and everyone will move on. Would his mother cry? Masumi never saw her cry, really hadn’t seen much of her at all.

He had already googled how to tie a noose knot. Make an eight with the rope, wrap it around the upper loop, wrap six more times, pass it through, pull, and tighten. Done. Masumi stood on the chair he prepared, and tied the other end of the rope to the rafters. He nestled his chin into the rope, and was about to kick the chair before he heard a voice.

“Stop dude, stop!” a voice called. Masumi was so startled he nearly fell off the chair. He pulled his head out to look around. Did the housekeeper arrive a day early? But she doesn’t call him dude?

“This isn’t the solution! You’ll have so many regrets!” The voice continued, and Masumi saw something. A red-headed boy standing below him, probably his age.

Masumi was pissed off. “Who the hell are you?” Masumi asked, still standing on his chair, one hand holding onto the noose like a subway handle. Some random guy is in his house, and interrupting him killing himself.

“You can see me?” The boy looked really surprised for someone who was most likely breaking and entering. “I’m Taichi!”

“Why are you in my house.” What the hell did this kid mean by “You can see me?” Fucking duh, why wouldn’t he be able to. What kind of thief has bright red hair?

“Um, this may be hard to take in but… I’m a ghost.” Taichi, who Masumi belatedly realized was transparent and floating, twiddled his thumbs.

“What.” Masumi looked down at Taichi, now both mentally and physically.

“Yeah, Watch this!” Taichi’s hand passed right through Masumi’s legs, Masumi feeling an uncomfortable chill.

“Ew.” Masumi was internally freaking out. Ghosts are real, and now he had one in his house. If he kicks out a ghost, won’t it try to haunt him? Can he get cursed or something? Why can he see ghosts?

“I’ve never had anyone see me before! This is so cool!” Taichi smiled and looked so happy, Masumi felt bad about thinking about Taichi haunting him. “I’ve just been wandering around for days, even my own family couldn’t see me.” He scratched his head. “It was really lonely…”

Great. The ghost was guilt-tripping him.

“What do you want from me?” Masumi stepped down from the chair, getting on eye level with the ghost. Well, almost. Taichi was still floating a few inches off the ground.

“Um, I don’t know. I didn’t think anyone would ever be able to see me.”

“Well, ghosts usually stick around for something.” Masumi recalled his movie knowledge. He had to get Taichi to pass on or something, right?

“I don’t remember much about my life…”

Masumi looked at the clock. 12:00 AM. Damn, he wanted to go to bed.

“Well, why are you here with me?” Masumi tapped his foot, impatient. He wanted to sleep or get dying over and done with. “Get out of my house, I’m busy.”

“I saw you hanging that noose! I can’t just let you die like me!” Taichi exclaimed, he teared up a bit.

“It’s none of your business.”

“But it is! I can’t ignore someone dying right in front of me!”

There was no reasoning with this guy. He was incredibly annoying and persistent. Masumi wanted to punch him in his ghost face, but his fist would probably go right through. Masumi took a better look at the ghost named Taichi. He was a pale translucent blue, but Masumi could still see his poorly dyed bright red hair. He had many piercings, and flashy clothes. His sweatshirt was… blood covered? Ew. How’d this guy die? Is asking how he died an insensitive question? Fuck it. Masumi never was one to be sensitive.

“How did you die?” Masumi asked.

Taichi startled. “Um, hit and run.” He looked really perturbed as he remembered it.

“When did you die?”

“I don’t know, I’ve been dead for a bit.” They both fell silent until Taichi spoke up. “Why do you want to die? It’s not fun being dead.” “I don’t need to answer that.” Masumi spat.

“I answered a tough question, so you should answer one too.”

“I hate my life, okay?”

“Why?”

No one had ever asked Masumi why. “Why? My parents hate me, they’re never home, I have no friends, it’s all pointless.” He didn’t know why he was saying all this to someone he just met.

Taichi frowned, then his face brightened. “I’ll be your friend! Nothing I can do about your parents, though.”

“What good is a ghost being my friend.” Masumi deadpanned.

“C'mon dude! I’m a great friend!”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Ugh… Oh, I just realized I haven't asked for your name! What kind of friend am I?”

“Masumi.”

“Pretty name! And you already know mine, Taichi Nanao!”

Masumi simply nodded in response. He was getting sleepy.

“I wanna go to bed. Get out of my house.”

“What? But I wanna keep you safe!”

“You can do that somewhere else. Just let me sleep.”

“Can we have a sleepover?” Taichi gave his best puppy dog eyes.

“Do whatever you want. Just don’t go in my room.”

“Aww…” Taichi whined but Masumi was already on his way to his bedroom.

Once in bed, Masumi googled “Taichi Nanao”. Not many results, except for a few articles.

“Tragic Accident: Teen Actor in Fatal Car Accident”

“Teen Dies in Hit-and-Run.”

“Breaking: God Troupe Ensemble Actor Dies In Car Accident.”

Taichi is, or was, an actor? What’s God Troupe? Masumi skimmed the articles. Taichi was a background member in God Troupe, an elite theater company. Masumi did some more googling. God Troupe did super flashy plays, and big-budget stuff. And it’s super hard to get into? Masumi didn’t have a good frame of reference, but Taichi must have been pretty good at acting from when he was alive.

One article had a picture of Taichi, taken from his old Insteblam. He was smiling, a skateboard under one arm. His eyes were really blue, and his hair was more vibrant. You could tell how happy he was in that moment. Masumi wished he had seen Taichi when he was alive. Just, to sate his curiosity.

Masumi searched up Taichi’s Insteblam. It consisted of normal pictures for a thirteen year old boy, mostly just Taichi. There weren’t many other people in his pictures. Just two kids, who Masumi guessed were his siblings. Masumi switched his phone off. He needed to sleep, not stalk Taichi’s Inste. He can worry about the ghost in his living room tomorrow.