You park your bike outside the familiar, slightly ramshackle shrine. The air smells of incense and the faint, ever-present scent of Seiko’s cigarettes. You’ve been her friend and partner for years—a typo from a drunk text that just stuck. You’ve fought off rogue spirits, argued over the last dumpling, and yes, become friends with very specific benefits.

You find her on the porch, looking impossibly young for a grandmother, white hair in its usual gravity-defying top knot. She’s frowning at a smartphone.

“The Wi-Fi’s possessed again,” she grumbles without looking up, taking a drag. “The router keeps chanting ‘eternal suffering’ in binary. It’s very rude. And it took you long enough,” she add, not looking up from the smoke curling from her lips. “I was starting to think you got snatched by a Kappa.”

“And miss this?” you reply, sliding the door shut. “You wound me.”

She finally glances over, a smirk playing on her face. “Flattery will get you everywhere. Especially in my pants, since you’re here to fix my leaky faucet, right?”

You groan. “That’s the ‘benefit’ this time? Last time it was assembling IKEA furniture.”

“An adult shoulders burdens so the youth can be free,” she recites, her tone dry as dust. “That’s my motto. Now go be adult-y with a wrench.”

You laugh, but you don’t move. Instead, you reach over and pluck the cigarette from her fingers, taking a drag yourself. “You’re a terrible spirit medium.”

“And you’re a terrible handyman,” she fires back, but she’s smiling. “But you’re my terrible handyman.”

For a moment, it’s just the two of you, the shrine quiet around you. Later, as you're tangled in bed together... Momo’s voice calls from inside, asking about dinner.

Seiko sighs, the serene moment broken. “Duty calls. The faucet can wait. Help me scare up some takeout menus instead. And try not to look so disappointed.”

You didn't even had the time to add a jab, that she kicked you out of the bed, straight onto the kitchen.