The next day as Khan was arriving back from school, the Kaikyos pulled up to The Rosario as well.  Izumi gave him the first month’s rent and deposit, Khan gave her the keys to 201.

Khan knew he should have just gone back to his apartment after that.  He needed to start establishing boundaries between himself and the tenants.  However, seeing the two diminutive women having to unload a rental truck into his building, he just couldn’t walk away.   “Why don’t I help you unload?”  He offered, grabbing a box.

“Isn’t that kind of Khan to offer?” Izumi asked her daughter.  Rin gave a grunt that acknowledged that she had heard her mother, but nothing else.  Khan and Rin began carrying a load into the building.

“You guys were able to move here pretty quickly, where were you staying before?”  Khan asked as they trudged up the stairs.

“I don’t really want to discuss our housing history with a slumlord.”  Rin flatly responded.

“Hey!”  Khan was taken off guard by this remark.  “I’m not a slumlord.”

“This is a slum and you’re the landlord.”  Rin responded.  In her mind this was a straightforward matter.

“Noooo.”  Khan slowly drew out the word.  “I know this building is old, but it’s not a slum.  A slumlord is an absentee landlord who doesn’t take care of the property.  I live right here at The Rosario, in apartment 101.  If you have a problem with your apartment you can come get me.”

Rin glared at him.  She didn’t have a retort but she wasn’t going to concede the point to Khan.  They continued unloading the truck, mostly in silence, only really talking to give each other directions while moving furniture up the stairs.  Khan was second guessing offering to help, but he took comfort in knowing that there wasn’t that much to move, by virtue of it being a one bedroom apartment.

When they were done, Izumi declared “Khan we are so grateful for your help.  Normally I would offer to cook you dinner but all my kitchen supplies are packed up.  So I’m going to run out and pick up something for all of us.  Stay right here, I’ll be back soon.”

“Well, I appreciate it but I think I’ll actually just go back to my place.”  Khan had his fill of Rin’s icy presence.

“No, no, no!”  Izumi objected.  “I absolutely insist.  Don’t go anywhere.  Rin honey, get Khan a drink.”  Rin scowled at her mother.  “Do it.”  Izmui stage whispered before showing herself out.

Rin gave a huff before opening a box, pulling out a glass, filling it up and handing the water to Khan.  “Here.”

“Thanks.”  Khan replied.  He didn’t mean to but it came out sounding sarcastic.  He was thirsty after helping them move.

“Just so we're clear, my mom is trying to set us up, and that is not going to happen.” Rin informed him.

“Yeah, I wasn’t really looking to go out with you either.”

Rin squinted at Khan, as if he’d given the wrong response.  They both stood there awkwardly.  Khan tapped his fingers on the glass.  Maybe he should just go back to his place anyway.  However, he then noticed a box marked “ghost stuff ”  It would be useful to know what equipment they had.  “What’s in there?”  He nodded to the box.

 “Bunch of crap.”  Rin responded.  A beat passed before she continued.  “My mom wants to find real scientific proof of ghosts.  She takes ghost hunting very seriously.  The problem is that ghost hunting is a very unserious activity.  So she just ends up wasting her life, and by extension, mine.”

“Oh.”  Khan nodded.  “But what’s in the box?”

Rin rolled her eyes before going over to open the box, and took out a device “This is a ghost scanner.”

“It looks like a radio.” Khan observed.

“That’s because it’s basically a radio that sucks.”  Rin explained.  “It rapidly cycles through radio stations.”  Rin turned it on  White noise came out, but then there would be a second of talk, more white noise, a second of music, more white noise.

Khan eyed the device.  “What’s the point of this?”

“Don’t you hear the ghosts talking to us?”  Rin asked.

“...No.”

“Yeah, because it’s nonsense.”  For the first time Rin cracked a hint of a smile. “But that’s only half the nonsense!”  Rin pulled out an eye mask and headphones.  “Do you want to talk to the dead?”

Khan shrugged “Sure.”

“So theory on this is, you will put on the eye mask and these noise canceling headphones which I will connect to the ghost scanner.  Then you just need to say what you hear.”

“Ok… how is that talking to ghosts?”

“Because I will be asking questions.  You won’t be able to hear my questions, but if the ghosts want to give us an answer, they will do so through radio transmissions.”

“Ah, so if one of the random things I say actually answers your questions, that means I heard it from a ghost.”

“That’s the idea.”  Rin confirmed.  “Shall we try it?”

They would try it.  Khan took a seat, put on the eye mask and the noise canceling headphones.  He tried to listen to the fragments of radio transmissions, but he wasn’t really able to make out anything.  “Yes?” he tentatively said, hoping Rin had asked a yes/no question.  Khan was just about to pull the headphones off, when he caught two words 

“Reach out” the ghost scanner said.

Alright, why not, Khan would play along.  Khan reached his hands out.  He felt something soft.  Am I touching a ghost? Khan thought.  He gave a squeeze, and then realized what he was actually grabbing at the same time Rin slapped him.  The headphones were knocked off him, allowing Khan to hear Rin yell “Pervert!”  

Khan pulled off the eye mask and gripped his cheek.  “I didn’t mean to touch you!  The ghost scanner said ‘reach out.’”

“Oh that’s convenient!  A ghost told you to feel me up?”

At that point Izmui walked back in.  “I brought dinner.” she said in a singsong voice.  Then her face fell when she saw the tension between Rin and Khan “What happened?”  

“I hate both of you!” Rin screamed before running to the bedroom and slamming the door.  Khan excused himself.  The moment he stepped out of the apartment he thought about going back to get his meal, but didn’t have the nerve to do so.