It had been Ban's idea to let Himiko stay with them for a little while. None of them were getting much work at the moment, and splitting the rent three ways instead of two would make it a little easier to avoid Ban and Ginji being evicted. If that happened, they'd have to start all over again, Ban had reasoned, and faced with the idea of sleeping in the 360 again, putting up with Himiko for a few weeks was no problem. And well, as much as her pride made her want to decline, she didn't have a whole lot of choice.

As for Ginji...? He didn't seem to mind. He smiled as much as ever, and joked with her as much as Ban did - even when she looked like she would have preferred otherwise. He was okay with sleeping on the floor more than before (he'd have given up his turn on the couch, in fact, if Himiko hadn't insisted otherwise). Although he was pretty embarrassed that one time...

At the sound of Ginji's startled yell, Ban dropped the bowl of cheap ramen he'd been eating, making a beeline for the origin of the shout. A door slammed, and when he arrived in the hallway, Himiko was standing perfectly still in front of the bathroom, her back turned and her eyes wide.

Before Ban could ask what in the world was going on, the bathroom door flew open, and Ginji poked his dripping head outside, blushing bright red and clutching a towel around himself. "Himiko, can't you knock first?!"

"I did!" Himiko exclaimed, her back still turned. "No one answered!"

"Yeah, in all the half a second it took you to barge in on me!" Ginji shot back. His demeanor abruptly changed as he threw his arms around Ban, hanging on him limply. "Ban-chaaaan, she was peeping at me...!"

"Peeping!" Himiko whirled to face him, her face going as red as his. "Why would I want to peep at you?"

Ginji ignored her, continuing to cling to Ban. "Why do scary people always follow me around, Ban-chaaan?"

"Scary people?!"

Ban patted Ginji's shoulder, just out of habit, and then paused, noticing something. With a look of disgust, he pushed Ginji away. "For crying out loud, man - pick up your towel and go put some clothes on. I don't need to see you naked either."

Ginji's and Himiko's faces turned even redder as Ginji froze, then grabbed the fallen towel off the floor, dashing back into the bathroom.