Act I — The Bittersweet Start Of Something New.

Twisted Wonderland!

Diasomina students coming soon…

Heartslabyul students now open for requests!

Ignihyde students coming soon…

Pomefiore students coming soon…

Savanaclaw students now open for requests!

Scarabia students coming soon…

Octavinelle students now open for requests!

- SK8 THE INFINITY

Ainosuke Shindo ((Adam))

Nothing yet…

Kaoru Sakurayashiki ((Cherry Blossom))

Nothing yet..

Kojiro Nanjo ((Joe))

Nothing yet..

Langa Hasegawa

Nothing yet..

Miya Chinen

“Disaster” Miya x reader songfic.

Reki Kyan

Nothing yet..

Tadashi Kikuchi

Nothing yet..

Chapter 6 — “Is it really you?”

Summary: After finally finding Mitsuba, all hell breaks loose. Between fighting Hanako though failing miserably and replacing the Hell of Mirrors No. 3 of the Seven Mysteries, but that isn’t half of the chaos just waiting to unfold.

( A / N ) : I can’t believe it’s been so long since Act I was released. I really liked working on it and lately I just didn’t have the time or motivation to start Act II, but I’m using every small break and rest time that I have to write this. :> I hope you guys like it!! Also from the middle of Act II to the and of Act IV, it’s going to go waaay off plot and onto a different plot that I thought of. I lost my original ideas for all the acts so I’m trying to remember bits and pieces and work from there to remember the rest. So far so good!

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Kou luckily rushed in front of you before Tsukasa could get any closer, but you wish he hadn’t. It’s hopeless, but if you were any stronger than that deathly apparition, you would’ve killed him a second time. After assuring himself that Tsukasa wouldn’t attack if he turned his back on him, he whipped around to check if you’re okay.

“Are you okay (Y/N)? Did he hurt you?” Kou worries, checking your arms and legs—you’re like his little sister after all.

“N-No,” you managed to choke out, trying both not to throw up and cry at the same time “..Kou, I—“ you hiccuped.

“It’s okay, I’m here now.” He assured.

“Kou,” you tried to make your tone sound stern, but with the tremors in your voice that was near impossible. “Behind you.” You just barely managed to croak out.

Reluctantly, Kou turned behind him.

And what he saw shocked him.

No, even shocked is an understatement.

There wasn’t any words to describe the feelings he was feeling. Relief? Guilt? Happiness? Distress? No, it was all of them. A wave of emotions crashing down onto him and he was almost scared he would drown in them.

“You..” he paused, dropping his staff which he held in his hand and standing up “..how are.. but I thought you were gone for good.” Kou’s usually confident voice seemed to tremble.

“Mitsuba.” He called out, still in disbelief. “You’re really okay? You’re not hurt or anything, are you?” He reached for him, but Mitsuba seemed to flinch away. Kou didn’t notice though “Huh?” He then reached for Mitsuba’s hand “Why is your hand like that? What’s wrong?”

“What happened to you.”

“Uh..” Mitsuba didn’t know whether to feel awkward or uncomfortable. ‘Who is he?’ He wondered to himself.

Hanako pursed his lips, sensing some was amiss. His eyes expertly scanned the room for anything that looked even slightly out of place.

Well, No. 3’s dead body on the floor was an obviously noticeable sign.

Hanako’s eyes widened and he sighs “Is that.. Don’t tell me.” He had to make sure, narrowing his eyes down at the corpse. He looked back at Mitsuba, and he froze.

“Kid, get back!” He warns.

Kou looked confused, turning his head to glance at Hanako over his shoulder.

Large arm-like structures seemed to sprout from behind Mitsuba. Trying to attack Kou, or at least that’s what it seemed as they thrashed around.

Mitsuba flinched, shaking his head. “No, no! I’m scared.”

Your eyes widened. You always hated seeing Mitsuba cry back when he was alive, him being dead didn’t change a thing. “Help me.” Mitsuba whimpered, shutting his eyes closed tightly. And covering his head with his hands.

You got up on your shaky legs, with the intention of going to comfort Mitsuba, but you tripped over your own feet and stumbled back to the ground. Which was very lucky for you.

One of the arms, threw itself in Kou’s direction, which if you hadn’t fallen back down; you would’ve gotten hit. Hanako stepped in, slashing at the arm with his butcher’s knife. Pieces of the arm shattered and scattered around the floor.

“You okay kid?” Hanako asked, to which Kou nodded.

“Uh.. uh-huh.” Kou confirms, pursing his lips as he looked at what looked to be Mitsuba.

The cluttered pieces trembled, inching closer to each other till they reformed, standing tall behind Hanako.

You couldn’t warn them, your throat felt too tight. But for some reason, as you glanced at Mitsuba’s usually confident rose-colored eyes, you could see he was really scared. He wasn’t trying to hurt them on purpose, it was almost like an impulse.

“Watch out, behind you!” Kou gasped as he saw the hand getting ready to slam down on both of them to hopefully crush them underneath it.

Hanako whipped back around, ready to attack but instead of hitting him, it grabbed him. The hand was so big, Hanako looked like a plush in its palm. Thankfully he was only stunned for a moment, quickly breaking out of its grip. He smirked “He’s surprisingly quick.”

THUD!

One of the arms had unexpectedly slammed Hanako into the wall “Wha..?” He gasped, clearly caught off guard.

“Hanako!” Kou panicked, failing to notice the hand creeping behind him and slamming him down into the ground.

“KID?!” Hanako yelps, wincing as he saw the force of the hands attack.

Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to be attacking you. More like they were avoiding you, scared to touch you—almost like they were scared they might hurt you.

“Uh..” Mitsuba’s anxiety only seemed to get worse “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He panicked hands gripping onto his hair “Stop it.”

“Mitsubaa..”

Oh no. Not that voice again.

Just hearing his voice made anger bubble up in you, and knowing there was nothing you could do about it only made it worse.

“Did you finish eating?” Tsukasa asked with a smile only that of an innocent child would bare, but he was far from it. He sat perched up on the railing-like structure above the mirror behind Mitsuba. He jumped down.

“Uhh..” Mitsuba trailed, you didn’t miss how he didn’t seem to tense or freeze around him now like he did then.

Just what did he do to him?

Mitsuba then stood up up, scrambling to hide behind him like a scared puppy would.

“Hm?” Tsukasa hummed, glancing over his shoulder to look at Mitsuba who was trembling behind him “Oh?”

“What..” Hanako froze up, in what looked like fear, no. What was it? “What are you doing here, Tsukasa?”

Tsukasa turned to look at Hanako, and when he saw him he instantly beamed. “Aaah!” He squealed, rushing over to him with quick steps “Long time no see!” He giggled, hugging Hanako tightly, clinging onto him like how a koala would. “Amane!”

“Just wait a second!” Hanako yelps as he nearly stumbled back from the force of his brother’s embrace “Come on Tsukasa, listen to—“ he didn’t get the chance to speak.

“Amane, Amane!” Hanako’s words only went through one ear and out the other, Tsukasa listened to none of it.

Tsukasa looked so innocent, almost childlike. Which made you think, if you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was innocent too.

The hand whipped around to shove them tossing them across the room.

Tsukasa was somehow flipped upside down, sliding down the wall “Oof—“

Hanako groans, but let his pain last only a second before standing upright again. “H-Here it comes again!” He warns.

Tsukasa frowns, groaning in annoyance, “You’re getting in the way.” It doesn’t take him that long to stand up again, and not upside down, effortlessly dodging the arms that would swing at him with ease.

Suddenly, as another arm reached to attack him, Tsukasa quickly grabbed it, also holding another that was sneaking up on him nearby “Mitsuba..” he sighs, almost like a disappointed mother would to a child.

“What.. what’re those?!” Mitsuba panics, “W-What’s happening?” He whimpers, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“Now, now,” Tsukasa smiles, leaning forward to wrap an arm around Mitsuba, “there, there.”

Mitsuba flinched, but then relaxed in Tsukasa’s hold.

You wanted so badly to push him away from Mitsuba, but you could only stay frozen in both fear and shock.

“These things’re here to protect you,” Tsukasa assured him “Calm down so you can keep them under control, okay?”

“O-Okay.” Mitsuba sniffled, using his sleeve to rid his eyes of tears, taking a deep breath “..okay.” He mumbled, hugging Tsukuba to comfort himself.

“There we go.. just like that.” Tsukasa whispered, rubbing his hand up and down Mitsuba’s back “Very good.”

“Hey,” Kou spoke through gritted teeth “Damn it! What the hell did you do to Mitsuba this time?”

“Oh?” Tsukasa mused, a smirk gracing his lips. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Kou, almost as if to mock him.

“I granted his wish.”

“You didn’t grant his wish, you did the complete opposite!” You choked, getting up on trembling feet. “He just wanted a friend, and he had two right with him, but you just tore it all away.” You tried taking deep breaths, but it helped nothing. “You made him people fear him, how is that granting his wish?” You scoffed, glaring at the ghost with teary eyes.

Tsukasa frowns “But I did grant his wish.” He insisted crossing his arms over his chest “And the price of that wish was his mind, in other words, a part of his soul.” He explained, but still, it didn’t seem right at all. “When you last saw me,”

The memory alone made you feel sick to your stomach, your hands immediately flying to clutch your stomach and to hold your mouth. You didn’t even want to remember it, the squelching sound that sounded like it tore through human flesh even though Mitsuba was a ghost, the sick look in Tsukasa’s eyes. No, you can’t throw up here, not now.

“I removed a part of his soul; his mind.” Tsukasa’s lips then twitched up into a smile “The rest is simple!”

“I collected low level spirits that were already fading away and used them to make a spirit body.” Tsukasa patted Mitsuba’s head, ruffling his hair. “Then I added the piece of Mitsuba’s soul to it!” He then grabbed his shoulders, patting them. “And then, all done!” He giggled like a boasting child who just finished all his chores.

“It has the same soul at its core, so it probably looks and acts just like him.” Tsukasa continued to explain “But this is something totally different! I mean, of course it is.” He looked at Mitsuba, then directly at you “The Sousuke Mitsuba who lived and sided as a human..”

“Doesn’t exist anywhere in this world anymore.”

Tsukasa then looked back at Mitsuba “But the weird thing is.. because of that, he should have no recollection of his past life. Or even when I collected his mind that day. Yet it’s like you’re now engraved in his memory.” He mumbled, it was barely audible to anyone except for the ones who stood close to him. Like you and Mitsuba.

Part of that reassured you, but it wasn’t enough to cover up the fact that what he did was still as sick and unforgivable as before.

“Why?” Kou spoke again, his hands were balled into fists and trembled at his sides. “Why would you do that? It’s your fault Mitsuba is gone in the first place.”

“Hm?” Tsukasa’s amber eyes wandered the room, as if he was seriously thinking about it. “Just because, I guess? I’ve always wanted to try making one.”

“An artificial human.”

You all stood there in disbelief, and his words only proved to further anger you. He has no right to be talking about Mitsuba as if he were nothing but an experiment, a test subject.

Even Hanako was shocked. “What..” he mumbled.

“Amane and I saw one a looong time ago.” Tsukasa beams, “There was a movie with an artificial human that attacked everyone!” He giggled. “Oh.. but this..” he then looked down at Mitsuba, placing his hand on his head “This is a ghost huh? So I guess it’s an artificial ghost then, huh? I didn’t count on it being such a weakling that it can’t exist in the mortal world, though.” he moved so he was now holding Mitsuba’s head against his shoulder, propping his chin atop his head. “Pretty cool, right?”

Kou suddenly slammed his staff into the wall next to Tsukasa, it stabbed into the wall. Mitsuba flinched at the noise but Tsukasa remained as calm as ever—completely unfazed.

“You creep.” Kou scoffed, in all you’ve known Kou, you never saw him this angry. “You’ve got to be kidding me..” his shoulders were trembling, his hand whipped up to grip the menacing ghost boy’s uniform.

“Hm?”

“Mitsuba, he isn’t..” Kou choked “He isn’t your toy!”

There was this unsettling look in Tsukasa eyes as he said that, and he tilted his head “So..” he looked back at Mitsuba who was now sitting on ground behind him. “You’re saying I shouldn’t have made this thing?”

“He’s not a thing, he’s his own person!” You finally managed to shout “Dead or not, he should still have a say on how he wants to spend his time in the afterlife!”

Tsukasa only brushed you off, taking Mitsuba by the hands. And suddenly, they were gone.

Your eyes quickly scanned the room, and you found them floating not too far away — a few floors up.

Mitsuba yelped, clearly panicked. But it made you wonder.. he’s a ghost too, can’t he float?

“Don’t worry Mitsuba,” Tsukasa’s voice was gentle, like a child’s “I don’t hate you!” He beams.

“Waaa!” Mitsuba looks from Tsukasa to the ground that looked so far below them. “I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall!” He cried, clinging to Tsukasa.

“So, Mitsuba.” Tsukasa didn’t care to calm him down, letting the boy cling to him. “You’re just a baby with only one memory.. but no powers or anything else. Nothing.” He smiles down at Mitsuba “But now you have No. 3’s core inside you, now you do have power.”

“What do you wanna do?”

The question should’ve been heartwarming, to Mitsuba’s ears it was but it somehow planted an unsettling feeling in your gut.

“Do you wanna let them take your new power from you and just disappear?” Tsukasa’s gaze didn’t falter, staring straight into his eyes. Mitsuba flinched at those words, and it also scared you. You didn’t think you could go through losing him again. “Or do you wanna take School Mystery No. 3’s seat and become the ruler of this boundary? Tell me,”

“What do you want, Mitsuba.”

Everyone stood frozen in shock, anticipating his reply.

“I’ll.. I’ll do it.” Mitsuba’s voice came out trembly, but sure. “I’m not ready to disappear.. not when I still have nothing.” He glanced over to you, and then back at Tsukasa with tears in his eyes. “So if that’s the only option, I’ll be anything! I’ll even be a school mystery if I need to be!” He cried.

Tsukasa smiled eerily “Very good, if that’s what you want, then I will grant your wish.” He looked down at Mitsuba “From this moment on — you are now No. 3 of the school’s Seven Mysteries, Mitsuba.”

Mitsuba beams brightly — so bright it nearly rivaled the sun. “Woah, really? This is so cool!” He laughs.

“Yup, this boundary belongs to you now.” Tsukasa confirms.

You were all for it as long as he wouldn’t disappear again, but at what cost? What was the twist that Tsukasa was hiding? What’s the catch? So many thoughts in your head, you couldn’t help but worry something may go wrong.

“What kind of supernatural do you wanna be?” Tsukasa asks, a smile gracing his features. “You can be aanything!” He giggled, spreading his arms up high to emphasize this.

Mitsuba turned to look down at you, who is looking right back at him with a storm of emotions in your eyes. Relief, disbelief, worry, fear. He smiles at you reassuringly. “Anything?” He echoes.

If it meant he could be with you..

“Then I want to be normal.” Mitsuba uttered softly. “I want to be human again.”

“Can I?”

“Yup, you can.” Tsukasa nodded, holding his hands behind his back as he grinned at the pink-haired boy.

Your heart fluttered. Human, you mean. With us again? The thought of it gave you hope.

“NO!” Hanako’s voice echoed, rattling the entire boundary. It seemed to tremble at the mere force of it.

The haku-joudai’s swirled around the two ghosts, startling Mitsuba — but leaving Tsukasa as calm as ever. Maybe even a little amused.

Both you and Kou exchanged looks, then looked back at Hanako in disbelief.

Hanako pursed his lips, pointing his butcher’s knife at them. “You cannot be allowed to live on the near shore as a human,”

Just that sentence alone made you want to tune everything else into white noise, but it confused you — and even angered you, too.

“And why can he not?” You snapped, finally finding the courage to speak with all the chaos going on.

“Yeah, why can’t he Amane?” Tsukasa mocked in a sing-song voice, folding his arms over Mitsuba’s head and laying his chin on them.

“Because,” Hanako began, clearly frustrated. “A creature that has come to live on the far shore as a supernatural cannot be allowed to live on the near shore as a human!” He spoke through gritted teeth. “Mitsuba, you were ‘born’ a supernatural, which means you cannot be allowed to become human. That seat number is not yours.”

“And I’m taking it back.”

Mitsuba looked down at the four three of them of you as if you guys were only bugs under his shoe. Not with disgust, but with something more. Disappointment? Confusion? Even he couldn’t tell.

“..Mitsuba?” Kou called out to him, his hand tightly wrapped around his staff.

A childlike laughter echoes throughout the room, the sound is bouncing off the walls — Tsukasa’s laughter — is ringing in your ears.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Tsukasa asked with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest “Mitsuba’s pretty powerful now, don’t think he’s the same ghost weakling he was before or SCRUNCH!” He made an effort to clasp his hands together as if crushing something between them. “That’ll be the end of you.” He says with that sickening smile, letting his hands fall back down to his sides. “This boundary belongs to Mitsuba now, in here, no one can beat him!” He cheers, “Go on Mitsuba, scrunch ‘em.”

..

Except that Mitsuba was now trying to flee.

“Huh?” Tsukasa turns his head around to confirm that Mitsuba was indeed missing. “Mitsuba?” His eyes darted around the room, it didn’t take long for him to find him — Mitsuba couldn’t exactly hide all that well with the mirror’s reflections acting as cameras. “There you are!” He exclaimed, rushing over to him. “What are you doing?” Tsukasa asked, tugging on the hem of Mitsuba’s sleeve.

Mitsuba yelped, “Stay away from me!” He squealed in panic, lowering his voice to a whisper — he continued “What does it look like I’m doing, I’m running away!”

“Why?” Tsukasa insisted, a pout marring his lips.

“Why?!” Mitsuba whisper shouted, pointing his thumb back at Hanako “Look at that guy! He’s got a knife, there’s no way I can beat him!”

His words almost made you laugh if not for the severity of the situation.

“Aww, you’ll be fine!” Tsukasa assures with his signature childish grin, ruffling up Mitsuba’s hair. “Just scrunch him with your new powers!”

“I can’t do that,” Mitsuba whined, swatting his hands away “—don’t be crazy!”

“Come on, come on!” Tsukasa pouted, nudging his shoulder persistently.

“Noo! Nope! I don’t wanna!” Mitsuba was stubborn, he wasn’t as scared of Hanako as he was of Tsukasa, but to him he did look pretty intimidating.

“Uhh..” Hanako trails, freezing momentarily.

“Kind of feels like we’re interrupting something, huh?” You joked with a nervous chuckle, eyes flickering from Mitsuba, to Tsukasa, then to Hanako.

A loud noise — like something hitting flesh — rung in the room making you flinch at the sound. Tsukasa frowned, Mitsuba’s cheek was now reddened “Do it.”

“Eek!” Mitsuba squeaked, backing up and nodding “I will, please let me do it.” He panics as he scrambled back up to his feet. “So uh..” he looks around at the four of you, eyes lingering on you for a moment longer than the rest. “Here I go.. you four!” He looks over at you, then at Yashiro “Three? She’s unconscious, so does she count? Uh..” he trails “Right.. I don’t know any of your guys’s names.. besides (Y/N). And that other girl.” He mumbled, perking up after a moment. “Okay, I’ve got it! I’m calling you crazy knife,” he announces, pointing at Hanako “..and you.. hella-lame-traffic-safety earring!” he smirks, then pointing at Kou.

At any other time, Kou would’ve been irked to hear that nickname, but he only flinched. It hurt that Mitsuba didn’t remember him. But before either of you could speak, Hanako spoke up.

“What do you mean ‘crazy knife’?” Hanako frowns, pointing his butcher’s knife at Mitsuba.

“Eep!” Mitsuba squealed, floating backwards. “Don’t point that thing at me!” He glanced back at Tsukasa, who is looking right back at him expectingly. “Anyways, this is my turf now! So I decide whether you live or die!” He stammered, turning back to the four of you.

“Isn’t that a bit dramatic?” You teased, “Oh no, please don’t kill me.”

“(Y/N), this isn’t that time to flirt.” Hanako frowns, looking back at you.

Your cheeks flush. “I-I wasn’t..”

Mitsuba’s cheeks also flushed “Yeah! She wasn’t!” He pouts “But anyways.. if you surrender now, I might let you guys go!” He crosses his arms with a ‘hmph’, turning his head the opposite direction “I’m in a pretty good mood, you know?”

Hanako just pursed his lips, watching Mitsuba with a blank expression. Mitsuba on the other hand stared back at him, and if ghosts could sweat — he would be sweating buckets right now.

“You wanna do this?” Mitsuba finally speaks up, through his voice is a bit shaky “Well if you insist, I’ll use my Seven Mystery.. you know my like.. super-powerful powers!” You could tell he didn’t know at all what he was doing, and although he did technically have all the power to defeat Hanako, he wasn’t at all sure how to make his ‘power’ work. “To.. to do terrible things to you, so go away!”

“Like in porno?” Tsukasa teased, obviously baiting Mitsuba.

“I- uh! Yes! Just like in porno!” Mitsuba exclaimed quite loudly, looking smug as always before the realization of what he just said dawned on him and his cheeks flushed bright red.

“Porno?” Hanako mumbled, moving to wrap his arms protectively around Yashiro.

“Hey! What are you making me say?!” Mitsuba yelped, whipping around to glare at Tsukasa “I will not!”

You couldn’t contain it anymore, bursting into a fit of giggles, holding a hand over your stomach from how hard you were laughing.

Kou began walking towards Mitsuba, and before Mitsuba could register that someoen was behind him, Kou grabbed his arm, and pulled Mitsuba down so now they were eye-to-eye. He frowned.

“Um.. can I help you?” Mitsuba muttered, obvious confusion marred his features.

Kou’s frown deepened, and he looked away — squeezing his arm.

“Just— what? Are you enchanted by adorable visage or something?” Mitsuba mocks, trying not to show his confusion. Kou’s silence only proved to confuse Mitsuba even more. “Come on,” he insisted “—that earring is so lame.” He hoped by mocking him, he would reply — even if it was out of annoyance or frustration. Why wasn’t he talking? And what was up with this kid clinging onto him? Does he know him or something? Mitsuba had opened his mouth to tak again, but Kou beat him to it thankfully this time.

“You..” Kou’s gaze drifted back to the floor. “..you really don’t remember me?”

Mitsuba pursed his lips, he couldn’t help but feel even just a little bad for him. Of course he didn’t remember him, he didn’t even know why he was so hurt by it. Were they friends or something?

“Huh?” Mitsuba raised an eyebrow “What are you talking about, that doesn’t make.. any sense.” He frowned, tugging his arm away from Kou — and instinctively, Kou reached for his arm again.

“Who are you?”

Three words. Three words that stung Kou like needles. He glanced up at Mitsuba, then back down to the floor.

“Are you done?” Mitsuba asked, already starting to feel a bit awkward from the situation. “You’re done, right?” Kou was still not responsive, keeping his gaze on the floor; but he didn’t loosen his grip or even dare look back up at the boy. “Let me go.” Mitsuba frowns, tugging his arm away a second time.

This pulled Kou out of his trance, “Oh..” his eyes immediately darted back up to Mitsuba, and an image of his ghost friend’s old self flickered before him. Hallucination or not, it was enough for Kou to grab onto Mitsuba’s arm a third time. “No,” he stammered “—wait a minute!” This time, he pulled him even closer, his hand coming to grab Mitsuba’s chin, his fingers covering his mouth a bit.

“Ack!” Mitsuba yelped, clearly — and very reasonably — shocked. “What do you want?”

“I am..” Kou looked into Mitsuba’s rose-colored eyes “My name’s Kou Minamoto, remember it, stupid girly face!” He pursed his lips, letting go of Mitsuba. He walked towards one of the mirrors where he had dropped the old gardening club records, picked it up and walked back to Mitsuba to shove it in his arms.

“Huh?” Mitsuba was still clearly confused “What.. what is this?” He frowns.

“Just shut up and take it, fake-nice guy!” Kou spoke through gritted teeth.

“Wha—?” Mitsuba had literally zero idea on what was going on, why you were looking at him expectingly now, why this guy claimed to know him when Mitsuba was sure he’d remember someone as stubborn annoying as the boy who stood in front of him. “I really don’t get what you’re trying to get at! And man is that earring of yours lame..”

“Now, now,” Tsukasa came in between them, pushing them apart; and smacking either one in the face in process of it. “That’s enough of that.”

“Hey—what was that for?!” Kou yelped, pinching the bridge of his nose. It stung a bit.

“You have more important things to do, huh Mitsuba?” Tsukasa smiles, completely ignoring Kou. He grabbed Mitsuba by his shoulders, and guided him so he was right in front of Hanako again. “Here.” He beams, dusting off his shoulders.

Hanako didn’t even do anything, but as soon as he looked up at Mitsuba.

“Noo! Knife!” Mitsuba panics, backing up. He lost control of his arms again, and they whipped at Hanako.

Hanako quickly grabbed Yashiro — and before you could process anything — he shoved you over away from harm, turning to Kou as well “Watch out!” He warned “This is bad..”

“No kidding..” you panted, barely being able to catch yourself from falling.

“Hey Hanako, what do we do?” Kou gasps, just barely able to block the slap of one of the arms with his staff.

“Kid!” Hanako panicked. He pursed his lips, looking down at Yashiro “The thing is, if we want to get the school mystery’s seat number back, we have to destroy the source of power.”

“You mean the yoshiro or whatever?” You ask, one of the arms narrowly missing your legs to trip you up.

“S-Sorry!” Mitsuba yelps, trying to get them under control.

“Yeah! And for some reason, nothings waking her up!” Hanako frowns, gently smacking the girl’s cheeks “Yashiro, wake up!”

“And as for the yoshiro?” Kou asked, looking around.

Your eyes darted to the center of the ceiling. “Yeah, there’s no way we’re reaching that! It’s way up there!”

“So then,” Hanako’s eyes flickered from the yoshiro, then to Yashiro, then back to Mitsuba “—first things first, we’re gonna need to make him behave.” He let go of Yashiro, running off towards Mitsuba.

“Wait, Hanako!” You and Kou both panicked.

In just a blink of an eye, Hanako was right behind Mitsuba, his knife up against the other ghosts’ neck.

“Hanako, stop, what are you doing?” You yelped, rushing to the edge of the railing, there wasn’t much you could do — but you did know you would never forgive Hanako if he hurt Mitsuba.

Kou grabbed your arm, holding you back with him. He was scared too, but he knew Hanako wasn’t going to hurt him.

Mitsuba kept completely still, well, he did — but his arms didn’t. Frantically thrashing around.

“Mitsuba, you aren’t even the spirit of someone who once lived on the near shore anymore,” Hanako frowns. “You’re purely supernatural, your connections with the mortal realm are as weak as can be, and that means.”

“You can never be human.”

Those words stung Mitsuba, especially since he knew, inevitably that was reality. “No!” He weakly argued, one of his arms whipping at the floor above Yashiro. All of you turned around in horror and panic. You managed to run — while the rest were frozen in shock — shielding Yashiro’s body with your own. You shut your eyes, anticipating the weight of the floor above you crashing down. But it never came. You pulled away from Yashiro’s body, opening your eyes only a small pebble managed to hit her head.

And that seemed to be enough to wake her up.

“(Y/N)? Mitsuba?” Yashiro mumbled, her eyes slowly fluttered open.

You sighed in relief, letting your body fall back — and luckily for you — one of Mitsuba’s arms wrapped itself around you from behind to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself.

“Ouch..” Mitsuba groans, his eyes shut tightly as rubble slid off his body and he sunk back down to his knees.

“What’s going on?” Yashiro panics, looking around a bit frantically. “Hanako? Kou? (Y/N)? When did you guys all get here?” Her gaze then returned back to Mitsuba “Hey, you okay?” She scanned his figure up and down. Did he change while she was unconscious? “And what.. are you wearing?”

“So Hanako grabbing her and tackling her to the other side of the room didn’t wake her, but a tiny pebble did?” You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose — this logic made no sense. You feared you might turn as dumb as them.

“I got stronger!” Mitsuba beamed like a little boy searching for praise from an older sibling. “I’m the ruler of this place now! A-And I became one of those seven mystery thingys!”

Yashiro didn’t look afraid, but she didn’t look to happy either. Her eyebrows furrowed as she glanced behind him and saw Tsukasa was still there, staring back at her. That was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

“So this is my boundary?” Mitsuba asked “Is that what you said it was called?” His excitement was short lived, as he could feel Tsukasa practically burning holes into his skin. “So.. I mean..” his eyes darting around from person to person until his gaze was focused on you again. “And I can’t let you destroy it.” He frowns, glancing at Hanako. “So.. uh-“

“Just get outta here!”

Suddenly, various arms sprang from the wall behind you. They grabbed the four of you — though they were much gentler with you for some odd reason — and forced you guys out.

“Stop that! Don’t grab my ankles!” Hanako yelps, trying to dig the blade of his knife into the floor to ground himself.

“Whoa?!” Kou gasped.

“I’m getting sucked into the mirror!” Yashiro panics, grabbing onto the frame of said mirror. “What are you—why are you doing this?”

“Just go with it,” Mitsuba smiles. “See you later.”

This whole time, you were surprisingly calm. The three of them were dragged out through the mirrors, but one of the arms kept you from fully going back through. So many thoughts running through your head, so many questions, very few answers. You had so many things you wanted to say, to ask.

“Mitsuba.” Tsukasa frowns.

“Oh, right..” Mitsuba mumbled, sighing. He didn’t want to, but he knew if you stayed there’s no telling what Tsukasa might do.

“Don’t you dare hurt him!” Was all you managed to say before you too were dragged through the mirror. An arm placed you down gently on the floor before retreating back into the mirror. You stood up on shaky feet, glancing down at the other three who were huddled together on the floor; presumably unconscious or something. You slammed your fist into the mirror, over and over again. Just when you found Mitsuba, you had to say goodbye again. The mokke tried to console you, huddling around you as you fell down to your knees helplessly. You were scared for Mitsuba. You didn’t trust Tsukasa at all. One thing was for sure though, you had to find Mitsuba again. And this time;

You wouldn’t let Tsukasa take him away this time. .

( A / N ) : I have not been able to find the motivation to write for the life of me. 😞 First chapter is finally done tho, hopefully I didn’t miss any spelling or grammatical errors, if so please let me know. I will proofread just in case. Also, I wasn’t sure if I should ask, but should I make a tag list for the chapters or? Originally I wasn’t going to but then someone asked if they could be tagged when new chapters come out so I’m gonna tag them but does anyone else wanna be tagged when I update more? Hope you enjoy btw, have an amazing day/night. <3

Taglist : @tr-mha-fan

Chapter 7 — “Forbidden.”

Summary : Days pass from the Hell of Mirrors incident, you can’t stop thinking about it. Hanako is no help, so what better option than to drag Kou with you!

Warnings : Not much, minor cursing here and there, reader going a bit manic and expressing signs of PTSD at some point, obvious implications that reader is female (ex. Use of she/her pronouns, etc.), mood swing-ish reader.

( A / N ) : I tried not to procrastinate but I got busy with work and stuff so I didn’t have much time. I didn’t let myself sleep tonight till I got this out. I will try my best to be more consistent with chapters and at least get these things posted every other week. This is proofread so enjoy!

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A couple days have passed since the Hell of Mirrors incident, and you’ve tried to find for another way back in. You tried every mirror possible, but none would budge. Hanako didn’t care much either, he said to just leave it alone for now and they’d figure it out another time.

Even Kou seemed a little odd about it. He wanted to see Mitsuba too, but it was like at the same time he was avoiding it. Part of you understood him though, you knew what it felt like to be forgotten before, and it was certainly not a good feeling.

“Can you hand me the sugar?” Satou asked, looking over at you.

You finally had snapped out of your thoughts, “Sorry, what was that?”

Satou chuckles “The sugar, can you pass it to me?” He repeats.

“Oh, yeah.” You nod, eyes scanning over the counter before finding the sugar. “Sure.” You grabbed the bag of sugar, and a measuring cup.

“We need one and a half cups of sugar.” Kou mumbled, eyes scanning over the list of instructions.

You nodded, and scooped up a cup of sugar.

Satou looked over at Kou, and Kou only shrugged.

“(Y/N), are you okay? You seem a bit zoned out..” Satou finally spoke.

“Yeah, just tired.” You excused, pouring the sugar. It was more than just being ‘tired’ — you were anxious. You wanted to see Mitsuba again, talk to him. But you didn’t know where to find him — and the Hell of Mirrors was not an option anymore because you couldn’t get in. Maybe you could ask Yako again?

“(Y/N).” Satou panicked “T-That’s too much sugar.” He yelped, quickly taking the measuring cup from your hands.

Flinching, you snapped back to reality “Shit— I’m sorry..” You muttered, pinching the bridge of your nose with a sigh.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Satou frowned, putting a hand on your shoulder “Usually you’re the one who’s the most focused out of all of us.”

“Yeah, I am, don’t worry about me okay?” You assured him with your signature smile “I’m just tired.”

Satou eyed you suspiciously, then glanced over at Kou who in turn only shrugged his shoulders. He then sighed, letting his hand drop back to his side.

“We’re your friends, don’t forget that okay?” Satou offered you a smile “So don’t feel like you have to hide anything from us. If you’re not feeling good you can tell us.”

“I know, I know,” You sighed, leaning forward and propping your elbows on the counter, burying your hands in your hair “—I’m okay, I promise. If I’m not, you guys are the first people I’m going to.”

Satou was skeptical but didn’t push the topic, nodding and going back to the batter. “We need to put in a little bit more of each ingredient to make up for the extra sugar.”

There you stood, in front of the mirror in the girl’s bathroom. Your hands holding onto the sink, staring into the mirror as if doing so would magically bring Mitsuba back.

“How long has she been there?” Yashiro asked, walking in through the bathroom doors and setting her bag down by the entrance.

“A while.” Hanako shrugged, he’s too busy playing hanafuda with the mokke again to care.

“Well you’re no help.” Yashiro sighed, walking behind you and placing a hand on your shoulder.

Your gaze didn’t falter, staring intensely at the mirror. “You think Yako will help me get in again?” You asked before Yashiro could get a chance to speak.

Yashiro raised an eyebrow “Again? By yourself? I-I don’t think..”

“I dunno, I don’t think so.” Hanako shrugged a second time.

You frowned, finally turning around to look at Hanako instead “Are you sure?”

“I doubt it but you can try.” Hanako simply replied, glancing up from his cards for a second to look at you before focusing back on his game. “She probably will if you keep asking her to the point of annoying her, go give it a try.”

Yashiro looked between the both of you “I.. um.. she shouldn’t be going alone, if that Tsukasa guy shows up, she could get seriously hurt or something.”

“Then get the kid to go with her.” Hanako suggested “I’m sure she’ll be fine. That Mitsuba.. (Y/N) was the only one he was trying so hard not to hurt.” He noted, “So I’m sure she’ll be fine. Worst case scenario, Mitsuba will probably just send her out again.”

“But—“ Yashiro tried to protest, concerned for your safety.

“Okay, thanks Hanako, bye.” You shouted as you grabbed your bag and ran out the door.

Yashiro frowns “Hanako, and if she gets seriously hurt?” She would feel responsible, having gotten close to you since the whole spiritual thing, she saw you as her younger sister.

“She won’t, she’ll be fine.” Hanako assured, placing his cards face down onto the space next to him and standing up “Now come on, you have to get to cleaning toilets!” He beamed, teasingly nudging her.

Yashiro’s frown deepened.

“Kou, Kou, Kou!” You called out, running up to said boy, who was currently with Satou and Yokoo.

“Oh, hey (Y/N)!” Yokoo hums, smiling at you with his signature smile.

“Hey Yokoo, Kou, come with me I need to do something.” You grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, tugging on it.

“(Y/N), are you okay?” Satou asked, raising an eyebrow at your eager.. whatever it was.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” You half heartedly answered, brushing them off. “Now let’s go!” You began practically dragging Kou with you, who in turn yelped.

“Oh okay..” Yokoo muttered, glancing at Satou.

“No idea, she was like this earlier, except zoned out.” Satou shrugged. “And she wouldn’t budge when I asked her what’s wrong.”

Yokoo pursed his lips, obvious concern written all over his face. “She.. it’s gonna affect her not letting anyone know.”

“Yeah.. I know. I tried getting her to open up but she kept saying it was nothing. It may just be nothing, but we’ve known her for a while to notice this pattern.” Satou mumbled. “I just hope it doesn’t get as bad as last time..”

“Let’s not look too much into now though. If she’s not okay, we have to trust she’ll come to one of us or all of us. And if she says she is we have to trust her on it, even if we think she isn’t.” Yokoo shrugged, fidgeting with his sleeves.

“Yeah I guess you’re right,” Satou sighed “I just wish she’d tell us what’s going on.”

.

.

“So what are we doing exactly?” Kou asks, trying to keep up as you sped through the halls.

“Yako, we’re going to Yako.” You look behind at him for a moment before looking straight ahead again “I wanna see Mitsuba again.”

Kou flinched and froze in his tracks, making you stop as well. He pursed his lips.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, you didn’t try to pull him along — not wanting to force him.

Kou frowns, looking away. “What’s the point if that guy won’t remember me anyways?” He mumbled, pulling his sleeve from your grasp.

Your gaze softened “Kou.. just because he didn’t recognize you doesn’t mean he doesn’t remember you.” You sighed, moving to wrap your arms around his torso.

Kou went stiff momentarily, then relaxed, his arms coming around to wrap around your waist as he buried his face into your shoulder, trying his best not to stain your school uniform with his tears — his shoulders trembled.

“I’ve got you.” You assured, leaning your head on top of his. “I promise, we’ll get him to remember you.”

Kou chuckled dryly “You can’t make that promise you know.”

“I know,” you smiled “—but I sure as heck can try to fulfill it.”

Kou took a deep breath, smiling. “So then what’s holding us up?” He asks, wiping the last of his tears with his wrist “Let’s go find us a kitsune.” He grinned.

“Nope, nuh uh, I won’t do it.” Yako frowned, crossing her little fox arms across her chest. “I only did it for number seven because it was emergency — I’m not gonna do it just say cause you say so.”

“But this is an emergency.” You insisted.

Kou joined in “Yeah, we’re on a mission to—“

“Find that ghost boy friend of yours? If he doesn’t wanna let you in you know he’s not gonna.” Yako sighs, trying to make herself comfy in the bookshelves.

“Yako, please. I.. I know you probably wouldn’t understand but this is important.” You pleaded, “All we wanna know is if he’s okay.”

Yako paused for a moment, thinking deeply on whether she should or shouldn’t. “Hmm..” she hums, her eyes shifting from you to Kou and then back to you. “Fine, but this is the last time I help you.” She sighed, finally giving in.

You and Kou both smiled widely, glancing at each other and looking at Yako again. “Thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it, but this is the only time I’ll be helping you out!” Yako insists, when really she has a soft spot for the two and she definitely would do it again.

.

.

“Well, here we are.” Yako hummed, back to the liquid mirror-like portal from before.

You brought your hands up to slide them across the surface, watching it create ripples under your fingertips. “Last time we were here I got sucked in.” You mumble, dipping your hand in the mirror and flexing your fingers before removing your hand and letting it rest at your side again.

“Not this time, fortunately for you.” Yako pointed out, you hadn’t gotten forced in.

“So..” you turned your gaze to Kou “Here goes nothing, right?”

“Yeah.” Kou nodded, taking a deep breath in.

Three…

Two..

One.

Suddenly you were falling, reflections all around you with people — no, they weren’t people — entities of people you both knew laughing and mocking you both. Kou reached for you, holding you close to him as he protected your head. It started to get brighter and it felt like you were getting closer and closer to the bottom. That was what it felt like, until..

“Jeez, are you trying to get yourself killed?” A familiar voice scoffed.

You both found yourselves caught in the hand of a bony limb as it moved you towards one of the floors, and that’s when you saw him.

“Mitsuba!” You immediately cried, running towards him and throwing your arms around him.

“H-Hey, I get I’m cute and all but there’s no need to cling to me you perv!” The boy in question yelps, but there’s no denying the way he reluctantly wrapped his arms around her waist and the flush of his cheeks.

“He didn’t hurt you did he?” You asked, bombarding the poor ghost with loads of questions “Why didn’t you let me back in you jerk.” You pouted, punching his shoulder.

“Ow, ow, ow! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Mitsuba laughs, feigning hurt. “And no, I’m not hurt.”

“Good, you better not be.” You sighed in relief, letting yourself relax a bit.

Mitsuba looked behind you to Kou “Oh.” He muttered, making eye contact with the other “It’s you again.”

“Yeah, it’s me again.” Kou repeated, shifting from one foot to the other a bit awkwardly.

“What.. what’re you guys even doing here?” Mitsuba asked, gently grabbing you by the shoulders to push you off a bit.

“I dunno, we just wanted to visit I guess?” You shrugged, it was an obvious lie and a good cover up but Mitsuba seemed to buy it.

“Visit the Hell of Mirrors? Really?” Mitsuba lets a laugh-like scoff slip past his lips. “Yeah this isn’t really the type of place you’d want to visit.”

“..definitely.” You nod, “Okay fine, truthfully we just wanted to see you.”

“We?” Mitsuba inquired, raising an eyebrow as he looked between the two of you.

“You remember Kou, right?” You asked, grabbing Kou’s arm and linking it with yours. “He was your friend too.”

Mitsuba narrowed his eyes at Kou and frowned “Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell.”

Kou sighed, rubbing his forehead “Figured.”

Boy.. this might take a while.

.

.

The three of you ended up talking to pass the time, flipping through the pages of the yearbook from which Mitsuba had photographed the pictures within it, all that he did not seem to remember.

“Hey um.. earlier you guys mentioned something about Tsukasa doing something bad to me.. what’d he do?” Mitsuba asked suddenly, making the both of you look at him. “I mean, he’s the one who brought me back here so I wouldn’t disappear.. he can be mean and scary sometimes but he won’t hurt me.” And then at each other.

“Um..” you looked a little uncomfortable, shifting around in your spot. “It’s complicated I guess.”

“It’s really hard to explain, I have no idea how to put it in words.” Kou was equally uncomfortable.

“What? It can’t be that bad?” Mitsuba laughs, but his smile faltered as he realized you two weren’t joking. “Was it?”

You decided to be the one to tell him, taking a deep breath. “It was just after I got you to remember me, the day after, actually.” You began, fidgeting with your sleeves. “We were altogether trying to figure out your ‘unfinished business’ as Kou called it.”

“To help you cross over to the afterlife.” Kou added.

You nodded along “You had told us it was a probably a picture, so we got your camera and we went around different parts of the school to take pictures.” You continued “It was funny, especially since most of the time you were basically just bullying Kou.” You giggled.

Mitsuba smiled, yeah that did sound like something he would’ve done.

“I think I have the pictures? I don’t think I ever gave them back to Kou.” You admit, fishing into the pocket of your shirt, and there were the pictures in question. “Here, see for yourself.” You hand them over to Mitsuba.

Who in turn tenderly grabs them, looking at each of them individually.

The pictures varied. Some were genuinely beautiful, and the ones he took when he was messing with Kou made him have to stifle his laughter.

Mitsuba laughs “Yeah you’re right, I probably did bully him. And had a blast doing it.” He smiles, showing you guys the photo where — he assumed — he was trying to take a photo of some kittens and Kou ended up getting attacked by their mother.

You giggled at the memory, while Kou only pouted.

Mitsuba froze as he saw the picture of you and Kou, and his gaze softened. You looked so pretty to him, and.. there was Kou too, I guess. He stared a bit mesmerized but then cleared his throat, handing them back over to you. “A-And then what? You two didn’t do anything dirty to me did you?” He teased.

“No you pervert, we didn’t.” You sighed, but smiled fondly nonetheless. “We ended up going inside cause it started to rain, and probably gonna leave at that point since school had already finished by then. But that’s when Tsukasa found us.” You had to clutch onto your stomach to prevent yourself from throwing up, the nausea already settling itself in. “The rest of it was a blur. All I can remember was feeling a bit scared. No, that’s an understatement.”

“I was absolutely terrified.”

“He said something about how you left without his ‘permission’ and you looked scared too.” You continued, feeling your hands start to tremble, to which you clearly balled them into fists to stop them from shaking. “He..” the squelching noise and the sound of Mitsuba’s cry rung in your ears. “He hurt you.”

Mitsuba flinched “Hurt me?” He repeated in question, reaching forward to try to hold your hand, seeing as though you were shaking and you looked like you were about to cry. The second his fingertips brushed your knuckles, it all flooded back to him. The empty feeling he felt, the pain, the shock, the fear. It was drowning him. He quickly stood up. “No, no, no that’s not true, not true.” He mumbled to himself, backing up as he buried a hand in his hair.

“I blacked out after I yelled at him, he knocked me out when I tried to attack him.” You admit, voice trembling and small.

Mitsuba’s head whipped around to Kou, eyes watering. “Is he gonna hurt me again?”

“No, don’t worry Mitsuba.”

The two of you froze, Mitsuba flinched.

“I’m not here to hurt you, remember? I brought you back so I could grant your wish.” Tsukasa grinned from ear-to-ear, swinging his legs as he sat on top of the railing. He hopped off, inching closer to Mitsuba.

You stood up immediately, though your legs were shaky, willing yourself to stand next to Mitsuba, stretching out an arm in front of him. “I won’t let you hurt him again.”

“(Y/N)..” As much as Mitsuba admired your bravery, if Tsukasa was really as dangerous as you two claimed he is, he doesn’t want you to get hurt either.

“That’s funny,” A child-like giggle left Tsukasa’s lips. It didn’t last long though, quickly etching into a frown. “What makes you think you’re strong enough to stand against me?” He asks, crossing his arms over his chest. “Mitsuba, kick them out if you don’t want me to deal with them.”

“B-But Tsukasa..” Mitsuba protests.

“Mitsuba.”

Without another word, Mitsuba did as he was told, sending you both away. Just like the first time, you were dragged out through the mirrors. Yours and Kou’s protests fell on deaf ears.

“From now on, you can’t talk to them, ‘kay Mitsuba?” Tsukasa spoke commandingly, frowning upon said boy like a mother scolding her child.

Mitsuba flinched, mouth agape “But—”

Tsukasa didn’t let him finish “No buts. Do you understand?”

Mitsuba hung his head low in response. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Dude, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me right now.” You groaned in frustration, standing perched up on the sink and slamming your fists into the mirror.

“Hey, hey, let’s calm down a bit okay?” Kou yelped, “If we break something, Hanako will be upset.” He warns.

“Like hell if I care,” you frowned, turning around slightly to glance at him.

“Kid, what the—“ Hanako stood there dumbfounded. He sighed, floating up behind you and picking you up from under your arms.

“Put me down!” You protest, squirming in his hold.

Hanako dragged your squirming figure to a corner, setting you down. “Time out.”

“Time out?” You scoffed “I’m not a kid.”

Hanako hugged you, ruffling your hair. “You’re not, I know. Just cool off.”

You huffed, crossing your arms.

Kou frowns “He’s right, just sit still. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“This is stupid.” You retorted.

.

.

It wasn’t long before Yashiro arrived for her daily bathroom-cleaning duties, setting her bag down by the door. “What.. happened.”

It was definitely a strange sight. Kou and Hanako were just sitting with the mokke and playing hanafuda, and you were sitting in the corner just drawing shapes on the floor with your finger.

Kou sighed, setting his cards down for a moment. “Long story short, we got Yako to take us back into the Hell of Mirrors, we talked with Mitsuba, and just when he finally realized Tsukasa came back and forced him to kick us out. (Y/N) got on the sink and starting banging on the mirror again so Hanako put her in time out.”

Yashiro gave you a pitiful look. “(Y/N)..”

“I need to get back in there, there’s no telling what that thing might do to Mitsuba.” You speak before she could get a chance to.

“And there’s no telling what he might do to you if you’re not careful.” Hanako frowned “Kid, I care about you. Don’t go doing anything stupid that can get you hurt or possibly even killed. You can’t go up against a supernatural as dangerous as Tsukasa.”

You groan in frustration, burying your hands in your hair. “It’s all so infuriating. I want to do something about it, but I can’t do anything. I feel so useless.” You mumble.

“I know the feeling.” Hanako replied sympathetically, putting his cards down to put a hand on your shoulder. “I was scared too, when Yashiro got dragged into the Hell of Mirrors. I felt useless because I couldn’t get in, I couldn’t do anything, really.” He rambled on. “If you’re going to get into trouble like that, at least have a plan, and an exit route.”

“You didn’t have a plan going to save Yashiro.” You scoffed, but a smile found its way onto your lips.

“You get what I meant.” Hanako pouted, playfully shoving your shoulder. “Don’t dive head first into danger. Make a plan and then you can.”

“But you did it.” You quipped with a smirk, nudging him.

“Cause I can’t technically can’t ‘die’ a second time.” Hanako frowns, ruffling up your hair “You can. Be careful, figure something out and then you can try, okay?” He sighs “That boy will be alright, Tsukasa probably won’t destroy something that has the potential to destroy us.”

“Probably? That’s reassuring.” You snort sarcastically.

“I’m serious. Focus on one thing at a time.” Hanako groans, scolding you.

“Hanako’s right, you two could’ve gotten seriously hurt going in there alone without a plan.” Yashiro sighed, leaning on the bathroom stall door. “Tsukasa is dangerous from what I can tell, there’s no way you can beat him if he was able to kill number 3 in his own boundary.”

“I guess..” you mutter, standing up and crossing your arms.

“You guess? He knocked you out when you tried to interfere with him and Mitsuba.” Kou narrowed his eyes down at you, “They’re both right, no more dragging me with you if you don’t have a plan. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Fine, fine, jeez. I’m not a baby.” You whined, a pout resting on your lips.

“No but you are reckless, and incredibly selfless.” Yashiro smiles.

“Uhh thanks?” You trail with an awkward smile.

“I don’t think that’s a compliment.” Hanako snorts.

As you both quickly got into your usual playful banter, Yashiro turned to Kou.

“Hey, keep an eye on her please.” Yashiro asks, her voice spilling with concern “I don’t want her to get hurt. I’m sure none of us do.”

Kou nodded “I will, I promise.”

.

.

It was getting harder and harder to sleep at night. Tossing and turning in bed, trying to get Mitsuba off of your mind but it wasn’t easy. He’s okay, they assured you, but why did you feel like he might be in deeper danger than he started? You need a plan, and fast. But what can you do? Tsukasa won’t allow you near him, and Kou will probably keep an eye on you for awhile to make sure you don’t go manic from the whole ordeal. But.. Kou’s not watching you at night, is he?

( A / N ) : Finally got this done!

Tag list : @tr-mha-fan

Something about you..

Mitsuba x fem! reader

I originally thought for this to be some sort of short story that I could have in a one-shot, but then I realized I had too much for this so I decided on making this a short-novel instead. There is a playlist for this story, but if you want to listen to the separate ones, I made a few. They will be released as the chapters are published, and once I’m finished with the entire book you will be able to listen to the entire playlist altogether for the book.

Summary: You’ve been able to see ghost, spirits, and supernatural being since you were young. It all started when your father performed rituals on you with a cult, your mom knew of this, but never showed any signs of putting an end to it. Your aunt noticed something strange whenever she’d gone over. You’d show her things she couldn’t see, cry when you heard something she didn’t, and talked to things—to people, that weren’t there. Worried, she asked you if knew what they were doing, naively, you replied excitedly that it was just a game you played. She explained to you that you shouldn’t be seeing these things, and fled with you since she was worried of your safety. You’d been able to see them since. You met Mitsuba since you saved him from a group of bullies back in elementary, and had been friends ever since. You told him everything, and he put aside his “kind” persona with you. But when he was announced dead, you were devastated. You hoped you’d see his spirit soon, at least once. But you started to lose hope. Your aunt was worried, and asked you to go to therapy but they refused to see you after a disturbing feeling that someone was with them and had to be admitted. So when you met Kou in your second year of middle school, he took you to his brother. He wasn’t able to help either, but at least now you had someone to talk to it about.

Warnings: Angst (intensifies and dies down at random), cursing, ooc characters (at some point in the story), mentions of death, mentions of suicide, Tsukasa needing some serious help, implications of female reader, dirty jokes (but nothing close to acting going at it, mostly just Mitsuba’s act), Teru is an asshole at some point but it’s okay, and more..

Act I — “The bittersweet start of something new.”

Act I — chapters (5/5)

Act II — “Until we meet again.”

Act II — chapters (1/5)

Act III — “Our surviving story.”

Act III — chapters (coming soon..)

Act IV — “Fall with me, won’t you?”

Act IV — chapters (coming soon..)

Act V — “Something about you.”

Act V — chapters (coming soon…)

(A/N) : Story can and WILL go off plot at times.

Hello, :) I hope ur well. Can I pls request a comfort fic with Saeyoung and a depressed f!reader? Let's say reader is not the type to cry at all, like he has never seen her cry because she keeps it all bottled up even though she's in a lot of pain. I hope that's ok. Thank u ^^

Don’t cry, I’m here. — Saeyoung x fem! reader

Of course! And I’m doing well besides the 3 hours of sleep I’ve gotten, thanks. I hope you are too. I was confused about the gender of the reader, so I was rereading that a few times cause I was like. What? But when I read it the fourth time I was like OH they meant female reader. I thought that was funny I’m a little dumb, but anyways! Also yeah no that’s fine, I hope you enjoy it!

This is very much proofread.

I didn’t want to specify the reader’s issues cause of depression cause I don’t want to be like “oh the reader is upset cause of this” and then for you to have meant a different thing, so I tried to write it so that the reader’s reason for breaking down so suddenly wouldn’t be.. specific.

Warnings : Not much, reader’s reason for breaking down is not specific, reader is suggested to be female, a bit of comfort.

Saeyoung was sure he had you figured out. From small details about you in person, to large pieces of information of you online. He memorized every freckle and mole on your body, every password to all of your accounts.

So that’s why it surprised him when he saw you—his beautiful girlfriend—crying.

How did it get to this point? Well to him there was only one conclusion.

You were bottling it all up. How could he not notice?

It should’ve been obvious enough whenever you said you didn’t want to eat cause you lost your appetite, or when you seemed a tad more exhausted than usual, or even just when you started to space out whenever he was talking.

All the signs were there, right in front of him too.

So why didn’t he catch on?

Why didn’t he catch the way your eyes seemed to be unusually dull? Why didn’t he see the way you seemed to not want to get out of bed, refusing and blaming it on your fatigue? Why did he let it go far, why was he so blind to see you were in pain?

He of all people understands what that type of pain feels like, what it’s like to mask it and bottle it up, so why didn’t he know you were feeling this way?

So it was no surprise how speechless he was when he got home to see you crying on the bathroom floor.

He stayed shocked, standing in the doorway seeing you crying your heart out. Saeyoung didn’t stay frozen in dismay, rushing to your side.

“Hey, honey, no-no don’t cry what’s wrong?” He panicked, he wasn’t sure what to do.

“‘ts just too much to handle Saeyoung..” you cried, clinging onto him for the sake of your sanity.

“I don’t know what to do.. I thought my problems are my problems and they should stay my problems—“ you hiccuped “—so I wouldn’t have to bother you or anyone else about it, but it’s just too much pressure—I’m so sorry.”

“I didn’t want to be burden on any of you.”

Saeyoung felt his heart shatter when he heard how pained your voice sounded, holding you close as he hushed you “Hey, don’t apologize. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” was what he asked, but really he was thinking why didn’t he see it sooner?

Usually he’d know what to do, how to comfort you. But he’s never seen you like this before. Hell, he has never seen you cry before. So he’s so thrown off on what to do.

“You were always—“ you tried to talk, but your words only came out in choked out sobs so Saeyoung interrupted you.

“Shh.. shh it’s okay my love. I’m just..” he paused, unsure what the right words to say were “I’m here now, tell me what’s wrong?”

And so you spilled. All your troubles and worries, every single doubt and problem you’ve been experiencing. And he sat there, holding you close to him as if you would slip through his hands like sand—and listened to every word you had to say.

After you had finished, your rambling now incoherent due to your sobs, he gently rubbed soothing circles onto your back. “It’s okay. I’m here now. You’re okay.” He cooed, hoping that would help in comforting you.

But you weren’t calming down, and he wasn’t sure what to do. He was thinking of texting, or maybe even calling another RFA member in hopes they would know, but he somehow already knew they’d be as clueless as he was now. So all he could do was try to calm you down.

“Hey,” Saeyoung whispered, pulling you back up by your shoulders, your teary eyes staring right back into his golden ones “can you breathe with me?”

Yeah, he thought. That should be the first step in calming her down, right?

“O.. Okay.” You hiccuped.

“Good, okay. Breathe in,” he inhaled, waiting for you to inhale with him as well, and after a few moments he exhaled “breathe out.”

It took a while, but eventually you weren’t crying as bad anymore.

“Okay,” Saeyoung mumbled “okay.”

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice was soft, and low—in almost a whisper-like way. Which heavily contrasted his usually ‘happy-go-lucky’ nature.

“I think so.” Was all you managed to croak out in response, hiccuping a bit. But at least you weren’t sobbing to the point of being unresponsive.

He was still very much confused. You always seemed so cheerful, laughing at his jokes, teasing Yoosung with him. You never cried, or if you did, never in front of him.

Saeyoung wants to take care of you, the way you did with him when he tried to push you away.

“Do you..” he paused, propping himself up so now he was leaning against the wall “..do you need anything? Water? A snack?”

“Can you just stay here with me?” You asked, your eyes fluttering closed, a bit worn out from crying so much “Just for a bit.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, nodding “yeah I can do that.”

And at least, you thought, you at least had some form of peace in his arms. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, and for the first time you didn’t feel alone, no longer wallowing in the depths of your depression. Cause now, now you had Saeyoung.

And he was going to make sure you, his precious girlfriend, would never feel like this ever again. Or at least be there for you whenever you fell into that deep rabbit hole again.

But one thing was for sure, he would make sure you never have to face this type of issue on you own.

————

Bonus!!

“Saeyoung..” you whispered, still curled up in a fetal position as he wrapped himself around you.

“Yeah?” He hummed in reply, tugging you closer to him, as if to remind you that he’s still there.

“Thank you.” you chuckled, your voice was quiet, but he still managed to hear you.

Saeyoung was about to speak again, when he heard you talk “You shouldn’t have seen me like that. But still, thank you for staying with me.”

He was a bit surprised. What did you mean he shouldn’t have seen you like that?

“It’s nothing.” Was all he murmured, snuggling his face deeper into the crevice of your neck.

“You sure you don’t have anything else to do?” You asked, then adding “No work to be done? I don’t want you getting in trouble just because I’m .. like this.”

Saeyoung chuckled, making a faint ‘pssh’ sound “I’m sure I can take a break from the computer if it means making sure your okay.”

All you did was hum in reply, nodding in confirmation.

“Hey (Y/N)?” He called, propping himself up on his elbows, looking over to see your face.

“Yeah?” You replied, eyes flickering to meet his.

“You know I love you, right?” He murmured in more of a question, but you knew he only meant to assure you.

“Yeah, I know.” you nodded turning around to be face to face with him.

“I love you too.”

(A/N) : This is about maybe 900 words? Maybe a bit more than that. I was pretty reluctant on posting this, not cause of anything with the request but the way I had written it was kinda ehhh to me. Y’know? I’m not good with comfort but this was fun to try! I really hope you liked it, if you didn’t please do not hesitate to lmk so I can fix anything and everything for you, but I hope you’re well too! And I’m also sorry for not publishing this sooner, as I said before I’m a bit insecure of my writing hesitant to post this. But I’m going to, just cause I want to see if there’s anything I can fix. I’m always open to criticism! That being said, thank you for reading this, and again—if you see that anything need fixing or something is not to your liking lmk!!

Helloo! I see your request are open, You can ignore this Request if this make you uncomfortable🌻

Can i Request Childhood-friends troupe with Ace or Deuce? (can both if you want)

Its can be Platonic or Romance, up to you!♡

I hope i didn't disturb you wait this Request and have a good day:D !

Childhood friends troupe with Ace and Deuce.

I had no idea if you wanted them to be separate or together, so I’m doing them separate (romantic). Hope that’s okay!

Also I am so so sorry about barely publishing this like a day later, I was out doing back to school shopping and pretty busy with things I’d rather kms than go back to school so yeah. I would’ve at least started writing this last night, but I was on the verge of falling asleep so I decided not to.

Also, gender neutral reader, I wasn’t sure what gender you wanted reader to be.

As always, this is proofread, and double checked for grammar mistakes. If there is anything I missed, please don’t come at me—English is not my first language..

Ace Trappola x reader

Deuce Spade x reader

Back to Heartslabyul masterlist <—

Ace Trappola as your childhood friend would include..

- You would have to keep him out of trouble, as it was shown in the first chapter he likes to pick fun at others and it could get him into trouble.

- Ace always helps you with your homework, he is smart, despite his carefree persona, and if you are ever struggling with any class he always helps you understand the topic you’re learning better!

- Ace being the little shithead he is loves playing pranks on you, it’s like the highlight of the day. But he will stop if you tell him to.

- I feel like his brother would tease the shit out of Ace sometimes, whenever you and Ace would visit him of course, like he’ll notice him trying to hit on you, and just calls him out on it in front of you. Ace swears he wants to strangle his brother..

- You know how his dad is good at performing card tricks? I feel like at least once when you two were kids, he would try to perform one of the same card tricks but failed. You would always like laugh and poke fun at him because he messed it up, but now that he’s older, he sometimes shows you the same card tricks when your upset and need cheering up and even though he knows the right way to do it, he messes it up just so that you could smile and laugh at him. He loves your smile but he’d never admit it out loud.

- Speaking of you being upset, since Ace has known you since you two were kids, he knows when you’re upset, you can’t hide it from him. He’s like a lie-detector when it comes to you.

- Ace as your childhood friend, trying to cheer you up, would most likely be him taking you with him to prank someone with him. He wants to see you laugh, but if you’re genuinely upset, and don’t want him to joke around—he’ll just let you lay in his arms and let you rant about whatever is bothering you.

- He is not the best comforter, I don’t know why. I feel like he gets kinda awkward and doesn’t know what to say or do to make you feel better, so the only thing he does do, is just sit there, hugging you and listen to you ramble about whatever is bothering you. He’s better at making you laugh than comforting you with words but don’t tell him that lmao.

- Ace probably can and will beat up anyone who dares to hurt you. Metaphorically, I mean. Like if someone made fun of you, or made you feel bad or uncomfortable. Unlike Deuce he won’t result to violence. He’ll make a total fool of them.

- I have a feeling he’ll get jealous if you flirt with Cater. He’d never admit it to you. Like I could see it.

“Hey, (Y/N), you and I should go to this new café I saw online, they say the ratings are high!” Cater exclaims, showing you the location on his phone. “Oh really?” you asked, peering over his shoulder to get a better look of the screen. “Yeah, you wanna come?” Cater asks again. “Like a date?” You snickered, looking over at Ace who was practically fuming. Cater knew what you were doing and played along. “Yeah, a date.” Cater smirked, hugging you close to him. Ace made a quiet ‘hmph!’ noise, crossing his arms. He paused for a few seconds, before marching right up to you, purposely shoving Cater away from you to sit in-between you. “That sounds great, mind if I tag along?” Ace asked, draping his arm around your shoulders. “Ace, honey, just admit your jealous.” Cater snickered, poking Ace’s side. Ace’s face flushed a bright red “I am not!”. Cater’s smirk only widens “So you don’t mind if I take them on a date?” Cater taunts, smirking at Ace. “I never said that!” Ace retorts, crossing has arms as he shifted his gaze to the floor with a huff. “C’mon it’s not that hard, just admit you like them.”

- Ace probably doesn’t realize his feelings for you until you both start attending school at NRC, when he sees you jokingly flirting with Cater, or spending too much time with someone who isn’t him, and he feels weird jealous—that’s when he realizes “oh you absolute dumb fuck your in love with them.” He feels so stupid for not realizing that he likes you sooner, despite him being a really smart person.

- Ace probably doesn’t like the idea of telling you he has feelings for you though. You’re his childhood friend! It’s like the basic, most often thought romance troupe!

- Poor baby makes it so obvious though, always trying to make you smile, pouting when you flirt too much with Cater, and just in general. You don’t tell him you know though to both save him the embarrassment of being so obvious and so he could build up the courage to tell you himself.

- Which never happens, so if you really want him to know you like him back, you’re gonna have to tell him.

Deuce Spade as your childhood friend would include..

- You would always try to keep him out of trouble, more like keeping him from getting into fights with people, making sure to somewhat keep him in line.

- I get the feeling that Deuce would help you with anything you needed. He’s not as smart as Ace, so he can’t help you with studying, but if Grim broke anything you need anything fixed, you can rely on him to fix it!

- Speaking of Deuce’s studying, I feel like he barely passes his classes, despite studying so hard to get good grades. So you and him have like little study nights in his dorm, where you help him try to not fail every class he and you both just study and prepare for exams or projects so that his mind doesn’t go completely blank, which definitely doesn’t turn into you two talking back and forth the whole time.

- Also, back to the fact the Deuce’s mom is a single mother, so I feel like as kids you would go over to help him help his mom around the house, if that makes sense? His mother loves you, and definitely made a joke of you being her future daughter-in-law.

- I don’t know why I feel like Deuce likes when you depend on him. Cause like, how he would always help his mom out with things so things would be easier for her, I feel like he’d do the same thing for you, cause he likes helping you out. Something about how he would like doing things for you just to help you out, or fixing things that Grim had broken, or helping you clean up around the dorm. This man’s love language just HAS to be acts of service.

- Deuce probably, if he failed another test again, he’d come to you for comfort. Watching him sulk as you hold him in your arms, complaining about how he worked so hard to just to fail yet again. Times like this, he insists on going to you, even if your busy, he’ll just lean his forehead onto the back of your shoulder and grumble something about not studying hard enough, and needing to study harder. Please assure him he did his best and that’s enough!

- I would think that Deuce is more of a comforter than Ace, in the sense that he’ll bluntly tell you what is what and how to fix it (ex. a toxic partner, he’ll just straight up tell you to put them in their place [beat ‘em up] and leave them). But that’s a good thing actually. If you just want him to listen though, that’s cool too! He could totally do that!!

- Anyone who dares to badmouth you, or insult you to your face—with him there, might I add—he won’t hesitate to beat the shit out of them tell them off.

- Adding onto that, Deuce would definitely try to fight them when you’re not around, frustratingly muttering how it wasn’t his fault, and they were practically asking for him to beat them up when they were talking badly about you. You had to beg Crowley to let him off the hook, or else you’d be dealing with a sulky Deuce if he got suspended.

- I get the feeling Deuce is very protective of you, always making sure you’re eating enough, staying hydrated, taking care of yourself. What? He can’t help it, you’re his friend afterall.

- He probably can’t tell when you’re upset, unlike Ace so you have to come to him and tell him.

- He cares a LOT about you, and he’ll make sure to show it. He’s such a sweetheart with you, honestly.

- Despite being extremely straightforward and blunt, I feel like if you tried to hint at your feelings for him, he’d be so oblivious—this dense mf, if you said something like “oh I like this guy with.. dark blue hair and terrible grades” this man will just be like “oh cool haha” he definitely isn’t jealous.

- I don’t think Deuce is a jealous guy I’m lying, I’m lying—he’s defo a jealous guy. AND HE WONT EVEN TRY TO HIDE IT?? Like again, if Cater is flirting with you as a joke, Deuce would be like “Sorry, I need them for the rest of the day, you cannot have them.”

- Cater probably asks him if he likes you, and Deuce would probably just go “no they’ve just been my friend since we were kids, it’s natural for me to feel like this.” is it really?

- But Cater eventually explains and manages to make Deuce realize that YES, he does in fact have feelings for you he’s just really dense.

- Deuce over analyzes this for DAYS, observing everything you do, trying to see if it’s okay to confess to you, he wants to. And he would but he just can’t stand one thing. Rejection. It makes his stomach churn. He would’ve if he actually managed to see the signs..

- Riddle once caught you trying to indirectly tell Deuce you liked him, he called you out on it.

“Aha.. so Deuce. Remember how I was telling you how there was this guy I liked?” you asked in the middle of an unbirthday party. “Yeah? You said he has dark blue hair right? And he has terrible grades?” Deuce confirmed, trying to think of who he knew that was like that. “They’re also incredibly dense.” you sigh. “Why? Have you told them your feelings yet?” Deuce asked, his heart sinking as he thought you might like someone else. “Yeah, I’ve hinted to him about my feelings but he doesn’t seem to catch on.” you grumbled. Deuce chuckled “He sounds stupid—“ “They’re talking about you, dimwit.” Riddle sighed, having enough of your pathetic attempts of trying to let Deuce see that you like him. Deuce then turns to you with a flushed face. “Is this.. true?” he paused, trying to look in your eyes for any signs of a lie. “Maybe..” you admitted, your own face flushed red. “If this “maybe” is a yes, then I like you too.” Deuce gives you a fond smile, making you even more flustered by his bluntness.

- Deuce is honestly a good friend to you, but the story is left for your imagination to continue. :)

(A/N) : My hands are hurting so bad it’s okay though, cause I needed to finish this before going to bed. I didn’t want you to think I refused this request. Which is also another thing, if I don’t respond to it the same day, it’s probably cause I’m a bit busy with things, but I’ll get to it before it can get to a few days of waiting. I hope you liked this! If you need anything changed lmk!

Okay but seriously send help my fingers are twitching and my wrists are cramping up.

“Come back to me, I’ll wait for you.”

Devastated and exhausted, you were still mourning losing Mitsuba a second time. You refused to get out of bed, and only did when Teru asked you to because your grades were a mess. Kou decided to show you the photos Mitsuba had took before. The incident. You tried spending most of your time with Yokoo and Satou, who didn’t really know why you were upset but still tried to comfort you. After the you did your part of helping them get rid of the hands, you thought you were done with supernaturals for the day. But when Kou dragged you off saying Yashiro had gone missing, and you needed to enter some boundary and he wanted you there. You kind of had to tag along. But unexpectedly, you find someone there.

Warnings: Cursing, reader feeling like shit (‘m sorry about that), comforting from Yokoo and Satou, Kou also sorta feeling like shit, your aunt trying to help you out of bed but still keep you safe, some angst again, etc,.

(A/N) : Last chapter of Act I!! Hope you enjoy it. I’ve been feeling like absolute shit these past few days so writing this to distract myself has made me feel so much better. I’m pretty sure this is proofread but if there’s anything wrong with it lmk!!

Prev. << Next end of Act I

You couldn’t bring yourself to get out of bed, not for anything. Not even after the countless times Yokoo and Satou begged you to come, not after Yashiro came over to try and get you up, not even after your aunt talked to you about it.

You just couldn’t.

You’d spent more nights crying than you could ever count, and kept thinking back to that moment. The squelching noise, that scream. It all haunted you like there was no tomorrow.

Your aunt had to bring you in food, and make sure you actually ate it. She sat with you while you cried about it, and she hugged you through it. She even called in sick from work to stay at home just for a day to comfort you.

“Shhh.. hey it’s okay.” She tried to reassure for the nth time this day.

You didn’t seem to be getting better.

“It’s not okay! There should’ve been something I could’ve done! Something I didn’t do.” You cried into your pillow, eyes red and puffy from all your tears.

She pursed her lips, not knowing what to do to comfort you. Nothing seemed to help. All she could do was make sure you ate and drink a little water. And of course make sure you didn’t do anything stupid, she was still a bit paranoid from what happened.

Out of no where, there was a knock on the door.

“Ah.. I’ll go get it.” She said, giving you one last pitiful glance before heading downstairs.

“Hey is (Y/N) here?” You heard someone say.

“Yeah she’s upstairs in her room.” Your aunt replied.

“Okay thank you.” They answered.

You heard footsteps, and groaned.

“Look Yokoo, I already said I don’t want to get up—“

“It’s not Yokoo.” Teru chuckled.

He walked over to your bed and sat with you.

“You doing okay? You and Kou both seem really out of it.” He asked, moving his hand to rub soothing circles in your back.

“No.” Was all you could answer, knowing how he felt about spirits you knew you probably shouldn’t tell him why.

“Listen, you need to come back to school. Your grades are plummeting so bad right now, and your friends miss you a lot.” Teru explained, making you lightly chuckle.

“Great, thanks so much for adding more stress! I thought it was impossible but somehow you did.” You answered sarcastically with a sigh.

He only playfully rolled his eyes, “Look, if it helps anything—I’ll help you with your missing work.”

“Just please come back to school? We all miss you a lot. And I think both you and Kou could use some support.” He pleaded, his pretty blue eyes sparkled with determination to get you out of bed.

You groaned, falling back onto your bed.

“I don’t know..” you mumbled.

“I won’t try to exorcise Hanako for..” he paused “a few days.”

You snorted, shaking your head with a fond smile.

“Deal.”

He smiled.

“Okay. It’s only 9:20, so you still have time to get to school. Even if it’s late, don’t worry I’ll excuse you.” He assured, “so get ready and I’ll walk you to school.”

You sighed as you got out of bed, and he went to wait downstairs for you.

You got dressed, and went into the bathroom to wash your face and do the rest of your skincare routine so you didn’t look like you’d been crying so much, and after you were satisfied that you didn’t look like a total mess as bad, you walked downstairs to find Teru.

He was sitting on the couch, just scrolling around on his phone. You went to go out on your shoes, and swung your backpack over your shoulder. He turned his phone off and stood up.

“You ready?” He asked.

“Yeah.”

.

.

Teru walked you into the middle school divison, and quickly took you with him to the student council room.

“Hang on, wait one second let me just do something real quick.” He hummed, unlocking his computer and opened what seemed to be an attendance sheet and marked your name off as ‘excused tardy’.

“Okay, ‘m gonna go drop you off at class and tell the teacher that you were late cause of my fault.” He explained, already leading you towards your second period class.

He opened the door for you and allowed you in, and went to go whisper something to the teacher. Yokoo looked at you excitedly, and Satou smiled upon seeing you. You didn’t see Kou in his seat, so you assumed he was out with Hanako and Yashiro.

“What made you feel like getting up out of bed?” Yokoo asked curiously.

“Are you hungry? I have some sweets with me.” Satou asked, digging around in his backpack to look for said sweets.

“Teru dragged me out of bed.” You exaggerated with a sigh, leaning against Yokoo dramatically.

Satou just shook his head with a smile, and Yokoo played along pretending to catch you.

“Well did you sleep good at least?” Yokoo asked.

You paused for a moment.

“..Definitely.”

“Liar.” Satou sighed “Here, have some.” He said, offering you some of his sweets.

You took a few, thanking Satou.

“You seemed pretty down enough to not come to school for a few days.. you hadn’t been that down since Mitsuba—“ Yokoo stopped himself.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry.” He winced apologetically, realizing what he just brought up.

You pursed your lips, but you couldn’t get mad at Yokoo. You knew he and Satou were only worried and meant no harm.

“It’s fine, but can someone catch me up on what we’re learning? I’m a little lost.” You chuckled nervously, trying lighten up the mood—trying to forget about Mitsuba.

“Yeah, no problem!” Yokoo chirped.

Yokoo and Satou explained the lesson for you, letting you copy down their notes so you wouldn’t fall too behind. You groaned as you leaned back in your seat, already hating how much you missed in your absence.

“Where’s Kou by the way?” You asked, sitting back up after a few more moments.

“Oh him? All he said is he’d be busy, I don’t think he’s been in class at all.” Satou hummed.

“You should probably go see him, he didn’t look too good.” Yokoo suggested, kicking his feet lightly.

“I will after class.”

.

.

The bell had long since rung, and kids rushed out to their next class. Yokoo and Satou had said their goodbyes and told you they’d see you at lunch, so you were trying to get your stuff altogether.

“Don’t think of running off with those cockroaches.” Teru sighed as he waited by the door for you.

You jumped a bit, not really expecting him to wait for you after class.

“They aren’t cockroaches..” you mumbled, slinging your backpack over your shoulder and he gave you a look that said ‘are you sure about that?’.

You sighed, “Okay, maybe some are. But they aren’t all.” you tried to explain.

You paused, biting your lip a bit “But I’m not gonna do anything having to do with the supernatural anytime soon, so I won’t run off.”

Teru gave you a satisfied smile.

“Why are you even here? Are you going to make sure I don’t skip off to Hanako and the others or?” You trailed off.

“No,” Teru denied “I was actually here to pick you up.”

“I talked to the teachers and let them know you’d be with me for the rest of the day,” he hummed.

“Working on your missing assignments.”

You groaned as you made your way towards the door, looking at Teru with pleading eyes as if it would convince him to just let you go with the others. He smiled and shook his head fondly, leading you towards the student council room.

“Oh and by the way,” he said opening the door for you “I let Kou know you’re here so I’m sure he’ll stop by soon.”

“Soon like now?” Kou asked as he entered the student council room.

“I thought you’d stop by later but yeah, soon.” Teru confirmed with a hum.

“Can I borrow (Y/N)?” Kou asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“For what?” Teru asked.

“Something.” Was all Kou managed to mutter.

“No, sorry. After she finishes at least half of this work,” Teru emphasized, referring to the small stack of packets and papers that you thought to be your missing assignments “then you can take her for a bit.”

You groaned, flopping down on the seat in front of Teri’s desk.

“So mean.” Kou mumbled with a pout, walking out.

“So,” Teru cleared his throat, dropping a small stack of papers in front of you “let’s get started.”

You pouted with a whine, letting your head fall forward and hitting the desk in frustration.

.

.

The bell had rung a fourth time since you’ve gotten there, and it was now time for lunch.

“Well, your a little bit close to halfway done.” Teru mumbled holding up a pinch of the paperwork, holding it up to examine it.

Kou burst through the door, swinging it open.

“It’s lunch time now, and I’m pretty sure (Y/N)’s hungry.” Kou said, trying to indirectly hint if it was okay to borrow you now.

“Go ahead but be back right after.” Teru instructed, and you just pouted with a nod.

“Great,” Kou mumbled, grabbing hold of your wrist “will definitely—“ he sprinted out with you “not.”

Kou laughed a bit, but when he noticed you didn’t seem to even smile his expression dropped.

He came to a stop, at the staircase leading up to the roof, sitting down on a bench nearby.

“You doing okay?” Kou asked.

“Not really.” You muttered, sitting by him.

“Well I have something to show you.” Kou smiled, bringing something from his backpack’s front pocket.

He took it out gingerly, as if it was the most fragilest of glass and would break with even the slightest wrong look.

They were Mitsuba’s developed pictures.

“I had them printed out as soon as I could..” he whispered, though he didn’t know why if it was just the two of you “I already looked at them last night, but—“ his voice cracked a bit as he chuckled lightly “I thought you might want to see them too.”

He carefully handed the small stack of photos to you, and you—just as carefully—took them.

There were many pictures.

Some were meant to be funny, and others were genuinely beautiful.

Like when Kou got attacked by the mother cat when he tried grabbing one of it’s kitten’s. Or when Mitsuba took that photo of Kou while he was standing on his shoulders.

There were also some like the birds nest, and of some he took while in the school garden. But the one that made you tear up—

Was the one he took of you and Kou.

You grit your teeth in frustration, in anger—thinking back to that moment.

“I’ll make that asshole pay one way or another.” You say through a choked out sob.

Kou looked at you with a solemn face, pursing his lips before placing a comforting hand on your shoulder “And I’ll be there to help you when you do.”

You looked at him, and he looked at you. And for the first time since you both had met, you didn’t laugh at the eye contact. Instead, your eyes welled up with regretful tears, tears of grievance at its finest.

“Oh, there you two are!” Yokoo exclaimed gleefully, practically skipping towards you both as Satou trailed behind him.

“What’re you two weirdo’s doing?” Satou joked, sitting beside you as Yokoo sat on the other side of Kou.

Yokoo shot him a glare after realizing you and Kou were on the verge of tears, and Satou immediately took the hint that now wasn’t the time for that.

“Wanna tell us what’s going on?” Satou finally said after a few moments of silence.

Yokoo pursed his lips when he got no answer from either of you, so he spoke up too.

“Look, whatever you both are going through. You can tell us, you know that right?” Yokoo asked, but continued after still the both of you didn’t answer “Just know we’re here for you. Whatever you guys are going through, we’ll get through it altogether.” he looked over at Satou “Right, Satou?”

“Yeah of course. We’re all friends, and as friends we have to look out for each other.” Satou agreed with a hum.

There was a few more seconds of silence before anyone spoke again.

“You ever know that feeling…” you finally managed to croak out after a while longer “when you thought you finally found something you lost a long while ago, someon—“ you stopped yourself before continuing “something very special to you, and then for someone to just. Snatch it out of your hands?”

Kou lightly chuckled, but it came out sadder than he intended “And when you actually got to see another side of a person you just met, and got to know them better—only for them to disappear the next second?”

Satou and Yokoo exchanged glances, as if they were trying to communicate with each other to see what you guys meant by that. But they found themselves empty minded.

“I don’t necessarily understand,” Yokoo started, already hugging Kou to provide some sort of comfort “but I know whatever it is. It’s really tough for you to be feeling like this.”

“Yeah,” Satou confirmed, hugging you too, connecting with Yokoo to form a group hug “we’re your friends. And as your friends we wanna tell you that you don’t have to go through this alone.”

And just then, you broke down in tears, babbling about how you lost someone so special to you a second time and this time you’ll never get them back. Kou followed soon after, except he just silently cried.

“Shhh.. there, there.” Yokoo whispered “Let it all out.”

The two boys hugged you both as you cried, comforting you in silence.

“God you guys are the best.” You hiccuped with a small chuckle that came out more as a sob.

Satou smiled, and Yokoo just replied “We know.”

.

.

After a while longer, the bell rang again. You, Satou, Kou, and Yokoo had been talking, the two mostly trying to distract you guys from crying—trying to get a smile out of you.

From around the corner, Teru came and you groaned.

“C’mon, it’s time to get back to your missing work.” Teru hummed, leaning against the wall as he waited for you to get up.

You pouted, but got up and said your goodbyes.

“You didn’t actually eat,” Teru began as you started walking back to the student council room “did you?”

And as if on cue, your stomach rumbled, and you flushed out of embarrassment. Teru sighed, turning in a different direction.

“Let’s get you something to eat.. I think I might have a spare lunch in the office.” Teru explained.

And he did, luckily for you. After taking one bite, you almost immediately recognized it as Kou’s cooking—and practically gobbled up the rest of it.

“Woah, slow down your going to end up choking.” Teru laughed.

“But it’s Kou’s cooking!” You pouted, taking another bite “You could never.”

“Okay that was ONE time.” Teru groaned, remembering how he nearly burnt down their kitchen.

“Yeah, that ‘ONE’ time was a near death experience for me.” You sighed dramatically, making Teru smile.

“It’s good to see your somewhat better now.” He hummed.

“What do you mean?” You asked, taking one last bite of the delicious lunch Kou prepared.

“I mean, your not as gloomy right now as you were earlier.” He smiled, ruffling your hair.

You swatted his hands away from your hair, “Must’ve been the magic of Kou’s cooking.”

“Must’ve.” Teru agreed, “Now that I know you won’t be complaining about an empty stomach,” he dropped the rest of your missing assignments in front of you “we can finish this.”

“So mean to me.”

.

.

For the next few days you tried to get over it. But I mean, you couldn’t, really. If you thought losing someone the first time was hard, imagine losing them a second time. Yokoo and Satou tried to help too, they kept you busy, and Yokoo even found out some way to let you in his soccer practice to ‘blow off some steam’ as he put it.

“God, I don’t understand how you’re able to do this for what?” You asked, taking a sip from the water bottle Yokoo had given you, to which he replied “About an hour and a half.”

“I can’t even last ten minutes.” You chuckled lightly.

“But you’re distracted, right?” He asked, gently nudging you with his shoulder.

You smiled, “I am actually.”

He smiled right back, “Then that’s all that matters.”

“Now c’mon, let’s go back to practice—“ Yokoo got up and beckoned you towards him, when Kou came along “Sorry Yokoo but I REALLY need to borrow. (Y/N) for a bit.”

“Okay, see you later then (Y/N).” Yokoo exclaimed as he ran back to the rest of his teammates.

“See ya!” You shouted after him.

“What is it?” You asked, turning around to Kou.

“There’s a bunch of hands, just popping around everywhere.” Kou explained “Hanako suggested we play with them so they’ll go away, so far it’s worked.”

“What is that have to do with me?” You sighed.

Kou gave you a playfully glare, rolling his eyes fondly.

“We could use the extra hands.” He hummed, making you chuckle a bit.

“Don’t you already have a lot?” You joked. “Need more hands to get rid of the extra hands.” You snorted.

“Well will you help?” Kou asked, he paused before adding “I know you’re trying to take a break from anything supernatural right now but we could use the help.”

You thought about it for a second, but gave in when you saw the pleading look in his eyes.

“Fine.” You sighed, making Kou cheer.

.

.

“That should be the last of them!” Hanako exclaimed, jumping around in the air excitedly.

“Whew.” You say, slumping against one of the bathroom stall doors.

Out of no where, a hand appeared from the bathroom mirror, and Yashiro approached it.

“Just one left!” Yashiro informed, looking back at it.

“That actually wore me out..” Hanako whined, making you chuckle “one of those guys hit me.”

You ‘coughed’, “Sounds like a major skill issue.” which earned you a playful glare from Hanako.

“Most of the pictures are all cleaned up too.” Kou confirmed, flipping through the yearbook.

“Wait..” Kou paused “now that I look at it.. you’re wearing a different uniform in this picture.”

“That’s from last year!” Yashiro chirped, looking over Kou’s shoulder to see better “When I was in middle school.”

“Cool!” Kou exclaimed.

“But wow,” he then continued “these are really good pictures.”

“Yeah! We had a kid from the photography club take them,” Yashiro hummed “I’m pretty sure his name should be on the last page.”

You and Kou gave each other a hesitant look, and you walked over to check too. And there it was.

Mitsuba Sousuke.

Out of no where, the hand from the mirror grabbed Yashiro’s wrist, and she hummed “What is it?”

“Have you decided what you want to pl—“ the hand cut her off, a mouth morphed onto its figure.

“Come to this side.”

It began to drag her inside the mirror.

“Yashiro!” Both Hanako and Kou panicked.

“Hanako!” Yashiro managed to yelp out.

Said ghost boy quickly got up “Grab my—“ but it was too late, his fingers just barely skimmed hers as she was sucked into the mirror like some type of portal.

“She’s…” Kou paused.

“gone.” I mumbled, and as if on cue—a droplet of water fell from the sink faucet.

Panicked, Kou got up and shouted “I’m coming Yashiro!” As he tried to force himself through the mirror.

“Kid! Stop it kid! Bad kid!” Hanako yelled, grabbing Kou from under his arms to pull him away from the mirror, making you giggle a bit at the way Hanako was referring to Kou as ‘kid’ “Don’t break the mirror!”

“That’s a boundary..” Hanako began to explain “specifically number 3’s”

“School mystery number three?” Kou asked.

“Yes.” Hanako muttered in agreement.

“I mean there’s a really only one supernatural mirror leading to this place—“ Hanako got interrupted.

“The hell of mirrors, right?” You asked “I don’t know how I know that but I do.”

“Yeah, so it has to be this one.” Hanako informed before sighing “I would like to go with her immediately but..” he paused.

“To put it simply, when you go into number 3’s boundary it attacks you.. with things you don’t want to see. Things you’re afraid of.” He looked at you both before continuing “In other words, the strength of the boundary changes based on who’s inside. If I’m not careful, I could make it stronger just by going I’m there.”

But you and Kou weren’t really paying attention, you were both looking at the yearbook Mitsuba had taken pictures for.

“Hey have you two been listening to me at all?” Hanako whined, grabbing onto your shoulders.

In a panic, Kou shut the book at faced him “You were telling us about how filthy your mind is sir!”

That alone made you burst into laughter as Hanako stared in disbelief, then muttered “Yeah well.. I won’t deny that.”

“We have to figure out what to do and fast.” Kou sighed, you felt bad seeing him look so worried for Yashiro’s safety.

“Yeah.” Hanako mumbled.

“Because number 3’s approach is most likely going to depend on what Yashiro is afraid of.” You mumbled, earning a shocked glance from Hanako which turned into a smirk.

“Hey you’re a quick learner aren’t you?” He teased “You caught on faster than Mr. Exorcist here.”

“I know you said you didn’t want anything to do with the supernatural or ghosts for a while, but I think Mr. Tsuchigomori might know something.” Hanako rambled.

“So can you please help?” They asked.

“Please?” Kou begged “For your favorite exorcist.”

“And your favorite apparition.” Hanako added with a sly grin.

“Who said you two were my favorites?” You asked sarcastically, but still smiled.

“Alright fine, but if he doesn’t know something I won’t be helping out.” You finally gave in.

Hanako and Kou both cheered, jumping around like children anxious to go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

.

.

Yashiro’s yelp seemed to echo aimlessly around the dimly lit room, hands began to sprout from the floor. She winced as she was met with something, something wet.

“Water!” She panicked, scrambling to her feet.

Little scale-like pieces began to emerge on her soft skin as she went on to see where she was at, or more so who’s boundary she was in.

Thump, thump, thump.

Footsteps? She thought, swiftly turning her head in panic that something dangerous might’ve been lingering in the dark.

“Hello?” she called, trying to see what she could in the dark room.

She saw a figure, one she thought was feminine, but upon closer examination she found it was a boy. More so, a middle school boy. His eyes looked a bit sunken, as the hands surrounded him. He tilted his head up, to look at her.

“Who are you?” She asked, tilting her head as well to get a better view of him.

Yashiro had a million questions running through her head, who was this boy? Was he a ghost? What’s he doing here? She was dragged out of her trance when said boy was towering over her.

Now that he was closer, Yashiro realized how he looked and a blush covered her face. His rosy eyes startled silently at her, before speaking up.

“You..” he called.

“Yes?” Yashiro panicked, standing up straight.

The boy looked left, then right, before sighing. His once innocent look was replaced with a taunting smirk.

“..have pretty fat ankles, huh?”

Yashiro froze in place, a bit dumbfounded that someone so adorable would say something so vulgar.

The boy sighed, crossing his arms.

“Aww, I thought someone was finally here to help me, but it’s just some horseradish..”

“I-I’m not a horseradish!” Yashiro retorted defensively with a pout.

“Yeah yeah whatever.” Mitsuba sighed.

Yashiro kept asking questions, and Mitsuba didn’t have any intention to answer much or any of them, so he walked to the door at the end of the corridor and opened it.

He then walked over to Yashiro and grabbed her by the little accessories on her belt. “This way.” He said.

“This is one of the boundary’s of the seven mysteries..” he explained after a while “the hell of mirrors.”

“Or..” he paused, stopping in his tracks to look at Yashiro with an unsure look “I guess that’s it’s name.”

“But that’s all I know.”

Yashiro looked around in amazement, everywhere she turned there were mirrors of different shapes, sizes, colors, and designs. But there was one thing they all had in common.

They all had an eerie feeling to it, it sent shivers down Yashiro’s spine.

“There’re mirrors.. everywhere.” She mumbled in awe.

“Yeah, I can see that Ms. Obvious.” Mitsuba sighed, playfully rolling his eyes.

But Yashiro wasn’t paying enough attention to care, she was too busy thinking.

“I’m Mitsuba.”

Yashiro made a small ‘huh?’ noise before turning to look at him.

“I’m stuck here and I have no idea to get out of this mess.” He complained, slumping down against the railings.

“Mitsuba? You’re..” she paused, eyeing him curiously “from the middle school division, right?”

“Are you a ghost? And..” she paused to look at him “have we met somewhere?”

“I..” he paused, swallowing the lump in his throat “don’t know.”

“Who cares? None of that matters now anyways.” He sighed, his rosy eyes flinched a bit, as if maybe trying to hold back tears.

“I guess we’ll have to get out of this place first! But..” she paused “why did you bring me here?”

Mitsuba didn’t say anything for a moment or two, clearing his throat and pointing at the hands still sprouting from the floor.

“Well I wanted someone who could help me,” he explained “so I asked them to find someone for me.”

The hands excitedly exclaimed a small “yeah!” popping around enthusiastically.

“Are they friends of yours, Mitsuba?” Yashiro asked sweetly, bending down to shake their hands.

Mitsuba scoffed with an offended expression.

“Are you suggesting I’m friends with my right hand??” He shouted “Would you please not be so vulgar!”

“I didn’t say they were right hands..” Yashiro mumbled, looking over at a few left hands.

“Besides..” Mitsuba sighed “the only friend I can remember, is..”

He looked at Yashiro and then away.

“Wait why am I telling you this?” Mitsuba scoffed.

“Who is it?” Yashiro asked.

“What do you mean?” Mitsuba replied, tilting his head a bit to show his confusion.

“Your friend,” she insisted “the one you could remember?”

“It’s..” he looked hesitant to tell her, but then thought she might know where to find her, so she gave in.

“Her name’s (Y/N)..” he whispered, Yashiro just managed to hear.

“(Y/N)?” Yashiro repeated.

“Yeah.. it’s kind of a weird story. I don’t know why she’s the only one I remember. I just remember waking up, no memory of anything or anyone.”

“Just her.”

Yashiro gave him a pitiful look, and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Well,” she began “first let’s get out of here. And then, I think I might have an idea of where she might be.” she said with a smile.

“Really?” He asked excitedly, shooting up from his slouching position.

“Of course.” Yashiro confirmed.

“Well then..” he mumbled, looking up at Yashiro, leaning his head down on his arms and batting his pretty eyelashes at her “will you help me out of here?”

Yashiro felt a pang in her heart, to her, Mitsuba looked like an innocent puppy. And when he saw that look of awe in her eyes, he knew his charm worked.

“I can’t make any promises,” she cleared her throat “but this isn’t my first time in a place like this. So I’m sure we can find our way out somehow.”

“God..” he smiled softly “thank you, Yashiro.”

Yashiro put her hand over her chest, her eyes tearing up dramatically as she gushed over him.

“What is it?” Mitsuba asked innocently.

“O-Oh..” Yashiro stuttered “it’s nothing!”

She turned her head away with a smile, and each time she wasn’t looking, Mitsuba made a face to mock her.

.

.

They continued to walk aimlessly around the boundary, looking at all the mirrors as they passed by.

“Mitsuba,” Yashiro spoke up after a while, uncomfortable with the silence “this is your first time in a boundary, right?” she then gave him a proud smile “Not to brag or anything, but this is my fourth time in one!”

“It is my first time..” Mitsuba admited “but—“

“Then as your upper-classman, or- err.. woman? I’ll teach you all about boundaries!” She exclaimed excitedly, grabbing his sleeve-covered hand with her own.

———

After a while of Yashiro explaining the basic understanding of a boundary as they further explored the place, Mitsuba nodded and ‘okay’ed’ everything she said.

“Woah.” He mumbled in astonishment at the new information he was given.

Before Yashiro could make a proud remark, he snickered “You seem to know an awful lot about this for a living person.”

“Scary..” he said, backing away in ‘fear’ playfully.

.

.

The three of you made your way to the library where Mr. Tsuchigomori usually would be. Not giving him a chance to ask why you all are there, you begin to all try to explain at once.

“Wait, back up a few steps. One at a time.” He sighs, almost like a father telling his children to wait their turn to talk.

Before either you or Hanako get the chance to speak first, Kou beats you both to it—and explains the whole situation.

“Why are you even bothering me with this..?” Mr. Tsuchigomori groaned, rubbing his forehead as if it will soothe the annoying headache the three of you were to him.

“Because!” Hanako wailed “It’s been two hours since they took Yashiro! And I can’t get into number 3’s boundary!”

“Yeah!” You sighed with a pout, very much worried for your friend.

“The kids and I even tried begging on our hands and knees for number 3 to let us in! But it didn’t work!” Hanako cried, dramatically flapping his arms all over the place.

You smacked the back of his head “Stop that, we didn’t even go that far.” you groaned.

“But still! We would’ve if it meant number 3 would let us in!” Hanako wailed yet again, clinging to your sleeve.

“Please spider-face!” Kou finally exclaimed after seeing a moment from where he could talk.

The sudden name made you snort, clasping a hand over your mouth to stop yourself from bursting into laughter. Kou smiled, seeing as this had been the first time you’d smiled since the incident with Mistuba.

“It’s Mr...” Hanako corrected.

“Whatever! Mr. Spider Face!” Kou yet again exclaimed, clasping his hands together as if to beg, making you finally let your strained laughter flow from your lips.

“Yes! Please help us Mr. Spider Face!” You snickered, doing the same gesture as Kou, you both were now laughing maniacally at this point.

“You little..” Mr. Tsuchigomori sighed, you swore you saw his eyebrow twitching.

“I can’t let Yashiro get hurt..” Hanako spoke up, after having going silent for a while.

You and Kou both turned to him, confused by the sincerity in his voice. The Hanako you knew to be flirtatious and a pervert and sometimes even a jerk, being serious for once? It was a sight to see for sure.

“Tell me Mr. Tsuchigomori..” he uttered, finally looking up after staring at the seemingly more interesting floor for so long “won’t you help us?”

Even the disguised supernatural looked shocked to see the ghost so genuine, so with a sigh, he got up.

“Well, I do have an idea.” He hummed, walking over to a specific bookshelf.

He moved a couple of books to reveal Yako snoozing on the bookshelf. Effortlessly, he grabbed her, and tossed her over to Hanako—who luckily caught her. You, Kou, and Hanako looked down at the Nogitsune in Hanako’s arms.

“Number 2?” Hanako asked “Why?”

“Hear me out.” Mr. Tsuchigomori sighed, sitting back down at his desk “The seven mysteries boundaries each serve to oversee a certain aspect of the school.”

“My ‘book stacks’ manage records, the clock keepers manage ‘time’, and number 2 manages ‘space.” He explained “If you go through her boundary you can get pretty much anywhere in the school.”

“That includes number 3’s boundary?” You asked, looking down at Yako.

“Pretty much.” Mr. Tsuchigomori sighed.

“But I thought Yashiro busted up her boundary?” Kou asked.

“Oh Kou.. poor, sweet, dumb little Kou.” You snickered, making said boy glare at you, more like aggressively side-eyeing you.

Mr. Tsuchigomori shook his head with a fond smile, before continuing “Oh that.. all she really did was take her right to manage it. The boundary itself is still existing. But with its overseer gone.. it’s probably a mess.”

“Isn’t that right echinococcus?” He snickered, making the latter snap up with a growl.

“Shut up emo spider!” Yako retorted, making you snicker.

“Emo spider..” you snorted in an almost whisper.

“And why should I even help you! I could care less what happens to your assistant!” Yako crossed her arms, turning her head with a ‘hmph!’.

“Beecause we’re your favorites?” You asked hopefully, but she didn’t seem to budge.

“Kitsune udon.” Hanako spoke, holding up his butcher knife as if to threaten her.

“Huh?” Yako gasped offendedly “I- It’s not even my problem!”

“Udon.”

“Fine..” Yako finally huffed, knowing Hanako wouldn’t go through with it—but still wanted to help him out.

.

.

.

“Let’s see…” Yako hummed, walking towards the bottom of the stairs.

“This is it right?” Kou asked.

“You’re kidding right?” You asked in disbelief, giving Kou a ‘are you stupid?’ look.

“Hey I was just making sure!” Kou whined, elbowing you in the side, which resulted in you two giggling and playfully shoving each other.

“Here we go!” Yako sung, breaking your guys’s laughter “One,” one at a time you were taking steps up the stairs “two,” and another “three..”

“Four.”

The Misaki Stairs were nothing new to you, you had come here with the trio before in search for Yashiro’s friend, Aoi. And hearing that it had been all out of whack since Yashiro destroyed it’s yoshiro, you weren’t surprised to look out into the distance and for the large empty void to be staring right back at you.

Though it was filled with pretty flowers to the brim, and sunny skies something still felt off. Like something was out of place.

“It’s..” Hanako marveled, staring out in disbelief.

“Woah!” Kou grinned, looking around like a child trying to pick which ride to go on first at an amusement park “It’s so pretty now!”

“Yeah..” you murmured, not being able to shake off the eerie feeling it gave you, but seeing as the other two seemed at ease—you tried your best to forget about it.

“I’ll show you to number 3’s boundary,” Yako hummed, now in human form “just keep up.”

The “click-clack” and “tut-tut” of your shoes against the stairs as you climbed was the only thing to fill the silence. You looked down from the stairs, only to be met with a void. It was empty. So empty it made you shiver, so you moved your focus elsewhere. Perhaps towards the flowers at the bottom of the stairs…

“Hey fox lady?” Kou finally spoke up, breaking the  deafening silence.

“What do you want stupid brat?” Yako spat, not turning back to even glance at him as he spoke.

“You know how before your rumor changed and you went totally crazy?” Kou asked, making you widen your eyes at the insensitive comment and elbow his side, making him glare at you as he winced “and you attacked me and the other students.”

“You like bringing up unpleasant memories, don’t you?” Yako scoffed, but you didn’t miss the way she winced at the mention of the things she had done before “What’s your point?”

“Oh it’s just.. I was wondering what that felt like.” Kou mumbled, now feeling unsure if it was okay to ask, though he felt the need to.

“What? Why would you wanna know that?! Talk about poor taste!” Yako yapped, turning to glare at Kou “I knew Misaki was the only human worth answering! The rest are lower than insects!”

Feeling a bit of pity, and knowing how curious he must have been cause you were too you placed a gentle hand on Kou’s shoulder and spoke. “Hey, give him a break. I understand what he said might have been a tad insensitive but..” you paused, looking down at the ground “recently, we had a friend of ours go a bit berserk after his rumor changed. And we- I mean Kou’s just curious if when your rumor changed, was it still you?”

“They’re kinda like you, huh number 2?” Hanako chuckled, but Yako kept her back to you three.

“Well..” Yako finally murmured as you all continued up the steps “it didn’t feel good, at least when I look back at it now. But..” she paused, and she looked unsure if she should continue, but when she looked at you two who were listening so intently, she couldn’t help but continue “It was definitely me. It was just a side of me that I kept bottled up, and it was forced out of me. That’s all.”

“Okay..” Kou mumbled, clearly unsure. You didn’t miss how his eyes shifted back down to the yearbook in his hands, and you patted his shoulder, as if to tell him I know how you feel.

“So if you tried to say something to your friend, even if he didn’t understand it, it still probably reached him.” That alone gave Kou hope, maybe. Just maybe, that last encounter with Mitsuba, he was able to talk to him.

“It doesn’t matter how warped he is.” Yako continued, seeing how he seemed a bit confused “or even if he changed form or shape.”

“That boy.. is still that boy.”

Just as you were about to ask a question of your own, Yako and Hanako—who were walking in front of you, stopped walking. “We’re here.” Yako announced.

“I assume our chat is over?” She hummed in more of a question, but then added “We’ve arrived, number 3’s boundary is straight through here.”

“Is that a mirror?” Kou asked, poking the frame.

“I don’t know.. looks kind of eerie to me. Hanako mumbled, floating above it as he exclaimed it closely.

“Yeah.. I mean..” you murmured, running your finger along the glass when you felt a force pulling you in.

You let out a surprised yelp as you were engulfed by the mirror’s glass, leaving the three in disbelief.

“Just so you know.. I’m not going further than here.”

You landed in some unknown place with a “oomph”, the place was filled with mirrors. You heard a loud yelp in what you could have only recognized as Yashiro’s voice.

“Oh right, your supposed to be nice to girls.”

You turned with teary eyes from the bright light that filled the room to find the voice, and you felt yourself freeze when you realized it was Tsukasa.

The ghost, no. The vicious supernatural who tore Mitsuba from you.

You watched as Yashiro fell to ground in deep slumber, she looked awfully peaceful given the circumstances and situation they were in. When Tsukasa got up, your eyes wandered to where Mitsuba was at.

“Now, time for you to eat up Mitsu!” Tsukasa chirped, his voice was sickeningly sweet but it made shivers run down your spine, as he held what looked like to be a heart in his hands.

“No, NO! PLEASE, NO!” Mitsuba cried, trying to back away from the entity.

Mitsuba’s eyes widened in shock when he noticed you were there, and you didn’t miss that hopeful glint in his eyes when you made eye contact, hopeful that you would save him.

“(Y/N)!” He cried, trying to get Tsukasa’s bloodied hands off of him, tears streaming down his soft skin “PLEASE, HELP ME!”

You don’t know what came over you, but you found yourself rushing over in attempt to strangle Tsukasa, but he threw you off of him effortlessly.

“Get—“ you coughed “GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

Tsukasa looked unfazed, his expression void of any emotion but it still made you shake with fear, not of what he would do to you, but of what he would do to Mitsuba.

“Now, eat up.” Tsukasa mumbled, his voice was low, and sounded inhumane. Distorted and horrifying. You wanted to get up, fight Tsukasa, and save Mitsuba. But this was no fairytale, so with a pounding headache—you watched as Tsukasa forcefully fed Mitsuba what you thought to be number 3’s heart, due to the entity that laid lifeless beside them with teary eyes.

You began to cry, feeling helpless. Tsukasa got up, walking towards you. You saw as Mitsuba looked distorted too, but he was still Mitsuba nonetheless.

“No-NO! PLEASE DON’T HURT HER! I’LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT JUST PLEASE—“

A loud “WHAM” shook the room and two boys you could only recognize as Hanako and Kou came crashing down screaming like little girls. Kou was the first to get up, his eyes wandered to your shaking form, but you weren’t crying out of fear of Tsukasa—who he saw standing in-front of you—but when he followed your eyes to where they wandered, he realized why.

“..Mitsuba..?”

(A/N) : Oml, Act I is finished!! My hands are cramping from all the typing and I lost lots of sleep but that’s fine! But busy with French lessons but I still had time for this. This will be proofread and (hopefully) posted as well as the other chapters in Act I, tomorrow evening. Have a good day/evening/afternoon/night, and stay hydrated!! Eat smth too if you haven’t!

“Remember me, remember you.”

Excited, you run over to him. You remembered him, but did he remember you? When you reached over to hug him and he backed away from your touch, you felt hurt. He didn’t. He remembered Kou who forgot him, but he couldn’t remember you.

(A/N) : Proofread, so don’t worry about any grammar mistakes or spelling errors. Enjoy!

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“Mitsuba?” You cried, unsure if he was really there or not.

“You know this kid?” Kou asked you.

You didn’t answer him, only running up to hug him, only for him to back away from you.

“Sorry, do I know you?” He said with a raised eyebrow, genuinely confused.

Your heart sank to your stomach.

“You remember me, and I don’t know you? But I know you and you don’t remember me?” Mitsuba asked.

“Who are you?” Mitsuba asked another question, suddenly going from cocky to confused.

“What do you mean? I don’t know you?” Kou asked making them both even more confused.

“I’m gonna- er. Go. Yashiro could probably use the help.” You excused, walking off.

Your voice was shaky.

“What the hell?!” Kou shouted at the ghost who you called Mitsuba.

He grabbed him by the collar, he was confused when you recognized the ghost boy, but angry that he didn’t seem to recognize you despite asking people if they remembered him. Mitsuba yelped.

“I swear I don’t know her! I really don’t know who she is! I mean she feels familiar but I don’t know her!” Mitsuba yelled thrashing around in panic.

Kou huffed, he has never seen you that upset.

.

.

“You know him?” Yashiro asked.

You nodded, taking the tissue Hanako offered to you.

“It’s okay, knowing he’s not alive maybe his memories were thrown around and it’s just gonna take longer for him to remember you.” Hanako assured you, the mokke unusually backed him up, nodding and agreeing.

“Yeah, Hanako’s right! I’m sure he’ll come around.” Yashiro smiled.

“Thanks Yashiro,” you smiled warmly at her, though it still looked sad “maybe you’re right.”

“Just gotta wait.” Hanako confirmed.

You checked the time on your phone.

5:59 p.m.

“Well I’m gonna head out. Thanks for listening.” You said, standing up.

“No problem! You can always come to us with anything!” Yashiro beamed with a smile.

I smiled too, before leaving the school.

.

.

“That quick?” Your aunt asked as you opened the door.

She was sitting in the living room, watching some show she found in a channel.

“I got tired, so I’m just going to go to bed.” You said, but your voice failed you and cracked.

Your aunt raised an eyebrow at this, and stood up.

“Everything go okay at school?” She asked, and that’s when you broke again.

You told her everything, how when Kou finally found something on the ghost, you were happy. That you went to go leave your stuff down, and you hesitated to walk the rest of the way when you heard it. And when you had confirmed that it was indeed, Mitsuba’s spirit, and ran to embrace him, he backed away and said he didn’t remember you.

“Oh honey..” your aunt said in a hushed voice, hugging you.

“Maybe something went wrong with his memory. I don’t know much about the supernatural, but sometimes they forget things. Just give it time okay?” She assured, hugging you a bit tighter as you cried harder.

“Okay.” You sobbed.

“Go ahead and shower, there’s this new k-drama I found, wanna watch it together?” Your aunt asked.

“Sure..” you hiccuped, finally calming down.

Your aunt smiled.

“Alright, hurry and shower, get ready for bed, and then come down here. I’m gonna go buy snacks, you want anything?” She asked, already going to grab her wallet and keys.

“Maybe just some chips and something to drink..” you mumbled, wiping the last of your tears.

“Okay, I’ll be back.” She said, rushing out the door.

You hurried up to shower.

—

The feeling of the hot water splashing on your back was comforting. You were already done showering, just standing there to think.

“Maybe they are right. I just have to wait.” You assured yourself.

“Yeah, I just have to wait.” You confirmed.

—

You had already finished doing your skincare, getting dressed in your comfiest pajamas, and were now drying your hair. You were about to head downstairs, when you got the notification of a call.

—

Incoming call..

Kou

Answer / Decline

—

“Hello?” You called, your voice sounded raspy from crying so much.

“Hey, you ran out after seeing that ghost.” Kou said after a few moments, pointing out the obvious.

“I did.” You confirmed, sitting down on your bed.

“You okay?” He asked, pausing before adding “oh and Tiara says hi.”

You smile, and he swore he could hear it.

“Tell her I say hi too. And yeah. I should be okay. I talked to Yashiro, Hanako, and now my aunt about it. I should be fine.” You reply.

He gasped, acting offended.

“And you didn’t talk to me about it? How could you?” He asked, dramatically.

You chuckled, and he smiled.

“You were busy with Mitsuba, don’t know. How could I?” You replied.

He hummed.

“Well I’m not busy now, tell me about it.” He says, laying down on his bed.

He put the phone on speaker, laying it next to his head.

“Mitsuba. You seriously don’t remember him?” You asked.

“No, nothing.” He confirmed.

You sighed.

“He was that photographer in junior high. And..” you paused.

“One of my closest friends since elementary.”

“I told him about everything, about the rituals, about the ghosts, everything. He acted like himself around me. Even if he was cocky and arrogant. He was nice to be around.” You explain.

“You liked being around that? And Teru thinks I’m the crazy one.” Kou joked.

“But,” Kou added. “That still doesn’t ring a bell. You sure he didn’t go to another school?”

You sighed in disapproval.

“No, he wouldn’t be haunting the school entrance if he did. I used to tag along with him. He can come off as a jerk and a total asshole.”

“Oh no yeah for sure.” Kou snorted.

You rolled your eyes.

“But he’s got a kind side if you look really closely.” You say with a smile.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure I’d have to squint really hard to see it.” Kou scoffed with a smile.

“He died, I can’t even remember how long ago anymore. And since I’ve been looking for any sign of his spirit. It wasn’t until recently that something turned up. I had dreams, vivid dreams, of his death. I kept hearing his voice but if I turned around he wasn’t there. So I guess it kinda really hurt me when he said he didn’t remember me. Who was actually close to him when he was alive, but remembered you when you only briefly interacted with him once in junior high.” You sighed, lying on your back, shutting your eyes for a moment.

“Guess I have that affect on people.” He said with a chuckle, fiddling with his bedsheets.

You snorted, rolling onto your stomach.

“I guess. But it still hurt.” You groaned.

He went silent for a moment.

“Hey, how about tomorrow I’ll go find him, and I’ll leave you with him. You can try to jog his memory, talk to him. Do you have any old photos or videos?” He asked after a few seconds.

“Yeah, a few Polaroid photos.. some old videos that my aunt took. I could ask for them.” You reply.

“Yeah, do that. I’ll take care of the rest.” He said.

You smiled.

“Thanks Kou, you really are the best.”

“Your welcome.” He hummed.

“Well, I’m gonna head to sleep now, you should too. I don’t want to be left with Hanako the whole day.” He scoffed playfully.

“Yeah I will in a bit. Good night Kou.” You reply.

“Don’t sleep too late.” He reminded.

“Okay mom.” You answered sarcastically.

“Good night.” Kou said before hanging up.

As if on cue, your aunt unlocked the door and shut it behind her.

“(Y/N), I’m back. You ready?” She called.

“Yeah just give me a minute!” You shouted back, grabbing a blanket and rushing downstairs.

She set the bag of snacks down on the coffee table and flopped down onto the couch. Once you got there and sat down with her, she smiled.

“Take your pick,” she gestured to the bag of snacks “I bought a ton of stuff.”

You thanked her before grabbing what you wanted from the bag, settling down on the couch to watch whatever k-drama she chose.

.

.

You had ended up falling asleep on the couch, peacefully after halfway through the movie. She smiled warmly at your sleeping figure, but she knew you couldn’t fall asleep on the couch. She couldn’t leave you there knowing you might see something, someone again. So she woke you up.

“Hey, sweetie wake up real quick. C’mon you can go back to sleep in your room.” She urged, gently shaking you.

You groaned, rolling onto your side facing the other way.

“(Y/N), c’mon wake up. Go brush your teeth real quick and go back to bed.” She insisted, so with a grumble you got up and went upstairs.

You made your way to the bathroom, brushing your teeth. Once you were done, you left to your room.

You passed your aunt in the hallway upstairs “good night” she called.

“G’night.” You mumbled back sleepily.

You plopped down onto your bed, making yourself comfortable in the covers.

Closing your eyes to sleep, you felt that same weight on your chest. And out of exhaustion, you fell asleep.

(A/N) : Planning on posting the next chapter tomorrow. It’s already done, just needs to be proofread.

- OBEY ME shall we date?

Lucifer

Nothing yet..

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Mammon

Nothing yet..

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Leviathan

Nothing yet..

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Asmo

Nothing yet..

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Satan

Nothing yet..

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Beelzebub

Nothing yet..

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Belphegor

Nothing yet..

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Solomon

Nothing yet..

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Luke mostly platonic..

Nothing yet..

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Simeon

Nothing yet..

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Barbatos

Nothing yet..

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Diavolo

Nothing yet..

If a character isn’t here it’s most likely I don’t pay enough attention to their character to be confident writing about/with them.