HALCYON [Minamoto Teru]

29

"It's fine. Yashiro has Honorable No.7 with her. And it's hardly Ao's fault anyways. Let's go apologize, together." He shook their hands slightly as Aoi pursed her lips. "Yeah .."

Nora was somber by the sight of the pair. An odd feeling of pity she hadn't felt in some time. "Akane .. I actually .. like giraffes." She said softly. Akane had froze, nearly turning around on instinct. "Gir .. Wh-What's with this all of a sudden?" His heart was racing, resisting the urge to turn around.

"But I haven't ever seen them before, and I don't like crowds so .." The girl trailed off as Akane let out a hum. "By any chance .. Do you wanna go to the zoo? .. Well if I'm the one who wants to go, then will you come with me?" Akane asked happily. "Alright .."

"What else do you like?" Their voices echoed throughout the dark cave, bouncing off of the walls. "Sweets .." Aoi replied in a hush tone. "You always did like that cake shop in front of the station. It's been a while, shall we go there?" He suggested brightly with a hum as Aoi continued on her list. "I also .. like games and stuff."

"Let's play them together. No matter how late, I'll stay up with you." Truly, there was nothing in the world Akane wouldn't do for Aoi. His pure intentions were loud and clear as Aoi almost stopped walking. "Really? Is that a promise?" She asked as her pinkie finger twitched.

"Of course!"

"What about you Akane? I want to know what you like." She smiled, even if he couldn't see it. As though it were the most obvious thing in the world, the answer would always remain the same. "Me? I like you, Ao-chan." That was one thing that would never change in his heart, whether life and death separated them or not.

With a single step, Akane found himself back in the school halls as he blinked. "We're .. back? We made it Ao-chan!" As Akane ran forward, there was something lost in his hand, as he stared down at his palm and then behind him. The gentle touch of his childhood friend was nowhere to be found. "Ao-chan? Where are you?"

Nora, still in the cave as Aoi turned around. "If only I had told him that I liked him too.." Aoi rubbed the glassy tears that fell from her amethyst eyes as Nora simply sat there. "Do you want me to walk you back to the outside?" The witch asked as the girl looked up from her tear stained sleeves. "But you can't turn around unless—"

Nora already did so. "I can't see the light either Aoi. I've already died, a long time ago, multiple and several times over again. Dying, it never gets easier but .. I've just accepted my fate." The witch smiled briefly as the two females began to walk. The two of them, only seeing pure darkness in the cave, unable to see the light at the end of it, already meant that they were dead.

"When— how did you figure out?" Aoi asked as her sniffles died down. Nora smiled. "You're just a normal human Aoi. Some Kannagi blood running in your veins is all. You had a wish, and you thought it was truly what you wanted. That's how I know you're a human. You're weak minded, easily swayed, selfish and temperamental. But most of all, you're fragile. That and .. humans can't survive in No.6's boundary."

Yashiro Nene, who was part fish due to her mermaid scale. Teru who was an exorcist with high spiritual power, Nora who was a witch with nine lives, Akane who was part apparition, their partiality is what allowed them to enter the far shore in the first place without any major consequences. Aoi however, was a normal human being. Although she had Kannagi blood, she had never properly utilized spiritual power, making her prone to death.

"I can save you Aoi." The witch's voice rung out as the girl nearly froze, her tear welted eyes turned to her Senpai. "You still want to tell Akane that you like him too, don't you?"

She nodded her head. "Then I'll save you. Only if you want to be saved."

Aoi stared at her, wide eyed and in disbelief. "Can you really?" Nora nodded her head as Aoi sucked in a shaky gasp of air. "Then .. Senpai .. please .. save me." She muttered softly as Nora smiled. "Right now, your power and title as a Kannagi have been used to shut the boundary between the far shore and the nearshore. Your lifespan has been overturned to Nene, who now escaped her fate. I can save you from all of that while keeping Nene alive." Nora said earnestly.