𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 | 𝘠. 𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦

ᴷᵒᵘ ᴹⁱⁿᵃᵐᵒᵗᵒ

*** Read in white mode for better experience.

"Whatcha doin'?" Hanako asked, resting his head on your shoulder to watched as you took out a small cleaning kit.
"Cleaning," you responded dryly as you pressed the button to expand your staff, carefully wiping it down with a damp cloth. As you stared down at the weapon, Teru's words suddenly came to mind. It had been a week and a half since your encounter with him, but you hadn't been able to forget his words since then.

'I call myself an exorcist, but here I am claiming to be friends with one of the most dangerous apparitions.'

You couldn't help but wonder what your family would think. Were you even worthy of calling yourself an exorcist anymore?

Teru's threat had gotten to you as well. He threatened to exorcise Hanako if you couldn't, and the power radiating off of him made it clear that it was a promise rather than a threat. You knew Hanako wasn't weak either, but the more you thought about it, the more you couldn't help but worry that Hanako wouldn't be strong enough to beat him if they ever faced each other. Your mind kept jumping back and forth from thoughts about your reputation as an exorcist to worrying over Hanako's safety.

"...Y/n...Y/n, you'd better not be ignoring me."

You heard Hanako talking in the background, but what finally snapped you out of your thoughts was the feeling of cold hands cupping your face. Hanako lifted your face so that your faces were inches apart as he squeezed your cheeks together.
"You've been quiet all day," He said with a pout. "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

You sighed, ready to tell him about your encounter with Teru when a shadow looming over the two of you caught your attention.

"That's enough!"

You and Hanako both turned to see a boy standing on the higher part of the rooftop. "Don't you dare harm her evil spirit!"
You and Hanako watched in confusion as he jumped off, landing on the ground with a confident smirk.
"I'm Kou Minamoto, in case they ask you how you were finally sent to the underworld," he said cockily.

You chuckled at his arrogance before looking him up and down. He had blonde hair and blue eyes but what stood out to you was the traffic safety earing on his right ear.

'Where's all the traffic his face is patrolling? Was there a crash in his brain?'

Other than that, you noticed that he was holding a golden staff similar to yours, but by the way that he was holding it, you instantly knew that he didn't know what he was doing.

"Friend of yours?" Hanako asked, turning to look down at you, and you scoffed, turning your attention back to cleaning your staff.
"No way," you replied. "But I do know who he is. He's from the Minamoto clan, but I'm guessing he's only a beginner."

"You should be trembling at the mere mention of my name," said Kou. "And now it's time to do my duty as a member of the Minamoto Clan." With that, he ran at Hanako, and you sat there calmly, waiting until he was just about to land an attack to use your staff to swipe his feet out from under him, making him fall to the ground. You jumped up, stepping on the hand holding the staff to keep it pinned to the ground. You pointed your staff at his neck.
"Definitely a novice," you sighed. "Don't you know you're supposed to observe your surroundings?" Kou stared at you for a moment before his eyes suddenly widened with shock.
"Th-that staff! You're an exorcist too?" He exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Are you protecting him?"
"That's none of your concern," you spat. "Now leave."

To your surprise, Kou glared back at you.
"You know I can't do that." Before you could respond, the blonde grabbed your foot with his other hand, pulling it up off of his arm and making you stumble back. He jumped up and pointed his staff at you.
"And if you really are an exorcist, then you'd either step aside and let me do my job, or you'd help me." You narrowed your eyes.