Throughout the journey, Akane and Aoi's clasp on one another's hands had never loosened, despite the many things they encountered, ranging from carnivorous plants and pretty flowers, to serpent snakes, cliff climbing and near drowning experiences with piranha fish. Akane looked up as he heaved heavily, Aoi placing a hand on his chest to steady him.
"Don't tell me .. Natsuki-senpai is sleeping.." Akane deadpanned as he stared at the stilled black ball of fur that Teru had been holding one handedly the entire journey for the past almost hour or so as he turned around with a smile. "She's been working quite a bit to keep you all safe. Letting her take a little nap is fine." Teru waved his hand dismissively.
Although Akane saw his senpai as a lazy, glutton for sweets who had an insatiable hunger for red bean paste, he'll admit. She showed responsibility and professionalism when it came to things that mattered.
When he first met her, she was .. violent toward him. Hissing at everything, picky, obnoxious and condescending. He hated staring at her medallion orbs that stared down at him as though he were garbage. She spoke of her own kind, 'humans', with disgust and discontempt, for reasons still unknown to him.
But at the end of the day, the two of them cared in the end. They were the ones who helped him live his life as a normal human, and even saving his life, despite how much disrespect she showed toward them and how much abuse they did to him.
Finally, at the end of their long journey, they reached a large cave where a massive boulder sat. A shimenawa draped over it as Akane blinked. "Is this .. a dead end?"
Choosing to rise from her slumber, the witch finally twitched as Teru stared down into his arms, allowing the girl to leap onto solid ground and morph into a human lazily staring back at her kouhai. "This is a secret passageway, all it needs is some exorcist blood to activate it and open it up for us."
The blonde bit his index finger, smearing the blood on the boulder as a rumble quaked the cave, revealing a long dark passageway. "Beyond this lies the human world. From here on, until we reach the other side, make sure you don't look back no matter what. Or you won't be able to go back."
Akane and Aoi tightened their grip on one another as Teru trudged ahead, Nora staying at the very back behind Aoi as they walked. "Whoa, it's dark .. I can't see anything .." Aoi mumbled. "You're right. I can see a light up ahead but .."
Aoi flinched as she pursed her lips and looked down at the ground. "A light .. Hey Akane." She called out to her child hood friend. "Hm?" The boy hummed in curiosity. ".. I'm sorry for injuring you. Nene-chan too .. I did terrible things to her." Aoi said softly, slightly drooping as Akane smiled in the slightest.
"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.
"Please, save me, Natsuki-senpai!" Aoi sniffled, this time her voice was firmer, holding onto the sleeve of Nora's haori as Nora tapped the bells on her wrist. "Keep that with you, Aoi. It'll protect you until we come back." Nora pat the first-year's head as she turned around, prepared to leave until Aoi tugged on her sleeve again. "Hm?"
"Senpai .. please, look after Akane for me." She whispered, voice faintly cracking as Nora pat her head. "Of course."
"Akane-san isn't here. Since she wasn't in a state that she could have been returned. From the moment she stepped foot into that place, Akane was no longer one of the living." Teru's voice was dull and monotonous as he stared at the ground. ".. Huh? No longer one of the living? What .. What are you saying? To say Ao-chan can't return, you must be kidding .." His voice quivered as his crimson eyes shot wide.
"Did you already know this from the beginning? Right from the start? You both—" He was suddenly cut off by the clack of footsteps that descended onto the ground, thinking it was Aoi he whipped around, only to be faced with Nora. Alone as he began to shake. "Yes, we both knew. More or less." Teru's monotonous and dull voice triggered nothing more but rage as in the blink of an eye, Akane grabbed his collar.
"YOU BASTARD!" The boy slammed his fist into Teru's jaw, slamming him against the wall, causing a crack as Teru simply stood their limply. "Akane, stop it!" Nora shouted, Teru's cheek was already red and bloodied, a trickle of blood escaping as his cerulean eyes stared at his vice president who turned around at his female senpai furiously.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?!" He shouted at her as she sighed. "Akane. That pit. You saw it right?" She asked him as he froze. "That pit is the entryway to the farshore. When a living human falls inside that hole, it is the point of no return. The body decays, leaving the soul behind. That black hole in Aoi's chest, did you not question it? Whether you pushed her into that hole or not, No.6 would have done it regardless." Nora said firmly as rage knitted the boy's eyebrows.
"And besides .. If we told you .. It wouldn't have done any good." Teru's cold voice rung as Akane directed his attention back to the male he had slammed against the wall. "Are you done yet?" Teru asked, his eyes piercing into the boy who clenched his teeth and let out a grunt, throwing Teru against the wall as it cracked, causing the exorcist to slide down onto the floor while Akane turned around.
"IVE HAD ENOUGH!" He bellowed. "What are you going to do?" Teru wiped the blood off of the corner of his lips as Akane marched straight ahead. "Isn't it obvious?! I'm going to go back where Ao-chan is!" He shouted, grabbing onto Nora's shoulders harshly as he shook her. "You know how to get back there. Let me go back, Senpai!" He shouted at her as his eyes shot open wide, falling to his knees.
"Akane!" Nora crouched down as the boy shoved her to the side, vomiting up his own blood as the bandages begun to seep with scarlet.
There was a puddle of blood on the floor, Teru grabbed his arm. "It's no use." But even so, Akane still miserably crawled ahead. "As if I could ever leave her alone in a place like that! I have to hurry .." Blood began to drip through his bandages as Nora sighed. "This is why .. stupid humans and their bonds. They don't know when to let go."
Teru slammed Akane's head against the wooden tiles of the floor, punching the boy across the face for good measure. "What are you doing— ack!" He coughed more and more as Nora tore off part of her hakama, pressing it against the gaping hole in Akane's chest. "Just what do you think you can do .. with that dying body?" Teru asked calmly.
"Going back there is impossible. Besides, the passage we used was only temporary and it closed up already."
"SHUT UP! WHY?! YOU'RE A WITCH! YOU..! Why .. did you only bring me back .." He whispered. Suddenly, he found himself in the arms of Nora. "Akane, stay still for a moment." She muttered, staring up at the large supernatural, cradling Akane's head in her arms while Teru drew his blade. The apparition loomed over them, eight eyes that ran down its side, a grotesque body, four humanoid hands and a tail that protruded out of it's behind with a being of its own.
It drooled, lunging after Teru who leapt into the air, his lightning crackling dangerously as he leapt back once more, but mid-lunge, the apparition froze. Crackling sounds rung out in the air, but it wasn't Teru's lightning, but instead the apparition who began cracking into thousands of small green triangles. "Wha- that supernatural just .." He turned to Nora who usually knew all about this.
"This is .. the severance." She whispered. "Senpai? Oi what was that?!" Akane croaked curiously. Teru grabbed the underclassmen by the collar of his shirt as he dragged the boy along. "Get up Aoi, we need to treat that injury quickly. Let's go meet the clock-keepers, it seems like we're out of time."
Nora stared out the window. Any and all apparitions began to dissipate into triangles. It was rather pretty. The moon was on full display, it's moonbeams raining down and shining an invitation. The school bell had begun to ring. "We won't make it to the clock keepers in time at this rate, Teru. They're not even in the school." Nora muttered to him as he sighed, running a hand through his hair.
Akane had slipped unconscious already mid-drag across the floors, his blood leaving something like a murder-trail. "We're done for tonight, aren't we, Nora?" His soft ocean blue orbs stared at her, hopeless and drowsy.
She stared out the window with a nod of her head. "It seems like it. We rescued the two troublesome kouhai we needed to rescue.." They laid Akane on the bed in the nurses office as Nora coughed lightly, a red crimson stained her haori. "Aoi's remaining life span went to Yashiro, so now she won't die soon, and Akane is here, safe and sound although he looks like he's hanging on deaths door." Their intention wasn't to rescue Aoi in the first place, the moment No.6 took her, they could no longer prevent the inevitable from happening.
For now.
Their real objective was Yashiro and Akane. Aoi was never included. She was going to die that night, and they knew it.
"Maybe I pushed you a little too much tonight." Teru commented as he steadied the witch with a bottle of water. She wiped the corner of her mouth. "It doesn't really matter. Besides, after this, the severance is done, and we won't be needing to exorcise supernaturals anymore, and we can live through our summer break like normal people." She chuckled. This was probably the most injuries they had sustained in an exorcism since they were children.
Teru without a doubt was injured from a few swings, courtesy of Akane. Nora well over strained her body and Akane had a gaping hole in his chest, blood seeping out of it, internal organ damage and internal bleeding. If they were lucky and his supernatural powers pulled through, then there would be no need to take him to the hospital.
"You did a good job, Nora." Her eyes were half lidded as the male pecked her forehead tenderly before she succumbed to a slumber.
And so, Teru withdrew Akane from the study camp with some made up excuses, allowing the first-years to continue their study camp as though nothing had ever happened or occurred. Any and all memories about Akane Aoi had been wiped from every normal human's memory. Nora had been out cold for more than a day with a fever, most likely an overexertion and side effect of using her powers too much. Teru tried to explain to Tiara why her Mokke slave had disappeared, and Kou didn't seem to behave any differently. Almost as though he didn't care.
Nora let out a hiss as she covered her eyes from the blinding iridescent rays of light. "You crazy bastard!" She tossed the pillow at him, burying her face in the covers as he chuckled and caught it easily. "Let's go, Nora." He grabbed her ankle as she stared back at him with half lidded lazy eyes. "If you want to play a game of tug of war, I'll tear your sheets apart."
He immediately let go sheepishly, not wanting another one of his sheets and mattresses torn again by her long, sharp cat claws. She let out a groan, curling into a ball, pulling the blanket over her head. "You oddly resemble a sushi roll right now." There was a dip in the bed, meaning he was sitting right beside her as she let out a grunt.
"What do you want? It's summer break and ten in the morning." Nora let out a begrudging growl as Teru reached over and draped himself over her blanket encased body, causing her to squirm and flail around, but his arms were wrapped around her as she stopped struggling, knowing it would be no use. He was stronger than her anyway.
"Exactly, my point! It's summer break, you've been cooped up inside of the house. Let's go on a date!" He beamed like a child. "Do I have to go?" She frowned at him as he stared into her ruby orbs with a smile that meant, yes, and he would drag her there with force if needed. "There'll be candy and games."
For a moment, her eyes twinkled in delight, and he didn't miss it as he picked up the blanket bundled girl, getting her into a sitting position as she yawned and frowned, staring at the clothes on the bed beside her. "You had this all planned out, didn't you?" She raised a brow at him. "Just a hunch!~"
Grudgingly, the witch slammed the bathroom door shut as she put on the clothes picked out for her by Teru. She really didn't mind any clothes he picked out, he had a rather nice taste of fashion. He had even gotten the accessory planned out as well as she pulled on the skirt with a sigh, slipping on the white strap tank top and pulling her arms through the plain cream colored cardigan.
A small and thin golden necklace along with a bracelet. She snapped her fingers, doing her hair like she normally did with two pieces braided back and tied with a ribbon as she stepped out of the bathroom, where Teru stood outside waiting for the witch in his pineapple sweatshirt that she had gifted to him for his birthday, as well as a pair of shades and geometric printed pants.
They descended the stairs, Kou peeked his head out in curiosity. "Are you guys going somewhere?"
Nora pointed to Teru who smiled brightly. "Nora and I are going out on a little date with our kouhai! We'll be back a little late." Teru informed as Kou nodded his head, not minding as they set off.
"Akane's house is closest, can you take us there first?" As though she already knew that he was going to ask, with a sigh, she snapped her fingers and they found themselves in a dark room, light barley peeking through the window curtains, vividly outlining a figure on the bed that laid there, still.
It didn't seem like he noticed their presence, so, Nora snapped her fingers and the curtains swept to the side, allowing daylight to bleed in as Akane let out a shout and fell to the floor in surprise. "Whoa, looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Aoi." Teru grinned at him as the vice-president blinked and stared at his two senpai.
"Presi .. dent? Natsuki-senpai ..?" Teru waved at him. "In the flesh!"
His eyes slowly enlarged as he threw a pillow at Teru. "This is trespassing you crazy asshole!" He cursed at the male who smiled. "Teru wants to go on a date today, and he'll use any means necessary." Judging from Nora's sigh and snappy attitude, he assumed that she was dragged into this as well as he backed himself against the wall.
"I'm not goi--" Teru snapped off his beads as he wrapped them around Akane who let out a muffled cry as Teru dug through the boy's closet, pulling out a black t-shirt and a faded pair of jeans, tossing it onto the bed. Nora snapped her fingers and the boy's clothes had been replaced with the articles that Teru picked out as Teru stared down at his clothes, bewildered.
"Aoi, you look worse than Nora does. When was the last time you saw the light?" Teru asked as he slipped the beads off of his vice-president who stood there limply like a doll. Now that he was closer to the daylight, Nora could see the haggard bags beneath his eyes. "More importantly .. when was the last time you slept?"
He sent them a cold glare, snapping on a wrist watch onto his wrist and a small backpack that he swung over his shoulder. "It doesn't matter .. You two wanted to take me somewhere .. right?" He seemed to surrender rather easily as the three set off to his classmate's home, where she lived in an apartment with her parents.
Nora knocked on the door, usually particularly happy to see Yashiro, a pure hearted and innocent girl. Teru knew that the first-year's presence would soothe over Nora's grouchiness as she knocked on the door to be met with a rather pretty middle aged woman with wavy silver hair with a laddle in her hand.
"Oh? Who might you all be?" She asked curiously. Teru placed a hand on Nora's head with a warm friendly smile that every mother would love. "We're Yashiro's friends, is she home today?"
The woman turned around, "Nene! Your friends are here~" She sung aloud as a sleepy figure began to approach the door as she stared up at the three of them with large doe magenta orbs. "Eh? Natsuki-senpai?!" She nearly let out a screech as Nora waved at her. Yashiro admired the witch for a moment, she was still as pretty as always, even so beside Teru and a half rotting looking Akane.
A white tank top hugging her slim body along with a black pleated skirt that fell mid way down her thigh, her hair was straight and sleek as ever with a checkered long sleeve flannel tossed over her top. She had matching sun glasses with Teru that sat on the top of their head, she was a little too radiating for the freshly awoken first-year girl as she squinted.
"Hey, good morning, Nene." Nora waved with a half lopsided smile, she too, still ever so slightly sleepy. "Sorry for coming uninvited so suddenly, are you free today?" Teru asked as he slipped off the shades that sat on the top of his head, using Nora's head as an arm rest. "I .. I didn't have any plans in particular .."
Nora smiled at her, clasping the young girl's hands into her own. "I see, that's good. Then, would you like to go on a date with us?" Nora asked gently.