~Y/n pov~
Nene told us there were weird photos in the gardening club book.
"What do you mean?" I asked floating over to her.
She opened the book to show us.
Kou peered over her other shoulder and Amane cling to my side.
There were weird purple hands in the photos.
"Weird." I commented.
"The actual photos are more funny than creepy, but ever since I saw them, weird things started happening." Nene sighed.
"Like what?" Amane grinned.
"They grow.."
Kou tilted his head, "What grow?"
"The hands. They keep coming from nowhere."
"Is this one of the mysteries?" I asked Amane.
He put his finger on his chin and thought for a few seconds, "That's probably it."
Nene suddenly screamed, "Right there!"
She pointed behind us.
We all turned to see colourful hands rising from the ground near the windowsill.
"That is pretty strange." I chuckled.
The Mokke on the windowsill trembled at the sight of them.
"What do you want?" Nene cried, sitting on the ground.
I gently patted her head, "It's okay."
"No, it's not okay." She sniffed, swatting my hand away.
Pouting, I backed away from her and cling to Amane.
"She's being mean."
Amane laughed, ruffling my hair gently.
"Don't worry. I'll exorcise them!" Kou grinned at her.
The tears in Nene eyes disappeared as she stared at him hopefully, "Really?"
He nodded rapidly.
We all watched as he marched over to the hands.
Kou placed his hand on the windowsill, "I'll take you on."
Arm wrestling?
The boy lost terribly.
"Winner!" Amane cheered, pointing to the arm.
Kou fell to the down and Nene crouched down beside him, deadpanning at him.
"Pathetic. Loser." The Mokke insulted him.
The hand Amane was holding suddenly disappeared.
"It disappeared! Wait..." Nene quickly flicked through the gardening clubs book and saw that the hand had disappeared from the photo.
"Maybe they wanted attention?" I suggested.
Amane nods, "Most lesser spirits are satisfied and disappear once you resolve their desires."
"Then, we have to give them all attention."
And so that's what we did.
~*~
There was only one hand left and it was coming out of the mirror.
Nene stood near it as Kou looked at the pictures where the hands once were.
"Y'know...the photos are well taken." Kou told Nene.
She hummed in agreement, "Yeah. We got a boy from the photography club to take them for us."
Huh? Could it be....that boy from back then...
If I recall he was holding a camera. And if the pictures were taken last year then it's a possibility.
"I think his name is on the last page." Nene continued.
I leaned over Kou as he flicked to the last page.
Kou froze in shock.
The name was Mitsuba Sousuke.
Ah, that's how it is.
Is Mitsuba somehow related to the hands? I thought he disappeared for good...
Nene stared at Kou about to ask him what was wrong when the hand grabbed her wrist.
"What?" She asked with a smile, "Have you decided what you..."
She cut herself off as the hand yanked her towards the mirror violently. Nene disappeared into the mirror along with the hand.
"Nene." I shouted, floating towards her.
But, I was too late.
My hand hit solid mirror.
I turned to Amane, "How do we get her back?"
He saw the panic in my eyes.
"Don't worry. We've got this." He wrapped his arms around me gently as I rested my head on his shoulder.
We stayed like that for a few moments before pulling away.
"Thanks." I told him.
Kou dropped the book the turned towards the mirror in shock as what happened finally registered in his brain.
"Yashiro?" He asked running towards the mirror, "We have to get her back! Damn it!"
"We'll think of something, Kou."
~*~
I found a way in to number three's boundary but only one person could go.
"I'll be going on ahead." I told them.
Amane nodded, "Yeah, see you in a minute."
"Stay safe." Kou stated.
"Of course." With that said, I disappeared into the boundary.
The first thing I saw was a bloody corpse on the floor.
It looked like his head had been slammed repeatedly on the floor and it was lying in a pool of blood.
Then, I noticed an unconscious Nene slumped against the wall.
Going over to her, I gently placed my hand on her wrist to check for her pulse.
I sighed in relief when I felt it.
Surveying the area, I noticed Tsukasa and Mitsuba.
Tsukasa was forcing Mitsuba to eat a heart.
The short boy had blood stained on his hands and cheek.
Ah, I see.
Tsukasa is turning Mitsuba into number three. It seems like the only way he can survive.
The childish boy stood up and noticed I was there.
"N/n!" He cheered jumping on me.
I gently pushed his face away before he could wipe blood on me. It was a miracle the blood on his hands hadn't gone on my clothes.
Pulling out a handkerchief, I carefully wiped the blood from his cheeks and then did the same for his hands.
Tsukasa was completely still while I did this.
As soon as all the blood was off, he snuggled into me, nuzzling his cheek against mine.
"I missed you! Where's Amane?"
"He's coming soon."
Tsukasa grinned, nodding eagerly.
Suddenly, I felt lips pressed against my cheeks.
A surprised expression appeared on my face as my cheek went red.
This made Tsukasa smirk.
Amane suddenly appeared on the other side of me.
"How did you get here?" I asked.
"We went through Yako's boundary." He scanned the area.
"Amane." Tsukasa cheered, letting go of me and clinging to Amane instead.
Amane patted his brothers head as he looked around.
His eyes landed on Nene.
"She's just unconscious. She's fine...though I'm not sure about the boy." I told him.
Amane looked at the unconscious boy.
"Mitsuba!" Kou rushed forward and gently shook him, trying to wake him up.
Mitsuba jolted up and looked around startled.
There were spots of blood near his mouth as he stared at Kou with a scared expression.
"Get away!" Amane yelled.
Kou was suddenly attacked.
"Where did that come from!?" He exclaimed.
Mitsuba had his hands up to protect himself and there were these huge hand like things surrounding him.
Has he become mystery three by eating his heart?
"No. I'm scared." Mitsuba's body shook as tear pooled in his eyes, "Help."
Kou jumped out of the way when the hands struck down.
Amane transformed and readied his knife, slashing at the thing as it kept striking at him.
I stood at the side with Nene and Tsukasa.
Tsukasa perked up and floated away, though I wasn't sure what he was doing.
"Sorry." Mitsuba cried.
"Mitsuba~" Tsukasa sung, appearing beside him, "Are you done eating?"
Mitsuba cried, burying his face into Tsukasa's back.
Tsukasa stared at him blankly before shoving him off violently.
Mitsuba almost attack Tsukasa but he was quick to grab them.
"Mitsuba..."
The boy looked at him with tears in his eyes.
"What are these things? What's going on?"
"These are protecting you Mitsuba." Tsukasa smirked, "Calm down and control them."
Kou glared at Tsukasa, "Damn you. What have you done to Mitsuba?"
I quietly watched the scene.
"I made Mitsuba's wish come true. The price was his reason, a piece of his soul. Back then, I took out a piece of Mitsuba's soul and held onto it. After that, the rest was easy." Tsukasa smirked at Kou as he explained what he did, "I just made a body by scraping together lesser spirits that were about to vanish and stuck Mitsuba's soul into it."
That means he has lost his memory?
"The Mitsuba Sousuke who lived and died as a human no longer exists in this world." Tsukasa continued.
"Why?" Kou spluttered, "Why would you do this?"
Tsukasa held his finger to his chin in thought, "Hmm... I guess I always wanted to try making an artificial human."
This angered Kou as he charged at Tsukasa.
Mitsuba protected them both.
"Squish them, Mitsuba." Tsukasa cheered as the fight went on.
~*~
"What do you want? Are you captivated by my beauty?" Mitsuba asked Kou, "Your earring is super lame."
"Hey. Don't you remember me?"
"Huh?" Mitsuba gave him a look of confusion, "What are you talking about? I don't get it."
Kou gritted his teeth, "My name is Kou. Remember it, you girly-looking dummy!"
He walked over to some rubble and rummaged around to find the gardening club book and then shoved it into Mitsuba's hands.
"What's this?" He asked flicking through it.
Arms suddenly emerged from the mirrors and we all got dragged in.
I coughed, opening my eyes to see we were back in the bathroom.
Amane was also awake but Kou and Nene were unconscious.
Someone suddenly clung to me.
Looking down, I saw Tsukasa looking up at me.
He huffed when I didn't say anything, "Are you ignoring me?"
I didn't respond.
"Amane?" He whined.
Amane stayed quiet.
"Don't ignore me!" He whined, wrapping his arms around me tighter and pressing his head against my chest, "Please don't ignore me."
His voice was almost a whisper now, "I'm sorry."
I sighed, gently patting his head.
Tsukasa brightened up and sent me a big smile, "Yay. You're not ignoring me."
"Tsukasa..."
"What?"
"Please just leave Mitsuba alone...you've done enough." I told him.
It was silent for a few moments.
"Fine." He huffed.
"Good." I wrapped my arms around his waist, reciprocating the hug.
Amane wrapped his arms around both of us, probably feeling left out.
"Why aren't you giving me attention, too?" He whined.
I laughed, removing one arm from Tsukasa and wrapping it tightly around Amane's shoulders.
Pulling him towards me, I placed a light peck on his cheek.
His face turned red as he buried his face into my neck.
~*~
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1681 words
A/n after the progress they've made I don't want Tsukasa to seem too bad lol