"There's a special repository in the school library. It can only be accessed at 4 p.m. The book's titles inside are all people's names. They contain the records of that person during their time at this academy. . .What makes these books unique is that they contain both past and future records, what people have done and what they're going to do."
----------
"My my, you're asking quite personal questions, Yashiro, you dirty diakon." Hanako giggled, teasing Nene as usual. Hanako was squeezing your arm while saying this, leaning against you. Unfortunately for you and Kou, (who was sitting next to you) the two of you were squished between Hanako and Nene while they went back and forth.
"It isn't dirty! It's a compatibility reading! All I need from you is to tell me-"
"Quick question"-Kou interrupted Yashiro- "Is there a reason why you're using me and M/n as a barrier?" The younger boy asked.
"It's quite suffocating," You deadpanned, attempting to shake Hanako off. He didn't budge.
"Yashiro's being too aggressive." Hanako said, pouting and snuggling closer to you.
"Well, Hanako's being absolutely ridiculous! How hard is it for you to tell me your blood type, last name, family structure, and the day you died?" Yashiro bit back, pushing the book she was holding across you and Kou, intending for Hanako to see it and answer her questions. But all the poor girl was met with was another question from Hanako. "What kind of compatibility test are you reading? Why does it factor with the day you die?" He questioned.
"The five death languages?" Kou said stiffly. You held in a laugh, letting a few chuckles sneak out. Neither Nene, nor Hanako thought it was funny though.
"Anyways, why don't you just do this reading thing on someone you're into. Like that Minamoto guy." Hanako said he stopped squeezing your arm but was instead leaning on you, he was unsurprisingly light, still cold, even through your uniform.
"Minamoto who?" Kou asked, seeming to have a sudden interest in the class president. Nene blushed slightly, waving her hand dismissively. "Oh, that's old now. He was just some popular hot guy," She said, standing up from her seat and walking over to the railings that surrounded the school's roof, she continued to speak. "It's like an actor in a movie, you say you wanna date them but you never expect to. I mean, just think about it, he's student council president. He's smart, hot, kind, and also thoughtful!. . .You know what, never mind, Minamoto's perfect." Nene said, stuck in a daze with hearts in her eyes, unaware of the council president standing behind her.
"Thank you very much." Minamoto Teru thanked bashfully, smiling kindly. Nene looked behind herself, silent. The elder male continued to talk. "Sorry for sneaking up on you, I didn't mean to," He apologized. Nene was starstruck, blushing. "Oh! It's fine!" She yelled, leaning on the railing that now faced her back.
Kou walked up to Teru, "Hey bro!" He said, giving Teru a side hug, which Teru returned.
"Bro?" Nene mumbled quietly, confused by the suddenly new information.
"Where have you been? I've been looking for you, Kou." Teru asked, scolding Kou slightly.
"I've been with Yashiro and L/n," Kou replied. Teru turned to face Nene. "You must be Yashiro, It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard great things about you," The president greeted, looking kindly down at Nene, who blushed and stuttered a reply. "I-it's Nice to m-meet you!" She said, Again, louder than she needed to.
"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Teru Minamoto." Teru replied charmingly. Teru then turned to you, but he then stopped, looking over at Hanako, then you again, his eyes going back and forth.
Could he see Hanako?
"Kou, come with me, we need to talk." Teru said sternly, grabbing Kou's arm and dragging him out off the roof.
Both you and Hanako looked over at Nene, who was currently lovestruck, blushing and heart-eyed. But she then walked back over to you and sat at the bench. "How did I not realize they were brothers!? They have the same last name!" She said, disappointed with herself, slightly embarrassed, too.
"No clue," Hanako replied.
"I thought you did know, but just didn't mention it. . ." You mumbled.
"But anyways, what was that all about, the way he just stormed out the minute he looked at me. And it seemed like he could see you, Hanako," You asked, crossing your arms over your chest in suspicion. "Isn't it only me, Nene, and Kou who should be able to see you?" You asked.
"Well, Kou is an exorcist, coming from a line of family members who were also exorcists. His brother definitely saw me, meaning he's also an exorcist." Hanako answered. "It would make sense, if his brother can see ghosts, surely he can as well," He reasoned.
"Oh, right, right. ." You said, nodding your head in understanding.
"Anyways, since that's all figured out, I need your help with something, M/n." Nene spoke up after a short moment of silence.
"Sure, what is it?" You asked, turning your attention over to Nene.
"Just something in the library." She said, standing up, starting to walk to the entrance that led back inside the school.
"Right now?" You asked, standing up. Hanako had to catch himself from falling to the side, he was still leaning against you when you abruptly stood. You couldn't see the small pout he gave you, when he regained his composure.
"Yes, right now. Is that alright?" Nene asked.
"Yeah, sure, I guess," You answered, making your way to her.
"I'll see you later, Hanako." You said, turning back to face him and waving a hand. You then turned around and followed behind Nene, not noticing the small wave Hanako gave back, watching you leave.
"Bye. . ." He mumbled.
* * *
"None of these are actually accurate!'' Nene complained, reading through one of the many books about the Seven Wonders. She called you down here to help her sort through the piles upon piles of books about the Seven Wonders. She was really adamant on figuring out more about Hanako.
You nodded, flipping through another section about the Seventh Wonder in a different book. "I know, they're all about that girl in the skirt, nothing about the Hanako we know. . .'' You said, closing the book and dropping it on the table in front of you, along with all the other books that held the same incorrect information.
Hanako: with a bob cut and jumper skirt, died in the girls' bathroom and now haunts it, give her a wish and she'll grant it, asking something of yours in return.
"Just curious, why do you want to read more about Hanako anyways?" You asked, eyes shifting to the girl sitting beside you. She didn't bother to look up from her book as she responded to you. "I recently realized how much we don't know about Hanako. You know, like his past, why he killed someone and who it was, if Hanako is even his real name. . .Stuff like that." Nene responded, still flipping through the pages. You nodded. "I guess you're right about that. But don't you think it's weird that these books don't have anything that's actually about Hanako? I mean, all of them have just the normal girl with some skirt, nothing accurate to the real Hanako. I don't think any of these books have anything accurate on him." You said, leaning back in your chair and running a hand down your face.
"There's still more books to look through, at least one of them has to have something on the real Hanako,'' Nene said, determined. She stood up, and ended up bumping into a stack of books piled on the table, knocking them over to spill over the carpeted floors.
"Dang it!" Nene yelled, kneeling down to collect the fallen reading material. You helped her, rising from your seat and stacking books in your arms. It wasn't until then, that you realized how many books you've gone through, just to find simple information about Hanako. Over ten books, and all were inaccurate, except for the wish thing.
"Oh! Thank you very much!" You heard Nene say. You looked up, curious on who Nene was talking to. It was a girl with a blank expression, brown eyes and a mouth that formed neither a smile, nor a frown. She had emerald colored hair, cut just above her shoulders except for two stands that framed her face. She wore the same uniform as Nene, proving her occupation as a student.
"Sorry to trouble you. . ." Nene mumbled, getting a good look at the girl before taking the book offered to her.
"Enlighten me, are you two interested in the Seven Wonders?" She asked, her voice just as monotonous as her face.
"Pretty obvious, huh?" You said humorously, stacking the books you gathered neatly on the table, away from the edges in order to avoid another fallen book incident. The unknown girl hummed and seated herself at the table. "Hanako, huh?" She said, picking up one of the books and reading where there was a bookmark, right at the start of Hanako's section. "The cat-like kid," She commented. You tilted your head at the statement. ". .Cat-like?"
"Cat-like how?" Nene asked, tilting her head to the side. The mysterious girl brought her hand to her hair, twirling the longer strands around her pointer finger. She looked lazily up to the both of you, seemingly bored. "Meaning he's needy, shellfish, and strong-willed. Don't you think so?" She said, weirdly turning her attention to you, specifically. As if she knew Hanako was real, and spoke to you the most.
"Uh. .I guess sometimes, yes. . ." You responded, kind of confused. You looked over to Nene, she looked conflicted on something for some reason. The girl with green hair sighed and stood from the table. "If you want to know more about him, visit the Fifth of our Seven Wonders," She suggested while making her way to the exit of the library. Nene, not finished talking with the girl, sped after her. She didn't notice the teacher that was turning the corner.
"Nene! Pay attention!" You shouted, but it was too late, she ran right into Mr. Tsuchigomori. Said teacher fell back, dropping all his important papers and books.
"What do you think you're doing? Don't you know there's no running on school grounds? Especially the library." Mr. Tsuchigomori scolded, fixing his circle-rimmed glasses that fell loosely down the bridge of his nose. Nene didn't pay mind to the fallen teacher, only standing back up to chase after the girl with green hair.
You sighed, standing from your seat and to Mr. Tsuchigomori, kneeling beside him and picking up some of his papers. "Sorry about her," You apologized, reading a little over one of his papers. It was some work assignment on the different moons in the solar system.
"Don't be sorry for her. Thank you for helping," Mr. Tsuchigomori dismissed, kindly taking the papers you handed over. Standing, you went back to your table and started staking the books in your hands, going back to the section you found them in: Supernatural. You started putting them back, sure that Nene was done with research for the morning.
"Thanks for not leaving them out for me to clean up." Mr. Tsuchigomori thanked.
"It's no problem. I'm supposed to, anyways." You responded, going back to the table to collect the rest of the books.
* * *
"The Fifth Wonder? Yeah, I know it." Aoi answered while wiping the chalk off the board. It was the last period of the day, everyone was cleaning up the classroom before the bell would ring. Aoi and Nene were in charge of the board, and you were helping other students with wiping down the desks. They were never visibly dirty, but your teacher still wanted them to be wiped down thoroughly.
Nene had asked Aoi if she knew about the Fifth Wonder, she was curious about it after the mysterious green-haired girl had mentioned it. Aoi was the only one Nene could count on to know all the Wonder's stories and locations.
You finished up with the last desk in the row you were in charge of, throwing out the used wipes. You then joined Nene and Aoi's conversation.
"What is it? Can you tell us?" Nene asked.
"Tell us what?" You asked, confused.
"About the Fifth Wonder," Nene clarified. You nodded, "Ohh, alright."
"According to the rumors, It's called the 4 O'clock Library. There's some kind of passageway in the library, but it only opens up at 4 O'clock, I don't know where it's located. The books in this section are all titled with the names of students who went to this school, or are currently attending. Those books contain records of every student who was enrolled in this school. It even has books that contain the dead." Aoi explained, scrubbing the board viciously, making it look spotless.
"Doesn't it sound interesting?" Aoi asked with a smile, placing her rag on the metal bar stationed at the bottom of the board, where chalk and erasers were placed.
"There's records on everyone?" Nene asked. Aoi nodded.
"Kinda makes me wanna read into you two. . ." You commented, curious on what their books would hold.
"I don't know if you mean that in a good way, or a bad way." Nene said, looking at you with suspicion. You only shrugged. "Maybe both," You answered with a smirk.
"If you do end up visiting the library, there's some things you should know. Inside, there are three types of books. White, black, and red. The white ones hold the records of the living, and the black ones hold those of the dead. I'm not sure what the red ones are, but I've heard you should never open them. And apparently, you can read into the future too, but those are coated in red pages within white and black books, you aren't supposed to read past those red pages." Aoi informed, bringing her hand up to her face as she recalled all the information.
"So, nothing red, got it," You said, crossing your arms and leaning against the spotless blackboard.
"We can avoid that, no sweat!" Nene said, determined. The final bell rang, its boring tune bouncing off the walls.
"Well, I better start heading to the art room," Aoi said hurriedly, picking her stuff up and starting out of the room. "See you tomorrow!" She called with a smile. You waved as she turned the corner out of the classroom.
"See you!" Nene shouted, a little too loud considering Aoi wasn't that far away.
"Ready to go?" Nene asked, turning away from the classroom entrance and to you.
"Yeah," You answered, the two of you heading out of the classroom and to the library. It wasn't yet four p.m., so you decided to wait there until it was time.
* * *
Time rolled by surprisingly fast, you read a book while waiting, and Nene continued to look through books about supernaturals, hoping to find more about Hanako, failing miserably. You were reading a small poem book, something you wouldn't have to commit to.
You checked the overhead clock, five minutes until four p.m. "We should start looking," You suggested, leaving the book at the table, standing. Nene nodded with a sigh, groggily standing.
The two of you started walking up and down the different isles of books, looking closely at each one. "So. . .What exactly are we looking for here?" You asked, turning books over, occasionally taking a book off the shelf and flipping through the pages.
"Maybe a passageway?" Nene responded. It made the most sense. "Alright, then maybe one of the books activates it?" You said, turning back and checking over the books more carefully. "But, there's so many. . ." You mumbled sadly.
"I'm sure we'll find it, don't worry!" Nene said enthusiastically, doing the same as you and checking every book. You hummed a reply, giving in to the idea that this was going to take forever, whether you liked it or not.
Something small flew in front of your face, it hovered and swiftly pasted your nose. You blinked and followed it with your eyes. "Nene, are there any open windows in here?" You asked, still following the flying organism with your eyes.
"Uh. . .not that I know of, why?" Nene asked, confused.
"There's a butterfly," You answered.
"A butterfly?" Nene questioned. The butterfly flew past Nene's nose, and she squealed, swatting at her face. She got over her surprised scare, and started following the butterfly. You had no choice but to follow it as well. It was oddly colored, mainly black with a blue spot in the center of each wing. The bottom parts of the wings were also mainly black, but with small pink details. You've never seen any butterfly like it before.
The butterfly eventually stopped and perched itself on one of the many books. Nene stood in front of it, you stood next to her. The book it landed on didn't obtain a title, only a drawing of a spider web, it was weird, unusual. Don't all books have titles?
Nene brought her hand up to the book, her fingers grazing its spine. Immediately after Nene had touched it, the butterfly disappeared and instead of watching it fly away, a dust storm flooded from the book. Nene screeched, covering her face with her hands. You grunted, putting a hand in front of your face to protect your eyes, but dust still plowed into them no matter how hard you tried.
Once the dust cleared, you opened your eyes, lowering your arm. You blinked aggressively until it didn't hurt and the dust was gone. In front of you, a part of the bookshelf was missing. Instead, it was replaced by an old-looking wooden door.
"Is this it?" Nene asked, cautiously walking towards the door. She didn't touch it, not wanting to start up another dust storm.
"It must be," You said, walking up to the old-looking door. Cautiously, you slowly reached a hand out, grasping the handle.
No dust storms.
You twisted the handle and opened the door, the wood creaked as it reluctantly opened. Nene looked inside first, leaning past the door to get a better look.
"This has to be it!" Nene said, bouncing up and down with excitement. You marveled at the secret library behind the door. It looked abandoned, dark, cobwebs covered books and shelves, the books doing nothing but collecting dust, never being opened, never being touched.
"This might be a boundary, we need to be careful." You said, cautiously walking in beside Nene. The moment your foot took the step inside, lanterns located at the edge of each shelf ignited itself, adding lighting to the ghost-room.
"Boundary? What's that?" Nene asked. Oh, yeah, that's right, Nene doesn't know what a boundary is. "It's basically a border to the living and the dead, a place where the school wonders reside." You explained, trying to remember Hanako's words.
"Ohh," Nene said, nodding, following closely next to you, your shoulders brushing with hers'.
Now fully inside the mysterious library, the wooden door shut loudly behind you and Nene. Nene jumped, clinging to your arm. She quickly realized it was the door and laughed off her scared state, letting you go.
"It's so dark in here, I can barely see anything," Nene commented, squinting to try and see through the darkness. Even though there were lanterns, they were small, and very few of them.
"Need it?" A high-pitched voice offered. It scared Nene again, and she clung to you once more. You also jumped, turning to the side, the origin of the voice. It was one of the Mokke, a lantern hanging from its ear. It was bigger than the ones hanging on the shelves, offering more light. Gently, you took it, "Thanks," You said gratefully.
Nene offered to take the lantern from you, and you handed it to her. She started walking down the long corridor, you not far behind her. You started looking in between the shelves, seeing nothing, it was too dark for that.
"M/n, look over here. It's another butterfly." Nene said, you watched as the butterfly flew around Nene. It looked like the same one as before, was it the same butterfly? "Why are there butterflies everywhere?" You asked, knowing that, unfortunately, your question would most likely never get answered.
"I'm not sure. . .but maybe it wants us to follow it," Nene started chasing after the butterfly, running. The butterfly continued forward, beckoning for Nene to follow it.
"Nene! Wait up! There's no reason to chase after a butterfly! This isn't Alice in Wonder-oh whatever, nevermind." You quickly gave up on shouting for the girl. Instead, you ran after her, catching up before she could get too far away from you.
This was normal, just two highschool students chasing after a bug. Yeah, perfectly normal. . .
The butterfly stopped, once again perched up atop a book. Nene lifted the lantern, reading the title.
YASHIRO NENE
"So this is your book? Why did the butterfly bring us here?" You asked, observing the white book. Nene's name was branded in gold, as were all the other names on the other books. There was a ladder leaning up against the shelves, right in front of Nene's book, almost beckoning for Nene to read it.
Consumed with curiosity, Nene started to climb the latter, it wobbled a bit, so you grasped the sides of the latter, stabilizing it. You made sure to look down, for Nene's privacy sake. Sometimes, you hate that the girls have to wear dress-like uniforms, it's just inconvenient for them.
Once Nene was in front of her book, she sat down on the top platform of the ladder. She slowly reached for her book, eyes glowing from the lantern light.
Just a little peak wouldn't hurt. . .
Nene flipped to a random page, reading over it.
She instantly regretted it.
My Dear, sweet, Teru,
You did such a great job at assessing the assembly the other day.
And I can't even get into how hot you looked!
But don't forget we're keeping our relationship a secret.
Please stop staring at me like that especially with the whole school watching.
They're going to end up figuring us out!
Nene quickly flipped to a different page, red flaring on her face. You took notice of her frantic movements. ". . .You alright, Nene? Something happen?" You asked, looking at her face. It was quite red. "It's nothing!" She screeched, surprised, frenziedly flipping through the pages.
"You sure. . .?" You trailed off, thinking Nene was lying.
"Yeah! Everything's just peachy!" Nene responded quickly. What did she see? And just how bad was it?
"Okay. . ." You decided to let it go.
Nene stopped her frantic flipping, looking down to see what page she landed on. It read 'future,' and was surrounded in the color red. Nene turned the page anyway, reading into the future. 'It can't be that bad, right?' The girl thought, starting to read.
She gasped, excited what she was seeing on the page.
First ever date.
Hand in hand around the park.
The words were circled with a heart. 'My fist ever love! Who is it!? Do we fall in love?? Get married!?' Nene fantasized, stars sparkling in her eyes. She turned to the next page, eager. The next page held nothing but disappointment.
Relationship quickly ends with a
'I'm sorry but your legs are just too fat.'
Nene sighed, sadly flipping to the next page with a crocodile tear in her eye.
Learns the true identity of Wonder Number Seven.
She found it! the main thing she came to this library to find, who Hanako really was! 'This name. . .is this Hanako's real name?' Nene thought, tracing over the unfamiliar name inked into the page. She turned to the page, expecting to see more information on Hanako.
But she didn't get that. Instead, the information listed was unfamiliar to her, and confused her.
Learns the true identity of L/N M/N.
M/N? She glanced down at the boy, who was simply holding the ladder, keeping it steady for her. What could possibly be the true identity of M/N? Why would he lie about who he truly was?
Before Nene could read into anything more, the page turned a deep maroon, the pages becoming wet with blood, the words illegible. The crimson liquid dripped down the book and seeped into Nene's dress. A couple of drops fell past Nene and landed on your face, falling down your face, leaving a thick trail of the liquid. Your eyes widened, looking up at Nene, who was now holding a book soaked in red. "What happened!?" You shouted hurriedly, wasn't Nene just holding her book? What happened?
A noise emerged from down the hallway, a deep, layered growling. The lanterns started to tint the color green, but Nene was too busy trying to read the book, she didn't notice.
There was a shadow that started to form, looming over Nene, about to attack. It groaned as it reached its hand to the clueless girl.
"Nene watch out!" You shouted, ignoring how unstable the ladder was and started scaling it, grabbing Nene and quickly descending, holding the smaller female. You put Nene down as a shadow cascaded over your form, and groaning could be heard. You spun around to face a shadow figure that was almost twice the height of the tall bookshelves. The shadow monster resembled Nene, the number five was planted on its face. It started to stalk closer to you and Nene.
You, having nothing to protect yourself or Nene with, grabbed the lantern Nene was holding and threw it at the monster.
It didn't go very well.
The lantern hit the monster, and all it did was swallow it whole, the light disappearing completely. You and Nene watched as the monster absorbed the lanterns.
You looked up at the monster, "Ehe. . ." You let out, backing up, regretting your stupid decisions. Nene took hold of your arm, staying behind you. Her grip on your arm tightened. "Is it too late to call for Hanako?" Nene asked desperately, her voice trembling.
"How would he get here-'' Your response was rudely interrupted by another voice.
"I heard my name~" Speak of the devil. Hanako was holding onto his hat, floating upside down in front of you, noses almost touching.
Upon seeing Hanako, thousands of butterflies flew out of the shadow monster, going after Hanako. The apparition quickly moved away from you, flipping and turning to avoid the butterflies pursuing him. Hanako quickly jumped up, decapitating the monster. Butterflies scattered everywhere, eventually crumbling to nothing but dust. The lights changed back to their normal tint as the monster faded away into nothingness, as if it were never there in the first place.
"Hi!" Hanako spoke happily, his attention back to you and Nene. He waved a hand, a smile on his face.
"Hi. . ." You said, not nearly as extroverted as the ghost.
"You saved us, thank you!" Nene said, jumping up and down and smiling. The ghost nodded, walking up to Nene and patting her on the head. Hanako then turned to you, giving the same gesture.
". . .What are you doing?" You asked, Hanako still patting your head. Then the shorter boy wrapped his arms around your neck, bringing you closer. You let out a noise of surprise. You tried to push the ghost away, failing miserably. Nene tilted her head at the sight of her two friends, contemplating whether or not she should intervene.
"Quit being weird! It's awkward!" You shouted, still struggling to push the ghost off. He still didn't budge, giggling.
"Hey!" A new voice emerged, along with the clicks of footsteps. You stopped trying to push Hanako away, now looking in the voice's direction. Hanako did the same, arms still wrapped around your neck.
"What do you think you're doing here? Do you know how late it is?" The mature voice questioned, emerging from the darkness. It was. . .Mr. Tsuchigomori?
"I'm so sorry sir! I didn't know!" Nene replied frantically, trying to make up a quick excuse. The teacher kneeled down, picking up Nene's fallen book. "You need to watch where you're going. Look what you've done to my books." Mr. Tsuchigomori grumbled, dusting off the cover of the once-white book.
"Behind you!" You and Nene yelled in unison, watching as a shadow loomed over the teacher. Instead of looking like Nene, it looked like you.
But you didn't touch any of the books. . .
Mr. Tsuchigomori didn't show any surprise or fear. Instead, he seemed like he was annoyed, incredibly at that. Before the monster could do anything, an arm sliced its head off, then smashed it, butterflies flying everywhere. The hand belonged to Mr. Tsuchigomori, coming from under his coat–more like appeared. It reminded you of a spider. The unnatural arm rose from squishing the head, the insect's blood dripping from the clawed hand.
"This is why I hate kids. You're sticky, and constantly get in the way. You don't know when to shut up." Mr. Tsuchigomori said, annoyance evident in his voice. Two arms reached out towards you and Nene, one hand grabbing the hem of Nene's dress, the other grabbing your ankle. Mr. Tsuchigomori pulled the two of you closer to him. Nene yelped as this happened, Hanako was forced to let go of you.
Unfortunately for you, you were hanging upside down, so everything was now lopsided. You could feel the blood rushing to your head.
"I see the books turned red. Let me guess, you were too curious and read into the future. Bad." The teacher spoke, grabbing one of the butterflies flying past, bringing the insect closer to his face and eating it alive. You looked away, feeling nauseous, being upside down wasn't helping.
"Now. . .what should I do with you. . ." Mr. Tsuchigomori said. He smiled, a hint of malice on his features. You swallowed thick saliva, what was he planning?
"Could. . .Please sir, could you put us down? I'm starting to get really dizzy here. . .'' You said, hand clamping over your forehead, closing your eyes in distortion. Mr. Tsuchigomori readied himself to respond snarkily, but a hand tapped him on the shoulder, stopping him. The teacher looked behind himself, seeing Hanako standing there.
"It's not nice to tease people," He guilt-tripped. Mr. Tsuchigomori was silent for a moment, then sighed, dropping you and Nene. Nene falling on her knees, and you falling on your back, your head colliding with the floor. On impact, you grunted, pain submerging into your spine and back of the head.
"Wait. . .So Mr. Tsuchigomori. . .is a Wonder?" Nene asked, looking over her teacher in confusion.
"Yes, Mr. Tsuchigomori over here is Wonder number Five," Hanako confirmed, walking past Mr. Tsuchigomori and looming over both you and Nene. You were still writhing on the floor, holding your head, tears perking your eyes from the pain. Hanako cupped your face, bringing it up so now you would be face to face with the apparition. Hanako didn't say anything, just wiped away your tears with the pads of his thumbs. Surprisingly, his hands didn't feel cold like usual.
Mr. Tsuchigomori watched the two boy's interaction, his facial expression unreadable. Nene observed as well, confused. This wasn't like Hanako at all. . .
"So. . .You were saying you were a wonder, Mr. Tsuchigomori? I didn't know they had staff who weren't human." Nene said, looking away from her friends and to the teacher.
"It really isn't as weird as you may think, at least when you consider the fact that apparitions can't exist without rumors running around. It would make sense if we took a role in keeping those rumors alive." Mr. Tsuchigomori explained.
"You may even have friends who aren't human and wouldn't notice any difference." The teacher added, giving a glance over to Hanako and you.
Learns the true identity of Wonder Number Seven.
Learns the true identity of L/N M/N.
Hanako let go of you, and you stood.
"Really? But isn't that dangerous or something?" Nene asked, bringing a hand up to her face, thinking.
"Dangerous, no. It'd be more uncomfortable than anything. With us around, it isn't unsafe," Hanako said, walking back to Mr. Tsuchigomori.
You felt something brushing against your lower calf. It startled you and you looked down. "Yako? What are you doing here?" You asked, watching as she swerved through your legs, moving away and over to Hanako and Tsuchigomori.
"Ask Number Seven, he's the one who summoned me." The fox apparition replied snarkily, walking around with pride.
"Well. . .It is true us apparitions scare humans, but as you two know, it's just to keep the rumors going and get your attention. The seven of us keep the school safe, and I lead the way." Hanako explained.
"But. . .there's only three of you. ." You commented. There were seven, was Hanako only in control of Tsuchigomori and Yako?
"And Yako attacked students only until recently, she doesn't really count in keeping the school safe. . ." Nene said, backing you up in your claims. You looked over to wonders number Two and Five, who were conversing.
"Well it looks like you made a great impression." Mr. Tsuchigomori said, sarcasm flowing overwhelmingly present.
"You should mind your own business, Mr. Spider legs." Yako bit back, insulting the teacher.
"You're just mad because you don't have spider legs." Tsuchigomori said, glaring down at Yako.
"I don't want spider legs thank you, I prefer to look pretty."
"Excuse me-" Their bickering was interrupted by Hanako.
"You're embarrassing me! Think of the reputation!" Hanako said, a playful smile on his face.
"Now, play nicely." Hanako said, his voice changing to sadistic.
"Yes sir." Mr. Tsuchigomori and Yako said in unison, intimidated.
"Okay so I guess he really is the leader. . ." You whispered to Nene, she nodded. Hanako's expression changed back to normal. "As I was saying. .The seven of us work as a team to help maintain peace at this school. However, it seems that one of us has become a traitor, and made a bond with a human. And that human is spreading rumors about apparitions, which is the reason apparitions have been more violent, number two being one of their victims." Hanako informed.
"If it were just numberless apparitions, we wouldn't be concerned about it. But they're influencing different truths about Wonders." Mr. Tsuchigomori added.
"Which means it's a human that has ties to an apparition that's doing this." Yako concluded.
"But, thankfully, I have a solution!" Hanako spoke up. He raised his arms up. "We'll temporarily cancel all seven wonders!" Hanako shouted excitedly, hands on his hips in pride, proud of his idea.
"Cancel? How would you do that?" You asked.
"We will destroy every wonder's Yorishiro, therefore canceling its power. Then we won't have to worry about finding the traitor, or everything becoming a giant mess." Hanako answered.
"It sounds like we'd make things even more chaotic." Mr. Tsuchigomori commented, not agreeing with Hanako's idea.
"As soon as the problem is fixed, it'll be done. I can reappoint the Yorishiro's. So what do you say, Mr. Tsuchigomori? You in?" Hanako asked, hand reaching out to shake. He didn't need to worry about destroying Yako's Yorishiro, for you have already done it.
"Absolutely not." Mr. Tsuchigomori turned down immediately, crossing his arms. The Fifth Wonder sighed, fixing his composure. "Is what I want to say, but I don't want to stir up any more conflict. If my Yorishiro is what you need, I'll comply," He said reluctantly, leaning against one of the many bookshelves. Before anyone could celebrate, Mr. Tsuchigomori added something. "On one condition."
"Which is what. . .?" You asked, skeptical. The teacher smiled, "I want you to tell me your deepest and darkest secret." He said, chuckling menacingly.
"Why our secrets!? That's weird!" Nene screeched, not wanting to spill anything.
"Because I find it entertaining, wouldn't you?" Mr. Tsuchigomori answered, crossing his arms.
"How bad do these secrets have to be?" You asked timidly, also not wanting to spill any secrets. They were secrets for a reason.
"Like I said, your deepest and darkest." Mr. Tsuchigomori responded.
"And what if they decide to not comply?" Hanako asked, holding his knife, "Do I prepare for battle?"
"No no no, I'll hand over my Yorishiro. But my revenge will be using the P.A system to tell the whole school what I already know." Mr. Tsuchigomori threatened. Nene screeched, the whole school!?! Wasn't that a little harsh!? Your face went pale, it's either tell three apparitions and your best friend a dark secret, or have your teacher tell the whole school about things he already knows. You had no idea what he already knew. . . .
"Okay! Um, I'll go first. . .Uh, When I was in junior high, I wrote love letters in a diary to an imaginary boyfriend!!" Nene screeched, tears streaming down her face out of embarrassment, face flourishing red.
You patted Nene's shoulder, attempting to comfort her.
"I'll give it a three out of ten." Mr. Tsuchigomori said, anamused.
"A three!?! That's all?? Why!??" Nene yelled, the tears not stopping.
"One, I knew you were gonna say that. Two, it's a little boring. And three, that's a lie." Mr. Tsuchigomori said, sounding bored.
"What do you mean it's a lie!? No it isn't. . .'' Nene said, her face morphing into one of despair.
"Well, not everything you said was the complete truth. You still write in it." Mr. Tsuchigomori said, flipping through Nene's book, reciting one of the sections.
"A glimpse of your beautiful bare eyes. Such a disguise. I've wondered about it, for it's been hidden for so long. But you've opened up to me. And I love you for that." He said nonchalantly, looking lazily back at Nene.
"That's! Umm!" Nene stuttered out, hanging her head low, tears falling on the floor. You still patted Nene's back, "It'll be fine. It wasn't that bad anyways. . ." You tried to comfort the female.
"It was terrible!" She screeched, grabbing your shoulders and shaking them. "Terrible!"
". . Uh-okay. I guess it's my turn then. . ." You said, hoping you could find a way out of this.
"Knock yourself out, kid." Mr. Tsuchigomori said. You thought for a moment, "Alright. . .well. . .I-I've never had a significant other before! A-And it's embarrassing because by now, everyone's had at least one!" You said, closing your eyes, a blush of your own spreading through your face.
". . .I'll give it a four. Only because you aren't lying," Mr. Tsuchigomori criticized. You sulked next to Nene, "That isn't good enough!?" You said desperately.
"Our embarrassment isn't good enough??" Nene said, defeated.
"Hey, Hanako! Don't you think it's your turn?" You asked, wanting some kind of revenge, taking it out on Hanako. Nene backed you up, "Yeah!"
"Oh, so you want to hear the secret about me~?" Hanako said, looking up at Tsuchigomori. The teacher only looked down at Hanako with a blank expression. "No thank you. I already know enough." He replied, giving Hanako a look only Hanako could understand. Hanako turned back to you and Nene. "Well, I tried. You heard him, he isn't interested in my messy past," Hanako said, smiling and shrugging his shoulders.
"He said he wanted to hear from all of us!" Nene said, grabbing Hanako's shoulders.
"It's only fair." You supported her.
"I get the feeling this is because you guys are being really no- '' Hanako tried to protest, but was interrupted.
"No no no no, It's only fair. It doesn't matter if Mr. Tsuchigomori doesn't want to hear a secret, I want to hear a secret." You said threateningly, getting close to Hanako, practically looming over him. The shorter boy looked up at you with surprise, his eyes widened and a small blush was visible, why were you being so persistent? And why was he so flustered by it?
"It's your turn!" Nene said, pushing Hanako even more.
"W-well, fine! But you only get one, okay? I. . .Um. . I love. . ." Hanako paused, struggling to spill. "I love donuts. So much. That's all. . ." Hanako confessed, his original blush darkening from embarrassment.
"I can't believe I said that out loud!" Hanako said, his hands moving to cover his face, pink dusted his cheeks.
"Look what you did Mr. Tsuchigomori, you traumatized him!" Nene yelled. The teacher just stood there, "Are you really that stupid?" He asked blankly.
"Stupid!?" Nene belched.
"What kind of donuts do you like?" You asked, ignoring the bickering between Nene and Mr. Tsuchigomori behind you.
"Normal ones. Mainly homemade." Hanako replied, his blush subduing.
"You know how to make donuts?" You asked, surprised. Hanako nodded.
"Really?" Nene butted in, returning from her lost battle with Mr. Tsuchigomori.
The teacher was currently observing the three in front of him in silence. When was the last time he's seen Number Seven look like that? So. . .Content when talking to someone.
"Hey! It's over." Mr. Tsuchigomori said, walking over to a bookshelf. Nene looked at you, fear evident in her expression, "We lost track of time!" She screeched. Oh, that's right. . .
"Please don't share everything with the school!!" You and Nene said in unison, begging. Mr. Tsuchigomori chuckled. "I wouldn't do that to you. It was just a strategy. And obviously, it failed." The teacher pulled on one of the hanging lanterns, the fire turning blue as the bookshelves started to open like sliding doors.
"Maybe what I saw was worth more than what was said." Mr. Tsuchigomori muttered, no one but Yako hearing, who was perched on his shoulder. The bookshelf fully opened, revealing a secret hallway, leading to a place only Tsuchigomori would know.
"Well, it looks like I owe you my Yorishiro. But I'm only letting one of you pass this point, and that will be the prestiss who will destroy the Yorishiro." Mr. Tsuchigomori said strictly.
"Prestiss? Who's that?" Nene asked.
"That would be you, my assistant!" Hanako said joyously, wrapping his arms around Nene's form.
"Is that a good idea? Just let her go? I mean, Mr. Tsuchigomori could do anything, and we wouldn't know about it. . .'' You commented, not liking the idea of Nene going with a School Wonder that you didn't know much about, other than the fact that he was your teacher.
But then again, like you said, he was our teacher. Teachers are people you should trust–or, in this situation, apparition.
"What do you say number seven? After all this time, you should know you can trust me." Tsuchigomori persisted. Hanako thought for a moment, then pushed Nene on the other side of the bookshelf. "Take good care of her for me." Hanako said, watching as the girl stumbled forward. The bookshelves started closing in on themselves, Nene looking back at you and Hanako, confused.
"Was that really a good idea?" You asked once the bookshelves were completely closed. Hanako nodded, "Number Five is right, I can trust him." Hanako responded, walking away.
"Where are you going?" You asked, watching as the ghost left.
"Nene might be a while, and she isn't going to end up coming out of the bookshelves." Hanako responded, still walking away.
"Well, then where is she coming back?" You asked, starting to follow.
"We'll see soon enough,"
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"Is it possible to change the future that's written in the books?"
"No. It's practically impossible to change the written future. . .I've only known of two people who changed their future."
"Really? Who?"
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"Sometimes people don't know when they've died. So they wonder."
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