"All good things end sometime."
Warnings: Mentions of blood.
----------
You chuckled, watching Kou and the pink boy interact in the field. You were observing from one of the many windows in the school, watching as the pink boy took pictures of the scenery, trees, grass, flowers, anything. And Kou kept talking to him, interrupting the boy in pink's focus. Every once in a while, you'd see the pink boy blow up at Kou, shouting at him and probably throwing insults.
"You realize the last bell rang 20 minutes ago, yes?" A voice spoke up from behind. You jumped slightly, turning around to meet the golden eyes of School Wonder Number Five.
"Mr. Tsuchigomori! You scared me there, how are you?" You asked, giving the teacher a small smile. The atmosphere was kind of awkward. Mr. Tsuchigomori, smiling a little. "Why are you still here? Like I just said, the bell rang a while ago," He repeated, expecting an answer out of you.
"Oh! I was just making sure everything was going well with Kou and this apparition he stumbled on. I'm just making sure Kou's alright. And plus, I still have to see Hanako." You responded, moving away from the window.
"Then I would suggest visiting Hanako, instead of stalking your friends," Tsuchigomori advised, amusement in his tone. He started walking out of the classroom as, Your face flared from his words. "It isn't stalking! I was just making sure Kou would be okay!" You shouted as Mr. Tsuchigomori left the room. You could hear a faint chuckle from down the hallway.
You grumbled, but then shook your head with a small amused sigh. Mr. Tsuchigomori was right, you needed to get to Hanako before he came looking for you.
Unexpectedly, you were met with amber eyes the moment you took a step forward. You yelped, lunging back and slamming into a desk. You groaned, gently rubbing your lower back. Looking back up to the amber eyes, you were met with a laughing Hanako, hanging upside down and holding his stomach. You slowly stood, groaning."Why the hell'd you do that?!" You shouted, glaring at Hanako. Whatever Hanako would do, you didn't think you could ever get used to.
Hanako didn't answer right away, he had to finish his laughing fit first. "I just wanted to check on you," He explained himself, still upside down with giggles escaping his lips every now and then. You crossed your arms. "Because that's what you do on a normal basis," You replied sarcastically, rolling your eyes. Hanako wasn't one to check up on people, that's what you've learned at least. Or maybe he was changing his ways, who knows?
. . .No, he definitely wasn't going to change.
Hanako turned upright, his feet meeting the creaky floorboards. The boy walked towards you, grabbing your wrist and started dragging you out of the classroom and down the hallway.
"And. . .where are we going now?" You asked, not surprised anymore.
"Over there." Hanako responded, pointing out of a nearby window. You followed where his finger was pointed, it was yet another abandoned building on the school grounds. "And. .why are we going over there?" You questioned.
"There's something stuck up there, and I can't get it on my own," Hanako responded, continuing to drag you down hallways, past classrooms, through the courtyard, and to the front of said building he pointed to. The walk there was silent, other than the clicking of your footsteps. It wasn't awkward, but you couldn't help but stare down at the hand that dragged you around.
"How do you know something's stuck up there?" You asked, squinting your eyes, trying to see what was up there but to no avail.
"The Mokke came running to me, saying they left something up there and wanted me to get it. Apparently it's stuck on the outside of the building, so now I need your help." Hanako explained, letting go of your hand and sauntering towards the building.
"But. . .can't you just float up there?" You asked, knowing all the times that Hanako floats around, getting something up high should be nothing to him.
Hanako was quiet for a moment, standing still. You looked at him expectantly.
"Onward!" Hanako shouted, once again grabbing a hold of your wrist and dragging you inside, completely avoiding your question. You sighed, letting Hanako drag you around, knowing your questions wouldn't be answered. It won't be that bad, right?
"Hanako! This is NOT a good idea!!" You shouted, gritting your teeth from the struggle of keeping Hanako from falling to his doom. When Hanako said he needed your help, Apparently he meant you needed to be his personal claw machine. From the top floor window, Hanako was hanging out of it while you held onto his ankles, preventing his fall.
"Keep going, a little to the right!" Hanako instructed, a big grin on his face. You tried to follow his instruction to the best of your abilities, struggling but able to swing to his body slightly to the right. Could he control his mass? You didn't remember him being this heavy!
"A little lower!" Hanako then said. You tried your best, lowering Hanako down the building while still keeping a firm hold of him. You grunted, your hand slipping and your body bending over the windowsill a little. Your eyes widened, attempting to get grip back and keeping your feet planted on the floor.
But to no avail, your hand slipped, and Hanako fell from your hands. Hanako yelped as he began to fall, and all you did was watch in horror. You gave one last effort to catch him, reaching your hand out and leaning over the window as far as you could.
It was no use. Hanako fell.
Instantly, you moved away from the window, turning around and running, tripping over your feet while skipping steps down the staircase. The front door was left open and you sped out of it, finally reaching the outside. You were met with Hanako laying on the floor, motionless. Your eyes widened, and a pit dug itself deep in your stomach. "Hanako!" You called out, sprinting towards him. Kneeling over Hanako's still body, you shook his shoulders harshly.
"Hanako! Wake up! Hanako!" You shouted desperately. Then, suddenly, Hanako sat right up, making you jolt back.
"Wow that was scary! I thought I was gonna die!" Hanako shouted, turning his head to face you.
You then realized something, remembered something, something very important. Very, very important. . .
"You're. . .already dead. . . ." You mumbled quietly, the thought dawning on you. Hanako paused for a moment. ". . .Oh yeah. . .that's right." He said, shrugging his shoulders and bringing his hand under his chin. "Forgot about that. . ."
And now it was quiet, both you and Hanako looked at each other. The staring contest ended once Hanako started to crack a smile, you doing the same shortly after. And soon, the once small-lasting silence was filled with nothing but innocent laughter. You couldn't believe that you forgot something so evident!
Once the laughing was reduced to a small chuckle, you asked Hanako something. "What was the thing stuck up there anyways?" Hanako was quick to answer you, digging through his pocket and pulling out a small object. "This!" He said with pride, palm pointed upward.
"When did Kou lose his earring?" You asked, surprised to see the earring separated from Kou's ear. Hanako smiled. "The Mokke stole it." He answered simply.
"I thought we changed the rumor though. . ." You said, standing up and dusting the dirt from your pants.
"We did. Guess they can't stop the stealing," Hanako said, putting the dangly object back in his pocket, standing up along with you.
"You know. . .I'm glad you didn't get exercised that day. Y'know, when we first met Kou, I don't know what I would do if you ended up getting exercised. My life would go back to being as boring as ever," You said, suddenly grateful for Hanako's presence.
Hanako looked at you as you continued to speak. "I know the way Teru looked at you, I could tell he didn't like you. He just has to get to know you, then he'll quickly realize that you are the complete opposite of a dangerous Apparition. I mean, I've never seen you intentionally hurt a human before. I think Kou figured that out, but now we just have to get Teru on board-"
"But I'm a murderer." Hanako interrupted, happiness and his usual self was gone, replaced with nothing but unreadable emotions and a blank expression. Just like a couple days before. . .
"W-well-" You started, only to get interrupted again.
"You were wary of me because of that. You have your reasons for that, valid ones." Hanako explained, looking you dead in the eyes.
You hated to admit it, but he was right in this sense, you were obviously cautious around him, especially after you figured out he killed someone.
"It makes sense, I am the evil spirit of a murderer."
"That's just what Kou said! He was just running his mouth, he didn't really know." You tried to reason, sure he killed someone, but it had to be for some good reason, right? Why would he kill someone for any other reason in the first place?
"He had a right to say that. . .What kind of reason. ." –Hanako paused–"What kind of reason would justify killing another person?" He asked darkly, dimming the mood incredibly more.
You didn't have an answer for him. You couldn't form one in your mind.
Within a matter of a few milliseconds, a vigorous push forced you to fall back, tripping and landing on the hot, hard concrete. You winced upon impact, sucking in a shallow breath. What the hell just happened? Before you could process the situation, more force landed itself on your shoulders, pinning you to the floor. You back slammed into the ground, then your head. The pain caused tears to form in your eyes, and air left your lungs. The weight on your stomach and waist prevented you from getting back up.
You groaned and lifted your head from the asphalt to see where the newfound weight was coming from, only to be met with a knife pointed at your neck, just below your chin. You gasped and froze, staring at the object poised to kill you, a shiver aggressively ran through you, chilling you to the bone.
What was he doing?
Your eyes shifted upward to meet the shaken eyes of Hanako. He was different. It was clear he was different. His eyes were glazed over, his body was shaking. He looked confused, not knowing what to feel at the moment. But neither did you. Were you supposed to feel fear? Surprise? Anger? Knife still halted to your neck, the tip of the blade barely brushing over your skin, Hanako spoke, his words far between, obviously shaken. "What if. . .What if I killed you?. . .Right now. And. .What if I had a special reason for it?" He asked you. His hands were shaking, causing the blade to graze more and more against your neck. You pushed into the ground as much as possible, but not going anywhere.
Hanako forced the knife to rise high above his head, and he looked you straight in the eyes. His eyes were nothing but dark voids, and it terrified you beyond belief. "Would. . ." He started. "Would that make it right?" He asked.
All you did was stare at him.
Stare into the eyes of a murderer.
Stare into the eyes of a ruthless killer.
Stare into the eyes of a scared little boy.
"That's enough." A voice erupted from a place you couldn't pinpoint.
That was Teru's voice?
You could see blue sparks of lightning.
You could hear loud sounds of distress.
Some of those sparks grazed your skin.
It hurts!
Why did it hurt?
Everything went white.
Next to you, Hanako was writhing in pain on the floor, twitching uncontrollably.
". . .Hanako?" You mumbled, watching as Hanako continued to move without will, mumbling incoherently. You looked at him with wide eyes, a shaken breath entering your lungs as the situation dawned on you.
What happened to Hanako?
You twisted your body forward and got on your knees, lightly touching Hanako's shoulder, shaking him a little. Your hand retracted when you were severely shocked with a blue electric current.
You heard a clicking sound, the sound of footsteps. They were nearing. You jolted your head in the direction of the footfalls, watching as a person emerged from the smoke, a tool fairly similar to Kou's in their hand. Your eyes widened realizing who it was.
". . .President?" You spoke shakily, watching as Kou's older brother continued to slowly stalk closer.
"I wasn't expecting you to be here," Teru said, looking down at you with a glare.
If looks could kill, there'd be a hole in your chest.
"Would you get out of the way?" The older boy asked, a lazy smile bearing on his face. Although he was smiling, you knew he wasn't genuine. You glanced back at Hanako, he wasn't twitching anymore, but he was shaking uncontrollably. "What are you doing?" You asked Teru, afraid that if you moved like he asked, Hanako would soon not be here anymore.
"I'm sorry to hear that," He mumbled, clearly annoyed. He sighed and reached for his wrist, where a beaded bracelet was placed. He ripped the bracelet from his wrist and threw it towards you. Instantaneously, the beads transformed to be twice their original size, and they stretched well over five feet. The Bracelet glowed a flamboyant purple and shot towards you, having a mind of its own. It wrapped itself around you, trapping your arms to your sides, your legs close together. Your ankles were forced to clash together, and it caught you off guard, causing you to wobbly and topple over. You struggled, but you couldn't get up, nor could you free yourself from the restraints.
You watched as Hanako finally started to stand. But it wasn't any use, once Teru was done with you, he continued his menacing pursuit towards Hanako.
"Don't!" You shouted, continuing to struggle against the supernatural binding beads. Rocks pressed themselves into your side and arms, surly drawing blood from their sharp edges.
Teru stopped walking towards Hanako, and looked over to you casually. He was confident that he had full control of the situation, and could do anything if you or Hanako got out of hand. So, he sauntered over to you. Your eyes met the soles of Teru's shoes.
"I don't think you realize how dangerous he is. So I'm going to exorcize him, then you," Teru threatened, kneeling down over you. "Because you got in my way of work." He wasn't glaring at you anymore, but the look he gave you couldn't stop the severe shiver that ran down your entire body.
Teru stood up straight again, giving you one last death-glance, then heading to Hanako.
All you could do was watch.
But, although Hanako was wounded immensely, he refused to let himself get exorcized.
"Haku-jodai!" Hanako shouted painfully, an attempt at getting the upper hand. But once the Haku-Jodai showed up, they immediately dissipated. Destroyed by the powerful hands of Teru. Hanako could only watch as the Haku-jodai disintegrated in helplessness.
"I'm not going to let you summon your Tsukishiro. I wouldn't want to make this fight any more difficult," Teru said nonchalantly. Hanako pulled out his knife, it was the only thing he had to defend himself. He looked up at Teru, glaring. Teru smiled, "What a scary face." He commented with a teasing chuckle. "No matter how hard you try to cover it up, you can never hide what you truly are." He taunted, tilting his head to the side.
Hanako glanced down at his knife. Teru's words got to him.
Hanako's glare quickly subdued to one of despair.
"All you are is just some troublesome ghost that goes unstable at the drop of a hat. You harm the living at the slightest provocation. You're self-serving, violent. . .You took the life from another, and yet here you are, clinging to the near shore, refusing to accept your own death. To be honest with you. . .It's painful to look at." Teru's degrading words sunk deep in Hanako's mind.
He was right.
Hanako started drowning in the sea of his thoughts. The raging sea he could never get out of.
He had to get out of the sea!
Attempting to regain strength, Hanako took a meek step forward. Teru simply strided to Hanako, moving and kicking him right in the stomach. Hanako sputtered and fell forward, knife casted away from his hands. Slowly, Hanako started reaching for his knife that was his only shot at life.
His hand was impaled with Teru's exorcizing weapon. Teru's foot landed harshly atop Hanako's head, forcing him down on the harsh concrete, keeping him here. Hanako held in the noises of his pain, but a few wimpers escaped his lips.
Teru looked disgustingly down at Hanako, activating his weapon. Once more, blue sparks shot out from the sword-like weapon shooting down into Hanako's skewered hand. This time, he couldn't hold in his sounds of pain. He yelled out, and salty tears pricked his eyes from the scorching pain, drilling down his face.
"Hanako!" You screeched, gritting your teeth while trying to inch closer to the horrific scene. You went close to nowhere.
You hated this feeling.
Not being able to do anything!
All you could do was watch helplessly as he suffered. You were the only person around who could help him, and yet, you couldn't do anything! You continued to squirm, attempting to free yourself from the supernatural binding beads.
Teru must've been really occupied with Hanako, because you started to feel the bindings loosen.
Teru lifted his weapon from Hanako's hand, a hole now present in the center of his hand. Hanako tried to crawl away from Teru, barely moving.
"Stop fighting it. You've been in the near shore for years now. It's about time you accepted your punishment," He scolded, looking down at Hanako like he was some ugly zoo animal.
Hanako started to chuckle to himself coldly. That wasn't how Teru expected him to react. Teru glared down at Hanako with both confusion and annoyance. Once Hanako finally started to talk, his voice shook with every word he uttered. "You people of the living are all the same, thinking dying and disappearing is the only way to atone for our sins. But. . ."–Hanako tilted his head up, showing a face full of tears with a smile–"Destroying me would be nothing but release! I still have things I need to do here!" Hanako screeched, rivers flowing out his eyes.
You stopped struggling for a moment, listening to Hanako. Things he still needs to do? Hanako continued to let tears fall from his eyes. Teru watched as the apparition sobbed, a look of disgust on his face, he readied his exorcizing tool within a heartbeat
If you don't move now, it'll all be over. If you don't do anything about this, right now, Hanako will surely die.
"I see. . .You have your own issues that you're working through. But. . ."–Teru said monotonously, lodging the weapon deep in Hanako's chest–"It doesn't matter, none of it." Hanako spit up blood as Teru continued to speak. "You're a dangerous supernatural. So I'll exorcize you here. That's all there is to it." Teru had no remorse for Hanako, familiar blue sparks started discharging from the blade of the weapon.
"It's over for you."
.
.
.
Nothing happened. Nothing at all. To Hanako, at least.
Teru looked down in puzzlement at his weapon, it always worked-
His eyes widened. It dawned on Teru that he took too long to exercise Hanako, his focus was mostly on him, so the power on your restraints weakened greatly. So, you broke free just in time, and were able to take hold of the blade before it could get rid of Hanako forever. The blade cut your hand deeply, but that was the last of your worries. You were able to push against Teru, removing the weapon from Hanako's chest. Your hand was slashed even more, your blood smearing Teru's blade, you grit your teeth, ignoring the pain as much as possible.
Once the object was fully extracted from Hanako's chest, you quickly let go of the exorcizing tool, grasping your injured hand and hissing in pain. You stood in front of Hanako protectively, glaring at Teru. "What the hell's wrong with you? Hanako hasn't done anything to hurt anyone!" You yelled, staring holes into Teru. The pain in your hand was still present, but all of your focus was on Teru, and the pure rage you felt at the moment.
"Get out of the way." Teru demanded, looking fiercely down at you. You shook your head. "Answer my question." You challenged, not moving an inch, not intending to either.
Teru walked towards you, threateningly slow. You couldn't help but feel intimidated the closer he stalked, but you still held your ground.
"Like I've told you before, M/n. He is a dangerous apparition, and therefore must be exorcized accordingly." Teru explained slowly, as if you were a clueless zoo animal. Gripping his exorcizing tool, he never once looked away from you.
"He hasn't done anything wrong as an apparition-!" You interrupted yourself, stopped talking. A warm feeling overcame you.
But was it calming? Not in the slightest.
It was the kind of warmth you would want to push as far away from you as possible. Blood threatened to spill from your mouth, the taste was disgusting and metallic.
Things were getting blurry, blood seeped from your mouth from the wound Teru caused in the center of your stomach.
You could see blue sparks.
Was this it for you?
You closed your eyes, tasting iron, hearing Hanako's incoherent shouting.
The sparks of Teru's weapon.
----------
"They're probably up on the roof," Nene guessed, walking out of the girl's bathroom, Kou by her side. Surprisingly, Hanako wasn't there, and neither was M/n.
"Probably, it's the only place we haven't looked." Kou responded. And just like that, the two of them headed towards the main building.
"You know, I've been worried about those two for a while. ." Nene commented, tracing a finger over the palm of her hand, a habit she's recently formed when she's nervous or concerned.
"Do you think Hanako knows about M/n?" Kou asked, turning to face Yashiro.
"I'm not sure." She responded, her brows furrowed. "It doesn't seem like it. But then again, it's Hanako." Kou nodded. "True," He said.
"Ehem-is there a reason as to why you're dragging me with you?" A new voice entered Nene and Kou's conversation. Mitsuba, the pink apparition who Kou's been keeping by his side for a few days now.
"Because, I can't trust you on your own." Kou answered, and Mitsuba grumbled, insulting Kou on his traffic earring. Kou rolled his eyes, ignoring the boy in pink.
The students turned the corner. Their eyes widened at the sight that was beheld for them. Hanako leaning against a wall, severely weakened, Teru stabbing M/n, ready to kill him.
"Hanako!"
"M/n!"
----------
"The boy many look up to. The boy who killed someone. The boy who everyone looks up to."
----------