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《 CHAPTER 3: His Fear 》
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Nene fluttered her eyes open, instinctively squinting them as the bright ray from the fluorescent ceiling light hit her eyes.
She was lying down in a firm, uncomfortable bed. The blankets and the bedsheets were white, so was the room she was in. She recognized the bland smell of the sheets and pillows as the ones in the nurse's office. Slowly getting up, she noticed the presence of her two friends on both sides of the bed.
"Senpai!"
The middle-school kid couldn't help but say her name in a breath of relief, tears at the brim of his eyes. Nene smiled as she sat up, her head throbbing from the sudden change of water flow in her body. She saw Hanako to her right, leaning against the bed, his right cheek resting on his knuckles which were supported by his elbows.
"Good morning."
"W-What happened to me?" Nene asked the two.
"I found you on the floor of the first-level of the old school building and called Hanako. What were you doing there, Senpai? Can you remember what happened?" The exorcist explained before throwing the question at her. Nene remembered fainting and waking up in that black world with that black apparition.
"I remember fainting since my head was spinning, then I woke up in this black world with a black apparition-" Nene was cut off when Hanako's carefree demeanor was immediately replaced with a much more serious attitude.
"What apparition?" He asked her in a serious tone, "It was black? What did it tell you?"
"That it was what was going to kill me..." Nene chose not to tell him about the curse. She didn't want to reopen deep wounds if it really was true.
Hanako narrowed his eyes, cursing himself for allowing this to happen so soon. How could he have let his guard down?
"So you met it," He sighed, Nene couldn't help but assume that he was disappointed. Hanako just frowned, he didn't think that the curse would appear to her sooner, but he was mistaken.
He got off the wall and walked to Nene before embracing her tightly. The girl blushed a bit, her heart starting to beat faster. Hanako then pulled away, a relieved smile on his face.
"I'm just glad you're okay," He told her, patting her head.
Nene couldn't help but smile and feel warm about what he said. She felt safe and secure with Hanako and Kou, and not with that black apparition.
Kou watched as the two shared a moment together, silently accepting the fact that what he had for Yashiro was only one-sided. He knew for a while, how blindly in love the two were. The exorcist just watched, trying to bear the pain in his chest that was erupting.
Soon enough, Nene and Kou both left the school since it was already sundown and the moon was out. Watching them from a far distance, Hanako couldn't help but punch a wall and hit his head on the bathroom door.
He felt angry at himself. He was furious as to how he let it happen so easily. If only he didn't make that agreement that changed his fate, then maybe, Yashiro wouldn't die. He could've done something to keep Yashiro from dying. He could've distanced himself, but he chose not to instead.
It was all going to be his fault. He had to do something.
• • •
Three of the school wonders were in the Science Prep. Room to discuss what happened with Yashiro Nene.
"What troubles you, Honorable Number Seventh?" The custodian of the 4 PM Bookstacks asked the bathroom ghost, who seemed to be troubled and deep in thought, seated by the windowsill.
"Yashiro met the cursed seal, and I'm sure it serves as a warning that her slow death will start soon," Hanako answered coldly, "If only I stopped her from blaming herself for my death, then maybe, she wouldn't have gone to the bathroom that day. If I only didn't answer when she asked for me that day, dammit!"
The apparition stabbed his knife on the table, much to Tsuchigomori's disapproval.
Yako, who was in her human form sitting on Tsuchigomori's desk, sighed, "Honorable Number Seventh like I said the other day, you shouldn't blame yourself."
Tsuchigomori removed the smoke pipe from his mouth and puffed out the smoke, "Number Seventh, you knew very well that the moment you changed your fate, hers also changed. Blaming yourself won't change her life expectancy."
Yako glared at the curator of the Bookstacks, who looked away from her, returning the pipe to his mouth.
'You idiot spider,' She hissed at him in her head, 'That's the worst thing you could've possibly said!'
Hanako looked at the two with a sad smile and the two school wonders couldn't help but stare at him in shock.
"Thanks for trying to comfort me, but none of that's gonna work," Hanako looked back at the crescent moon that was raised high in the sky.
"It's my fault for dying, for getting this stupid curse, and for becoming a school wonder," He couldn't help but sadly smile to himself, "It's all my fault for mingling with her even if I knew the consequences. It was my fault for mingling with that damn forbidden boundary, and the laws of the near and far shore."
The fox fought off every inch of her that wanted to comfort the boy. She may have wanted to, but she knew her limits. Though, she knew what he felt, looking back on her memories with Misaki. She knew very well that he was going to die soon, but she didn't know the true meaning of death until it was too late.
Tsuchigomori also knew everything the Seventh was feeling right now. After all, he had been it that situation before, with the Seventh's past life. Nothing prepared him for that sudden change of fate that had happened. He felt guilty for not paying more attention to the boy sooner.
"It may be, just a part of it being your fault because of your actions, Honorable Number Seven. But would that girl really want you to blame yourself? I'm sure you don't like seeing her blame herself for your death."
The fox supernatural muttered under her breath, but audible enough to be heard by the teacher and the ghost. Somehow, the ghost felt a comforting feeling after hearing the fox's words.
The apparition hummed as he got off the windowsill and faced the two supernaturals with a straight face.
"There's one way that we can stop the curse slowly killing her, but I'm not sure if it'll stop since the damage has already been done and it's already made itself aware to her," Hanako announced to the two supernaturals, who knew exactly what he meant and were shocked.
"You don't mean cutting your connection with her, do you?" Tsuchigomori asked for confirmation from the apparition. Hanako smiled at him, confirming his plan.
"Are you sure about this, Number Seventh?" Yako couldn't help but ask him if he was sure. Could he really be ready to handle it?
Hanako couldn't help but smile sadly, "If I don't do it, how will I save her?"
• • •
Nene couldn't sleep.
She couldn't stop thinking about that apparition she saw in that black world. The words that came out of its mouth kept her up. It introduced itself as a curse, and apparently, Hanako was cursed with it?
And, it's what's going to kill her.
Nene turned to her left side after feeling a bit uncomfortable in her right side after a few minutes of turning.
What was that curse that Hanako had? Where did he get it, and why didn't he tell her?
'Of course, Hanako wouldn't disclose such information to me. He wouldn't want me to worry about him,' Nene answered her own question in her head.
The curse has apparently been watching Hanako and Nene ever since they formed that bond, and it would eventually break the boundary between the far shore and the near shore.
'If that's the case, then why doesn't it affect the other humans who've forged bonds with supernaturals? Like Akane-kun?' Nene couldn't help but ponder.
There has to be something missing, but what?
Tsuchigomori told her when they went to that cave area where he kept his yorishiro that Hanako was a very new spirit, yet he was strong because of something that happened, so he became the new leader of the Seven School Wonders. So it must be something in his past that adds up to everything.
But who was he in the past?
Yashiro could only wonder.