"Machigai.."
Flipping the photo back over, (Y/n) reread the message on the back and looked once again at the black haired girl in the photo. Without a doubt, it was definitely the chick she'd spoken to moments ago. The photo appeared to be a school picture, based on the bland background and uniform shirt she appeared to be wearing. Contrary to the usual photo of a highschool student when picture day came up, the girl's hair wasn't worn in a pretty style, nor did she wear any makeup. Instead, along with Aldera's uniform, Machigai adorned a big bandage on her cheek and a few scratches on her face, along with a small bruise under her left eye as she stared at the camera with a dead look in her golden eyes and a frown on her pale lips. If you looked closely, you'd probably notice small scratch marks going down her neck also.
In slight disbelief, the usually cheerful girl repeatedly flipped the photo back and forth, dots that she didn't want to connect forming in her head. It seems that her silence had caught the attention of the other girl with her on the rooftop. Turning around, Adelaide's brown eyes caught sight of her smaller friend observing what looked like a photo, but based on her expression, she didn't seem to hold good vibes to it. With dilated pupils and (s/c) hand covering her mouth, the girl looked like she'd vomit any second now.
Curious, the dark skinned female crept behind (Y/n) and snatched the photo out of her smaller hand, snapping the girl back to reality. Putting a hand to her chin, Adelaide looked at the girl in the picture, a sense of familiarity took over her as she stared into her golden eyes. A focused look was placed onto her face for a second before she snapped her fingers, a victorious look taking over her features as she exclaimed, "That's where I know her from!" Confused, (Y/n) looked up to her. "You know Machigai?" She asked, receiving a smirk from Adelaide who shook her head and answered, "Not exactly, but I heard a few upperclassmen talking about a girl who fit her description earlier. They said she used to attend Aldera a few years ago but was bullied so badly during her time that she jumped. I guess that's why we have fences 'round here now," Adelaide paused, dropping her smirk as she gripped the fence, her back now facing (Y/n).
"I overheard that soon after her death, strange things started to happen around the school. I remember reading about it once on the flight here. Water tinted red. Janitors reporting mysterious wailing in the bathrooms after school. Even scary messages written on the walls and ceiling of the class she used to be in. But here's the icing on the cake. A few months into Machigai's 'haunting', the main kids who used to bully her began to stop attending Aldera one by one. The article I read the other day told of one of the bullies going into a random psychotic rage and committing a homicide-suicide on one of the others. It's said that the rest of the misdoers to Machigai also ended up dying gruesome deaths eventually," The American concluded, sighing. "Poor girl."
(Y/n) frowned, finding the story shocking. 'But how? I was able to touch her! She was just here, I swear she's alive,' the girl thought in mild shock. She wasn't quite sure how to grasp the fact that Machigai was a ghost, but seeing Adelaide give her that worried look, quickly snapped her back to reality-at least for the moment.
"You good (L/n)?" The girl's lax voice rang though (Y/n)'s ear, bouncing off the walls in her mind, and the out of the other. Almost as if she hadn't spoken in the first place, which caused a delayed response from the shaken girl. She shook her head rapidly in an attempt to clear her mind,-it didn't help at all- and attempted to send a reassuring smile to her friend, which came off as weary and didn't shake Adelaide off her tracks in the slightest. She decided to let it go for the moment though as the (e/c) girl responded, "No- yeah, I'm fine. She just looked... familiar." (Y/n) tried to calm down silently but her hands continued to shake as she clutched them at her sides. Nanashi looked at his companion apprehensively, as he had knew from the the beginning what the girl was. Yes, he'd felt bad for her for a moment and wondered where she'd went, but what happened was in the past. Besides, he had bigger priorities at hand. Reaching out a hand to the uneasy girl, the ghost released a silent sigh and shut his eyes for the moment.
All of a sudden, (Y/n) had stilled as a wave of serenity doused her, stopping her trebling and shallow breaths. She hadn't forgotten her recent discovery, and yet she couldn't bring herself to be upset about it anymore. The childish girl was confused, but grateful as she'd almost been brought to tears. Once again, (Y/n) attempted to deliver a reassuring smile to Adelaide, this time successfully. The fluffy haired girl gave a half smile back and silently set the photo back where it originally had been, deciding to change the topic for the better.
"So my science teacher held me back earlier today..."
Hours had passed, and before you knew it, the final bell for all classes rung throughout Aldera. Children put their cleaning supplies away and packed their bags, some heading home, others to their respective clubs. (Y/n) fit into neither of these categories as she wasn't planning to go home for awhile, but since it was also the first day, she also wasn't headed to a club, nor did she plan to join any.
The preteen continued to pack her bag, shutting the classroom behind her as the voice of an all too familiar transferee called out to her. Looking to the direction of her voice, (Y/n)'s shiny (e/c) orbs made contact with Adelaide's half-lidded ones down the halls. She also caught notice of the green haired boy she'd acquainted with earlier striding down the hall quickly, but not before looking behind him and also noticing the twin-tailed girl. She waved at him as he headed out, sending a small blush running through his freckled cheeks as he waved back timidly and continued his way home, which left (Y/n)'s attention to divert back to Adelaide, who continued to stand at the end of the corridor.
"You're not goin' back home? We can walk together," she offered, slightly disheartened when her new friend shook her head, responding, "Not yet. I-uh have something to do here before I go home. Maybe next time though!" She then held her hand in the air, crossing her middle and pointer fingers together in a silent promise and watched as the dark skinned girl nodded and turned around, also making her way home.
As soon as she rounded the corner, (Y/n) did a 180 and bolted to the nearest flight of stairs, making a beeline back to the rooftop. The girl was on a tight schedule as she still had to meet with Shinso and Daifuku before six. Pushing the doors open, the petite girl looked around for a second, before she spotted it. Machigai's small shrine. Jogging over to it, the teen sat down in front of the photo silently, letting the wind blow her (h/t) locks as the sun cast an ombre aura around her. Within that moment, a certain well-known ghost boy had appeared, hands posed behind his back as he gravitated to his counterpart, who grinned brightly in his presence. Looking up to the male, she held out her hands and asked, "Did you get it?" Forgetting to sign it.
Luckily, the pasty male caught drift of what she'd asked and nodded, bringing his hands from behind his back and revealing a bouquet of Cyclamen flowers. This brought (Y/n)'s wide smile to a small grin as she took the flowers, thanking the soul. All traces of joy were removed from her (s/c) features as she lied the bunch down next to their withered parallels. Putting her hands together, she wished a silent prayer to dead friend as Nanashi stood behind her, bowing his head in respect. As she concluded the silent, speech, (Y/n)'s (e/c) eyes opened, accompanied by a few small tears that rolled down her cheeks, and off of her face, watering the flowers below her. She felt a cold presence on her shoulder, revealing to be Nanashi's hand, that phased through her as she moved to look at him.
Watery, doe eyes met stoic, milky ones and in that moment Nanashi had never wished so badly to be alive again. To be physical. To comfort the girl through her hard times in more ways than one. Regardless, he was grateful to have just met this bundle of joy and watch her grow up right in front of him. He exhaled soundlessly and nodded his head back to the rooftop doors. More specifically the clock above them that read 4:15. Time continued to move on, the seconds ticking by as (Y/n) remembered where she was supposed to be. Taking a deep breath, the girl calmed down, and tried to stand up on her slightly shaky legs, which folded on her halfway up. Luckily, she was caught by the invisible force Nanashi had conjured up to keep her on her feet. Another second or two went by before the (h/c) haired girl signaled a thumbs up to him, soon left to her own strength. She smiled gratefully as he signed for them to leave, turning around and fleeing to the roof exit.
Taking one last glance at Machigai's portrait, (Y/n) reluctantly took her leave, following in her friend's "footsteps". Though, she failed to notice the figure of the late teen, who stood shocked in her place, nor the stunned expression as an endless stream of tears ran from her golden irises.
Bonus:
Short, heavy breaths left the disheveled girl as she leaned onto her knees for support near the crosswalk. She breathed shakily and closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, she was greeted by a cold water-bottle that looked quite appetizing at the moment. Snatching it from the hand that offered it to her, (Y/n) muttered a rushed 'Thank you' as she gulped the drink down.
Sighing in relief, the girl looked up, meeting the questioning eyes of Daifuku and Shinso. She smiled apologetically and dipped her head down. "Sorry guys, I got caught up in something." In response, the two nodded in understanding as Daifuku spoke up timidly. "That's fine (Y/n), but you didn't have to rush. We just got here and have a good two or three hours left." At the statement, the girl of the group jumped up, shouting "Two hours?! That's not nearly enough time to hang out! We need to find something to do stat!" With that, she grabbed each boy's wrist in a different hand,-not noticing the light blush on Shinso's face, or the redness of Daifuku's ears-and dragged them around the block until they found somewhere to stay for the next few hours. Luckily enough, the three teenagers found a local ice-cream shop and decided to chill there until further notice.
Outside of the cute shop sat Shinso and (Y/n) on a bench. The two kids chatted together while waiting on their multi-eyed friend's order to finish, as theirs' had been done quite awhile ago. Crunching into her cone, (Y/n) once again changed the topic. "So, Hito tell me, how was school today?" The innocent question brought a tense atmosphere around the two as the peppy girl observed her childhood friend tense up. Rubbing the back of his neck, the boy looked everywhere but in the direction of his female friend, for he feared telling her the truth of what had happened. Not because of what she'd do to them, but what they would to her. Alas, his attempts were futile, for as soon as his nervous, violet eyes met with her curious, (e/c) ones, he cracked. Throwing away the rest of his ice cream, the boy ran a hand through his messy, indigo locks. His knee bounced anxiously as he hesitated to speak. Fortunately for him, it appeared that the girl had caught onto his discomfort as she backed off. Scrunching her (h/c) brows together, (Y/n) nodded to her friend as she waved her arms back and forth. "Haha, it's fine. You don't have to tell me now; I had a.." Her (e/c) eyes dulled slightly and they wandered from Shinso's pale face as she searched for the right word, "weird day too."
Hearing this, the usually stoic male, felt a bit shocked. He noticed the usual cheery demeanor fade from her tone as she spoke and was taken aback by a bit. Never in his fourteen years of living had he seen (Y/n) upset in the slightest, so when that frown appeared on her face, he felt a sudden need to bring it back, for he never wanted it to go away.Without a second thought, the guy uttered the first word that came to mind, hoping that it would cheer the small girl up a bit. "...Twinsies?.."
Now it was (Y/n)'s turn to be shocked. Snapping her focus back to the boy in front of her, the girl held her eyes open wide. A moment of silence passed through the two for a good minute. That minute was broken as (Y/n) finally cracked. Snorting, a wide grin settled on her face, which evolved into boisterous laughter as she hunched over to clutch her stomach, her (f/f) ice-cream long forgotten on the ground. That laughter grew contagious as Hitoshi joined in. The noise that the two friends were making gained many looks from passerbys on the side walks, but the two could care less as they continued to joke around, stuck in their own little world.
As the pair began to calm down, (Y/n) looked Hitoshi in the eyes and said, "Just make sure to tell me what happened sometime. Do Shi and I need to beat someone up?" While the girl asked the question jokingly, said ghost by her side nodded as he pounded a fist into his hand intimidatingly, not that Shinso could see. The boy shook his head with a small smile and replied, "No, it's just-uh..Never mind. Yeah I'll tell you about it later, but only if you tell me about what happened with you." The girl shivered as memories flowed through her head, but nodded at her friend as they pinkie promised to each other. Personally, the frizzy haired boy thought it was childish, but he tolerated it only for her.
Just as they pulled away from eachother, Shinso's phone went off as Daifuku stepped out of the store. Checking his phone, the boy got up and explained to his two friends. "Sorry. That was my mom. I gotta go guys." "Aww, so soon?" The dark haired boy whined, as he didn't get to talk to Hitoshi. He silently cursed the ice-cream shop for taking so long as they bid the boy goodbye, leaving just him and (Y/n)-Nanashi too, but he wasn't one to interfere.
The two had fun in each others presence as they wandered the block for the rest of the day and stumbled upon a local playground. It looked quite familiar, but neither could remember where from. Nevertheless, they played on the play-set as if they were still little, just until they had to go home. By then, the sun had set and the friends told eachother goodnight before heading off to their respective homes.
Artwork used, not mine.
Unedited.
*Cyclamen flower- a typically poisonous flower that relates to death, parting, and sorrow. All good things must come to an end eventually.