"Why don't you go on and exorcise me here?"
"Because you said we should go tho the rooftop, where nobody-…"
"You're taking commands from me now, eh?"
----
• Hanako POV
I smiled.
But that frown-upside down didn't last for long.
I heard the boy grumble before he came running straight at me.
With that Raiteijou of his. It shot out a small amount of lightning before it suddenly increased.
Ha!
It only took me one slide to the left before I heard him tumbling down the stairs.
I floated over to him and glanced at him in his painful state.
He actually ended up upside down against the wall, like in those anime I used to watch.
His eyes were tight shut. And his arms laid on the ground peacefully while his legs flopped towards the floor.
And that staff of his, he ended up throwing it up high.
"Urghhh!" he let out.
I bore the sight as it fell onto his forehead; trying desperately not to make groans of sympathy.
"Kou Minamoto, " I proceeded, " you're a descendant of that Minamoto no Yorimitsu, am I wrong? That exorcist that dispelled those yokai back when the night skies were deeper and darker than they are now?"
"How did he know my name?"
"Somebody knows their stuff! " he screamed with a smile as he jumped back on his feet, like as if he just didn't scream in agony seconds ago, "Eheh… But a nerd like you's not gonna stop me!"
He actually called me a nerd.
So… he came running at me at full speed again.
"Die! Murderer!"
But I dodged him again.
And he hit the side of the stairs.
And he fell.
Again.
"He's weak, he can't get up…"
"I win!"
"That's not fair… you play dir--ty…"
Just as I was about to place a seal on this staff, someone busted into the room.
"Hanako! I can explain-"
"Y/N! What were you doing there? Didn't I tell you to stay in the bathroom? What? You couldn't wait?"
I tried scolding, but that didn't end well.
Got an elbow to my face. Yeah. My handsome face. Can you believe it?
"Ahhh... What was that for?" I whined while rubbing it.
"That was too long!" Y/N screamed, "But then again, I did make some friends…"
"Friends!? They're trying to lure you! Let's leave-"
"You ain't leaving just yet-" Kou tried to speak but got interrupted by a girl, "--who are you supposed to be?"
"L/N Y/N, " my donut screamed out, " I'm a first-year in the high school division. Hanako's my friend! So leave him alone!"
"…"
"We don't want the cat to leave the bag, do we, Shonen?" I spoke, not leaving my dull gaze away from the kid's bright one, "Sayonara, "I pronounced as I pressed two fingers to his head afterward.
He collapsed to the ground barely bracing for it.
"What did you just do!? " Y/N screamed.
"Oh, me, " I acted in sarcasm as I slapped the seal on the staff, "just gave him a little nap, that's all. Don't worry, he'll be ok."
I floated high, aiming for the exit down the stairs.
"Now let's get out of he-"
"No!"
Huh?
I felt as if time had stopped. She was denying to go with a friend? It was her wish, after all.
I glowed.
"Y/N… that's not really what friends do… it's not Y/N-like either…" I said as I shook my finger.
Ok, I admit I have this weird habit of sounding manipulating… but I promise I'm not.
"I'm not leaving until you answer these questions I'm about to ask you, it's a lot so get prepared-"
"Answer. Mine. First, " I spoke-broke, determined to make her mouth shut and loose words.
My brows furrowed as I crossed my arms together; I landed back on the surface, all without breaking the gaze between us.
This regard went from serious to severe to intense.
"What. Are you doing…"
"Huh…"
"…with a murderer?"
I had to come up with something…
I couldn't tell her just yet.
I watched as she began to calculate what I've just said in her head. Until it clicked.
"Murderer? Wait---What? Murderer?! So you're telling me one of my friends is a murderer!?" she stuttered.
Magnificent.
"Yes! Hurry! Let's leave!"
And with that, Y/N and I left the rooftop stairs and headed back to my beloved boundary.
I wasn't gonna waste the food I just got from the caféteria. We were gonna share it there.
Yes. In a toilet. Got a problem with that?
But still…
Even if I did lie…
One of her "new" friends really is a murderer.
~
"Asotama? Have you seen Y/N? I think she ditched us…"
"Don't be negative, Token, she probably just had something else to do. After all, we're friends, right?"
"Yeah, but… something's not right..."
~
• Third person POV
|Later~|
"…"
"I can't believe you, you should've tried harder, you seriously can't get defeated by falling asleep to a sleep spell, " Teru said as he helped his younger brother off the ground.
"But I was, he just kept running away and-"
However, the intimidating and significant scowl from his Onii-chan was enough to cut Teru's Otouto off.
"Sorry, Teru-nii…"
"Didn't I tell you if you encounter one of the seven mysteries, you should exorcise them? It's simple as that, " he explained, for the felt like the 60th time, "I've told you countless times…"
Teru gently slapped his own face. (Not to mix with Kou's face here…)
And Kou knew this action; the slap on his face, the action he would manifest if he were annoyed or irritated.
"I'm gonna give you a chance to exorcise him… If you don't…"
Kou swallowed greedily.
"-I'll make sure you never exorcise an apparition ever again."
Kou was bewildered.
"Out of the Minamoto-clan, " he improved.
Never exorcise? Ever again? Not being a Minamoto?
That's not possible…
Right?
He stood there, trembling and stunned, before collapsing to his knees.
Teru was startled by the unexpected motion.
"You're stronger than this, Kou…"
He folded his arms and watched his younger brother cry as he held back a laugh.
Teru didn't know he was crying.
But he felt for his Otouto; he had to do something to make sure he didn't take him for granted.
To make sure he didn't think he was joking, that is.
He was joking.
He couldn't hold it in anymore.
Kou, horrified by Teru's sign, screamed in anger, still tearing up.
"WHAT'RE YOU LAUGHING FOR! HUH?!"
Teru got a better sight of Otouto's face now, he didn't like to see him like this.
He halted the giggles.
He felt how his heart jumped upon seeing the mix of anger and sadness on Kou's face together.
He had second thoughts. About this joke. Of course, it was a lie. He wasn't going to make him never exorcise an apparition again. Heck, it was Otouto's dream. But he deeply regrets laughing after peering upon his face.
Teru bent down to his level and embraced him unexpectedly.
Kou's eyes broadened.
"Sorry for making you cry…" he whispered, feeling the tears in his eyes form.
"I was only kidding…"
He regrets it because people know Teru as a sentimental, kind and loving being.
Not the one he's being now.
"What---came over me?"
And those siblings stayed in that embrace for what felt like an eternity for them.
A/N: I cried while writing the Kou and Teru Part 😭😢😥
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