Humans and supernaturals were never meant to mix.
She learns this from a painted world, where it is revealed to her that she is too close to the Far Shore to live much longer. She learns this from a ghost named Hanako, who tells her that he will help her live a happy life for the next 90 years.
She learns this from a humid summer night, from a simple walk home from school, from a car who doesn't stop early enough. She learns this from a hospital visit where she is told that she shouldn't be alive, that she's incredibly lucky to have survived.
She also learns not to count her blessings so early, because there was no way that she could live through a mugger's knife to her stomach, but then she wakes up in the alleyway without so much as a stab wound, and she really should talk to Hanako-kun about this.
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Humans and supernaturals were never meant to mix.
She learns this in the third floor girls' bathroom, when the floors are shining with the water from her mop, when she asks Hanako why she isn't dead. She learns this from his sad eyes and lingering hands on her face when he tells her that they should go talk to the Fifth Mystery of Kamome Academy.
She learns this from a sad and tired teacher who has seen too many of his students suffer. She learns this when she also learns that she will never die, can never die. She has been around supernaturals far more than any human without high spiritual levels should, short lifespan or not, and she has payed the price.
Yashiro Nene can never die, and her wish has been granted. She will live for the next 90 years. And the next 90 after that. And the next 90 after that.
She breaks down into sobs because she has read enough novels about tragic romances to know that never dying means you will see all of your loved ones pass, it means that you will be forever alone. Hanako holds her in his arms as she falls to pieces, because this was so much worse than having less than a year to live.
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Kou is silent when he hears the news. He stares at his hands for a while, and then looks up at her with the saddest blue eyes she's ever seen, and smiles a little brokenly as he thinks of how he'll never have to worry about extending her lifespan again.
Yashiro shakes when she greets Aoi the next morning and if Akane already knew about her predicament, he said nothing.
Supernaturals and humans were never meant to mix, but Akane could not sympathize with the girl even though he has likely broken this rule more than her. He is part of a Mystery that controls time itself. He has a choice. And he has chosen to remain mortal, to die with his beloved, and Yashiro will remain sad and alone.
She notes how she hasn't seen Teru since she told Kou, and it doesn't really surprise her all that much.
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Yashiro passes by Tsukasa in the hallway on her way to the girls' bathroom and for once he does not smile. His childish demeanor has dropped, and he stands there silently, waiting. She greets him hesitantly, fearfully. His face is blank, and somehow that is much more terrifying than when he destroyed a School Mystery in one blow.
He tells her that he grants wishes for the dead. But she will never die, she notes warily, solemnly, and he blinks once. Twice. He nods in agreement. He says that his brother has a wish, even if he will not voice it aloud. She wonders what it is but does not ask. That is an invasion of privacy, she knows, but the apparition in front of her does not seem to care.
Supernaturals and humans were never meant to mix, Tsukasa notes, face still blank. But his twin, despite knowing this, wishes that she stays by his side. He wishes to never be alone again, because 50 years of solitude will take a toll on anyone.
Yashiro feels bile rise up in her throat as she realizes that she will probably spend more time than that alone.
Tsukasa still has not shown any emotion, but now his eyes are clouded with an array of emotions that she can only identify a few of. Anger, protectiveness. Worry. Loneliness. There are so many more but she feels sick just from seeing that much, so she closes her eyes and exhales a breath she had been subconsciously holding.
The apparition turns his back to her but looks over his shoulder one last time before leaving, and tells her that she can make Amane's wish come true. He doesn't need to interfere unless she hurts his brother.
No one can hurt Amane without facing Tsukasa's wrath. Yashiro knows this all too well.
She will never hurt Hanako-kun, Yashiro promises. She could never even think of it, even without the younger twin's threats.
A traitorous part of her mind whispers that she loves the Seventh Mystery far too much, and this time she doesn't silence it with dreams of handsome princes and sweet romance. She can't, because all that she thinks of is smirking ghosts and eternal life and tragedy.
Tsukasa nods in acknowledgment and disappears. Her legs give out beneath her. She's so, so tired.
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Supernaturals and humans were never meant to mix.
Yashiro has learnt this lesson so many times before, but it doesn't hurt any less when it's thrown into her still-young face again.
It's been a while. Her classmates have graduated. She told them that she is going to a college to become an author, preferably of romance novels, and they tell her that they eagerly await her stories.
She wasn't lying, not completely. She doesn't go to college, but she writes to pass the time. She lives in Kamome Academy now, because she had promised to stay by Hanako's side forever.
She has become a part of the Seventh Mystery's rumor. Hanako-san's immortal assistant, who paid a terrible price for her foolish wish.
They say she was a girl wished for love that would last forever, eternal. They say that Hanako-san could not grant such a wish unless she payed a heavy price. They say Hanako-san took the foolish girl's humanity in exchange for an everlasting love. The girl could never die and would spend forever loving a boy who had passed a long time ago.
It was meant to warn students about what they wish for, and make them fearful of messing with the supernaturals like the girl in the story did. Like Yashiro did.
But they weren't wrong, she thinks. Not really. She did wish for love, though not quite like the rumors say. Hanako didn't take her mortality as payment for her wish, but she did lose it because of him. She could never die, that much was true, and she loves a boy who passed long ago.
She loves a boy who wished to go to the moon and wishes to never be alone again. She loves a boy who teases her relentlessly and a boy whose hands shake whenever he thinks of how he died. She loves Hanako-kun, and she payed the price long ago.
But humans and supernaturals were never meant to mix and Yashiro is told this time and time again. She has already filled in the rest of Hanako's sentence in her head before he finishes it. He asks her if she remembers his fight against a certain exorcist, when he said that he was still around because God had given him a chance to repent.
It was a fleeting remark and she had forgotten about it a while ago but now the memory stands painfully clear in her mind. It is sharpened by fear. She doesn't like where this conversation is going.
Hanako tells her that he's payed for his sins, now. He's worked so hard for this, but for some reason he's sorry and he tearfully whispers that he loves her more than she could ever know.
Yashiro is left standing alone in the third floor girls' bathroom.
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She's so much older now, but she's also not older at all. She's so tired but it doesn't really matter that much. She still owns her same small apartment as before, and no one ever asks why it's still registered under Nene Yashiro's name.
She supposes that if Tsuchigomori can be a teacher for this long, there must be some supernatural higher-ups that overlook these things.
Maybe she's just crazy. She wouldn't put it past herself. She's been alone ever since that day and she's so, so tired. And hungry. She needs to get groceries, her fridge is empty. She can't die of starvation but it's still uncomfortable living on an empty stomach.
She shoves her things into the pockets of her dress. It's her school uniform, but Kamome has changed so much since she's last been there that it doesn't really matter. She doesn't really care, either. She always feels the most comfortable in this dress because it reminds her of the third floor girls' bathroom and energetic blond exorcists and cheeky apparitions.
It reminds her of mortality. It reminds her of how she still loves him after all this time and it's so painful but she just can't give him up.
It reminds her of Hanako-kun, so she steps outside in the cream dress and walks to the market and thinks of what she's going to make for dinner. Maybe she'll pick up some donuts for dessert.
She's so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't even notice the sprinting teen until it's too late, and she lands with a soft grunt and sore behind. It doesn't really bother her all that much but the kid in front of her is apologizing profusely and offering a kind hand to help her up.
His voice is familiar and she accepts the outstretched hand.
She learns his name is Yugi Amane, and he is running from his overly energetic younger twin brother.
She still has a promise to keep, so she laughs and asks if he wants to go to the market with her to hide. He grins at her brightly and she notes with no small amount of happiness that his arms don't need any bandages this time around. It's the beginning of a beautiful relationship and she ignores any thoughts of immortality for the time being.
Humans and supernaturals were never meant to mix, but Yashiro Nene isn't really a supernatural, is she? And she had a promise to keep and some people to see one day, so she tells Yugi Amane of a dream to fly to the moon that she just has to fulfill for a dear friend of hers, and she listens when he tells her that he has a dream like that, too.
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Later, she will stand in front of a gravestone that's so old that it should be dust by now, a gravestone that she has taken care of and preserved ever since she discovered it.
Later, she will tell the gravestone of Yugi Amane of a boy she met earlier that day and she will tell it that she's tired and in love with him.
She will place a single red camellia flower on it and kiss it once, before patting the matching gravestone next to it.
I'm keeping my promise, she will say, and she will walk away content.