MINAMOTO TERU, AGE 11
Black clouds sprawled across the sky, billowing in from the west. Their brassy glare drained color from houses and trees and burnished cars in driveways, leaving neighborhoods tinted bronze in the faltering light. The air grew heavy and the humidity pressed down, suffocating. The scent of rain was dark and heady.
A stillness fell over the town, and in the silence comes a low crackle of thunder, rolling across rooftops to the pattering of tiny raindrops.
For a moment, everything stopped. Even the wind held its breath. A streak of hot silver split the sky, and the downpour began.
Lightning came like a rip in the inky night, as if behind the dark canvas was a brilliant light just waiting to flood through any crack no matter how small.
The young boy who had known of the storm beforehand, hadn't thought that the downpour would be this heavy. At the age of eleven, out hunting for supernaturals on his exorcism routine, just about miles away from his family's compound, the storm had struck. His umbrella would be useless in the downpour.
His blonde hair was disheveled and floppy. Of course, he had begun hunting by himself at the age of seven, he knew the way back home by heart, but that was difficult when he couldn't even see which direction he was walking in. It was a barrage of grey in a blizzard of nothingness.
The droplets of rain seemed to torrent and flickered, slamming against his irises and his eyes as a whole, feeling like small prickling needles.
He stumbled through the bushes and trees with struggle. Lightning lit his way in the sky, but it only came ever so often. It was practically telling him that he was on his own.
"I promised to play with Kou today..." The blonde muttered beneath his breath, although it was hardly audible under the pitter patter of the echoing rain.
There was really nothing he could do. Of course he could just sit down against the tree and wait for the storm to blow over, or he could continue wandering aimlessly and hope that he wouldn't walk into the middle of a street and get run over by a passing by car. He chose the latter as he trekked through the soaked grass.
Barley placing one foot in front of the other, he suddenly stopped when he heard something. A hiss. Maybe he was just imagining it as he had begun walking again. That was what his brain told him; however in the back of his mind, there was a feeling of deja vu that told him to return and check what the possible sound was.
It could have been a super natural, so he took three steps backwards to where he had originally stood as the back of his heel had touched something. Something that it had registered as mud before, so stepped on it without hesitation as Minamoto Teru had realized, there was a creature in the bush.
He kept his katana ready in his hand as he hit the bush, first without lightning to see if anything would come out, since he didn't want to risk electrocuting himself in the rain, even if his body could withstand certain voltages, it would be too much of a risk.
But nothing had come out except another sound that sounded like a low hiss, almost symbolizing a growl this time as he sighed and resorted to just reaching his hands into the bush.
The youngest Minamoto had felt a prick on his hand as he immediately retracted his reach with a wince, staring at his skin that now had three cuts trickling blood out of it that the rain had quickly washed away with its precipitation. They were thin but somewhat deep.
Although the rain was bellowing and the thunder was crackling, he could without a doubt hear a soft mewl. Teru's eyes had widened, now positive of what the supposed 'creature' was now, as he reached his hands in again, searching for where it's limbs were as he touched something soft, carefully pulling it out.
"I'm home." The voice croaked out as he slid the door shut. His voice reverberated and bounced off of the walls from within their near empty home. Near empty being— "Welcome home, nii-chan!" The look-a-like boy had ran from down the hall, nearly slipping as he flung himself toward his brother who side stepped and caught the younger one before he rammed into the door.
Eight year old Minamoto Kou jumped up and down upon seeing his brother who was evidently rain soaked from the downpour outside. "Can you go get me two towels, Kou?" His brother had asked, shivering slightly. Their air conditioning was on inside the house, for what reasons was unbeknownst to him. He'd have to change that later.
Upon the command, Kou had darted into their bathroom and pulled out fluffy towels from the cabinets. "Did you hunt any cool supernaturals? How was it, how was it?" His eyes sparkled with delight, wanting to hear every single detail as his older brother chuckled, ruffling his hair.
"I'll tell you everything, once I get changed, and ..." Teru had revealed what he had cradled in his arms throughout the entire way back, peeling the towel off of the small creature as Kou's eyes widened. "Is that ... a cat?" He murmured as his older brother nodded with a small smile.
"Found it while I was out and coming back home from the rain." The blonde explained as Kou peered at it, as if it were some new unknown animal, poking and prodding it as he peeled off the rest of the towel, eyes widening as he leapt backward. "Kou?"
The eight year old boy pointed at the cat, quivering. "I-I-Its a black cat! Nii-chan! You're going to be infected with bad luck!"
Teru looked down at the sleeping cat, as well as the scratches on his arms, before a smile made it's way to his face. "Where'd you hear that from, Kou?"
The boy twiddled with his fingers. "F-From books! A-And my teachers and friends! Black cats symbolize bad luck and if you stumble upon one, you'll be cursed with it for the rest of your life!" He stammered. "Are you going to be okay, Teru-nii?" The boy asked, worriedly as Teru had softened at the caring question before ruffling his brother's head. "Of course."
He shut the door to his room, placing the rain-soaked cat, wrapped in a towel, on the wooden floor as he stripped off his shirt with a tired sigh, staring at himself in the mirror. No, he was anything but okay. The cat had scratched him everywhere as he let out a groan.
Ocean blue eyes, flickering to the small kitten as he slipped on a black t-shirt, exhaling out a sigh. He'd probably be lost in the rain still if it weren't for the small little kitten that was barley the size of his hand, so maybe the scratches were well deserved as he stroked the top of it's black fur with his thumb, afraid that using his entire hand would scare or harm it.
It's eyes had flickered open, surprising him a bit. "Can you understand me?" He felt dumb, asking a cat something like that, but at the same time, it had understood him before, even nodding its head.
The cat licked his hand, in which he hopefully assumed was a yes. "Are you hungry?"
It let out a mewl, shifting it's weight onto it's paws before leaping onto the boy's shoulders, almost scaring him, thinking that it was going to attack. He thought that the cat would fall off, but it had a rather steady hold, courtesy of it's nails that it had used to scratch him earlier.
"Oh! Nii-chan, you're done chang-" Kou had dropped the knife that he was holding into his hand as it dropped to the ground, embedding itself onto the floor. "Whoa, careful with that, Kou. You might cut yourself." His brother warned, picking it up off of the ground, not minding the small cut in their floor.
"T-The c-cat!" He pointed, backing up against the counter as Teru peered onto his shoulder and nodded blankly. "I'm pretty sure it's hungry, is food done?" The exorcist wandered around the kitchen, opening up the fridge where there was food, but nothing to particularly eat as he took a seat on the bar stool.
"N-No ... Not yet." He murmured. Although Kou was only eight, he was quite proficient in the kitchen. Capable of making food for his brother and himself. Occasionally, they would get assistance from some of the workers, but Kou liked to do things himself and learn new recipes.
Their parents were usually away on exorcism business either overseas or across the country. Every now and then they would return for a few days, only to leave for weeks or even months at a time. They were given the much larger apparitions to handle that wrecked tremendous havoc such as causing weather catastrophes or even mass possessions.
Kou's uneasiness had slowly melted away as his brother happily obliged about telling the young boy about his exorcism adventures of the day.
They had ate dinner together at the kotatsu table, as per usual as Kou beamed, listening intently about how his amazing brother had effortlessly slayed down numerous supernaturals in a single day. It further increased his confidence to become an equally adept exorcist as his older brother.
Until his cerulean eyes flickered to the furry black creature that had leapt off of Teru's shoulder, now on all fours, walking on the kotatsu table, startling the young boy as he kept his bowl of rice near and away from the cat.
"S-So .. Where did you find .. that." Kou didn't hate animals, he didn't like them one hundred percent either. However, he was always told of black cats, especially how his friend's older brother was cursed by one and hospitalized the next day with a broken leg after falling down the stairs, tripping over thin air.
There had been a lot of articles online about black cats— if you met one, you would be cursed with bad luck for the rest of your life, which was why it was best to steer clear.
It was a mystery to him as well— why his brother, an exorcist, would bring one home. As far as he knew, his brother wasn't an animal hater or lover either. Just somewhere in the middle, not minding them.
"On my way home ... I stumbled upon it, and it helped me get back." He scooped a bowl of soup for the cat, placing it onto the table. "So ... are we going to keep it?" Kou questioned uneasily. Teru studied his expression with an exasperated sigh, leaning backwards.
"If you don't want to, ill just give it to a shelter." Teru said as the small ebony kitten glanced at him, as if understanding his words. It let out a low purr , nudging against Kou who scooted back. His older brother seemed semi-fond of the animal, and it looked like the cat was pleading him. So the boy took a sigh.
"No ... We should keep it." Kou grimaced as Teru chuckled. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah ... Now make it stop looking at me like that!" He shouted, covering his face, shielding it from the kitten's pleading and soft gaze that made his heart all tingly and weird. Teru chuckled, picking up the cat as he smiled at his younger brother. "I think he likes your food too, Kou." The blonde pointed out.
His younger brother peered over with a small nod. The cat, apparently having an issue with the sentence had sunken it's canines into Teru's hand as the exorcist blinked. His brother coughing out the rice he had just put into his mouth as he panicked.
Teru didn't feel any pain from it as he held his arm up, the cat dangling from it in mid air. "Nii-chan!" Kou cried out, as though his older brother was dying, although in reality, he was perfectly fine. The cat didn't seem hostile before, as though something was triggering it.
As if a light bulb had lit up in the child prodigy's head, he had realized something. "Maybe .. you're a she?" He asked.
The cat let go of the bite on his hand as it dropped to the ground, landing on all fours as Kou immediately placed a napkin on the two puncture marks, Teru laughing and patting the smaller boy's head. "I'm fine. It didn't hurt Kou."
"I-I change my mind! I-I don't want to keep it if it hurts Nii-chan!" Kou had shouted. The cat simply sat there, it's ebony tail waving back and forth as Kou had a stare down with it.
Teru placed his hand up in the air, as if signalling his brother to halt. "Wait, I think we just offended her is all. Because this one isn't a he. It's a she. That's why you've been scratching me all this time, haven't you?"
The cat had stared at the two siblings. "It's rude to assume a cat's gender when you can check." It had spoken, surprising the younger Minamoto as he tripped and fell backwards on his back.
"I-It can talk?"
Toilet Bound Hanako-kun is a piece of fictional writing that belongs to Iro Aida. I do not claim to own this own in any way shape or form aside from parts of the plot— as well as my own OC, Nora, nor do I claim the GIFS or images that I insert into this book. They all each belong to their rightful and respective owners: all of such, are NOT me.
This book contains MAJOR manga spoilers, so do NOT read this book if you don't want manga spoilers.
This story starts as Teru is age eleven, and they will grow up quickly, thus the reason why the first few chapters are short.