"Why do we bother to stay?

Why are you running away?

        Don't you feel like severing?

Everything's just come together at last.

        It's broken, I don't want to play." - Song: Evelyn Evelyn. By: Evelyn Evelyn

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It's been about an hour since Kou and Nene left for home. You decided to continue looking for Hanako, but ultimately ended up abandoning the idea and heading back to the abandoned girl's bathroom.

While walking across the courtyard, you looked up at the sky. There were so many stars out tonight, not a single cloud in the sky to cover its luminescent beauty. The moon was full, it glowed a fluorescent blue, blanketing the vegetables and grass in its shining glory. It truly was a beautiful night.

You wondered if Hanako was looking at the same sky as you were. If he was seeing the same stars, the same angle of the moon, the same brightness every speck of light in the sky produced. Surely he had to have been, we all see the same sky. That's one thing every single person can relate to one another about, we all see the same sky. Whether it be day or night.

You entered the old abandoned building, the view of the beautiful sky leaving your sight as you walked through the old wooden doors. You slowly walked up the stairs, your footfalls making the oh-so-familiar echo throughout the vacant building. Eventually, you made it to the girls' bathroom and walked inside. The giant window in the bathroom illuminated the bathroom, but there was a shadow cast on the floor, someone was sitting on the ledge in front of the window.

Your eyes widened and your smile grew when you saw who it was. It was Hanako! You quickly walked up to the apparition. "Hanako! There you are! We were looking all over for you, where were you!?" You said excitedly, sitting next to Hanako. The boy didn't respond to you, his head was hung low, looking down at something in his lap, a black book with golden accents.

It looked like one of the books from Mr. Tsuchigomori's library. Why was it here? So far away from its home?

"What're you reading?" You asked, scooting closer to Hanako to take a peek at the book. In the middle of the page, in bold letters, a sentence resided. You leaned closer and read the large lettered words.

YEAR TWO, YUGI AMANE KILLS L/N M/N IN A FIT OF RAGE

Your eyes widened, was this his book?

"Did you know?" He asked, his voice so minuscule you almost had to lean forward to hear him. Hanako gripped the book tightly, a cut from the paper revealed itself on one of his fingers, and a small line of blood seeped down the twelve-word page, sinking into its thinness. You waited for a few seconds before you answered.

". .Yes, I knew." You confirmed, turning away your gaze from Hanako, and down to your lap.

"Then why are you still here?" Hanako asked, louder this time, he was starting to shake. He sounded angry, but at the same time, incredibly sad. His question took you aback, why wouldn't you be here?

"After everything I've done. To you, to my brother. . .why are you still here?" Hanako asked again, harsher this time around. you took a breath and answered honestly. "I'm here because you're my friend. Because Nene's my friend. Because Kou's my friend. Because I would never abandon a friend because of their past actions. I was with you when we were alive, so no matter what I'm going to stay with you, even in the afterlife." You stated.

"But I killed you! There was no valid reason why I killed you. I was angry, and killed you." Hanako said, his hands gripping the book impossibly harder, blood was coming out more quickly now. you grabbed Hanako's hands, removing them from the book. The object slid off from his lap, landing on the floor with a sickening thud, the noise seemed to startle Hanako, and he flinched.

"Yes, you killed me. But guess what? I forgive you. I've forgiven you ever since the day I remembered my past with you," Hanako was facing you, but his head hung low, hat covered his face so you couldn't see his facial features. You reached a hand out, griping Hanako's hat and taking it off slowly, putting it off to the side. His eyes were watery, tears threatening to spill over.

"If anything, I'm grateful I'm dead. If you hadn't killed me, I wouldn't be here right now, talking to you, continuing to be friends with you."

A knife was pointed right at you, the tip of the blade piercing through your shirt and drawing a small amount of blood. It surprised you, but you had to stay calm in this situation. If you freaked out, Hanako would go berserk.

"I could kill you again," Hanako stated, the knife moving closer to your body. Tears started falling down his face, his breathing was uneven and he was shaking vigorously. Hanako was right, of course, he was. Of course, he could kill you, you've seen him kill other apparitions before.

You reached out and grabbed the hand that held onto the knife, you smiled a little. "But do you want to?" You asked, the hand that was wrapped around Hanako's tightened its hold. Hanako took a deep breath, "No." He mumbled quietly, dropping the knife, it clattered to the floor loudly. Slowly, you moved towards Hanako, wrapping him in a tight embrace. Hanako stiffened at the touch, then loosened, digging his face into your shoulder, breaking down. You rubbed his back comfortingly. Hanako quickly threw his arms around you, pulling the both of you into a tighter hug.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry. . ." Hanako repeated over and over. "I-I Didn-n't mean to do it. I-I-" You hushed him. "It's alright, I forgive you. There's no reason to be sorry anymore," You said quietly, placing your lips on the crown of Hanako's head. You don't know why, but it felt right to kiss him, trying your best to comfort him. Hanako sniffed. "You shouldn't forgive me." He said. You shook your head. "But I do. I'll forgive you no matter what, I promise." You stated.

This was the true Hanako. The one hiding behind cheesy smiles and flirty remarks. A scared little kid, looking for something to hold onto. It broke your heart seeing Hanako like this, how his past hurt him to this extent, how he couldn't accept it all. Hanako was about to speak but you shushed him. "Don't talk, just breathe, okay?" You instructed softly. Hanako nodded, understanding, and pulled you impossibly closer to him.

Tsuchigomori stood outside the old abandoned girl's bathroom, listening to the two apparitions. He smiled, the pain and confusion wouldn't go away, and probably never would, but at least they knew. At least they know their pasts of each other. At least they forgive each other. At least they're still friends after this. At least they didn't let go of each other.

And that was good enough.

* * *

"Hanako!"

"M/n!"

"Wake up!"

"C'mon, wake up!"

You opened your eyes, feeling groggy and tired. You were awoken by a high-pitched female voice, and someone shaking your shoulder. You looked towards the voice.

"Looks like you found Hanako," Nene said happily. She was standing in front of you, looking down. You tried to move to sit up, but something was keeping you down on the ledge. You looked down to find Hanako sleeping on top of you, his arms wrapped around your waist and his face buried in your chest. You slowly moved your arm over Hanako, giving him an awkward hug. "Yeah, I found him," You said, looking back up at Nene. She smiled and started walking out of the bathroom, her backpack slung around her shoulders. "I'll let them know you're absent today," She said, referring to the teachers who would be wondering where you were.

"Thanks," You said, grateful for her kindness.

"Don't lose him again!" Nene called while jogging out of the bathroom, talking about the sleeping Hanako.

"I don't think he'll be waking up any time soon. But I won't, I promise," You said with a smile, giving Nene a thumbs up before she fully left the bathroom to head off to her class.

Hanako stirred, "Is she gone?" He asked, his mumbling almost incoherent. You were surprised he was awake.

"You were awake this whole time." You predicted. Hanako hummed and nodded his head, confirming your suspicions. You chuckled softly. "How long have you been up?" You asked.

"When Yashiro started yelling," Hanako said, "Who would be able to sleep through her loud screaming?" Hanako added.

"Well, that was kind of harsh." You said.

"But not wrong." Hanako bit back.

"I guess,"

Hanako started to move from on top of you, lifting his body up, his arms on either side of your waist. But before he could officially sit up, he flopped back down onto you. You let out an 'oof' as he fell back onto you. "Struggling?" You asked through pained breaths. Hanako hugged you, burying his face into your chest, "Comfyyyy!" He whined.

"Not gonna leave?" You questioned.

"Nope!" Hanako answered.

"Eventually?"

"Nope!"

. . .

So, you would be stuck here for a while.

Hanako wasn't going to move any time soon, and you didn't have the heart to push him off you, not after what had happened the night prior. I mean, also, you wouldn't admit this, but he was an extremely comfortable person to cuddle with.

Besides, you needed a day to do nothing but chill and sleep, you would rarely have a day like that, being an apparition and all. And always getting into trouble because of Nene and what Hanako's brother was planning. It was a lot and sometimes you needed a break, you and Hanako both. So, you guess not moving for a long while wouldn't be so bad, it couldn't hurt anyone, could it?

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. . . - - -. . .

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I could feel the energy inside me leaving, draining away with every passing millisecond. It was happening to Akane too. There was. . this thing, most likely an apparition. He captured me in the middle of class! And Akane too!

I was dropped, and I fell to the floor with a sickening thud. Akane now lay loosely next to me, unmoving. He had passed out. I held onto him as the apparition stalked closer and closer.

"Well well. . .You two look mighty tasty. . ." It spoke, still stalking towards me and Akane.

There was a mask covering his face, the skull of a goat. The empty black holes in the mask stared back at me deadly, like a predator staring right back at its prey. It was harder to move because Akane had passed out, and I couldn't just leave him here, that would be awful! The creature kneeled in front of me, reaching its claw hand towards me. "There's a lot of students here. . .I'm sure no one would notice. . . .If I ate one of you. . ." I just about screamed my lungs out at this point.

Where was Hanako when you needed him?? Sleeping soundly! Akane twitched in my hold, was he waking up?

The goat-creature-thingy suddenly stopped reaching a hand towards me, standing straight up. He was extremely tall, maybe seven to eight feet tall! Talk about threatening!

"This aura," I heard the thing speak. It was weird, although it looked like some crazy weird goat creature, it sounded like a human being, a young man.

Something came running into the room, footsteps. The clicking sound echoed through the vacant hallways, and a familiar purple-haired friend of mine came running into the room I was currently in.

"Nene!" It was Aoi! But why was she here? She can't be here!

"You were taking so long, I was worried about you. Is everything alright?" Aoi asked, completely disregarding the giant creature standing right behind me. Oh, that's right, Aoi can't see apparitions.

"Wait! You can't come over here!-" It wasn't long before the apparition was in front of Aoi, reaching its giant claws to her.

"It can't be. . .You're the one from. . .Then perhaps. . .I just need you to. . ." The creature spoke to itself, it wasn't making any sense.

Akane moved in my grasp, "Keep your. . ." He started to talk, still groggy. He reached for something in his pocket, eventually pulling out what looked like an old pocket watch. He pointed the handheld clock towards the goat apparition.

"Keep your filthy supernatural hands. . .Off her!" Akane shouted, the clock in his hands started. . .glowing. And everything stopped, and I blanked out.

Everything but Akane was still. Clocks were hovering over Nene, Aoi, and Wonder Number Six, stopping them until Akane would free them. Though Akane didn't want to free Number Six, why would he? That stupid apparition almost hurt Aoi! He could never forgive any person or any apparition for trying to hurt his precious Aoi.

Akane's outfit changed, it was more fancy and put together. It looked like he was going to a ball with the theme of royal white and gold.

So This Was The Wrath Of The First Of Three Clock Keepers?

Akane walked towards Aoi, leaning down so they met eye to eye. "Aoi, you just need to wait a little longer. I'm going to take care of this." And, within a few seconds, Akane turned around and punched Number Six right in the gut as hard as he could possibly imagine. The blow moved the apparition completely back, and it broke him out of his frozen state. The commotion caused Nene to be flown back, also breaking out of the frozen trance.

Yashiro spun her head this way and that. Where was she? This place didn't look familiar. She quickly found that Akane wasn't next to her, and she panicked, "Akane! Aka-" Akane was standing in front of Aoi protectively. His outfit had changed, just how long had Nene been out?

"Did you just. . ." The Sixth of the Seven Wonders spoke up, Nene looked to where the voice was coming from. The supernatural was leaning against a wall, and the structure behind him cracked. What had happened?

"Did you just. .Stop time?" What did it mean by stop time? It was directing the question to Akane.

"Who. . .Who are you?" It asked. Akane had no problem responding to the apparition.

"I. . .I am an ordinary high school student! And also. . .Number One of the Seven School Mysteries, the lowest of the three clock keepers. . .I will not let any supernatural touch Aoi. Especially a supernatural being like you. Got it? Now get lost-" Before Akane could fully finish his speech, someone reached a hand out for Akane's shoulder.

"Uhmm." Aoi let out, confused. Akane stopped in his tracks as a soft voice entered his ears. "Akane?" It was Aoi! Akane panicked, "What? Aoi. .Bu-how?? You're not supposed to be able to see me when I'm in this form. ." Akane sounded extremely confused.

"Akane. . .What's with those clothes?" Aoi asked, oblivious. Akane was now sweating, "Th-The-These are just. . .Uhm-what do you call 'em'? Uhm."

Number Six, seeing Akane distracted and not paying attention to him, the apparition struck. Pinning the Clock Keeper to the floor, disorienting him momentarily.

Taking advantage of that dissociation, Number Six grabbed Aoi. "Sorry, but. . .The school has gone crazy. . .And to put it back the way it was. . .I'm gonna need her. . ."

"Nene! Akane!" Aoi shouted, struggling in the apparition's fierce grasp. Akane reeled a fist back. "Like I said. Don't touch her!" He belched, going in to punch the Wonder, just as he did before.

But Akane wasn't able to touch anything solid, just a deflating smoke, the last thing heard was Aoi's fearful screams and the apparition.

"I'm sorry." It said, And everything was silent. Dead silent.

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        "You're always trying to be somebody else

Now I realize I'm not alone

        Well, you're only scared of me

But you never cared for me

        Why don't you let me free?

'Cause you'd never dare to be

        'Cause you never listen, you're always insisting" - Song: Evelyn Evelyn. By: Evelyn Evelyn

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