Spook 17 | Apology

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"What is with that sulky face?"

The certain female tore her gaze away from the blue horizon and slowly followed up to meet the blue hues of the owner of the masculine voice next to her. A small smile crept up upon her lips at the sight of student council president himself who has one of his palm on his hip while another is holding the clipboard. How he found her would remain a mystery but let it slide off from her head when she preferred to remain silent instead.

He quirked an eyebrow at the lack of your optimistic demeanor, perplexed at how you didn't even insult him like you always do.

Breaking away from his oceanic orbs and returned her gaze back up to the sky, feeling the wind flowing freely through her hairlock with her feet was placed on nothing but air due to her sitting on one of the stone columns between the iron fences on the rooftop of the old school building.

"Teru, I have a confession—"She started but was instantly cut off by the said male.

"My answer is no."

This had her to turn her head around towards the male to look at him in amusement,

"Wha-? Pfft, don't worry. It's not that type of confessi—Wait—Did you intentionally rejected me if it was that kind of confession?"

The female supernatural dramatically gasped once the realization dawned upon her, especially when he answered right away without sparing any second thought.

Camouflaged her lips with her palms and squinting her eyes, "I'm hurt."

He could only let out a mild chortle, liking the [Y/N] that he always knew returned by purposely doing so despite sacrificing his own feeling.

"It's not like you to confess me something like that."He stated truthfully, hiding the fact it was he expected but he knew, letting his hope up for nothing . . . He doesn't like it even a bit.

"Yeah, right. Not that I care anyway."She scoffed and crossed her arms, missing the frown on his face that was quickly got replaced with his usual charming smile while she only waved him, gesturing him to shook the matters off.

"Aaaaand that's not the point."

"Then what is it?"

She sucked a deep breath and turned around to fully plus properly look at him in the eyes and by catching a glimpse of the emotion that was flashed in your eyes, he knew you are deadly serious.

"Your brother . . ."He frowned and furrowing his eyebrows together when the matter involved about the boy but she could only softly bestowing him with a small yet sad smile in defeat.

"He found out . . . That I'm a ghost. Dead exactly but, yeah."

She sees how he blinks his eyes a few times before they went wide when the news yet a bad one he has received just now was unpredicted by him.

Placing his curled index finger with a thumb under his chin as if in a deep of thought with you, already expected the kind of answer.

"Now that would be bad."He murmured softly and you deadpanned at his answer. Honestly, that was not an answer that you expected since what you thought he would say is something exactly different, despite having known him for years.

"No shit, Sherlock."She groaned with a hint of sarcastic before eyes screwed shut and reopening them afterward though not looking at him, "But I couldn't stop you if you want to—"

"I'll explain it to him."

"Yesssssuuuwhaaaaat? How can you be so calm?" She inquired the human male who shot her with his infamous smile, oddly enough, it managed to make your heart skipped a beat.

"He is my brother. I knew he wouldn't be mad for something like this. And you knew about this too."

"Don't worry. He is only in a kind of dilemma."

"That I caused."She quickly added but surprised when he only shook his head, his smile now formed a thin line and look at you dead in the eyes, both his palms gripping onto her shoulders tightly,

"No."He sternly declared, not giving you enough time to reply when he immediately continues, " We caused this. I was also sorta apart from this plan, I didn't give him even a hint about it."

He let his hands slide down as if in a lifeless manner and picked up his clipboard off from the floor, dusting off some sand from it before lifting his head up to look back at you, only to have your back faced him instead of those [ color ].

"Do whatever you want. I'm not stopping you."

He heard her spoke. Even so, he didn't make any effort to make you turn around when a small smile crept up to his lips and exhaled a soft sigh and spun his heels around to leave the area and you alone, letting yourself drowning in your mind.

The female lowered her head down and casted her eyes down on the floor but glanced behind over her shoulder, not moving her head around even an inch to look at the president when his footsteps stopped and a sound of ' creak ' when he twisted the knob to open the old door. His movements all halted when he had something debating in his mind that soon was immediately decided—

"Don't you trust me?"

"Aside from wanting to do an exorcism on us supernaturals, have I ever doubting you?"She chuckled alongside the male before a comfortable silence befalls between the two until he parted his lips and breaking it when he spoke,

"You know, [Y/N]."He started and stared down on the back of his hand with his palm remained on the surface of the round-shaped handle while his back faced yours, he eventually spoke,

"You need to stop putting every blame on you."

With that was said, he pulled open the door and re-closed it back, leaving a sound of the zephyr that peacefully calming the state of your mind when a grey sky the clouded the was blue one as it starts drizzling. However, you paid no mind on it and you took a deep inhaled instead of running to take shelter due to yourself being a pluviophile and always liking the earthy scent of the petrichor.

Her gentle smile returned when she humming a soft tune that contains the feeling of euphoria and  serenity, admitting it to herself without him hearing it,

"I guess . . . you are right." She murmured when her orbs filled with nothing but regret and chuckled bitterly,

"But when it was a habit, I couldn't help it, you know . . . "

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Teru's gaze wandered on each corner of the corridor, in a hope to catch a glimpse of his brother but failed to do so. He brought his hand behind to scratch the back of his unitchy head, more in a bedazzle way to where his brother might be.

He was about to make a U-turn due to his miserable achievement, a pang of guilt hit his chest when he recalled the moment when he reassured you that everything would be fine.

But it looks like today's another lucky wall for him, huh?

Before he could move, he paused dead in his tracks when he heard a faint voice that belonged to his dear brother and a high-pitched tone that would belong to a girl.

Snapping his head at the direction of where those voices source coming from, leading his to a home-economics lab, hearing a clattering sound of metal items from the inside followed on with his brother's scream when he fell and a good sound of ' thud ' against the floor.

The blonde peered inside silently, the conclusion of why his brother begging him to buy those ingredients end the question of his mysterious odd behavior. He would've stayed behind the wall waiting till they have done but the scent of freshly fried homemade donuts gets the best of him.

He quietly made his way behind his brother without him knowing it and hit the back of his head with the clipboard, obviously freaking the shit out of him when he could hear his fast-paced heartbeat, thumping loud enough.

"N-Nii-chan?!!"

He didn't reply but instead wrapping an arm around his younger brother's neck and pulled him over to his brother, choking him in the process before giving him a noogie by grinding the top of his head with his knuckles.

"Aha. You eat this without me? I'm disappointed so take this ♡!"

Though his tone is slightly carefree, his action seems didn't reflect it. Instead of having a flushed red face, Kou's physiognomy slowly turned blue due to the lack of oxygen in his lungs, tapping his palm on his brother's arm rapidly to give a signal. Gasping a big amount of oxygen once he released him from his death grip.

"Are you helping Yashiro-san with her cooking or you two were cooking together?"His question caught Kou's off guard when Nene tilted her head to the side on confusion though red hue remained dusted across her cheeks at the sight of this ikemen.

"B-But Kou-kun told me that he needs my help. He said that he was a bad cooker

"Eh? But Kou's a go—mmfh!"

"Why don't you have some donuts, nii-chan?!"

"It's good."His gut feeling was right. This donut does taste good. Opening his eyes after savoring the blissful taste of the ring-shaped dessert, he saw how the girl with fat ankles runs out from the room and left only the Minamoto siblings.

Taking the last bite, he propped his elbow on Kou's head, snapping him out from his own fantasy that he didn't want to know and look down to his brother, pointing at other packed cookies in plastic that was wrapped neatly with a long [ color ] ribbon to resemble as a bow.

"Were you going to eat those cookies alone?"

"N-No. I-I-I made these for someone."The younger blonde breath's hitched, now currently sweating profusely and averting his gaze away to avoid his brother's suspicious stare.

"Yeah, right."He rolled his eyes, feeling something exciting for him would come after he spoke this sentence, "Then you made those for whose?"

"Someone . . . Have you seen [Y/N]-nee somewhere?"He awkwardly turned around while trying to change the topic, arms moving like a robot. Ah, his gut feeling would never be wrong.

"Let's see . . . "He hummed and mocking as if he was in deep thought, briefly glancing up to his brother impatient face and turned around.

"Well, if I was right. I think I saw her on the rooftop."He intentionally said to himself out loud, secretly peering over his shoulder to look at his brother, smiling in amusement when his eyes lit up like stars.

"T-Teru-nii! I think I n-need to go somewhere!"The younger male excused himself and started running down the corridor with his footsteps echoing throughout it.

"Don't run in the corrid—Ah, he has gone."The older brother frowned but soon formed a small smile and placed a hand on his hip, a hand flew up to stifle in his soft laughter at his brother entertaining behavior.

"You made it obvious Kou."

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"[Y/N]-nee!!"

The door was slammed open and with her instinct, her head snapped behind to look at the source of the voice. Though she has expected his presence, that didn't stop her eyes from widening and surprise engulfed her body. Her eyes trailed down to the item in the boy's grasp while giving him some fresh oxygen.

Looks like he was running up here just to meet you, huh?

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Gripping hold of the iron fence tightly for the sake of his life despite the pain that jolted through both your arms by trying to support both the weight of his and yours. You would've floated around but with panic bubbling inside you, it was almost like an impossible task.

You let out a small grunt, feeling the grip start loosened, much to your dismay. Glancing down, her heart clenched at the vision of his frightened state. That's when your mind decided—

"Close your eyes, Kou."

Trusting your words completely, he shut his eyes tightly close feeling the gravity is doing its job and he felt as if he is falling. However, your arms engulfed around him and spun your body around so your back would make a contact first against the water surface of the pool, creating a loud splash as it did so.

After a moment of silence, your head was shot up from the surface and brought Kou to the edge by swimming over towards it, lifting his head up enough for him to breathe.

"That was a quite close call."You quietly panted and feels Kou is now not in your arm, as if he was yanked away. Confuse, you then lifted your head up, only to be greeted with a hard ring-shaped buoy which knocking you back into the water.

"It's hurt!"You hissed and shot up, scowling at the male, "Were you trying to kill me?!"

"Were you trying to committing double suicide with Kou?! What the hell were you thinking?!!"Teru snapped with his ominous daggers glare that would've pierced through your soul if he stared into your eyes even longer. Kou, however, was in an unconscious state at the side of the pool.

"Hah! Jokes on you! I'm dead!"She retorted back and threw the buoy back to the male who received the same gesture as you did while the female, only smiling in triumphant, barely could dodging his attack right on time.

"And he's still alive for crying out loud!" He seethed, covering his now red face due to the impact with his palm, "He could've died!"

"Congrats! You would've to exorcise your own brother!" She remarked when her eyes trailed up to see Kou's sleeping figure, immediately her anger was washed away, "But guess what? I won't let him die in that kind of way! Not in my watch."

Teru's eyes widened in realization at his action, a pang of guilt greeted him in an unpleasant manner. Running his hand through his hair in frustration before inhaled the air and softly exhaled his breath to regain his composure, 

"Sorry."He apologized sincerely, "I don't know what came over me. I-It's just when it involves Kou, I—"

"I know, I know. "She cut him off and smiled sadly to herself, "I wouldn't blame you when it was your habit for being an overprotective brother. Yet, I thought I almost lose him."She mumbled the last sentence lowly to herself underneath her cold breath, feeling her arms were wriggling due to the traumatized experience that just happened earlier as she was trying to support her own weight to lift herself up on the edge of the pool.

"I'm not being overprotective. I was just being cautious."He emphasized and, fortunately,  took notice and quirked an eyebrow at how you didn't look at him in the eyes when he spoke. Lowering his gaze slightly, he furrowed his eyebrows together in concern.

"Were you crying?"

". . . No, I'm not."She denied, lowering her face even more but seeing through her lie, the male could only purse his lips to produce an amusing smirk due to her answer and bent down closer,

"You are lying."

"And you are imagining things."

"Then why are your eyes are puffy red?"He pushed her on the edge even more. With all events that happened rather simultaneously on the same day with the tension and stress clouded her mind, that managed to caused her angry rate increased and eventually exploded when a scowl was reflected on her face. She thrust out her hand and grip the necktie of the blonde's school uniform, taking him by surprise.

"It was because of the chlorine in water, you punk!"

In a flash, the male was yanked into the pool without giving him a time to avoid the award that was given from you. Now his state is the same as yours with his uniform is badly soaked. He came up to the surface and gasped for air, pushing his hair up so he could look at you in the eyes without his damped bangs in the way and glared in your way which you returned the same gesture and look away from him.

"My, my, so you've chosen death, huh?"

"Well, jokes on you, " You scoffed and turned your head around, giving him a smug grin, "You couldn't exorcise me here."

"Aren't you a confident one?"

"What do you mean—Oh my, I don't like the look on your face. Don't come closer!"

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"According to this chemical book, the stinging in the eyes when you were in water was caused by the acid from urine that creates hazardous byproducts, especially when it interacts with chlorine. So that's why I don't recommend them to stay longer in the pool when Crypto and Giardia were immune completely to chlorine. It will cause nausea, vomiting and vice versa."The dark blue-headed male smiled and closed the book, leaning against the wall while hearing the sound of splashing water and how the bounded spirit and a human, trying to drown on each other into the water.

"Well, since my sister is a supernatural and that blondy scumbag over there is a human, those parasites will infecting him only so say bye-bye sayonara to our Kaichou."He smiled nonchalantly, remained still at his spot when he heard a maniac laugh coming from you as he could feel a dark distinctive atmosphere oozing out from the exorcist, keep turning the table on each other to who drowning who by forcing their heads into the water.

"But how dare that insolent guy touch my dear sister."His glare piercing down through the behind of his blonde-haired head with the male apparition now on his knees to take a peek over the open window of the building, gripping tightly onto the frame to show his dismay.

"I'll carve my name in the history of Kamome Gakuen by being the first supernatural that will do an exorcism to an exorcist. Yes, that's it."

"Stop it, Aishi. You could be much worse than him."Tsuchigomori-sensei sighed out loud, watching his ' student ' with a hint of ' pity ' for his hate to the young Minamoto clan while running his gloved hand in his two-colored hairlock, "Why don't you save her instead then?"

The said teen glanced up to the supernatural teacher and smiled sadly after averting his gaze back down on the large-sized of the rectangle-shaped pool, watching the scene of the two from afar.

"Well . . . Let's just say that . . . "He trailed off and propped his cheek in the palm of his right hand with his elbow rested on the frame for the support. Grinning softly before continuing his unfinished sentence.

"Pool isn't really my favorite place."

『 ❀『 hidden chapter unlocked 』❀ 』

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This chapter really took some time .___.

Actually, your assumptions in last ' Lil spoiler ' about it was kind of cliché and I could only laugh at it xD

C'mon guys, I'm not that cliché—

I love plot twist, for God sake—

And the reader is not OP!!!! ┻━┻ ヘ╰( •̀ε•́ ╰)

Someone's salty—

To be continued . . .