【sᴇᴀʀᴄʜɪɴɢ ❴ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏɴᴇ❵】

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Yashiro Nene hummed a tune as she walked down the hallway to the bathroom where her two ghost friends resides in.

"Hanako-kun!! Hatsume-chan!!" The daikon legged girl shouted happily as she entered the bathroom, but she soon stopped when she noticed something. "Huh?"

"Hatsume-chan!!" Yashiro dropped her school bag ran towards the crying female seventh mystery on the ground, surrounded by mokkes who were trying their best to comfort their mistress. "What's wrong?! Where's Hanako-kun?!"

"T-that's th-the t-thing..." Hatsume stuttered, still crying as she stared at her assistant. "I-I c-can't find h-him anywhere..."

'I'm getting a sense of deja vu here....' Yashiro sweatdropped. "Where do you think, you last saw him? Did you two got in an argument?"

"I knew you'd come here, Yashiro Nene..." A feminine voice interrupted the two.

"Oh! You're-" Yashiro turn around. "Y-yako-san!"

The former second mystery, Yako of the Misaki Stairs stood infront of the bathroom door, glaring at the Daikon legged girl.

"What're you doing here-"

"I'm here to file a complaint!" Yako shouted as she approached the human girl.

"A Complaint?"

"Yes! What kind of rumor do you think you're spreading? Is this some kind of joke?" Yako asked angrily.

"Rumor? Do you mean the new one I started?"

'The Greatest Romance ♡ Power Spot: The Misaki Stairs!

That place is the perfect spot for couples in love!

Any couple who climbs the entire length of the staircase while holding hands and professing their love may be bound together Forever!

But You mustn't step on the fourth step! Or your love will be severe for all eternity!'

"Your staircase has been reborn as a sacret place for lovers, How wonderful!" Yashiro cheered, this made Yako even angrier as she then transformed into a fox and bit the human girl.

"Aieeee! Why! Why!"

"Silence, Whelp! Every single freakin' day, lovebirds come to my stairs and make out with each other! Nothing could be more obnoxious! So I came to get my revenge by chomping on you!!"

"Ow,Ow,Ow, Hatsume-chan!! Help me!!"

"Um...Y-yako-san..." Hatsume spoke up, wiping her tears. "C-could you p-please, let go of my assistant? P-please come back i-if Hanako is here..."

"Hmph. I know that, I saw him go into the science prep room, alittle while ago." The white fox stated. "Did you fight or something, (Y/n)-chan? I will bite him for you if you want!"

"I don't think that's nessesary, Yako-san..." Yashiro sweatdropped. "Also why the science prep room?"

"You know? No.5's place!"

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"I wonder what Hanako-kun would need to see Tsuchigomori-sensei about..." Yashiro muttered more like to herself. Hatsume floated next to her, and Yako laying on her head. She reached for the doorknob. "Oh well, Excuse m-"

"Damnit. You expect me to put up with this?" The spider like man suddenly opened the door, glancing at the person behind him.

"Eeek!" Yashiro shriek as she bumped against his chest. Hatsume look up at him, her eyes still teary from crying earlier. The fifth mystery look at the girls, rather confused at their sudden appearance.

"Ah? Oh it's the two of you, perfect timing..." Tsuchigomori said. But when his eyes met contact with Hatsume's glossy (e/c) hues, his expression changed to worry and a bit panicked. "Adorable brat? Who made you cry? Was it Honorable lord no.7? He's been always the reason, why you were crying..."

"SPIDER FACE!!!"

Tsuchigomori sighed and looked at the daikon haired girl, already carrying Hatsume like she was his daughter. Yako transformed back into her real form and went to comfort her. "Please do something about him... Adorable brat, needs me right now."

"Him?" Yashiro asked. Loud footsteps was then heard from the Science room.

"Don't you run away from me, spider face!" Minamoto Kou, yelled as he slammed open the door, a bug catching net on his back and he was wearing a black tshirt rather than his usual middle school uniform. He then brought out a bug cage. "Shut up and take it!"

"Kou-kun, what are you doing?" Yashiro said as she took the cage from him.

"Senpai?!" the young exorcist was flustered at her appearance.

"You want him to take this?" The human girl look at the cage. Her eyes widened and she shriek at the sight of the insects mating .

"W-what's go-going on?" Tsuchigomori and Yako quickly covered Hatsume's eyes, making her confused.

The five of them went inside the science prep room. Yashiro quickly scolded Kou, not before covering the bug cage with a white cloth.

"You know, you shouldn't bully Tsuchigomori-sensei!" Yashiro scolded. " And why pick insects doing that?! You've could have ruin, Hatsume-chan's innocence!"

"I-I'm sorry..." Kou stared at her, flustered. His heart beating fast.

"Please really let him have it so he never do it again.." Tsuchigomori plead as he layed his head on his desk. Hatsume, finally have her eyes uncovered, floated next to the spider like man with Yako now back to her white fox form.

"Why are you chasing sensei around with a box of bugs?" Yashiro asked as she and Kou sat on a couch, a bit farther away from the three supernaturals.

"Uh..Well.. I just wanted to ask Spiderface for a favor." Kou admitted. "I thought he'll say yes if I give him something to eat."

"Who eats Bugs?!" Tsuchigomori snapped, looking at the blonde middle schooler.

"You did! Before, in the bookstacks!" Kou snapped back.

"That's not technically a bug!"

"But how did you collect this many?" Yashiro asked, as she peaked on the bugs from under the cloth.

"Well, When I asked Teru-nii to help me collect bugs..."

《This afternoon》

"Hey Kou...Why're your collecting bugs?" Teru asked his younger brother, holding a bug net and on his blonde hair was a bug catcher's hat.

Kou didn't seems to answer his questions as he seems to be more occupied to capture a bug infront of him

"Look! Minamoto-senpai's collecting bugs!" A fangirl shouted her and a few crowds, rush towards the two brothers.

Teru look up from his search, so did Kou who was climbing a tree.

"Then, I'll get some too!"

"No! I'll do it!"

"No, me!!"

"Next thing I knew, I had all these." Kou finished, smiling happily.

"You made The Minamoto Teru collect bugs?" Tsuchigomori asked, sarcastically. "Wow..."

"Minamoto-senpai collected these, bugs..." Yashiro muttered, dreamingly as she stared at the cloth-covered box.

"Nene-chan..." Hatsume sweatdropped at her assistant.

"But if you had go through all these trouble... What kind of favor did you want to ask him for?" Yashiro asked.

"Huh?" Kou sweated bullets, he then look down, shadow covering his eyes as he think of an answer. "Well um, that is..."

Tsuchigomori felt someone pulling on his labcoat, looking at the person, they were actually Hatsume. She gave the spider like man a pleading look.

"Please help him..." She muttered. He took his pipe from his mouth and exhaled the smoke.

"Career counseling..." The human girl looked at Tsuchigomori, confused.

"Counselling?"

"I am his teacher, after all..."

"Spiderface..." Kou look at him, greatfully.

"That's Tsuchigomori-sensei to you..." Hatsume smiled at her former sensei. Tsuchigomori looked at her and then to Yashiro. "Anyways, What're you two doing here? Why is Honorable lady No.7, crying?"

"Oh! That's right! Hatsume-chan and I are looking for, Hanako-kun." Yashiro said. "Yako-san told us, he was here."

"If you were looking for, Honorable lord no.7... He was bumming around over there for a while." Tsuchigomori said pointing towards a corner, where there was a window and a couch.

Turns out, Hanako only did was sulk while standing behind the curtains and on the couch.

"But he went to the practice garden, right about when he showed up." The spider like man pointed towards Kou.

'The practice garden...You mean where I have my club? That's a little unexpected...' Yashiro thought. She then look towards Hatsume, who seems to be upset about missing Hanako. 'We need to find, Hanako-kun soon... I don't think anyone including me here, bare to see Hatsume cry.'

"You need to see him or something?" Tsuchigomori asked.

"I have to ask him about the clock keepers' Yorishiro. Like shouldn't I have destroy it? It's been bugging me." Yashiro explained.

"H-he's also been a-acting weird lately..." Hatsume added. "I t-tried to confront him, b-but he just walked o-off me... He's been silent and...and I'm getting worried!"

Hatsume was cut off when Tsuchigomori pat both of hers and Yashiro's head.

"Huh? Tsuchigomori-sensei? What is it?" Yashiro asked confused.

"It's Nothing..." He smiled at the girls. "Well, I hope you two could catch up to Honorable lord no. 7, soon."

"Yeah!" Yashiro beamed. "Thank you, sensei!"

"And, If you're leaving, take that with you."

Yashiro deadpanned when the spider like man pointed towards the box of insect she was still holding. "What?"

"You're in the gardening club, aren't you? Set them free in the practice garden."

"Urk....Okay..."

Yashiro began to walk towards the door, with Hatsume behind her when, Kou held her hand, stopping her. Yashiro look at him, questioning.

"Senpai! Umm...Is there... Anything bothering you?" Kou asked worriedly. "Anything at all?"

"Why?"

"Um...Well... It's just...

No matter what happens.... I'm on your side, Okay???!" Kou confessed, blushing madly. He then held the daikon legged girl's hand with both of his, close to his forehead. "So you know... If there's anything getting you down or anything.... I hope you'll remember that I'm here for you..."

"My.....Ship..." Hatsume silently squealed and fangirl at the moment, she then went towards Tsuchigomori's side to give them a little space.

"K-Kou-kun?..." Yashiro blushed at his statement. No guy have ever said that for her before, This made her heart quickened.

Kou was definitely not her type of guy, but for some reason, this made her feel giddy.

"My hand..." She suddenly ruined the mood. Hatsume slapped a hand to her forehead.

"Ah! I'm sorry! It didn't mean anything!" Kou's face heated up,as he thought of an excuse. "That didn't make sense. I'm sorry!"

Yashiro giggled, she then smiled at him. Her cheeks still tinted pink. "I understand, Thank you for everything. Kou-kun..."

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Shadow, covered Kou's eyes as he stared at the door where Yashiro and Hatsume, went through.

"I've told you a thousand times.." Kou quickly look at Tsuchigomori, who spoke through the silence."You can beg and plead all you want. The future is not going to change..

It's her fate... Then death will sure to find her. That's just how it works... No one can change that."

"But!" Kou clenched his fist.

"Well, if you just want to know about her future, I could give you a little peak."

"Really?! What a nice spider face!" Kou's expression brightened at this.

"It's 'Tsuchigomori-sensei'..." The spider like man said as he rummage through his shelves until he found Yashiro's white book. "Here, You see..."

"That's from the!- I thought they all disappeared when the bookstacks rumor died!" The young exorcise pointed out.

"Oh, It's true. You can't go to the bookstacks anymore, But I was the curator. I have ways of retrieving it's books." Tsuchigomori said as he flipprd through the pages, Kou looked from his shoulder. "Now for todays, future... Is right here..."

Kou read the page for a few minutes, that's when his eyes widened in shock as he froze in his place.

"And that is the proverbial unalterable future." His sensei told him as he trembled in place, his face flushed deep red."If you want to stop it, go ahead and try. I'm pretty sure you can't, if you don't want her to be upset with you. But you also need to remember that Honorable lord no.7 will have your head once you stop this from happening."

"I...I...Who said I'll s-stop this, from happening..." Kou stuttered. He then barged out of the lab to the direction where the book said, Yashiro was going to be.

"I CAN'T JUST LET SENPAI WITNESS THIS WITHOUT ME! I NEED TO BE THERE TO SEE IT TOO!!"

Tsuchigomori jolted up suprised, dropping Yashiro's book at his sudden actions and declaration. He could already hear the thumps, Kou createad through the hallway. He sweatdropped. "I just don't know about that boy..."

"A boy from the middle school division just crashed into a shelf!"

The spider like man sighed, already feeling a headache coming. But he then smiled a bit at Yashiro's book were a page for today's event was wide open to see.

"Well, It's about time anyways... I always knew that this was 'bout to happen someday..."

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I tried drawing the first part of this chapter, using the manga where Yashiro found Hatsume crying. I hope you all like this!♡♡♡

Also...What do you think, Kou read on Yashiro's book?

See ya in the next Chap!

~Mana