Mystery 15 | Tsuchigomori

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"Geez. No. 6 is still not attending today's meeting too."

The female apparition muttered with a sigh, walking along with No. 5 and the No. 8 along with Hanako.

"My, [Y/N]-chan, do you love No. 6 that much?"Hanako teased though a hint of annoyance could be detected in his tone of voice, filling with dismay but his whole face soon lit up like fireworks once you reply his question with negative shook.

"That's impossible and not important at all. But changing the subject . . . "She trailed off her words and glancing over to the tall apparition who plainly looking down to meet her gaze, hands remained in the pockets of his white lab coat.

"By the way, have you consoling Kou about the attitude of his who likes to go to the girls' restroom, Tsuchigomori-sensei?"

He only hummed in reply, ruffling his two-colored hairlock in frustration though it couldn't be seen across his plain feature, "It's no use. He's bold like a dog that refused to move. His attitude is completely the opposite with his brother."

"Though they do have some similarities."You pointed out, followed on with a light snicker with him opening the door to his boundary, walking in the inside to reveal the white and black colors of countless books with people's names adorned on the side of it.

"Good grief, why did you suddenly want to find your book?"He plainly stated with the emotion on his face remained unfazed as you reply with a small shrug, a small gentle smile was produced on your lips with your eyes now fluttered close.

"Wanting to recall back my memories and feel a wave of nostalgia, perhaps."

Once the eyes of yours were shot open, your movements stopped while your eyes went slightly wide when you see two familiar silhouettes of human figures near the bookstacks.

"Yashiro and kid?"Hanako inquired, tilting his head to the side in curious but a cheerful grin made its way to his face, ridiculously excited to greet them

But your demeanor is completely different than his with your breath hitched in shock, eyes flashed in pure horror in those [ color ] hues and murmured the words underneath her breath in a low tone, could even compare with a whisper.

"This is bad."

Kou averted his gaze to somewhere else, wandering around the space to look for something that might catch the interest of him as he couldn't leave the daikon girl alone. His eyebrows then we're furrowed in confusion when his eyes soon landed on a black colored book that has a familiar name that he knows embellished on its spine.

Confuse engulfed him.

『 Tsubasa, [Y/N] 』

It has a similar name to yours.

No, no, no, no. It must be someone else's name, right?

After all, curiosity killed the cat.

But—

A little peek wouldn't hurt?

He swallowed the lump in his throat nervously and made his way to the certain book direction, arm slowly being lift to take the book and read the contents.

His action went fully halted when you placed your hand over his and smiled sweetly with something hidden behind that innocent smile of yours,

"Bōya, please refrain yourself from touching any books from now on. You don't want that thing to eat you, right?"

He blinking his eyes few times and let the awkward chuckle escaped from his throat and retreat his hand away; which you were grateful at and heaved a small sigh of relief— to the back of his head.

"I-I guess you are right." He nervously smiled but the smile then disappeared when his brain eventually processed the situation after minutes of thinking,

"Wait— Why are you here?!" He points his index finger near your face, causing you to reel back to avoid being hit. Lowering his hand away from your view and flashed him an irritated smile, you then answer his question rather in a tone voice of annoyance.

"Bōya, I'm the one who should be asking you that. That same goes with you too, daikon ojō-san. We meet again."

You nodded your head firmly when she let out a small squeak and clumsily, bowing her head on a 90° degree, "I-It was nice to meet you again, Ukiyo-san!"

Seeing the same creatures behind the human girl, Tsuchigomori finally took an action and reveal his true identity, learning the truth about the supernaturals who blend themselves with students.

Unknowing to others, Kou is now in a deep if thought before his gaze trailed up to the same book when he couldn't shake off the thought from his mind but his gaze was blocked with your Fukujoudai that was intentionally instructed it to do by you.

Frowning, he moved his head to the side, having his view got blocked. Getting annoyed, he moved his head to the other side, only to get the same gesture. Running both his hands in frustration and bark,

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Due to his furious state, he is currently unaware of your stare that filled with amusement but it soon disappeared when you recalled his action. For the first time, your mind went blank in a time that you are not in an exam.

"I'll give you my Yorishiro if you tell me about your personal secret."Those words caught the attention of both supernatural and young male exorcist while Aishi already wandered off to find his own book, clearly not interested in making new friends.

"WHAAA—"

Nene shrieked in embarrassment with her face explode into fifty sheds of red hues, waving her hands frantically in front of her face,

"T-T-T-That's impossible!"She stammered enormously when you gave her a pitying look, "But why?!"

"What can I say? I'm a supernatural who craves knowledge."He simply stated as if it was not a big deal, threatening them that he would broadcast their most embarrassing secret if they refuse to.

Reluctantly giving in to his request, Nene took a deep breath to spill everything.

"When I was in middle school, I kept an exchange diary with my imaginary boyfriend!!!"

"Daikon girl is being desperate." The female apparition mumbled lowly, pitying her even more. Taking the book from Tsuchigomori's grasp and flipped through the page, a small ' pfft ' unintentionally slipped past your lips before a boisterous laugh followed.

"What a deceiver daikon. I didn't know you exchanged a diary with Teru. But it turned out to be your imaginary fantasy. Honestly, you are really being desperate. I can tell Teru if you want."

"Eh? With my brother?"Kou's voice piped in, clearly clueless.

"NOOOOO!!!!"

You had to force your hands to cover your ears to prevent them from bleeding after hearing the high pitched tone. Even Aishi had to cover his ears too despite the big distance between him and the group.

"What the truck?"

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"It wasn't supposed to end like this . . . "She sulked at the corner with Kou bawled his hand to form a fist and snapped his head at the tall supernatural.

"Damn it, I'll avenge senpai for sure!"

"Try me, amateur."Tsuchigomori yawned, wanting to sleep after this task is what he has been craving for from the moment he stepped inside in his own boundary.

"The truth is . . . Those oni masks they wear on setsubun day . . . Scared the heck out of me!"He confessed with his index fingers mocking as horns.

"Next please."

"WHY?!"

"It just seemed so incredibly insignificant, to be honest."

"And I will keep that in mind."You added with a smile, making the boy feeling down ever more, joining the girl at the corner while hugging their knees.

"HANAKO! You tell him something too!"

"Hmm?"The said male lifted his head up from the Hanafuda game that he is currently playing to look at the owner of the voice, "Me? But I bet Tsuchigomori probably know enough about me already."

When he was about to resume the game, he got himself dragged away by two teenagers and forced him to stand in front of you and the curator himself.

"Now, tell him!"

"But I don't wanna~!"

"Hanako!!!"

"It's not fair! You know our secret, so why can't we know yours?!"He sighed in defeat with a tired smile, getting tired with the childish behavior of theirs.

"You two . . . want to know about me really badly?"

"OF COURSE."The two answered simultaneously and you noticed how Hanako's golden orbs went wide like saucers at their confession and softly smiling and turn his head around to look at you with you raising an eyebrow when he shot you nonchalant smile.

"Honorable No. 0 would've known about this already but . . . I—"He paused and averted his gaze down on the floor, his whole face was adorned with a color of red hues.

"I love donuts."

". . . . That's all?"You quirked an eyebrow as he slowly nods his head and his hands flew up to cover his whole face in embarrassment and bashfully stated that he is—

"Ah, I'm so embarrassed."

Yashiro and Kou exchanged a look before pointing at both you and Tsuchigomori with confident smiles that were plastered on their lips.

"Hahahahaha! You hear him, right?"

"Donuts!! He loves donuts!!"

"Are you both morons?"Both apparitions stated at their foolish expression, making you sigh and crossed your arms over your chest while seeing the trio chatting with each other about the food.

Secretly you took the black-colored book from the huge shelf without making any sound and hide it in your sleeve,

"Isn't that something? About No.7, I've never seen this expression of him."Both raven and white-haired supernatural spoke, having your attention on him and glanced back at the ravenette boy, seeing a cheerful kind of expression across his feature.

"Well, it was rare for you but not for me. He would be making the same expression if he has a request for me to cook or bake something." You softly smiled at the memory, "However, you did get to see something that piqued your interest, am I wrong?"

He remained silent for few next seconds before ruffling the back of his head with his black-gloved hand and exhaled a deep sigh.

"You aren't. It can't be helped then."

You grinned and spun your heels around, standing next to him with his eyes followed your action.

"Where are you going?"

A smile on your life became wide when you found a hint of interest in his tone, glancing up to meet his eyes due to the huge difference of height,

"Obviously reading my own book. If that huge thingy appears when I'm reading about the future, I will just destroy it but no worry, I'm going to read about the past only."With that, you walked away after bidding him a short farewell.

Kou secretly looks up from the discussion about donuts between him and the female human and male ghost, eyes wandered to find a certain book but frowned when the there is a space between books where the book that has your name was placed.

"Ukiyo-san, have you seen—"He started but cut himself off when there is no sign of the said ghost around, even whipping his head around but he then stopped as his eyes widened at the conclusion that went across his mind.

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Aishi flipped through the page slowly but stopped on something that caught his interest, taking a small chair that happened to be there and sit down carefully.

He then closed his eyes and exhaled a heavy sigh and slowly reopening them to read the content that he would never think it would be recorded in his book.

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Month ∆ , Day × . . .

On this night during Obon festival . . .

Today's big event . . .

At the different places of the school ground of Kamome Gakuen . . .

Tsubasa Aishi and Tsubasa [Y/N] died.

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He shut the book close and lifted his sad gaze upwards to meet yours when he heard a sound of splashing water, signalling someone is nearing him. A melancholy smile adorned your feature with you standing in front of him before crouching down to his level with him on the verge of crying.

His strong persona shattered and he knew that.

"It's okay, you've been strong for so long."You whispered when the tears finally spilled from his eyes, having his palm covering them to stop them but failed miserably.

"I'm sorry."He choked out between his sob, shaking his head with you rubbing your palm behind his back to soothe him, his other hand gripped tightly onto your other's one, " I'm sorry that . . ."

"I failed to protect you."

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The reason why you immediately left and being careless is because you want to find Aishi as soon as possible. Knowing he already read the contents and you just want to be there for the precious boy :(

To be continued . . .