"Nene-chan? Kou-kun?"

"Y-Y/n-chan..." Nene stuttered as she looked up at the girl. Y/n crouched down beside Nene and patted her head in comfort, hoping it would ease the girl's mind.

"Hm... What happened?" Y/n looked at Kou. The boy sighed before glancing at the huge tower behind them. "She explained to us... How to get out of this world—"

"Yeah..." Nene mumbled out as she lowered her head. "I can't kill th-those two... And we can't return to the old world..."

Y/n blinked as she looked at Nene. Of course, Shijima-san decided to tell them that route of escaping. Y/n then tapped Nene on the shoulder, making the girl look at her with teary eyes.

"That can't be the only escape, right?" Y/n grinned as Kou nodded, agreeing with the girl. "It'll be fine! We don't even know if what she's saying is the truth.. even so, there has to be another escape."

Kou held out his hand, making Y/n chuckle as she looked at Nene.

"I'll find it. I promise!"

Nene sniffed before holding her hand out. Y/n also decided to join into the fun before placing her hand on top of Nene's.

"We will too..."

Suddenly, a hand went on top of Y/n's. The girl flinched as she looked over the person across her. Amane gave her a grin as he looked at Nene and Kou enthusiastically.

"What are you three talking about?"

The two of them screamed, which made Y/n wonder as to how they didn't notice him earlier. Maybe they were both just caught off in the moment.

Y/n stared at Amane with a blank expression. After what he did earlier, she was sure that this guy was no doubt Hanako.

The boy raised his hand as he sweat dropped. "Y/n-chan? Is there something wrong?" He stated at the girl. "It looks like you've seen a ghost or something."

Y/n grumbled as she stayed silent. I guess I'm really giving this guy a big slap on the face after we get out of this place. She glared at the boy.

Amane pouted before lowering his hand in confusion.

"Senpai~!"

Mitsuba came to the scene, rushing with a box filled with stuff in hand. "The supplies to bring to the roof!" Mitsuba exclaimed as he looked down at the box.

The pink-haired boy flinched when having eye contact with a pair of blue orbs. Kou gave Mitsuba a sharp look. "Mitsuba.."

"Senpai, are these right?" The boy quickly ignored Kou and went over to Amane, who checked if he had brought the correct supplies. "Ah, sure. You've done a good job. I'll go soon too."

Before Mitsuba left, he gave Kou an intimidating stare. "Well then, bye~!"

"Hey, you—!" Kou ran, catching up to Mitsuba, leaving Y/n and Nene with Amane, who looked genuinely confused as to whatever is going on.

"He's gone..." Y/n mumbled as she gave Nene a pat on the back. "Yeah.."

Y/n then caught a glimpse of the bag that Amane hung on his side. She raised a brow as she tapped the boy's shoulder.

"Amane-kun...?" She called out. "What's that you're carrying?"

"This?" Amane unzipped the bag to show its contents. "Isn't it obvious?"

He then took out the object inside it. He gave Y/n a grin as he held it happily. "It's an astronomy telescope!" he cheered. "We're doing astronomy observation!"

"Ah, that's right." Y/n smiled as she looked at the telescope in his hands. "You were always a huge fan of the stars and moon after all."

"That's right." Amane kneeled down and placed back the telescope into the bag. "There's going to be a meteor show tonight. Everyone is going to watch."

Nene's ears perked up. "Meteor shower?"

"Yeah!"

Cue this boy's internal love for astronomy.

"It's the Perseids meteor shower! Today is a new moon so there isn't much light so we'll be able to see it well... Of course, winter would be preferable but the night skies in summer are also not bad either..."

Y/n stared at the boy, who was looking up at the sky while explaining it to Nene, who couldn't catch up with him at all.

"Ah!"

The three turned around, confused of whoever that was.

"A shooting star..." Y/n flinched when hearing the familiar voice. Out of instinct, she stepped away and went behind Amane.

The boy turned around, a finger still pointed out to the starry sky as he gave his brother a grin.

"Amane!" Tsukasa exclaimed. "Did you see it?"

"Tsukasa..."

Y/n glanced at Amane. His voice was low and silent, this might just be proof that this guy is indeed Hanako acting through the whole thi—

"You dropped your telescope." Y/n flinched as Amane looked at the telescope lying on the grass with a bead of sweat dropping from his forehead.

"Did you see it?!" Tsukasa flailed his arms around as he ran towards Amane, who was just looking at the telescope with a worried expression. "Did you? The shooting star!"

"Y/n-chan..." Y/n looked over her shoulder to see Nene standing around with her eyes wide open as she looked at Tsukasa. "Is it just me or are there two Amane-kuns?"

Ah, right. Y/n smiled as she gave Nene a soft pat on the shoulder. "He's Amane-kun's younger twin. If I remembered correctly, Aoi-chan said something about him being in the class next to ours." Nene-chan has never encountered Tsukasa yet...

"I see!" Nene's eyes sparkled as she looked at Y/n. "Shouldn't we go greet him the—"

"No." Y/n raised her hand up as she shook her head. She gave Nene a sharp look before leaning closer to the girl to make sure she was the only one who'd hear Y/n's next words.

"That boy is literally a walking disaste—"

"Oh, Y/n-chan is here!" Y/n flinched as she quickly went behind Nene in fear. She gave Tsukasa a sharp glare as she pulled Nene away from him.

"Ah, hello there, Yugi-san." Y/n forced out a grin. "I see you're talking with Amane-kun... Well, then me and Nene-chan will be going on ahead—"

"Eh.." Amane blushed in embarrassment as he stared at Y/n. "This is just..."

Without a second to waste, Amane quickly took the boy off of him. Tsukasa blinked in confusion but didn't bother asking anything.

"Let's go to the rooftop." Amane took his bag as he gave the other three a strict expression. "Yashiro-san, you might want to catch up with Minamoto too."

"Oh, right!" Y/n's face broke as she watched Nene running away after giving Y/n an apologetic smile. Nene-chan! Don't leave me!

"Tsukasa, get your telescope."

"Sure thing!"

Y/n walked behind Amane while fiddling with her fingers. They were having some sort of observation, right? Y/n pouted as she looked at the sky. Wow, if only the real world was also like this...

"So, about Amane." Y/n flinched as she caught a glimpse at the boy holding her shoulder. He was grinning, and that girl well-knew that behind that grin, something evil was planned out.

"I hope you can do a good job of killing him."

Y/n clutched her fists before grabbing Tsukasa's arm and pushing it away from her. "I am not killing anybody here, get that through your head, Tsukasa," she spat. "And don't go with that talk about me being weak or something. I'll do everything it takes to get out of this world except killing Amane-kun and Sousuke."

Tsukasa blinked. His hand then grabbed Y/n's and pulled her with him.

"We're going to the rooftop, right?" Tsukasa smirked as he looked at Amane from behind. His older brother didn't seem to notice how the other two were acting.

"Maybe you can push Amane off the roof. A quick death actually."

"I guess you never got my words through that thick skull of yours." Y/n sighed before pulling her hand away from Tsukasa. She gave him a glare. "I'm not killing anyone, period."

"Why?"

"Cause it's bad, obviously!"

"It's not so bad! The feeling of not holding back looks pretty good!"

"Do you have some sort of fetish to that kind of thing." Y/n raised a brow as she looked at Amane, who had now stopped walking and was looking at them confused.

"I need to go change my clothes." Y/n waved her hand at Amane before giving Tsukasa another glare. She then walked away, leaving Amane confused and Tsukasa.. amused...?

"Woah!"

Y/n's eyes sparkled upon stepping foot on the rooftop. The rooftop in the day and in the night were somehow like two different worlds.

"There's a lot of people here!" Amane exclaimed as he looked over at the other students looking up at the starry night sky.

Y/n smiled. "Everyone is here.."

"Because it's the perfect weather for observing the night sky~"

"Y/n-chan." The girl raised a brow before looking at Amane, who was looking back at her while putting up his telescope. "You want to see the stars more, don't you?"

Y/n hummed. "Sure. Meteors are also a nice thing to look at."

To be honest, I've never given it much thought. Y/n's expression broke as she looked away from Amane. I wasn't really here for astronomy...

"Yugi-kun!" A boy exclaimed before running over to them. Y/n's eyes widened in both joy and shocked when seeing her friend back into one piece.

"Akane-kun!" Akane stared at Y/n dumbfounded. "Eh? What is it?"

My God, seeing Aoi-chan and Akane-kun into pieces is traumatic. Y/n sweat dropped as she stared at the red head. "I'm so glad..."

"Of what?"

"So, what's up?" Amane interjected as he placed his hands into his pockets. Akane then pointed at the telescope beside him.

"Oh.. could you adjust the telescope for me?" Akane asked. "I want to see Venus, but it's not working."

Amane quickly went forward and started working his magical ways of adjusting the telescope. Y/n watched as the boy carefully twisted and turned some winds.

"Okay. There it is."

"Yugi—! Over here too!" Yamabuki exclaimed as he raised his arm up, trying to get Amane's attention.

"Just a minute." Amane adjusted the magnification of the telescope, as to what Akane requested.

Tsukasa, who was just staring blankly at whatever, looked at Yamabuki with a blank smile. Y/n frowned as she looked at the boy. "Don't do anything stupid—"

She spoke too soon.

"I'll do it!" Tsukasa grinned as he ran towards Yamabuki. The older guy looked worried as he raised his hands as a sign of no. "Not you—"

"Y/n-chan." The girl looked at Amane, who was pointing at both Tsukasa and Yamabuki. "I'll be right back."

"Go ahead." Y/n watched as Amane quickly took his younger brother away from the telescope in fear for him destroying it.

"Y/n-chan!"

"Nene-chan!" Y/n smiled before looking at the ombré-haired haired girl sitting at the sides. Y/n then caught the glimpse of a purple head. "Aoi-chan!"

Y/n then engulfed Aoi into a tight hug. "Oh em gee, I thought I'd never see you again!" Y/n cried as Nene nodded along with the girl with teary eyes.

Aoi blinked as she softly stroke Y/n's head. "I'm not sure what you mean... But same here Y/n-chan, I miss you~!"

Y/n then let go of Aoi. The purple head took out something from the bag she had and gave the object to Y/n.

"Have a cookie~"

Y/n looked down at the star-shaped cookie on her hand. She then looked at the tray which Nene had slid forward for her to see. "Wow! You made so many cookies!"

"Aoi-chan did the star-shaped ones, Yokou-kun did the boats and Satou-kun did the stained-glass cookies."

"And this one is Akane-kun's work~"

"It really looks like you, Aoi-chan.."

Y/n's eyes widened upon seeing a certain cookie which looked too cute to go unnoticed. "The bunny one! Who made it?!"

"That—" Aoi smiled. "Mitsuba-kun did that one!"

Sousuke? Y/n's lip's pursed as she looked around.

"Speaking of which, where is Sousuke and Kou-kun?"

"Now that you mention it." Yokou stood up, scratching the back of his head as he looked around the rooftop. "They're not here..."

"Maybe they're lost...?"

Didn't he chase Sousuke earlier? Y/n looked down. Is he planning on killing him—?

"Y/n-chan." Y/n looked up to see Nene smiling at her. "I think Kou-kun is talking it out with Mitsuba-kun right now," she said. "I'm sure, he can do it and get Mitsuba-kun to join our side."

Y/n blinked before releasing an airy chuckle. "You're right. He has the power to do that anyways~"

Nene giggled before looking over to the cookies and taking one. Aoi went towards where Akane and Yamabuki were at, Yokou following them while Satou decided to stay and sit.

Y/n turned around. The first thing her eye caught was a telescope. Though it wasn't on the same level as everyone else, literally. It was on the highest part of the rooftop, you need a ladder to access it.

She climbed up and looked into what the telescope was pointed at. There, she saw a star, though she really couldn't tell which one it was.

"Uhm... Let's see, which stars did I know again—?"

"Scorpius."

"What?" Y/n raised her head and spotted a dark-haired boy lying at the edge of the roof, staring up at the stars. "Oh, Amane-kun."

Amane flashed the girl a smile before pointing up at a star. "See that red star in the middle?" he asked. "That's the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation. It's a red giant called—"

"Antares," Y/n cut off. The boy looked at her. His smile widened. "You know?"

"I learnt it at some grade." Y/n pouted as she gave Amane a playful look. "Let me assure you that I'm not as dumb as you think."

"Of course." Amane sighed as he moved his arm and pointed at another one. "Can you see it? That red star?"

"Yes.."

"It's actually a twin star. But it's light is so bright that you can't see it's companion star next to it through this telescope."

"The light of Antares is a hundred times brighter than the sun."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's really far away so we just don't perceive it as much as the sun. But it's still a really bright star."

"Although the light we're seeing now is at least six hundred years old. Red giants are stars that are soon going to die."

"So we might not even be seeing the real Antares."

"Even if it's visible now, it could be dead in a way." Amane then sat up as he gave Y/n a close-eyed smile. "It's a bit like a ghost."

The girl's lips parted as she stared at the boy infront of her. A ghost. She looked up, trying to avoid making any eye contact with him. So he really is...

"Amane-kun." The boy looked at her. "Do you wanna take a look through the telescope?"

"Nah, I'm good." He shook his head as he sat beside the girl.

Y/n pouted as she looked through it once again. "But it's so beautiful. Isn't this like, those one in a blue moon events of having such a perfect sky?"

Amane blinked before letting out a chuckle. "Exactly." He looked down. "If I look at it too much, it makes me wanna go there."

"And I've made up my mind now. I'm not going anywhere."

Y/n stared at the boy infront of her. A familiar feeling of nostalgia as a memory from Tsuchigumori's Yorishiro appeared in her mind.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"... After all, going to space is impossible."

"Hanako-kun."

"Heh?"

"I mean, Amane-kun." Y/n faced the boy, her eyes staring at his orange hues with nothing but sorrow. "You're really Hanako-kun, aren't you?"

Amane stared at the girl with a blank smile. "... No."

Liar.

"You and Yashiro-san really like saying that, don't you?" He pointed at himself with a smile on his face. "But I'm Amane-kun, not Hanako-kun or whatever their name was."

Y/n furrowed her brows as she stared at him. Amane looked down at her, looking as if he really had no clue as to who or what she was talking about.

Amane sighed.

"What kind of person is he?"

Y/n raised a brow.

"Hanako-kun, I mean..." He never faced her. "Are we that similar?"

Definitely. Y/n looked at the boy blankly. From your looks to your personality, you're both similar yet two different people at the same time.

"Yeah." Y/n stood up. Amane looked at her, though the girl turned around before he could even see her face.

"You're both so similar."

"Hanako-kun..." She paused. "He does tons of annoying things."

"He's always acting like a perverted apparition, and maybe he is one... He makes dumb jokes and keeps teasing Nene-chan..."

"That guy is similar to me?" Amane sweat dropped.

They both heard cheers and laughter erupting from the crowd of students below them. Amane watched as everyone looked up at the meteor shower.

Suddenly, he felt a body touch his back. He looked over his shoulder. There, he saw the H/c-haired girl sitting behind him.

"But... I don't hate Hanako-kun.." she mumbled. She turned away from the sky and looked at the boy behind her.

"I like him."

Amane flushed as he looked at the girl. She had an expression on her face which even he has never seen before.

Y/n held the sides of his head. She the made him look up at her. The girl felt her cheeks heat up as she stared at the pair orange orbs.

"Let's escape together." Amane looked at her, shocked. "... To the real world!"

The stars looked down at them.