"I've read my book a bunch of times already." Y/n waved her hands around, unbothered by what Tsuchigumori just told her. Although, the teacher doesn't seem satisfied. "Yeah, you've read it a thousand times. But you don't expect me to believe that you won't change your future, right?"

Y/n just let out a small him as she flipped through the pages of her book. Tsuchigumori grunted as he leaned back on his chair. He placed the red pen down and pointed at the girl.

"L/n, you can't change your future. You shouldn't change your future." Y/n felt like she already heard those words a thousand of times already. "Whether you like it or not, the ending will still end up the same. Take different routes, the end will always be death."

"Of course." Y/n rolled her eyes. "Death is always a part of the cycle of life. Although, mine is earlier than the rest- that's what makes the difference here, sensei."

The man sighed as massaged the bridge of his nose. Picking this girl as his assistant was either the smartest or dumbest move he has ever made.

It was a gamble to pick a student for the position as the hidden eighth mystery. That spot gives someone the right to access all secrets, including theirs.

One important reminder of choosing someone to become Aimi-chan: they're lifespans must be short.

Y/n was definitely the one who caught Tsuchigumori's attention. A smart girl in second year of the middle school division. As a supernatural, he already knew her lifespan. And hers was definitely shorter than the rest, including Yashiro Nene.

That's why he was confused as to why Y/n's lifespan suddenly increased. From one year, it became till the end of high school. Tsuchigumori concluded that it was because she had been messing around with fate.

Although, it now seemed like Y/n wasn't even doing anything at all.

"You've noticed, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

Tsuchigumori grumbled. "That your future is changing. I'm sure you've noticed. You've been reading your book a lot, how can you not?"

Y/n snickered as she clasped her hands together. "That's right."

Tsuchigumori face palmed. The girl with him was truly amazing, changing the future with such ease. It was amazing, but it was something which shouldn't be done.

"Are you mad?"

"No." He sighed. "Just curious."

Y/n then chuckled as she read her book once again. "I also don't know how I pulled off such an action."

As of the moment, L/n Y/n felt nothing but weirdness as she watched Akane going closer and closer to her. His fingers holding her chin up, making sure that her lips were directly infront of his.

Nene shrieked as she backed away from the two. In the girl's eyes, this pair was definitely not it. She needed to stop it, but her shock was just too much to the point that she couldn't even move.

"Akane-kun's about to steal Y/n-chan's first kiss-!"

In an instant, an apparition appeared in between Y/n and Akane. His hands covering both their lips and pushed them away from each other.

Hanako wrapped his hands around Y/n, pulling her closer as if she were some kind of plushie and gave Akane a glare. Though, Nene couldn't take the boy seriously after seeing his red face.

"... That was unfair," Hanako grumbled as he pulled Y/n even closer, causing the girl to blush- like, who wouldn't blush after being in the arms of such a cute boy?

"Whatever." Akane raised his hands and stuck a tongue out, unbothered by the boy's looks. He then pulled Hanako by his collar, and then gave him a sharp look. "Now that we have joined forces..."

They all looked at the boy. "I ask you to guide us to that strange mystery, Honorable number seven."

Hanako pushed some buttons while looking down at the paper he had in hand. From what Y/n could see, there were numbers on the paper. Which proves that there really is some sort of code to get this elevator starting.

"I swear, I really did memorize the code once," Y/n mumbled as she watched Hanako doing his own thing, although, the boy heard her and gave the girl a small smile.

"You forgot the code?" Hanako asked, his eyes still fixated on the code. Y/n nodded. "Yep, which kind of weirds me out. I never really forget anything I read from those books."

"That is strange," Akane spoke up, his brows furrowed as he looked at Y/n. "Could it be that your becoming dumber, or is this just pure coincidence?"

"I think it's the latter." Y/n rolled her eyes as she looked at Hanako once again. "But Hanako-kun, how did you even get the code?"

"Hm.." he hummed. "An apparition never tells its ways."

"Sus."

"Its true." He snickered as he gave Y/n a quick glance. "Ah, so number six gave you an injury, huh?"

"Yeah, it's not that bad though." Y/n rubbed her bandaged head as she gave Hanako a grin. "Though there was literally so much blood earlier, looking at it made me want to pass out."

"I see."

"But what questions me is..." Y/n faced Hanako with a brow raised. "Number six mentioned a deal with your name. Since when did you ever talk to him?"

"Oh yeah, I also heard that from him." Nene covered her mouth as she looked at Hanako in anticipation. "Did you perhaps talk to number six before this all happened, Hanako-kun?"

Hanako let out a hum. "I guess we talked for a while back then~? Well, it was just a little after Y/n-chan became a school mystery."

Just a little after? Y/n raised a brow. There might be a small chance that-

The elevator moved a little, after that, a small sound was released from what seemed to be the engine. No doubt, the elevator was finally working.

We'll talk about this later. Hanako turned around with a smile on his face. "We are now heading to.." he raised his index finger up. ".. The boundary that is closest to the far shore..."

"Are you really sure that Ao-chan is really there?" Akane furrowed his brows, still not trusting the apparition boy.

"I'm not certain but... I think the probability is quite high. The seven mysteries can only demonstrate their true power in their own boundaries, after all."

The elevator let out a small ding, signaling the group that they had arrived in number 6's boundary.

"... Come on, we're here."

Number six's boundary was huge. It had some sort of empty village in it. Every building looked strange, so they decided to continuously check all of them before moving on to another area.

Although, they didn't have much luck finding their blue-haired friend.

Nene held the wooden railings and closed her eyes in despair and tiredness. "We've searched everywhere. But Aoi is still no where to be seen!" she exclaimed.

"It's creepy how empty this place is," Akane commented, literally moving on to another topic before Nene can continue venting out her frustrations.

"But it seems pretty safe," Hanako added.

"Aoi, I wonder how you're doing now..." It seems like Nene is resorting to talking to herself so that she could calm down. "I wonder if you're crying..." The ombre-haired girl imagined Aoi kneeling and sobbing in the middle of many supernaturals.

"But what if.." Hanako clung onto Y/n, making sure only she could hear it. "What if number six is doing something pervy to her?"

Y/n flinched and gave Hanako a blank look. "If so, we would go there, crash the entire place, beat number six up, and take Aoi-chan. But that's very unlikely. I think only you would do that, Hanako-kun."

"Eh..." The boy frowned. "What a boomer.."

"Do you even know what that word is?" Y/n raised a brow as she looked at Nene. "Not only that, but why is the lantern glowing?"

Nene stared at the lantern on her hands in confusion. This caught both Hanako and Akane's attention too. They decided to go closer, trying to find out the reason as to why it's suddenly glowing.

"Maybe a very strong ghost is close by?!" Nene squeaked as she looked at it in fear, though Y/n doesn't think that would be the case.

Number six's boundary was so neat and organized, to say that it would be some random apparition would be weird.

"I disagree..." Y/n pursed her lips and looked at Hanako, who just stared back at her blankly. You know those times when you just accidentally stare at each other for no exact reason? This seemed to be what's going on.

Suddenly, Nene flinched as a pair of hands covered her vision.

"Guess who~♥︎"

Everyone looked at the blue-haired girl in shock. She wore some sort of blue dress, which was definitely given from number six. Not only that, but it surprised Y/n that there was no scratch on her. It was like, some sort of evidence that she hasn't tried putting a fight up to escape from number six.

"Aoi!!" Both Nene and Akane exclaimed. Y/n would have yelled her name out on joy if she wasn't too suspicious of the girl.

"Aoi! Where did you go?!" Nene cried out as she looked at the girl with tears overflowing from her eyes. "Did he do anything weird to you?!"

"I'm alright." Aoi gave Nene a smile.

"I was with that bone man until now." Yes, number six is bone man. "He didn't hurt me. I ran away when I saw you guys."

First of all, if she was with number six, how did she get to run away so easily? Second of all, when did she ever see us? Y/n frowned. As much as she trusted Aoi, something wasn't adding up in the situation.

"Ah.. I'm so glad you're okay..." Nene hasn't realized how suspicious it was. I guess ignorance is somehow a bliss, right? Y/n sighed.

"Thank you for worrying about me, Nene-chan." She looked at Y/n with the same smile. "Y/n-chan."

I can't believe I'm really suspecting one of my best friends... Y/n internally cried out as she gave Aoi a grin. In the corner of her eye, she could see Hanako taking a step forward beside her, his hands on his back.

I swear to God, he looks so threatening right now. Y/n sweat dropped when realizing that the boy was actually holding his knife behind him.

".. Hey." Aoi looked over her shoulder, to where Hanako was. "Did you escape from number six on your own? All by yourself?" Y/n was somewhat thankful that Hanako asked the question.

Aoi blankly stared at Hanako, as if processing to whoever he was. She doesn't recall seeing a boy hanging out with Nene or Y/n- she's never seen this boy at school at all.

"Huh, Aoi. You can see Hanako-kun?" Nene asked the girl. Aoi blinked, still confused as to what was going on. "Huh?"

"Now that you mention it.."

Aoi smiled as she pointed an Hanako. "Are you Nene-chan's crush?"

It was as if everyone's faces broke by the girl's question. Oddly enough, Y/n felt her heart drop by the girl's sudden question.

Akane, on the other hand, was laughing like a maniac, looking at Y/n in both sadness and joy.

"Wait! You got it all wrong Aoi!" Nene exclaimed as she held Aoi's arms. The blue head stared at the others, confused by their reaction to the question.

Nene looked like she was in a state of panic. And maybe, she was really in a state of panic.

Hanako looked dead. He was already dead, but it looked like he would manage to go to the afterlife with regrets.

"Y/n-chan, I swear... I don't like Yashiro.." Hanako mumbled out, kneeling infront of the girl as he held her hand.

Now that Y/n thought of it, why was she even hurt? Hanako had the right to choose Nene whenever he wanted to. They weren't even dating.

"You don't have to apologize...?" At this point, Y/n didn't know what to say. She could see Aoi and Akane having their own talk from the distance and Nene just listening to Hanako and Y/n.

"I promise you, Y/n-chan... I'm loyal..."

"Y/n-chan, are you sure you aren't dating him yet?!" Nene raised a brow at the girl, who quickly shook her head. "N-No!"

"But don't you both like each other though?" Nene was making the situation much worse. Y/n could feel her cheeks heating up. Behind Nene, she could see Akane literally puking- she could use this as an excuse to move to another conversation.

"Akane-kun! Are you okay?!"

"I'm sorry.." Akane muttered out as he covered his mouth. "She's just too cute." Aoi stood behind him with her usual smile still plastered on her face.

"Marry me, please."

"No way~"

He got over it so quickly. The other three watched as the two talked to each other normally, forgetting the conversation they had a few seconds ago.

Aoi led the group to some place- in which they had no idea of. She said that it was the exit to number six's boundary.

"The middle part is like a portal." Y/n listened to Aoi's explanation, doubt bubbling inside her as she looked at the middle of the circle. "It will send us back to our world."

"So you already knew..." Hanako mumbled. Aoi smiled as she walked ahead. "When I was with the bone man, I found a lot of information."

"Wow, you're so brave and smart... I love you, Ao-chan!"

"As expected of Aoi! She's so strong!"

Y/n sweat dropped as she watched Nene and Akane's eyes sparkle while looking at Aoi. There was still this unsettling feeling that the blue head was planning something.

Perhaps, Y/n read about this once and forgot once again.

Nene and Akane were literally standing close to the center, if something were to happen, they would be the first ones affected.

Hanako's alright, he's just floating beside Y/n- who was currently far from the center, just for safety.

"Hopefully you won't be too scared." This sentence set all the alarms in Y/n's head. "I'll finish this soon."

Without a second to waste, Y/n quickly grabbed Nene, in hopes of pulling her back with her. Akane seemed to be safe, he avoided stepping into the hole which seemed to appear from below them.

Though, Y/n's plan failed. She ended up being in the same hole as Nene.

"Are you alright?" Hanako held Y/n's hand and quickly helped her stand. Y/n pulled Nene closer. And that's when she realized...

"A FUCKING ROACH!" Y/n screamed and literally held on to Hanako as if her life depended on it- and it really did depend on it.

Bugs began crawling up on them. At this point, the words Aoi was telling them couldn't be heard by Y/n. All she could hear was nothing but her loud breathing.

She was panicking. Like, real panicking.

"Y-Y/n-chan!" Hanako removed his gaze from Aoi and pulled Y/n closer. He really had no clue on how to calm her down. All he felt was worry for the two girls with him and anger from the blue head who decided to throw them into a pit. "Yashiro! Hold on to me!"

And with that, the three of them were enclosed in darkness.