Chapter Text
Tsuchigomori was exhausted.
First he’d had to endure a long day of grading all the homework and tests he was behind on (he’d promised to himself that he wouldn’t procrastinate but here he was, grading the day away), then came the whole situation with No.7 getting bitten by a spirit messenger; while he knew Kou and Yashiro were good friends of his, sometimes he wished they would take into account what would happen if he were incapacitated, and be just a little more careful. Unfortunately, the old teacher had been stuck trying to find someone to fill in his role as leader for the time being- thank goodness Shijima had been up to the task. She had a wide array of abilities and could be just as threatening as No.7 if she wanted to be. And a lot less distracted too, because boy did Hanako have the attention span of a sparrow sometimes.
But he wasn’t being fair to his past student.
Trife as he was to admit it, beyond the technical aspects of dealing with Hanako, there was a more emotional side to him that he rarely showed to anyone. Including teachers who tried to help. Especially that. Nevertheless, ever since Yashiro arrived Tsuchigomori had noticed No.7 becoming more and more interested in her needs and wants, more than he ever had for any other client as a wish-granting supernatural.
Even worse, every free time Lord 7. had was spent either staring off into space with a mildly disappointed look when Yashiro was away or constantly bothering his assistant when she was at school.
Don’t think his old teacher didn’t know love when it was right in front of him.
Out of all the ways Hanako could’ve expressed it to her though, his feelings had to have been forced out of him in this unlucky circumstance. Which is why when Tsuchigomori had lain down on a newly constructed web in the 4 o’clock Library to take a nap after a long and stressful day, he’d tossed and turned for an hour before falling into a restless doze, still worried about how this would all unfold…
He awoke to a scream.
Eyes bleary and ears twitching, confused at what was making such a racket, he climbed out of his web clumsily, pulling out a few volumes by accident as he slid down the bookshelves. He was about to berate the source of the noise and tell them to keep it down when he recognized the two figures moving in the dim light of the study area.
Kou was holding back an extremely upset Hanako, who was thrashing around in his grip as if his afterlife depended upon it.
After a minute or two passed, and the junior exorcist texted something to someone with a wildly shaking hand, Kou let the apparition go.
Hanako whirled on him, his normally sunny eyes darkened. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?! YOU LET HER LEAVE ME! YOU-” He broke off crying, sobs wracking his small frame.
Kou looked uncomfortable as he stood there, not sure what to do with his usually upbeat friend bursting into tears. “Hey, it’s alright Hanako, she’ll- she’ll be back tomorrow! And then you’ll see her again and it will be fine and-” “NO IT WON’T!!”
“I’m nothing without her! And now-now she’ll leave me and-” Suddenly Hanako turned pale, his body flickering dangerously.
“Oh my god, she’s gonna leave me. I’m going to be alone again. Forever.”
“Hanako, you’re being stupid, she won’t-”
“Oh yes she will. She’ll find some better person to love like Teru and I don’t deserve her, I’m just a monster and she’s never coming back, oh god I can’t be abandoned again please, no, I need her, existing is meaningless without her smile and her face-” “HANAKO!!!”
Kou grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look into his eyes. “She’s not. Going to leave you. If there’s anything I know about her, it’s that she won’t just abandon her friends at the drop of a hat, and especially not you.”
Hanako whimpered, tears coming down his cheeks faster now. The words seemed to have made things worse instead of helping. And Kou watched helplessly as the curse took hold of his friend’s heart and made him withdraw from rational thinking, watched as pure heartbreak consumed him. His eyes grew duller.
Tsuchigomori couldn’t bear to watch this any longer. He wasted no time, as tired as he was, to rush to his old student’s side.
“Mr. Minamoto, head on home, if you please. I’ll take care of him from here.” Kou, a little startled by the school wonder’s sudden appearance, nodded curtly, “Yes, sensei.” The orange-haired boy slid his friend one last worried glance before disappearing into the Library’s corridors.
Hanako’s sniffles brought the old teacher’s attention back to the poor boy. Something told him that this was going to be quite a long night.
~~~~~
A long night, indeed.
No. 7 was downright inconsolable. Every 20 minutes or so he’d break down, sobs echoing off of the walls of the teacher's lounge where Tsuchigomori had led the lovesick ghost to be seated in an area that would hopefully be more comfortable for both of them.
Tsuchigomori did his best to persuade him that Yashiro would return, once or twice catching him in the process of zooming over to the school gates to wait for her return like a puppy. Not even getting him donuts from the vending machine downstairs made him perk up; he just stared at the packaged sweets for a moment before tearing up again, blubbering about how good Nene’s donuts were
and that he’d never get to eat them once more.
Thankfully time passed, however slowly, and soon the sun’s rays began to peek through the windows and fill the sky with light. As daybreak neared, Tsuchigomori was resigned to putting Hanako back into his boundary and sealing it with a shield charm so he wouldn’t try anything drastic when Yashiro returned.
~~~~
Yashiro had hardly been able to go to sleep that night. All she thought about was how frightened and upset her friend was without her, and a couple of times she considered sneaking back into the school to comfort him.
Just a few more hours until school started.
Just a few more and she resigned herself to breaking that curse.
Even if… if she had to do that thing . The thing that twisted her stomach into knots and made her heart flutter.