Chapter Text
"So, can you do it?" Kou asks, standing nervously in the bathroom, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides.
The black and purple-clad apparition giggles, "Of course, I can do it!" He says. "Your beloved senpai may not like the consequences, however."
Kou takes a deep and shaky breath, "As long as she’s alive, that’s all that matters."
———
A week goes by up in their hotel room and Hanako is starting to feel really sick. His head hurts and he's dizzy all the time. It's hard for him to eat but he forces down food anyway, for Nene's sake. He can hide this. Kou was wrong. He can hide it.
But then he's throwing up in the hotel bathroom and too dizzy to lift his head out of the porcelain bowl. But then Nene is pounding her fists against the door and calling his name, begging him to answer what seems to be her new favorite question, "Are you okay?"
"Hanako," She calls, "Hanako, answer me now or I'm coming in."
"I'm fine." He grits out, but just as he does there are pancakes from breakfast forcing their way out of his lips and into the toilet bowl. Nene takes that as a sign her help is needed and the door is burst through.
"Oh, you're sick." She comments. Hanako stares at her like a deer caught in headlights.
"I'm okay," He argues, but then his eyes are rolling back in his head and he's collapsing to the bathroom floor.
When he comes too he's back on his bed. A cool, damp towel sits on his forehead and Nene is staring at him from his side. His hand is in hers. He lets out a heavy sigh and forces himself into a sitting position, letting the towel slip from his forehead to his lap.
"Don't push yourself too much," Nene says. She hands him a plastic cup of water. "You're fever is pretty high. I was waiting for you to wake up before I ran to the store to grab some medicine for you. Wanted to make sure you were okay first. You had me really scared for a second there."
"Sorry," Hanako mumbles.
Nene shakes her head, "Don't be," She pats his hand. "Get some more rest. I'm going to head to the store right down the road. I'll be no longer than forty-five minutes."
She pulls her jacket over her shoulders and spares him no more than a glance before stepping out the door. Hanako drops his head back down to his pillow and sinks into the cool bedsheets. He expected to start feeling the consequences of his wish sooner or later, but this is much sooner than he'd anticipated. He'd already gone against his self-given rules and gotten Yashiro worked up. He curses himself for that.
Just as he begins to doze back off, there’s a popping noise that comes from the balcony, grabbing his attention. In a cloud of black, Hanako sees a face similar to his own, smiling wide and bearing sharp teeth.
"Tsukasa…" Hanako mumbles, wide-eyed and terrified as the balcony door slides open, and his twin brother steps inside.
"Amane!" Tsukasa exclaims, "Oh how nice it is to see you!"
“What- I-… What are you doing here? How are you here?" Hanako asks.
Tsukasa laughs as he approaches Hanako’s bedside. "I have my ways." He says "Your friend... Kou, was it? He made a wish," he continues. "And of course, I will stop at nothing to grant it."
Hanako pushes himself up with weak and wobbly arms, feeling his head pound in time with his racing heart. "Kou? But he’s alive. You grant wishes to the dead. How would you be able to grant his wish?"
Tsukasa gives a chuckle, kneeling at Hanako’s bedside. "Naive as always, aren’t you, brother?" He says. Hanako feels himself tense as his twin's hand rests itself atop his own. "Someone had to take your place, right?"
Hanako’s breath hitches in his throat, "You-
"I mean, what good are the seven wonders without a Number Seven?" Tsukasa says.
Hanako feels a frown overtake his face, swallowing thick in thought as a bead of sweat drips from his forehead. "W-What was his wish?"
"I thought you’d never ask," A smirk pulls at the corners of Tsukasa's lips. "To save his beloved senpai, Yashiro, of course. What else would that blonde-headed moron wish for?"
Hanako’s eyes blow wide and he feels his breath start to quicken. Tsukasa told him at the beginning of this that there would be consequences to his actions. He thought maybe he’d be let off with what he’s already been given. But he’s beginning to think otherwise now.
"So then what are you here to do?" He asks, voice strained and raspy. He’s trembling from fever chills combined with a new feeling of fear.
"Give you a choice," Tsukasa says with a wide grin. He’s so close to Hanako that if Tsukasa weren’t dead, he swears he’d be able to hear his heart beating. "You’re alive and so your death will be counted as a sacrifice, yes?"
Hanako’s head bobs in a frantic nod.
"So either I kill you now and you get your yorishiro back as well as your bond with Yashiro. However your soul will be tied to mine for eternity," Tsukasa says. Hanako blinks, frowning at the thought of having his trauma scars ripped open every day for eternity. "Or, you get to ride this illness out and stay by your beloved's side until death do you two-part and your soul is severed and gone forever. Like dust in the wind, if you know what I mean."
Hanako is breathing heavily and unevenly through his mouth, avoiding meeting his brother’s ever-so-close eyes. "And Yashiro gets to keep on living, right?"
"Of course. That was the blondie's wish, after all," Tsukasa says. "Either choice sounds wonderful to me. Either I watch you beautifully suffer for a few months or I get to stab your heart out just as you did mine."
Hanako can’t feel himself breathing anymore and his head feels fuzzy and heavy. Stupid, stupid Kou. This would do nothing but hurt Yashiro. He has no idea what he’s doing.
"So tell me, Amane, which will it be?"