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Yashiro Nene, long light cream hair, magenta eyes, short, radish-like legs. Another student at Kamome.
She was more or less decent when it came to studies, but sometimes classes dragged along way too much. Even having bathroom duty and helping out Hanako was more fun than her teacher blabbering about history or whatever.
Yashiro balanced a pen between her nose and her upper lip, bored out of her mind. Little did she know that her boredom would be broken quite abruptly. She felt a pair of arms around her body and was almost startled enough to cry out, but managed to cover her mouth on time.
“ Good morning, Yashiro.” Hanako sang right next to her ear, resting his chin on top of her shoulder.
Yashiro relaxed bit by bit, stilling her rapidly beating heart. Hanako gave her a real scare! She knew he was a ghost -and it was a ghost thing to do-, but could he not do that while she was in class? Not wanting to answer out loud and interrupt the class, she wrote in her notebook.
'What are you doing here, Hanako-kun?'
Hanako didn't answer and instead nuzzled her cheek. Yashiro was used to Hanako being like this at times, but still... It was embarrassing!
“ I missed you.” Hanako eventually said.
Yashiro narrowed her eyes. Well, that was new. All she could think about was that Hanako wanted something out of it and that was why he was being so nice.
'You are just bored, aren't you?'
Hanako floated above her after reading that, turning upside down and looking at her with a pout. His eyes were half closed into a frown, trying to give her the puppy eyes.
“ Do you think that bad of me?” Yashiro's deadpanned expression of disbelief was all the answer he needed. “You are cruel, Yashiro!”
She tried to ignore him and go back to listening to the teacher -not that the class was more entertaining-, he was just goading about how much he had been thinking about her while he was bored. Really lovely from Hanako to say that. However, Yashiro thought better of it and her face softened. Hanako couldn't leave the school grounds after all, could he? When there weren't any spiritual world hijinks happening, only being able to talk to Mokke and to other spirits from time to time for years and years… He was allowed to feel bored now and then, and no wonder he was. It was actually sweet Hanako thought of her- did Hanako genuinely miss her when she wasn't around? She sometimes forgot he was still a teenager, trapped as a ghost for decades, but a teenager.
'Okay, you can stay. But don't distract me from class too much'
Hanako made a soft "yay" sound and went back to hugging Yashiro from behind, his chest pressed against the back of her head. That wasn't what Yashiro would call 'not-distracting', but it was kind of nice. Yashiro couldn't feel any warmth coming from Hanako, although it wasn't bitter cold either. And he stayed like that for the next hour of class. Yashiro was getting gradually warmer herself, her mind trying to come up with a logical reason for Hanako to be acting like this. He had been latching on to her through all the lesson as if they were a co-... coup… Agh, she couldn't say it! What was up with such a long hug and the occasional -very distracting- nuzzles and pecks to her cheek?
When class was finally over, she hurried out towards the girl's toilet. Of course Hanako followed suit and floated around the room.
"Yashiro?" Hanako innocently tilted his head, amber eyes looking at her with wonder. "Are you mad I was there during class?"
She wasn't mad, but it was hard to sort out her feelings when Hanako acted more like a teenager and less like a more than fifty years old ghost.
"Yashiro," She felt getting pulled by the arm, shaking her out from her train of thought. Hanako's face was really close to her own, their noses just some centimeters away from touching. "I want to do things with you." Hanako spoke out in a determined tone. His expression was just as serious.
'Things?!' Her mind screamed, her immediate response being her face heating up and looking impossibly red. That was why he was being so touchy-feely?! Yashiro knew they were bonded by the curse of the mermaid, but that was no excuse to do that sort of thing, was it? How would a human and a ghost…
Hanako chuckled teasingly, gripping her shoulders. "What are you thinking about, Yashiro?" She yelped, getting even more nervous if possible, stuttering. He whistled. "You were thinking about dirty things, weren't you? Pervert radish ."
" Hanako-kun !" Yashiro whined, embarrassed, covering her face. She got it all wrong!
"I was referring to doing other things entirely, but…" Hanako's hand cupped her chin up, forcing Yashiro to look directly into his eyes. "If you want to, I wouldn't be opposed to it~"
Yashiro's scream of shame could probably be heard out of the toilet and down the corridor...
It wasn't the only time. Yashiro was wishing she had been more firm the first time because now every so often Hanako would interrupt Yashiro out of her train of thought or make her span of attention on the teacher's lesson even shorter. Every time she tried to admonish Hanako, he would give her the puppy eyes and Yashiro would inevitably surrender. Her class was spent with Hanako hugging her, saying nothing.
Of course the girl tried to ignore him to the best of her ability, but as of lately it had become harder and harder as her bond with Hanako seemed to get tighter. Yashiro kept trying to tell herself that Hanako wasn't her type at all, but her heart started to not agree with the statement. At first, Yashiro had really thought the spirit was doing that just to tease her like many other countless times, yet the display of affection started to feel so… sincere.
She pouted. No! She refused to fall for it again! After the Kodama incident, Yashiro didn't trust Hanako's approaches. It was hard to know if he was being honest or not!
Yashiro scribbled furiously on her notebook, trying to get herself distracted from such thoughts. Even if her back was turned towards Hanako, she was low-key afraid he would get a hold of her expression. At some point, it was nearly impossible to detach herself from how Hanako's touch felt. He had no warmth whatsoever, but she could still feel his hands on her, over her clothes. Despite Hanako's usual out-of-place comments related to erotic topics, he was really respectful of Yashiro's boundaries; his hands resting around her middle -not too high or too low. His breath was chilly against the skin of her neck compared to the summer temperature outside, making her skin break in goosebumps, but it wasn't exactly unpleasant.
Hanako's hands are suddenly over her arms, startling her. "Are you cold?" He sounded concerned, which was already a rare occurrence.
'No' Yashiro wrote down after she could get her hand to move. 'I'm okay!'
Hanako made a cheerful humming sound, his fingers ghosting over her arms before his body floated away from her. He landed in front of her, propping his arms on her table as he gave her a cryptic look and a smirk. Yashiro blinked.
"What?" Yashiro breathed out in a whisper.
Hanako opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't. He looked away, getting upright and walking to the window to look outside.
There were still many things Yashiro had to discover about Hanako. She didn't understand Hanako's need to be so secretive… Yashiro could only wait until he was ready to talk it out.
Tsuchigomori had stopped Yashiro when she was on her way to the girl's toilet. His hand rubbed across the back of his neck, looking both annoyed and worried about whatever he wanted to speak with Yashiro.
"Has been number seven acting strangely?" Tsuchigomori didn't beat around the bush and asked her directly.
"Hanako-kun?"
Yashiro didn't think he had been acting weird, all this hugging her during class seemed like a pretty Hanako-thing to do. He always liked teasing, even towards Kou. Yashiro was sure he was going to get bored of it eventually.
"I suppose not," Number five sighed in defeat with a click of his tongue. He crossed his arms and tilted his head.
"Is something wrong?"
"Number seven has been skipping his duties and it's very... unlikely of him. He is a kid, but he is always very committed to his role as a school wonder."
Ah… Yashiro smiled nervously. So he had been running away from his duties by staying at Yashiro's class.
Tsuchigomori shrugged and waved a hand mid air. "Nothing too important that we need to worry about. Number two and I could manage just fine."
Yashiro couldn't imagine Hanako ignoring his duties if they were truly important… As Tsuchigomori said, he was very dedicated to his role. Although now that she recalled it, Hanako had been lost in thought lately, barely saying a word. Stuck to her like an octopus and just gazing at her as if he wanted to say something but never managing to.
Yashiro became determined to ask Hanako directly about what was on his mind. She didn’t know how far she could get if Tsuchigomori didn’t know what was going on with him either, but she had to try!
“How blind can you two be?” Yako growled, jumping over Tsuchigomori’s shoulder. He frowned in annoyance and picked her by the nape of her neck. Yako tried to shake herself off, threatening to scratch the teacher’s face to death.
“Can you just tell us?” The tall man sighed heavily.
“As if!” She stubbornly refused with a hiss, probably because of how Tsuchigomori decided to treat her.
Yashiro still wondered how Hanako managed to get these two to even agree to form an alliance… Yako seemed to know something, but after that she didn’t look willing to have a friendly talk.
The student left the spirits to their own devices and continued her way to the toilet. Yashiro opened the door to it and stepped inside. Hanako was sitting by the window, arm propped on his knee, the other dangling off. Yashiro still didn’t know what it was, but maybe Tsuchigomori was right and there was something off about Hanako.
“Ah, Yashiro!” Hanako smiled wide as soon as he noticed the girl in the room. “You weren’t trying to skip cleaning duty, were you?”
Yashiro pouted. “I was only ten minutes late.”
Yashiro ignored Hanako's teasing about her arriving late and might make her stay longer to make up for it. She grabbed all the cleaning supplies to start on the task. Had Hanako been acting strange? That question bounced off her head, yet it was hard to answer when Hanako was being… well, Hanako . Best thing she could do was ask directly.
"Hanako-kun?" The boy stops looking at the window to direct his gaze at her. "Is there anything bothering you?"
Hanako's expression went really still for a moment before his teasing smile was back. As Yashiro thought, it wasn't going to be easy to get her question answered. "Are you worried about me?" Hanako walked to her and pinched her cheeks. "You are so adorable, Yashiro."
Yashiro whined, trying to fend him off by sweeping at Hanako's feet, but he simply floated up with a chuckle. Taking it as a challenge, Yashiro swung the broom around trying to get him while Hanako laughed off her attempt by simply floating higher.
"Hey, I'm being serious!" The girl stomped her feet before continuing to clean furiously. Why did she get teased for worrying? Stupid Hanako!
"I don't even understand why you ask that." Hanako answered, puzzled. He floated down to Yashiro's eye level. She turned around as soon as he did, making him chortle. "I'm dead. What is there to worry about?"
She couldn't take the comment as a joke.. "Probably more than you let on!" Yashiro turned around sharply, her eyes meeting Hanako's surprised ones. Their faces were just barely some centimeters away. "We are friends, right? Why won't you tell me when something is worrying you?"
Hanako looked completely taken aback by Yashiro's sudden outburst. Speechless, he slowly processed what he had just been told and lowered his head, pulling his hat down to hide his expression away from Yashiro and the intensity of her eyes.
"It's…" Hanako attempted to say, clearly having difficulties to do so. His fingers gripped onto the hat a tad harder. He sighed. "I haven't touched a human being in a really long time… I know I don't have any sort of warmth although I can feel yours."
Yashiro was shocked and confused. Was this what had been worrying Hanako? His lack of warmth? She already told him she didn't mind, didn't she?
"I think it's nice," Hanako lifted the hat back to its normal position, his face looking positively flushed. "Ever since I got to hold your hands for the first time."
The girl could only stand there, looking astonished. It wasn't a new concept that Hanako had an honest and shy side, she just didn't expect this type of confession to come out of Hanako of all people. Her lips trembled.
Hanako's expression changed to one of nervousness and his immediate response was to laugh it off. "Did you believe that? As if I had the time to care about-"
" You idiot! " Yashiro tackled the spirit, making the tumble to the ground -Hanako had been too awestruck to catch her so they wouldn't fall. Yashiro felt tears welling in her eyes as she looked down at him. How long had he been living like that? Without feeling someone else's warmth?
"Yashiro?" Hanako was alarmed, raising his hands to try and grab her arms to comfort her, but his hands were caught mid air by Yashiro's. She slipped her fingers between his and sobbed under her breath.
"I should have noticed sooner…" Yashiro slowly leaned in, her head resting on his chest as the rest of her body was sprawled on top of him. She held his hands tighter. Hanako's breath hitched. Yashiro had no idea what had pushed her to do this, but… it didn't feel wrong. Comforting Hanako made her feel better overall. She didn't like seeing her friends suffer, even less for things that were easily fixable.
Hanako let out a resigned sound, but made no move to tell her off or push her. "Is it really fine?" Yashiro hummed in confirmation. "Okay." Hanako gripped Yashiro's hands back and closed his eyes. "Okay..." He exhaled heavily, but other than that he didn't dare move a muscle.
There was so much Yashiro had to discover about Hanako, but she was in no rush. If it meant she could keep helping him out. If it meant spending more time with Hanako.
"Yashiro," Hanako called softly, his eyes staring at the ceiling while his face remained looking red, a grin slowly curving his lips. "I can feel your breasts after a-"
She headbutted the ghost before he could finish that sentence, redder than she had ever been.
Clearly, Yashiro had to work with a handful of a boy.