Chapter Text
Stately, the afterlife was quite. The afterlife was perfect.
The past doesn't matter, the future doesn't exist. There are only lonely souls in this endless oblivion, trying to escape, find a new meaning that they lost. But she knows better. There is no meaning now (that she, too, craves desperately to appear).
No purpose for curiously looking at everyone in here, wondering what they did in the past or who they were before. No purpose or what-so-ever for wondering what went wrong in her own life, imagining other paths that she could've chosen and got a happy ending that she deserved with her, oh, so charming prince on a white horse.
But Yashiro Nene is dead.
She was never truly alive, to begin with. She never had an opportunity to fully taste the depths of life at the age of fifteen, never really had gotten out of her small little city with her small group of friends as death chose her or perhaps, as she chose death.
God, she regrets so many things. It starts from not being born any unique than the others and finishes of not even getting a proper end. All of those innocent things that everyone could dream of, that she dreamed of.
Shame. Could God possibly forgive her? She heard that they forgive the souls with regrets.
(Could not get a first-ever kiss be a reasonable regret?)
The regret of killing your close one would be the most intense one, for sure. The sour pain from the realization of what you just did, being late to ask for forgiveness because the said person is completely gone but maybe even in the same space with other dead souls, with you, and the burn on your skin afterward strangely reminding the texture of a rope.
She completely forgot how painful it was.
However, she doesn't want to look pathetic in front of her creator as the bright light approaches her and she knows that afterlife is not perfect at all when allowed to leave this quiet place.
Incidentally, the toilet is not a better place but she doesn't complain.
Instead of mourning souls, she sees school kids. They are much brighter, so much more hopeful in building their future, so lively that she can't help but feel envy towards them. Yashiro wasn't depressed either, she was also cheerful, just unlucky.
There's a bigger similarity, however. They all don't know what will happen in the next seconds, days, weeks, and months and no one ever will.
All she wants to say is to take care and when she tries to approach them, she goes through them.
She's dead now. Oh god, she's dead…
Honorable No.7, they call her that. She has to come to terms that Yashiro Nene is not only dead but completely doesn't exist anymore, too, as if she never did in the first place. Humanity won't ever remember anyone's name.
Humanity will remember only the rumors. The school kids will tell each other the story of a lonely boy in the girls' bathroom that craves for murder. It will continue to go from one source to another, changing its origin a bit but never the essence.
Well, she never really wanted the public's fear but she can easily take it as some sort of respect.
And she can still exist by fitting into those stories, right? Time to pull a knife then, she thought, as she heard someone's knock on the door.
"Hanako-san, Hanako-san, are you there?"
Ah, another kid trying to fulfill their wishes, she sees. Usually, it would vary from different classes and almost all of them want to prove that the rumors were wrong all along because who would actually in their right mind go to the ruthless ghost just for the sake of a selfish desire?
But this kid stayed quiet and waited for a real response. Well seems like she doesn't have a choice then.
When the kid impatiently opens the third stall, she playfully appears behind, waiting for a kid to turn around. The boy doesn't seem to notice the presence at first and assumingly disappointed, decides to go back to class as he hears snicker.
"You summoned me?"
The boy stares at her with wide eyes for a second and then went back to silence, just watching as if analyzing the situation he was in but not even afraid of it at all.
This is odd. She scared a good amount of students trying to kick them out of stalls for disturbing her for such ridiculous purposes but this one seemed serious enough.
She practically leans on a boy and he tries to get away from her because she was so close, the cold presence, despite her cheery expression, follows.
"What's the matter with you?" she says, smiling widely as the boy continues to back off till he is fully against the wall and there's no escape anymore.
"Are you a ghost?" he asks, having a good look on her now and noticing that he can see right through her profile.
She only snickers again at the silly question as she tries to introduce herself properly:
"I'm many things," she said. "But I prefer when they call me the seventh of the seven wonders of the school: Hanako-san the bathroom ghost!"
Her eyes glimmers as she hovers above the ground, landing near the windowsill where the sunset reflects on her body, reminding that the school lessons are over and students should be at home by now instead of challenging some rumor.
That's how it always went. They come, they leave. Not even all of them could see her but when they did, they would be dead soon anyway.
(She wonders how would specifically die this boy as she images any possible scenarios ever.)
"Nice to meet you," she said, smiling innocently despite her current thoughts.
The silence was her routine but when there's a boy that intensely watches her like that especially when she's not so used to having guests her smile becomes more nervous.
"Well it makes more sense now that you're not some perverted boy ghost that lives in girls' bathroom as I thought," he said. "I mean, I'm delighted to meet you too."
And then he also smiles, almost mimicking her, almost as if teasing her for every gesture she did. For the first time in a long while she blushes, clearly embarrassed now and trying to avoid the boy's gaze.
"What's the matter, the seventh of the seven wonders? Not used to having contact with male human beings or just humans in general?"
At that moment she wants to slam him in the head so hard but restrains herself before the urge becomes irresistible. And it's not like she could've touched him no matter how she wanted to.
"Be quiet, mortal. I liked you better when you weren't talking," she said, clearly disappointed and losing interest in this boy immediately and turning back to the toilet stall.
"Wait, I have a wish!" he says in a hurry. Well looked like the boy was looking for her (or a granted wish, to be precise).
No.7 doesn't fully turn her body towards the kid but curiously tilts her head waiting for a response, giving whole attention.
"I have a wish," he repeats. "I don't care about the price, just..."
The boy suddenly becomes shyer, more vulnerable. The surprising change in boy's attitude that just bantered with her without any hesitation a moment ago surely takes No.7 aback.
"Please," he says, bowing in the process, starting to plead. "I would be so grateful if you even consider my request. If that's too much to ask and you decide to turn me down I'll understand."
She looks at the boy in front of her and she knew that there was something wrong with him. Never in her afterlife (or even life, in general), the wrong felt so right, though.
Most people never ask they take. But it is not that bad as it sounds. The No.7 never had a hard time accepting it, it was natural and she was a human a long ago so she could easily reason it. That's only fair that she gets something important from them in return.
But it doesn't mean that she didn't feel truly special at such a kind moment as she blushed fiercely.
But it doesn't mean that she's going easy on him either, ha.
"Slow down there. What exactly do you mean by feeling that way?" she says. "It is hard to tell when you put it like that, you know."
She slowly lifts herself off the windowsill, heading to the boy's side, making circles as she continues:
"Do you want to be popular in the entire school and hit another success in your whole life? Do you want to find a love of your life?" she tells, watching the boy blush. "Or perhaps, you want to have immortality?"
Now she's not being honest. If she could grant any wishes she wouldn't be there in the girl's bathroom all alone, waiting for anyone to come. The greatest immortality is unavailable even for the most powerful ghosts that can exist so she's out of the question.
But the boy was truly special and she can't let him out of the hook she put him on now by the look on his face.
It was slightly tilted, even frowned at the mention of the last offer. He was focused now that he knows that the real ghost was standing in front of him and was ready to do whatever he says.
That comes with a price. A price that is important to him.
But he was prepared. He was thinking back and forth before coming here considering the situation when Hanako-san wouldn't appear, keep being just a rumor.
But it's not. It's not a rumor.
Things become more serious and he becomes more nervous, starting to sweat. Will Hanako-san kill him if he declines the offer and just ran off without looking back?
Instead, he swallows and pulls himself together, trying to look like it from outside, at least. But he couldn't lie to himself and his insides were shaking.
Well, he wanted it after all. There's no turning back.
"I want to feel different. I want this odd feeling of an endless cycle to go away, I want, I w-want— "
No.7 shakes her head, gently puts her pointing finger at his lips, imitating the gesture that she physically can't pull out but making the message clear. The boy immediately shuts up, watching as the girl lands on the ground and walks towards a mirror on the wall.
"My job is to fulfill all-comers' dreams but it doesn't mean that choosing the most appropriate one and forming it the right way is an easy task for those people," she tells, the mirror doesn't reflect her silhouette but the kid's concerned face. "You might have a direction however it's only the half of a deal. Do you want me to help you with the rest?"
Her grin was almost mischief like there was something that she was hiding from him. It only made the boy more anxious, watching Hanako-san draw unknown symbols on a said mirror as the atmosphere in the girls' bathroom turns tense. He opens his mouth to say something when the ground under them starts to shake hard.
"Well, well, do you still deal with those foolish creatures? Stop resisting and serve me already, don't waste your own time, dear!"
They both look around, trying to discover where did exactly the sound come from when the ground started to crush and open up as the creature with a face of a fish crawl beneath it, coming out of a bathroom floor.
The creature was too big for a small space like a bathroom so Hanako-san had to shield the boy with her body.
Indeed, ghosts can't physically touch mortals unless they are bound but they still can affect them in any harmful way possible if they want to. While No.7 wouldn't even dare to do this she was sure that The Mermaid could pull this off, to provoke her.
The boy was just unlucky to be here, in this exact time, in this exact place which makes her hopelessly laugh when she pushes him through the mirror where she managed to open a portal to another space. She had a gut feeling before that, sensing something coming to her domain.
Something like this ridiculously big fish that should leave her alone and know its place if she doesn't want to become sushi, she thought when she pulls her sharp knife.
Being practically kicked in the mirror by a bathroom ghost who was currently fighting with a big fish wasn't something that was in Amane's schedule today but then again, he did want to meet the school's most spoken rumor. The seventh wonder, a girls' bathroom demon in the third stall.
It is a demon that is currently fighting so impressively against an opponent with a knife that was alluringly shining in the dark stalls in the moments of a heated scene. Her face was determined with her smooth moves as she dodges the sea creature, finally making her last motion by dragging the weapon under mermaid's scales.
Amane can see everything. The mirror that he was looking through reveals the scene in front of him, its glass the only burden that helps him from not getting dragged in the show.
He can feel his breath hitch as Hanako-san turns around and their gazes met. She was smiling now reassuringly, before confidently walking towards the mirror, towards Amane.
As she appears in the room she immediately straightens her slightly wrinkled by the fight, dress, and kneels before Amane who didn't manage to stand up, still mesmerized.
No.7 innocently stares at the boy as she spoke:
"Sorry for what just happened without a warning," she said, her tone voice was so careless as if she wasn't fighting with another ghost seconds ago.
"And where are we?" the boy asked with concern.
Now that he had a good look at it, he was in another room which was not a bathroom. It was like another dimension, another universe with its own rules. There was a cryptic aura in the air that was beckoning to go deeper to its spider web until it gets dangerous.
"I call it The Mirror Domains," she said motioning towards the said object. "And this is the only entry you'll get to see."
Amane wasn't amused when she simply beams.
"I usually keep some things here when I don't have space. The bathroom is painfully small sometimes and this closet helps!"
Amane wanted to argue that this place is too big to be considered as just the closet but decided not to as the girl continued again:
"I'm not sure if this area belongs to anyone but as long as no one ever said otherwise, guess it's a state free then and I was lucky enough to stumble across it."
She didn't want to confess that the closet of her had an incredibly powerful spirit that can be even considered as one of The Seven Wonders' spot and that the boy can also die from it if he stays for too long.
Guess she just had to hurry to show the boy the reason she pulled him in till that would happen.
"Who was that fish?" he asked, already having guesses before the answer would come.
"The Mermaid," she said, her voice is stern, her face darkened with a hint of anger that made the boy flinch a bit.
The silence settled as the boy didn't ask further noticing that Hanako-san tensed. She started walking past the walls of this place, going more distant into the darkness and the boy followed after.
The count of fascinating but pointless things here was impressive. There are a lot of colorful potions, voodoo dolls, and old books with a promise of magic.
But what caught Amane's eye were mermaid scales.
Hanako-san was trying to find something among this chaos while recklessly throwing every object she held. No wonder Amane was intrigued when the scales were the only things that she gently put on the table in the middle of a room.
Scales were so shiny, almost seemed enchanted. It has to be mermaid's scales than just a regular fish's, he reasoned.
Hanako-san only hummed in agreement when he asked.
"You seem to have a history with them," he stated pointing at them. Hanako-san ceased a bit.
"Well you seem solidly curious," she said. "Ugh, curiosity killed the cat, did you hear?"
She didn't even look at him to stare annoyingly, she doesn't even seem so. It wasn't as if her first time being asked about it.
Nevertheless, Amane is a really curious kid and he sometimes hated himself for it. He was starting to feel bad for crossing the line and was about to apologize—
"Whoever uses these scales will have bound strong enough to link across the border between this life and the next. They will share every curse, every blessing, even power despite their differences."
"The scales even may change their fates to bind them. Isn't it romantic?"
Amane watches as the girl starts to have a dreamy gleam in her eyes while having a goofy expression when she turns around to look at him. But then her smile falls.
"You can take it if you want. I had a lot of memories about it but now that I don't need it I see no point anymore," she said, looking back again.
Sensing she won't tell further Amane hesitantly grip the scales to shyly study them as Hanako-san comes back.
"Ta-da!" she exclaimed taking the kettle from behind and settling it on the table. She started to prepare for the small tea party that would happen unexpectedly but not unpleasantly. It's the first time in a long while that she had a companion after all. She patted on the seat next to her, grinning in the processes, inviting the boy to join her.
And the boy did.
"I can tell you were timid and I would say that it's not the best moments to ask for wishes," she stated as the boy sat near her who examined the cup before taking a gulp. "So I thought we had to think over to come to a better understanding."
"Thank you for spending your magic on this tea only to pacify me," he smirked, truly touched, leaning his head on his hand and elbowing the ground of a table. The girl stared in confusion. "E-eh?"
Amane also appeared to be surprised. They stared at each other awkwardly before Hanako-san started to laugh very loudly, even attempting to cover her mouth.
"Why do I need magic when I have my powers?" she wipes the tears that showed up in the corners of her eyes. Then she slowly stands up, getting closer to the boy until their noses were touching. Her gaze made Amane stick in his seat as if fully paralyzed. "And in order for me to use them you'll have to tell about yourself first."
It was her eyes. Her eyes were completely red.
She again tries to imitate the movement of cupping his face with her hands, making them lock gapes almost forming a connection.
"Amane," he said flustered. "I'm Yugi Amane."
No.7 only blinks before pulling back and getting to her seat. The tea has already cooled down but No.7 only nodded to encourage the boy to carry on:
"I feel like I'm missing something in my life. Will you help me find a purpose?"
Yashiro Nene died young, inexperienced, she didn't manage to fulfill her dreams before it. She wasn't able to find it when she was alive how is she going to pull this out now?
Something inside of her cracked hard.
"The purpose is a very controversial concept," she says. "Are you sure you tried everything beforehand to answer your question? Did you consider getting real help instead of going to some evil spirit of the bathroom?"
Her childish snicker fills the air again. Then she chokes from surprise when she hears the boy join her.
"Yeah, this is so ridiculous," he says a bit out of breath. "I remember trying to get prepared before I would even know that you do exist at all. My brother also looked weird at me as I was rehearsing my words that I would tell you today. But funny that I didn't even cope to use any of them."
"Oh, here! I think I still have them," he says before jolting his hand to his pocket and withdrawing little cards.
The cards were perfectly symmetrical, having Amane's neat handwriting on it. The only thing that was destroying the idyll was doodles in the corner of the paper.
Yashiro thought it was cute.
Amane noticed doodles too. He blushed a bit trying to explain:
"Sorry, I couldn't resist. The classes I've been writing this were boring and these papers were sinfully blank!"
"This is the Big Dipper," he tells. "It's a large asterism which contains seven bright stars. It often gets mistaken as a constellation but it's not. It's itself a part of other constellations named Ursa Major. It's amazing, isn't it?"
"Each of the stars is important to form the Big Dipper. They have different magnitude, distance. But despite even that, they have one goal and they stay in harmony every time."
She sees how his eyes gleam and his spirit shines brightly as the atmosphere revolves into a light friendly one.
"You like the stars? Isn't it a purpose or a start of it at least?"
The boy wasn't quick with an answer. "It was a purpose. But I lost it."
She had interests too. Listening to others to talk about theirs with so much energy is her weakness.
So she asked. The boy enthusiastically obliged talking about stars and slowly changing it to the general astronomy theme while collecting Hanako's scales as they strangely start to fall, soon enough having a full pile and setting them in his pocket.
She didn't mind. It happens pretty often, she means.
She only wants to stay on this subject as long as possible as she felt somewhat uncanny. Something inside of her was changing until it caused pain. She felt weaker by a second as she started to cough.
With blood.
Amane panicked as he saw that and offered himself as support when Hanako-san almost fell. She was still coughing and it didn't seem to go away.
Hanako-san didn't even know what happened to her when the boy started to ask a tone of questions. Everything was spinning around her and she was feeling like that the first-ever time.
She felt truly scared when the walls started to crash too.
She didn't even notice how Amane started to search for something in his pocket as he pulled the scales.
"You said that these scales would bind anyone and they would share anything they have, right?" he asked.
"Yes, I said so. But it's not the time to ask silly questions," she said.
Hanako-san slowly started to draw marks on a near mirror again.
"I might be weak to escape now but worry not because you have to go," she said, smiling, pushing Amane near to the opened portal. "The portal between two dimensions is hard to pull out especially when one of them doesn't fully even belong to you so everything is trying hard to resist you," she says.
"In the current state that I'm in, I can't even make both of us exit this place so if I have to choose one of us it has to be you."
"I apologize for causing so many troubles and not even giving what you came for. I just can't let you go die now because of me," she said with a bitter smile which turned to a smirk quickly. "Or your misfortune like I can assume."
She pushed him again but the boy just stopped before he could quit.
"No. I won't leave you here," he said with determination. It was so ridiculous, dammit. She ignored his protests as she didn't stop pushing.
"Save yourself, sweetie. I already caused so much trouble just from being close to you."
Amane only sighed when No.7 noticed the scales.
It was too late. He had already gulped it.
"Hanako-san, I have a wish," he says calmly. "I wish you to swallow the second scale as well." What a crazy kid. Well if that was what he wanted then be it, she thought before gulping the scale as well, feeling the tight embrace of Amane around her waist (who never let go of the remaining scales) when they pushed off the ground towards the barrier of a mirror.
He hears another snicker as they return.
She was standing above him, amusingly staring at Amane who was lying on the floor after such a rough land in a huge comparison with Hanako-san while she landed lightly, almost graciously (quickly recovered, recalling something about feeling better in her place).
"Now, now. What do we have here?" she said. "Let me remind you. You had received a debt from me." Amane looked in fear even now that he had recalled it. He did say that he didn't care about the price, didn't he?
Hanako-san started to walk to the boy's side. This time he didn't back away but stayed still waiting for his new requirements.
Eh? Was she chuckling again?
"Unfortunately, you're not my type," she said looking at his face. The boy is cute but too short. "But you're fun to spend time with. I think I'll give you the chance of being my assistant, Amane." Well considering they are bound now this might be the only decent option.
"I mean, I can't believe you just swallowed that scale so easily! You're insane."
The boy looked up from the floor when he felt the smack on his head. "Don't do that again without my consent, dummy! You'll give me a heart attack."
He groans in pain because the hit was pretty hard. She's not supposed to be able to touch him. "We share bound now, therefore, the least you could do is to be gentle with me the next time, you dirty ghost."
"What did you just call me?!" The bathroom then was filled with the sound of two bodies' drop when Hanako-san tries to chase Amane and they both sink into the floor. She looks at him calmly as if examining so Amane could only blush under that leer.
"And at least you could do is to treat me with respect since I granted an additional wish of yours." The boy raises his head in surprise fully confused. "You did say that you wanted a purpose, didn't you? Is being my assistant not enough for you?"
Her hands then trace over his shoulders as she carries them forward stopping over his heart. They stayed there a bit longer before grasping Amane's hands with her own and pulling out the scales from his pocket.
"This would be your payment for your job. I think one scale is not a bad start, don't you agree?" she takes one of the scales from the pile and hands it back to Amane.
"Scales are incredibly expensive. Try not to lose the only scale you have before I would decide to bring you along somewhere else."
The moon reflects its light on her beautifully as she speaks reminding them both that it's time to leave. "But that's too early to say right now so don't make me regret it, sweetie," she says. "See you tomorrow."
She beams happily last time before disappearing completely.
The boy was now keeping his focus on the scales that were also glimmering in the darkness, being another source of light beside the moon. He still appeared in deep thoughts when he was leaving the bathroom, already hearing someone calling his name and feeling the big squeeze from behind, Amane knowing who it was without looking.
"Where were you? I was looking for you everywhere!" he exclaimed. "Amane, don't tell you were in the girls' bathroom all along?!"
Amane coughs out of perturbation.
"Tsukasa, I'm not some pervert! What do you think I would even do there?"
"Hm, I'm not sure. Perhaps checking on the seventh rumor of the school that I told you about?" he says smiling widely, getting off of his brother. Amane tenses a lot. Tsukasa stayed behind his brother so Amane couldn't see him.
"That's absurd," he says with a quiet voice. "Don't be silly. Everyone knows that rumors are not even real."
Tsukasa seemed to buy it since he noticed what his brother was hiding. "Oh, gimme!" He tries to hold a grasp on it when Amane attempts to stop him. They stay in place in a comical pose: Tsukasa stretching his hand towards the scale as Amane lightly pushes him backward, his hand high in the air.
Tsukasa backed off then. He didn't ask further.
Tsukasa would usually whine until he gets what he wants. Of course, Amane was suspicious when he remained calm, adding a small “fine” then heading to the exit of Kamome Academy.
“The last one who leaves the school will have to make an excuse and take the entire fault for staying here up late then!” he says, already running fast past school walls.
Dammit, Tsukasa!
The lonely figure from the girls’ bathroom watches them compete as Amane darts away.