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For an apparition like Hanako, time was a concept that lost its appeal in the neverending eternity he faced. But time had gained value in his meeting of his human friends, and Hanako couldn’t help but wish time would just slow itself down.
It had been a week since that fateful evening he had found Yashiro delirious on his bathroom floor, spread and violated and-
Hanako didn’t want to imagine the details anymore.
Their days had become very, very different. If Hanako himself was not directly beside Yashiro, Hakujoudai would remain diligently behind her, on orders to notify Hanako if ANY instances or issues were to happen. The kid had asked Hanako what had happened, why Senpai was acting so differently and distanced and sad. All he could tell him was to please, please stay with her whenever he had a chance to.
He couldn’t explain to Kou that Yashiro had been bound and assaulted in his own territory, had been assaulted for who knew how long until Hanako finally returned. That he had failed so explosively that Yashiro never would be the same again.
And she wasn’t, Yashiro had changed an awful lot since the incident. Hanako hadn’t asked her to come in for bathroom duty, though she had attempted to come in on her own anyways. He watched her from his window sill, watched as her thin, shaking hands clung to the door of his bathroom and she stared hauntedly at the floor beside his stall. Hakujoudai loomed above her, dutifully keeping watch. That day, Hanako had taken her gently into his arms, stroking along her head and allowing her to hide against his neck.
They went to the roof, Yashiro fairly quiet and Hanako unsure of what to even say.
The nicknames and teasing had stopped, Hanako didn’t have it in him or honestly feel as though she was in the right place to be teased for her ankles. He only softly called her Yashiro, their moments together serious and full of unanswered questions.
“Who did this, Yashiro?!”
The apparition pleaded as he held her face, wiping away the tears that seemed to leak out of her own eyes like a waterfall. She shook her head, a harsh sob escaping her lips and hands coming up to her bruised lips. He’d seen the outline faintly when he had first found her, but as time continued to pass the red marks swelled and darkened into light blue lines. A gag, he assumed.
“Please, Please…! I know it’s hard, but I need to know. I need to protect you! How can I get rid of the problem if I don’t even know what happened?”
And she continued to weep, hands uncoordinated and trembling as she tugged him closer, closer. His hat was knocked off in the process, but Hanako hardly noticed. Yashiro held his face, staring at him with those tormented eyes.
Hanako would kill her attacker, God would have to extend his punishment. It was worth it for Yashiro.
“H...Hana….ko….”
Her voice was croaky and weak, probably shot from the hours she must have been screaming for help.
Help Hanako didn’t give.
It would be unfair to say his eyes began leaking again, because Hanako was sure his crying never stopped. The anguish he felt was probably on par to the anguish he felt when he drove his knife through his brother’s torso, apologizing and hating himself for finally feeling free.
“I’m here, I’m here Yashiro. I’m so- so sorry…! I should have taken you to the meeting with me, I should have left Hakujoudai-”
Hanako could continue to list the could have beens, but it didn’t change the fact that he hadn’t.
“Hanako.”
She interrupted him, sniffling against the apparition’s neck. And he had silenced immediately so, his entire being focused on Yashiro Nene.
“Don’t let me go…! Please, don’t let me go…!”
And he hadn’t. Hanako had carried his assistant to the infirmary, sending Hakujoudai to find Tsuchigomori. Kou. Anyone who could actually get her help. He sat on the infirmary bed then, legs crossed and Yashiro bundled against him in the white, sterile sheets. His fingers stroked through her light locks, wiping sweat and grime from her forehead as her eyes never left his own.
When Tsuchigomori arrived, he looked stricken by the disheveled appearance of not only Yashiro, but Hanako himself. The apparition was a mess, cheeks blotchy and eyes swollen with sobs he still couldn’t contain.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Hanako croaked accusingly, sounded much smaller and more pitiful than Tsuchigomori could recollect him sounding since he’d been alive.
“Why Sensei?”
The human girl didn’t seem to display much attention to their discussion, looking uncomfortable but settled with her nose pressed in the nape of Hanako’s cold neck. Tsuchigomori wasn’t sure what he had expected to find when Hakujoudai frantically summoned him, forcing him to chase the orb through the halls and into the infirmary.
But Tsuchigomori was not a stupid man, and he had picked up on a few things upon first sight.
Yashiro was bundled against Yugi in those blankets, but one stray leg was still laid out, completely bare. Tear tracks slid down from her eyes to her temples, leaving damp spots against her head. Small marks and bruises were along her cheeks, ending next to her ear lobes. And eyes like those… Dead like those… Tsuchigomori had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
“I didn’t know.”
He promised, letting his shock subside and immediately rummaging through the medicine cabinet.
“This wasn’t in her book, this wasn’t recorded.”
And Hanako hissed, soothing those bruised cheeks with gentle touches of his fingers. The future had changed, and once again it was for the worst.
Tsuchigomori walked towards the two of them with two small pills, dropping them into Hanako’s awaiting palm.
“These should dull any pain she’s experiencing. They’ll make her sleep, however. I should call her parents, and I believe a police report is in order.”
“Don’t!”
Yashiro quipped, pawing at Hanako’s coat lapels anxiously.
“Yashiro?”
“They’re… not home… cruise.”
And Hanako felt furious. What kind of parents left their daughter all alone at home like that? He held her tighter, wishing more than ever he was alive so he could take her home, stay with her and keep her safe.
“We should still file a police report, if a student or a teacher did this they need to be reported and removed from the school.”
Tsuchigomori piped in, returning from the small sink with a glass of water so Hanako could reluctantly feed the medicine to his assistant.
Yashiro gulped the water greedily, slumping back in the safety of her friend’s arms.
“It wasn’t- It- he…”
And she whimpered, choking on her own thoughts.
“Apparition… An apparition! He- I-!”
Hanako cooed to his assistant, trying to calm the overwhelmed girl down.
“Shhh… Deep breaths, Yashiro. Take a minute and then tell us who did it. I promise it’ll be the last thing they do.”
But she didn’t calm down, instead she shook her head and whined nervously.
“I can’t! I can’t! Hanako- Hanako, save me-!”
And his dead heart broke, because he hadn’t saved her. Yashiro would be forever traumatized and tainted because he had failed to leave her with proper protection. He thought his territory was enough, but it wasn’t.
He wasn’t enough to protect her.
“I’m here, I’m here Yashiro.”
It took a bit for the girl to settle again, face hidden from view as she sobbed into the apparition’s shoulder. Hanako had thought his hate and self loathing couldn’t raise, but he was dead wrong. He blamed himself for Yashiro’s attack, hated himself for not stopping it. He’d promised them both he would protect her, that she would be okay.
What an evil liar he was.
No, Yashiro had never given him a name, any time it was mentioned she would be thrown into a frenzy. A panicked, whimpering frenzy. She would cry and beg Hanako to save her, and after a few experiences he just couldn’t bear to ask anymore. Not when she called and screamed for help she never got.
But it was killing him. Whoever did this was male, and was an apparition. Whoever did this had to have been a stronger apparition or wonder, something that had the ability to restrain her inside of his territory. He had ruled Tsuchigomori out instantly, Yashiro wouldn’t have been able to calm down if he had assaulted her… And he trusted the man more than anything, really.
But it left a few more options. It couldn’t be number one, at least not Akane-Kun. She was adamant that the police could not do anything, and Akane wasn’t dead. Number Six was possible, but he hadn’t made an appearance in years. Mitsuba-Kun was also an option as the new Number Three, but Hanako somewhat doubted he had it in him to assault a girl, assuming he didn’t necessarily like girls that way either was kind of fair with the attention he threw at Kou.
He, it was a he. Not the Mokke, not a female apparition. Hanako could only think of one apparition who seemed most probable, but the truth hurt far worse than he could have imagined. If it was Tsukasa…
Why?
He had pondered this for days, trying to coax the perpetrator from Yashiro’s lips without directly asking who it was. And she just… Didn’t tell him. Yashiro had been acting a bit more normal, he’d finally gotten to see a small, meek smile on her face as the three of them ate on the rooftop. Kou had been making lunch for Yashiro, Hanako regarded the kid with a heart of gold. She just didn’t seem to have the energy to make herself lunches, and Hanako didn’t have the means to provide food. Kou was bringing not only lunch, but snacks to tide her by. For someone who had not been informed of the terrible atrocity Yashiro had gone through, he was genuinely helpful.
Hanako would have to thank him.
But by the second week with no new knowledge and a permanently scarred Yashiro, Hanako couldn’t take it anymore. He waited until after the two had gone, walking both Kou and Yashiro to the gate and waving goodbye as the blond swore to walk her all the way home, adding in a whisper he would make sure she had a dinner going too.
He found himself in the Four O’Clock Library, standing before Tsuchigomori who was arranging a few books.
“I can’t tell you, Number 7. I have a feeling Yashiro doesn’t want you to know for a reason.”
“I need to know! Please Tsuchigomori-”
“And what would you do with that information?”
“I’ll end him.”
Tsuchigomori sighed, exasperated and running his hands through his hair.
“I don’t think I can tell you.”
Apparently, the fifth hadn’t realized how desperate Hanako had become to serve justice. Tsuchigomori gaped as Hanako fell to his knees, hat tossed to the side and forehead pressed into the ground.
“ Please Sensei, I can’t go on knowing I failed her and can’t do anything about it. Please!”
And perhaps the teacher took pity on his former student, feeling stricken with the display Hanako rarely offered him.
“Yugi…”
He knelt down, pulling Amane into his arms as the teenager wailed against his teacher.
“I failed her! I failed her Sensei! She was s-s’posed to do that with someone she loved! When she was ready! I can never forgive myself! I’m the worst!”
Amane wept, fingers tangled in Tsuchigomori’s coat. The spider cradled his former student, realizing Yugi had never been so emotional before, even during his life.
“It isn’t your fault, Yugi. None of us knew, none of us could have predicted this. It wasn’t… It wasn’t in her book, it shouldn’t have happened.”
But he knew by now there was only so much any of them could do. And if the truth would set his student free…
“Tsukasa. The book said Tsukasa.”
Tsuchigomori spent the rest of the day cradling Number Seven as he shrieked and wailed into him.