Chapter Text
The bell rang, signaling the first period of Kamome Gakuen. All students quickly rushed to their respective classrooms, wanting nothing more than no reprimands from their teachers. As the students in Class 3-A chatted with each other and slacked off before the arrival of their homeroom teacher, a girl with purple hair in a loop-like hairstyle leaned over to a certain girl with daikon-like legs. "Hey, Nene-chan, have you heard?" Akane Aoi whispered in excitement to her best friend.
"Heard what?" Yashiro Nene asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We're apparently going to have a transfer student today! In our class!" The purple-haired girl gushed, her eyes sparkling with delight. "I heard they were a foreigner!"
That sparked Yashiro's interest. "A foreigner? Here? Really?? Which country are they from?" She fired question after question at her friend. What a pleasant surprise! A foreigner in their school? Practically unheard of, but exciting and pleasant news, indeed. Yashiro couldn't wait to befriend them! She has never met a person from another country before.
"Okay, I haven't managed to get that info yet," Aoi sighed, her shoulders drooping. "But I did say we would meet them today!" With that, both Yashiro and Aoi beamed at each other, excited to meet the transfer student.
The sound of approaching footsteps silenced the students, and the door slid open to reveal their homeroom teacher who sighed tiredly at the sight of his students eager and bored at the same time. He walked over to the teacher's table and laid his teaching materials on it, letting out another sigh. The action made some of the students shift uncomfortably. They wondered why their teacher seemed so tired today.
God, I'm so tired... I can't believe I binge watched all three seasons of The Good Place, and now I'm getting this news of a fourth season? Christ, I'm tired. He thought in exhaustion. Can Chidi and Eleanor please get together already? He gave out one more sigh, his shoulders drooping. "Sorry about that, class. Good morning." But is it really good...? Sigh.
The class greeted him half-heartedly. "Today, we have a new transfer student joining our class for this school year. Eh, de los Santos y Bal...? Bal-Baltazar-san, you may come in and introduce yourself," he cussed under his breath for tripping over his pronounciation. Oh, come on! He practiced pronouncing the transfer student's name like crazy all day yesterday!
A hand appeared on the door, causing the interested eyes of the students to stare at it. It was a darker skin color than theirs. That sparked the students' interest even more. A small girl slowly walked into the classroom, arousing quiet gasps and whispers from the class. Her dark brown eyes shifted nervously from corner to corner, as she fidgeted with her black seifuku blouse. She felt so embarrassed and nervous that her eyeglasses were beginning to fog up a little. God, please give me the strength to overcome this, she quickly prayed in her mind. She felt like she was sweating bullets. Oh, man, hopefully there wouldn't be any sweat stains. Just don't lift your arms for a while, Emma! "Um, Baltazar-san?" Shit! Did the teacher just speak? "You can introduce yourself now." Ooogh...! Say something! She bit her lip, clenching the edges of her blouse in her fists.
"H-hello. I-I'm a transfer student from the Philippines. M-my name is Emmanuel de los Santos y Baltazar," she stammered, feeling sweat muster on her forehead. "But you can call me Baltazar! Or, Emma! My last name is pretty long so you can just call me Baltazar. Or! Y'know... Emma, aha." Lord Almighty, she sure is sweating buckets right now. "Um! I hope we can all be friends! Please take care of me!" After her rambling, she quickly bowed so low, she felt like she was about to break her back. Silence enclosed the room, making the poor girl sweat even more and think of so many anxiety-ridden scenarios.
The teacher felt sympathy for the transfer student and immediately cleared his throat, flashing her a smile. "Well, I hope you all treat her nicely, you hear?" That made all the students reply with a loud 'yes', which relieved some of Emma's anxiety. She stood back up again, releasing a strained breath she didn't realize she was holding and tucking a stray curl of her hair behind her ear. "Great. Alright, Baltazar-san, you may sit beside... hmm. Ah! You may sit beside Yashiro-san at the back. Yashiro-san, please raise your hand," the teacher announced. Yashiro raised her right hand, catching the attention of the transfer student. "Ah, yes. There she is. You'll sit beside her."
"Ah...! Thank you, sensei," Emma bowed again to her teacher, causing him to chuckle and shake his head dismissively. "No need to thank me, Baltazar-san," he told her, turning to prepare for his daily announcements to the class. Emma walked to her seat beside Yashiro and took out her notebook and pencil case from her school issued bag.
"Hello," a gentle voice from her left made her look at the speaker. "I'm Yashiro Nene! It's nice to meet you." The pale-haired girl gave a closed eye smile, easing the transfer student's doubts. "We'll be neighbors for the whole school year, so... let's be friends!" Emma thought her neighbor's smile was as bright as the sun. It was also contagious, since a smile formed on her own face. She noticed that Yashiro's aura was like a radiant sunshine, not overly hot, not overly little. She was like a calming summer day. It felt nice, like she could stay relaxed under the sun for days on end. Emma felt like she could trust Yashiro, based on her actions and her aura.
"Hello! I kinda just introduced myself already, but I'm- well—you can call me Emma," she quietly giggled, before realizing something. "O-oh! But if you don't want to, that's okay! I almost forgot about the first name basis thing!"
"Oh, no, it's okay! I'll call you Emma-chan, if it's alright," Yashiro beamed at her new friend. "You can call me Nene-chan too!"
The softheartedness of her neighbor caused Emma to stop doubting the friendliness of her classmates for a while and smile at Yashiro. "Thanks, Nene-chan," she said happily. She was glad she found such a wonderful person and befriended them!
Same went for Yashiro. She was happy to have befriended the transfer student and vowed to help her out as much as she could in her mind. "Don't hesitate to ask me about anything, okay, Emma-chan? If anything's confusing or hard to understand, please come to me!" She told Emma with a firm nod and bright smile, jabbing her thumb at her chest to gesture to herself. "I want to help you!"
Wow, what a kind girl, Emma thought, feeling she was about to tear up a little at the gesture. "Okay! Thanks, Nene-chan!" She beamed.
Both of them had a feeling that this would be the start of a great friendship.
Emma sighed in content, reminscing the day she met her best friend and partner in crime, Yashiro Nene. It's been a year since then. I can't believe we're still classmates now. In first year high school no less! Maybe it's fate! She leaned on her left hand, basking in the late afternoon sunlight. "Emma-chan! Aoi-chan has something to tell us!" The voice of Yashiro bounced off the walls of the classroom, as said girl stepped in the almost abandoned classroom. "Oh, everyone left already." She noted, looking around the room, as she walked over to her best friend. "Emma-chan! I have something to tell you and Nene-chan!" Aoi beamed, stepping in the room.
The dark-skinned beauty chuckled and turned her head to look at her two friends. "Hey, Nene-chan, Aoi-chan. What's the scoop?" She shifted her position, leaning forward on the back of her chair, as Aoi sat in the table behind Emma's and Yashiro stood near the both of them. Aoi leaned in real close, like she was about to share some interesting gossip. "Okay, so apparently, there's a ghost that haunts the girls' bathroom on the third floor in the old school building. That's Hanako-san of the Toilet!" Emma rested her head on the palm of her hand, humming in response to what Aoi was saying. "If you knock on the third stall thrice and call out her name twice and ask, 'Are you in there?', she'll appear and grant you a wish! However, she'll take something precious from you as payment!"
"Huh," Emma replied, raising both of her eyebrows in curiosity. "Is she that popular around here?"
"Yeah! She's the seventh school mystery!" Aoi confirmed, her eyes sparkling with interest.
"E-Emma-chan..." The quivering voice of Yashiro caught both girls' attention. "Are you—are you thinking of summoning her?" Yashiro seemed a little bit pale, and she was shaking ever so slightly. Nene-chan must be spooked from the rumor, Emma noted in her mind, her eyebrows furrowed. "No, not really. Unless you want to, Nene-chan?" She tilted her head to the side questioningly, her braids swishing along with the sudden movement.
Yashiro laughed nervously, looking away and perspiring a little. "No! I mean, maybe? I don't know... I have a wish, but I'm... kinda scared," she mumbled the last part, looking down at her daikon-like legs. Her eyes darted from her legs and to Emma and so on and so forth, like she wanted something from her. Emma gave her a forced smile. So she wants me to summon her instead? She sighed and stood up from her chair, placing her hands on her hips. "Okay, Nene-chan! I'll summon Hanako-san with you," she said, giving her scared friend a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.
Yashiro practically brightened at that. She immediately hugged her friend tightly. "Yay! Thank you, Emma-chan!" She squealed, joyful she didn't have to go through something scary alone. For some reason, Emma's presence always made her feel at ease.
"Oh! It's getting pretty late. I better go home now. See you guys tomorrow!" Aoi bid the two girls goodbye, as she picked up her school bag.
"Bye, Aoi-chan!" The two girls, who were still in an embrace, exclaimed in unison.
With a wave from Aoi, she left the room.
"Okay! Time to summon a ghost!" Emma said in mild excitement, pulling away from the hug and grabbing both of their bags. "You ready, babe?" Emma offered Yashiro's bag to her, as she slung hers on her shoulder.
Filled with absolute dread, Yashiro gulped and took her bag from her friend, nodding and smiling crookedly. "Ready as I'll ever be."
The two girls stood uncomfortably in front of the third stall of the girls' bathroom in the old school building. They stared at the stall door like it was about to jumpscare them. "Well, here goes nothing..." Emma lifted her fist and knocked thrice on the door. She cleared her throat, opening her mouth to say the words used to summon Hanako-san.
"Hanako-san, Hanako-san, are you in there?"
A few minutes passed, and there was no sign of any supernatural happenings occurring. Emma sighed, turning to look at Yashiro, who was hiding behind her back in fear and uncertainty. "Nene-chan, I don't think the rumor's real. It could just be a prank or fake news for all we know," she told her afraid best friend, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Who're you calling fake news, hm?" A whisper of a boy's voice breathed into Emma's ear, causing her to squeak in surprise and quickly turn around, immediately going into a fighting stance.
There stood—rather, floated—a boy wearing a gakuran and matching hat, as well as a mischievous smirk. Two ghostly orbs hovered on both sides of him. His amber eyes practically stared into her soul. How could she have missed him? She should have been able to sense his presence. The boy had a peculiar aura, she noted. His aura was like the moonlight, the opposite of Yashiro's aura. Unlike Yashiro's sunshine-like aura, his moonlight was not as bright as hers, and it was dimming at times, like he's forgotten how to be who he was. Additionally, his aura had a melancholic yet longing vibe, a complete contrast to how he acted just now. His aura made Emma feel a bit sad and sympathetic. She doesn't think he would ever hurt the two of them, no matter what he seems, based on his aura. She slowly dropped her fighting stance.
"Holy shit. A ghost," Emma stated the obvious, her eyes wide. Wait—he? She was a little late to process everything, but Hanako was a guy?? Was the rumor mixed up with another rumor?
"Hey now, pretty girls shouldn't swear!" The very unnecessarily handsome apparition playfully scolded, that mischievous smile still present on his face. If anything, his smile widened a bit, as if she was amusing to him.
"Holy shit. A sexist ghost."
At that statement, the apparition let out a laugh. "You're pretty funny, huh?" He gave her That Damned Smile and began floating towards her, causing her and Yashiro to walk backwards away from him.
Emma felt like panicking a little at the increasing proximity between them, her cheeks gaining a pink hue. Oh, hell no, is she blushing because of some unnecessarily handsome ghost. "Dude, ever heard of personal space?" she quipped, swallowing nervously. She protectively had her arms blocking any way to Yashiro, who clung to her friend's back and stared at the apparition in fear. We had an actual ghost haunting the school?! Yashiro thought.
"What's personal space?" The boy responded with a sly smile, floating even closer with his hands behind his back. Dude thinks he's so smart, Emma grumbled in her mind. Yashiro felt her back touch the cool material of the bathroom wall and yelped, tugging a little tighter on her friend's seifuku. Emma realized they were trapped in a dead end. Shit, how does one escape a ghost again? Ugh! If only I remembered my lessons with the Minamotos! She continued to glare at the too-handsome-to-be-alive apparition who was ever so slightly coming closer towards them.
He became close enough that Emma could see the specks of red in his amber eyes. Damn, they're really pretty. Wait, focus, Emma! She thought, her cheeks tainted a darker pink. He floated so close that if he were still alive, their breaths could have collided and mixed together. Emma tried to lean her head back, but Yashiro was behind her, so she couldn't even lean a centimeter back without hitting Yashiro's face. With each non-existent step the apparition was taking, his lips inched near hers, and—his head phased through hers. Emma could feel her head drop in temperature from his head phasing through.
Silence fell on the three of them.
Well, that was anticlimactic.
He leaned his head back and floated a few feet away from the two girls. "Just kidding!" He laughed, sticking out his tongue and doing freaking jazz hands. "You thought I was going to kiss you! I can't even touch you!" He just kept laughing. Emma and Yashiro moved away from the wall and kept silent.
"You two are a riot!" The apparition let out the last of his laughter, wiping away an imaginary tear from his eye.
"We're leaving," was the stone cold response from Emma, as she grabbed Yashiro's hand and began to walk towards the bathroom door. Even if he has such an aura, that doesn't mean she'll accept tricks made for the heart like this! And no, that doesn't mean she kind of likes him! Charming bastard, she growled mentally.
"Wait, wait!" That got the apparition moving, as he zoomed in front of the two girls, spreading his arms wide as if to block them from exiting. "Don't you two have a wish you want granted?"
"As if we want some ghost who thinks he's hot shit to grant our wishes," Emma grumbled, glaring poisoned daggers at him. Said ghost felt a little scared. If looks could kill, he thought nervously. I'm already dead and I think she might kill me!
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry about that! It was just a little joke! I won't do that again, okay? So, please tell me your wishes!" He immediately brought a notebook and a pen, eager to list down their wishes. "What're your names?"
"You haven't introduced yourself, you know," Emma countered.
He blinked twice before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh, silly me, I completely forgot! I'm Hanako-san of the Toilet," Hanako smiled at the two girls. "You probably heard I was a girl, but I'm actually a boy. You can call me Hanako-kun, if you want! So, what're your names?"
Emma furrowed her eyebrows, still unsure of what to think of this guy and if he'll pull something like that again. Yashiro peeked from behind her friend and blinked at the apparition. "I-I'm Yashiro Nene! And this is Emma! Both Class 1-A!" She chimed, slowly moving from behind Emma and standing beside her instead.
"No last name?" Hanako tilted his head a little to the side quizzically, raising an eyebrow.
"Her/My last name is too long to say," the two girls said in unison, like they've explained this a thousand times. The exasperation on both their faces said everything.
"Oh, really? I want to hear it!" Hanako grinned with interest, leaning a little bit forward to listen closely. Yashiro and Emma glanced at each other in uncertainty. Well, he did ask for it. Emma sighed. "My full name is Emmanuel de los Santos y Baltazar," she recited simply, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Hanako blinked a couple of times, digesting her long, full name. "Wow! That really is long! Wait, how do you spell Baltazar? And Emmanuel? Okay, maybe I need help spelling everything," he chuckled, butchering the pronounciation of the girl's name.
After the two girls taught him how to spell Emma's name in katakana, he nodded and scribbled their names down on his notebook. "Alrighty! What're your wishes?" He stared at them, waiting.
Yashiro glanced at her friend, who gave her a smile that said 'go-ahead' and a nod. She turned to look at the apparition. "I want my crush to like me back!" She announced, her cheeks resembling the color of a tomato.
"Oh~ Interesting. Another love-related wish! Fantastic! Who's the guy?" Hanako asked, scribbling down Requited Love beside the words Yashiro Nene's Wish. He wrote down a postscript underneath saying 'What is up with humans and their love lives?'. He stifled a chuckle at his own funny comeback, causing Emma to raise an eyebrow slightly at him.
"Minamoto-senpai! Look! Isn't he so handsome? Like a prince!" Yashiro gushed, bringing out her phone and showing the boy a picture of the school's heartthrob. Emma deadpanned at her best friend's fangirling. "I still don't really get why everybody's googoo gaga over this guy," she sighed, shaking her head and folding her arms over her chest.
Yashiro gave Emma the side eye. "That's because he accidentally spilled juice over you that one time, and you haven't forgiven him since," she said.
"His apology didn't seem genuine, Nene-chan! And is it really my fault I don't see him as this number one hot man?" Emma scrunched up her nose.
"It just means your type is on a whole different level, Emma-chan," Yashiro sighed, tucking her phone back in her skirt pocket.
Hanako hummed, scribbling down Love Outlier beside Emma's name. "I think I can help you with your problem, Yashiro," he chirped, pulling out a book from nowhere and handing it to her. "Here you go!"
Yashiro deadpanned at the book's title: 100 Methods of Love: This is Love. "A love strategies guide book? How is this going to help?" I wonder, does he really know how to deal with love-related wishes? Emma questioned mentally, looking at the apparition with skeptical half-lidded eyes.
"It's far too dangerous to use my powers, so this book should do the trick!" Hanako told her, giving her a closed eye smile. "Besides, I don't have the tools anyway!"
"But you're a ghost!" Yashiro cried out, exasperated.
"Apparition," Hanako corrected her.
"Same thing, isn't it?!"
"Ah, I see how it is. You don't desire my help, huh? Okay! I'll be going now..." Hanako turned around to head into the stall.
"No, wait, wait!! I need your help!" Yashiro stepped forward to grab his shoulder, but her hand phased through instead. Oh, right, he's a ghost. I almost forgot. Hanako looked over his shoulder and gave her a cheeky smile. "If you say so," he said, floating past her and towards the other girl. "How about you? What's your wish?"
"Are you helping Nene-chan with her wish?" Emma inquired, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Of course I am! But you are the person who summoned me, you know. I do need to know your wish too," he clarified, that slightly eerie smile still on his face.
"If that's the case, I wish we were friends," she said simply, as if it was no big deal to her.
"What?!" Both Yashiro and Hanako shouted, surprise etched on their faces.
"Don't waste your wish like that, Emma-chan!" Yashiro pleaded, grabbing her friend's hands.
"Yeah! What she said—wait! Are you saying being friends with me is a waste?!" Hanako exclaimed incredulously, his amber eyes wide.
Ignoring the ghost boy, Yashiro continued to talk her friend out of her wish. "What about wishing for a year's worth of curry? Wouldn't that sound amazing, Emma-chan?" She bargained, a nervous smile on her face.
"The curry will spoil in a week if I wished for that," Emma immediately shot her offer down.
"Then, what about a million yen's worth of anime merch?!"
"Where's he gonna get the money?" Emma wondered. "He did say he couldn't use his powers since they're dangerous."
"Um, then! Then, how about 2,000 Prisms for UtaPri Shining Live?!"
"I doubt he knows what UtaPri Shining Live is," Emma sighed. "Besides, how would he even gain all those Prisms? He may be a supernatural being, but he's not magic, Nene-chan."
"Oh, I give up," Yashiro deflated, resting her head on Emma's shoulder.
"It's okay, Nene-chan. My wish is to be friends with Hanako-kun, so that I can keep an eye on him and make sure your wish is granted!" Emma reassured her best friend, flashing her a bright smile and patting her back softly.
"You make me sound like a dog who needs to be trained," Hanako grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest, as he bitterly watched the two girls.
"Emma-chan..." Yashiro looked up at her friend, her eyes tearing up. "Emma-chan!" She buried her head in the dark-skinned beauty's hair and wrapped her arms around her tightly.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Hanako griped.
The apparition sighed, as he pulled out a tiny bag and opened it, revealing scales of some sort. "If you really want to keep an eye on me so badly, here," he offered Emma a scale. She raised an eyebrow at the scale and glanced at the boy questioningly. "What is it?"
"It's a mermaid scale. If you and I both eat the scales of the same mermaid, we'll be bound to each other. It helps for owners who want to keep their dogs in check," Hanako sassed bitterly, looking like he was still peeved about Emma's ulterior motive with being friends with him. Emma giggled a little at that, surprising Hanako with the sound. "You're not a dog, Hanako-kun. I just want to make sure Nene-chan's happy," she explained with a smile.
Hanako stayed silent for a few minutes, staring at her, until he snapped out of it and smiled back at her. "I understand." He placed the scale in Emma's outstretched hand.
"So, do I just swallow it or can I chew it?"
"What the heck, no, you can't chew it. It's a scale," Hanako said, his eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.
"First time for everything," she put the scale in her mouth and began to crunch it with her teeth, horrifying both Hanako and Yashiro.
"Isn't it easier to swallow it instead of chewing it?" Hanako asked, his eyes stuck watching Emma chew the scale in terror.
"She has a hard time swallowing pills and tablets, so..." Yashiro trailed off, unnerved with watching her friend literally eat the scale.
With a hard swallow, Emma finally downed the scale. "Ta-da! It's gone!" She chirped, doing jazz hands at her horrified friends. After a few seconds, Hanako shook his head in disbelief. "Well, now we know the mermaid scale can be chewed," he murmured, taking out a scale for himself and swallowed it.
Flashing a mischievous smile, the apparition reached out and grabbed Emma's wrist. "There we go! Now I can touch you!" The disdain in Emma's face made him backtrack. "Not like that! Emma-chan, you have such a naughty mind~"
"I will punch you in the dick."
"Okay, nevermind, sorry."
"So, what's the first step in the love strategies book?" Yashiro's eager voice caught the attention of the two of them.
Hanako flipped through the book and landed on a certain page. "How about this? Method 78! Yashiro, do you have any special skills?"
Oh, man. She's gonna tell him about the— Emma's thought were interrupted by Yashiro's proud voice.
"Oh, yes, I do!" Yashiro beamed, turning around to walk towards the exit. "Follow me to the school garden!" She looked really proud and impressed of herself.
Hanako blinked and glanced curiously at Emma. "Let's just follow her," she sighed, walking after her friend.
Somehow, Hanako had a feeling he wasn't going to be so impressed by Yashiro's secret special skill.