Chapter Text
Running errands was never easy for the toilet trio. Since most of their weekly checklist consisted of solving supernatural issues around the school from spirit portals popping up out of nowhere to kidnap students like No. 2’s boundary, to the rogue rebellion of the mokke, they had their hands full with tasks to complete.
All of this was ten times harder in the spirit realm.
Hanako hated going anywhere near the main hub of the spirit realm, a cesspool where stubborn apparitions, lofty demons, and even messenger spirits for gods resided. He avoided it whenever he could, even if it took them an extra hour or two. Anything to escape its maze of problems.
But alas, this time he and the rest of the trio had to travel down into its depths to recover an item that only a spirit in its confines possessed.
“I can’t believe we have to go through all this trouble to obtain a dumb dragon pearl, this is pointless,” he griped, easily keeping pace with Kou and Yashiro’s wavery speed as they struggled to climb the steps to the spirit’s domain. “Do you,” Kou wheezed, “Know how stupid you sound right now?”
Hanako shot him an annoyed look while Kou continued, hiking his legs up the tall steps, “It’s a dragon pearl! Dragon. Pearl!”
“So?”
“So it’s cool,” the exorcist said defensively, attempting to make a threatening expression at him but looking tired instead. He was such a kid, acting like Hanako had said the most offensive thing he had ever heard. “I’ve always wanted to see a dragon,” Yashiro piped in, excitement showing in her voice.
“Trust me, Yashiro, you do not want to see one of those up close. They may have a pretty face, but underneath they’re vicious beasts with a knack for being extremely disagreeable.” His mouth straightened into a grim line. ‘Heaven knows how troublesome this one is going to be, knowing the mistress which it serves..'
The cream and teal haired girl beside him sighed. “You’re no fun, Hanako-kun.”
“Hey, I can be fun! Didn’t I let you off cleaning duty today for this?”
“Yeah, so I could be dragged along on this trip with you complaining the whole way. Also, you’re not even walking up all these flights of stairs like we are. You’ve totally got the easy time of it!”
‘Not true,’ He wanted to say. ‘The most difficult task I have to face today is keeping you safe.’ Hanako didn’t know what he’d do if Yashiro got hurt while they were out on this job.. Realizing that train of thought was dangerous for him to delve into, he quickly directed the traffic of his mind to their means of securing the pearl.
“When we get inside,” he began, switching around to float backwards in front of them, “We can’t draw any weapons we have or they’ll take it as an incentive for a fight. Just be respectful and they might lend the pearl to us. If not, we’ll use another method.”
Kou’s eyes filled with apprehension. “..Another method?”
“Look, we don’t know how agreeable this spirit will wind up as, so be prepared to steal it if necessary.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that! Maybe we can be friends with it,”
“We are NOT becoming friends with a dragon, Yashiro!”
He could see her about to form a retort when a smooth and cold voice seemed to come out of nowhere, reverberating in the space above them. “And why is that, may I ask?”
The trio looked up to see a white form at the top of the stairs, grinning maliciously at them with razor sharp canines. In its claws was an iridescent orb the size of a grapefruit.
The dragon was twenty feet long, slender, and covered with opaque white scales that seemed to glimmer in the twilight of the realm. It’s whiskers flowed as if an invisible breeze carried them, and it's snowy eyes narrowed at them with piqued interest.
Kou was the first to speak, stumbling over his words like a hiker navigating rough terrain. “Greetings, uh, lord dragon! If that is what you want us to call you, I mean-”
The creature sent a smoky breath out of its nostrils in an amused huff. “Mistress Benzaiten has named me thus as Nagareru Mizu, but for your purposes you may refer to me as Mizu.”
Yashiro beamed at the serpent with striking sincerity. “Flowing water? What a pretty name!”
“I am sure you did not come here to inquire about my moniker, mortal. Pray tell what you came here for and dispense with the pleasantries,” Mizu snarled at her, sending Nene stepping back anxiously.
Hanako motioned to his friends to stay silent, dropping his feet onto the stairs to walk forward. “We are here to negotiate for your dragon’s pearl, respectable Mizu.”
If Mizu’s sudden animosity had been a flame, then it now was a wildfire, revealing clear resentment in its eyes as it clutched the pearl in its grasp protectively. “You dare ask to bargain for something so precious that I own? Leave my domain at once!”
Well, that didn’t go so well. “Please, if we could only have it for a little while, we’d bring it right back, safe from harm!”
Mizu’s tail thrashed furiously as it sneered at him. “Fool. What purpose could you ever have that could be worth its value? Your ignorance disgusts me.”
A flash of something devious in its eyes made Hanako’s soul go cold with dread as it flicked its gaze toward Yashiro and back to him.
No. They couldn’t have guessed.
They couldn’t have.
“And for attempting to steal my pearl, I shall curse the very thing that is most precious to you on behalf of my mistress, the goddess of love! ”
Hanako barely had time to react as it launched itself off the top of the stairs to lunge with jaws unhinged at his assistant, who was too exhausted from the long walk to get out of the way.
Before he knew it, he had flung himself in front of Yashiro, the only thought in his mind to protect.
There was a second of white scales and teeth in the moments prior to when Mizu barreled into him, biting down on his left arm firmly before tumbling with its prey down the stairs in a frenzy of claws and rage. In the chaos Hanako managed to dislodge its pearl from its claws, tucking it into his Gakuran without its notice.
When it finally stopped thrashing to look at its victim, it found a grinning Hanako sitting on its tail. “Looks like you lost something,” he smirked, pointing weakly at its claws.
“NO! My pearl!”
“You better go get it, I saw it fall off the stairs~”
The dragon hissed, shaking him off its tail and diving off the edge of the staircase to search in dismay for its lost pearl.
He watched it disappear into the murky depths of the spacial realm, faintly hearing panicked voices coming his way.
“Oh my gosh, Hanako-kun are you okay?!”
Yashiro’s worried face popped into his view, followed by a concerned Kou.
“Never been better,” he said, and he meant it. It was worth it seeing his assistant safe from harm.
“You’re hurt,” she quavered, taking in the various cuts to his uniform and the deep bite wound on his arm. “We should go get you some help-”
“There’s no time for that, because,” he pulled out the pearl from under his uniform, “we have to go take this over to the school.”
Kou smiled at him with what looked like grudging admiration. “You sneaky bastard. Was that your plan all along?”
The seventh wonder smirked, pulling himself up a little unsteadily. “Partly, yes. C’mon, chop chop, we have a pearl to deliver.”
They shot him a few more troubled glances on the walk back, and he had to assure them multiple times that he was fine, that the dragon wouldn’t be down there for much longer, and that they should get going, for which they readily agreed.
However, by the time they finally found the way back to the school, Hanako was already starting to get nervous about that curse Mizu had mentioned.
Surely it wouldn’t be placed on him now, right?
Right.
But then.. What was this feeling coming over him?
It was gradually getting stronger and stronger as they traveled, a dense sensation filling up his being to the core, so much so that he felt like he could collapse from the weight of it.
He could feel the mental barriers he put up for so long to hide his passions giving way, ‘No, I have to stay focused, what is this, what the hell’s happening?!?!!’
A searing pain shot through his arm and then through his heart, causing him to stumble from the path, gasping at the throbbing ache in his chest. Nene and Kou immediately noticed his distress, rushing to him at once. They looked like they were talking, but their voices sounded far away.
“-anako!! Hanako!!”
Yashiro was shouting his name.
“Hanako-kun, please say something!!”
The pain he had felt earlier was fading as he opened his eyes to see his assistant hugging him tightly, tears flowing down her face and her hair unkempt as she held him as if the world was about to end, and if he had needed his lungs to breathe oh , he would be breathless right now.
Because Yashiro was so beautiful.
She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, and he felt so much love towards her that his heart might burst if he didn’t say it right this minute.
“Yashiro, my beloved Yashiro…” he breathed, large amber eyes clouding over with adoration.
The cream and teal haired girl stiffened at his words, her tears being replaced by an expression of utter confusion on her face.
Hanako brushed a tear away from her face tenderly. “You have no idea how dear you are to me. I would do anything for you,” he gushed, a warm smile spreading across his face.
“OH-kayyy, Kou-kun, I think something’s wrong with him,” Yashiro squeaked, trying to pull away from Hanako with her face as red as a raspberry.
However, instead of letting her go and playing it off as a joke like Nene had hoped, Hanako delicately intertwined their hands together, lovingly holding them with an expression of pure endearment on his face.
It was enough to send her heart racing and her face burning, which she did not want to do in front of Kou-kun.
This was going to be a huge problem.