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Moonlight seeps through a classroom in Kamome Academy. It’s a cold summer night and there is not a noise of nature. The air is different tonight.
“I don’t want to regret anything anymore,” Kou barely whispers through his chapped lips. He looks down at his scarred hand and tightens his fist. The feeling of guilt hits him and it stings like shattered glass piercing soft skin.
The air is too tight for Natsuhiko. He does his best to clear it.
“Alright then!” he diverges. Kou turns and looks at him ready to take whatever Natsuhiko says in. He can’t afford to mope now, Kou has things he has to do.
“I’ll give you a hint,” Natsuhiko says cheekily. He can’t help but feel bad for him after all.
“Number 6, Shinigami-sama, governs the underworld. He brings death to anything he touches but that’s only one part. It’s said he can bring the dead back to life.”
Natsuhiko chuckles nervously and Kou’s heart sparks. It’s a spark of hope. He is brave again.
“Let’s do this then!” Kou shouts. He’s glad he’s able to do something again. This time, things will be different and this time he won’t have any regrets.
Natsuhiko nods to him. They head to bed and do their very best to fall asleep.
After fifteen minutes of Kou laying in the dark, he figures that he can’t sleep. The determination and anxiety is eating him alive so he sneaks out of his sleeping bag and takes the nearest seat. He’ll be on the lookout he assumes. He crosses his arms and sits tight waiting for anything strange to happen.
Another fifteen minutes pass and Kou is getting impatient. He’s worried so he paces around the room looking for anything but nothing is wrong. Kou sighs. Not yet he guesses so he decides to inspect the two asleep.
Natsuhiko is sound asleep on his side, drooling so much saliva it pools up a pile right under him. He looks to be sleeping well since he’s smiling like an idiot and whispering happy gibberish. Nothing odd about him.
Then Kou looks to Mitsuba and he finds him also sound asleep but there’s something strange. Why is Mitsuba like that? There’s an edge on his cheek. It’s like cracked glass. Kou slides his finger on it and blood seeps out of the fresh cut.
“W-What was that?” Mitsuba screams. His face is full of shock and he realizes Kou is quite literally over him.
“Huh? What are you so near for, dumbass?” Mitsuba nervously asks.
“Your face... Mitsuba, I-” Kou starts. He’s cut by Mitsuba.
“What about it, freak? Am I too cute you can’t resist putting your hands on me? Get off me creep!” Mitsuba yelps. But then he realizes.
“Wait… why are you looking at me… like that?”
Kou’s face was flat. There was not a single zap of light in his blue eyes. All the hope that sparked in Kou just minutes ago was gone and burnt out, maybe never to be lit again. Kou was back to square one. Why did it always have to be like this?
A loud crack echoed in the room and Natsuhiko twitched awake from his sleep.
“Kyah! What was that, guys?” he exclaimed. It took him a few seconds to understand what was going on.
A glance to the window? Nope, nothing shattered. A glimpse of the eerie mirror in the corner of the room? Nope, nothing broken. What was that noise?
Oh.
Natsuhiko neared his vision onto Mitsuba and Kou.
Mitsuba was breaking. On his cheek was a mark, like his skin was glass and he’d been hit really hard. A tiny shard drifts from his face and that was when everything flipped.
Natsuhiko jumped up from his sleeping bag and put his hands on Mitsuba’s shoulders, shaking him harshly.
“What’s going on with you? Mitsuba, are you okay?” he frantically asks. He slaps his face to see if he’s still asleep but it’s nothing. It’s really true. He really is breaking.
“Oh God. I’m gonna get Sakura and Tsukasa. You guys stay here,” he says. He runs out of the classroom and it’s just Kou and Mitsuba again.
“Kou… am I… is my face made out of glass or something? Hah, what is happening to me? Can you look at me like you’re you and not like you didn’t just see… a ghost? Haha,” Mitsuba jokingly speaks.
It’s already settled in for Kou and now all he has to do is accept it like he always does but Mitsuba is going to die, or something like that, again. Mitsuba, who Kou promised that everything would be okay and that he would find a way for them to live happily and easily in the real world, is going to disappear again and Kou doesn’t know if he can do this a third
time. He feels guilty. He feels as though he builds up hope and momentum that Mitsuba knows that’ll never happen and Mitsuba has to go along and agree with it because he pities him, the weak living exorcist boy who could never do a single job right. But now’s not the time to think about what Mitsuba thinks of him or if Kou can go through this another time. He is going to disappear and Kou has to act now before he’s gone.
Kou forces his face to melt to a warmer one. “Sorry about that Mitsuba,” he whispers. He takes hold of Mitsuba’s hand and Mitsuba doesn’t protest. All he does is stare back into Kou’s glossy eyes. Mitsuba smiles weakly.
“Mitsuba, I- Um. You believe me right? I’ll find another way for us, to uh, be together and be friends. I like you, you know. I don’t want to give up on you. I swear I’ll find a way,” Kou says. Every word he says brings a pinker embarrassed blush to his face.
Mitsuba has to look away from his eyes.
How embarrassing… he thinks.
A part of Mitsuba wants to tell him it’s okay, that it’s okay to give up on him because what’s there to do? But Mitsuba looks back to Kou.
“I believe you, Kou. I like you too. Thank you. Heh, this is hella embarrassing…,” Mitsuba manages to say. His stomach is churning.
More cracks appear on Mitsuba. He can’t help but let out a sob so Kou holds him. Mitsuba lays in his arms and cries even harder.
Dozens of glass shards float away from Mitsuba and you can see there are pieces of him missing.
“I wish I could just be with you, Mitsuba. Why does it have to be like this? I don’t want you to go,” Kou cries out. Tears roll down his face and his heart aches for Mitsuba.
“Why is it always you? I don’t want you to get hurt. I want to be with you, Sousuke. Why is it so hard? Haha,” he says.
Mitsuba shuts his eyes tight hearing those words. His lips are pressed quiet trying to keep in his cries and his eyebrows are furrowed in frustration. Kou holds him closer and tighter to him, to the crook of his neck. In each other’s arms, they cry and hope they’ll see each other one more time. Maybe as ghost and exorcist, maybe on the far shore, or maybe as humans in the next life.