Work Text:
(Akane)
“If you can do that, I’ll think about it!”
…
CRACK!
“Huh…?”
At that moment...I wished harder than I ever had in my 12 years of life,
“Stop,”
Stop!”
“STOP!”
“STOP!!!”
“...Akane….Akane-Kun!?”
And that was the day I died.
Not...the best way to die, but he saved Aoi.
As long as she’s safe, I should be happy. Right?
…
It's so dark.
So lonely.
I do not like this floating feeling at all.
…
Ding!
Dong!
Ding!
Dong!
“Hehe! Hello boy,”
"Let's make a deal,”
Ding!
Dong!
Ding!
Dong!
(He wakes up in the No. 1 boundary. He doesn’t know what happened- just that he accepted to be a Clock Keeper representative- specifically, the Present Clock Keeper. After some confusion, he finds the exit of the boundary and leaves into the bright light of the school hallways. He sees a lot of students chatting and passing by to get to their next class. He tries to interact with one, going to ask where he is, but his hand passes through the student.)
(It takes him time, but he slowly remembers that his name is Aoi Akane. His crush is Akane Aoi. (right?) He currently resides in Kamome Gakuen. He likes anything Aoi makes. (Right?)
(He does not like being able to protect her anymore.)
Have you heard the rumor?
It's school mystery number oneー The three clock keepers.
There's a big, big old clock somewhere in the school. That clock is time itselfー the time that flows through the school. If you move the hands of that clock, the school's time is yours to command.
But you see, there are guards watching over the big clock. They are the three clock keepers who represent the past, present, and future. If anyone touches the clock without their permission…
The three clock keepers will steal the time from that person's life...!
(Teru)
Teru peered over his laptop screen at the ghost beside him. Akane was furiously scribbling something on an extra document Teru wasn't going to be using, and he gripped the pencil so hard Teru was slightly afraid it would break.
With a milk coffee vest and a teal uniform, Teru would have mistaken him for a real student. But if you look more carefully, you could see the faded color of peachy skin, and faint outlines of the objects behind Akane. For he was dead, of course. A supernatural.
In normal precautions, Teru would have exorcised Akane by now, but since the supernatural was part of the Seven Mysteries case, he left him alone for his brother to take care of. Though, that doesn't stop Teru from pestering Akane.
“Aoi, I want you to know that I won’t give you any extra pencils if you break that one,” Teru said, leaning over and placing his fingers over Akane’s wrist. A cold wind tickled the tips of his fingers.
“It won’t break,” Akane said, setting down the pencil.
“With the way you're using it, it would. What are you writing anyway?”
“Well,” Akane picked up the paper and showed it, holding it like a child, “I’m writing a list of things about me- Like my name, what I like and don’t like, my favorite foods, a lot of things. My memory is…failing me,” Akane's gaze drifted to the side of the table. Teru had noticed more frequent questions asked by the boy about himself, but he answered mindlessly.
“I see. Go back to writing.” Teru turned back to his laptop and began typing whatever he was typing.
(Akane)
Akane likes clocks. Big ones, small ones, whatever he can find in the hallways, lockers, fields, No. 2's boundary. Whatever he could get his hands on.
Ever since he died, the only things he's been surrounded by were gears and the concept of time.
The longer he's been engrossed in working, the longer he loses his connection to the present time (ironically.) He wants to be a growing boy, he wants to grow up and have a lover and he wants to be normal. But he's dead, lonely, and unable to grow up. Nobody could have an attraction to a dead person.
Maybe this is why he feels sympathy for his other supernatural Mysteries. All wanting a piece of the human world to experience.
Maybe that is why he is grateful for his human "friend", Teru Minamoto. Akane might have grown a soft spot for the elder exorcist as he has been hanging around him for a long time now. Maybe because Teru is one of his few connections to the real world.
(Teru)
Being the student council president has many faults to it. Many of his peers rely on him to do the paperwork for the school, which Teru heaves with no complaint. Verbal complaints. It's a lot of paperwork, and his vice-president barely does any. This usually leaves him alone in the student council classroom, typing up documents, long readings of ideas, and many others.
Alone, until Akane drifts through the sand-colored walls with wonder in his eyes. To Teru's surprise, Akane offers to help out with the paperwork. He doesn't turn down the offer though and is surprised how quick the red-head could learn.
In the presence of Akane, he feels comforted that somebody could share something with him without acting odd about it. The supernatural might be annoying at times, as it was always the nature of one, but he was a great listener.
Teru liked it a lot.
(Akane)
"Hey, President?"
"Aoi, I asked you to call me by my name."
"Right," Akane wavered. They were in the school garden, examining the fruits and vegetables that grew from the gardening club. The school decided to hold a small festival to celebrate its 60th anniversary. It was tasked to the student council to check each of the clubs that Kamone hosted and make sure that they could present something to the public. "Hey, Minamoto?"
"Hm?" Teru kneeled in front of the flower bed that was adorned with hydrangeas.
"Why do you keep me around? Not that I'm ungrateful and all but…" Akane mumbled, gazing at the tomatoes and radishes that were ripe and ready to be taken the next day.
"Why do you ask this?" Teru looked up at him.
"It's something that I've been thinking about lately," Akane replied, keen to not have eye contact with him. It's not something he's been wanting to ask, but it was itching the back of his mind ever since he discussed it with the leader of the 7 Mysteries.
"Hey, No. 1!"
"What do you want, No. 7?"
"Nothing much! I just wanted to roam the school today, and I happened to stumble upon you!"
"Tsk, very well. Go on your way, No. 7. I have something to attend to." Akane was about to leave when the boy grabbed his shoulder.
"Where are you going, No. 1?"
"To the student council room. I have a business to attend there," Akane tried to shake the boy's hand off his shoulder, but it was firmly on there.
"That's where the elder Minamoto is. He's an exorcist, you know this, right?"
"Of course I do!" Akane snapped.
"So why do you hang around him?"
"Huh? Because…because…"
"You don't have a reason, do you?" Akane turned to glare at Hanako, only to falter. He couldn't bear to meet the eyes of someone who died like him.
"I can give you a reason. He's letting you be around him so he can use you."
"Huh? But why would he?"
"Because, No. 1, you're a School Mystery. You're a supernatural slowly wasting away on the near shore. You're a timekeeper as well. Why wouldn't he use you? You have a lot of power, and you're naive."
Akane's mouth stayed agape as he listened. It was plausible, but Akane didn't feel like it was true.
"Oh! But that is just a thought from an outside standpoint." Hanako laughed, waving his hand left and right. "I don't want to delay you any further, No. 1. Go on!" He turned Akane around and pushed him along his path.
"But please, so remember what I said, No 1. Be wary."
"Hmm.." Teru thought, snapping Akane out from his flashback. "I suppose I keep you around because you lack the want to become a dangerous supernatural, unlike your other Mysteries."
Teru turned and got back onto his feet, gazing past the hydrangeas to another flower bed. "You're just a supernatural being with an unwarranted stay on the near shore. You're bound to go there soon enough." Teru turned and smiled at Akane, who decided to look at him. "You're just someone who wants to be free. You were young when you died, yet the ghost of you grows like a normal boy. You want to cling to your human life, as you've written down a list of things you could recollect. I would like to help you fulfill that unachievable dream, so please consider me as your first official friend here." Akane's eyes widened at the last statement.
"Also," Teru leaned down to Akane's height and glared into his eyes. It intimidated Akane, making the ghost boy slightly faze into the ground. "You've helped me with my silly tasks, like a vice president! How am I supposed to kill someone so helpful to me?" He suddenly brightened up, shifting quickly from his intimidating demeanor.
"Eh?"
"Oh, the sun is starting to set soon. Kou is sure to have finished his duties with Lord 7," Teru turned his attention away from Akane's face to his wrist where his wristwatch was. "My family will be worried about me and Kou if we stay any longer. Let's wrap things up, Aoi."
"Okay." Akane shyly smiled. Akane never knew what to make of the school President, but what he could trust is that he wouldn't exorcise him.
"...so please consider me as your first official friend here."
Maybe he would. Maybe he would.