Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:

"Good morning, president" I said

"Good morning to you too, Aoi, we have a lot of work to do today" says President Teru, serious as usual

"I know you don't need to remind me"

"That's part of my job, so don't complain about it"

"Whatever you say"

God, sometimes I wish he wasn't so moody this early. That's Minamoto Teru for ya. Anyways, it's been a few days since I traveled through time to this new present. It's much nicer than before, honestly, except for the fact that my crush Aoi is now engaged to this monster

Seriously, who could anyone even love him?
He's such a pain in the ass

"So, Mr. Clockeeper, have you gotten any clues on how to go back to our past world?" says the president, unserious as always

"You know your voice distracts me from my work, right?" I reply "No luck. Sadly, these past few days, I have tried looking for any clues, I hardly know where to even start" I answer his question sighing

"What a pity, and I thought you were desperate to change my loving relationship with akane ^^" he says in a mocking manner

"Who says I'm not trying?!" I shout, nothing bothers me more than someone talking like that about her, specifically him. Aoi deserves so much more than him

"Heyy, no need to get so defensive over it! Besides, you'll get all of this fixed, won't you?"

"Oh I certainly will, I can't stand seeing you this close to her"

"Well you better, and soon, because apart from that, I'm also starting to gain memories from the other me and lose the ones of my own"

"Really? Damn, and how much do you still remember?"

"Enough, or I'd like to believe so, I started writing most of what I still remember"

"We should probably hurry up then"

"no joke genius, If we don't find what the clockeepers changed, I'll soon lose my current memories"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, sheesh. Are you always this annoying?" I muttered the last sentence, though I think I underestimated how much he could hear

I notice he gets closer to me, I guess he's trying to intimidate me, though this time it feels...different. And why is he looking at me like that?

"Aoi, I need you to understand how serious this is, we may be running out of time" says Teru Minamoto

"Ok I get it, it's just that I can't do this alone, I'll need more help if you really want this to be faster" I reply "though, how is Yashiro doing finding more clues?" I ask, but with hiw close he is to me it's hard to answer

"She hasn't found anything so far, none of us have" he says in a frustrated voice

In the mists of his frustration, I don't know why I started glancing at his face, I never noticed he had fangs; they're kinda...nice, I'll admit

I think at some point he notices I'm looking more than usual at him.

"Is something wrong, Aoi?" he asks

As he says that, I feel his blue eyes stare into mine. This doesn't feel like the President Minamoto I'm used to...

"Oh, uh, yeah, everything's fine"

"You're looking strange, don't tell me you're hiding something from me"

He gets closer. Maybe he doesn't realize how awkward it is for me this closeness, my heart beats faster; I guess he's very good at intimidating people when he wants to, huh.

"Stop assuming shit, I'm not hiding anything" I say, trying not to stutter

"Uh huh"

"Let's get back to work, ok?"

"Oh, right, I still need to fix a lot of work"

He backs off as if that wasn't weird, and we go back to business. After that, it's always working in silence, maybe accompanied by writing or clicking noises.

We finish just in time, and as I'm preparing to leave, he seems he wants to ask me something

"Hey, Aoi, are you free this friday? Maybe if we both go and look for clues, we'll get this over with sooner"

"Um, sure, but what exactly are you planning?"

"I'm working on that, but for the meantime, I think meeting up at a cafe will work"

"Alright, just tell me more or so what we're gonna do when you get that set"

"Of coursee, don't worry 'bout it ^^"

"Mhm, well see you"

"see you"

I return to my house after an exhausting day. Being the vice president can be a hard job, but I gotta admit today felt strange. Something about the president was more annoying than usual

Maybe the weird one here is me, since this time when he got closer to me I felt...something, I could not explain it. I should get more sleep. That must be it.

another busy day awaits me tomorrow...

Minamoto Teru's POV:

Now that in this new world there seems to be no more apparitions to exorcize, I don't know what to do at night. Afterall, as a part of the minamoto family, that's mostly what I do, or did.

All I can do right now is try and write more essential memories of mine just in case I lose them

I have to admit this new world also has its advantages; mom is alive and dad spends more time with us. We're all together now...

Kou seems to not remember anything from before; maybe it's for the better, since I now see him happier, plus, his friend is also now alive, I think his name was Sousuke or something like that.

A world without apparitions and specters and where my family has a happier life. I mean, I don't like pretending in front of everyone I love Aoi Akane, she's not happy about it either. I wonder what would happen if we weren't engaged. But almost everything's perfect.

Today was a bit weird honestly, I can't hide much of myself anymore, not as perfectly as I used to. Akane just can't leave my mind lately.

Ha, I bet those glasses of his would look better on me, plus I'd be doing him a favor, they don't suit him, he looks better without them...wait what am I even thinking?

This dumb world is making me feel stranger than usual, and I fucking hate it

Chapter Text

The sound of an alarm clock sounds loudly, Teru smacks it, turning it off

Teru POV:

I wanna keep on sleepingggg, I wish it was already Friday, maybe just 5 minutes more...

"Teru! Wake up already! I made breakfast, and if you don't come down, Tiara's gonna eat it" says My brother Kou

"Cominggg....!" I say, growling a little

"You better!" he says as he leaves my room

What day is it...?
I check my phone; it's only Wednesday, the worst day of the week, definitely.

I get myself ready and go downstairs and eat breakfast, Kou always makes me cheer up with his food. At this rate, he'll probably become a malewife, lmao.

As I finish, mom gives me my lunch, and off I go to school. For many people, having your mom make your lunch is embarrassing, but for me, it's the best thing ever

After a few classes, it's finally recess, and as usual, I come across my fiancé

"Hi there, Teru! How's your day been?" says Akane Aoi

"Pretty good so far, and yours?" I reply

"Same for me, and look, I got you this chocolates"

"Aww, you shouldn't have bothered!" I say in a sweet yet forced tone

I put the chocolate in my pocket. Everyone is looking at us as if we're the center of attention. They don't make it too obvious, but both of us can tell.

I'll be honest, Akane is a beautiful girl, but I don't like her in that way, she's not my type I guess

"Alright let's go Teru! Everyone else is waiting for us in the cafeteria" She says as she grabs my hand

"Uh yeah! Let's go"

We walk there and go to a table with our friends, half of them are Akane's age and the other half are mostly my classmates.

"Hi guys! How's it going?" one of them says

"Hi! Nothing much hehe" she says

"Guys you will not believe what I just heard the other day!" - another one of them says

"What happened? Haha" I say

"Appearently three girls from a club disappeared" the guy says

"Damn" I reply

"Oh my gosh! Tell us more!" Akane replies, I guess she likes gossip

"Well, they supposedly tried to invoque a spirit after class. One of their friends told me they had planned this days before, but the 3 of them haven't gone to school this week!"

"Haha, I don't think a ghost killed them or something, they probably got sick or something" another girl in the table says

"Yeah I agree, that seems nuts!" I say. Could this be a clue? Maybe if we do a ritual we could make a path into a bpumdary oe something

"You think so Teru? Haha, and I thought you believed in that kind of stuff" Akane says bluntly

"Uh, it just sounds unlikely to happen, you know?"

"Totally agree with you Minamoto! You're always rationally thinking" another girl replies

We change the topic and I try to join a bit the conversation, at some point I loose interest in what they're saying and decide to go somewhere else

"Guys, I'll go to the bathroom, okay?" I say

"Sure! Don't take too long though, I'll be waiting ^^" Says Akane

"Yeah, be right back! Love ya"

"I love you more"

I walk off and pretend I go to the bathroom, and then I head to the rooftop, no one's there so I guess I can just eat this chocolates for a bit until recess is over.

Once there, I see someone eating alone. I gotta get out of here before they see me.

As I'm leaving I get a better look at them and see it's just Aoi.
What is he doing here eating alone?

"Hey Aoi? What are you eating?" I say to him behind his back; scaring him

"AAH! Jeez, it's just you, what the fuck do you want?" Aoi says; it's so much fun to tease him

"Oh nothing, just wanted to keep you company here since you look lonely" I reply as I sit next to him

"Yeah well I don't need you to be here, so leave"

"Ok Mr. 'I hate people' "

"I only hate you, idiot"

"Aww, I hate you more! ;)"

"You haven't told me why you're here, shouldn't you be with your friends eating?"

"Yeah but I wanted some fresh air, and what about you?"

"Well, it turns out the me in this world doesn't have many friends, and even with the few friends he has, he likes to eat here alone. So you know, gotta keep the character"

"Damn, that's sad"

"Is that only what you can say?! 'Damn'?"

"What do you expect me to say?"

"Nothing at this point, you're just apathetic, so there's nothing more I could expect from you"

"Ouch, you hurt my feelings Aoi ;("

"Do you even have any?"

"More than you actually, I'm not souless like you, haha"

"And I'm not as unserious like you dumbass!"

Aoi proceeds to stand up and face towards me, looking all angry at me, how funny

I stand up and go a little closer to him. I pull his shirt by the neck and slightly put my thumb in his chin.
He's so annoying I sometimes over-do it.

"Aoi, remember who's the one in power here. Do you want me to treat you more like a super natural than a human?"

"You don't even treat me like a human" he looks away

I notice he gets more nervous, but I guess that's what you would expect from him

"Come on, you think I treat you that badly?" I whisper

"You could be more respectful..."

I might be crazy but I notice he starts blushing a bit. I got distracted by that and realize how close we already were.

I pull away from him and look away, i feel my ears hot in embarrassment.

"Ugh, whatever" says Aoi, annoyed

I feel bad for that just now, maybe I acted more mean than the usual

Akane goes by the railing gazing at the sky. I pull the chocolates out of my pocket and grab 2

"I don'tlike you that much, but I'm not a monster you know?" - I say as i offer him one of the chocolates

"Yeah well you're still a prick" he says, snatching the chocolate out of my hand

"Ow come on! Don't say that"

"What? Mr. President is upset? Cry about it"

"Haha, shut the fuck up"

We look at the sky while eating more of Akane's chocolates, they're pretty good. It's very peaceful here, away from people's attention

"So how's your plan going?" he asks

"Mm well not much progress so far, still, I think if we go to the red house we may find something"

"Why there?"

"Kou had told me a very long time ago he saw a child that looked awfully similar to Tsukasa there, so that must be the perfect place to investigate"

"So we go there after school?"

"Nah, at night"

"I'll bring some flashlights"

"Plan's set then"

"Okay, just give me the details of the plan over text and we're done"

"Sure! Don't want you to forget about it"

"Should be saying that to you, anyways, I think you should get going, there's only 5 minutes left before recess' over"

"Oh shit I totally forgot about that"

"You better start running then, see ya"

"See you later!" I say, running to the door

I discretely go back to the cafeteria pretending I came out of the bathroom. I see most of them confused

"What took you so long Teru?" She says kindly, yet by her eyes I can tell she's upset

"Well in my way to the bathroom a teacher asked for my help, and ended up taking longer than expected, hehe"

"Haha, hardworking as usual, Minamoto" a girl from our table says, akane chills down

I finish most of my lunch in time and go back to class. The rest of the day was the same as usual, after classes I finished more work with Aoi and went back home

I feel like I'm loosing my mind or something; did Aoi really blush? Why? Most importantly, why did I also blush? God, maybe this whole thing got me exhausted.

I have to stop thinking about him

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:

It was finally friday, and I was going to go to a cafe with Minamoto to discuss the details of our plan. Though, it's been more than 3 days since we came into this new world.

I'm afraid his memories are already at the bridge of being distorted. Nevertheless, I shouldn't be worried, I'm the guardian of the present, everything's going according to plan, well, the clockeepers' plan

Yet, I don't like this new present, Aoi is now engaged to Minamoto Teru, and that just doesn't sit right with me

But now that I think about it, maybe I'm not upset because of Aoi, maybe...

"Hey there! I see you have your mind on the clouds as always" says Minamoto

"AAH! God fucking dammit! You gotta stop scaring me like that" I say, annoyed

"Jeez, no need to be all agressive ^^"

I totally spaced out while waiting outside his house since he took longer than usual.

"Like the new coat, looks fancy on ya" he says, though that's a bit weird of him

"Uh thanks, your shirt also looks nice, i guess" I respond

"Welp, let's go, we have to hurry and take a bus to go to the cafe"

"I thought that we would walk there"

"Your crazy if you think we're walking all the way there, it's so far! now, come on" he says as he grabs my arm in direction to the bus stop

We walk there, but I'm confused as fuck, what's up with him today? He's...nicer and less annoying today, he even complimented my coat!

Don't tell me he...no that can't be, I'm probably overthinking

"Look, the bus is already here" Minamoto says

We hop on the bus and take take a seat. I'm still nervously thinking about what's going on

"You doing ok buddy?" he asks

"Yeah yeah, just thinking" I awkardly say

"Whatever you say"

"Why did you want to go by the bus instead of, I don't know, using a taxi or something?"

"Because it's faster?"

"I mean yeah, I guess..."

I know he usually avoids traveling by bus. I never knew why, that's just a weird thing he always did

If he still remembers our plan of going to the cafe, he's probably fine, but I'll only know when we're there

We eventually arrive at our destination.

"Alright, let's get down to business" Minamoto says

"Ok, you obviously remember the purpose of us meeting here, right?" I ask

"Of course silly! We still have to finish the data of the 103th annual anniversary, and you know, use those results to compare the percentages..."

He keeps on talking, but I don't pay attention to what he says, I'm just schocked, he did actually lose all his previous memories, and that's why he's been acting differently!

Oh shit, so now what the fuck are we supposed to do to get out of here?

Without his help I can't...I can't...!

"Akane, don't just ignore me!" he says

"Huh?! Oh uh yeah sorry about that" I say

Okay so if he forgot about the actual plan, but still remembered our meeting here, his memories after coming to this world must've been distorted.

"seems you didn't bring your laptop, so take this sheet of paper; you'll help me with the technical stuff" - he says as he hands me a paper and a pen

"Thanks, ok then let's start"

"Wait, we haven't even ordered anything yet. Let's see..."

"Are you guys ready to order?" A waitress asks

"Yeah I'll have this latte right here" Minamoto says as he points into his menu

"Alright, what about you sir?" She asks

"I'll uh have an expresso, please"

"Is that all?" she asks

"Yep, thank you" he says

The waitress leaves our table, and after a lil while of us working, she brings back our orders

"Here you go! ^^" says the waitress

"Thank you" minamoto says

"Thanks" I say

"Why did you order an expresso this time? You usually stick to the same coffee all the time"

"Oh um, just wanted to try it out, haha"

"Alright...then let's keep working"

I guess now i have to pretend to be this world's me in front of him too. Wait, he called me Akane earlier, he never calls me by my name, only by my lastname

I guess I can safely say he's lost his memories...

Suddenly Minamoto gets a call, he picks it up, though by the look of his face it's clearly not something good. That serious and frustrated face tells me everything.

"Hello? I can't hear you Kou, where are you?" he says "Kou, are you still there? Shit" - he says in an upset tone

"Is everything okay...?" I ask

"My brother called me, but I couldn't understand shit, though I have a feeling he needs help"

"Maybe he texted you something"

"Let me check...."

"let me see. Why did he sent you his location?" I say while looking at his phone

"...We gotta go"

"Why?"

"Pick up your stuff Akane, we need to go, now"

"O-okay"

I can feel that characteristic serious attitude of him again. Guess he's not too different from before

We gather everything, pay and run to I don't know where with our coffee still unfinished

"Where the fuck are we going?! You haven't explained to me anything!" I scream as we run

"Kou's in trouble" Minamoto says

"How do you know? He only sent you a location!"

"Yeah, of our school dumbass!"

"But it's almost 10 pm! Why would he be there this late?"

"That's what I'm going to find out soon, so run faster"

We go all the way to the school, I'm tired as fuck but obviously mr. President is doing just fine, anyways, we sneak into the building trying not to make too much noise

"Okay, let's be careful, he should be around here..." Minamoto whispers

"Yeah but I can't see shit, it's so dark, you should've at least brought a flashlight" I whisper

"This is not the time to complain Akane"

"I know, but I swear if he isn't here I'll quick your ass"

"You can do whatever you want with me after we get this over with, so come over here and help me"

He grabs my hand while looking from a classroom to another, my face turns red because of that. This world's Minamoto is so weird, still, I never noticed his hand is so warm, but also rough

We hear something fall across the corridor

"Look, that must be where they are" he says

"Alright, let's see" I say as I gently open the door...

"there's no one here"

"Maybe it wasn't here, but nearby"

"Let's keep looking-"

Minamoto's interrupted by the sound of what appears to be Kou and Sousuke screaming, running away from something, eventually they come across us

"TERUUU!! Thank god you're here!" minamoto's brother says running towards him

"Hey there, what's all the fuzz about?" minamoto says

"We saw a supernatural here! But it was too strong I couldn't handle it on my own"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it from here, but we're gonna have a talk after this. Akane, take then to a safer place, please"

"Got it, let's go guys" I say

I take both of them and run to the closest exit from here. Though I couldn't even get a look at what supernatural it was.

Only after we exited the school, did I wonder if that could've been something more concerning. From what we know so far, there aren't any signs of the 7 mysteries being around.

What if it was tsukasa? Wait, no, that's impossible.

But it couldn't have been a weak supernatural because they started running. Unless in this timeline, Kou's weaker.

After we exited the school, we quickly stopped at the park to rest a bit, then, I get a call from Minamoto:

"Hello?" I say

"Hey Akane!"

"Everything okay?"

"kind of, I fought the supernatural, but they eventually disappeared"

"So you didn't catch it?"

'Sadly, no. Are you guys ok?"

"Yeah, no need to worry, I'll get them home soon now"

"Thank you! We'll finish the rest of our work another day"

"Sure, see ya"

"Byee, take care"

I hang up the call, and I'm still not used to him treating me like this. It's so weird. Wait, maybe I could bring his memories back just like Yashiro did when getting back her memories!

I think I'll have to ask her how she did it. Maybe she can help me too with it

I have to stop thinking too much in moments like this...

I drop off Sousuke to his house. But in my way to the president's, someone else answers the door.

"Hi there! Oh, I see you were so kind to drop off Kou. Thank you so much for your kindness, young man"

"No need to thank me! But, um, may I ask who you are?" I ask

"Oh, it seems he hasn't told you about me, has he? Well then, I'll do so myself. I am..."

Chapter Text

"I am the mother of Teru Minamoto"

☆----------------☆

Aoi Akane's POV:

Those where the words that she said. But when I heard them I couldn't believe it

Before any of this "new timeline" thingy started, I remember Minamoto once told me his mother unfortunately died, he never told me how, when or why.

It was a time we both shared some personal information about our lives (something we usually never do)

So imagine my surprise seeing for the first time his mother, who I thought to be dead until this moment

Anyways, she was so happy for bringing back Kou that she invited me to have dinner with their family if I wanted to

I rejected the offer at first, but she kept kindly insisting I couldn't say no. Afterall, this was a good chance to start my new plan; getting Minamoto's memories back

How was I going to do that? I have no clue, but I think I can get a better idea if I analyze his behavior and how much he changed

It wont be easy, but I know I can do it!

----☆

It was already 9pm and it was time to go to their house. I dressed a bit casual, not too carelessly for it to look like I'm eating at my grandma's house, but not too formal it looks like I'm going on a date

A blue button-up shirt, a warm sweater and some gray pants were enough. I also brought a gift, just to be safe.

I ring the door and someone immediately opens it for me

"State the purpose of your visit!" a high pitched voice said

"Uhh what?" I said, I couldn't see anyone in front of me

"Down here dummy!"

"Oh uh, hi?"

"Tiara, there's no need to confuse our guest" minamoto's mother said while carrying her daughter

"Ah! Good night Ms. Minamoto, thank you for inviting me over for dinner"

"Haha, theres no need to thank!"

"I brought a gift, please accept it"

"Aww, thank you so much young man, come in! Dinner's not done yet but I'll tell you guys when it is ready"

"Thank you"

I enter the house; oh my fucking god. It's so huge! And cozy! I kinda envy him for having this comfortable of a house, it even smells like pumpkin spice!

"Teru's upstairs, in the room to the left" she says

"Alright, thanks"

I go up the stairs and go towards the room that was indicated to me, there was another room to the right and another one in the back, but obviously I'm not entering those

I knock on the door

"Who is it?"

"Um, it's me"

"Wait, Akane?!"

He quicky opens the door

"What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming over" Minamoto said

"Your mom invited me for dinner, but um if that bothers you-"

"Nah it's fine, come in"

I enter his room, it is a bit dirty, but honestly I don't mind, it's really spacious I just look all around me in surprise. It's also bigger than my room

His bed seems comfy...

"Soo what do you wanna do?" he asks

"Umm, well you did say before we didn't finish our work"

"Ah come on, it's a saturday night, we can do something more fun"

"Like what?"

"Mmm...let's see, oh! We can play on my console"

"Uh sure! What games you got?"

I'm not gonna lie, i like this Minamoto more than the other one, he's kinder and right now he is pretty calm. Maybe leaving him like this is fine.

Nono, the normal Minamoto wouldn't like that, just out of respect for that I'll go on with my plan, and then we both can go back at our previous plan

While I keep on thinking, he turns on the gaming console and he chooses a game I don't know that well; it's a fighting game

"You've played this, right?" he asks me

"No, I think I have only played that game once"

"You have to be kidding me"

"I'm for real! I'm not that into video games, or at least not like you"

"Well, it's worth the try, here he says as he hands me the control"

"I'll try..."

We start playing, I choose my character and damn, he beats the shit out of me in just a second, in the game obviously

We play more and more, I get the hand of it as we get more competitive.

"Oww, poor Akane, you can't even win against me ;)"

"That's what you think, check this out!" I say as I pull a final move and kill him

"Dammit! Oof wasn't that exiting hehe, you killed me"

"Yeah but you won Minamoto, i lost 1 - 3"

"For your second time playing it's impresive- wait"

"What?"

"Did you call me 'Minamoto'?"

"Yeah dude, that's your name"

"Obviously haha, but you know you can call me Teru"

"Oh, sorry"

"I mean, you have always called me that, it's weird you call me by my last name"

"Well then uh, Teru, what about another round?"

"Sure man, let's see..."

"Guys! Dinners ready!" - Minamoto's mother says

"Coming!" he says

"Oh"

"Ha, don't worry, we can play some more later, let's go"

"Sure"

We go down the stairs and the smell of the food takes over my nose, we come to the table and sit next to each other. Kouhai comes out of his room down to the dinner table, he looks at me surprised

"O-oh uh, hi Aoi" Kouhai says

"Ah, hi there" I say

"Hi Kou- wait, do you have my special shirt on?!" - Minamoto, I mean, Teru says

"Oww come on Teru! Just let me use it one time"

"Hell naw, get that shit out!"

They start fighting for the shirt, god they're so childish it's funny to look at. It even makes me giggle a little bit; I think Teru notices it since he looks at me embarrassed and stops arguing.

"Oh you two! It's no time to be fighting, let's eat!" their mother says

"Alright..." both of them reply

"Sorry you had to see that Honey" she says

"Haha, it's fine, I don't mind it" I say, still giggling

"Well then, here's tonight's special: Gyudon accompanied with some shirataki, enjoy!"

I prayed before eating and finished my plate before anyone else, it was really good, no, the best meal I had eaten this past few months

I usually just eat instant ramen or have coffee for dinner, so this was a blessing

We finish our food; it was already a bit late, so I pick up my plate as fast as I can and prepared myself to leave. But then we all hear what I least expected; it started raining

Great, so now I had to get all wet just to return safely to my house, the world hates my hapiness-

"Oh Honey! It seems it's raining really hard right now" their mom says

"Yeah, that's unfortunate"

"Do you think you're parents can pick you up?"

"Oh umm...they work pretty late, I doubt they can- But don't worry! I can go home by myself"

"You're going to get sick" Minamoto suddenly joins the conversation

"And?" I say

"You can't go back home with a weather like this man" he says

"What if you stay here for the night?" she says

"Oh nono, haha, I shouldn't bother you guys like that!" I nervously reply

"It's not a big deal really" she says

"But I don't even have clothes to sleep with"

"Teru can borrow you some, right?"

"I uh, I guess?" he says a bit flustered

Her mom is too kind for my own good, sleeping at the Minamoto's house? No way, where would I even sleep? The floor? And I don't want to use his clothes! That's weird

Her mom looks at me awaiting my answer, with those eyes that say "please accept my offer". I'm stuck in a difficult decision here, so there's only one acceptable answer...

"Alright...I'll stay"

"Good to hear Honey, call your mom just so she knows you're here"

"I will, thank you so much for letting me stay here tonight"

"Make yourself at home!"

I'm angry at myself for succumbing into social pressure, but what else could i have done?

I sigh and look at Minamoto, he seems to be happy for some reason. We make eye contact

"Alright Akane, come with me"

"Why?"

"To get this sleepover started, duh!"

His niceness makes me feel odd, I wonder if I'll ever get used to it...

Chapter Text

Akane's mother picks up the phone

Aoi Akane's POV:

"Hello? What do you need Akane?"

"Hi mom, I'm going to stay at a friend's house for the night, you see the rain was-"

"Yeah you can stay there, no need to explain yourself"

"O-okay"

"I'm going to invite some of my friends over again, so tell me when you come back, it'd be embarrassing for me if you were here"

"Yes mom, take care"

"Uh huh, good night dear"

The call ends

"Alright Mina- I mean, Teru, I'm all done here"

"Everything alright buddy?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, why do you ask?"

"You didn't seem happy at all while on the phone"

"Ah, it's nothing man, come on, let's see if you still got popcorn here..."

I see, he doesn't know. He used to know, but I guess it's better this way

"So what movie are we watching?" He asks

"I'm not too much into movies, so you can pick it" I say

"What? You. Akane Aoi. The only person I know who watches movies on a daily basis, 'isn't too much into movies' "

"Haha, I'm kidding dude! I'm fine with whatever you want to watch"

"Really?! You never let me choose a movie, you always tell me the movies I like are boring"

"I do? Um well today is a special night, right? Let's watch any movie you want"

"O-oh, Alright, Let me see what movies I have, wait here and try to find some popcorn ^^"

"Yeah sure no prob!"

As Teru leaves, I sigh in relief. I almost screw up my cover, if he finds out I'm not the Akane he knows, I'm doomed. 'Cause now I'm dealing with this timeline's Teru, well, he technically isn't, he's just been brainwashed into being so. Also, thanks to me being a clockeeper, I can't forget anything like him, unless, of course, my superiors wanted so.

For now, though, that won't be the case. Right now I have to learn how the other Akane acted

Well, with my silly thinking I have been opening and closing drawers through the kitchen without much thought and I haven't found the popcorn.

Wait, I think I found it. It looks good, I'll just put this in the microwave and...

"Great! You found some popcorn" Teru says, standing behind me

"AAA! Teru! please stop scaring me all the time, it's very late and this is not a time for playing"

"Sorry hehe, I don't do it on purpose man"

"It's fine, just try to not talk behind me like that"

"Noted"

"What movie did you choose?"

"You'll see"

He grabs my forearm and we go to his room, there's a blanket along with an empty bowl and his laptop

It looks so comfy I want to jump straight into his bed, and cover myself in his bed sheets

"Oh wait, the popcorn is still in the microwave, let me get it" I say

"I'll get it, make yourself at home" he replies

He leaves the room, and all I can do is look around his room, he has several photos of him and his family, there's also a few clothes on the floor, so I pick them up. Most of them smell terrible, I put them along with the rest of his dirty clothes

Then I fix the bed and close some drawers; now this is somewhere I can sleep, maybe I'll sleep on the floor, I don't want to bother Teru too much with my presence

"You like my room don't ya?" Teru says

"It's nice"

"Good to know, oh I forgot! Let me see what clothes I can lend you" - he says as he pours the bag of popcorn onto the bowl

"I'm okay sleeping with these clothes"

"My mom told me to give you proper clothing"

"But I'm fine like this, and I don't want to bother you that much"

"It's fine, Akane, really, you are not bothering me"

"Fine..."

"Here, this should fit you just fine! If you don't like them, I can get you something else"

"This is perfect, thank you, I'll get changed in your bathroom"

"Sure man"

He even has a bathroom of his own, how cool is that? I enter it and dayumm, it's so pretty, it smells nice

I get changed, and I notice as I put on his clothes that they're a little bigger for me, you can even see my left shoulder! I look ridiculous, yet his clothes are smooth and smell like lavander

I fold my clothes and come out of the bathroom, Teru is already inside of the blanket, but when he sees me his face becomes a bit red

I panic; do I look that bad? God I knew this was a bad idea, I look like a child with his clothes

"Quit staring at me, I know they look big on me!" I say, annoyed

"N-no, they look fine! It's just that uh...haha who am I kidding? They look huge on you, hahaha"

"Shut up! Stop making fun of me! Im not even that short"

Teru puts the blanket to the side and stands up in front of me, I blush

"Let's test that out...hmm seems you reach the middle of my nose ^^" he says in a mocking, yet happy manner

"Come on! It was your idea to put on your clothes"

"I'm not complaining, hehe"

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Aww just look at you, with my clothes you make me feel tall, hahaha"

What does he mean by "I'm not complaining"?! Oh I'm the one complaining here buddy that's for sure, I'm so embarrassed my ears are red.

Out of impulse, I grab his shirt and drag him down so that he looks at me and not down on me.

His absurdly pale, blue eyes stare at me, but then I notice he starts blushing

God, only I get angry because of something as small as this. I blush a lot, because I'm embarrassed at what I just did

"A-Akane?"

"I- I'm sorry"

"Your glasses are very dirty, let me clean them"

"W-What? They're not that dirty"

He snatches my glasses from my face, stands up straight and cleans them using his breath and his shirt, then puts them on

I'm so embarrassed right now, not only am I being made fun of, but he's now wearing my glasses

"There's like a yellow filter on this, you really are blind"

"Give them back"

"I'll do don't worry, but how do I look with..."

He starts looking at me for a bit, or I guess so, I can't see his eyes because, one, he has my glasses, and two, the reflection doesn't let me see his eyes. I wonder what he's thinking though

"I'll take this back, thaaank you c;" I say while grabbing slowly the glasses and putting them back

"Uh yeah"

"What we're you gonna say?"

"I forgot"

"Whatever you say man, let's watch that movie"

"Y-Yeah"

Teru turns the lights out, we get ourselves comfy inside the blanket, we start watching the movie

It's already late by now, like 12 about to be 1 am, but still, we decide to keep watching the movie. I don't know about him, but at least I wake up early almost always, so my eyes are already tired

I yawn various times, and I really want to sleep, but Teru seems to be enjoying the movie, so I try to keep my eyes open

"Are you tired?" he asks

"A bit"

"We can sleep already if you want to"

"But we haven't finished the movie"

"We can watch it another time, right?"

"I mean I guess but I also want to keep watching it"

"You do?"

"Yeah, we're on the best part"

"Alright then"

We keep watching the movie, it's 2 am now and I'm Hella tired, I try to fight it but I start falling asleep slowly, until I fall on a deep, comfy dream. I'm not sure if I slept on Teru's shoulder, but at that moment I didn't care

His bed is so comfortable, but the warmth of his body feels even better...

Chapter Text

I open my eyes.
What is this place?

I look around, it seems we are on the clockeepers' boundary. And we are about to travel back in time. Teru, Kou and Yashiro are here with me

All of a sudden, my superiors stand in front of us, they...they want to fight?

"I am so disappointed in you, Akane Aoi" he says

"Come on Akane, we'll have to fight them" Teru says

"Alright then" I say

We start fighting, and ut gets pretty heated, so I decide to attack one of them directly

"Take that!" I say as I stop time and kick one of them

"You. Foolish. Child."

He grabs my leg, and breakes it, then cuts it off using his bare hand, I scream as blood drips down, I try to stop time but I can't, I can't win

I can't win against them
I can't oppose them
I'm worthless compared to them
Compared to him
I just can't

I'm stabbed in the stomach by a sword
He used Teru's sword against me
I look at my right
Teru's on the floor,
Bleeding.

I look to my left
Yashiro is knocked out
Kou is cornered by Mirai.
Only leaving him in front of me
Smiling,
Smiling at me

Everything becomes dark

----☆

My body jumps slightly and I open my eyes in a matter of seconds.
Thank god it was only a dream

Wait, this isn't my bedroom, where- ohh I remember, this is Teru's room. But i thought I'd be sleeping on the floor, why am I on his bed?

I look to my left; there he is. He's still sleeping, but then I realize he's very close to me, we're cuddling, no, we have been like this all night

My face is all red, when did I fell asleep?!
Why is he hugging me? Don't tell me he's the kind of guy to hug a teddy bear in his sleep

His arm is over me, his hand is touching my chest. We're both wrapped around his blanket

My heart starts beating faster, when did things get like this?! I mean, me, Akane Aoi, is sleeping alongside Teru. The man who has always hated me

Oh my god this is so weird, why are we this close to eachother? I turn my head to my left, his blonde hair is very messy, I never thought I'd see his hair like that

He looks so peaceful, sleeping here...his lips are a pretty shade of pink-

AKANE NO! STOP. THINKING.
What am I doing right now?!
Whatever it is, I should stop it, I need to get out of his bed without waking him up

I gently grab his hand and put it aside, it's warm. Then, I slowly grab the blanket and I stand up from his bed

Great! I didn't do too much noise

"A...akane..." Teru mumbles

I thought I woke him up, but then he started snoring silently. I sigh in relief. Then, I look once again around his room.

The plan! Fuck! I forgot about it completely, but hey, now that he's asleep, I can look for the notebook or book where he may have written his past memories

I open the drawers to my right, nothing more than clothes. I search on the drawers next to the door, nothing. I go to the drawer next to his bed, and there's several notebooks here, small ones

Could all of them be diaries? I don't think I have the time to check each and one of them, I'll just take...the smallest one, here.

Thank god this sweatpants have pockets, his diary fits perfectly.

My stomach groans, I guess having breakfast would be great, but what time is it? Where's my phone?

Mmm...I'll look for it later, I'm very hungry

I leave his room and go downstairs, then I'm surprised by Kou making breakfast. I didn't expect him to wake up this early

"Good morning Aoi! I'm making some bacon with scrambled eggs" Kou says

"Good morning Kou, that sounds delicious" I say

"Let me give you some" he says while grabbing a plate and serving me breakfast

"Thanks"

"I thought you guys stayed up until late"

"We kind of did, but I'm not used to it so I think I feel asleep almost immediately"

"Haha, that's okay, did you two have fun?"

"Yeah we did"

"Really? So much so you slept together?"

My face turns red; he entered Teru's room while we were still sleeping?!
God I feel so embarrassed, now he might interpret things differently

"I wanted to sleep on the floor but he insisted" I nervously reply

"Mmm really? He's so kind to you, isn't he?" Kou says

"I wouldn't say so"

"Why?"

Oh fuck I forgot Teru is not the same here, now what do I say instead? Umm...

"He's uh, nice to everyone, so it's not surprising" I say

"Ohh okay, well still, I think he has a soft spot for you"

"A soft spot?"

"Yeah, this past 2 weeks he's been acting weird, like he's been more serious and cold to me and almost everyone"

"Ohh..."

"But now he's acting normal again"

"That's good to hear"

"Yeah, but now I have to hear him talk about you"

"Me?! What does he say about me?"

"Can't tell you buddy, but it's nothing serious or anything, just joking around and thats it"

So he also makes fun of me behind my back? What a prick. But why is Kou telling me all of this?

"Really? Well that isn't surprising" I say

"It's not?"

"No, he always makes fun of me, but I guess he also does it behind my back"

"What- oh yeah, but don't worry he's not that mean haha"

"Alright, well I finished eating"

"I'll put this away for you"

"Thanks, nice chatting with you"

"No problem man"

I go upstairs, I look up and see there's a clock on the wall, I check the time; 11 am?!

Is it that late?! I need to go back home now. I go to Teru's room and grab my folded clothing, then go to his bathroom to change

Im almost done, and as I'm about to put my shirt on someone opens the door, i forgot to lock it

"Teru!! I'm changing you bastard!"

"Akane? AHH! I'M SORRY!" he says, shutting the door again

Thank god I already had my pants on, besides he only saw me shirtless, it's not that bad. I grab the small notebook from the sweatpants' pocket into mine

I finish changing and fold Teru's clothes, then I open the door

"I'm all done Teru, you can use the bathroom now"

"Ah yeah, thanks man"

"I'll be leaving soon"

"What? This early?"

"It's 11 am"

"Yeah, still morning"

"When am I supposed to leave then?"

"I don't know, but 11 am seems to soon to me"

"My mom's already waiting for me, I really need to go"

"Alright, at least let me walk you to the door"

"Alright, also have you seen my phone?"

"Yeah, it's on the bed, let me just grab it...here"

"Thank you, well let's go"

We go downstairs and right into the door, Teru opens it for me and I step outside

"Thanks for staying here!" Teru says

"Haha, I should be thanking you, but don't worry about it"

"We should do it again some other time!"

"Yeah, but this time I will bring my own clothes"

"Sure man, well take care!"

"Bye, see you tomorrow"

I walk away and I can't stop thinking about all that happened; what's gotten into him? That sleepover was so weird

Why was he blushing, nonono, why was I blushing?! What happened?! I'm not used to this honestly, and I don't like to think about it

Why do I feel something strange towards Teru?

Chapter Text

Minamoto Teru's POV:

It's already monday but man, this weekend was awesome! Specially because of the sleepover I had with Akane at my house. I was lucky Kou didn't say anything weird while he was there

But I felt more...like that towards him again; when I saw him wearing my clothes, when we compared how tall we were, specially when he fell asleep on my shoulder

I tried ignoring these thoughts for a very long time, but the tension between us grows larger as time goes on

The problems is I can't really say anything about it, because I know he likes Akane Aoi, my fiancé. He only talks about her and how much he loves her...

Seeing him confess his love again and again, get rejected, but still adore her on a ridiculous level frustrates me

Still, I'm fine living with this. What lately has been on my mind though is Akane's behavior. This past week he's been acting very suspicious

He was calling me by my last name until I pointed it out, he becomes annoyed at the slightest thing I do, he seems nervous, more than usual, and I have the feeling he is hiding something from me! I can't stand it...

Worst of all, I have an odd feeling all of the time, one that tells me I'm forgetting about something really important, but no matter how much I think, I can't remember what that is

"President Minamoto, do you know the answer to this ecuation?" The teacher says, I forgot I was still in class

"Yes, sir, I'll solve it right away,"

----☆

It's finally recess, I'm still thinking a lot about everything, and then Aoi approaches me in the hallway. I bought her a gift for obvious reasons, and it seems she did the same

"Hi Aoi! How are you?" I ask her

"Very good lately, oh! I almost forgot, here, another gift for you to remember me the rest of your day <3" she says as she hands me a bracelet that matches hers

"Thank you so much, Aoi! I also got you a present, " I say as I give her a necklace

"Aww, you silly guy! You're so sweet. "

"Oh no, you are sweeter!"

"No, you are! ^^"

People mutter peacefully. It seems I'm getting better at pretending this stupid relationship

Well, we go to the cafeteria to eat with our friends, well, you could say they're Aoi's friends, since I've never considered any of them close friends

"Hey guys, what's up?" one of them says

"The usual, just talking and stuff hehe" Aoi says

Aoi is very superficial, in my opinion, I mean, yeah, we are friends, or that's the best I could think of our relationship

I get more bored of being here again. These guys always talk about the same bullshit over and over

I'll go search Akane, I'm sure he's pretty lonely

"Oh! I have to go guys, I forgot I needed to help out with more student council stuff" I say, as I stand up and take the rest of my food (a bad of chips)

"Sure, Teru, don't worry about it! Give me a kiss, won't ya?" She says

"Why, of course, Aoi"

I kiss her forehead trying to hide as much as possible how uncomfortable I am

"love you!"

"Love you more, Teru!"

I pretend to go to the student council classroom to later sneak into the rooftop where I'm guessing Akane is

And I was right, there he is, eating. Alone.

"Heya Akane! Why are you looking at the sky all by yourself?" I ask him

"Why do you always mention my lack of company?"

"Sheesh, sorry,"

"It's fine... you're just like that"

"Like what?"

"Yourself, you're one of a kind."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?"

"Neither, but I guess you can take it as a compliment."

What's with the phrasing on what he says? Why does he say that as soon as we start talking? Well, he also looks like he's overwhelmed or his mind is clogged with thoughts

Thoughts I sadly don't comprehend

I really, really want to know what is bothering him, I guess there's nothing wrong with asking

"Akane"

"What is it?"

"What's up with you lately?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Your attitude. You're not acting like yourself; you're very nervous and serious. I feel like you're hiding something from me. "

"Oh, uh... you shouldn't worry about it! I'm ok. "

"Akane, we always tell each other almost everything, you know I won't judge you" - I say as I put my arm in his shoulder

"Look, I'm telling you I am doing fine! Stop trying to get involved in my bussiness! " He shouts, he looks very angry

I stare at him in disbelief of how rude he was, though his expression changes to a much more worried one after realizing how he acted

"Teru, I am -"

"No, I understand, you just don't want to tell me, you don't trust me, do you?"

"T-that's not true!"

"Then why can't you just tell me?!"

"I...I can't! You won't understand!"

"Okay. Do whatever you want, Akane. I should get going already."

"Wait, Teru!"

I walk off and leave the rooftop, to later go to the bathroom. I need peace and quiet to gather my thoughts

What the fuck was that?! What's his problem?! God I just want to scream. After all we've have been through, all that I have shared to him

Do I not deserve his trust?

I shouldn't make this a big deal, it was just a little argument, yet walking off just like that wasn't the right best thing I could've done

Maybe I was too harsh on him, who knows what he's going through. I can't just force him to tell me what's wrong if he's not comfortable to do so

I need to talk and apologize to him

The bell rings and I go back to classes. It's hard to focus on class while stressed, but I can't do much about it until I talk to Akane

"Okay guys, that's it for today, don't forget to fo your homework" Our teacher says as he leaves the classroom

Finally! I gather my things and go as quickly as I can to the student council's classroom

I enter and see him inside already, we stare at eachother for a few seconds, before I break the silence

"Akane I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so rude." I say

"No Teru, I should be the one to apologize, I know I've been acting weird all this week, but the truth is-"

"No, Akane, don't rush and tell me yet, I know you weren't ready to tell me and you still aren't"

"Yeah but still-"

"I don't want to pressure you into something you don't want to do, look, I know sometimes I treat you like crap, but right now I want to be kinder to you"

"Ha, you think you're acting like crap when in reality I think right now you're the nicest you could ever be to me"

"You...you really think so?"

"Yeah, you don't need to apologize. Look, I promise I'll tell you as soon as I'm ready, okay?"

"Thank you. whatever it is that's keeping your mind all worried, I hope it's something I can help you later on"

I get closer to him and grab his left hand with both of my hands while staring at him

"Just please, don't deal with all of that by yourself. I'm here, you know?"

"Y-yeah I w-won't make you worry anymore!" He says, I think his face is red

"Hahaha, I'm sorry for being too cheesy, I know you hate that," I let go of his hand

"Haha, don't worry about it,"

"But why are you so red? Did I embarrass you with my never-ending monologue?"

"I'm not embarrassed!" he says, annoyed and flustered

He's very cute when angry, with his red cheeks, and the face he makes is just so adorable, not In a weird way of course, but it makes me want to shorten the distance within us. And well...that's what I do

"Oh, come on, Akane, your cheeks are super red. Why don't you tell me why that is?" I whisper to him

"I-I..."

"Come on, I can't hear you silly~"

He grabs my chin softly. We are way too close to each other and now I am the one blushing the hardest here

"I think you know very well why that is. After all, you're a pretty rational guy, Mr. President" Akane whispers

I never saw this confident and bold side of him. Is he trying to play a joke on me or is this for real?!

Does he...know?

Suddenly someone opens the door, we both pull eachother as far away as possible.

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:

"Well hello...there, Minamoto and Aoi, what are you two exactly doing?" Says the director

Why does this always happen to me? Seems my stupid actions have led me to a sticky situation

I honestly don't know what possessed me into teasing Teru back, but that doesn't matter right now, I need to think of a reasonably excuse for what just happened

What else could we have been doing other than arguing very close to each other...

I can't come up with a good excuse

Fuck, I just hope he doesn't misunderstand this. Two dudes alone pretty close to eachother can be thought very strangely without context

Wait-

"Oh, we're just discussing a few issues with the latest documents that were sent to us" Teru says

"Really? Is there a problem with them? You guys seem very stressed" the director points out

"Oh no, there's no need to worry, it's just that we're trying to see how to...integrate them with last month's database!" I say

Thank god Teru got the excuse covered, I'm pretty bad at coming up with any, but since his personality is quite charming and well-received, the director didn't seem to care

I guess luck was on our side today. Actually; I haven't made much progress on my plan to reciver Teru's old memories, I haven't even read his diary...I don't even know if a chose the right one! For all I know that could just be a photo album

I need to speed things up, let's see...

Right now the only one who still has their memories is Yashiro, but I think I'll need more help

What if...I try to get Aoi's memories back? She surely has to at least have some fuzzy pictures in her head

But how? We're not very close in this timeline thanks to Teru, so...If I make her remember how much I loved her she may regain all of her past memories!

That's right! Then I should just confess my love to her like I always used to do and she will certainly be able to at least have a deja vu or feel familiar about it. Then, she'll progressively remember everything

Seems like a plan then!

After school, I went to buy some flowers and a cute animal plushie. I bet she's been confessed to a lot in this timeline, therefore I gotta prepare

Now thinking it more throughoutly, maybe I should do it in secret, since Teru and Aoi are engaged my plan could cause us some serious problems if others find out

----☆

It's tuesday and I had everything ready. As soon as the bell rang I quickly searched for Aoi from hall to another

Then I found her alongside Yashiro

"Aoi! Can we have have a word?" I say,  as I aproach her

"Huh, Akane? What is it that you need to discuss?" she says

"I'll tell you, but first I'd like to go somewhere more private"

"Oh um, I really shouldn't, I can't leave Nene here all by herself!"

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we chat for a few minutes, isn't that right Yashiro?"

"Um, sure. I can wait here while you guys talk ^^" Yashiro says, she clearly picked up on my attitude; good.

"Fine...let's go" Aoi sighs

We go outside and to a much narrow and lonely place, I start getting nervous despite how many times I've done this

Okay, here we go...

"Well Akane, tell me, what did you want to talk about?"

"Look, Aoi, you're such a wonderful person to be around, and well, we know eachother since we were children"

"I sure know that"

"Yeah! And...I think of you as someone who's honest, kind and determined. I admire you for all of that, so much so I think I feel something special towards you"

As I say that, I take out the animal plushie and flowers, then I give them to her with a warm smile, though I only get a confused look

"...A-and, well, I'd like to know if you feel the same way I-" I stutter to then be interrupted

"Akane, you know I'm engaged to Teru"

"I do! But you guys clearly don't like eachother romantically! He has let me know already"

"Yeah, and you should also know my reputation plays a big role in our engagement"

"I do, though we could keep it as a secret!"

"I'm sorry, I just don't see it happening"

"..."

"I simply can't, also this is too sudden for me..."

"But didn't you already know about my feelings beforehand?"

"I don't think so"

"Really? After all I've done..? How much time we've spent together...?!"

"Akane, I get that we are childhood friends, but you have never been certainly close to me during our adolescence"

"I haven't...?"

"No"

"Why?"

"I'm not you, I don't know. Also, I would've predicted you to feel more drawn to Teru"

"HUH?! What is that supposed to mean Aoi?"

"Jeez, nevermind. You feel like a completely different person right now...I never thought I would have a conversation like this with you"

"I...whatever. So has any of the moments we've spent together never felt like something special to you?"

"In a way, yes, but platonically speaking of course"

"Okay, I got it. I won't take more of your time nor Yashiro's time"

"Alright...just don't take this to roughly Akane, you're a good friend of mine, and I wouldn't want things to change"

"Sure. Take care, Akane Aoi."

----☆

I returned back home.

In a way, I'm not sure if my plan worked, I will only know until later, yet I can't deny how emotionally destroyed I feel

I've been rejected by Aoi more than a hundred times, maybe even a thousand more. But this one was the most painful one by far

The only reason I kept confessing my love multiple times to her was because she told me she might correspond to my feelings if I did it good enough

And...I guess I was expecting her to actually say yes this time, but she's not my Aoi, yeah that's why she said no, right?

But

What has my Aoi even done for me?

Does she even love me the way I do?

Now thinking about it she may just have been playing with my feelings all this time

Perhaps I was already rejected since day one, and I've only been tricked into thinking she did care

Ugh...It doesn't matter, nothing matters, how I feel doesn't matter!

Aoi never cared about me, did she?! She just liked my...attention? What did she even want from me?!

Maybe If I was someone else she'd love me. Maybe I'm the problem, or I don't deserve to be loved by anyone...who would want me anyways?

I don't have many friends apart from Teru despite being part of the student council, and I've already rejected several girls because of my commitment with Aoi

...

Why did she say that about Teru? What's up with that?

Did she mean...no I'm overthinking it. Yeah, thinking that makes me feel uncomfortable and weird

Yet...we're closer lately, he's less of a nuisance to be around and I think I actually like hanging out with him

Like the time we had that sleepover, yeah...I think there's some kind of tension between us, one that I cannot explain

And yesterday something came over me and we had somewhat of a moment

Do I...?

No, that's stupid, maybe all of what happened today really affected me...

I think I'll go to sleep, I don't have the motivation to even move or think anymore...maybe I won't bother going to school tomorrow

Chapter Text

Minamoto Teru's POV:

"Teru...TERU! Wake up already! It's super late and you're not even awake yet!!!" Kou says while shacking me

"...What time is it?" I ask.

"15 minutes before classes start"

"..."

I pull Kou aside and get ready as quickly as possible, I didn't even get a chance to eat breakfast.

Luckily, I make it just in time, and classes go off just as usual. Im so tired and I wish I could've stayed home, I never like coming on Wednesdays, oh well

I finish my first classes and the usual happens, I talk with Aoi, we exchange small gifts while displaying how much we "love" eachother, then I go to the cafeteria for half of my break with Aoi's friends to later make up an excuse to leave and go to the rooftop

I think they are starting to be suspicious of this pattern, even theorizing that I may be doing something else apart from favors to some of our teachers

So fucking stupid honestly

The reason I like to go with Akane is simply because I like to be close to him...well, for the longest time I've neglected my feelings towards him, I thought that wasn't morally right

Not because he's a guy, I actually don't see that as a problem, the issue here is that he's also a supernatural, more specifically he's the clockeeper/ guardian of the present

I never knew wether to treat him more like a human or one of them. I'm an excorcist afterall, my job is to get rid of supernatural that may hurt people

Yet, Akane never had such intentions. He pretty never had much of a choice, it's not like he wanted to be involved with time, spirits and such

Proof of this is how he asked me for help since he didn't want to see spirits all of the time, and the closest thing I could do was fix his glasses.

I'm still unsure about it or if this would be the right thing

But one thing's for sure, I do feel something for him. Humans can't control who they fall in love with; no one gets to choose who their heart seeks to follow, with appearances that's a different story.

I wish I didn't, but I do, and I can't just go and burry this feelings deep down and ignore them. So I guess I'll have to embrace them

Eitherway it's not like Akane will actually say yes if I made...a request of such nature. And I don't even know if I'm ready for something like that

Anyways, enough thinking made me realize I hadn't even entered the door that led to the rooftop, so I do

And...wait he's not there?

Why? Did he suddenly decide to go eat somewhere else and not tell me? No...maybe he's on the left side of here. Though that's usually where Aoi's friend eats; Nene Yashiro

Maybe I'll ask her If she saw him around here

"Hello Yashiro, I'm sorry to interrupt you while eating...but by any chance have you seen Akane?" I politely ask

"Oh! What a surprise to see you here Minamoto, no, sadly I didn't see him...I doubt he even came to school" She responded

"Wait, what do you mean why that? He rarely misses school"

"Well how do I say this...yesterday something happened within him and Aoi"

"Really? What happened?"

I sit down next to her on the floor, awaiting for her to tell me more

"Look, I know I shouldn't get into other people's business...but" she mutters

"But...?" I remark

"They basically had a private chat and I heard all of what happened. Akane confessed his love for her and got rejected. Honestly Aoi was so cold I didn't even recognize her!"

Ah...so he confessed once again, I see. It's really annoying for me to see him repeat this unhealthy cicle over and over again. But it had to stop eventually, one way or another

And...this is the aftermath of such, it pains me to see this happen

"God, that sounds awful" I exclaim

"Yeah! Just by looking at his face did I see how heartbroken he was...he surely didn't even feel like coming to school today" Yashiro says

"it's understandable, he'll probably keep this up for more days..."

"But that won't be of any help for him! He will only fall into a rabbit hole of negative thoughts and isolate himself from his loved ones. You should help him!"

"You think so?"

"Definitely! You of all people should know him better than anyone"

"He will not come to school any time soon, how can I help?"

"Mmm...maybe If you visit him at his house you can talk about it"

"Ok...I'll do it, it appears he does need someone to talk to either way"

"Sounds great!"

The bell rings and I say goodbye to Yashiro

It seems clear what I have to do now, I'll just have to wait until school's over.
I exit the rooftop and go to my next class, I mean, this time I didn't pretend to come out of a teacher's room like I usually would do, but surely no one noticed

----☆

Classes are finally over. I would have been happy because I could be for a few hours with Akane, but today wasn't the case so I finished as fast as I could my work of the day from the student council. It's so fucking boring without someone to talk to

And it was evidently harder without his help, the only reason I finished in time was because I was motivated enough to finish this and go with Akane

After I'm done with everything I exit the school and walk over to his house; I luckily still remember where he lives

I arrive and I knock on his door; I'm a bit nervous since I've never met his parents, from the little information I know they're not that friendly

The door opens

"Who is it-" Akane asks but I interrupt him

"Akane! How are you feeling?"

"Teru?! What are you doing at my house?"

Man, he looks so depressed. He's wearing a white shirt that's noticeably dirty, some sweatpants and cat themed slippers. He looks so tired...

"You didn't come to school today" I explain

"And? Can't I just miss one day of school?" he grumbles

"Look I just want to talk for a bit" I say

"...Fine, I guess I don't have anything else to do that would make me say no" He sighed

"Thank youuu- dayumm, it is a bit of a mess around here"

"I'm starting to regret this..."

Chapter Text

Minamoto Teru's POV:

"Your house is...umm...nice," I say

"You don't need to lie, man, I know it's quite a mess." Akane responds

"Don't worry, it doesn't bother me, haha."

"Sure..."

"So...why didn't you come into school today?"

"I'm not in the mood to tell you,"

"Ok, that's fine, then...what have you been doing today?"

"Well, evidently not cleaning. I've mostly just been lying on my bed while using my phone the whole day. "

"Have you had breakfast already?"

"No, I'm not hungry."

"What?! So you haven't eaten anything today?"

"It's fine, Teru, I don't -"

I drag him by the shirt all the way into the kitchen, and open the fridge to see what's there to eat

"I told you I am not hungry!! A-and we are not done cleaning yet!" Akane explains

"I don't care if you're not hungry, it's almost 5 pm dumbass and you didn't even bother on eating anything. Now, let's see..." I say

"There's no leftover food Teru, and there's no way Im letting you cook!"

"Alright then, I'll just go buy something to eat"

"I guess that sounds better, ugh..." He complains while scratching his head

"You okay?"

"Yes...I just have a terrible headache"

"Then I should hurry and get you a proper meal. Meanwhile, go lay down at the sofa" I say while pushing him over to the living room

"Whatever..."

"I'll be back soon"

"Mhmm...." He grumbles

I leave the house and go get some ramen, I actually don't know what his favorite food is which is kind of embarrassing

But If he showed me the same interest he shows Aoi, I bet he'd even know my blood type and shit

Ah...what am I thinking, he'll never like me that way, I doubt he even thinks of me that way, he only has ever cared about his dear "Ao chan"

Anyways, I'm planning on making him confess what happened without him knowing I already know (thanks to Yashiro hehe). The reason I came here in the first place was to comfort him.

I come back to his house and see him lying down on the floor

"Akane?! What the fuck are you doing?!"

"I don't wanna live anymoreee..., god has snachted away my only purpose in life"

"Okay now, do you finally want to talk?"

"No I-I'm finee...!"

"Sure buddy and you're definitely not going nuts"

Akane just keeps grumbling until I decide to pick him up to my chest; honestly he's very light

He just stares at me all confused, I hope he's not uncomfortable with this

"What...are you doing?" He asks

"Getting you to the kitchen, duh" I say

"Get me the fuck dow!" he screams at me

He's fine ^^

"And...there, you can stop getting all angry at me now" I sigh

"I'm not hungry" he declares

"Mhm"

I get the 2 ramen servings out of the plastic bag and set the table. Akane seems he is about to fall asleep

I look at him and see that in the few seconds I wasn't paying attention to him he's eating like crazy.

And I haven't even touched my ramen (-_-;)

"So...is it good?" I ask him

"It's okay" he admits

"Aww stop! You're making me blush"

"I literally just said it's okay"

"Hahaha come on, you devoured the whole thing before I could even grab my chopsticks"

"Whatever dumbass"

"Haha okay okay, thankfully you're more relaxed now"

"I'm doing just fine as before"

"Akane, please, you know you only make others worry even more when being so careless about your health"

"Alright I guess your right"

"You know you can talk to me, we always tell each other stuff that bothers us, right?"

"Absolutely, it's just that I haven't been feeling very well this time...wait, what time is it?"

"Almost 7, why?"

"Nothing I'm just a bit tired, let's keep talking In my room. Afterall you already finished eating"

"Yep, let me help you clean"

"Thank you"

We clean a little then go upstairs to his room, yet my mind is elsewhere, I'm worried for Akane obviously, he shouldn't be so stubborn sometimes

Also...that feeling is still haunting me, I mean...I did get to remember something new. It's a memory of me fighting some kid supernatural, it had an old school's uniform, it also looked oddly familiar to the toddler we saw that night at school when we saved my brother and his friend.

But the thing is I have never fought that guy, it seemed...more than your ordinary low-rank spirit. Obviously from what I remember it wasn't concerning to me

But who...is that? I mean, if I fought it it's probably dead already, right?

It just doesn't make sense...

"Okay, before you enter PLEASE do not touch anything that seems fragile or that I tell you not to touch/open, got it?" he firmly says

"Got it"

We enter his room

"OMG! I didn't know you liked cute plushies" I gasp

"Hey! Be careful"

"And you also have a huge shelf! half of it is filled with books and the other half with anime stuff"

"Mhm..."

This side of him is one I never got to see, I never thought he'd be the kind of guy to like anime or plushies

Cute

"Akane, why did you never told me you liked nerdy anime stuff?"

"Don't call it that! And I think I did, except SOMEONE was not paying attention"

"Oww sorry, you can mindlessly ramble about your favorite shows with me if you want to tho"

"Tch, whatever"

Okay Teru enough fooling around, you need to get to the point before you get distracted by something else

"So, can you tell me what is going on?" I ask, as I grab one of his plushies and sit on the floor

"Seems I can't keep avoiding you can I? Fine, I'll be brief. Basically I'm heartbroken because Aoi rejected me when I tried confessing to her..."

"Ohhh...I see"

"Don't get mad at me please! I know you guys are engaged and I know I could have ruined your reputation, it's just that-"

"Hey, hey, hey Akane, chill! I'm not scolding you for doing that, am I?"

"N-no..." He mutters; his eyes are watering

"Then don't jump to conclusions"

"I-I'm sorry, it's just that..."

"Gosh, come here silly"

He hugs me gently while crying, saying things like "I'm not good enough, am I?" Or "She never loved me!" . I would probably get jealous at how much he loves her, but honestly it hurts me more seeing him like this

I'll admit, I'm not the best at helping people in cases like this, but I hope I am doing good. Also this is the first time I see him cry, he usually refuses to express how he feels to almost anyone

Akane eventually calms down by breathing deeply; my shirt is so wet because of his tears

"Sorry for ruining your shirt Teru, I'm-" he says while wiping his tears away

"It's fineee Akane, I can just wash it later ^^" I Interrupt him

"If you say so..."

"Do you name each one of your plushies?"

"N-NO! I'm not a child!"

"I bet you 10 dollars this little guy over here is named 'Mr. Sprinkles' or something"

"Can you stop?! And his name is actually bubbles..."

"Aww that name does fit his goofy face hahaha"

"Stop laughing! God this is so embarrassing"

"Hahaha, okay I'll stop. Feeling better?"

"Yeah I guess...thank you"

"No need to thank me silly, just wanted to help"

"My eyes hurt like hell, I think I'll sleep already..."

"Alright, then I'll get going"

"You're leaving already?"

"Yep, we can talk again tomorrow if you want to"

"I'll see if I can"

"Just text me if you need anything, take care Akane"

"Take care..."

I say goodbye to him and then go back to my house, I wish I could've stayed for longer

I just hope he's doing better now...

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:

It's been a week since Teru visited me and helped me clean my house. Now you may be asking: What have I been doing with my free time? Absolutely nothing

I haven't felt like going to school, therefore I don't have the motivation to do anything else either, in fact, I haven't left my bed almost all day, well, only like 2 times to eat some leftover food or plain slices of bread

Both of my parents work 24/7, so I haven't had much company lately, just some good ol' music and my phone. So it's all good, haha!

Therefore, with this time, I have given myself space to...get through what happened with Aoi, I mean, that's what I'm supposed to do, right?

I feel so devastated after she rejected me, so now I just gotta... get rid of my feelings for her. God, how do people even do that?! I have never loved another girl who wasn't Aoi. Will I ever love someone else? She was the definition of a perfect girl!

Moving on sounds so easy, but hey, no one told me beforehand how frustrating this shit is

Anyways, maybe I should do stuff I never had the time to do! That'll definitely keep me more active

Mmmm...wait, I did steal Teru's diary to see if there were any clues on where to start my plan. Hold up, maybe he already noticed it's gone, fuck. I should read it already and return it

Where did I leave it again? Oh yeah in my drawer, good thing he didn't open any of the drawers when he entered my room.

Alright, I'll just scan through most of it because reading his diary is already bad enough, I mean, I only stole it for my plan to get his memories back, but I will try to respect his privacy as much as I can

I open it

"Hello, I'm not used to writing diaries, I never have. However, my memories are at the bridge of disappearing, and I unfortunately resorted to writing most of my valuable memories."

Wow, it's supposedly a diary, but the way he speaks feels like a report. I page through most of it, I merely read a bit, but I started to feel bad since the few pages I did stop to read made me realize he may not have the happiest memories during his childhood

Like, for example, this page says:
"The day after my eighth birthday, my father took me for a ride around the city. At first, I was happy because I thought this would be father-and-son bonding time.

Only to later realize he took me to a shallow and dirty place, it smelled terrible. But I wasn't stupid, I knew there was a reason

He brought me there to fight a real spirit for the first time and "man up" since before that I had only trained with my father and other adults

I was scared, but I couldn't back away, I had to fight. Luckily, I was fine, but I did get lots of bruises and scratches all over my body, I was barely able to catch my breath

After this, my training to become an excorcist became more exhausting. "

And I thought I had it rough, god.... honestly think I should be more grateful for his help, I mean...the normal Teru wouldn't have bothered helping me, other than texting me to complain about how I didn't come to help at the student council

I'll talk to him more about this after my plan is successful

I page more through it, there's mostly memories of his family and other people I don't know having fun. I'm surprised he even wrote about me

I guess I could use some of the happy memories to kind of overwhelm his subconscious. Using the traumatic ones seems like a last resort. Thankfully, it's only been like 2 weeks, so I'm not too late to help him

That means I have to read more...

"Entry number 12

When I was really young, the minamoto family (my family) and the Akane family organized a marriage between me and a girl named Akane Aoi

Her family would get our protection, and in exchange, they'd give us some of their wealth, special access to some of their properties, and more...confidential benefits

I never liked her, but there was no other way around it. We both never felt anything for each other, so our relationship is purely built on lies.

I have gotten better at pretending, but I hate how cold she is when I mess up at the slightest, "you get less points for this" or "you're worst than usual, you only get 6 points today" and so on

Like chill the fuck down, I'm not perfect. I can never get a perfect score, and sometimes it does frustrate me. I admire how much confidence and power she has, but she's also very controlling and needs constant attention

I just wish... I could love freely. At least once would be magical, then I would not have to hide who I truly love. Talking about love, recently I have started to feel something towards someone I'm very close to

But I don't know, it's too sudden and I may just be confused. Perhaps if I spent more time with this person, I'll know for sure"

Wait, who is he talking about? I mean, this is around the time his memory was getting all wonky, so I imagine some of the new presents memories got mixed up.

I go all the way to the last pages, most of them talk about what had happened recently before our meeting at that cafe

I read the last entry

"Help me

My name is Teru Minamoto, I am the oldest son of the Minamoto family and former excorcist. My memories are all at the bridge of disappearing, and I fear I may not get them back any time soon

I'm panicking as of right now, I feel disoriented and dizzy. I don't know what to do, I may be crazy but I think my personality is changing too, is it?

My whole brain is getting ripped apart and being changed, I hate it. I hate whatever is happening, I only know I'm "losing my memories" because I paged through my diary, and I have forgotten almost everything written here

What I do know is, this house is not mine, this memories are not mine, this family is not mine, this world is not mine

Is this body even mine?

Am I even myself at this point?

Who am I...?

Ｓ𝕠𝕞乇Ｂ𝕠𝕕ㄚ н𝔢Ｌ𝐩 Ｍ𝒆 ｐ𝐋є𝒶Ｓ𝐄 "

The last sentence is awfully written, as if he wrote it in a hurry. I don't know what happened, but maybe it really affected him mentally and collapsed or something

7 pages later, there's something else written: a shopping list, in it there's also medicine to treat headaches, a sore throat and pain, as well as some melatonin gummies

I imagine he found the diary around there but probably thought it wasn't his or anything important, and he just used it as a blank sheet of paper to write what he needed at the moment

So... I guess I know more or so what to do now, I just need to get help setting up this plan

----◇

Yashito nene
Online

Aoi: Yashiro, I need your help with something, Are you free tomorrow?

Yashiro: Is everything okay?!

Aoi: I'll explain everything later, but I really need someone to help me with this

Yashiro: Okay! Does Tomorrow
after school sounds good?

Aoi: Yes, it's fine

Yashiro: Okay, I'll see you there, Akane

Aoi: Thank you so much

Yashiro: Dont worry about it! (^ｖ^)

----◇

I just hope everything goes as planned. Otherwise, I'm worried we can't help Teru anymore

Though...I'm starting to doubt if I even want the old Teru back...

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:
I wake up and immediately check my phone to see the time; it's 7 a.m. I scroll through social media for 5 minutes until I realize I gotta go to school today

I was already absent for a week or so, and if I keep this up, my mother is going to kill me. And guess what? It's monday, I wish I could not exist for a day

Anyways, I get myself ready as per usual, eat a poptart for breakfast, and head to school. As soon as I entered my classroom, my classmates aproach me

"Aoi! Are you doing alright? You haven't come to classes in a long while!" One of my not-so-close friends says

"Haha, don't worry, it's nothing to worry about," I respond

"You sure? Because we've heard many rumors that made us a bit concerned, haven't you read our text messages?" A girl from my class exclaims

"Oh uh, I didn't have the time to check my phone, really..."

I actually ignored their texts since I'm used to being asked for favors with homework or tests all the time

"But uh, what has been rumorred around?"

"Well, some were saying that you might've gotten in trouble and got suspended for a whole week, but no one believes that," the girl says

"Mostly people assumed you got rejected by someone because they saw you holding a bouquet of flowers." A guy pops into the conversation; the others around him try to shush him because of his insensitivity

"Hahaha, I'm surprised how creative some of you are. My dad was just... busy and needed to go somewhere far away for work. "

"Hmm, alright then, but who were those flowers for?" Another girl asks

My default response to that would have been "Ao chan" or just "Aoi," but considering her current arrangement and recent events, I can't really say much...

"For no one, my mom just made me buy them for her" I awkardly answer

"Hah, come on, if you boughtflowers that means you we're gonna give them to someone special" she chuckles

"Don't even bother asking fruther guys, he doesn't habe a crush on anybody" the guy says

"You could say it's the same backwards" the girl mutters

Damn, I am a total looser in this timeline with no female attention. How curious

"Well, there's not much I can say about that, haha"

"But come on! There's gotta be someone! Like a girl from another class or... a guy" Her friend exclaims

"Nope, there's no one" I shrug and slightly blush

"You're no fun!!"

Well, I think now that I don't like Aoi like I used to before, I could start crushing on another girl

----☆

What happened at lunch really made me think a lot. Since I'm back, obviously, I talked with Teru during our break. We were looking down from the rooftop while snacking

"Akane! I'm glad you're finally back, " he told me

"Haha, yeah, I'm a lot better now," I said

"You sure? I mean It's only been a week, you know?"

"Yeah... but I think ever since umm...you know, that one time Aoi, Yashiro, you and me we're there on the student council, I realized maybe my feelings wouldn't be..."

"Corresponded?" He finished my sentence

"Yeah, exactly, so perhaps I've spent more time getting over her than I realized."

"That's good to hear. You know I'm sometimes embarrassed to say it, but I care about you, so don't go through so much stress all by yourself, okay?" He encouraged me while wrapping his arm around me and getting closer

I started blushing a lot, like I could feel my ears getting hot and all! This time, I actually realized about this behavior of mine; feeling flustered

We made eye contact for a bit until he changed the topic and moved aside

"Also... Now that you remind me of that one time, why we're we all there together? I vividly recall Yashiro scolding you for something, and you were really sad because of something between me and my fiancé" he said

I stopped blushing and was shocked. He's starting to remember! Maybe this won't be so hard at all. Well, it seems like his mind doesn't want him to know the most important part of that memory

Surely, there must be a way to force his mind to remember it, and then the rest of his memories attached to it should come back shortly after

So... what we need is something that triggers it. Maybe Yashiro will be able to help!

"You really don't remember? But it was just a few weeks ago!" I exclaim

"Was it? God thinking about it more just worsens my headache..." He complains

A headache? Reminds me of what he wrote on his diary. Then I don't think it's the time to act about this just yet

"Well, anyways, you wanna know something that happened this morning?" I asked him

"Sure, what happened?" Teru said

"My annoying classmates started hogging me because of my absence this week and complaining about my loveless life..."

"Hahaha, don't pay attention to what they say."

"Yeah, I know, but it also made me realize that since now I don't have a crush on anybody, I could start experimenting more, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like the classic teenage love life that I've never known why it's pressumidly so amazing, I wonder what having a girlfriend must be like..."

"I mean, it's not something out of this world, I could help you"

"But who would even want to be with me? I'm just a nerdy guy with poor social skills. "

"Akane, don't say that about yourself. It really annoys me how you think so little of yourself," he said, while getting closer, his face was...too close again

"Then...you think one day someone will love me?" I said, looking to his absurdly blue eyes, who were glaring into mine

"Yes, and one day...maybe you will also like them back. After all, who wouldn't love someone like you?"

I could feel my heart beating through my chest, I was so... moved by what he said, so flustered and shocked

I think that... those words made me realize something

----☆

School's over, and I met up with Yashiro to start planning our next move; we went to a nearby Dennis to eat and talk more comfortably

"So...Aoi, why did you want to meet today? Is it about...someone?" She asks

"I mean, yes and no, eitherway I'll have to explain it to you so that you can help me" I respond

"Well then tell me, I really want to know!"

I explain what happened recently to Teru and his memory loss and how our plan of returning to our previous timeline wasn't continued because of that

Her face went from disappointed at first to confused and then to worried.

"So you want me to help you get Teru's memories back?" She says

"Yes, so far I think I've made good progress, he seems to recall vividly some stuff, but not the biggest point here"

"Which is...?"

"That we don't belong to this timeline"

"Right, you're right...."

"Still, I'm not sure if I want to return to our old world, I had so much time to think and...I'm unsure"

"I'm also questioning it..."

"Well, before all this mess with Teru's mind happened, did you find something useful to our plan?"

"Kind of, I don't know if this information could help but, I accidentally entered an unused classroom where I saw an older version of Amane, one that grew up to be what he always dreamt about. Maybe I was imagining stuff, eitherway when I opened a book there, I saw photos of him"

"So...basically, in this world, yugi amane didn't die at 13, and based on what Teru's brother and his friend found, the 'tsukasa' we know never existed, interesting"

"What do you mean?"

I explained to her what happened the night where those two found a child-like tsukasa, and how me and Teru saved them

"But yeah, it seems that the clockeepers did fix what they needed to fix" I said

"And now we're left with this world. I mean, it seems like staying here would be the best, right Aoi?" She asked me

"It would...but It doesn't sit right with me any of this, sure we are living in a perfect world, one where everyone is happy, but how do we know it won't dissappear?"

"What do you mean why that?"

"How do we know the clockeepers won't just...change it again, right now we were lucky to find ourselves in a timeline like this, but a small change can lead us to any probable outcome"

"So...you don't trust in the stability of it?"

"I guess, I'm really tired of thinking about it, time isn't that simple"

"Okay, okay, let's get Teru's memories back, he'll surely know what to do about this mess"

"But to do that we need something that...forces his subconscious to remember"

"Maybe we can bring something that reminds him of the past timeline, or, I don't know, put a spell on him and fix this, haha"

"...You just gave me an idea"

"I was joking about the last part but okay"

"I think someone will know something about that"

"Fine...honestly at first I expected you'd want some advice but this is totally not unexpected"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Forget about it, let's go"

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:
We exited the restaurant; I had a really convincing idea that I didn't even wait to explain it to Yashiro, we walk a lot until we arrive to our destination

"A shrine?" Yahsiro asked

"Yes, the old man that lives here may have the answer we're looking for" I said

We enter the place, and are immediately stopped by a young man who questions our purpose

"We are friends with a member of the Minamoto family, and our purpose here is quite urgent" I exclaimed

"Do you have an scheduled meeting?" He asked

"Let them pass, I know this young man" the old man said

It was Nagisa Kunishige, he had helped me and Teru a while back, though I wonder what I did in this world for him to already know me

Still, It's pretty convenient so I won't think about it too much

"Come in, you seem a bit urged for helped, don't you?" He said

"Yes, you see, a friend of ours has lost all his memories and we want to get them back, is there some way to get them back?" I ask

"Well...that depends, how long did this happen?"

"Like 2 weeks ago I think, but he seems to start remembering a little"

"Then I guess you two came here because you're desperate for an easier way..."

"Sadly, yes. Would you be able to help us, sir?" Yashiro sighs

"Yeah, you could just gather various objects that remind him of his past, like toys, photos, etc. And then I would do 2 hour spiritual sessions with your friend for like, maybe 3 days, after that he should be better than before"

If I bring Teru to this place, Mr. Nagisa may not want to help us, or Teru will refuse to comply. There must be another way.

"I doubt our friend will be able to come here, is there a way we do this session ourselves?" I asked him

"It'd be easier if I did it, however I could give you the instructions on what to collect and and how to conduct the session" Mr. Nagisa offered

"Thank you so much sir!"

"Not so fast, that'll cost ya, I'm not giving out my services for free to anybody"

I looked at Yashiro, she took my "I don't have any money on me" Look, sighed and payed the old man. He gave us a sheet of paper with everything we needed to know

"I know that the way I explained this to you it sounds easy, but be careful, since you're not trained professionals, there's a high risk of side effects appearing that might put your friend in danger"

"Oh god" Yahsiro gasped

"So how do we avoid...that possible outcome?"

"You'll need to do this process slowly, but not too slow, or else it'll be too late"

So we have to be slow and not at the same time? Wow, makes a lotta sense old man, sheesh. Anyways, we said our goodbyes and exited the shrine.

Now with a clearer plan, Yashiro and I divided what we need to get for the spiritual session. She will get the essentials; candles, incense, special herbs, etc. Apparently we'll also have to feed him something, so she will get those ingredients too

Meanwhile, I'll get the more specific objects, those that will directly trigger some memories; since I still have Teru's diary, I can get a better idea of what to get him

Teru...sometimes I fail to notice how kind he's become, before coming here he would only treat me like shit, or be mean. But if I'm totally honest, I think I'm starting to like him more, like a lot more

Fuck, even just saying this in my head is making my heart beat; I hate to admit it, but it's true

I like his soulless blue eyes, his stupid hands that may be rough, but are also warm once you hold them, his weird fangs that make him look even better, and his voice, which I can still hear if I try to remember it hard enough

I like him, no, I love him. Even if the thought of liking Teru, the "monster" who'd constantly annoy me day after day, frustrates me, I can't keep lying to myself

Yet we are going to get his memories back, right? This kind, caring and warm-hearted Teru will be gone, and the old Teru, the one that I despise will once again be here to "replace" the other

Obviously doing this is the right thing to do, but I can't help but feel sad...
I guess I only have a few days left with him

Though I shouldn't paint this all black and white, this new Teru is sweet, but I also miss his old personality, the one that always makes me think of him once hearing his name

I feel like I don't know that well this Teru, for all I know he could be even worse! Ugh I don't know, I'm overthinking it. I'll just let things go as they should and see what happens

"You doing alright Aoi?" Yashiro asked

"Yeah, just thinking. Nothing important at all" I excuse myself

"If you say so..."

----♡

Minamoto Teru's POV:
It's tuesday, and things go off as usual, Aoi and I do our thing in front of everyone, I go through the most boring classes, go lunch with Aoi's friends and later on sneak into the rooftop with Akane, go to mooore classes and later go to the student council room

Work seems tough lately, after the school festival is over we're the ones who suffer! More paperwork, more data and more graphs, and you wanna know what's the worst part?

I didn't even get the chance to hang out with Akane during the school festival! Simce he didn't come to school for a whole week, he missed out on a lot, but I don't blame him, he had been through a lot.

Next time I'll make sure to bring him a gift. Now that he's over his feelings with Aoi, I will start to give him small hints of my love, I hope he doesn't think I'm weird though, gosh does Akane even like guys in the frst place?! I'm probably just acting really weird to him...!

"Good afternoon Teru, you doing okay?" Akane asks, taping my shoulder and getting my head out of the clouds

"Ah! Good afternoon Akane, I'm alright, how are you doing?" I ask, with a warm smile

"Good, though by the looks of it you are thinking a lot"

"Oh yeah, it's just that we're real busy this time, since the school festival is over, we have more work to do"

"Fuck, you're right..."

"You forgot, didn't you? It's fine, I just wish you could've hanged out with me and everyone else, this year they really outdid themselves with the event"

"Yeah...sorry, but hey, we could umm hang out in the park to compensate it, if you want to of course"

He's inviting me to the park? Aww that's so sweet of him! Can't say no to a hangout with him ♡

"Sure! I'd love to" I answered

"Alright, does tomorrow after school sound good?"

"Yep, sounds good"

"Then I'll see you there"

"Sure thing, now help me out with this side of the paperwork"

Oh I can just imagine it, the both of us walking, talking about silly stuff that we think in the moment, and holding hands while walking through the park

That feels like a date for real! Wait, did he actually invite me to a date? Man I'm not good at getting hints, neither differentiating them from a kind gesture

But whatever, I get to hangout with him, so it's still a win for me

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:
It's a wednesday afternoon, and I'm going to hang out with Teru in the park today. What he doesn't know is that I also invited Yashiro to help me out with my plan

Though now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I should've told him I was going to invite another friend...

Oh well, I hope he doesn't mind. It was really hard to find useful memories on his diary anyways, most of them seem very personal, I don't think I could sneak any of them into a normal conversation with him, even less without help

And well...since I have developed feelings for him now, I don't know what I should do, because this also feels like a date, a date that I kinda "ruined" by bringing someone else without asking...

And what do people even do at a park??
Sit? Walk?? And you're telling me I have to do a spiritual session that totally doesn't look like one in the middle of the park? I'm sorry, I think we just lost our common sense

Teru is a fucking excorcist, he knows what a spiritual session looks like, and If he wasn't the one with the wacky memory, I'm sure we would've gotten over this already!

I don't know if we're going to trick him, hopefully Yashiro comes up with something or else we're cooked

Oh? And we're am I is that you, imaginary person in my head, is asking? I'm waiting for the two of them to arrive, sitting alone on a bench

Suddenly I feel 2 hands cover my eyes, and my glasses as well.

"Guess who" a familiar voice says

"We're not doing this" I respond

"Come on! It's not that hard to guess" they respond

"You're getting my glasses dirty!"

"Just say my name then ᡣ𐭩"

"Well...your hands have gotten softer, Teru"

I grab his hands and get them off my eyes, I look up and see his face. My guess was correct afterall, those blue, piercieng eyes are looking back at me

I get a better look at him, he's wearing a button-up shirt that's slightly tucked, and green pants; never noticed how fashionable he is

His head is looking down on me, with a confident and warm smile

"Sorry for the wait, I hope you weren't here all on your own for too long" he says, softly

"It's ok, you are here now" I say, flustered

"And I'm glad I am"

We look at eachother in silence for a few seconds since I don't know what else to say. After that he sits next to me

"So what do you have planned for today?" He asks

"Not much really, just something simple to chill and talk"

"That sounds good to me! I'm up for doing anything honestly"

We keep talking, until Yashiro finally arrives, she's wearing a blue dress that goes down to her knees, along with a white sweater. I start to feel bad at the simple and poorly styled clothes I'm wearing

She has a hand-made basket with, what I'm assuming, what we need for the spiritual session

"Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, how are you doing ^^?" She says, greeting us

"Hi Yahsiro! You're right on time" I say

"Ohh hi! Akane didn't tell me you were coming. " Teru giggles a bit awkardly

"He didn't?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry Teru, I forgot to tell you, but I'm sure it's all good," I respond

"Ah, it's fine, I don't mind it ^^" he says

Oh! Well I guess he took that better than I thought

"Well, considering Akane forgot to tell you I was coming too, I'll tell you what we planned for today."

"Ooo, what is it?"

"We are having... a picnic!"

She says while holding her basket up in the sky and smiling eagerly. A picnic? Well, I guess that sounds more interesting than sitting and trying to have a non-awkard moment where we
pressure him into complying with our plan

"Ohh! Surprise picnic! How smart" Teru points out

"Yeah! Real smart Yashiro, " I remark

"Ah, it's nothing really, just something I came up with last minute, haha. How about you help me set up everything, Akane? " she requests

"Sure thing."

Yashiro croaches down and starts getting some stuff out of her basket, I crouch too and help her

"Why did you come in so late?!" I whisper to her, annoyed

"I'm sorry, dude! Traffic was terrible, and, like I said, I came up with this 'picnic' thing like, in the morning, " she whispers angrily

"God, whatever."

"And why didn't you tell him I was coming?!"

"I forgot, ok?? I was so focused yesterday searching for useful info on his diary!"

"Jesus Christ, talk about invading people's business. Did you at least find something?"

"Uhh, a little, his diary is very complex, but I managed. You did your part of the plan, right?"

"Yeah, the paper with instructions the old man gave us was actually a cooking recipe for some type of burrito, except it has... some interesting ingredients."

Interesting ingredients? Hopefully, it's not like that pizza Teru made us eat that one time

"Wait, are we all going to eat it?"

"No idiot! I made only one with the funky food, i wrapped it in blue paper, and ours are wrapped in yellow and red. "

"Okay, seems we're up to a good start with this."

"Yeah, except you're making yourself very suspicious,"

"What do you mean?"

"You're folding the picnic planket instead of spreading it,"

"Oh..."

----☆
Minamoto Teru's POV:

What the fuck are these two doing? At first I was so happy to go out on a date with Akane, to later find out he invited a girl without telling me, and now they're acting very weird while "setting up the picnic"

It looks like they're talking, and Akane is...what exactly is he doing? Ugh whatever, this is fine, if he wants her to be here, no problem, I'll just have to keep his attention on me and not her

Not like he likes her or anything

Obviously

I mean, he just got over Aoi, why would he be obsessing over another girl right away, that doesn't make sense

Right...?

"Hey, do you guys need help there?" I ask

I crouch to where they are, specifically next to Akane

"We're good, I'm almost done spreading the picnic blanket" Akane says

"Well, you still missed this spot" I say while putting my head above his and helping him "there, that should be better" I whisper to him

Maybe I exxagerated on that last bit by purposely making my voice sound deeper. His face is so red; if she wasn't here I would have kissed him already

I sit next to him and Yahsiro sits in front of us

"Thanks" he says

"No worries, so what did you bring Yashiro?" I ask her

"Burritos! Here is yours, Akane's and mine" she hands each of us a wrapped burrito

Mine is wrapped in blue, they look home-made. I bet I could cook something better if given the chance

Okay maybe not, but I'd try

"Thank you, they look very tasty" I politely say

"Hehe eat all you want! They are a recipe my grandma taught me" Yahsiro shows off

"They taste so good, you should eat yours Teru" Akane says

I do so. It tastes...weird, but also good. A recipe from her grandma, huh? Quite a weird grandma she got there

It's got meat, but not one that you'd recognize right away. Maybe it's cheap meat, or the spicy sauce just makes it taste different.

I eat almost all of it, while observing their attitude. Those two seem very close

"I like how pretty this picnic looks, you even brought candles! Haha" he says

"I saw it on pinterest, they really fit the vibe! Just us eating here calmly while chatting ♡" she giggles

"Haha yeah" I chuckle

"Which reminds me, remember that time we all were eating pizza together?" Akane warmly asks

"Maybe...what we're we doing exactly?"

"Just talking, and...oh! You put this weird topping on them, hahaha" he giggles

"Yeah! Though poor Tiara couldn't eat them" Yahsiro says

Huh? Oh yeah, me, Akane, Yahsiro, Kou and my little sister were eating at my house, but...why? That memory is kinda fuzzy, but I do remember what Akane remarked of the topping. Appearently they were shocked at what I had put in it when I told them afterwards

"Oh...yeah, I think I do remember" I say

"Oh! Or that one time the three of us hung out to eat at like a...Karaoke or something?" Yahsiro happily exclaims

"Yeah!! And then we went to an arcade, the games in there were pretty fun" Akane follows up excited

Karaoke? Arcade...? Oh right...I think, It was supposed to be a hang out where I could spend more time with Akane, though maybe Yashiro might have gotten some mixed signals there

"Ah yeah! I remember ordering this... really big dessert, " I say chuckling, he laughs while glaring at me; god, do I love his eyes

"Haha...I just wish we could have fun like this more often," He says while discretely holding my hand, I blush

"Yeah! I'm having a really good time right now, " She says

"I guess you are right. Sometimes I'm really busy, tho"

I see her slightly put her hand over his, too, so I grab his hand harder than before, focusing on grabbing it tightly but without hurting him

"Well, let's try to spend more time together, not just in school," he suggests

"Yeah... I think we should," I say while looking directly at him

Suddenly, I feel my body jump, and I have like a...deja vu? Deja reve? I don't know how to explain it, but it's like I'm seeing a lot of things happen very quickly. My eyes get foggy, and my ears ring. Thankfully, only for 10 seconds. I would have fallen in my back because of that feeling if my hand hadn't reacted first

Akane seems to notice and stops holding my hand, though now he gets closer to my face, putting his right hand on the ground next to my leg and grabbing my chin with his left

"You okay?" He asks me

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"I mean...I can see how dirty your glasses are. But your eyes not so clearly"

Chapter Text

4:26 AM

My stomach is killing me so much that I wish I could die. I swear to god, if I could punch someone, I WOULD RIGHT NOW

Okay, so I'm trying to sleep, right? Well, forget that. Why not just go to sleep to wake up later, thanks to a stomachache AND a headache! like what the fuck did I do to deserve this kind of pain?!

Sleep deprivation isn't a new concept for me, I usually can't sleep because of how much thinking I do, but right now? It's just a whole 'nother issue. I bet it was that burrito, it was delicious, yes, but I can not simply express how angry I am at that myself for eating it, and Yashiro's grandma

Also my head hurts differently, it feels as if there were 100 thoughts going through my head all at once, honestly my stomach is in much more pain than my head that it doesn't bother me as much.

Goddd why did she have to come?! She practically ruined everything for me! I know I'm being a real dick but everything would have gone so much better if Akane hadn't invited her in the first place. I pictured our date more dream-like, I wanted to spend more time with him, only the two of us. What I hate the most is how he spent more time with her than me

Also, something I can't seem to comprehend is what happened when me and Akane held hands; I never had experienced such a feeling in my life before, and no, Im not talking about the romantic type.

Worst part is that this feeling isn't gone. The only way I can describe it is like I'm constantly alert of everything that seems slightly out of place.

I should probably think about something more normal, like...maybe I should buy new clothes, the outfit I brought to our date was kinda mid, sooo if I want to impress him a little more I'll need better clothing, yeah...I'm sure he'll be into that...

Ahh... my eyes feel really heavy...

----☆

Next day

School's been tough lately, I wish I could be one of those guys who are more laid back. Sadly, my mom is really insistent on my academic life. I wish I could catch a break one of these days...

Anyways, not to brag, but I think my plan went pretty well, Teru didn't even notice when Yashiro also holded his hand. Honestly, I'm even surprised how well that went. It seemed like the ritual had instant results because of Teru's reaction. He looked a little pale and confused after that

I wonder how he's doing now though...doing all of this behind his back does make me feel a little shitty, but it'll be worth it! I hope that when all of this is over, we can actually go on a real date.

Someone opens the door, and I remember I'm supposed to be working on more paperwork. Oh, it's Teru...he looks awful

"You feeling good, Teru?" I ask, not even greeting him

"Hello to you two, Akane..." He responds a little grumpy

He sits in his chair and leaves me curious, so I stand up and go up to where he is

"Don't ignore my question," I firmly say

"I'm fine,"

"No, you're not."

"My head hurts, that's all,"

He looks Ill, and to think he is an excorcist, with that look, he might as well be a ghost. I aproach him and then put my hand on his forehead just to be sure he doesn't have a fever. Thankfully, he doesn't.

"Hmm, did you sleep well?"

"No... my stomach hurt like hell, and I stayed up longer than usual,"

"I see. That's why you have those awful dark eyebags," I say while holding his face, caressing under his eyes

My left hand is resting on his shoulder, and my left hand is the one that is touching his face, I had to bend down a little since he's sitting down

"I-Im doing fine, Akane, you don't need to worry this much,"

"You helped me so much back when Aoi rejected me, I don't think I'm doing that much,"

Alright maybe that wasn't 100% true. I'm worrying this much for two reasons; first, to supervise the effects he may have after our plan and the riguals have taken place, and second, because I care about him

Plus, I have an excuse to hold his face this way; his eyes look better the closer you are

"Well... thank you,"

"It's fine. How is your stomach doing?"

"Better than before, I took some medicine,"

Could the medicine be counterproductive  and avoid him from remembering? Man, I don't think we can afford this process to be a lot longer if that's the case

"Did they prescribe them to you?"

"Nah, just grabbed some that I already had in my house,"

"You can't just take pills without a doctor's approval!"

"It's no big deal!"

"It is! What if your stomachache gets worse?"

"It won't! But if it makes you happy, I won't take them anymore. "

"That's better,"

I'm sorry Teru, this is for your own good, I promise

"Okay, that's enough, Akane. we need to go back to work. Those files won't be finished alone, will they?" Teru says as he stands up from his chair

He grabs both of my shoulders, turns me around, and leads me into my workplace. I sit down on my designed chair and turn my computer

"Alright then, today will be a busy day, it seems," I sigh

"Yeah, oh! Talking about work, I forgot to tell you what your task was for today. Let me give you a hand. " He offers

He puts his hand over mine, which was resting over the computer mouse. He downloads some files here and there, humming silently, yet it is easily heard considerating how quiet the student council room is.

I'm lucky he can't see how bothered, embarrassed and flustered I am

"There we go ^^" Teru indicates

"Thank you, but I could've done that myself, you know?" I explain

"Yeah, but I like to have a better grip over supernaturals, silly~"

----♡

6:12 p.m.

I think I'm fucked; you see, me and Teru stayed longer than usual at the student council because of how much work we had, but I promised my mother to go back home before 5 pm because she escheduled something for my medicine courses, I don't really know how that's done but I was supposed to be puntual

However, I'm running late. Usually, I would stop time and get there right on time, but I lost track of time and well... stopping time won't be enough

Right now, I did, and I'm trying to go to my house as fast as I can. After stopping time and sweating a lot from lack of exercise, I enter my house to see an unwelcoming aura from the house, along with the sorce of it; my mother

"Where have you been, young man?!" She questions me, looking at me dead in the eyes

"We had more work than the usual and-"

"You could've left early if you knew you weren't gonna make it!"

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Well, there's no fixing it now. We'll have to reschedule thanks to you,"

"But -"

"You know how hard it is to organize all of this, or do you need me to remind you?"

"No...I'll try to come in earlier next time, I promise."

" 'Try again later' you say, THAT'S WHAT YOU ALWAYS SAY," she screams at me. "Don't you see how much effort I put into your future?!"

"I do see it, mom! I've been trying as hard as I can in school because of you."

"Have you really? Your grades tell me you're getting a little too comfortable"

"They're not that bad!"

"Yeah, but I know you can achieve so much better than this honey"

"Okay mom...I'll study harder this time

"I hope you do, because I work really hard dor you Akane"

"I'll try to put more of my part so everything goes as planned"

"That's what I like to hear, I'm sure your father would be proud if he was here with us..."

"Yes, I know he would"

"Ahh...It makes me quite sad having to remind you in this way...I'm sorry honey"

"It's fine mom, I...miss him too"

"Yes...I'll go make dinner, you do your thing"

I nod and quietly go to my room. Fortunately, I don't have any homework for today, so I just lock myself up and lay down on my bed with my airpods on

I wish I could have a break from all this, for once, from this exhausting life.

Chapter Text

Minamoto Teru's POV:
The wind makes its way through everything in the world. It makes my hair blow beautifully, but it also makes me shiver slightly

Thankfully, some people are willing to share their warmth with others, especially with the people they care about

"Are you cold, Teru?" He asks me while touching my arms

"A little, I forgot to bring a coat," I admit

"Don't worry, I'll give you mine," he says while taking off his coat

"But then you'll be cold!"

"Hmm... then we can share it!"

He sits closer to me while wrapping the coat around us like a blanket. He hugs me tightly despite his arms being colder than mine. Still, I appreciate his gesture deeply

"Alright, Teru, I prepared some food for our picnic, so I want you to close your eyes and try to guess what it is," Akane whispers to me

I nod as I comply with his petition, I open my mouth, openly trusting him, then puts something in my mouth. I start eating it

"It's... surprisingly sweet, quite creamy and cold," I admit

"Any guesses?"

"Not at all, is it...vanilla ice cream?"

"Nopee, you're a little close though, in a way,"

"Ugh...I don't know, I give up, honestly I don't think I've ever tasted something like this before."

"And here I thought you had tried more stuff than me haha. It's a matcha motchi ball. Does it taste good?"

"Ohhh, yeah, definitely. Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yup,"

Man, this picnic is making me feel like I'm in heaven, Akane looks so handosme with the outfit I picked out for him. It makes him look so handsome my heart can't bear with it

"By the way, can I ask you something?" Akane asked. He stopped hugging me and now turned to look at me directly

"Sure, go ahead, Aka~"

"Awww, stop! You're making me blush. "

"Hehe, sorry, go ahead,"

"Well...it's nothing much really, but don't you ever feel like everything is...out of place?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know... that nothing of what you see is really what it should be?"

"Hahaha, you've been watching too many conspiracy videos or something."

"I mean it!"

"Yeah, well, everything for me feels like it should be."

"But that doesn't change that it doesn't for me,"

"Why?"

Akane looks at me more distant, like there's something I don't understand that is bothering him

"Teru...don't you realise what's happening?"

"What?!"

"D o n ' t   y o u   r e m e m b e r ? "

----♤
Minamoto Teru's POV:

My body jumps as I wake up, I'm very cold, yet I'm sweating like a pig. My dark, empty room never makes up for my nightmares, either. It just makes it harder to go back to sleep. I look left and right, my room is still a mess after all, and the silence is depressing and scary. The good news is my stomach no longer hurts. Bad news is my head is now the one killing me.

That was such a nice dream... and it just had to be ruined, great. Now that I remember better, it was like my date at the park with Akane, except Yahsiro wasn't there, everything was so dream-like, that world was "painted" so nicely, everything was perfect, yet it became so...uncomfortable. remember...what did he want me to remember?

Whatever, it's not like that was real, eitherway I think I already know everything about him, we never keep secrets from eachother, we know very deep information about eachother that we would never dare to share with others, like his weird relationship with the clockeepers

Oh yeah...he's a supernatural, huh...

How come I forgot?

----☆
Aoi Akane's POV:

"Come on, dude, just let me copy it real quick!" A classmate of mine said

"I already told you I don't want to! Besides, if you always copy my homework from me, you'll never learn anything yourself, " I respond

"Who gives a darn about learning this shit anyways?"

"Akane does, that's for sure. You know how he is, " a girl comments

If you know I'm like this, then by bother going out of your way and being so pushy?

The bell rings, and they leave me alone since their attention is now on getting ready for recess. I haven't been able to go to the rooftop this week since I was making good use of this free time and being productive. People often call me a nerd for such since sometimes I just stay in the classroom alone. I never get why people think being by yourself is a bad thing. For me, it's a good opportunity to listen to music and get some stuff done

But anyways, today I was feeling a little more social than other times so I'll go pay Teru a visit. I'm not sure if he still avoids his fiance's friendgroup to go there, yet I'm confident he hasn't changed his habits

I make my way up there and enter the rooftop, as expected. No one is here, or at least not on this side of the terrain, except for him. Teru is there, just glaring into the sky on the side of the railing, I remember the first time we met up here, and to think he's not the same anymore thanks to this timeline is awful

I still ask myself wether I love him or not, I think I do, but perhaps only this verison of him, since he lost his memories he also lost a part of him; life-changing moments thrown to the trash, life lessons that were never taugh, wonderful moments with loved ones, and so on. All of that, gone, or better said, modified

And if we bring his old memories back, there's no guarantee he'll be the same again, will he? So what is it that I love? A simple version of Teru, or the real Teru?
I...don't know anymore. I keep thinking to myself until Teru notices my presence and waves his hand to me, softly, smiling so happily, I return the smile and aproach him

"Didn't expect you to come here today," he chuckles

"A little surprise never hurts, either way. I'm already free of school errands for today," I proudly say

"Got it nerd, want some?" He offers, pointing the bag of chips to me

"No thanks, I'm good,"

"How's your day been so far? Anything interesting?"

"Not really, and you know I'm not the type of person to gossip about others, you?"

"I've been fine averall, just a little stressed over some dumb course my mol is gonna make me go to."

"Don't stress over such thing, I'm sure you'll do just fine,"

"Yeah but...I don't know, I don't really want to do it, it's going to be so time-consuming for me and exhausting,"

"But you do want to go to the course, right?"

"Yeah, absolutely, I really...don't know why I stress out about dumb shit like this all the time. Sorry..."

"It's fine, you don't have to apologize." Teru comforts me, putting his arm on my shoulder

"But I'm always bothering you with my own problems, aren't you tired of all my whining?"

"First of all, it isn't whining. Second of all, I'm here for you anytime you need me. You don't need to deal with all of that by yourself,"

"I guess so, but I rarely get to help you, you are always the one helping me"

"And that's fineee, seriously, it's not like everything I help you with something now your in debt with me or something"

"I...guess you're right, thank you, Teru."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm the best, you don't need to tell me," he boasts

"Alright, now you're getting too comfy." I sigh

He laughs slightly, covering his mouth and smiling. I loose focus on our conversation as I take a moment to apreciate this moment; the breezing, blue sky, along with the sun who never stops to shine through, and then to my side is Teru, the sunlight over his hair makes it seem golden-like. What a lovely imagery

I wish I could always have moments like this, happy, long-lasting moments spent with the people I love, especially him. I wish I could have a better understanding of love, because before I fell in love, I was under the assumption I knew all about love; looks like once you actually have this level of affection for someone, you realise how much you don't know

I keep contemplating until his eyes get my mind back on what we were talking about

"Now there, don't just ignore me," Teru says in a playful tone

"Ah...! Sorry, got a little distracted,"

"Come on now, I'm here with you, so keep your attention on me," he whispers

I get a little reddish. His eyes always have a way of getting to my heart

"You wanna know something? Hanging out with you is always lots of fun. It makes me feel like my life isn't as boring as it usually is. I do hang out with some other friends of mine, yet everything we do together makes me feel...special. You get what I mean, right?" He says

"Maybe I do, because I'll admit, the time we have spent together has felt like a dream" I say

Oh my god, what am I saying?! I mean, I love him...or something like that, but does he??? "You get what I mean" can not be interpreted into something platonic. My hands start sweating as he gets closer to my face, resting his left arm on the railing and using his other arm to grab my chin. At this point, I'm dying

"So how do you feel when I'm this close to you? Any thoughts?" He softly mumbles

"I...uh..."

"Cause I have many, I can think of many things as I get a closer look to you; your shinny glasses who let me see your eyes better, that pointy nose of yours, and I guess by touching your face I can feel how soft your skin is"

"Well, I...can see your hair is a little messy, I like it," I say while caressing it; his face lets me know he likes it

"You like it? That's good to hear, but do you know what's my favorite part is about you?" He leans in forward "that precious face, " he tells me in a soft voice

In a glimpse of an eye, he kisses me very closely, yet not directly on the lips, just right on the corner. I guess he didn't want to make too much of a move there. However, he still managed to leave me shocked, and red like an apple

Though he left me desiring for an actual, longer kiss. He leans away, but my impulses win, and I pull his shirt towards me so that he faces me again, and I whisper something to him

"You know I want more than that,"

I kiss him so passionately. He's at first surprised by this sudden action, though he later starts gaining more confidence and grabbing my waist so tightly. We kept kissing until I was out of breath, those few seconds felt so mesmerizing.

He pulls away and we gaze at each other for a little, until he breaks the silence by saying the following

"Orange-flavored lipbalm I see, delicious," he jokes

I get so embarrassed that I push him a little. He just can't seem to stop laughing, I guess you can only expect this from him...

Chapter Text

*You have a new message from Yashiro Nene*

Hey Akane, how are you?

I'm doing fine, thanks. What's up?

Well, in case you forgot, we still have 2 spiritual sessions to do

Oh... you're right

Yeah, usually I help you out with them, however I think you'll have to do the rest on your own, I'm really busy and I don't think I can go out at this time

That's fine, don't worry! Just send me the ingredients for the other 2 sessions, plss

Thank you for understanding, Akane!!! You'll do great, I believe in you

I hope so

Yashiro sent 1 photo, click to see

----●
Aoi Akane's POV

God... I forgot about the spiritual sessions, I have been having so much fun, and I didn't realize I'm running out of time here. Hopefully, I'm not too late to help him. I have gotten more used to this timeline as the days have passed, but I still miss how everything was before.

However, yesterday I felt better than I have ever been in the past few weeks, I kissed him, and I ACTUALLY KISSED HIM. Just thinking of it brings back bits to my head and I can not resist the urge to scream of embarrasment and excitement, I haven't felt anything close to this ever since Aoi and I were about to kiss back when she was in danger, just to be interrupted by Teru. I remember being so annoyed, so angry at him; "Why does he have to ruin any chance I get to be happy with her? "Everyday he finds a way to frustrate me even more" is what always crossed my mind when thinking of him.

Ever since we came here my life has felt like a romance novel, so much so I forgot about Tsukasa, the red house and our plan to go back home; Yashiro would never be willing to stay here and pretend everything is fine. I'm sure Teru would agree, obviously, with different reasons behind. I don't understand what motivated him beforehand, his family is better than ever, he's not constantly pressured to be a perfect excorcist by his father, and now...we both have a calm, romantic life. But even if I wanted things to stay like this, it's not ideal.

As Aoi Akane, my wish is to go back to our old world, but as the clockeeper of the present, my duty is to only use my key to go back in time in case I notice any abnormality that indicates Yugi Tsukasa still exists, in whatever way that may be. I wouldn't say this whole...thing with Teru was a distraction, but to smoothen our plan out, Teru needs his memories back, whether I like it or not...

----♡
Minamoto Teru's POV:

8:00 pm

I knock on the door, waiting for him to answer. Why did he invite me over all of a sudden? I mean, I don't think I could've said no to him, but still.

"Teru! Sorry to keep you waiting out here, " Akane says, greeting me with a smirk

"Ah, don't worry!" I say

"Come on in! You have already been in my house before, so get comfy. "

"Haha, yeah,"

Akane closes the door behind me, and without the light from outside, I can't see much

"Aren't you gonna turn on the light?" I ask, trying not to trip over anything

"That would ruin the vibe," he says, as he grabs a match from his pocket and lights on various candles around the house, they look...oddly familiar

"Wow,"

"Take a seat, I prepared a special meal that you will love"

The dinner table is surrounded by various candles, and on the center there are some beautiful lily's. Oh, Akane, I was a little stubborn at first since you planned this dinner out of the blue, but it's worth it. Seems like you tried a lot harder with that outfit of yours this time, unlike me who looks a little too casual for the matter, though that's not my fault of course, you never mentioned a dinner of this level

Akane goes to the kitchen and brings our plates and places mine in front of me. I am surprised by his food choice; Tonkatsu, have I eaten this before? wait, I know! This dish is one that my mom would always make me when I was feeling down. She would extra fry it since I liked it that way. Did Akane do this on purpose? No, definitely not. He doesn't know about things like this, I might be very open with him about several things in my life, but this? Not really

"Seems you're surprised by my cooking, Teru," he ambitiously says

"You made this?"

"Yeah! How 'bout you give it a try?" He offers, sitting down to my right

We both are grateful for the meal, and I instantly take a bite out of my fork. Holy shit, it's so good. The flavor brings back so many memories, I wish mom could cook us this again!

"So? Any thoughts?"

"Simply amazing, you're very good at cooking,"

"Hahaha, I'm glad, it's a shame you can't cook without burning the whole kitchen."

"Hey! I'm just a little sloppy, that's all... but you are not lying, haha. That's why Kou always helps us out alongside my mother. "

"I know lol"

We keep talking. At times, I would just stare at him while he explained something from his med classes. People often think I'm naturally gifted at anything, when in reality, most of the times I have no clue what is going on, but pretend I do. In this case, I have no clue what he's talking about, but he doesn't have to know that! Hahaha

My head starts to hurt a little; I thought the headaches would stop already... Seems like not, at least I'm glad I don't have a stomachache. Now that I mention it, these syntoms have just appeared whenever I ate something new, like the burrito Yashiro brought a few weeks ago. That and now this, it might be a coincidence, and I love and trust Akane so much, but still, I might need to be more aware of this pattern. Suddenly, Akane snaps his fingers in front of my face, noticing how lost in my thoughts I just was

"Heyy...Teru! If you aren't that interested in what I'm saying, you could have just told me!"

"Oh... sorry, I didn't do it on purpose, I swear! I have a headache and It's distracting me. "

"Hmm, really? Maybe you have been stressing over school too much. "

"Not really...I was fine before coming here, and I definitely did not get stressed by you or anything else."

"Huh, how strange! You must be tired then, why don't you go rest?"

"Hmm, you want me to take a nap?" I mockingly repeat, standing up and going behind his seat: "Or are you just looking for an excuse to cuddle next to me? Smart boy, " I whisper in his ear, putting my hands in his shoulders

"Maybe I am, but why your tone? I assume you'd like to too, " Akane replies, turning his head upwards and looking at me

I kiss his forehead, then he stands up, grabs me by the hand, and takes me to his room; good thing he's home alone, because imagine his mom seeing us act so affectionate, I'd be be embarrassed!
Either way, I don't think I have seen his parents lately, only his mom like one time, I wonder how they are. On our way upstairs, I can hear someone whisper:

Ř€Μ€Μβ€Ř

Behind me, however, when I turn around, there's no one there.

"My room's this way, silly," Akane teases

"Uh... yeah, silly me, haha, " I reply

Got spme insane chills, and I forgot for a second what I was doing. Was Akane right, and I am very tired? Cause there's no way someone whispered in my ear and then disappeared. I feel like I'm becoming crazy....Anyways, his room still looks the same, I guess, cutesy and very pretty ^^

"There's this scary movie I have been meaning to watch. Are you interested?"

"Yeahh! What's it about?"

"It's like any other movie of the genre, just some dumb teenagers entering a haunted house, though from what I heard, the ending is nothing you'd expect."

"Ohh, I see. It sounds good to me. Let me just get comfortable," I say, turning off the lights

I grab his waist and carry him into his bed, despite not seeing him very clearly, I knew that made him get flustered because of his heartbeat, otherwise I would've thought his complaining for "doung that out of nowhere" was genuine, and at this point I know he's just very stubborn so who cares

"Oh my god, are they really gonna enter?" I sigh

"Duh, if they didn't, the movie wouldn't exist in the first place."

The movie is kinda mid ngl, like I get the interest, but it feels really predictable. Any intelligent person wouldn't enter a haunted house in the first place. The main character starts to get chased and there's this jumpscare scene that makes both of us slightly jump, he ends up putting his head in my chest while hugging my arm (not sure if that was accidental).

"Ha... sorry about that, Teru," he backs away

"Nonono, it's fine," I say, using my right arm and wrapping it around him

"Who do you think will die last?" Akane asks

"Probably the protagonist, they always have plot armor."

"Ah, come on! At this point, you are hating on the movie for everything. "

"Not my fault you have bad taste at movies."

"Huh?! Say that again?"

"I mean, is this really a good movie? It's really cliché"

"Your ass just watches any movie netflix's algorithm recommends, and most of them are shit, so who's the one with bad taste, huh?"

"Oh, so were going to do this? At least my brain isn't fried from too much tiktok doomscrolling. "

"That has nothing to do with the conversation...and you know I have tried to lower my screen time!" Akane said, ofended

He's facing away and being so indignant, obviously nothing too serious. What's funny is he acts like a girl, getting all worked up over something silly, I said. Noyhing a little love can't fix ♡

"Akane~, I'm just kidding, or did you actually get angry at me?"

"You're annoying me now, and no Im not angry at you."

"Then why can't you look at me in the eyes?" I say, getting awfully close to his face

"Cause you're too close!!" He exclaims, agressively turning into my direction

"Why did you have to scream at me when I'm right here?"

"Beacuse you -" he says before being interrupted by me

I kiss him briefly, putting his hair behind his ear; they are burning hot. After backing away, his look is what I would describe as a "You're a prick" combined with a "I want more." This is why he went back for a kiss and bit my bottom lip 3 times

"You should brush your teeth,"

"You should bite more softly,"

"Sorryy, but you deserved it."

Thank you so much Akane, now I'll have to wear a facemask so Kou doesn't tell mom anything, not like she would go crazy over that, but I don't want her to know about my feelings for Akane just yet, I need time so that I can tell her-

Ř€Μ€Μβ€Ř

What? Wait, did I say that out loud? No, wait, it's like I-

ΜØΜ ƗŞ

Someone mutters behind me, I turn around quickly since I could see peripheracly a person, but yet again, no one...what do you mean "mom is" mom is what? Is thay a threat?! Is a fucking

"What? Why did you turn around so shocked?" Akane questions

"No...I uh-" I stutter

"Come on Teru, stop messing with me, not after watching a scary movie"

"Nonono! I'm not I swear"

"Gosh, come here dummy, you can stay for the night, 'kay?"

"Thanks"

Chapter Text

Aoi Akane's POV:

11:30 A.M

Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve any of this, of what has happened to me: having Teru cuddle next to me, play with my hair while we argue, hug me when I'm feeling down or just kiss me feels outwardly wrong, because all of this is built on lies, isn't it? The spiritual sessions covered up as dates or just the fact that he may only love me because of his "amnesia". Would the normal Teru love me? Am I in the wrong for doing all of this? Sure, getting him better is a priority, but falling in love in the process? gosh.

Ha...! I wonder what he would have done in my place, he may have not used this as an opportunity to appeal to his own personal interests like I did, his morals have always been pretty rigid and straightforward, which explains his radical standpoint on supernaturals. Yet he loves me, that's what makes this "version" of Teru different. I don't know.

"I may not be able to see your eyes, but I know your awake Aka" Whispered Teru, just in case he was wrong, but you know he technically wasn't wrong, I was just thinking with my eyes closed

"Did you just call me Aka?" I asked

"Didn't I call you that already? well it's too early so I don't remember, but hey it's cute, right?" he teases, poking my cheeks

"How did you know I was awake?"

"You stopped snoring"

I kick him trying to break free from his arms, despite wanting to keep being hugged like a teddy bear. Of course he wants to get all funny this early

"Hey hey easy! You're not going anywhere, who said you could just kick me, huh?"

"You think you're funny, haha, get off of me, now"

"Nuh uh, too late pretty boy, you know I won't let you go" he hugs tighter

"Let go off meeee"

"What is that? you miss me so much you want to stay closer? That's the sweetest thing you've said to me, you didn't need to shout it with such energy!"

"Teru!" I exclaim

he kisses my cheek, giggling to himself

"whatever" I sigh

"hehehe, I winnnn" he sings

"mhm"

"aw come on now, you angy? need a kiss to wipe your sorrows away ;"c

I turn slightly my body so we're facing each other, I grab the side of his face and put some of his hair behind his ears, my eyes are still tired but I look at his lips, and then his eyes. His body froze, I'm glad to see him caught off guard, I get to see his eyes for longer

"Could you?" I ask, trying to hide my need to just do it already without asking

"Oh Akane, I wish I had known this clingy side of you sooner" he whispers

We kiss once again; it feels like heaven. I start playing with his hair, he seemed to like that; he grabs my body and caresses it. It is early, but both of us are hungry for more.

"Has anyone ever told you you are handsome, even more without your glasses?"

"Could say the same about you, Teru"

He rotates us so now I am over him, the warmth of his body boils mine, our heartbeats synchronize and I can't help but to want to take this a little further, what stops me is the guilt I have for this, I love doing this, but would he really? maybe not, I can't do too much or else he'll kill me, yes, i can picture that scenario so clearly.

After some time, we stop to take some air, the view I have of him underneath me is so hot, I don't want this to end. He is excellent at reading me, since he unbuttons only the first two upper buttons of his shirt to tease me, whilst smirking; he's such a sexy jerk.

"What are you looking at perv? I'm just hot from your lack of ventilation in your room" Teru excuses

"smartass" I say as I wipe the sweat from my forehead

our lips keep meeting more causally. He grabs me and puts me down so I'm under him, he suddenly stops and just looks at me, that look tells me more than anything, he is enjoying seeing me like this, isn't he?

I freeze: my mom is home, she rings the doorbell 2 times, then starts calling my phone, she probably forgot the keys again

"Teru, Teru you need to go now, my mom's home" I stutter while pushing him away, he looks at me in need of more, but I have no other choice

"Wait but why? does your mother prohibit you from bringing guys over?" he jokes

"I'll explain some other time, for now you have to climb out of the window and leave"

"Wtf why?? can't you let me out from another door or something?!"

"Sorry, there's no time, go, now!"

"Fine, only because I love you"

"Love you too dummy"

Teru picks up some of his stuff, opens the window and jumps out. I look down just to make sure he is okay and goes the opposite side from where Mom is. Then I hear banging on the door followed by shouting

"Aoi! Open up, dammit! Hurry up!" she exclaims

"Coming mom! give me a sec"

"Fucking hell, I've been waiting here enough already!"

I unlock the front door, just for her to push me aside the second I open it, she's not afraid to let me know what she thinks indirectly

"I texted you and called you several times, check that damn phone when needed to"

"I'm sorry"

"And clean this place up, if you're going to stay here all morning at least help out"

"Sure mom, will do"

----*

Minamoto Teru's POV:

3:24 P.M.

"the only way to get out is by the window" said the motherfucker who does not know backdoors exist, "there's no time" okay asshole thank you so much for telling me I had to go in time and that your mom may or may not be homophobic or something I don't know, because there's no way they wouldn't let you bring friends over, that is just unbelievable...though I'm not aware of his reasonings, I'll try to find out soon.

Thinking about it isn't helping, the awful headaches came back alongside a stomachache. i isn’t no doctor, but unless I have cancer or a brain tumor, it's too much of a coincidence for these symptoms to suddenly appear when I eat somewhere else that isn't at home and then magically calm down, then get worse and worse as time passes when they come back. First that burrito or whatever the fuck Yashiro gave me, now this. I wouldn't want to believe this is intentional, Akane could never, could he? no, it's most likely Yashiro, I know him and he's not like that.

Either way the pain is unbearable so since I have nothing better to do, I'll go get some painkillers. As I'm walking down to the nearest pharmacy, my ears start ringing and I feel like I'm being followed. I turn around pretending I dropped something to not seem suspicious, but nothing. I enter the establishment

"Will that be all sir?" the attendant woman asked

"yes"

"All right, here you go sir, have a nice afternoon"

"You too"

Before I leave the lights go out, it's cold. This is definitely a supernatural's doing. I reach for my katana and hold it steady; I haven't seen one of this in a while

"You need to remember" says a voice similar to mine, behind me. I turn around

"Show yourself" I shout

I see a figure similar to mine, I can barely see its face, it must be a shapeshifting supernatural

"Your eyes do not deceive you; I am you"

"Fuck off"

"Do you wish to remember?"

"So, it was you who tried scaring me with those cheap-ass supernatural tricks before, or am I wrong?"

"Do you wish to remember?"

"Answer me or I you'll regret it"

"Do you wish to remember?" it says with a demanding tone

"Remember what?!" I exclaim

"What happened before you came here"

"Come...where?! How do I know I can I trust you?"

"Do you trust yourself enough to bet it is you who's talking?"

"I... stop it!"

My head is spinning at this point, I can't think clearly and the pain will soon make me go unconscious. I don't think I can trust this thing, but it's not like any other supernatural I have seen, it would've attacked me by now, seeing how weak and vulnerable I am.

"I can make the pain go away"

"I'm not letting you kill me"

"Do you wish to know what's going on with Aoi?"

"Aoi...? Do you mean Akane or my 'fiancé'?"

"Answer me" it demanded, or...he demanded

I feel like I'm going to drop dead, but what if he's right? if he is me, he would know I really want to find out what's up with Akane and Yashiro, but why did he say Aoi? Is she also involved in this? or did it just say any name to convince me. If I were to talk to myself, I wouldn't be so rude

"I am not rude, I am you, just a different you, a you who knows what is truly happening" he responded, to my own thoughts

"Okay this is getting creepy now, can you at least prove to me that I can trust you?" I stutter

"I will not ask again, answer me" he repeated

I can't waste my time thinking, I need to do something now

"Answer me, and you'll find the truth"

"Fine, I want to remember" I say, still holding my blade just in case

"Good choice, I guess you're not as dumb as I thought"

...

My ears stop ringing, instead they clear. My body hardens, sweat running down. Eyes widen, not fully yet, but enough.

"Sir? is everything alright? should I get some help? you seem to be hallucinating"

"I'm fine, thank you, I'll get going now" I respond, putting away my katana

----✿

Aoi Akane's POV:

9:53 P.M.

*Yashiro Nene has sent you new messages*

--Hey Akane, how is it going with you and Teru?

--Hi, it's been going smoothly, he does seem to experience lots of side effects though

--Oww man ;c

--Yeah, how's it going for you?

--Good I guess, I haven't heard much of Kou or Mitsuba though

--Are they ok?

--Yeah, I'm sure, I still see them at school...but I have a bad feeling since they seem to be planning something

--Could you help me find out what's up with those two in the meantime? I'm almost done with Teru, by then we will be able to work together

--Yep! gotcha covered ˆˆ

--Thanks, we should keep on finding clues, then we could meet up and see if there's any leads

--Sounds good :D! if anything happens don't forget to tell me

--Dw I won't, bye

--Byeeee!1!

----✉

Okay so tomorrow's a Monday, only one spiritual session is left, so I guess we could share a bento or something, the last session doesn't require candles anymore, just a stronger dose in the food apparently. As for our original plan on getting back home, we need to hurry. Despite how much time has passed, Yashiro doesn't seem to have forgotten everything again like I feared, perhaps she may be of greater help in the future.

Teru is getting better, without him our plan has advanced slowly, so with him we'll be closer to our goal, and those two: Kou and Mitsuba, they haven't done much lately, not like they were supposed to, the festival already ended a few days or weeks ago; THAT, hasn't happened yet, which means something else will. What an interesting timeline huh, maybe this time we will succeed.

Chapter Text

"What's up Aoi? haven't heard much of you lately" Lemon Yamabuki said, I for real forgot he existed

"Me? oh you know, I have been up to the usual, studying 'n stuff" I awkwardly said

"You really antisocial man, sometimes I forget that's just how you are"

"Uh yeah, I don't know why you mention-"

"You should hang out with us tomorrow! most of the guys will come and some of the girls in our class"

"I'm sorry Lemon but I'm kind of busy at the moment, you know me"

"Come on buddy o'l pal! you have to breath from those books every once in a while" he responded

"Yeah Akane, why not take a break?" Aoi said, bursting mid conversation

"See? even Aoi agrees" he replied

"Then it's decided, see you there at 7 P.M." Lemon interrupted

"You don't have to go if you don't want to Akane, besides, we're not really gonna stay here" she murmured

"No, it's fine, maybe Lemon is right."

"You know how he is, you could just say no" she insisted

"Sure, anyways how's it going for you? we really haven't found the time to talk"

"Nothing much really, it's just been weird since here, the me from here, apparently was seeking validation from most male classmates, that only really used that for their own advantage. So now I have came off as 'rude' lately"

"The reason being??"

"I don't know Akane! but I'm just hoping we'll be done with this soon"

"Okeyy...just chill for the meantime, besides, it's not like I want to stay here either"

"You sure? I mean surely something improved here a little for you. You seem to smile and have more energy this past few days"

"N-no not really, you could say that compared to our normal world, this one is just ridiculous, yet I feel free to take decisions I wouldn't dare to do, it isn't that bad"

"Yeah! In my case I'm happier believing my life span isn't at risk anymore, since here I never met Hanako. I still miss him, though I'm glad I don't have the constant fear of dying at any moment"

"Well then let's stay here forever, problem solved" I shrugged

"Hey"Teru said, conspicuous, bringing other's sight into his. Aoi walks up to him, greeting him, though I prefer not to pay much interest

"Baby, I missed you!!" Aoi pretends to run towards him excited, then smooching him with delicacy and glamour. The bystanders can't contain themselves and become thrilled with the scene

"I missed you too" he said while hugging her neck with his arms

"We should go somewhere else after class, how does that sound?"

"Perfect, we'll discuss that later, because I also came here to borrow a friend"

"Really? Who?"

"So, you see, the Student Council has been overloaded with paperwork recently, therefore we need help from your classmate Akane Aoi" he pointed out

"I'll see you later darling" Teru says, grabbing my shoulder and walking me outside and waving her goodbye.

"Teru where are you taking me?" I mutter, hiding my redness with my hand

"I just want to talk to you"

"But you could've done so later, what's the rush?" I taunt him, pulling him into me from his necktie. By now we're on a dark hall next to some unused classrooms. I don't do this often but why else put me in this situation?

"You sure have become more comfortable doing this, haven't you?" he responded, softly

"Yeah, but it was your idea to get me out of class, wasn't it?" I said, opening one of the classrooms' doors and entering, I honestly didn't mind kissing him here, either way no one would see us here

"Have you wondered why though?" he cornered me and put his rgit hand over the wall, placing his other hand on my chin

"Because you wanted to see me again?" I replied

"Yes, but not quite"

"Why...?" I struggled to voice out

"Oh! I'm sorry Aoi, maybe what I'm doing it's not of your liking, but being poisoned and tortured by said poison isn't of mine either. But hey! Maybe I'm just a little petty or absurd, right?" he mocked

"I'm sorry" I tried to explain

"Talk, or I'm making your precious Akane pay"

I coughed, then I responded when I caught enough air "...You wouldn't. It wouldn't...favor you"

"So, you're no longer the Aoi I knew"

"Maybe not" he slapped me before saying more

"Why? why bother doing it? I thought you were smarter than this"

"Do you remember the times we spent together?"

"You made me remember, not forget"

"I... tried to help"

"Fuck off, just answer. the motherfucking. QUESTION." he shouts, making me panic

"Aoi, if I can even call you that anymore, I'm giving you the chance to explain to me what you are planning, if you don't, maybe you're no longer worth keeping around" he pressured, pulling his blade out and wielding it close to my neck. I keep helplessly crying, I don't care if he kills me, I just can't bear this. Just when things were starting to improve. I thought I was doing the right thing, I hoped that maybe he would understand, that maybe he could set his views aside and listen to me. Maybe pessimism fits me better

"I just wished to get your memories back, and return to the original timeline, that's it!" I coughed, my only consolation was getting to look at his blue eyes again and pretend they'll forgive me

"Then explain the food, you were trying to kill me, didn't you?! You were helping the clockeepers in their silly plan, or am I wrong? I thought I could finally trust you despite-"

"I DIDN'T HAVE MANY OPTIONS!" I screamed "I talked with the old man, the one who's more knowledgeable in spirits and stuff and I...asked him to help me, help me get your memories back, he agreed and gave me some instructions, I followed them, the rest is history" I explained and Teru seemed to calm down, but he still kept his stance

"How many days has it been since we've been here, on this world" he confronted me

"More than I remember"

"And you decided to use that time fooling around? getting distracted by stupid dates?"

"Did they never matter to you? well, who am I kidding? the you I am talking to, the normal you, never cared for anything that crossed his moral and strict line"

"Don't get cocky, I'm the one with the sword here" he gets the katana closer, just enough to not cut my throat

"Kill me if you want, but that won't get us so far"

"Look, Akane, you did all of this without a structured plan you left me no other choice but to do this, but I still want to believe I can trust you, so just cooperate"

"I will and have, to get back to our timeline, I needed you, and also I didn't like the idea of letting you stay like that, so I took matters into my own hands, and when it was time you recovered your memories, I wanted us to work together"

He loudly sighed "Alright idiot, I'm assuming Yashiro was also involved in this"

"Yes, she surprisingly did not lose her memories again, but what surprises me more is that you got yours before I thought"

"What does that mean?"

"The plan was to do 3 spiritual sessions, each would help you recover, and the final one was the definitive, the one which would do the trick finally, the other ones were the setup for the last one, but you know, I didn't expect this"

"So what? you're saying if you don't do another one of those, I'll lose my memories again?!"

"We shouldn't, I'm just saying I wanted to do this in a way it wouldn't freak you out, maybe being an exorcist kind of helped you...?"

"Oh, for god's sake, shut up..."

"Hah...welcome back Teru"

"You left me no other choice, Akane"

Agugust 13, 2006
12 A.M

"How much longer will we have to wait mom?" I had asked

"Don't worry hon, perhaps in a few hours he'll be right out, but it's more complicated than you think" she had said

"But I'm tired, my eyes can't wait longer for him"

"Um...you can sleep in my lap if you want to or just put this chair together and..."

"But I wanna be awake when he comes out!" I had exclaimed

"Well how about you take a small nap and I'll wake you up when it's time"

"I guess...if you say so mom"

"I know this place may be cold but the nurses are already busy enough today to be helping visitors, let alone those waiting" she had explained, patting my head and comforting me"Close your eyes, I’ll take care of the rest"

I had closed my eyes but I was still reluctant and tried to stay awake for as long as possible, I only wished for the best, I couldn't understand why mom pretended that everything was okay when I could tell it wasn't. Even then, I could see that side of hers, one that I hadn't understood until later. I only judged based on what I knew

"We're sorry to keep you two and your child waiting"

"How is he?!"

"The surgery went as best as it could've, but he is unfortunately very delicate after the procedure. He'll need to stay longer"

"Thank you doctor, really, but you are professionals! I can't believe you missed a lot of details ever since the first diagnosis"

"I'm sorry ma'am, we're doing the best we can"

"...He wouldn't be like this if you had diagnosed him earlier!"

"Ma'am, with all due respect, we have handled the situation the best we could have had, you need to clam down"

"Don't tell me to calm down when a human life is on the line" she had exclaimed

"I understand, but you need to be comprehensive that many other patients are also waiting for us, if you could just-"

"Sir, I am very aware of that fact, I was not born yesterday, but if I learned something from being here in this place, is that if you don't complain when needed to, your team and everyone here will just ignore you and move you to the side until it's. too. late."

"You think you know more than me how this hospital works?"

"I sure know more than you from the looks of it"

"If you keep screaming we'll have to escort you out of the building"

"No, because you know what...? I've had enough of your guys' bullshit, you clearly have done the bare minimun and priced us a fortune"

"Oh so that's why, well, your economic issues are none of my bussiness. You can scream all you want but that won't make your husband magically better"

"ƗŦ'S NØŦ MɎ FȺɄŁŦ ɎØɄ ȻȺN'Ŧ ɃɆ ɆMꝐȺŦĦɆŦƗȻ ɆNØɄǤĦ ŦØ ǤƗVɆ Ⱥ ĐȺMN"

"Hey Yashiro, how are you?" Kou said

"Hi Kou!! I'm great actually, how about you? ever since uh, the festival and stuff, we haven't talked much"

"You're correct, haha"

"haha yeah, I'm glad we're finally on the same page, before this week, I wouldn't have had anyone to rely on if it wasn't for you, I'm glad things are going smoother now, right?"

"Yes, but don't you think we need to investigate the red house again? you haven't found the clue that we've been looking for"

"Yes, yes don't worry, we'll go...tomorrow early so that I can go out with my friends later"

"Sure, sounds good to me!"

"Well, I have to go now, we should talk some more tomorrow!!"

"Okay, see you later Yashiro, and don't forget to be there at 4"

"See ya, take care (^o^)"

"Nene! here you are~" Aoi said, hugging me from behind and taking my hand

"Oh, Hii, you ready to go?" I asked

"Yep, I'm done taking selfies with Minamoto, he's also tired so I'm giving him a minute"

"Good, but I'm a lil hungry, can we get some food really quick?"

"Anything you wish to do Nene, I'll be up to it"

"That's...good to hear Ao, hey so, are you not busy tomorrow at 4?"