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Stars blinked lazily in the sky, waving shining tendrils of light against the ink black mass above earth. In late April the weather was already warm, sweat sticking clothing to skin and calling popsicles to the front shelf of the corner stores. Heat and humidity radiated even into the peaceful night, though given some relief by the breeze and cold tiles of the roof under Nene’s back, goosebumps rising on her skin under her thin dress.
It was climbing into the latest hours, the time right before night gives way to morning and anticipates the dawn. All students had left from clubs and cleaning duties hours ago, trickling out until Mr. Tsugigamori had locked the large wooden doors, glancing up and shaking his head as he spotted the blue and silver hair barely in view on the roof.
“That one is called Andromeda!” a finger appeared in front of Nene’s face, breaking her string of thought abruptly. She squinted hard, doing her best to follow the line of Hanako’s finger pointing into the sea of glittering pinpricks above her.
“I can't see it.” she admitted, apology seeping into her tone. They had been on the roof for hours, her having been lured up by the premise that Hanako had something important to tell her. Now, as her eyelids drooped heavily and Hanako exited scrambled once again to put his telescope to her eye, she still hasn't figured out what that something important was.
“See it now?”
She was asked, the metal of the telescope pressed to her eye, “yes.” Hanako grinned, admiring Nene as she gazed at the sky, ripping his eyes off her as he realized he was staring. “Hanako?” she inquired, peering up at him.
“Mm?” he hummed in response, still scanning the mass above them for more constellations he knew.
“Why did you bring me up here?” Nene asked, watching his glance down, not meeting her eye.
“Nene.. you..” he paused, the words he wanted to say knotting his tongue and bouncing around in his head as his stomach clawed itself into knots. She nodded, sitting up and urging him to continue. “Well.. I'm worried about you. About the time thing. I don't want you to spend the rest of your life fighting monsters and destroying yorishiros, I want you to be happy. I don't want you to die, Nene, especially not anytime soon.” he admitted, his head down as he picked a loose spot on his thumb nail.
“Hanako… im going to be okay. And I would gladly die if it meant helping you, besides, I'll just become a supernatural, then we can live together forever!” Nene exclaimed, laying her hand over Hanakos to get him to stop picking his skin.
“But…” he began to argue, “I don't want you to become what I am. Feeling incomplete, neither here nor there, alone in the grand scheme of things.” he hung his head, allowing Nene to intertwine their fingers. As of late, she had gone out of her way to touch Hanako, tonight being no exception.
“Maybe… all that will go away if we’re supernaturals together? Maybe we can complete each other. Yknow?” she smiled as melancholic longing filled her to the brim, toppling over into her actions, clouding her mind. The warmth that blew a breeze through her stomach grew as she gently pulled Hanako’s head gently into her lap, playing with his hair.
They had kissed after she had been rescued from the train bound for the afterlife, though since hadn’t labeled it, neither of them bringing it up for fear of dispelling the peaceful tenderness that had built up between them over the past couple weeks. Hanako relaxed slightly, leaning into the touch of Nene's hand as she scratched his scalp. For a long while, neither said anything, letting softness fester and grow between their souls.
“What do you think I would have been like? Had I lived and all." Hanako asked quietly after a moment, voice so low that it was almost caught in the breeze and carried away from yashiro’s ears. She thought for a moment, twirling hanako’s brown locks in between her index and middle fingers.
“I think you would have become a teacher. A kind one like Mr. Tsugigamori. Perhaps in science or astronomy. People would have loved you, students, co-workers. You would probably laugh at students talking about supernaturals. Maybe you would even have a wife and kids, I can just see a bunch of little Yugi Amanes running around and causing trouble.” she laughed, closing her eyes and basking in the darkness, letting herself grieve for the Hanako, for the Yugi Amane, she could have known.
“I probably wouldn't have met you” her eyes opened, softening at the sad expression he wore.
“I would have found my way to you. Maybe in the next life or by a chance encounter in the markets or… some other way, but our souls will always find eachother.” she murmured, ignoring the way her heart leapt into her throat as she stroked his cheekbone. He closed his eyes, a smile curving his lips. Slowly, like she was afraid he might bite, she ran her thumb over Hanako’s lips, watching the way his eyes fluttered open to meet hers.
“Nene?” he glanced his eyes over her face, how her silver hair fell in a curtain around them making it feel like the world was only them, right here and now, how her eyes glittered and her lips pressed into a nervous line.
“Yes?” she whispered in return, red rising to her face due to the closeness of their faces.
“Can…” he paused and she nodded, urging him on. “Can I kiss you?” he blurted out, slapping a hand over his mouth like he couldn't believe he had actually said it. Frozen for a moment she breathed shallow breaths, humidity making it more like drinking than breathing.
Without truly thinking, her heart quivering in her chest as it controlled her actions, she guided Hanako's hand from his mouth, leaning down to take his lips in hers. The kiss couldn't have lasted more than three seconds but as she pulled away she caught sight of Hanako, red faced and looking as if he would have been less surprised at being struck by lightning through clear skies.
Right as she had fully straightened up she saw the tears welling in Hanako’s glassy eyes, spilling over the edges. He rocketed into her waist, wrapping his arms around her, fists gripping her dress as he cried, big crocodile tears soaking into the fabric. The sudden change gave nene pause, her breath hitching as she wondered if she had done something wrong.
“Hanako? What's wrong?” she asked to no answer, “hey hey, cmon, what happened?” she tried again, running her fingers through his hair once more to attempt to calm him.
“I'm so sorry that I'm disgusting. I'm a murderer and a supernatural and something that you can't truly love.” he sobbed, the tears shaking his shoulders.
Nene had only seen hanako cry once, and never this hard or desperate and certainly not about her. “Hanako… hanako no, i do love you! With all my heart, I would die for you! Please don't cry Hanako, you aren't disgusting, never ever say that, you're beautiful!” she begged, feeling her throat burn and moisture well up behind her own eyes, spilling out and tickling her cheeks.
“Do you mean it?” she asked, tears clogging his voice and making his sound even younger than it already did. Drunk off first love and night air and the hope that maybe time would freeze and this night would never end hanak opened his mouth, speaking without thought, straight from the longing feeling in his heart that he hadn't been aware of until that moment. “Maybe it's selfish but when you die I really do want you to become a supernatural, I want to live with you forever! Oh Nene i don't think i could go on without you i don't want to be alone again, you're the only person who ever made me feel truly alive and warm and i forget everything bad when i’m with you!” Hanako admitted, sobs still racking his body and breaking up his words.
“Well then… I must be the most selfish person ever, because I want nothing more. Living and fighting would be meaningless if I didn't still exist with you after I die." She cupped his face in her hands like he was fragile glass and smiled at him.
Gradually, Hanako's cries slowly subside until he sniffled and looked up at her, his honey colored eyes puffy and his nose a bright red, a sheen of sweat glazing his face from the effort of his sobs and deep breaths amidst the boiling air. “You mean it? We’ll be together forever?” he confirmed, searching her face for the truth of the statement and finding it written all over.
“I swear.” she held out her pinky and he did the same, interlocking them.
Not a second later Hanako leaned in, brushing his lips over hers and leaving the salty taste of tears in her mouth.
“Alright… forever, then” he grinned, eyes locked on Nene’s.
“Forever.’” she nodded, leaning in to kiss him once more, warm contentment bubbling in her stomach as her lips pulled into a smile and she felt Hanako’s do the same.
—-
Somewhere down below a figure loomed in the window, his black and white hair brushing the rim of his glasses as one of eight hands pushed them up the bridge of his nose.
Tsugigamori was silently glad that hanako could still cry, pondering to himself the realization that the timid and closed off boy he’d known all those years ago, the one he worried so much for, who wouldn't lift a hand to defend himself, was still alive inside the boisterous and arrogant ghost of hanako. Hidden well, locked away in his heart, but still there, clawing for a way out. He smiled, making his way back to the office he resided in.
He really did wish he had known Yugi as a co-worker, not a supernatural, but that's just how things worked out.
In this universe, at least.