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It’s been a day after the severance and a sweet, young girl named Nene Yashiro wasn’t the same as she was everyday. She was in despair at the loss of Aoi and Hanako. Losing her best friends just for the sake of her own life span was a hard loss to take in, but what’s even worse was losing Hanako, wonder no.7. He may have done some crazy things but she deeply cared about him. They have gone through so much.
School wasn’t the same anymore. It felt completely empty. No apparitions and no rumors being spread anymore. Akane in her class is just as sad at the thought of Aoi not being by his side, he couldn’t even focus properly.
Thankfully, a day after summer break started, Teru decided to cheer Nene and Akane up by going to the arcade and then to karaoke. It didn’t make both at all feel better, that is, until Akane decided to get answers from Teru and plan to save Aoi. Nene beamed with light at Akane’s idea.
Somehow Teru decided to discuss the plan in his house and he agreed on rescuing Aoi. Nene somehow had hope soon after. She somehow even planned to see Hanako. Meanwhile during the whole planning, there was the blond young boy with a traffic earring, Kou Minamoto, cleaning the dishes in the kitchen after cooking food for them. He was happy Nene especially liked his cooking. However, deep down, his thoughts on what happened during the severance occurred which made his smile drop and filled with heartache, knowing Mitsuba left him.
He finished cleaning as he sighed to himself, about to head to his bedroom, he stopped, slightly overhearing the conversation. As he heard about saving Aoi, seeing Nene's face beam with a smile, he couldn't help but look down and show a worried face. He deep down knows she wants to see Hanako. Kou cares for Nene more than anything. He remembered a conversation he had with Natsuhiko before the severance occured which made him give off a shaky sigh. Just looking at Nene made him feel even more worried. He desperately wanted to talk to her but, he had to wait a while. He walked to his room soon after as he shut the door behind him. He slowly slid down to the floor as he hugged his knees. Hid head was filled with so many thoughts that he didn't notice tears rolling down from his eyes as he stared at the ground. The flashback of losing Mitsuba, before becoming an apparition, and also losing apparition Mitsuba, was too much for him to bear. He doesn't know what to do anymore.
Minites has passed as Kou silently stood up and opened the door, hoping the conversation would be over by now. As he walked to the living room,there she was, sitting all alone in thought. The discussion must have been over. Kou called out to Nene in a low voice as he tried to put on a smile.
"Hey Nene! Can you come with me for a sec? I need to talk to you about something."
Nene was sitting alone as Akane and Yeru left, lost in thought, that is until she heard Kou call out to her. She turned to see Kou smiling to her as he called. Somehow Nene could tell Kou is hiding something behind that smile which made her worried and got jer thinking, did something happened to Kou during the severance? She stared at him for a while, then shook her head as she slightly chucked.
"Sure! Sorry for the awkward staring!"
She got up as she walked with Kou to his toom. His room was full of aqua blue, just like his sweet looking eyes ehich got Nene really memorised.
"Is this your room Kou? It looks so pretty!"
Seeing Nene being memorized of his own room made him slightly smile. It's pretty much her first time coming to his house after all.
Nene then remembered Kou wanted to talk to her about something so she looked at him soon after.
"You wanted to talk to me right? What is it Kou? If it's about saving everyone, then don't worry! Akane and Teru are-"
As she tried to reassure Kou, she got interrupted by him.
“It’s not that Nene..it’s different. Of course we need to do something about that, but I’m talking about after..”
Kou glanced to the side soon after. Nene raised an eyebrow at Kou, not getting what he was trying to say.
“After..?”
Kou took a few steps close to Nene as he lets out a shaky breath.
“Do you like Hanako?”
Nene was flabbergasted at the question as she blushed. Her face filled with red.
“What are you talking about?! This is not important right now!”
Kou sighed as he looked at Nene with a worried face.
“You can’t change the fact that he’s still dead, and that he killed some people..”
Both looked at eachother eye to eye soon after.
“I- I know..”
Nene glanced to the side. She knows full well Hanako is just an apparition. He won’t have a future with her. But, she couldn’t help it. Kou noticed her saddened face and felt guilty about it. He wanted to comfort her, but his body just stood there.
“I met someone during the school sleepover and they said,”
Kou looked at Nene as Nene looked at him out of curiosity.
“That there’s a way you can turn into an apparition.”
Nene’s eyes widened at the information.
“By dying?”
Kou immediately shook his head and hands.
“No not like that! Also sorry for wasting your time! Pretend I didn’t say anything! Let’s just go-!”
As he was about to open the door, Nene stopped him by holding his hand.
“Kou wait-! Did something happen to you..?”
As Nene asked that question, Kou turned to look at her, he then looked at her hand which was holding his soon after and then at her again. When he thought about Nene’s question, he recalled Mitsuba breaking apart and disappearing right infront of his eyes. His gaze softened just thinking about it and his hands trembled.
“I..”
Nene noticed Kou’s saddened Look which made her soften her gaze.
“..you lost someone during the severance to isn’t it? Mitsuba?”
Kou felt his eyes prickling with tears. He tried to hide it so Nene won't notice. Crying infront of Nene, someone he wanted to protect at all costs, felt like an embarrassment. He gave of a shaky breath.
"Y-yeah..."
Was all he he could say. Nene noticed how he was trying not to show her that he was about to cry. She let go off his hand and slowly embraced him soon after in her arms.
"The fact we had to loose a lof of friends..just for my lifespan..is just- something sad. Mitsuba, Hanako, Aoi..Shijima and other apparitions to..Im sorry Kou.."
Kou's eyes widened at Nene's embrace but his eyes softened at Nene's words. He couldn't help but hug her back tightly cause why is Nene apologizing? He gritted his teeth as some tears came rolling down.
"Don't you even dare blame yourself for something which is not even your fault!”
Nene was pretty surprised when Kou said that when returning the hug. Silence filled in the room for a while as Nene felt Kou's tears dump her shoulder, hiding his face as he still hugged.
"I-it's not your fault..you didn't know something like this would have happened.. I-I'm just- tired.. tired of seeing Mitsuba going away from me yet again..Im especially tired of being such a useless person..!"
Hearing Kou's words really broke Nene. She looked at his teary face as she pulled away.
"Let's sit and talk for a while.."
Kou just wiped his tears as he gave a bittersweet smile.
"Yeah..I would like that."
Kou and Nene sat on Kou's bed soon after. The bed sheets were sheets of dark blue which fits in with the aesthetics of the room. Kou sat down, holding onto his knees as he looked down which made Nene worried. She sighed as she began to break the silence.
“Kou, when you said about becoming an apparition, did you yourself want to become one to?”
Kou just clenched his fists.
“To be honest yeah..anything to not loose Mitsuba..I also, somehow want to understand him more and find out what it feels like to be in his shoes..but yeah, it was kinda stupid to ask that, to you Nene..”
He chuckled to himself a bit as Nene looked at him with slight concern.
“Kou, I actually thought of the same thing with Hanako. I sometimes don’t get him but- that’s what makes him interesting for me you know!”
Nene smiled as she looked up at the ceiling. It was a bittersweet one. Kou looked at Nene as she said that. It goes to show that he thinks the same. Not just with Mitsuba, but with Hanako aswell, despite both dying and becoming apparitions for different reasons.
“I- get that..by the way, Nene.”
Nene looked at Kou as he called out to her.
"Yeah?"
Kou sighed as he looked down, resting his hands from the clutches on his knees.
"I have always been thinking about your lifespan, and Mitsuba's wish.."
Nene held onto his shoulder for reassurance, showing a face of pure worry.
"I have known about your lifespan thanks to Hanako way before you did, during the whole rukus with Mirai, that clock keeper..you just only knew about it later during Shijima's painting situation..but ever since that very day I knew, I couldn't stop thinking about it..I wanted to find a way to save you from this awful fate I- I-"
He couldn't help but end up recalling everything what happened before Mitsuba became an apparition which made him punch his knees in frustration.
"I don't want another repeat of loosing someone I care about when they themselves don't deserve it!I want to make you and Mitsuba happy but- it's just so hard! Mitsuba wants to be a human? How is that even possible! He's already dead and a damn apparition! It's not like I have magic to make him turn into one! And your life span! It's set in stone you'll die in less than an year! How am I supposed to stop that from happening? Other than the severance, what other option is there? I want to find a way for both, you and Mitsuba, to be happy without making stupid sacrifices, but the more I think about it, the more useless I think of myself cause I can barely do anything right!"
As Kou snapped out every feeling which was left out of his system, he sighed a deep one. Nene showed a worried face the more Kou broke down. Her grip on his tightened a bit.
"You don't have to suffer alone, Kou.."
Nene cupped Kou's face, making him turn to her and see her in the eyes.
"We'll find a way, together! Kou, you aren't alone! I'm here to help anyway I can! I also want to find another way to stop this fate! And I understand wanting to make Mitsuba happy! You don't have to deal with this pain alone when I'm right here. You're not useless to try to do the impossible! If anything, I honestly admire you for always trying your best!"
Nene's voice and eyes were filled with determination as she looked into Kou's eyes. Kou's eyes widened at her words, not noticing one tear fall from his face.
"Nene.."
Was all he could say as he gave a genuine soft smile.
"I, Nene Yashiro, am here to help the coolest exorcist ever!"
She said as she stood up like a soldier jokingly which made Kou laugh. Nene then sighed as she looked at the window.
"Kou, just like you asked me, what are you going to do when you meet Mitsuba again?"
Nene smiled a soft one at Kou soon after. Kou became thoughtful and then just smiled.
"Probably try to make more fun memories with him, memories he'll never forget, even as an apparition.."
He stood up as he walked close to Nene, looking at the window.
"I- really want to thankyou, Nene.."
Nene just smiled.
"You're a really brave guy, don't ever talk down on yourself.."
Kou couldn't help but chuckle out of embarrassment.
"Oh! And what I'm going to do with Hanako when we meet again? I'm going to smack and hang him on the bathroom wall as a punishment for what he did to Aoi with the severance!"
Nene was showing a comedic face of fury and anger as Kou got flabbergasted.
"Nene - ! That's kinda crazy!"
Nene sighed as she smiled soon after.
"But on a serious note, probably the same thing as you said! Make super fun memories, with Hanako and you!"
Kou smiled at her.
"Yeah let's do it!"
They both laughed as they smiled, opening the bedroom door to suddenly see Akane running up the stairs.
"Oh right on queue! Apparently President and I already finished half of the plan, we need you two to help!"
Kou and Nene nodded as they went down. As Nene looked at Kou, she felt glad and happy! Kou finally smiling and energised! Makes Nene herself even more motivated to go save Aoi, and meet Hanako.
Kou smiled ever so brightly as he walked down with Nene. Having hope that one day, he will find a way, with Nene by his side.