Archive of Our Own ^beta

"So," Natsuhiko says. "Let me summarize this, just to make sure I have the full timeline of events."

Mitsuba nods, gnawing on the end of his sleeve.

Natsuhiko gets to his feet from his place on the broadcasting room couch and starts to pace, slowly, back and forth. "You and little Minamoto went out into the city so you could pick out clothes for him," he begins. "Quote, "because his usual wardrobe is so ugly that you couldn't bear to look at it any longer." Unquote"

"Mhm," Mitsuba confirms.

"And you did this, quote, "under the guise of it being a Christmas gift," unquote," Natsuhiko continues. He gestures in Mitsuba's direction to emphasize. "So you're trying to convince me that it wasn't really a gift, but actually just you trying to get him to dress better for your own sake."

"I'm not "trying to convince you" of that," Mitsuba says hotly, using air quotes around his words. "That is the truth."

"Sure," Natsuhiko says, and keeps going before Mitsuba can say anything in retort. "So you do all this, as a Christmas gift, mind, and then he invites you out for New Years. He's going out with his family, but he's willing to make time for you because you've never witnessed the turn of the year before and he wants you to get to take part in it. He's going to make time for you, on New Years, to take you around and buy you food that you want with his own money, even though you're a supernatural and the food you eat doesn't actually stick and you don't need it. He's doing it just because you want to."

"Yes," Mitsuba says irritably. He doesn't like the tone Natsuhiko is using. "Hurry up, your summaries are shit."

Natsuhiko holds up a hand to silently request that Mitsuba stops talking. He does so, not because he's being told to, but because he has nothing more to say until Natsuhiko is done. Natsuhiko takes a breath, and then speaks again.

"He shows you around, and helps you get your fortune, and buys you an omamori to keep you safe from bad luck," he says. "Then he says he has a gift for you, after all this, and even after he bought you that coat and those little Hello Kitty creatures, and takes you to a secluded corner where the two of you can be alone. There, he gives you an old phone he doesn't use anymore as a gift, specifically so he can stay in contact with you. You get all sentimental, and you guys, quote, "kind of just look at each other for a moment," unquote, and then he makes a motion like he's going to kiss you, so you reciprocate, but then the fireworks go off and he has to run off without an explanation."

"Yep," Mitsuba says shortly.

Natsuhiko pauses his pacing for a moment to take a breath and palm his face before he resumes his movement. "You text him the next day saying you're outside his house," he continues. "You guys sort of walk around aimlessly for a bit, but, quote, "it's fine because you can just kind of do that without it being awkward," unquote. Then his dad calls, and you hear part of the phone conversation confirming that today is actually little Minamoto's birthday, and he didn't tell you because he didn't want to upset you with the knowledge that he's getting older without you. He's upset because his dad is an awful man and has clearly said something terrible, so you offer to kill him for him?"

"There's more context to that," Mitsuba says, putting a hand up defensively. "You don't need to know everything."

"Uh huh," Natsuhiko says faintly. He looks like he's on the verge of losing his mind. "So all of that occurs, he says no to the killing thing but he's not actually mad about it, even after you brought up the fact that you've killed and eaten people, and you walk him home listening to music together like a pair of lovers."

"I don't like your tone," Mitsuba declares.

"You shouldn't," Natsuhiko shoots back. "You're telling me that all of that happens, all of these insane things happen to you..."

He takes a breath. "All of this happens, and the questions you have is - do you think he's into me?"

There's a very long pause.

"Uh," Mitsuba replies slowly, eyebrows raised. "Yeah."

Natsuhiko throws his hands up in utter despair.

"Are you serious?" he cries, eyes wide. "My lady!"

He and Mitsuba turn to look at Nanamine on the couch next to Mitsuba. They're sitting politely with their legs crossed at the ankle and one hand clamped over their mouth as if they're forcing themself not to say something.

However, with Natsuhiko's prompting, they remove their hand and let out a long, soft sigh. "Mitsuba," they say, very gently. "I understand that you may lack the knowledge of what kind of signs someone might give you when they are romantically interested in you, but it really sounds like this boy has a crush on you."

Mitsuba palms his face while Natsuhiko shrieks at nothing in particular. "What, you - you think?"

"Mitsuba!" Natsuhiko wails. He's pacing again, waving his hands around like a madman. "He is in love with you! Look, I'm not gay, and I may not be as attuned to the signs of romantic love between two guys, but from what you've just told us, it sounds like you could see this boy's crush on you from the moon!"

He seems to catch the unimpressed look on Mitsuba's face at these words and stops in his tracks. A grin is spreading across his face, which has to be a bad sign. It never means anything good when Natsuhiko starts getting excited about something.

"This is actually perfect," he gushes. "You're so lucky you have me on your side, Mitsuba. I'm literally a walking love magnet. You know the ladies call me Mr. Loverman?"

"No they don't," Mitsuba replies flatly, without even a pause. "Who said that? What was the full sentence they said that in? Tell me so I can explain to you exactly how you misheard them and what they were actually trying to say to you."

Natsuhiko frowns. Even his frown look derpy. "It's like you have no faith in me."

"Gee," Mitsuba deadpans, "you're right, why wouldn't I have faith in the guy who's been obsessed with the same person for God knows how many years and has still never succeeded in getting any kind of return from it?"

He turns to Nanamine and grimaces. "Sorry to bring that into this."

Nanamine only sighs and pinches the bridge of their nose. "Natsuhiko, please don't tease him. Mitsuba, don't you tease him either."

Both Mitsuba and Natsuhiko start to protest at the same time before Nanamine makes a gesture of opening their hand and closing it, causing them both to shut up instantly.

"Alright," they say, once it's clear they're both waiting for them to speak. "I know it might be a bit overwhelming for you, Mitsuba, but the things you've told us that this boy has done for you tend to not be the kind of thing most people would do platonically. I'm by no means an expert, but it really sounds as though he's trying to hint that he's interested in you, especially if you take into account the fact that he made an attempt to kiss you just a few days ago."

Mitsuba immediately opens his mouth to defend himself. "You weren't there!" he protests, a little too loudly. "It's - I'm not a complete idiot, Nanamine, really, you would have to have been there to understand why I'm confused about it!"

"I know," Nanamine rushes to say. "I know. You're clever, Mitsuba, I understand why it is that you might be a little uncertain. It's just - the things you've described sound rather like he's attempting to court you."

"He's gone on dates with you," Natsuhiko points out. Now that the initial shock has worn off, he sounds delighted, practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of the discussion of Mitsuba's love life. "He paid for all of it, too, and bought you all of those little trinkets you asked for, and tried to kiss you! I mean, you would have kissed if he hadn't left, right? He would have kissed you!"

"I don't know!" Mitsuba stresses loudly. His shoulders meet his ears, his hands flexing anxiously. "I don't know, I mean - I don't know! I might have misinterpreted it! I've never exactly been kissed before!"

Natsuhiko suddenly turns serious, pointing at Mitsuba with such a force it makes him flinch. "Describe exactly what happened," he demands, narrowing his eyes. "Give us all the details, and I'll use my genius skills to figure out exactly what he was doing!"

"I am not doing that," Mitsuba declares, shaking his head sharply. He can feel heat rising to his face. "You don't need every single detail of everything we've ever done to understand if he has a crush on me or not!"

"Natsuhiko," Nanamine says, in a warning tone. Natsuhiko looks to them with wide, helpless eyes, like a dog being scolded.

"Ah, but my lady!" he cries, clasping his hands together. "Don't you see - if Mitsuba likes this guy, and he likes him back, then we've found a perfect match! Isn't that so adorable? That little Minamoto boy seems like such a nice kid, too, I think he'd be so good for Mitsuba!"

"It's not as though I have a lot of options," Mitsuba mutters. "The number of boys my age who can see me that aren't Tsukasa, Number One or Honourable Number Seven is a big, fat zero."

Nanamine sighs deeply.

"It's up to you what you choose to do with the information we've provided," they tell Mitsuba kindly. "All I can say is that I would be terribly shocked if it turned out that he wasn't interested in you."

"Which he definitely is," Natsuhiko coos, flashing a grin. "Mitsuba, I would know. You're lucky you came to me, really, I can offer you all sorts of advice! So, first -"

Immediately, Mitsuba is shaking his head. "Nope. Not interested. All I asked was what the read on the situation was, not for advice on what to do about it. Especially not from you."

Natsuhiko immediately deflates. "Ah, but Mitsuba!" he cries. "You can't come to me admitting you're in love and then expect me to do nothing about it! I love love. I have to see the two of you get a happy ending, and I'd love nothing more than to be your wingman!"

Mitsuba catches Nanamine's eye from across the couch. A brief, silent conversation passes between them.

Seemingly catching on, Nanamine clears their throat. "Alright, Natsuhiko -"

They're interrupted very suddenly, however, by the sound of the door banging open.

"Oh, goodie!" Tsukasa grins. He hops inside and looks around at the lot of them, seeing their expressions and the positions they're all in. "Everybody's here. What were you all talking about? No one looks too happy."

Natsuhiko opens his mouth, and Mitsuba leaps up from the couch to grab him and shove him halfway across the room with enough force that he stumbles onto his ass.

"Nothing," Mitsuba says fiercely, shooting the older supernatural a pointed glare. "Absolutely nothing."

"That's what I was going to say," Natsuhiko whines from his place on the floor. He pouts as he pushes himself up into a sitting position dizzily. "I was going to say that! I'm a good friend, Mitsuba, a true wingman never reveals any secrets!"

Tsukasa watches all of this occur with a blank expression. Then he smiles again and holds up his hands. They're clasped together in such a way that suggests there's something being held in between them.

"Guess what I have," he says mischievously. It seems he doesn't care enough about the reasoning behind Mitsuba's random display of violence to ask. Either that, or whatever he's holding is even more fascinating. The thought makes a cold chill go down Mitsuba's spine.

"I don't want to know," he declares. He recoils as Tsukasa takes another step into the room, already prepared to teleport away if need be. "I'm serious, Tsukasa, if that's a spider I'm going to freak the fuck out."

"It's not," Tsukasa sings sweetly. His amber eyes bear into Mitsuba like they can see right through him. "You started hating spiders awfully suddenly, Mitsuba, you never used to. Did a spider scare you or something?"

Oh, did it. Mitsuba almost laughs. However, Tsukasa's tone is irritating, so instead he glowers and stands tall to show how not scared he is.

"Spiders are disgusting," he says seriously. "Leave me alone, Tsukasa, go show the airhead your new thing instead - stop coming closer, I will scream in your face!"

"Here, Tsukasa," Nanamine suddenly pipes up, causing both Mitsuba and Tsukasa to turn around to look at them in sync. They look rather weary, but still manage to smile, gesturing for Tsukasa to come and sit beside them. "Why don't you show me what you've found? I'm fairly certain that Natsuhiko was going to take Mitsuba out to help with his new project, and I'm sure they wouldn't like to be distracted."

"What?" Mitsuba says, eyebrows scrunched together. He doesn't remember agreeing to that.

Before he can say anything further, someone is suddenly grabbing his wrist. It's Natsuhiko, beaming wide - when he'd gotten off the floor, Mitsuba doesn't know. "You're right, my lady!" he says loudly, standing straight. "Mitsuba and I will be off, then. See you later, runt, and goodbye, my lady Sakura!"

"Goodbye," Nanamine replies lazily as Tsukasa bounds across the room to sit next to them, too easily distracted by the idea of someone wanting to engage in his nonsense to care about Mitsuba slipping away out the door with Natsuhiko in tow.

The second they're out of Tsukasa's sight, Natsuhiko lets out a dramatic sigh of relief, pretending to wipe sweat off his forehead. "Thank God," he laughs. "I really didn't want to have to deal with whatever he was - hey, Mitsuba?"

Mitsuba is already setting off and walking away down the hall.

Natsuhiko rushes to follow him. "Where are you going? Aren't you supposed to be helping me out with my new project?"

Mitsuba furrows his brow, unconvinced. "I thought Nanamine just said that as an excuse to get me away from Tsukasa," he says. Which he's extremely grateful for. Nanamine is so good at dealing with Tsukasa, and Mitsuba is so not. He always makes himself upset trying to get along with him, and it almost always ends up in the two of them fighting.

He stares at Natsuhiko as the boy smirks lopsidedly, eyes glittering. "I do actually have a project I'd appreciate help with," he says. "If you're not busy, Mitsuba, I need a big, strong man to help me out with carrying some chairs."

"I'm not a single one of the traits you just listed," Mitsuba says flatly. He crosses his arms across his chest. "Carrying some chairs where? Why the fuck would I help you with that?"

"It's just something I'm working on," Natsuhiko says casually. He shoves his hands in his pockets, tilting his head. "I'm using them to build something."

Mitsuba raises his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for an explanation, but gets none. Natsuhiko just continues to smile at him dopily.

"I'm not even gonna ask," Mitsuba mutters. "Are you going to be pestering me about my love life the entire time?"

The way Natsuhiko's smile grows answers that question plenty.

"Absolutely not," Mitsuba decides firmly. "I don't want your opinions or advice."

"Mitsuba!" Natsuhiko exclaims, already removing his hands from his pockets to clasp them together despairingly. "You asked me in the first place!"

"Uh, no, I didn't," Mitsuba deadpans. He stops in his tracks and glares up at the older supernatural irritably. "I asked Nanamine, and then you came into the room while I was talking - without announcing yourself so I didn't know you were there - and made yourself a part of the conversation against my will."

Natsuhiko is unfazed by this. "You should have asked me, then," he says. "I know so much about these kinds of things. Don't look at me with that sarcastic expression, my lady loves me more than she lets on!"

"You're delusional," Mitsuba tells him.

Really, he doesn't want Natsuhiko's advice. Talking about his love life to Nanamine was embarrassing enough, but Natsuhiko is loud and irritatingly smug in ways that makes Mitsuba want to hit him sometimes. However, he's already heard all of Mitsuba's embarrassing secrets, so he might as well get comfortable in the hole he's dug himself.

"What's this project of yours entail, then?" he asks, and he can immediately see Natsuhiko just barely concealing his delight at Mitsuba's participation behind his hands. He rolls his eyes while the supernatural isn't looking. "Don't get a big head thinking I want to talk to you or anything, I just don't have anything else to do right now."

"That's fine by me," Natsuhiko beams, and then reaches out in preparation for ruffling Mitsuba's hair with his large hands.

Mitsuba swats him away. "Quit it or I'm leaving."

"Fine," Natsuhiko says, undeterred. "Follow me, then!"

Even after having Natsuhiko's idea explained to him, Mitsuba still doesn't get it.

"A gym," he says flatly. "In the broadcasting room. Made out of chairs?"

"Mhm," Natsuhiko hums excitedly. He walks in long strides that Mitsuba struggles to keep up with, especially carrying this set of chairs in his arms as he is. He hears Natsuhiko whistling from up ahead. "You'll see my vision once I show you the concepts I drew up. Even my lady praised them!"

Mitsuba highly doubts that. "You are aware that there's already a gym within the school," he says, eyebrows raised. "And no one uses it when the students aren't here. There's even treadmills and stuff. All that fancy equipment."

"I know that," Natsuhiko says with a grin. "But sometimes it's a lot of effort to tread all the way across the school to get to the gym, right? I mean, it's on the absolute opposite side. Don't you think it'd be easier if it was a little closer to home base?"

Mitsuba squints at him, thinking.

"You are so full of shit," he decides after a moment. "Let me guess the real reason. You want to create a space for you to work out within the broadcasting room because you want Nanamine to be able to see you while you do it in the hopes that they'll be super impressed and let you sweep them up in your arms. Am I close?"

Judging by the gobsmacked look on Natsuhiko's face, he thinks he might have been.

"Wow, Mitsuba," Natsuhiko marvels, eyes wide. "You are good."

Mitsuba's about to formulate a sarcastic response when he hears the sound of someone running nearby.

He almost drops the chairs. As it is, he yelps and has to set them down in front of him so they don't fall on his feet. "What the hell?" he hisses, peering around the corner. "It's so late at night, there can't still be a student here!"

Then he sees Natsuhiko trying to look with him and shoves him away. "They can see you, remember, stay back and stay quiet!"

"Ok," Natsuhiko replies without any argument, and Mitsuba rolls his eyes as he pulls up a mirror to examine what's going on through it.

Just a corridor away is a girl. She looks about Kou's age, sleek black hair tied back in a ponytail that's swaying with every stride. She's very pretty, dark eyes scanning her surroundings with an almost panicked look. Her uniform is rumpled, her bag slamming against her thighs, and Mitsuba watches as she stops for breath, wheezing into her elbow.

"What's going on?" Natsuhiko asks, immediately breaking the stay quiet rule, which is fine now that the girl's far away enough but annoys Mitsuba anyway. He shoots the older boy a glare, and Natsuhiko pouts, eyes wet and pathetic. "I can't see through your mirrors, you know that."

Mitsuba again rolls his eyes. "I give you permission, then," he says, and hears Natsuhiko gasp as the pictures on Mitsuba's mirrors come into view, showing him the image of the girl nearby.

"Woah," Natsuhiko utters, leaning in closer to look. "This is so weird. What is that girl still doing here? Is she running from something?"

"I don't know," Mitsuba mutters. His eyebrows furrow together as he watches her, confused. The girl glances around the corner as if looking for something, then continues running, glancing behind her with a worried expression. Mitsuba chews the inside of his cheek. "Do you think something supernatural is happening? I mean, we'd see it if there was, wouldn't we?"

"I think so," Natsuhiko replies. He doesn't look nearly as concerned as Mitsuba does, straightening and shrugging his shoulders. "She seems fine. We would know if there was something around that wanted to hurt her."

"Would we?" Mitsuba challenges him. He looks at the mirror, then back at Natsuhiko. "Maybe it's invisible. Either way, we should make sure she's ok, right? God knows I don't want to be responsible if someone died here. I mean, I'm a School Mystery. It's my job to supervise the students here and make sure they're ok."

"I suppose," Natsuhiko relents, frowning as he watches the girl run. "It would be a shame if something happened to such a beautiful girl. Are we going to keep watching her from here, or follow her?"

Mitsuba comes to a decision in an instant. "Come on," he says, and grabs Natsuhiko's wrist. He doesn't even give the boy a moment to adjust as he pulls him away and phases through the mirror, dragging Natsuhiko into his boundary.

He hears Natsuhiko screaming, and looks back with an unimpressed expression to see the boy clutching at Mitsuba's arm with enormous eyes. The second he realizes he's back on solid ground, however, his cries fade and he stares at his surroundings with eyes like moons, clearly horrified by what just transpired. Mitsuba bites back a giggle as he takes in the infinite walls of doors, the many floors, the floating shards of glass, the tarp-covered stage and the mirrors covering almost every flat surface in the vicinity.

"Jeez, Mitsuba," Natsuhiko says, his tone somehow both terrified and impressed. "You sure know how to decorate."

"Most of this isn't mine," Mitsuba says nonchalantly. He's already pulled up more mirrors around him, searching for the girl. "It belonged to the previous Number Three, so if you have a problem, take it up with him."

Behind him, a mirror explodes into a thousand shards with a screeching sound. Natsuhiko screams again, but Mitsuba ignores it. Despite the fact that his boundary obeys him now, it still has some strange quirks that he can't quite figure out.

"Ok, found her," he says, turning to Natsuhiko before frowning at the look on his face. He seems horrified by something, staring across the central room. Mitsuba follows his eyes and sees nothing. "What?"

"I just saw you over there," Natsuhiko says urgently, pointing wildly. "In the mirror."

Mitsuba raises his eyebrows. "Uh, yeah, airhead, it's called a reflection. I know you probably don't see yours often or you definitely wouldn't be as cheerful as you are, but it's normal. Come on, that girl could be in trouble."

"It wasn't actually you, though," Natsuhiko urges, even as Mitsuba pulls him away. "You looked different!"

"You tend to see things in here," Mitsuba replies carelessly. Natsuhiko can be so dramatic sometimes. "I'm taking us out now, so watch your step."

Natsuhiko squeezes his eyes shut, and Mitsuba grins wickedly, the urge to pretend to drop him as he drags him through the mirror and into the blackness of his boundary prominent in his mind. However, now is unfortunately not the time, so he simply takes them out into the area he needs to be in and lets Natsuhiko step down from the glass safely.

He's taken them out into the main hall of the school, away from the entrance so as to avoid Natsuhiko being seen. As seen through the mirror, the girl is here, catching her breath again by the lockers. Natsuhiko stumbles out of the glass trophy case that Mitsuba has just taken them out of and is clearly about to say something when Mitsuba claps a hand over his mouth, pointing in the girl's direction so he knows not to scare her.

The girl stands up straight. Mitsuba supervises the area, eyes darting across summoned shards of glass to try and spot any supernatural creatures nearby, but finds nothing more than a couple wandering mokke, chocolate on their faces and clearly uncaring for the scene folding out before them.

"What is she doing?" Mitsuba mutters. "I can't see anything supernatural nearby. Do you see anything, airhead?"

"Nope," Natsuhiko replies. "She doesn't look like she's in danger."

"Then why was she running?" Mitsuba asks, shooting Natsuhiko a concerned look. "Looking behind her like someone was chasing her?"

Suddenly, Natsuhiko grimaces and jabs a finger in the direction of the girl. "Think I figured out why."

Mitsuba glances back to see what's going on.

The girl is rummaging through her bag, still glancing around to see if she's being watched. Thankfully, it seems Natsuhiko is too far out of view for her to notice him watching as she pulls an envelope out of the bag and approaches the lines of lockers, chewing her lip nervously.

"She's committing a crime?" Mitsuba wonders aloud. He's more confused than anything. "Now that's interesting. What's in there, do you think? Blackmail? Bribery?"

"I don't think any of those," Natsuhiko says darkly. He looks extremely serious. Mitsuba has no idea what he thinks it is, but it must be bad for him to be making that face.

They observe as the girl goes up to a locker, groans, and pushes the envelope through the slats.

Mitsuba's heart stutters in his chest. "That's - that's Kou's locker," he utters, blinking rapidly as if it could possibly change the scene before him. "What, that's - that's Kou's locker, she just put something in Kou's locker!"

"Your Kou?" Natsuhiko asks urgently. He grabs Mitsuba's arm and shakes him. "Your Kou, Mitsuba?"

"Obviously my - Don't call him that!" Mitsuba snaps. He peers out further as the girl claps her hands to her face and then sets off in a run again towards the exit. "What the hell was that?"

The girl slams through the front doors and then she's gone, leaving Natsuhiko and Mitsuba behind.

"It's just as I feared," he hears Natsuhiko say. The older boy strides out from around the corner and towards the lockers, strides wide. "I think we should check it out, Mitsuba. Do you know how to get into his locker?"

"I - I know his combination," he replies nervously. The fact that Natsuhiko is being so serious about this while not explaining what's going on is terrifying. "Natsuhiko, what the hell? Is Kou in trouble or something?"

"Worse," Natsuhiko says in an ominous tone. "Open it, Mitsuba, we might not have much time!"

"For fuck's sake, ok!" Mitsuba snaps. With shaking hands, he clicks the numbers into the padlock. Kou had never told him the combination, but, well. Mitsuba is the Hell of Mirrors. If he wants to know something, he'll find it out, and he'd spent some time stealing things from Kou's locker to see how long it would take for him to notice a few months ago. It swings open, and Mitsuba immediately reaches out to grab the envelope, pulling it away from Kou's things like it's on fire.

It's pale pink in colour, and has a red heart sticker holding it closed. "Careful," Natsuhiko suddenly says, and reaches over Mitsuba's shoulder to peel the sticker up gently to allow the letter inside to be revealed.

"What the fuck?" Mitsuba whispers, mostly to himself. Natsuhiko's behaviour has spooked him to no end, so he's still on edge even as confusion starts to take him over. "Natsuhiko, what -"

"Take it out and read it," Natsuhiko urges, shaking Mitsuba's shoulders, and Mitsuba resists the urge to turn around and jab him in the windpipe, instead doing as the boy instructed and unfolding the paper inside.

Minamoto-kun,

You probably know that I'm in the same class as you. I say probably because you seem distracted a lot of the time, and we've only ever spoken a few times since we first met. You let me borrow a pencil once, and I forgot to give it back. I watched you a lot to find a good opportunity, and I didn't really get one. so I just ended up looking at you, which sounds weird

I'm writing this to confess my feelings. I think you're cute, and you're really sweet, and you're really funny, too. I want you to know that I like you a lot. If you don't reciprocate, that's ok, but I had to tell you that I really like you and if you wanted to go out sometime, I would be completely into that like that.

If it's too awkward, you don't have to tell me that you don't feel the same. I'll assume it if I don't get an answer. Don't feel bad about rejecting me if you want to! I'm used to I'll be ok with it. I just had to get my feelings out.

From, Chihori.

Mitsuba and Natsuhiko stare at the paper in silence for a long moment.

"I knew it," Natsuhiko mutters. He looks weirdly distressed, shaking his head solemnly like someone's just died. "This is bad for you, isn't it, Mitsuba? You like this guy, and now this girl's written this letter confessing her feelings when you haven't had the chance to confess your -"

"Fuck, I know," Mitsuba snaps, irritation boiling over. "I know."

His mind is racing a million miles a minute. Kou's received a love letter. A love letter. This objectively very pretty girl has just left a love letter in his locker in a cute pink envelope with a darling little heart sticker to hold it shut, and what normal boy wouldn't fall for that? Mitsuba might not be interested in girls himself, but he's not blind. When the students of Kamome Academy aren't spreading rumours about the haunted corners of their school, they're discussing each other's love lives. Who's dating who, who's done what with who, who wants to do what with who. Humans are obsessed with love and romance.

Maybe it's not even just a human thing. Tsukasa and Nanamine love romance movies, and although Natsuhiko sometimes scoffs at the fictional stuff, Mitsuba's never seen anyone more devoted to one person until him (apart from the third counterpart of School Mystery Number One, who's completely obsessed with that Akane girl who's clearly not into him one bit whatsoever). Even Mitsuba himself daydreams about getting to live the life Sousuke could have had for himself if he wasn't a spineless coward - graduating, falling in love, maybe even getting married if gay people are allowed to do that by the time he's grown. All this to say, romance is so heavily discussed within the walls of Kamome Academy that Mitsuba hears almost nothing but which students are in love with who. The amount of unfortunate sexual secrets he's been made privy to against his will could fill a novel if he was sick enough to write it.

The girl who left this note is beautiful, really. It's a shock to Mitsuba that some boy's not already swept her up, but he supposes, bitterly, that it makes sense if she's so devoted to Kou.

He can't say he doesn't understand that to some extent.

Without warning, Natsuhiko's hand reaches out and grabs the letter from Mitsuba's hands. He snaps back to the present from his thoughts, eyes blowing wide. "Airhead?"

"You can't leave this here," Natsuhiko says. He shakes his head seriously at Mitsuba's confused expression. "I mean, come on. What if he wants to go on a date with her? You'd seriously let that happen when you can stop it straight up?"

Mitsuba opens and closes his mouth, mind whirring. "I - I couldn't just do that, it wouldn't be -"

Wouldn't be what? Mitsuba's not even sure he knows himself.

"It wouldn't be fair," he concludes weakly after a moment, his own conviction wavering even as he says it.

It must be obvious, because the way Natsuhiko looks at him is like he's just told him that he thinks the sky is orange.

"Since when do you care about what's fair?" Natsuhiko says, eyebrows raised. "Come on, now. You like him, but you're not planning on making any moves for whatever reason. What if he makes the assumption that you're not an option and goes for this girl instead? You can stop that from happening literally right now!"

"I can't just do that to him," Mitsuba argues, hands shaking. "It wouldn't be fair to that girl, either. Like you said yourself, if I'm not going to do anything about it either way, then what does it matter if he decides to go out with her or not?"

"You can decide to do something about it," Natsuhiko stresses. He shakes his head, dragging his hands through his hair. "It kills me to see you like this, Mitsuba, so uncertain and afraid of rejection!"

"I am not afraid of rejection," Mitsuba lies as he turns around to face Natsuhiko head on. "Give that back, Natsuhiko. It's my decision what to do with it and you should just stay out of it."

Natsuhiko pouts, but to Mitsuba's surprise, lowers his hand and passes him the envelope and letter. They're barely crumpled. No one would notice a difference.

"I think you're making a mistake," Natsuhiko warns him, as Mitsuba smooths out the paper. "You're being ridiculous about this. If you like him so much, then why won't you give him a chance?"

Mitsuba shakes his head. "You wouldn't get it."

How would he? Even if the person Natsuhiko likes doesn't seem to feel the same way, they're both in the same situation. Natsuhiko and Nanamine are two supernaturals who will live together forever in the walls of this school. In a few years, Kou won't even go here anymore. The thought makes his head spin.

Objectively, it'd be better for Kou to forget him and move on. Unfortunately, Mitsuba is too inherently selfish and desperate for positive attention to let him go, something he's already ruled out through experience. So if Mitsuba's not willing to confess his feelings, but also isn't willing to allow Kou to pursue other options, then what else is left?

He has to pick at least one.

His hand shakes as he holds the letter in it. Imagines Kou with somebody else. Having no time for him anymore. Leaving him behind.

A rush of something cold goes down his spine, and before he knows it, Mitsuba's putting the thing in his pocket.

"Just for now," he explains, weakly trying to justify it even though Natsuhiko looks nothing but delighted at the action. "Until I - decide what I should do. I mean, it's Friday anyway, Kou won't be back until Monday, so I have the whole weekend to think about it. That should be plenty of time."

"Good lad," Natsuhiko says, patting Mitsuba on the back slightly too roughly. "I'll help you every step of the way if you need advice to guide you to the right decision."

Mitsuba pulls away resolutely. "I won't," he deadpans. "Bye."

He turns and heads back to the trophy case.

Behind him, he hears Natsuhiko calling out in a confused tone. "Wait - Aren't you going to help me move the chairs? Mitsuba? Hey, Mitsuba?"

Mitsuba pretends he can't hear him as he slips through the glass.

Later on, he goes back to Nanamine.

It's heavily embarrassing, of course. Mitsuba hates expressing these kinds of feelings and always ends up too emotional about things. Thankfully, Nanamine isn't the kind of person to judge him at all. They've seen Mitsuba bawl his eyes out over the most ridiculous things, and they'd known about his feelings for Kou long before he'd actually told them. How, he's not sure. They just seem to know things sometimes.

Because of this, and because he'd rather have their advice than Natsuhiko's, he shows them the letter and asks what he should do.

"Well," they say, after finishing reading it. "What do you currently think you should do about it?"

Mitsuba frowns. This feels like some kind of test that he's pretty sure he's about to fail.

"The airhead told me I should get rid of it," he says softly. "I don't agree, but my other option is to just put it back and - and let Kou potentially date this girl without even trying to do anything about it."

Nanamine tilts their head, stirring the already well-stirred cup of tea on the table absently. "You seem to have avoided my question a little bit there."

Mitsuba frowns and flops down on the seat in front of the broadcasting equipment. The microphone there used to scare him, but he's fairly certain now that Nanamine wouldn't ever turn it against him. His real fear has become the idea of accidentally breaking something and Tsukasa getting angry, which is so much more terrifying than the idea of Nanamine creating a new rumour for him and removing all of his agency.

"I don't want to make a choice," he replies sullenly. He sounds like Tsukasa, but he doesn't care. "I wish I hadn't seen it at all, so I just wouldn't have known."

He glares at the letter in Nanamine's pale hand. Grass green eyes flit across the page, drinking in each well-penned word for the umpteenth time as if they could possibly change. The frown on Nanamine's face only deepens.

"Why have you asked for my opinion, Mitsuba?" they say, voice even and soft. "I imagine you must already know what I'm going to say."

"Yeah - yeah, I can guess," Mitsuba mumbles. He brings a hand to his mouth and bites down on his sleeve absently, trying to think. "You think I should put it back. The airhead thinks I should destroy it. I know what the morally best choice to make is, but that doesn't really help me at all."

Nanamine hums sympathetically and brings the cup of tea over to Mitsuba to sit it down in front of him. Mitsuba thanks them belatedly as they return to their seat with their own tea, sipping it silently in the dark of the room.

"Doesn't it?" they say, a slight edge to their tone. Mitsuba knows it well - a challenge. Nanamine is like this sometimes. Instead of giving him an answer, they would rather guide him to it on his own. This time, he's fairly certain he knows what they want him to say.

He brings his tea to his lips and sticks his tongue into it, testing the temperature. It's too hot, so he blows on it gently, mind whirring.

"I told the airhead," he says, "that it wasn't fair for me to not put it back, because I'm not planning to do anything about the way that I, ugh, feel or whatever, and clearly this girl is. So if Kou decided to date her, it would be my own fault for not acting quickly enough. You agree, right?"

Nanamine raises their eyebrows, and Mitsuba almost rolls his eyes.

"Not to be rude," he says, "but I feel like I'm talking to a wall sometimes."

At this, Nanamine breaks the facade and giggles. Mitsuba can't help but crack a smile despite how generally frustrated he is right now, relieved that they hadn't taken him seriously at all.

"Mitsuba," Nanamine says after a moment, blinking slowly. "Whatever I tell you isn't going to help you."

Yeah. That's probably correct.

Regardless, Mitsuba would like someone to just tell him what to do. Perhaps it's an unfortunate trait of his, but it's easier when someone gives him instructions. As much as he might still fear Tsukasa, he always seems to know what he's doing. Knows more than Mitsuba, at least, and Mitsuba takes sick comfort in the fact that he has someone to guide him, even if it's often into doing things that he doesn't want to do.

"You write all those stories about love and romance," Mitsuba says. He tests his tea again and finds it's cooled down just enough. "Doesn't that give you any kind of secret insight into what I should do next?"

Nanamine gazes at him from across the room, their sleepy eyes drooping. "Everything I write is a work of fiction," they reply easily, sipping their tea silently. "I create the characters and the scenarios they're in. I choose the tropes, I craft the narrative, I write the foreshadowing. None of it is real."

Mitsuba pouts into his unfortunately very real tea. "If I was a fictional character that you wrote into existence," he suggests, crossing his legs at the ankle, "how would you end my story, then?"

Nanamine's lips part, like they weren't expecting that question. "You should know better than anyone that many of my stories end in tragedies."

He does know that. He's read tens of Nanamine's books, now, even taking them other places around the school to read in places outside of the broadcasting club with their permission. He's found, throughout his journey, that if the story has an ending at all, it's likely an unpleasant one. Sordid affairs who never see each other again, tragic deaths in lovers arms, death sentences for crimes committed in the name of romance. Mitsuba's wailed many a time to Nanamine for their lack of happy endings, especially after getting too invested in characters who end their stories bittersweetly, heartbroken, alone in the universe. It always makes his artificial heart hurt, thumping faster in his chest as he turns the page after the unfortunate finale and finds the next one blank.

I prefer happy endings. He'd said that to Kou once, and it remains just as true now, if not even more so after reading Nanamine's stories.

"Couldn't I be one of the few to not die or go to jail forever or get trapped in a loveless marriage?" he asks, stirring his tea and licking the sugar off the spoon. "Don't you like me enough to write me a happy ending, Nanamine?"

He's only teasing - obviously, Nanamine can't actually decide how his life is going to go. However, the way Nanamine looks at him when he asks this is peculiar. There's a glint in their eye that Mitsuba doesn't really recognize.

"Hm," they say. "I suppose I could write a happy ending for once."

Mitsuba's not doing much of anything but wandering, bored out of his mind, when someone grabs the back of his neck.

"Guess who?" they cry, in an utterly delighted tone.

Mitsuba screams at the top of his lungs and whips around, scarf arms turning into bony claws, and slams whoever it is into the wall.

He hears a loud oof! and instantly realizes his mistake. Behind him, crumpled on the floor with his hat wildly askew and a bewildered look on his face, is Tsukasa.

"Oh, shit," Mitsuba gasps, one hand flying to his mouth. He rushes to Tsukasa's side and pulls him up, eyes wide and terrified as the boy brushes himself off silently. "I'm - I'm so sorry, I'm s-so sorry, I didn't - I didn't know it was you!"

Tsukasa peers up at him with round, amber eyes, and Mitsuba flinches just at the look, expecting to be hit even though Tsukasa wouldn't just hit him, he'd do something way worse like braid bugs into Mitsuba's hair or put ice down his back until he cried. However, Tsukasa doesn't look dangerous as he is right now. He merely blinks, reaching up to adjust his hat and accidentally knocking it off onto the floor. He doesn't bother to pick it up, leaving it there as he walks back over to Mitsuba, who again flinches hard, hands flying up to cover his face.

The ghost stares at him for a moment, and then cracks a wicked grin.

"You've sure gotten stronger, Mitsuba," he drawls, eyes glittering. "Are you eating a lot of hearts without me? That hit really hurt."

"I'm really sorry," Mitsuba cringes. He steps back as Tsukasa gets closer. The ghost looks much smaller without his hat, even younger than he already is. "What are you... doing out here?"

Mitsuba's currently in a hallway on the ground floor, dragging the ends of his scarf along the wall as he walks around with his head full of thoughts. He'd been to the art room to look for Shijima, and hadn't found her - she'd meant it when she said she wouldn't reappear to him unless he brought her coffee jelly, clearly, and he hasn't done that quite yet. Now, he's not sure where he's going. Everything is very complicated and confusing all of a sudden.

Usually when he feels like this to minor degrees, he goes to Kou for advice. Being unable to do this now makes him feel rather lost.

Tsukasa beams, circling Mitsuba like a hungry shark. "Well, I heard you were in a bad mood about your boyfriend and I wanted to help!" he chirps, unfazed by the way Mitsuba recoils at this. "I don't like it when you're upset, Mitsuba!"

"Uh, first of all, yes you do," Mitsuba says, getting dizzy with trying to keep an eye on Tsukasa as he moves. "Stop circling me, Tsukasa - where did you hear about this, anyway?"

Tsukasa stops in front of him, way too close. There's a smudge of dirt on his nose for some reason. "Hyuuga was talking about it and I heard him."

Of fucking course he did.

"Do none of you have anything better to do than gossip about my personal life?" Mitsuba shrieks. He jolts back to turn away from Tsukasa, palming his face to make the colour go down while he's not looking. "Why do you care, Tsukasa? Can't you leave this one thing alone and not ask me about it, please?"

Tsukasa doesn't seem to care for Mitsuba's pleas. He comes around his side, blinking with a frown on his face. "I'm a wish-granter, don't you know? While you're not exactly dead anymore, I'm still happy to help you out if you need me. I'm your friend, aren't I, Mitsuba? Won't you let me grant your wish?"

Mitsuba wavers, then pushes Tsukasa away, more gently than before. "I - I don't need you to do that for me," he denies irritably, voice unsteady. "You couldn't even grant my original wish, and I don't want to owe anything else to you! You'll probably take my mind again in return and make a third version of me who listens to everything you say like an obedient little puppy dog!"

He regrets saying this a moment later, when Tsukasa's eyes blow wide and his lips part. "Oooh, there's an idea..."

Mitsuba swallows, and Tsukasa breaks into peals of giggles. "I'm kidding!" he shrieks, waving Mitsuba off easily. "I like you how you are, Mitsuba, I wouldn't do something like that. If you don't want me to grant a wish for you to help solve your problems, I could help you other ways!"

Mitsuba shoots a glare at him, although he probably looks less threatening and more terrified, still shaken by the possibility of getting payback from Tsukasa for hurting him. "No, thanks."

The thanks is pitted reluctantly on at the end, no real manners involved in saying it. Mitsuba's just trying to soften the blow of rejection in case Tsukasa gets upset. It doesn't seem to work, however, because Tsukasa frowns again, which then deepens into a pout, childish as ever. Unease roils in Mitsuba's gut. It's never good when Tsukasa looks like this - this is usually the point where Nanamine steps in and distracts the ghost so Mitsuba can get away. They're not here right now, though. Mitsuba feels a bit sick.

"Why?" Tsukasa asks sullenly. Even his pout looks somewhat mischievous, his eyes glittering. "I want to help you, Mitsuba. You're my friend, so it's my responsibility. Do you think you can't talk to me about these things or something?"

Yes, he absolutely, definitely, one hundred percent does think that. "No, no," Mitsuba lies, waving his hands around in front of him frantically. "It's nothing like that. I just - I don't need help."

"You asked Sakura and Hyuuga for help," Tsukasa points out.

Shit. "I didn't actually ask Natsuhiko at all," Mitsuba says weakly, although he knows it's useless. Once Tsukasa's made up his mind, it's over. "He just gave me his opinion completely unsolicited."

Tsukasa blinks, and then cracks a grin. "I can help too," he offers. "What's happening, Mitsuba? Come on, I'm your friend, you can tell me!"

He hops closer, eyes squint with joy at the thought of getting to help, and Mitsuba knows he can't say no. Tsukasa gets so moody when he denies him things, and then he starts acting weird, and the next thing Mitsuba knows, Tsukasa is trying to make him eat a cockroach "to see whether he likes it" or dye his hair brown with mud. A shudder goes down his back at the thought.

He really, really doesn't want to talk about this with Tsukasa. He knows Kou hates him with a passion, and the idea of saying anything to Tsukasa that might make him want to talk to or otherwise go anywhere near Kou makes Mitsuba's skin crawl. Just imagining it, the ends of his scarf click and rise as if searching for an enemy, and he has to will them back down.

Tsukasa beams. Mitsuba swallows. "Tsukasa, I don't..."

A pause stretches between them, and Mitsuba relents. "Ok. Uh - I, uh - Um. Well, I... uh..."

At his uncertain stuttering, Tsukasa laughs, reaching out to grab Mitsuba's wrist. "You're so funny, Mitsuba!" he giggles, dragging him along the hall so he can retrieve his hat again. "It's like you think you can't talk to me or something. Let's go for a walk, Mitsuba, and you can tell me everything!"

Mitsuba is absolutely not going to tell him everything. He thinks about explaining his and Kou's near-kiss to the boy and cringes, nausea roiling in his stomach.

However, Tsukasa is determined, grinning at him delightedly, and Mitsuba basically has no choice but to give him something, at the very least, so he lets out a shuddering sigh and prays for divine intervention as Tsukasa pulls him along the dark, empty halls.

"Well, I..." Mitsuba starts hesitantly. This is like a humiliation ritual. "Someone left a love note in Kou's locker."

There. That should be simple enough.

Apparently not. If possible, Tsukasa's eyes grow even wider. "What?" he gasps. "Really? And it wasn't you?"

"No, it - it wasn't me," Mitsuba confirms, which he really thinks should be self explanatory. "The thing I was asking for Nanamine's advice on was what I should do with the letter."

Tsukasa looks like he's thinking extremely hard about this, squinting as he walks the halls. "Huh... that is a tough one, Mitsuba. Isn't that exorcist guy your boyfriend, anyway? Surely he'll just tell 'em no."

Mitsuba resists the urge to facepalm. "I've told you on multiple occasions that he's not my boyfriend."

"I thought you were just embarrassed about it," Tsukasa says. He taps his chin thoughtfully, lips pressed together tight. "Hmmm... you should just make it go away!"

At this, Mitsuba scrunches up his face in confusion. Real advice, from Tsukasa of all people? "What, get rid of the letter?"

"Oh, no," Tsukasa replies earnestly. He stops in his tracks and clasps his hands together in front of him, suddenly delighted. "Make the problem go away! You're the Third School Mystery, aren't you? You could just scare the person away so they don't go near him again!"

"What the hell, no!" Mitsuba snaps, recoiling as Tsukasa's obvious enthusiasm overflows into his words, sharp teeth bared in a grin. "I can't do that! My job is to protect the students, not hurt them! What kind of suggestion is that?"

It reminds him vaguely of Shijima, suggesting he scare Kou's friends away so he could have an opportunity to talk to him alone. He's sure she'd hate the fact that her suggestion was so close to something Tsukasa would also bring up, given how little it appears she enjoys the idea of either of the Yugi twins.

At the rejection, Tsukasa pouts again. "I guess you're right," he says, sounding rather unhappy about it. "Well, if you can't do it... I'd be more than happy to!"

"No! No! Tsukasa, no! I don't want your advice anymore!"

Tsukasa protests, calling after him as he goes, but Mitsuba has embarrassed himself enough for absolutely no return, so he simply accepts whatever might happen to him later on as a result of this and storms away into his boundary where the ghost can't follow him.

He's well and truly deep in despair over this by the next day.

He's only ever left the school on his own a few times, now, but he decides to go for a walk to clear his head. All it really does is annoy him due to the amount of people having loud, ridiculous conversations in public spaces while he's trying to think. Really, don't they have places to be? Don't they have better things to talk about?

Mitsuba shouts as much at a group of older women who are having a conversation about their attempts at online dating in way too high of a volume as they pass him by, but they don't seem to hear him.

For all the things Mitsuba hates about it - having his power bound to it, having been stuck there for months and months before the Severance, it containing Tsukasa and Natsuhiko - the school is at least silent. He's able to catch his breath here. The only entities around to irritate him are the mokke, who seem to have taken up following him endlessly and scattering every time he tries to ask them what the hell they think they're doing. Mitsuba doesn't really care that much. It's not like the mokke are going to snitch about his actions to Kou - they're terrified of him after the time he'd threatened to exorcize them, and even all the chocolate he gave them to apologize afterwards hadn't quite made up for it.

The main problem with staying within the walls of the school, he finds, is that while the mokke don't bother him as much anymore, there are still other supernaturals that will given the opportunity.

He realizes this when he goes up to the roof to get some air and finds Hanako already there.

The ghost is sitting at the edge, hands positioned behind him to keep him steady, legs swinging in the air. A light breeze flutters through the hair beneath his hat, and he has to reach up to grab it and make sure it doesn't fly away as the wind picks up slightly and nearly carries it off.

Mitsuba's in the middle of deciding whether to silently walk back the way he came or to teleport into the nearest piece of glass and pray that isn't heard when Hanako turns around.

He must have sensed him somehow, because Mitsuba hasn't made a sound. It's not that he doesn't like Hanako - ok, well, it kind of is. It's alright being around him in a group setting like the few occasions he's hung out with Yashiro and Kou together, because at least then there's someone else to keep him in line and Mitsuba's not forced to converse with him on his own. When it's just the two of them, however, it becomes different. It certainly doesn't help that Hanako and Tsukasa are identical and Mitsuba finds himself flinching at every word and movement, briefly forgetting who he's talking to. Regardless of the reason, Mitsuba doesn't want to get caught up in a conversation. If he'd known the Mystery was out here, he would have just stayed inside.

Unfortunately, that's not going to be an option now.

"Number Three," Hanako greets him, a smile crossing his face. God, he looks so much like Tsukasa - there's dread rolling in Mitsuba's stomach at the expression. "Fancy seeing you out here. What are you up to, hm?"

Mitsuba doesn't move, bolted to the spot, as Hanako swings his legs back over the ledge and gets to his feet, stretching languidly, squinting out at the sun.

"I never see you around," he grins. He places both hands on his hips, eyes sparkling, identical to Tsukasa's. "Have you come to seek out my presence?"

"No," Mitsuba replies, finally managing words. "I was coming out here to think. I wouldn't have if I knew you'd be here already."

At this, Hanako frowns deeply, his lower lip jutting out. "Do you still have a problem with me, Number Three? I thought we were friends now."

Mitsuba screws up his face. "What makes you say that?"

Hanako tilts his head. "I helped you out, remember? With that little tiff you had with the kid."

"You viewed that as us becoming friends?" Mitsuba spits, crossing his arms in disbelief. "You made me tell you my secrets before you helped me. What kind of friend would do that?"

"A nosy one," Hanako replies innocently. He saunters over in Mitsuba's direction, relaxed as ever in comparison to Mitsuba's stiff posture. "Well, what thoughts bring you out here, then? This is usually my thinking spot, and I'm pretty sure you know it, so if you're out here, you must have at least suspected I'd be here too."

Mitsuba opens his mouth to deny it, but then realizes, maybe, Hanako's not wrong. Had he subconsciously been looking for someone to talk to, and gone where he thought he could find it? He doesn't think so. It's not like he wants Hanako's advice.

Although, actually...

"Hypothetically," he says, and watches as Hanako's eyes light up almost immediately. He barely manages to avoid rolling his eyes. "Hypothetically, what would you have done if someone else had been into Yashiro before you got together?"

Hanako blinks, clearly taking time to process the question with parted lips. "Uh... what?"

Mitsuba widens his eyes deliberately. "You, Yashiro, dating? Are you paying attention to what I'm saying?"

After a pause, Hanako pulls himself together and nods. "Yes, of course I'm listening. I should have known nothing would get past you, Number Three. Anyway - what would I have done in someone else was into her? What kind of a question is that?"

"A perfectly reasonable one," Mitsuba answers snippily, annoyed by Hanako's attitude. "Either answer it or don't."

Hanako pulls a face, but starts pacing as he speaks. "So, in this hypothetical scenario, does she like him back?"

"You don't get to know," Mitsuba says. "What's your answer?"

The ghost thinks about this for a moment, and then cracks a grin.

"Well, it doesn't matter," he says. "Yashiro never would have been interested in anybody but me."

Mitsuba's eyebrows fly into his hair. "Oh, you think so, do you?"

"I do," Hanako agrees, confident as ever. He mirrors Mitsuba's pose and folds his arms across his chest. "Why are you asking? Is someone interested in the kid?"

"Sort of," Mitsuba answers without thinking, and then catches himself slightly too late as Hanako gasps and jabs a finger at him. "Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that -!"

"I knew it," Hanako announces triumphantly. "I knew the two of you were being flirty with each other."

"Do the School Mysteries have an equivalent of a Human Resources department?" Mitsuba demands, marching across the roof where he can hide his burning face. "I want to speak to them immediately."

"No-pe," Hanako confirms gleefully. Mitsuba can sense him following him, floating closer with delight in his voice. "So what's the deal with the two of you, eh? Are you dating? The kid never talks about his love life, I offered him advice on how to get girls a while back and he point blank refused. I guess that makes sense if he's already with someone..."

Mitsuba could scream. "I am not dating Kou!"

"Really?" Hanako says, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "That's such a shame. Yashiro's been telling me that you guys aren't interested in each other, and I said to her, "just because I'm from the 1950s doesn't mean I'm blind." I could absolutely tell that you two had something weird going on."

Instead of screaming, Mitsuba lets out a sigh. He supposes it was good of Yashiro to at least try and steer Hanako off of that path, for his sake, even though it hadn't worked.

"What gives it away?" he asks, because Hanako clearly knows and he might as well give up before he starts being even more annoying about it. "You've barely ever hung around with me and Kou at the same time."

Hanako bares his teeth, and Mitsuba notices that he doesn't share the same fangs that his twin does. "The festival, first of all," the ghost tells him. "He spent the entire time with you, and I asked him if he'd invited you and he got all weird about it. Plus, he looks at you in such an intense way every time you're not looking back at him."

At this, he makes a face, scrunching up his nose. "He looks kind of like he wants to eat you," he comments. "I pointed it out to Yashiro, and she said it was cute, which I don't at all agree with, by the way."

Just the idea of Kou looking at Mitsuba like he "wants to eat him" is extremely funny for reasons Mitsuba can't explain to Hanako at all, but also very strange. Why would Kou be looking at him in such a manner that even Hanako noticed, unless...? Ugh. This isn't helping him at all.

"What fucking ever," Mitsuba mutters, glaring out at the buildings far away. "You're useless, as I expected. Bye."

"Hey, hang on!" Hanako says, suddenly appearing in front of Mitsuba with his hands out. "Didn't you want my advice?"

"God, everybody is so desperate to give me advice on my love life lately," Mitsuba groans, stepping back away from Hanako. "I'm starting to think everybody is just so bored they have nothing to do but meddle."

"You did ask," Hanako points out. "It may have been a hypothetical, but it still counts."

Mitsuba glares at him. "No it doesn't. You brought my personal life into this."

"Not how that works," Hanako replies smugly.

He's probably right, but Mitsuba's still annoyed.

"Your advice was shit, anyway," he says, spitting the word shit with vitriol. ""Yashiro would never have been interested in anybody but me" - what kind of a thing is that to say? How does that help?"

Hanako sticks out his tongue, seemingly unfazed by Mitsuba's harsh words. "I didn't know I was supposed to be helping you then. You know, Number Three, you're so mean for no reason at all. Maybe I'll find the kid when he comes back to school and tell him he's better off going for the girl who's into him instead."

At this, Mitsuba's scowl deepens and the ends of his scarves raise furiously. "You better not mention this to him at all or I'll - or I'll -"

He struggles to think, fumbling for words as Hanako stares at him with raised eyebrows, unimpressed, waiting. Mitsuba feels himself faltering under those amber eyes, so identical to Tsukasa's it makes him lose focus.

"Take your time," Hanako drawls.

Instead of answering, Mitsuba grits his teeth and takes another step away. "I can't stand you. Just don't mention it to him at all, or I'm gonna - find horribly embarrassing memories of things you've done within school walls and show them to Yashiro!"

Hanako's bravado vanishes in an instant, his eyes growing wide in a manner that tells Mitsuba he's found his weak spot. "Hey!" he protests, waving his hands in front of him. "What the hell, that's an invasion of privacy! You can't do that! I'm your boss!"

"As if," Mitsuba replies, even though it's objectively true. "If you don't want me doing it, then let's both pretend this conversation never happened."

"Fine," Hanako agrees, although he doesn't look happy about it. "If you really don't want my help..."

Mitsuba scrunches up his face. "You told me you didn't know anything about the gay stuff before anyway."

Hanako blinks. "Oh. Yeah, that wasn't about romance or flirting."

"Goodbye, Number Seven."

"Hey, hang on just one sec!"

Mitsuba stops right before teleporting away. "For fuck's sake, you always have more shit to say, don't you?"

"Always," Hanako grins. He tilts his head, his hair falling into his eyes under his hat before he swipes it away nonchalantly. "I just wanted to say I'll be rooting for you two. I think you both would be so perfect together."

Mitsuba glares at him for a long moment.

"That feels like an insult," he eventually decides.

Hanako gasps. "Absolutely not, Number Three. I've never been more serious in my life."

Despite his serious tone, it somehow still comes across as sarcastic, so Mitsuba decides to teleport away without saying goodbye again out of annoyance.

By Sunday, he's basically given up on somebody else handing him the answer. No one else seems to be any help, so he's going to have to make the decision on his own.

It feels like a bigger problem than it probably is. Kou is so terrible at hiding when he's into someone - his crush on Yashiro could be seen from across the ocean if someone squinted in his direction. If he liked this girl, Mitsuba's certain he'd know. He does spend a lot of time watching Kou through the mirrors, so it'd be kind of crazy if he somehow didn't.

Not that he's a stalker, because he isn't. He's just making sure Kou doesn't do anything too fun without him.

Kou's never mentioned this Chihori girl. However, having been the Hell of Mirrors for such a long time now and having spent so much time supervising the school, Mitsuba knows what teenage boys are like. The word he'd probably use to describe them, if he was asked, is embarrassingly horny, but he really doesn't want to lump Kou into that category regardless of how weird he was around Yashiro for a while there. Teenage boys are stupid, is what he goes with instead. Mitsuba's seen them turn utterly brainless around girls, any girl at all regardless of whether they even know who she is, drooling like dogs at the prospect of getting to call her their girlfriend. It's nauseating, really, and definitely solidifies the fact that Mitsuba is not attracted to girls at all in his mind - he can't even imagine acting like that, not in a million years.

He likes to think that Kou isn't like the rest of them. In fact, Mitsuba's never heard him talk about a girl he was ever interested in at all. Even Satou and Yokoo had discussed girls, although Mitsuba's fairly certain that they were just trying to make it abundantly clear to everyone else that they were straight before they'd figured everything out about themselves.

In short, he doesn't think Kou is the kind of guy to just date any girl at all who happened to be interested in him. Maybe he's wrong on that. He hopes he's not. Just the thought of seeing Kou with someone else makes him want to seek out Teru Minamoto and let himself get exorcized.

Not that he didn't kind of want that anyway.

He slips through a window and comes out into a hallway near the art department. His plan is to look for Shijima again, although really, he knows she won't be around. It's not even her in particular he wants to see. He'd like to talk to just about anybody right now, excluding Natsuhiko and Tsukasa, who are unfortunately some of his only options at the moment. It's kind of driving him insane.

How had Hanako coped with this for so long? He wonders this, occasionally, thinking about the fifty or so years he'd been here. At least Tsukasa has Nanamine and Natsuhiko, and although he doesn't know for sure, he's fairly confident that the two of them have had each other for many years also. Had Hanako been alone, all that time? Mitsuba can't even imagine. He wouldn't have been able to take it.

Part of why he enjoys Kou's company so much is because he tolerates so much of Mitsuba's bullshit, listening to all of his inane rambles about things he probably doesn't care about. If Mitsuba didn't have someone to listen to him talk, he doesn't know what he would do.

Right now, he certainly doesn't have anybody. There's no doubt in his mind that he doesn't want any more advice from Hanako or Natsuhiko, and Tsukasa's not even in the running.

Absently, he pulls the letter out of his pocket and rereads it again. It's been a hundred times, now, and honestly, it's getting kind of pathetic. Mitsuba had just been thinking about how much better he was than the boys who went to this school, and yet here he is, acting just like them. Childish, stupid, embarrassing himself. He really is ashamed. He doesn't even like Kou that much. He's just attractive, and that's it. His personality is awful, and he's mean and brutish and cruel and -

No, Mitsuba can't convince himself. He gave it a good try, at least.

If it was possible to talk oneself out of a crush, he absolutely would have done it by now.

He sighs and starts slowly up the stairs. He's being ridiculous. He should go back downstairs and back to Kou's locker and just put it -

The world gives out beneath him.

Mitsuba screams as he falls through the fourth step and tumbles through endless air, grabbing at nothing and seeing wild swirls of colour while everything spins, and then suddenly he hits the ground. Agony shoots through his body, and he gasps breathlessly as he struggles to get a grip on the wet ground beneath him, pushing himself up and blinking dizzily, teeth gritted as he tries not to sob with pain at the aftermath of the harsh landing.

His hands are underwater, he notices dimly. It's shallow, enough to come up to the ends of his wrist. He can see his own startled expression in the water, wide pink eyes, parted lips and ruffled hair reflecting back at him. Realization comes to him slowly, bubbling through the mush that is his mind. He had spent so much time wandering around the school, doing aimless laps while he thought circles around his problem, that he hadn't noticed that he had found himself on the rumoured Misaki Stairs.

Or what's left of them, at least.

Finally, he manages to get up. He shivers, clothes damp and cold, glancing around to try and get a bearing of his surroundings.

It's bright and overgrown, almost impossible to see what it originally looked like under the sprawling greenery and blooming flowers. Crimson spider lilies bare their faces towards the sky, snapdragons and asters and camellias coiling through the grass and peeking through stone paths. Water runs underneath a rust colour wood bridge, age rotting the planks away dangerously, wind rustling from nowhere in particular.

It first occurs to Mitsuba, then, that he's in trouble. While Number Two is no longer the master of this boundary, Mitsuba is still definitely not supposed to be here.

Secondly, he realizes that the letter is no longer it his hands.

Panic strikes through him in an instant. He'd been holding it while he walked upstairs, and now it's gone. If it fell in the water, it'll be ruined, and he can't even see it anywhere nearby. Of course, he practically has the thing memorized by now, but he can't just rewrite it. His handwriting is terrible. However, the more he snaps his head around back and forth, searching, the less of anything he finds whatsoever.

"Shit!" he curses, grabbing the sides of his head with despairing hands. He can feel his artificial heart slamming against his ribcage. "Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit!"

He hadn't really been planning to get rid of the letter. Had he? Mitsuba's not sure now. If he can't find it, or if it's been destroyed by the boundary water, then it seems like the decision will have been made for him.

He races across the bridge, uncaring for how it creaks ominously beneath his weight, and scans his surroundings. It's difficult to pick out a white piece of paper amongst the pale, coloured flowers, and he's actually kind of freaking out now. He can see buildings in the distance, decrepit and crumbling under the weight of the fauna pinning them down. He's sure it won't have flown that far away, but given that this is a supernatural boundary, maybe it did. Despair takes him over, the world spinning even though he's no longer falling.

"Fuck!" he shouts, furious at himself.

"Don't use that kind of language in my boundary, child."

Mitsuba whips around, eyes wide and full of fear.

Behind him stands the previous Number Two of the Seven Mysteries. Yako is stunning in human form, blonde curls tumbling down her back and framing her delicate face, sharp green eyes fixed on him from it. A perfect white haori covers a floral kimono, geta sandals on her feet which stand firmly in the water, uncaring for how soaked they are. Gloved white hands hold onto a glowing lantern, casting her in an orange light.

Mitsuba's never seen her in this form, but it's unmistakeably her, even if she hadn't just referred to this place as her own boundary.

It's due to this that he takes several solid steps back, raising crossed arms in front of his face and shielding himself with his scarf arms.

"Ahh, I'm sorry!" he shrieks, squeezing his eyes shut. Trying to run would only be a humiliation - Yako knows this place inside out while Mitsuba doesn't, and her legs are so long. "I fell in here, I'm sorry, it was an accident, please don't kill me and feed me to Number Five!"

He hears a sigh, closer than Yako had been before, and flinches hard when he feels the woman brush against him. However, she actually walks fully past, the bells in her hair jingling softly as she moves in the direction of the buildings nearby.

"Where's all that bravado from when we last spoke?" the Mystery asks lightly, referring to the occasion that they'd conversed about yorishiros in Tsuchigomori's office and Mitsuba had made an enemy of her for life. He peeks through his arms, and finds Yako smiling dangerously, painted red lips curled upwards. "I do remember you saying some rather nasty words to me then, which is an unfortunate habit that it seems you haven't grown out of just yet. What a shame, really. What are you so afraid of now, child?"

Well, Yako's terrifyingly calm tone in comparison to when she'd threatened death upon him in their last conversation - in fact, Mitsuba's pretty sure the last words he heard her speak were I'll kill him. That's what he's afraid of. Yako's eyebrows twitch upwards at his silence as if reading his mind.

"Did you lose something?" she asks innocently.

Mitsuba swallows, lips quivering. He's furious at his past self for his stupidity - if he dies today, it's his fault entirely.

"Yes," he confesses, clenching his fists with embarrassment. "Yes, I dropped something in here when I fell, and - and I can't see it anywhere, and I really need to have it back, s-so if you have any way of finding it -!"

"Not so fast," Yako interrupts sweetly. She holds up her free hand, eyes glittering in the dancing firelight. "Are you asking for my assistance, child?"

Fuck, Mitsuba's so mad at himself. "Please, yes!" he begs, clapping his hands together. "I don't even think I can leave here without you, much less find that letter, so please, please help me, I can't do it on my own!"

Yako's eyebrows only creep higher, the disguised cruelty on her face becoming more obvious as her smile grows. "A letter, you say?" she grins, baring a sharp white fang. "Number Three, begging me, searching for a letter he's lost... hold on, let me soak this in, I want to savour the moment that a disrespectful little brat groveled for my assistance."

I'm not quite groveling yet, Mitsuba wants to say, but he kind of is, actually, and besides, he can't be rude now or she'll leave him trapped here, wandering around this crumbling boundary for eternity while Kou grows old and leaves school forever. He's kind of on a time crunch, too. He almost never knows the exact hour, not even when he has his phone on his person, but it had been somewhat dark when he was wandering through the halls before falling in here. If he doesn't get out before Monday morning, then he's screwed himself over entirely for having returning the letter even be an option.

He winces, and prays to every God there is that the woman isn't going to make him get on his knees and beg before deciding that he has no other choice.

"I'm incredibly sorry for the way I spoke to you the last time we met!" Mitsuba tells her with wide, pleading eyes, hands still clasped in front of him. "I wasn't myself, I would never usually act that way, I was just going through a lot and I took it out on you when I shouldn't have, I'm extremely sorry and it'll never happen again, really!"

He pouts, blinking slowly, and watches the woman's pinched expression relax very, very minutely. If anything, Mitsuba is an expert on looking soft and innocent. It's one of the greatest tools Sousuke left him with. It tends to work especially well on women, so he counts on this being the thing that will bring Yako back around, hoping desperately that this will set him free.

For a moment, it seems like it's working. Yako sighs softly, lips parting as if in acceptance, and Mitsuba manages a sweet smile, apologetic and adorable at the same time while she examines him, seemingly so close to relenting he can practically taste it.

Then she grins sharply, and Mitsuba feels his hope burst like a bubble.

"That won't work on me," she says, and reaches out to take Mitsuba's chin in hand, lifting it upwards and leaning in close so her words absolutely can't be missed. Her nails and long and sharp and scratch against the soft, delicate skin of Mitsuba's face. "I think the both of us know that you did mean what you said, that you do usually act that way and that you're not really sorry at all. Isn't that right, child?"

Mitsuba's cute pretence shatters, and his expression slips into a glower, which only serves to make Yako more delighted, eyes more wicked.

"Fine," Mitsuba mutters. If she's going to suss him out so easily, he might as well tell the truth and hope he gets a reduced punishment. "I was lying. I am usually an asshole. Although I do regret swearing at you, for real, I probably shouldn't have done that, I guess."

This doesn't seem to have been the correct thing to say. ""Probably?"" the woman shrieks, her collected facade shattering as her lips curl in disgust, eyes bulging. "You guess? Child, you are the rudest, brattiest, most disrespectful, horrible little gnat I have ever had the displeasure of sharing a role with, if not the worst I've ever known in my life! You try to apologize and still continue to insult me? I care little for whether you have a yorishiro or not, I could crush you! Do you hear me? Crush you, like the gnat you are! Horrible, cruel little beast, I should cut you to pieces and make you into soup, I should turn you into a little plush doll and burn you on the fire for warmth, I should -!"

She continues like this for the next five or so minutes, and Mitsuba makes the executive decision to keep his mouth shut and not say a word so that he actually gets the chance to continue living after today.

Once she stops, breathing heavily, Mitsuba just stares at her and waits for her to pull herself together again.

She does, and then stares down her nose at him primly, sneering.

"Little brat..."

Mitsuba crosses his arms, less terrified and more irritated now that Yako seems to have gotten everything out of her system. "Are you done?"

Yako glares. "I want a real apology."

What an absolute... "If you weren't happy with my first one, you won't be happy with anything else I say either!"

She visibly contemplates this, and Mitsuba shifts from foot to foot, nervous about his lack of time. Yako seems to notice this, and much to Mitsuba's dismay, he can see the very moment an idea strikes her, her eyes lighting up like a bulb's just been switched on behind them.

"If you're unable to apologize genuinely for your disrespectful actions," Yako says with a smile, "then if you truly want my assistance, you'll do whatever I say in return."

Mitsuba watches his life drain away before his very eyes. "What... what do you want from me?"

Yako's smile grows sharper. "Hm... let me fulfill your end first, and then we'll see what I want, alright?"

"Oh, no," Mitsuba blurts before he can even think about it. In his mind, Sousuke and Tsukasa's original agreement plays out, with Sousuke's desperation for his wish to be fulfilled blinding him from caring about what Tsukasa would take from him in return. "I know people who have had bad things happen to them before as a result of not having the terms of their agreements laid out to them from the beginning. If you're going to demand something from me, I'd at least like to know what it'll be."

Yako frowns, tilting her head. "I don't believe you're in a position to be asking anything of me right now."

She's correct. Mitsuba's not getting out of here on his own, and certainly isn't finding that letter. He stares into the distance, twirling his hair absently around his finger.

...Yako can't possibly want anything as extreme as his mind, the way Tsukasa had. Although he has heard from Kou the horror stories of what he and Yashiro went through when Yako's rumour was altered by Tsukasa and Nanamine, especially the ones involving Yako's attempts to create her own version of her beloved Misaki, Frankenstein-style. It had made his skin crawl, and does so now too as he weighs his options. How likely could it be that Yako would tear him to pieces to bring her love back to life?

Surely, Tsukasa wouldn't let that happen, is what he lands on when he turns back to Yako and grimaces in resignation.

"Fine," he mutters. "I guess I accept your terms."

Yako beams. "Brilliant! Now, describe this letter that you're looking for, and let us begin our search."

Mitsuba frowns unhappily, but does as she asks. He carefully avoids mentioning what's inside the letter, and Yako thankfully doesn't ask. Once he's given her enough details, she nods and sets off through the newly bloomed garden with such a determination that Mitsuba just rushes after her, assuming she's located it already.

That is, until she turns and frowns. "It will be far more efficient if we search separately, won't it?"

Mitsuba blinks. "I thought - isn't this your boundary, don't you already know where to go?"

Yako huffs. "Foolish child. This space is really no longer my boundary, and I have no control over it. However, I know its ins and outs like the back of my hand, and I am easily your best chance at locating not only your letter, but an exit."

He supposes she's right, even though he's extremely annoyed. Yako must register the tense irritation radiating off of him and purses her lips. "What's wrong, child?"

"Nothing," he mutters. He sets off through the grass, scanning every inch of the ground for a white rectangle of paper. "Maybe the fact that you keep calling me child."

"You are a child," Yako calls. Despite her declaration that they should search separately, she seems to be following him somewhat, glancing around lazily and shielding her eyes from an imaginary sun. "Would you rather I simply called you boy?"

"Not really," Mitsuba says. "I'm not a boy."

"Girl, then," Yako replies, without missing a beat.

Mitsuba squints across the way, peering behind overgrown tori gates that lead to the crumbling buildings in the distance. "Not a girl either."

"Creature," Yako utters absently. "Thing. Whatever you are."

Mitsuba sighs. "I'd prefer boy or girl to that, I think."

As little as he cares about his gender or how he's referred to, the few occasions that Tsukasa had referred to him as an it or a thing had made him feel rather nauseous.

"Wonderful," he hears Yako smile. When he glances back, she's further away, staring into the distance at seemingly nothing at all. "So this letter, boy. Did you write it?"

Mitsuba palms his face while she can't see him. "No, I didn't. Number Two, it couldn't have possibly gone all the way out there, could it?"

He gestures towards the buildings, towering high.

"Yako nee-san," Yako corrects him absently, following his finger with her eyes as he points. "Mhm... maybe. We'll worry about that when it comes to it. So who did write this letter? Why is it important to you?"

Mitsuba does not want to discuss his love life with a woman who hates him, quite frankly. "I don't have to tell you that."

"Don't take a tone with me, boy," Yako says sharply. "If I'm helping you locate it, why would it matter if I knew its contents?"

God, Mitsuba wishes he were anywhere else. "It's personal."

"Personal, hm?" Yako hums. She bends down by something on the floor - an abandoned doll, Mitsuba realizes, soaked in boundary water. It has a flower growing from a tear in its throat. He watches as Yako straightens it, smooths its hair back, expression unreadable. "Did you receive a love letter, perhaps?"

Mitsuba hesitates - she's close, but not quite there. Yako seems to take this as a confirmation and laughs coldly. "Ah, that's funny. A supernatural receiving a love letter, and a School Mystery, no less!"

Retaliations spring to the tip of his tongue, ranging from simply shut up to I bet you're jealous, with no romance to speak of in your life at all, but he's clever enough not to say any of them.

Instead, he simply says, "It's not for me."

"Ah, is that so?" Yako questions lightly. She pads after him as he continues searching, mourning his inability to use his powers in this space. "You're delivering a love letter for someone else?"

Mitsuba sighs. "Are you actually helping me look?"

He's trying not to let it show, but he's starting to get fairly desperate. He has no clue what time it is still, and asking Yako will only prompt her to wonder why it is that he's so short on time. He gazes out at the vast expanse of the boundary, helpless, fists squeezed tightly.

"I am," is all Yako has to say. There's a note of amusement in her voice. "Talk to me, girl, and maybe you'll find it quicker."

Mitsuba has no idea what that means, given that she doesn't know where it is, either, but he has so little left to lose in this situation and it's barely even possible for him to humiliate himself further. Besides, Yako vaguely knows, from his previous interactions with her and Tsuchigomori, about his relationship with Kou. In fact, apparently all of the Mysteries seem to know about that, if not all the supernaturals in the school. No one has anything better to do than gossip about him, it seems.

Well, Mitsuba can't lie and say that a supernatural falling in love with a human wouldn't make for extremely interesting gossip if he happened to be the one hearing about it in regards to someone else, but he's not.

"It was left for someone else by someone else," he tells her slowly. "And I took it when I shouldn't have. There. Are you happy with that?"

He expects to be reprimanded for his sass, but Yako looks too curious to even care. "That exorcist boy, is it?"

There it is. "Does it matter?"

"Yes," Yako says simply. "A girl left him a letter, and you've taken it, correct?"

Mitsuba nods irritably.

Yako raises her eyebrows, stilling in her tracks from across the bridge where she'd meandered in her search. "Why?"

The two of them stare at one another for a long moment.

"I don't know," Mitsuba replies lamely.

"Mhm, I think you do," Yako hums. She glances down at her nails, the corner of her lips twitching. "Why don't you elaborate?"

Mitsuba stares at her, disbelieving, heart hammering. "You're enjoying this," he accuses. "You're enjoying making me suffer."

Yako purses her lips again and fixes her eyes on him. "That's not an elaboration."

Scratch what he'd said, it is possible for him to humiliate himself further, and easily, at that. He balls his fists and groans. "Ugh! I took it because I was jealous. I don't want him looking at other people that way, so I took it while I decided whether I should put it back or destroy it so that he never knows this girl ever liked him!"

He shoots the woman a hate-filled glare. "Does it make you feel good to blackmail a kid into telling you things about his love life? Does it?"

"Oh, I'm having a simply wonderful time," Yako grins, baring white teeth. "I get terribly bored with only the spider to entertain me, so this is the most fun I've had since my yorishiro was destroyed. So, boy. When you find the letter, what is your plan for it? Have you decided whether or not to get rid of it?"

Mitsuba doubts she actually cares about the answer, but, well. He had been looking for someone to talk to about this anyway, and if she's forcing him to tell her...

"I could get rid of it super easily," he admits. He leans against a mossy rock, staring at his soaked pink shoes in the water. "He'd never know, and the girl who wrote it would never mention it. But - I would feel like shit if I found out he ever liked this girl and he lost his chance with her. What I want doesn't actually matter. I'm just a supernatural who can't be with a human being anyway. So... I want to destroy it, I do, but I won't. It'd be fucked up to do, and I can't stand the thought of him being angry at me again."

When he looks up at Yako, she looks very far away. Her lantern is slowly dimming, and Mitsuba suddenly wonders why she has it when it's so bright in here. Maybe her boundary had been very dark before her control over it was taken away, and she's simply used to carrying one around. He wonders what it used to look like in here, back when it was powerful.

"Yako nee-san?" he questions, when he receives no response.

Yako blinks slowly. It isn't hard to decipher what she must be thinking about, with the knowledge Mitsuba has of her and her past from Kou. The woman's hands twitch as she grips her lantern tighter.

"So you'll put it back," she replies, casting those green eyes back onto him. "Potentially losing any chance you may have had to be with him?"

Mitsuba swallows. "Uh... yeah. I'm trying to be less selfish this year. It was my New Year's resolution."

That's a joke. It would take too long to explain the real reason - why Mitsuba is already on such thin ice with Kou in regards to these kinds of serious things, and why he's not willing to risk doing something stupid that will cause him to lose Kou forever. It's a more mature decision than he thinks he would have made prior to his and Kou's fight a few months ago. Back then, he shamefully thinks he would have destroyed the letter without a second thought.

He wants to, even now. However, he just can't risk something as important as Kou.

Yako stares for a long moment. It's hard to read what she's thinking.

"You never did take my advice," she murmurs. Her eyebrows crease in a way that makes her appear almost sad as she turns her head towards the pale orange sky. "A supernatural should never entangle themselves with a human."

Mitsuba just snorts. "Yeah. Too late for that."

He was a lost cause from the moment Kou took him to that arcade and won him that stupid plush at the UFO catchers that he still keeps in the depths of his boundary even now.

Yako hums, and then steps back across the bridge, returning to Mitsuba's side.

"I don't believe the letter is here," she says simply. "Follow me. I may know where it has ended up."

Before the two of them appears a flight of disjointed stone stairs, ascending into the sky without end.

Mitsuba furrows his eyebrows, shooting the woman a confused look. "Why would it be up so high? I mean, did I even fall that far?"

Yako ignores him and starts up the steps, her sandals clicking off of the stone as she leaves the water behind.

There really isn't anything to do but follow her.

The boundary is beautiful, really. It must have been striking back in its prime. The higher they go, the more Mitsuba can see what looks almost like a sprawling city, lit up by an invisible setting sun, flowers blooming as far as the eye can see. Mitsuba wonders what the other former Mystery's boundaries look like now - if they all become overgrown with plants and weeds after the destruction of their master's yorishiro, or if it's just Yako's that's like this.

"It used to be magnificent," he suddenly hears Yako say, as if reading his mind. He can't see her face since she's facing front, but her voice is softer than before. "What a shame it is that you can only see it now, in such a state."

Mitsuba licks his suddenly very dry lips, feeling dizzy as he realizes how high up they are. Kou would have hated this. "Yeah, bet you wish you could have brought me here before and turned me into a doll, huh?"

"Oh, don't underestimate me, girl," Yako says sharply, although there's a note of amusement un her voice. "I could still do that now, yorishiro or not."

Mitsuba grimaces. "You... you could?"

"Mhm," Yako hums. "I sure could."

Mitsuba makes a mental note to never cross Yako ever again.

"How long were you a Mystery?" he asks her, changing the subject promptly. "A long time, right?"

Yako slows her pace for a moment, wavering, but then resumes walking like nothing happened. "A long, long time. I have watched the School Mystery seats change much in my years here. In fact, I was one of the longest standing Mysteries in our ranks."

"Huh," Mitsuba utters. "You're pretty old, then."

Yako whips around and shoots him such a withering look that Mitsuba squeaks and nearly falls off the stairs.

"And by that, I mean you're very experienced and wise," he continues meekly. "You must have been really powerful."

Despite Yako's knowledge of Mitsuba's habit of spouting bullshit to get out of trouble, she seems satisfied with that and turns back around.

"I was," she says. "Number Six was the only Mystery I never saw change in my time here, until recently. Number One was the first switch I ever witnessed, and then Number Three, when the previous one took the seat before you."

It's then that Mitsuba realizes that if he was ever going to get answers from anyone about some of the things he doesn't know, it would be now.

"I've been meaning to ask," he says, trying to sound nonchalant. "What was the previous Number Three like? I can't find any memories containing him in the school's memories, and Tsu- and no one's ever been able or willing to tell me much."

Yako is silent for a long moment. Mitsuba tenses, praying he hasn't struck a nerve.

Then she sighs softly and speaks. "His name was Izou," she tells him, and Mitsuba's breath hitches. "He was a tengu, and he was the Third School Mystery for a very long time. He rarely left his boundary - saw no reason for it, given that the fear he spread was palpable enough to guarantee him to keep his seat without having to. I only spoke to him once or twice. I always got the impression he didn't really like me. Thinking back now, I don't think he really liked anyone at all."

A brief silence follows this.

"You're more disrespectful than he was," Yako tells him. She glances over her shoulder at him, eyes narrowed disapprovingly. "Although, at the very least, you're more entertaining."

Mitsuba doesn't say anything. He's thinking, lips pressed together. He wonders if the fact that the previous Number Three had never socialized with the other Mysteries and had thus never made connections with them has anything to do with how easily the others had seemingly accepted him into their ranks without fuss. After consuming the Mystery's heart, Mitsuba had spent a lot of time panicked over the idea that the other supernaturals would potentially want to hurt him over what had happened, but it really seems like not a soul had actually cared how or why he'd gained the seat number at all.

"I do have another question," Mitsuba starts, daring to ask a follow up. "What was the previous Number Seven like?"

Yako stops fully in her tracks, but doesn't turn. Mitsuba nearly walks right into her and has to steady himself with his scarf so he doesn't go right off the edge.

He blinks, nervous at Yako's silence. "Um..."

"Don't," Yako says, quietly, dangerously, "ask such stupid questions, girl, or you'll get yourself in trouble."

Mitsuba nods rapidly. "Right. Ok. Sorry."

Yako sets off again, leaving Mitsuba to his thoughts. He isn't sure what kind of answer he'd expected.

The boundary gets smaller and smaller below them, and Mitsuba wonders how the hell the letter could have possibly gone all the way up here. Yako would know best, so he doesn't dare to question her. He's just relieved that she's helping him at all.

Besides, he'd gotten some useful knowledge from this, so it wasn't all a waste.

"We're here," Yako says, so suddenly that Mitsuba again nearly walks right into her back. This time, he stops so quickly that he does actually stumble and fall, and has to be caught by the front of his scarf by Yako's gloved hands.

They're standing on a long, blank platform in front of a mirror frame. Colours swirl around inside of it. Mitsuba, for the first time since he fell in here, can feel the power of his own abilities stirring beneath his skin, and beyond the glass portal, too, his boundary calling him.

"Wait," he says, suddenly panicked. "But the letter -"

A folded white rectangle is suddenly shoved into his face.

Mitsuba blinks, slowly, as he takes it in. He can see the words Minamoto-kun written at the top.

"You -" he starts, then pauses, emotions swirling around inside of him quicker than he can process them. "You - you had - you had this - the entire -"

Yako stares at him defiantly. Mitsuba stares back, jaw dropped, utterly disbelieving.

"It fell into my hand when you entered," Yako explains simply, as if she's telling him the weather forecast. "Is there a problem, boy?"

Mitsuba breathes in, and out, and in, and out, then smiles wide, forcing the most enthusiastic look he can onto his face.

"Not at all," he replies cheerfully, and snatches the paper from the woman's hand with force. "Thank you so much for your assistance, Yako, I couldn't possibly be more grateful."

"Would it kill you to sound like it?" Yako asks, eyebrows raised.

Mitsuba nods, still smiling. "It might."

Yako breathes out a dramatic sigh, then casts her gaze towards the portal. "This will take you directly back to your boundary," she tells him, nodding in its direction. "Despite the fact that I no longer control this space, it does its job just as well as it used to. So go and return that letter, boy. I don't believe you have much time before the school day begins."

That doesn't sound good. Mitsuba swallows and nods, starting off towards the door before Yako holds up a hand, signalling for him to wait. Mitsuba stops and glares exasperatedly, but doesn't say a word about it.

In the light from the portal, Yako's wicked grin looks even colder than before. "Don't forget that you owe me for helping you," she says sweetly. "I'll expect you to come when I call."

Mitsuba's shoulders drop, deflating. "Seriously? I thought the psychological torment was my payback for your help."

"Oh, no," Yako says seriously, shaking her head and jingling the bells in her hair. "That was payback, girl, for the horrible language and absolute disrespect of our last meeting. I still expect a favour in return for today."

Mitsuba should have expected that. Still, he's not happy. "I hate owing people things."

"That's too bad," Yako replies, utterly unsympathetic. "Goodbye, Number Three."

She drops her hand and allows Mitsuba to pass, which he does. He thinks about saying goodbye as well, but decides he's too annoyed to put on a pleasant tone, and instead marches right by and into the mirror without so much as saying another word.

"So why am I here, again?"

"Because," Mitsuba says, not sparing Natsuhiko a glance. "You got yourself involved in my business and declared yourself my wingman, so now you're making good on your promises and being there for me when I need moral support."

"Right," Natsuhiko nods. He's smiling, although it looks more strained than usual. "Eh, Mitsuba, exactly how much longer do I have to endure this?"

Surrounding Natsuhiko, who's standing in a room in Mitsuba's boundary, are several of the disembodied hands that serve the Third Mystery, impatiently waiting their turn to have a go at braiding ribbons into Natsuhiko's hair.

"For however long it will be until Kou gets to school," Mitsuba replies nonchalantly.

He's sitting on the floor in front of an enormous silver framed mirror, watching the lockers and twirling his hair around his fingers anxiously. It's almost exactly eight am, which is usually the time Kou is here by, and he's already been waiting for fifteen minutes now. The two of them are in a room that Mitsuba thinks used to be a ballroom or something, a remnant of the old Number Three that he couldn't bring himself to remove. It's a beautiful room, even if Mitsuba doesn't think he'll be hosting any fancy balls any time soon. The floor is sleek and glossy, so reflective that Mitsuba could have probably watched the scene just through that, but the mirror offers a better view. A silver chandelier hangs from the ceiling, casting the dark blue walls in a soft glow and offering the hands the light they need to know where to place each clip on Natsuhiko's head.

He'd been trying to butter up the hands with sweet words and compliments when Mitsuba had dragged him in here, and it had somehow led to this - to being used as a mannequin head for Mitsuba's minions to practice their hairstyling on.

He hears Natsuhiko sigh, although he doesn't sound that upset. "Alright, alright, be gentle now, ladies," he chuckles. Mitsuba can see one of the hands waving in his face. "There's plenty enough of me to go around."

Despite his better instincts, Mitsuba pulls a face. "Ladies?"

"Uh, yeah, Mitsuba," Natsuhiko says. When Mitsuba glances over his shoulder, the older boy offers a lopsided grin, eyes sparkling. "Women are always desperate for a piece of me. Not that I don't think men would be too, and it's totally cool if they are. I just don't think I swing that way myself. Well, I don't know, actually... I suppose I could afford to experiment. Not now, of course, I have my lady and I would never cheat, but if I absolutely had to think about it, I could potentially see myself with a man if he was more -"

Mitsuba clamps his hands over his ears and focuses on the mirror in front of him when he sees it.

"Shut up," he says loudly, sitting right up and staring with wide eyes. "He's here. Shut up and stop talking!"

"I did," Natsuhiko protests. He manages to gently wrench himself free of the hands, dismissing disappointed spectators away and coming to crouch next to Mitsuba. "So you really put it back, huh? And you've brought me here to see how he reacts to it?"

"Stop pointing out the obvious and keep your mouth shut," Mitsuba mutters. He watches as Kou darts across the entryway to his locker, a huge grin on his face as he laughs at something Satou or Yokoo must have said. The other two boys go to their own lockers at Kou's side, and Kou's mouth moves rapidly as he fires something funny back while his hands twist the combination into the padlock.

Natsuhiko hums lowly. "Well, I hope you made the right choice, Mitsuba..."

Mitsuba punches him in the arm. He leans in closer as Kou opens the locker, ignoring Natsuhiko whines of pain as Kou pauses at the sight of the pink envelope and stares at it like it's something he's never seen before.

Kou looks back and forth, as if whoever left the note would be lurking nearby. Mitsuba swallows, feeling his stomach turn.

He and Natsuhiko watch as Kou shifts so his back is facing his friends and opens the envelope, eyes flitting back and forth across the page as he reads. His expression is hard to decipher, his eyebrows furrowing in what could be either confusion or disgust but is probably the former as he gets to the end of the letter and then blinks.

"I can't tell what he's thinking," Natsuhiko murmurs. He scoots forward, leaning on his fist and squinting up at the mirror. "Do you think he's gonna go up to her now?"

"No, surely not," Mitsuba replies, slightly uncertain. Through the mirror, Kou steps back from his locker to change his shoes, sitting down with the letter folded in his hand. "I mean, he'd - he'd need time to think about it, right? To decide? I don't know, either way, you're sticking around here until he does since you're supposed to be my moral support anyway -"

"Hey, guys," Kou suddenly says, and both Mitsuba and Natsuhiko fall utterly silent as he gets up and speaks to get his friend's attention. "I'm gonna be go do something, so go to class without me if I'm not back, alright?"

"Huh?" Satou says, but Kou is already gone, darting away through the walls of lockers around them.

Mitsuba stiffens, eyes bulging out of his skull. "Oh, God," he groans to no one in particular. "Oh, fuck, I don't want to face this now, there's no way!"

"He must already know his answer," Natsuhiko says helpfully, casting dark brown eyes to meet Mitsuba's. "Don't worry so much, Mitsuba, it's all going to work itself out!"

"I feel sick," Mitsuba whines, burying his face in his hands so he can't see. "I'd rather just die. I'd rather just die than deal with this!"

One of Natsuhiko's hands claps against Mitsuba's shoulder, urging him to sit back up. "It's ok!" he says in a warm tone, a grin in his voice. "If he was going to say yes to her, he'd surely be more nervous. Pay attention, Mitsuba, you're gonna need to shift the view so we can see what happens!"

"I don't want to," Mitsuba mumbles, even as he's sitting back up to do it. "I'd rather die. I hope a meteor hits the school and kills us all."

"That's the spirit," Natsuhiko says cheerfully.

The scene shifts before them, reflecting from a window just above where Kou is walking towards. He's slowed his pace, a complicated expression on his face as he looks back and forth, still clinging to the letter in his hands.

In front of her own locker is the girl. Her hair is tied up in a neat braided bun today, and it looks cute, it really does. Mitsuba can't help but feel jealous of her hair length and how easily it behaves when his own is so irritating to handle sometimes. When she spots Kou, her eyes widen, a light sparking in the centre of her pupils that Mitsuba can even see from here. What a familiar sight. He remembers seeing that same look in Sousuke's memories, every time he'd glanced over at Kou during class.

"Hey," Kou says breathlessly. He comes to a stop beside her locker, shifting somewhat awkwardly. Beside the girl, two others that Mitsuba presumes must be her friends spare glances at each other behind an open locker door and then scramble away to give them some privacy. Mitsuba's artificial heart only beats faster.

"I can't look," he moans, covering his eyes before peeking through his fingers anyway.

"Hey," the girl replies, voice soft. Her lips quiver, even as she forces a smile. "I, uh - I take it you got my letter?"

Kou nods. His hands are clasped together, one sharp tooth poking out of the corner of his mouth as he bites his lip.

The girl inhales sharply, then relaxes. "It's ok if you don't -" she starts, then cuts herself off. "I would understand if you don't -"

"I'm sorry," Kou interrupts, and he sounds so genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry, I don't - feel the same way."

Mitsuba drops his hands and stares at the mirror, open mouthed.

"But you're - you're really cool, I know you are!" Kou continues, shoulders rising to his ears. "I'm sorry we've never really spoken much before. I've noticed your drawings, on the walls in the art classroom. I thought they were super cool. I don't - talk to people all that much, so I'm sorry I never mentioned it before now."

"It's ok," the girl rushes to say. She smiles, and although it's clear she's disappointed, she also looks somewhat relieved. "I'm glad you like them. I didn't think anyone else but my friends noticed my art. Um, so thank you. Sorry if I've, uh, taken any of your time up with this, really..."

"Not at all," Kou replies. He grins, relaxing slightly as his cheeks flush with colour. "I've never actually... gotten a letter like this before. It's super cute. I'm sure any other guy would be really into that."

At this, the girl chuckles, kicking the floor with the tip of her shoe. Then her smile slips and she glances away, and Mitsuba leans in ever closer as her lips part to say something else.

"Can I just ask?" the girl questions, fiddling with the strap of her bag. "Um, you don't have to answer at all, but I'm just curious. Are you... interested in someone else, or am I just not your type?"

Kou flinches, a look of pure surprise crossing his face. The girl pales at the expression, but doesn't back down immediately. She just swallows, throat bobbing, and stares at her shoes against the floor.

"Uh," Kou says, glancing away towards the school entrance, watching the latecomers scramble in. "I... It's complicated."

"That's ok," the girl rushes, holding up both her hands. "I don't need an explanation. I was just - wondering, if it had anything to do with me."

"It's not you at all," Kou promises, gripping his own bag strap tight. "You seem really nice. It's just - I think I - there kind of - there kind of is someone else I'm interested in. I'm really sorry."

Natsuhiko makes a sound like a dying animal. Mitsuba just stares at Kou's faraway face, his nervous blush, his tooth against his lip, his silver-blue eyes.

"Oh-h," the girl hums. She blinks, then nods, smiling again. "I understand. It's ok. I'm just glad it's, uh... not because you think I'm weird or anything. Minamoto, you wouldn't mind - not mentioning any of this to anyone else, would you?"

"That's fine, yeah, that's perfectly fine," Kou says quickly, stumbling over his words. He nods, his earring bouncing. "I wouldn't really have said to anyone anyway - I mean, that's fine, I won't say to anyone -"

A bang sounds from behind them, and Kou whips around while the girl shrieks and cranes her neck to see.

"Shit," someone shouts, and Mitsuba realizes that it's Satou and Yokoo, hiding behind someone's locker and having just accidentally slipped and banged the door. "Yokoo, run, he's going to kill us!"

"You jerks!" Kou shouts after them as they scramble to get away, giggling to each other madly. He turns to face the girl once more, clapping his hands together in an apologetic pose. "I'm so sorry, they won't say anything to anyone, they're just - jerks. Sorry again, and - and thanks for being cool with it, really."

"It's all good," the girl replies, nodding despite how rattled she seems. She takes a step back, glancing up at the clock on the wall that reveals it's almost time for homeroom. "Uh - thanks for hearing me out. Bye, Minamoto."

"Bye!" Kou calls, and rushes off in the opposite direction, after Satou and Yokoo. "Seeya in class later!"

Then he's gone. The girl briefly buries her face in her hands, ears crimson, then pulls herself together and darts away, out of Mitsuba's view.

He and Natsuhiko are silent for a long moment.

Then, finally, Natsuhiko opens his mouth. "Mitsuba," he breathes, sounding delighted, hands clenched into fists in front of him. "It's you, it's totally you! He likes you, he's interested in you! Right, Mitsuba? It has to be you!"

Mitsuba's mind is racing a thousand miles a minute. He's still staring at the glass, even as he hears the bell for class ring and empty the entrance hall of students.

Natsuhiko laughs, shaking Mitsuba's shoulder. "Aren't you happy?" he demands, eyes glittering brightly. "You can't seriously be overthinking this. Who else could it be but you, Mitsuba?"

Mitsuba doesn't say a word. He's just playing back Kou's words in his mind, over and over. Someone else I'm interested in. There's really no way. It doesn't make any sense. He can't believe it could really be true.

But the look on Kou's face when Mitsuba had accused him of being in love with him comes back to the forefront of his mind like a flashbang, and all at once, Mitsuba wishes he'd never participated in any of this at all in the first place.

"Mitsuba?" Natsuhiko tries once more. "Are you, uh, alright -?"

Mitsuba just drops his head into his hands and lets out a long, frustrated scream, loud enough that all the hands still hopefully surrounding Natsuhiko startle and scramble away for cover.