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Hanako’s legs swung over the edge of the roof, his hands holding onto the concrete, bending as far back without falling over–his hat had already fallen off his head to the floor behind him–to look up at the night sky. Hanako slowly blinked, staring at the cluttered sky. It was nice indulging himself like this.
He had felt miserable today, so he had come up here to relax. He still didn’t feel that much better, but the stars were at least pretty. It reminded him of when he was alive, he used to stargaze a lot more.
“Hey Hanako-Kun!”
Hanako jumped, turning around to look at the voice. Nene looked back at him, paused on the ladder up here. She smiled before continuing and walking over to stand beside him.
As she came closer, Hanako could see she wasn’t in her uniform and was in something much more casual. A t-shirt and some pajama pants. She still had her normal shoes on though—makes sense.
“Yashiro!” He blinked up at her. “What are you doing here? It’s late.”
“I wanted to come see you.”
“But… shouldn’t you be home? You don’t want to get your parents mad.”
A soft, mischievous giggle floated through the air as she sat down next to him. “It’s the weekend, so I told my parents I’d be having a sleepover at Aoi’s.”
He tilted his head slightly, still staring at her in confusion. “But-” A frown forms. “Where will you sleep? A sleepover would take the entire night…”
“I’ll sleep here! I would’ve told you when I came to your bathroom, but I already brought my own sleeping bag and stuff like that. I brought one for you, too, if you want it. My mom had an extra from years ago.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, I just told her that Aoi had gotten hers ripped when I asked to borrow it, haha.”
Nene turned her head upwards to look at the night sky. “What are you doing out here, Hanako-kun? Are you stargazing?”
Hanako hesitated for a second before looking up again too. “Uh, yeah.”
“The view is so pretty, I get why you come up here.”
Hanako nodded.
Their conversation melted off into silence, and Hanako gripped the ledge tighter than he had been before, chewing on his lip lightly. He was feeling better than before with her by his side. Nene hummed beside him while stargazing—it was a pleasant noise.
He thought it made the experience a lot better with her here, a pretty view and a pretty girl. He blushed at that thought and started chewing on his lip a lot harder.
He looked at her, and it seemed Nene hadn’t noticed anything, still just stargazing.
He noticed the way her long, curly hair flowed onto the ground behind her when she leaned back like this. Though it's probably annoying having it so long (it’s been a while since his hair went anywhere lower than his shoulders, but the experience was engraved in his mind), it was still stunning on her. He loved her hair and the peaceful expression she had on her face.
“Hey, look!”
“Huh?” He snapped out of his thoughts.
His eyes followed Nene’s outstretched arm and pointing finger.
“That’s a really bright star. Isn’t that cool?”
“Oh, yeah. I think that’s a part of a constellation.”
Hanako slid over and grabbed her hand, moving it slowly and pointing it at the rest of the constellation, stopping it for each star and then moving onto the next. “If you look, you can see all of it.”
Nene looked on in awe.
She really was such a pretty girl. The way her eyes lit up at something he'd shown her made his heart beat like never before. She does that to him a lot.
Hanako tried to rest his head on her shoulder without her noticing, but once he did she still squealed above him. Now his face was as red as hers probably was too.
They sat there in silence for a minute, both too embarrassed to do anything.
He was still holding her hand up, so he lowered it down to the floor in between them, rubbing his fingers over hers.
He heard Nene take a nervous breath before leaning her head onto his.
Hanako smiled before tangling his fingers through her own fingers. His eyes wandered back up to the stars, feeling calmness wash over him. It was really nice sitting here with her.
The way the stars twinkled reminded him of that night in Number 4’s painting, interrupting her looking up through the telescope, guiding her through what she was seeing. Her placing her back against his, saying how much she liked him, like it was as natural as breathing for her. It was the best sky he had seen stargazing… but maybe it was just because of Nene.
It was such a nice moment, but… it was fake. Because he had selfishly prevented her from leaving.
Hanako’s hand gripped a bit too tight, consumed by his thoughts, but Nene noticed. She lifted her head up off of his and turned to look at him. (Which was a bit hard, considering him resting on her shoulder.)
“Hanako-kun? Are you alright?”
His only response was to hide his face into her shoulder. She was about to ask him again before she heard a muffled voice in her shoulder that sounded suspiciously like her friend.
“Huh? What was that?”
He tilted his face again out of Nene’s shoulder. “Sorry.” He mumbled.
Nene blinked in confusion, and leaned her head down to try and get a look at his expression. “For what?”
Hanako avoided her eye contact, choosing to look downwards instead. He rubbed his thumb over hers, probably without even realizing.
He didn’t answer.
Nene let out a small sigh. He was always like this. He would never open up to her about what he was thinking about.
“Fine. Whatever you’re apologizing for, I forgive you.” She said, turning back to the stars shining upon them, “I forgive you.”
Hanako leaned a bit harder onto her.
They sat there in silence again before Nene interrupted.
“Hanako-kun, the view is very pretty, but… I’m tired, I don't wanna accidentally fall asleep here somehow. Plus I’m kinda cold. Do you wanna go inside?”
“Sure.” He said, lifting his head off her and letting go of her hand for the first time in a while. It felt like ripping glue off paper.
“We can look out the window in the bathroom, if you want. I know it’s not exactly the same, but it’s still pretty.” Nene said while lifting herself up from the edge, feet dangling on the edge while she offered her hand down to him to help him get up. He took her hand again and let her lead him back inside.