Chapter Text
“Oh, but that’s just a rumor, of course,” Aoi sighed as she finished re-telling the story of “Hanako-san, the Seventh School Mystery” for the millionth time just for Nene. Aoi picked up her shovel and crouched back down in front of the vegetables she had been helping Nene plant. Although, it was more like she was doing all of Nene’s work. Nene didn’t have the courage to tell Aoi that she didn’t need help anymore.
Nene stood over Aoi and fiddled with her fingers. “B-but, what if…” Nene had already tried every trick in the book to get a boyfriend. She was desperate! So desperate that she had turned to her old interest in the occult and supernatural. For her sake, Nene had to believe Hanako-san was real! She just had to be!
“Don’t be silly, Nene-chan!” Aoi shot down Nene’s idea. “Ghosts aren’t real.” Nene felt the hope leave her body. Back in junior high, Aoi would always go along with Nene’s antics. She’d follow her around, supplying her with scary stories while they tried to figure out who–or what–stole from their teachers or why everyone had been “disappearing.” One time, there was a rumor that people had been getting sick because of a vengeful ghost planting deadly disease in everyone’s food. It ended up just being a regular old flu!
Nene sighed as she watched her best friend mercilessly pull out a weed from the dirt, taking the entire root system out. Maybe… Aoi had finally grown up, Nene thought. She was queen bee of Kamone Academy, after all. She probably didn’t like ‘adventures’ as much as she used to. Then, Nene had a brilliant idea.
Nene interlaced her fingers with Aoi’s gloved and dirt-ridden ones. “How about we go check it out together? Just the two of us!” Nene tried to make her eyes look big and vulnerable so Aoi would say yes, but she probably did it wrong.
Aoi sighed, pretending to not want to go, “Just this once…” Nene smiled and threw her arms around Aoi. She would make this a great adventure! If Hanako-san wasn’t real, then she might at least be able to take Aoi to a cafe Nene had always wanted to go to. But, Hanako-san would be real! Cause she just was!
Nene and Aoi stood in front of the door to the girl’s bathroom. Nene swallowed nervously. She pushed open the door. The stained glass windows made the room shine and glow like it was straight out of a fairytale book. It made the dust in the air looked like embers from a fire. Nene’s legs were wobbly as she walked in. The floor was shiny and slippery, almost threatening to have Nene meet her demise.
She stopped in front of the third stall. She swore she could hear faint breathing behind the door. It was probably just her own breath. Nene held up her hand to knock. She paused and looked at Aoi. She was peering at Nene through the bathroom entrance, watching her every move.
“Go on,” Aoi whispered so softly, Nene almost thought it was in her head.
Nene knocked on the stall door. “Hanako-san, Hanako-san, are you there?” The stall creaked open slowly. Nene froze. She wasn’t ready. She couldn’t do it. She was going to die.
“I– uh, I am…” A small voice came from behind the stall. Nene slowly opened the door to find a small boy. The boy was probably just one or two inches shorter than Nene, but his head was mostly pointed down so she couldn’t really tell. He looked at her nervously with big amber eyes that a moth would fly into, thinking they’re lamps. He had the middle school division’s uniform on along with bandages on his arm and face. The bandages on his arms were barely hanging onto him, threatening to show his wounds.
Nene’s brain short-circuited. “Hanako-san?”
The boy tilted his head to the right like a confused puppy. “Who?”
“N-never mind then.” Nene looked at Aoi with clear desperation. Aoi looked just as confused as Nene felt. Nene turned her attention back to the small boy when she realized something. The small boy was a boy. In the girl’s bathroom. Did… Did Nene just catch a pervert red-handed?!?
Nene examined the boy further. He was crying. Or at least he had been before she got there. His eyes were puffy and red. Then again, the rest of his face was red too. He tried to wipe the stain tears from his cheeks so Nene wouldn’t notice. He looked scared out of his mind.
Of course, Nene couldn’t be one hundred percent sure this boy was innocent, so she asked, “What are you doing here?”
The boy’s face turned red as if he just noticed he was in the girl’s bathroom. “Oh, I was just–” The boy tried to stutter his way through an answer.
Nene turned to look at Aoi, but her gaze was met with a teacher instead. He had gold eyeglasses and black hair that was white in the front. He looked worn out, as if he had ran all the way there. Aoi looked like she had been almost shoved to the side.
The man huffed out, “Yugi-kun… What are you doing here?”
The boy, Yugi, looked guilty. “I’m sorry…”
“Yugi-kun,” The man sighed, “school ended hours ago. Go back home.” Yugi slowly walked out the door, the teacher resting his hand shortly on Yugi’s shoulder as he passed. He shortly gave apologies to both Nene and Aoi before following Yugi down the hall. Nene and Aoi watched them both walk away.
Nene broke the silence. “What… What just happened?”
For once in her life–or at least however long Nene had known her–Aoi said, “I have no idea.”