You stood on the roof, head resting against the railing as you stared at the ground below, a far-off expression on your face as you replayed the events of yesterday in your mind for what felt like the umpteenth time.

'You read what's going to happen to you, but it seems like you're trying to make it happen!'

You could almost still hear his voice yelling at you, but you could also tell that he was just worried. You didn't know what Tsukasa meant when he spoke to Hanako, but it was clear that Hanako did, and seeing Hanako, who was always so carefree, look so scared, scared you as well. You ran your fingers over the bruise on your wrist and sighed, wishing you had never even come to the roof that day.

And what made you feel even more guilty was that when you had tried to go to Hanako's bathroom and apologize, he wasn't there. You could still feel his presence, but no matter what you said, he wouldn't come out.

'He must be mad at me,' you had concluded.

You jumped at the loud squeak of the door behind you and quickly turned to see Kou standing in the doorway, looking from left to right for a moment before he finally noticed you.
"There you are, Y/n!" He smiled as he rushed over to you. "So, hey, do you think you could take this off now?" he asked, holding up his staff which still had the seal that you had placed on it. "I think I've finally gotten in the habit of holding it correctly, so-" He stopped when he noticed your saddened expression.
"Hey, what's wrong?"

You were hesitant about telling him at first but eventually sighed, guessing in the end that it would be better to tell someone how you're feeling rather than keep it inside and let it bother you all day.

"It's Hanako," you said, not noticing the blonde visibly tense. "A while ago, I went to the fourth wonder of the school. It's a library that has records of the past and future of everyone in the school. I meant to read Hanako's to learn more about him, but I ended up reading mine, and I discovered that die soon-"
"What!?" Kou shouted. "Why are we just sitting here then? We gotta protect you-"
"There's nothing we can do," you said, too mentally tired to get upset over it like you've been doing. "I've already been told that it's impossible to change my future."
Your mind briefly went back to what the green-haired girl had said, and you made a mental note to find her and ask her about it later. "Now, are you going to let me finish?" You asked, and Kou hesitantly nodded as he sat down next to you.

Your mind briefly went back to what the green-haired girl had said, and you made a mental note to find her and ask her about it later. "Now, are you going to let me finish?" You asked, and Kou hesitantly nodded as he sat down next to you.

You told him the whole thing, and Kou stayed surprisingly stayed quiet, waiting until he was sure that you had finished your story to speak.
"Is that where that bruise came from?" He asked, and you nodded.
"I'm worried, Kou," you muttered. "It's just that...I said that I'd exorcise Hanako if he harms a human, but I couldn't even bring myself to do it when he was about to hurt me." Kou frowned sadly.
"Y/n-"

"Well, isn't that a shame?"

You and Kou both turned to see Teru standing in the doorway, a look of disappointment painted on his face. You stood up as he walked towards you.

"That might've been the most pathetic thing I've ever heard in my life," he spat. "An exorcist that can't exorcise an apparition that threatened to deal her harm? Sounds like an abject failure to me."

You couldn't help but falter at his words, and he sighed.

"Looks like I'll have to take things into my own hands after all." Your eyes widened as he began to walk away, and without thinking, you took out your staff.
"I don't think so," you growled, and Teru stopped and turned to glare at you.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." You gripped your staff tightly, trying to hide your fear as you spoke. "I won't let you hurt Hanako."

"So you can use your weapon on a human but not an apparition?" You heard Kou gasp as Teru unsheathed his sword.

"You're pathetic."

You planned to keep your distance, thinking that if you did, you'd have the advantage, but your eyes widened when lightning began to surround the male's sword before shooting out at you like a bullet.
"Y/n! Look out!" Kou shouted, but all you could do was hold up your staff in a weak attempt to block the attack. You closed your eyes, bracing for the hit that never came.

You heard Kou gasp, but it didn't quite register in your mind until you felt cold hands grip your shoulders tightly. Your eyes snapped open to see Hanako standing there, his face contorted in pain as the lightning hit him. He grit his teeth, his grip on your shoulders tightening painfully, as he lowered his head, trying to be strong until he eventually began to fall forward.
"Hanako!" You quickly reached out to catch him as he fell.

"I thought I sensed you," Teru muttered, glaring down at Hanako. You moved him so that he now had his arm around your neck. Hanako winced as he glared at the blonde.
"Why... would you attack her?"
"Well, I needed something to draw you out," Teru shrugged casually, and Hanako let out a low growl.
"You could've hurt her!" It was clear that Teru didn't care, and his nonchalant attitude only served to make Hanako even madder.
"But I didn't, and even if it would've hit her, that blast was nothing she didn't deserve."

That had Hanako seeing red. Your eyes widened when he let you go attempting to stand on his own only to wince and fall back again, and you weren't able to catch him this time and could only watch as he fell to the ground. You held out your staff as you stood in front of the male.

"I-" Before you could even finish, Teru took off one of the prayer bead bracelets from his wrist, and your eyes widened when they began to grow in size and length before shooting out towards you, wrapping around your arms and legs and making you fall to the ground.

"Y/n!" Kou ran out in front of his brother. "What are you doing?!"
"She's only going to interfere, Kou. I'm only doing what I need to do," Teru explained. "Now move." You struggled to break out of the restraints as Kou hesitantly stood his ground.
"N-no..." He stuttered shakily, and Teru sighed.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Before Kou could react, the beads that had trapped you had now wrapped themselves around him as well, making him fall to the ground right next to you.
"You don't have to bother yourself with all of these unnecessary thoughts. You just aren't mature enough for this." Teru smiled at his brother as Hanako slowly began to get up.

"Haku-Joudai-" Black lightning came from Teru's sword and seemed to wrap around Haku-Joudai, keeping them frozen in place. Hanako glared up at him, but Teru merely chuckled.

"What a scary face," he said mockingly before glaring down at him.

"No matter how much you try to cover it up, in the end, you can never hide who you are. A troublesome ghost that goes unstable at the drop of a hat and harms the living at the slightest provocation." Hanako's face fell. "Self-serving and violent. You took life from another, yet you cling stubbornly to the nearshore and refuse to accept your death. Honestly, it's painful to look at." Teru raised his sword, attempting to stab Hanako, who jumped up, barely lifting his knife fast enough to block the attack, and your eyes widened as his knife flew out of his hand. Hanako quickly tried to reach for it, only to gasp as Teru pressed his foot on his head, pushing him down as he plunged his sword through his hand. You felt your heart sink to your stomach, hearing the pained scream he let out.
"Stop it!" You shouted to no avail.

Teru kicked Hanako, who groaned as his back hit the railing of the gate.
"Just stop fighting it," said Teru. "You've been in the near shore for how many years now? It's about time you accepted your punishment."
"Punishment." To everyone's surprise, Hanako scoffed. "Heh, maybe if you had said that to me about a year or so ago...I may have let you exorcise me. But now..." Teru narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"I can't go...not yet..." Your eyes widened when Hanako raised his head as tears rolled down his face. "Not after I've finally found a reason to keep going. After all this time, I found someone that I care about, and I have to make sure she's safe!" You gasped at the statement.

'Is he talking about me?'

"I see..." said Teru. "But how do you know that you won't have something to do with if not be the reason she gets hurt?" Hanako's eyes widened in shock, and if the lightning crackling from the blonde's sword hadn't been so loud, you would've heard a small crack, but whether it was his heart or his sanity, Hanako himself didn't even know.

"Either way..." Before you could blink, Teru had plunged his sword through Hanako's chest.

"It's over."

It all happened so fast that Hanako sat there for a moment with wide eyes before screaming again, and you found yourself closing your eyes, wishing you could cover your ears.

"Please stop..."

You felt so pathetic, and you were so focused on trying to block out the male's screams that you didn't notice the small snap coming from beside you. Two audible gasps came from in front of you, and you hesitantly opened one eye to see Kou now standing in front of Hanako, hand dripping with blood as he held Teru's sword by the blade, pulling it out of Hanako's chest.
"How did you-" Before Teru could finish, Kou tackled him to the ground.
"Stop treating me like an idiot!" He shouted to his brother, who sat there with wide eyes.
"Kou...You're bleeding."

"I know I'm weak! And I'm a lot stupider than you! But it's not true that I don't have to think about anything. You're right. I know next to nothing about him. And I think it was wrong of me to decide whether he was good or bad before I know more." Kou lowered his head. "But exorcising all the supernaturals just because they're dangerous...I just... I think there's something wrong with that... It's going to take some time... I'm going to get a lot stronger, just like you, brother... And then I'm going to decide what to do. If I need to, I'll exorcise him!" Teru slowly stood up, sighing as he adjusted his tie.

"Honestly, we should exorcise him right now..." Your eyes widened as the beads around you untangled themselves and flew back to him, turning back to their regular size as they wrapped around his wrist.
"But I don't want you to hate me so fine, but I'm only doing this once, though." Just you let out a sigh of relief, Teru turned to face you.
"As for you," he said. "If he does end up hurting someone, the blame will be on you as well."

You lowered your head as Kou began talking to Hanako, trying to wipe the tears from your eyes before you went over to them, your pride refusing to let you even move until you stopped crying, but the tears just wouldn't stop.

Kou was in the middle of telling Hanako about how he didn't trust him but stopped when he heard your quiet sniffling and turned to see you crying. You glanced at Hanako, who was staring at you with an unreadable expression.

"I-I'll just go back inside," he said, and once he was gone, you heard slow footsteps approaching.

"Hey."

You looked up to see Hanako standing in front of you, a soft smile on his face as he pats your head softly.

"You okay?"

The words somehow brought more tears to your eyes, and you found yourself tackling him into a hug, muttering apologize and constantly asking if he's okay while Hanako shushed you, trying to calm you down. Hanako's eyes narrowed as he looked back in the direction that Teru had gone.

Looks like there was another problem that had to be dealt with.