*** Read in white mode for better experience

You and Yuki sat in the classroom, chatting as you waited for the teacher to enter the classroom. You were doing your best to listen to whatever Yuki was talking about, but your mind kept going back to that encounter with that green-haired girl.

'How does she know Hanako? And why did she call him selfish? Who even is she?'

"...Y/n...Hello? You weren't listening, were you?" Yuki's fingers snapping in front of your face finally made you snap out of your thoughts and look up at him.
"Oh, sorry about that. I just have a lot on my mind," you muttered.
"Well, what is it? I'm sure it'll be better to talk about it," Yuki said, and you lowered your head, trying to think of the best explanation that didn't include mentioning your friendship with a ghost.
"Hey, Yuki? Do you know anything about the fifth wonder of the school?" You asked, recalling that the green-haired girl had said something about it.
"Oh, the fifth?" The blonde paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about it.

"Oh right! The fifth wonder is the four o'clock library. The rumor says there's a special room in the library that you can only enter at four pm. The books inside are all entitled with people's names. They contain the records of that person during their time at this academy. But, the books have the past and the future, so it'll tell what you've done and what you will do. They're all organized by color. Some are white, some are black, and some are red. The white books are records of people who are still alive, and the black books are records of people who are dead."

"And the red ones?" You asked curiously.

"The red ones are the ones that you're never supposed to open."

There was no real point in asking since you had already made up your mind. You were going to visit that library.

That evening at exactly three fifty-eight pm, you stood in the school library, pulling books from the shelf at random and putting them back when nothing happened. You let yourself get lost in your thoughts, recalling what had happened over the last month since you had come to this school.

'I haven't been to see Hanako all day today,' you suddenly remembered, and you immediately felt guilty.

'I hope he's not mad at me.'

You noticed something moving in the corner of your eye and turned to see a purple and black butterfly fly past you and land on a book with spiderweb designs on its bind. Without thinking, you found yourself reaching out to touch it, only for an explosion of dust to emerge from the shelf and cloud your vision as soon as you did.

Once the dust cleared, you saw a door now sitting in the middle of two shelves. Slowly, you pushed the door open and peaked your head inside the room.

The room was huge, with bookshelves along the wall going from floor to ceiling. It was a little dusty but surprisingly well kept, making you wonder who's been taking care of it. You stepped inside, quickly realizing that the lanterns lining the walls were pretty dim and didn't do a good job lighting the room. Just as you considered going back into the school to find a flashlight, a light appeared beside you, and you turned to see one of the Mokke sitting on one of the shelves, its ear wrapped around a lantern.
"Need it?" It asked, and you gave it a grateful smile.
"Thank you," you said, taking the lantern and holding it out in front of you.

Slowly, you entered the room, looking over the shelves that reached from the floor up to the ceiling.
"How the heck will I find anything in here?" You wondered aloud, only for another butterfly fluttering past you to catch your attention. You followed it and watched as it landed on a white book on the bottom shelf.

You shone your light on it and imminently recognized the words.

Y/n L/n.

Letting curiosity get the better of you, you took the book from the shelves and flipped to a random page. Since you had just recently come to the school, the beginning wasn't very long, and all the events were still fresh in your mind.

You kept flipping until you came across a red page that had the word future written on it.

'Should I really know about my future?' Something about this gave you a bad feeling, but your curiosity was far stronger and you found yourself flipping through the pages. Your eyes widened when you landed on a black page that read death.

'That can't be right,' You thought, realizing the death chapter was merely about a hundred or so pages after your future chapter. You turned your attention to the page right before your death and began reading.

'A few days after the incident, Y/n L/n was found dead in the bathroom on the third floor of the old school building.'

Hanako sat in his bathroom, playing cards with the Mokke as he waited for you to come to see him. He huffed in annoyance as the Mokke across from him placed the cards down, revealing their royal flush and celebrating their third win in a row.

The bell signaling the end of the free time rang, and just as Hanako decided to get up and find you, the door slowly opened.

"It's about time. You haven't been to visit me all-"

He narrowed his eyes when he realized the person entering wasn't you, but the person that had kept you from him in the first place. Yuki glanced behind him, making sure that no one had followed him before closing the door, only to freeze when his eyes landed on Hanako.

"A-are you Hanako the bathroom ghost?" He asked timidly. Hanako smiled brightly.
"That's me! What's your wish?" He asked, slowly reaching into his jacket and gripping his knife but resisting the urge to pounce.

If the male could see him without summoning him then, he guessed he was probably an exorcist or the descendant of one, meaning he could touch him as well. Yuki blushed and averted his gaze.
"Well...there's this girl...Her name's Y/n...Y/n L/n, and I was, um... I wish for you to make her fall in love with me." Hanako stood there for a moment, not believing with he just heard. His smile twitched a few times before falling completely, his face contorting into a glare as he slowly pulled out his knife, red beginning to cloud his vision.

Yeah, this kid was going to get it.

You felt your blood run cold as you read the book.

'I...what.'

You looked down to continue reading, hoping to find out who did it and why, only to gasp when red liquid began to soak the pages, making them almost impossible to read.
"What the-" A loud roar echoed through the library, and you looked up to see a monster towering over you, its mouth wide open as it slowly closed in.

"Oh crap!" Dropping the book, you jumped away just as the monster closed its mouth, taking a chunk out of the floor. You took out your staff and glared up at it. It looked over seven feet tall and...

Wait.

"No way," you muttered as the appearance of the monster became all too familiar. "Is that me?" It had the same looks at you, but its entire body was f/c, and written on its face was the number five.
"I don't know what you are, but I don't have time for this," you said, jumping up and hitting the monster right on the head, making it fall backward with a crash. Just as you were about to attack again, a familiar voice seemed to come from all around you.

"Well, there you are."

Your eyes widened as Hanako's Haku-joudai began to swirl around you, but after a moment, they disappeared.

"Where have you been?" You jumped, feeling cold arms wrap around you as Hanako rested his head on your shoulder and pouted.
"I-" you stopped when you heard the monster getting back up. "Not right now Hanako, I'm kind of busy," you said, attempting to shrug him off, but he wouldn't budge.
"Let go!" You shouted as the monster let out another roar, this time butterflies shooting out of its mouth as it did so.
"How annoying?" Hanako sighed before rushing at the monster, taking his knife out of his coat and slashing its head clean off, making it disappear completely.
"Problem solved!" He turned to give you his signature smile. "Now, where have you been? You didn't come to visit me yesterday or today!" You looked around for your book, but all the commotion had caused other books to fall from the shelves, so you couldn't tell which one was yours.
"Sorry about that. I've just been really busy today," you said distractedly.

"What the heck is going on in here?" You and Hanako both turned to see a man approached from further down the hall, and your eyes widened when you recognized him.
"Mr. Tsuchigomori?" You asked as he kneeled to pick up one of the books and dust it off.
"You need to be more careful. Look what you've done to my books," he muttered, but your eyes widened as another monster appeared behind him.
"Watch out!" You shouted, but in the blink of an eye, the creature's head was sliced clean off. Two more hands had emerged from the man's jacket and held the monster's head for a moment before smashing it against the ground.

"This...This is why I hate kids so much. You're sticky, and you don't know when to shut up." You gasped as his third hand reached over and lifted you by the back of your uniform and bringing you closer to him.
"Put me down!" You shouted, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. He held your book in his hand and pointed at it.
"It's red, so I'm guessing you couldn't help yourself and read the future, didn't you? Bad idea. Bad," he scolded. He grabbed one of the butterflies that flew through the air, throwing it into his mouth and smirking as he swallowed it.
"Now then, what shall I do with you?" He asked, and you tensed fearfully. The man felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Hanako standing there with his usual smile.
"You know it's not polite to tease," he said, and the man sighed.
"I guess you're right," he said, dropping you to the ground.
"Hanako, what's going on?" You asked.
"Oh, I guess I forgot to introduce you," Hanako chuckled. "This is wonder number five, the four 'clock library. Meet Mr. Tsuchigomori."
"Yeah, he's my homeroom teacher..." You muttered. "I could tell something was off about you on my first day but I didn't know this school had non-human staff."

Mr. Tsuchigomori blew smoke from his pipe.

"It's not as bizarre as you may think. When you consider that we apparitions cannot exist without our story being told, you'd see why we'd want to take an active role in keeping the rumors alive." You nodded thoughtfully. "Anyways, get out. I have to clean up this mess, and I don't you sticking around and making more." Before you could object, Hanako spoke up. Before you could object, Hanako spoke up.
"Hey, Y/n." You blinked and he was right in front of you, holding the back of your neck to keep you still as he held up two fingers. Before you could question him, he pressed his index and middle fingers against your forehead, and everything went dark.

"So what'd ya do that for?" Tsuchigomori asked as you fell into Hanako's arms.
"One of her friends tried to take what's mine, so I had to eliminate him, and to be safe, I decided to erase her memory of him," Hanako said, picking you up bridal style. "Do you mind if I take her to the nurse's office?" Tsuchigomori sighed, placing a few more books on the shelves before motioning for him to follow him.
"Are you sure that was the best decision?" He asked, and Hanako shrugged as he stared down at your sleeping form.
"No," he shrugged. "But I refuse to let her forget about me like she did, and that boy was nothing but a distraction from what's important."
"Oh, yeah?" The spider-like apparition glanced down at his former student. "And what's that?"
Hanako's grip tightened on you, the mere thought of the boy taking your attention off of him even for a second still making him angry.
"Me."

You woke up in an unfamiliar room, looking around and trying to figure out where you were. You touched your hand to your forehead.

'What happened?'

"Where am I?" You asked, and Hanako chuckled.
"You're in the nurses' office," he said. "Turns out you were dehydrated when you visited the library, so you passed out." You nodded thoughtfully.

"The library..." It was starting to come back to you, and you felt a wave of nausea hit you as you remembered what you read. You held your hand to your mouth as your body began to tremble, and your breathing slowly turned ragged. Hanako's eyes widened when he took notice of your distressed state.
"Hey! What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?" He asked, and you shook your head.
"I...My book...I read that I..." Tears filled your eyes. "It said that I-I was s-stabbed...That I die..." Saying it out loud seemed to be what pushed you over the edge because as soon as the words left your mouth, tears streamed down your face. You felt Hanako pull you into his chest, and without thinking, you gripped his shirt tightly as it began to get harder and harder to breathe.
"Calm down, take deep breaths, alright?" Doing as he said you, inhaled sharply before exhaling.
"I...don't want to die," you hiccuped. "I'm scared." Hanako ran his fingers through your hair soothingly.

"Just breath, alright. I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise."

Once you left school, Hanako went back to the library where Mr. Tsuchigomori was just finishing putting all the books back.
"Is it true?" He asked, and the teacher sighed, having heard your previous conversation with Hanako and knowing all about it.
"If that's what she read, then yes."
"How do I change it?" Hanako's eyes glowed red as he gripped his knife tightly, already planning the death of the person who was planning on hurting you.
"You know that's not how it works," Mr. Tsuchigomori said, breathing out smoke from his pipe. "You might've been able to change your future, but there's a very slim chance that she'll be able to do the same." He turned to walk away. "Whether you like it or not, that girl is going to die."

Hanako stood there, his entire body trembling in anger.

"Not if I can help it."