REALIZATIONS. . .

- I don't really think there's any spoilers??

- - -

"Hanako-kun, we need to talk," said Yashiro suddenly and seriously, her tone matching the look on her face (or, at least, what she tried to make it look like) - fierce.

Hanako tilted his head curiously. "Eh? What's this all about?" He was aware of the atmosphere. Good.

With Hanako, you must be straightforward.

When Yashiro Nene means business, she means business, and absolutely no one - not even the Hanako-san himself - can tear that. She rarely gets all this bossy and cutthroat, because usually (or more like everyday) she's all mild and soft. She's still like a puppy, though. Yashiro can literally try to be keen, and everyone will still coo and pinch her cheeks.

Hanako knows that himself.

"Did I do something?" Hanako asked, feigning innocence by giving his assistant those wide, and pleading puppy eyes, floating as he trailed behind her.

Yashiro continued walking with her chin raised and her steps confident - oh, she's clearly unhappy, Hanako thinks, bemused. "I am going to ignore you," she proclaimed, huffing.

"You just talked to me right now," Hanako crooned, his lips curled into a smirk.

Yashiro flushed, yet she hid it quickly by looking away, crossing her arms as an added obvious act of ignoring him. She didn't say anything else after that, not trusting her words anymore.

With Hanako, you must be tricky.

Hanako took it as a cue to continue on his (pretty useless) whining. "But, Yashiro! I didn't do anything bad today. . . I think." Yashiro rolled her eyes at this, not fighting the smile that creeped up her face. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed as Hanako's grin widened. "I just played cards with the Mokke! That's all! Unless playing cards with the Mokke is forbidden now."

"Geez, Hanako-kun, you should really stop acting so childish," Yashiro said, still avoiding eye contact - which annoyed Hanako a bit. Just a bit.

Hanako brightened as if he won the lottery. "You talked to me again. Yashiro, you should really stop making false declarations and hollow promises."

Yashiro grumpily placed her hands on her hips. "I scolded you, I didn't have a friendly chit-chat with a five-year old who likes to be a burden to their babysitter," she reasoned out, getting further irritated when Hanako barked out a laugh.

"Okay, okay."

With Hanako, you must always be on your toes. Be wary.

He doesn't carry a knife around for no reason.

"But seriously, Yashiro, are you okay?" Hanako asked when he realized that Yashiro wasn't playing along her jokes. "You can just tell me now."

Yashiro didn't answer his question, and instead, gestured at the balcony in front of them. "We're here. Let's talk."

Yashiro placed down a picnic mat (which Hanako just realized she was carrying all along) and plopped down, patting the spot beside her. Hanako sat down with no problem, anticipation and anxiousness bubbling in his chest.

"Is this about the donut thing?" Hanako questioned guilelessly. "If it is, I promise you, none of it was my fault." That assurance didn't really help, but it lightened the atmosphere.

"No," Yashiro said, lightly chuckling as Hanako still stared at her with puppy eyes.

But with Hanako, you can be carefree. He can tear down walls you built with ease, especially when you understand him.

Yet that's also the problem, Yashiro can't understand him.

"I was upset you and Minamoto-kun trashed the toilets with a food fight because you made my job harder, but you guys helped anyway, and I had fun," Yashiro told Hanako, smiling. Though it wasn't wide, it was still genuine. And that's more than enough for Hanako.

With the power of puppy eyes! Yashiro never stood a chance.

"So you aren't mad?" asked Hanako hopefully, leaning closer.

Yashiro hummed thoughtfully, before she just shrugged. "I don't know. I'm still mad at you-" Hanako gaped dramatically- "but I'll bring that up later. For now, I want to talk about this."

Hanako still didn't know what this was about.

"I heard," Yashiro began, pausing for dramatic effect, "from Akane-kun that you were hanging outside of our classroom! The whole day! I told you that today can't be toilet-cleaning day. . ."

Hanako whined and flailed his arms around like a kid throwing a tantrum. "But, Yashiro! Why did you even forbid me to visit you when I want to. . ."

Yashiro sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Hanako-kun, you know yourself that Minamoto-senpai roams around the hallways in his spare time. Do you really want him to see you loitering students' classrooms again?"

Hanako shuddered, vividly remembering the time where the older Minamoto glared him down and used his staff as a threat. Scary would be an understatement, because the look of pure hatred in the blond's icy eyes were cold.

"You do know that Akane-kun can easily tell Minamoto-senpai with what you've been up to?" Yashiro added.

Hanako glowered, but not directly at Yashiro. "Well, I can just tell the kid to mind his own business because I'll be annoyed."

"We both know it would give him more reason to tell him."

Hanako just pouted. Okay, he understood why she was mad now. He understands that Yashiro is just protective of him, and he's grateful for that.

But he gets lonely sometimes! Of course he'd want to visit his assistant from time to time - both with the intention to waste his time out of boredom, and to make sure she's safe and not trailing after some hot guy or a supernatural that tricked her or something.

Those had happened too many times Kou can count. (And it's actually not that much).

"How about we make a deal, Hanako-kun?"

Hanako's mouth curved upward. He likes the sound of that. "Oh? My interest is piqued now." Hanako sniggered at the blank face Yashiro threw at him.

"How about. . .you stop randomly barging in my classroom-"

Hanako's face turned sour, and he opened his mouth to interrupt, but Yashiro raised her hand.

"-and I'll visit you more often?"

Hanako visibly perked up, his eyes widening as he beamed with no shame. "Eh? Really? You will?"

With Hanako as your friend, you can easily become qualified as a babysitter with the experience you have with whiny toddlers.

Yashiro nodded, and Hanako was quick to tackle her into a hug. "Yay! More quality bonding time! We're going to have so much fun! Oh, this is gonna be so good. . ."

Yashiro sighed, yet a fond smile graced her lips. She softened up to him, eventually. "Besides, Hanako-kun, why won't you just visit Minamoto-kun? You two are friends, right?"

Hanako chuckled sheepishly. "Aha, well, I already tried that. It didn't go so well."

"Huh? Why?"

"At first, he ignored me. I tried to annoy the boy, but he didn't budge. I tried circling around him, throwing tantrums, and even mocking the teacher! But he just stared right ahead," Hanako said dejectedly.

Yashiro quirked a brow. Oh, he's good.

"I broke him when I started pulling funny faces and scaring his friends by making some stuff float."

Yashiro gasped. "Hanako-kun! You don't just- you don't just do that! What if Minamoto-kun got into trouble."

Hanako laughed and waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, no. Tsuchigomori was their teacher at the time. He was pretty amused but when Kou started screaming 'spider-face, help me!' in the middle of class repeatedly, he kicked me out. No one in their class really cared. It was weird so I didn't bother trying that again."

With Hanako, you must have the patience of a driver late at work waiting at an old lady cross the street.

And let me tell you, that is saint level of patience.

"Oh, Hanako-kun. . ."

Hanako glanced at Yashiro and grinned. "But, hey, you love me!"

"Yeah, right."

Yashiro giggled at Hanako's suddenly depressed mood. She motioned for him to get closer and pecked his nose in a swift motion.

Hanako suddenly exploded into bright red.

With Hanako, Yashiro realized that he's wrong about some things, but there's this one thing that he is right about.

Yashiro Nene loves Hanako-kun, in more ways than one.

- - -

I HAVE MORE TIME TO UPDATE BECAUSE SCHOOL SUSPENDED A WHOLE WEEK AND IM SKKSJSJDJA

anyway, i didn't really like this chapter so much because it wasn't going anywhere

But it was in my drafts for so long and i didn't have the heart to delete it 🤧🤧

But thank you anwyays for reading! I really appreciate your comments! 💕😔