"Whelp." [Name] raised her hands as she glanced at the empty hourglass that indicates that they ran out of time. "We gonna get shredded then." She shrugged. Yashiro held on to [Name] in fear once the atmosphere turned dark and the dolls started to give out an eerie vibe.

"Who's late for class?" The dolls asked.

"Your mom." [Name] takes a shinai, the wooden sword that is used for kendo, from the pile of random stuffs at the corner to use it as a weapon.

"Come and get me." Kou pointed his staff at the bunch of dolls as he and [Name] are back-to-back with each other. [Name] twirled her kendo stick and went mass hitting the approaching dolls along with Kou.

A large pair of scissors came out of nowhere catching [Name]'s attention, she lowered her stick, stared at it in dismay and cursed under her breath—if only there's a rock around here somewhere then throwing it to the open pair of scissors, it would feel like a rock paper scissors game. "Oh man holy shit."

"Get down!" Hanako yelled, grabbing Kou and [Name]'s head as the latter grabbed Yashiro to duck her head to avoid the scissors. All of a sudden, the scissors began chasing the four of them as [Name] continued to clear the pathway by hitting the dolls. They were almost to the gate until someone grabbed [Name]'s leg.

"The one late for class is...you!"

[Name] tried to pry off the doll that was holding her leg, gripping on to her black stockings. "Let me go!" [Name] yelled while poking the stick to the dolls. Yashiro and Kou screamed at her but she insisted that they should keep on going as she gets rid of the doll. [Name] tossed the doll up to the air and kicked it off. "Ugh—do they have a leg fetish or something?!"

The dolls kept grabbing her legs as if they don't want to let her go. "[Name]!" Hanako yelled out while reaching his hand out while the dolls were holding him back using their little hands. [Name] managed to hit the dolls off of her and at the moment she turned around, an open pair of scissors was about to cut her neck off.

"[Name]! [Name]-senpai!" Kou and Yashiro shouted in unison.

[Name] tossed the kendo stick to the scissors to prevent her head getting cut off but the scissors sliced that one as if it was a toothpick. Hanako swiftly carried her into his arms before the scissors even tried to attack her. "Hanako-kun!" [Name] exclaimed while wrapping her arms around his neck so she won't fall off.

"Stand back." Hanako puts [Name] down as he ran towards the scissors, managed to dodge the attacks as he kicked the tension screw of the scissors until it broke. [Name] watched there in awe, she didn't know whether her heart was beating because of fear or that the fact Hanako saved her like a Romeo he is.

Wait—does Romeo even save? [Name] furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and shook her head. "Hanako-kun, is it over?" [Name] asked.

"No" Hanako lowered his voice to indicate his seriousness. "It's not yet over."

"Shit, not again." [Name] hissed once she felt the dolls grabbing her legs. Though she felt dead inside because her wooden weapon was now broken by the scissors and she can't give the dolls a vibe check. Yashiro kicked off the dolls that were crawling towards her.

"Boy!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Kou twirled his staff to the air then hitting the dolls as they came flying off to nowhere and that their pathway to the door was now clear. Hanako quickly came to [Name] as he carried her again in his arms. She slightly blushed at the situation but she didn't care anymore.

Hanako grinned at [Name], making sure to hold her so that she wouldn't fall off. "Shall we run away?~" He asked as the group ran away from the scissors that was chasing them. [Name] had her cheeks dusted in red—but she's internally screaming because this scenario is just like when someone swept you off your feet, something Yashiro would like.

"But the door!" Yashiro pointed out.

The mokkes showed up holding up the arm that they chose. "Pick one!" They said.

"Quick! Offer the arm!" Hanako commanded.

Kou grabbed the muscle arm and shoved it in the box as if he was a pitcher in a baseball game. The compartment closed and the door opened in front of them causing the group to jump in and shut the door close. Kou and Yashiro panted breathlessly as Hanako still has [Name] in his arms.

"Um, Hanako-kun?" Yashiro questioned, pointing at Hanako carrying [Name] as this is the part where he is supposed to put her down after arriving to the second phase of their adventure. "Why are you holding [Name] so close to you?" The cream haired girl tried to contain her excitement because it's like she's seeing a live action of a romantic drama between her bestfriend and a ghost.

As Hanako guided [Name] to step down to the ground, he still has his hands tenderly holding her arms, their eyes met and realization hits them both. The two of them became a blushing mess. "A-Ah that was n-nothing!" The ghost looked away while waving his hands in embarrassment. "She's my assistant and she's mine—I mean, I need to protect her—so that's why I saved her!" And Hanako almost slipped out that statement.

'Smooth, Hanako, smooth.' [Name]'s shoulders stiffened on the spot on where she was standing to see Hanako being teased by Yashiro and Kou staring at him in suspicion. [Name] leaned against the door to catch her breath. "That was one hell of an adventure." Not to mention, there are still a lot of stairs to climb on.

The telephone nearby began to ring, it's that Misaki woman that is calling them—probably commanding them to find a certain body part or is it over. [Name] walked over to the telephone and held it against her ear. "Hello, this is Jollibee may I take your order?"

"My left arm. Find my left arm for me... I pray before class every morning. I clap my left and right hands together, I pray for everyone to have another happy day. Hurry before class—"

Hanako snatched the telephone from [Name] so he could be the one to talk to the woman on the phone. "Hey there, Number Two~" He greeted with a smirk plastered upon his face, carressing the cord between his fingers. "Long time no chat, you remember me don't you?~"

"Class begins soon." She said before hanging up the call.

"You know her Hanako-kun?" Yashiro asked.

"Yeah, we're both wonders of the school."

[Name] raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait guys—didn't the woman said—" The timer of the hourglass starts once again interrupting [Name] from saying her realization. Now that the rest have their focus on another arm hunt, she doesn't have an opportunity to slide the conversation in.

Kou rubbed his head in frustration, he grumbled. "Another arm hunt? What a pain." The blonde junior complained. "Oi Hanako, isn't there another way?" He asked while Hanako was holding some toys, such as the monkey with cymballs and the small drums, because if I don't specify what the toys are, the readers will have their minds out of the gutter.

"Like what?"

"Like does she have a weakness or something?"

Hanako's eyelids droop a little and smiled. "She does actually."

"She has a weakess. Her yorishiro, that's what it's called."

"Yoshi—what now?" [Name] tilted her head in confusion. The fact that she isn't familiar with the supernatural terms honestly made her think that she wished she could've been aware to the spooky side of the academy. [Name] may like occult things but her love for Astronomy was the one preventing her from keeping her interest intact.

"They're precious objects that give power to the Seven Wonders." A mokke came over to hand Hanako a monkey toy to demonstrate how the yorishiro works. He grabbed the toy and removed the battery from the compartment. "Well, I guess it's kinda like a battery. Breaking it will weaken the wonder, she won't be able to maintain this Boundary anymore."

"That's it!" Kou puts his fist against his palm. "Where is this norishiro thingy?"

"It's yorishiro." Yashiro corrected.

"Yorishiro! Where is it?!"

Hanako had a funny glint in his amber eyes. "In the deepest part of this boundary, the innermost reaches. It's probably way past that door." He pointed at the next door up ahead then upwards to see the stairs spiraling upwards. "At the top of the stairs."

"So that means...?"

"Ah shit, here we go again." [Name] groaned—she disliked long stairs, especially when the elevator in her agency building was under maintenance and she had to climb the emergency stairs which her legs were about to give up just by reaching the fourth floor of the building, what's worse is that she's wearing heels.

"Okay, let's get climbing!" Hanako tries to lighten the mood to cheer them up. "Ready, set, go!"

"This little shit be smiling just because he can float!" [Name] pointed at Hanako who is now a few meters above the steps. Hanako tilted his head towards her direction and smirked at her way.

"Want me to carry you then?~"

[Name] ended up walking up to the stairs as an answer making Hanako have his emo moment to a corner as Yashiro and Kou comforted him for being rejected. And so they went ahead finding body parts that the woman on the phone. "My legs are about to give up before I could even reach the top..." Right leg. Left leg. Torso. Ears. All that is missing is a head.

She looked under the desk and saw a folded note. Curious, [Name] takes the note opening it with shaky hands until her heart dropped when she recognized the writing. It was Souho's handwriting along with someone elses, she had the speculation that it was the alledged bestfriend that he replaced her with.

You should break ties with that girl!

I know but I'm trying to find a way to do that

Make it quick then, I'm your girlfriend now and I don't want a third party

Can't you just wait?

Just ghost her Souho

[Name] wrinkled her nose in disgust as she red the rest of the notes just the replacement acting like a delusional asshole thinking that she and Souho will last forever. 'Damn Souho, you deadass took settle for less a little too serious...' [Name] checked the back of the note for more content but there's nothing interesting in it so she crumpled it.

What's shocking is that Souho is two-timing them from the start, then it stopped when he ghosted [Name]. She didn't know whether her blood is boiling about the girlfriend or Souho. [Name] decided to search for the head to take her mind off of it and when she finally did, she placed the last body part inside the compartment and closed the door. "That's the last one."

"It's opening!" Yashiro said. The last door opens wide as the group was welcomed with bright light shining through their sight. [Name] stepped in and twirled around to look up to the star studded space in astonishment.

'Hold up, if that lady wanted her body parts back, then who the hell is making those phone calls anyways?'

➽───────────────❥

okay i feel tipsy cuz ya gurl here took sum soju mixed with yakult so i have a story for ya all. back in grade 8 i was given some chocolates by the guy i had a crush on back then so i ate two of them (the chocolates are flat tops) and i told myself not to save the last chocolate for me to eat tomorrow, but take note, i am a forgetful biatch so of course i forgot to eat the chocolate and guess what...i was cleaning up during quarantine and dug through my old bag since i was going to give it away, then i saw the lonely chocolate flat tops that i haven't eaten for three years and was wayyyyyy pass the expiration date

what did loraine do? 

a. threw it away

b. ate it (that's shnasty)

c. kept it in her drawers 

i decided to let the flat tops stay bc future people may stumble upon my room museum style and they see the story behind the choco "her dumbass crush gave her this choco and she kept it for decades and its surprising it didn't get infested by bugs"

remind me to throw it away pls..