"Remember how I used to be so,

Stuck in one place so cold?"

-magic : tomorrow by together

It's been a month since [Name] called it quits with Souho. There's still a part of her that wanted to beat his ass up but she must be calm if she wanted to have a clean record of not going to the guidance office. [Name] remembered from a post saying that she needed to wait for three months to find another significant other, she thought it was stupid.

"[Name]-chan, shouldn't you be finding a new boyfriend? It's been a month since you broke up with Shirasagi-san." Yuna sipped on her tomato juice, smacking her lips to taste the puree. [Name] shuddered, who the hell thought of making tomato juice? It's like drinking water based ketchup.

[Name] took the can of banana milk from the vending machine. "I kinda want to focus on my studies at the moment." She said while opening her can and taking a sip from her drink. Their other groupmate, Sooyoung, followed along as the three made their way to the canteen to work on their assesment that is assigned by their teacher. The focus on the studies part is translated to 'I have anime characters to simp for and I have no time for that.'

"But do you see any guys you think you're interested to?" Sooyoung asks.

"Like in the academy? They look okay to me." The three girls sat down on the table as each of them placed their books down.

"Ehh? You're not even attracted to Minamoto-senpai?" Yuna gasps in disbelief when [Name] told them that the boys in the school looked okay. "He's like the hottest guy in school!" Literally Teru's fangirls were like a copy and paste of one another because they all share the same braincells. [Name] is aware that not being attracted to a handsome popular guy has a higher chance of being with them—like in stories and she wishes that none of things happen to her. "I guess people who don't find him hot is an alien."

"Guess I'm an alien." [Name] shrugged.

"Then what is your preference to guys?" Sooyoung questioned.

[Name] sat against her chair, putting a hand under her chin to think. Her preference in anime crushes and human crushes are different with one another, like if she wanted tall anime guys then in terms of real life she likes short guys. 'I don't have a specific type—shit no wonder Hanako told me I'm easy to get because I have no preference at all and I get easily flustered around everyone who tries to charm me.'

She was seated in front of Sooyoung and Yuna, what the two girls didn't know that Teru was leaning against the wall at the distance away from them while sipping juice. [Name] and Teru made eye contact, so the blonde haired boy gave her a friendly wave. "What do you think Minamoto-senpai's type is?" Yuna excitedly piped up completely ignoring that Y/n was about to answer.

"Do you think he likes girls who are equally hot as him?"

"Maybe he liked girls who are in Student Councils."

"He probably has a high standard considering he's really smart."

As hours went by, the class had a gardening practice where everyone had to participate in making the school garden look good. Yuna and Sooyoung were still chatting about Teru's type, Y/n decided to go to her group of friends. Akane was showing Aoi some of his weeding skills, followed by a confession. "Hmm, three points."

"Damn it all!" Akane groaned in frustration.

"If you make something unique and not doing it as a daily thing she would have given you higher than that." [Name] agressively pulls out the grass from the ground, removing the dead grass along with the roots. An irk mark appeared on Akane's side of the forehead, he slowly turned to [Name] with a sinister smile as he thought of a perfect comeback.

"At least I didn't get ghosted."

And that made [Name] force a smile as she clenched her fist in front of Akane in attempts to swing a punch on him. "What the fuck did you say to me you tomato looking ass?" The two started bickering at each other, throwing insult after insult while Yamabuki tried to calm them down. "I hope Aoi gives you negative points!"

"I hope you'll be single forever!"

"Oh, why the hell not? I'm going to be a rich single auntie in the future and I won't relate to your broke ass—bitch!" [Name] sticks her tongue out. Some of their classmates are at the corner witnessing the two argue with heart eyes because of their rivals-to-lovers trope fantasy were laid upon their vision in real life.

Yashiro is helping out Aoi since both girls are in the Gardening Club together. Even if they urged [Name] to join their club back then, she couldn't find gardening as something she could do after school. [Name] went to some of her friends in the Astronomy Club who are in the same level as her, like Tsurumaki and Hazawa, to help them out. "[Name]~!" Tsurumaki threw her arms around [Name]. "Can you get my watering can filled, I have to get the fertilizer."

"Sure, Tsurumaki-san." [Name] takes the watering can with her as she made her way to the outdoor sink to fill up the container with water. 'It's been a month since I was ghosted, and met Hanako-kun.' She thought while visualizing an image of Hanako throwing peace signs to show his enthusiasm, but you can't blame him since it's been a long time he had someone to talk to. 'Things were pretty decent, except the fact that because of Hanako, I encountered a lot of supernaturals...'

[Name] spotted Souho at the distance who is being flirty yet distant, she had the speculation that he doesn't like physical affection yet his ugly ass girlfriend is being uncomfortably clingy towards him. 'Ah, so that shit was the replacement then? Heck the hideous thing we made back in the Misaki Stairs was even more attractive than her.' She shuddered as she looked away from them to fill up the watering can.

'That's right!' [Name] chewed her bottom lip. 'I have to think positive! Meeting Hanako-kun is not that bad as I expected, there are other good things that happened after that.' She glanced at the mokkes who were trying to offer her candy which she thanked them after she received the candy. 'I got to meet with the cute little mokke who gives me candy. I managed to save Aoi and the others.'

And then.

"There, a charm. To make you feel better~"

[Name]'s face turned red once she recalled what happened between them during the night after reconciling with Yako. Hanako's voice rang inside her head and the feeling of his lips against her cheek still lingered despite weeks ago had passed. "What do you mean a good charm?! You're just messing with me!" [Name] twists the faucet quite aggressively to the point the handle could've snapped to fill up the can. "Stupid ghost, making me flustered and feel weak."

'I mean I did kiss him on the cheek too, well it's automatic instinct—if someone kisses you on the cheek, you kiss them back?' But that only applies to her female friends, in this case Hanako is a boy—a boy who kissed her cheek. [Name] still has an evident blush on her face, putting the watering can on the sink as she placed her palms on the side of her cheeks. Warm.

'I just got ghosted and now I'm crushing over to a literal ghost? Nope not today, Yashiro is going to replay that audio recording of me saying that I'm not falling for ghosts!' [Name] went over to Yashiro as her stupid head of hers kept replaying the flashback of that night. She brought the watering can back to Tsurumaki and left while smacking her own cheeks softly to calm her blush. 'Who wouldn't get flustered if someone kissed you on the cheek? I mean, I never had any guy kissed my cheek.'

'Not to mention, I never had my first kiss.'

[Name] stopped walking, almost tripping on the ground when she realized something. "Wait a damn minute." It comes to her conclusion that the famous Seventh Wonder of Kamome Academy, Hanako-san of the Bathroom has a crush on her. [Name] has this gut instinct in which she can tell whether who's crushing on who, though she can never confirm that her sense is right when it comes to people crushing on her because it might end up as a wrong idea. "Don't tell me..."

'Hanako-san of the toilet is crushing on me?' [Name] wanted to laugh, she really did if it wasn't true, now that she had connected the dots, took a couple steps back to see the signs. The way he was willing to bond with her using the bad luck tags to disperse the curse, he's always been so flirty and clingy towards her especially where he randomly puts his hands on top of hers or that he would always try to make her blush.

"Hanako-kun, I'm sorry but I just had to point out whether you like your girls alive. You have ghost girls around the school why don't you hit them up." [Name] muttered under her breath. The fact that she doesn't need to be in a relationship right now and then an opportunity to get a boyfriend suddenly comes around made her eye twitch in annoyance. Guess it applies that it only appears when you don't need them.

"Hi [Name]-chan!" Aoi crept behind [Name] and touched her shoulder to get her attention.

"DSJBVKJSBKD!" [Name] flinched and shielded herself using her arms after being startled. She sighed in relief when she saw Aoi and Yashiro were the ones behind her so she grabbed both of their hands. "Girls, I need to ask you guys something." [Name] took the girls to the greenhouse to ask for advice, to see if they know since the two were known to be a fan of romance.

"Okay, there's this guy." [Name] began to explain her story with matching hand motions as if they were all in a sleepover talking about boys. "He's really clingy towards me, and he's saying things like 'stay' and 'you got me' he also kissed me on the cheek." Aoi only scooted closer because her interest got piqued while Yashiro knew who [Name] is talking about—which is Hanako. I mean, he's the only guy that [Name] mostly interacts to and was closer to any guys in class.

"Eek!" Aoi puts her gloved hands to her cheeks in excitement. "I think he likes you [Name]-chan! But I thought you can tell whether someone likes you?" The purple haired girl said while tilting her head to the side in confusion. Yashiro pulled out her phone, the verge of playing the recording of [Name]'s words back by the sidewalk, but [Name] thrusted her eyeballs at her as a sign not to do it.

"Souho is a different story, but like—what should I do? I don't want to reject this guy because he seemed so sweet, but I promised myself to prioritize my studies first before dating someone." Because she doesn't want to lose to Hanako and prove that she isn't as desperate to just grab someone to be used as her boyfriend to have the shoujo anime experience. '[Name], he's a ghost, it's better than being ghosted right?'

"I mean kissing you out of the blue can't mean anything else!"

"But kissing someone on the cheek can be platonic."

"Shush Nene-chan!"

[Name] placed her palms against her face and let out a muffled groan. "I kissed him back on the cheek!" But that statement made Aoi and Yashiro fangirl, [Name] had always been so mundane after she broke up with Souho a month ago, so why not cheer their friend on to grab this opportunity to love this guy back and date them.

"So you guys like each other but you both don't realize it? Do you like him too [Name]-chan?"

[Name] deadpanned. "Well love is not just grabbing whatever in the grocery store, you gotta check the quality to see if its long lasting." She said while resting her cheek against the heel of her palm. "I guess he's not that bad, I mean I'd date him—but."

"What's holding you back anyways?" [Name] can't just say that the person she's talking about is a literal ghost that haunts the girls' bathroom because Aoi would think she's a delusional dumbass with lose screws on her head. "Get this opportunity to try out dating again. I know that Shirasagi-kun ghosted you and swore not to date anyone, why not give this guy a chance then?"

"Besides, you're pretty easy to woo." And that hit a nail on [Name], she starts to contemplate whether she is really easy to get. "But you're kind of dense" Aoi whispered the last part to herself. Easy for her to say since Aoi can easily reject the guys she confessed to left and right so she's hard to get, especially to Akane.

"At this rate, he might confess his feelings to you. Everyone's doing it though."

"It's not even Valentines Day." [Name] wrinkled her nose.

Aoi opened the window and pointed at a lonely tree by the distance near the school's entrance. [Name] and Yashiro looked at the tree. "Look. The Confession Tree." She starts to explain the rumor behind the tree. "Rumor has it that it was raised by a God of Love. If you confess your love under it, you'll become a couple for sure."

"Was that tree always there?" Yashiro questioned.

"That tree is literally a non-straight person who falls in love with their straight bestfriend's biggest dream." [Name] squinted to take a closer look of the tree. "Souho confessed to me through text anyways, what a clown."

"Look, there's someone there!" Aoi piped up when she saw two people by the Confession Tree.

"Ao-chan, I," Akane puts his hands on his chest. [Name] blinked stupidly, this guy is using the Confession Tree to get a one hundred percent guaranteed acceptance from Aoi. "Love you!" He finished. Yamabuki was in front of him playing with his phone, not having a care in the world.

"Okay." Yamabuki answered boredly. "Sure. Whatever."

"Take this seriously!"

Aoi smiled at the girls. "Guess he was just practicing."

"Damn, he never gives up on you." [Name] looked at Aoi. "I wish all were like that."

"I mean you don't have experience in dating as well, Aoi." Yashiro pointed out the facts. "Why not try dating Akane-kun?" She asked. [Name] noticed that there are students who were acting lovey dovey towards each other, not to mention they are all couples. [Name] sweatdropped, they did not just rub the fact that she is single and lonely.

"My single ass can't relate with this shit in front of me."

"He might ask you to meet him there soon [Name]-chan." Aoi tells her.

Later that day, [Name] tried her best not to blush whenever her eyes meet with Hanako's, she's just mopping up the wooden floors of the bathroom as he was playing cards with the mokke. 'It's just a cheek kiss, nothing special. I bet he's just doing it to tease me.' [Name] whined on the inside, she hated herself for having the habit of liking someone back when someone likes her.

"Hey [Name]." Hanako called the [hair color] haired girl which she flinched and almost dropped the mop from her grasp. "After school tomorrow, would you mind coming to the big tree by the garden? There's something I would like to talk about." What. The. Actual. Crumbs? [Name]'s eyes widened in shock as her heart began to pound faster because she knows where this thing is going. If only she's like those dense female leads thinking that he has something to say.

But he was asking her to meet by the Confession Tree—that couldn't mean anything. [Name] felt like she'd seen this situation in a kdrama where a guy asks her to have the talk by somewhere private and the guy pulls her into a kiss and makeout. What was that kdrama again? Love Alarm? [Name] smacked her cheeks for getting her mind dragged out of nowhere. "A-Ah? You mean the Confession Tree?"

"Oh you already know? Great that saves time for me to explain." Hanako's amber eyes lit up with joy. Hanako stood up from the windowsill walking over to her as he slightly bent down to press his lips close to her ear and whispered. "See you there, then." He chuckled as his breathe tickled her ear, still lingered once he walked away.

[Name] held on to her mop like she was holding on to dear life. Her legs were wobbly like squishy slimes as she is about to pass out at any moment. "[Name], don't jump to conclusions. He probably has something to say." She mumbled. "But what if he confesses to me?! I mean sure, Hanako is nice and all but like—he's a ghost—how would that work?!"

"Alright then, future me—give me a spoiler. Give me a sign of what's going to happen tomorrow."

➽───────────────❥

UP NEXT

Another supernatural presence has been reeled out as they finally know the truth behind the thousand couples in the school.

An unexpected couple.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."

➽───────────────❥

so uh, to explain as to why there's an up next on the end of the chapter because i wanted to remember as to what is going to happen on the next chapter just in case i abandon this book due to school so i can look back and say "oh, thanks for reminding me"

although the busier i get, the more specific the details for the upcoming chapters. this is like watching an episode of a kdrama where they show you what's going to happen on the next episode