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The first thing she did when they reunited was headbutt him. Then she slapped him. And after that, she started punching him, but her arms flailed around and her hits were ineffective. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Akane cheering her on, while Aoi muttered something in awe. Kou was the only one who seemed somewhat concerned, but even he seems to share everyone’s sentiment that he deserved it. At least Mitsuba shut his mouth after one very threatening grin. Teru only smiled but Hanako knew how much he was enjoying the show. Jerk.
Hanako remembered once, when Nene had crooned at a scene in her manga. At long last, the lovers had been reunited. After some rather heated words and halfhearted violence, they hugged and kissed and promised never to leave each other again. Maybe she was reenacting it now? But having him kneel on the watery floor of the boundary as she told him off for his actions made her seem more like a mother scolding her child than her silly shoujo manga lovers. Nene narrowed her eyes when he opened his mouth to make a joke out of this thought. He closed it slowly.
One very long lecture later (“Are you listening, Hanako-kun? Then repeat after me!”), the crowd around them had dispersed and the two were left in their lonesome. Nene knelt to the floor to meet him at eye level and flicked him on the forehead. “Never again, okay?”
“Yes ma’am...”
“What will you never do?”
“Sacrifice others for the sake of extending you lifespan...”
“And?” Nene raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll talk to you before doing anything dumb.”
“What else?”
“I’m sorry.” No sooner had those words escaped his lips did she sweep him into a hug.
“You big dummy.”
Seeing her go home that day felt ten times worse than usual. The loneliness at the prospect of never being able to hug again almost consumed him as his extended hand moved to his side and he waved goodbye. Hanako hoped she couldn’t see the way his fingers twitched once she left campus. He hoped she didn’t look back to see him lean against the gate as his trembling wracked his entire body.
When her life was extended, she’d never see him again. When that time came, what would he do? What would she do? Would she continue to clean the bathrooms and talk to air, imagining his response? Would she move on, leaving him a person of the past as she went on to achieve her dreams? A selfish part of him wanted to keep her with him forever.
He squashed that feeling down before he could think more of it, or worse, act upon it.
That didn’t stop the feeling from festering inside him.
It came as a shock— though perhaps it shouldn’t have— when Nene lived past her first year of high school and was still able to see beings and remnants of the Far Shore. She pressed her thumb onto the faucet and swiped it across her other arm, leaving a small trail of scales behind.
“Our fates are tied together. I’d have fought God and anyone else who’d stop me from seeing you.”
How silly, he wanted to tease her as his heart swelled with emotion. He took her face into his hands and pressed a smile to her forehead instead. Nene blubbered something incomprehensible.
“A magic spell to let you see me.” He murmured as his mark disappeared, a protective charm laying dormant until the moment came. “Always.”
Graduation came too soon. Hanako tried his best to maintain a genuine smile on his face when Nene came into his bathroom to show him her certificate. It wobbled and fell as he congratulated her and Nene had to wipe his tears away when he began to sniffle. “It’s not the last time I’ll see you.”
“You are not going to stay here to keep me company.”
“I’ll visit when I can!”
“I doubt it.” She deflated. It wasn’t a lie, university would definitely keep her busy. But Nene remained determined to keep in touch with him and who was he to deny her of her dreams and wishes?
Though they parted with a compromise between them and Tsuchigomori to allow Hanako to text her with his phone on occasion, Hanako felt loneliness a hundred times worse than when they first truly parted.
That didn’t stop them from texting each other almost every night, much to the chagrin of the Fifth Mystery of Kamome Academy.
The end of Kou’s last year with him left him feeling empty.
Adventure birthed from maintaining peace within the school between the supernatural and the humans resumed to being a job.
It was dull.
Two things happened to brighten his time in the school. One, Minamoto Tiara had officially become a first year middle schooler. But more importantly, Nene came back.
For real this time, she was to be a Home Ec teacher from that day on. Hanako flew straight at her the moment he was informed by Tsuchigomori of this new development. Class had yet to start and the teachers were walking past each other as they prepared for class. The empty hallway felt full when she came into view.
“Yashiro~”
“Hanako-kun!” Nene laughed. She was taller, fuller in her figure, and exuded a mature charm to her. Hanako nuzzled closer as she giggled. “I’m back.”
“Welcome back.”
Nene came every day and Nene left every day. Hanako trailed after her, clung onto her, and did everything with her. He attended her classes with full attention, stuck by her side whenever she travelled from classroom to classroom, and ate with her whenever allowed. Nene always made sure to make something for him.
“It’s like we’re a married couple then,” Hanako joked as they ate lunch on the rooftop. Nene no longer denied loving him, but she always rolled her eyes or quipped back whenever he made such remarks. Not this time though. Nene had simply set her chopsticks down and looked at him steadily.
“Only like? Not because we are?” He stilled then, shocked. Dropping his chopsticks, he fumbled for a response. Nene shook her head. “Only if you want to, of course.”
“I do!” He shouted. Even though they were alone, he couldn’t help but flush in embarrassment. “I want to.”
“Perfect.” From her pocket, Nene took out a pair of rings. She lifted Hanako’s left hand and slipped the ring onto his ring finger. It fit just right. “I guess holding hands all the time has its benefits.”
Hanako slipped the ring onto her finger shakily. He was scared his trembling would cause him to drop the precious item in his hand though luckily he managed just fine. Nene kissed the ring once he was done.
“Yours forever.”
“From now and beyond death, our bond will never sever.”
He brushed his lips against hers.
Being a teacher gave her less time to deal with supernatural antics, but she always joined in with fondness in her eyes. When he asked if she long outgrew her fear, Nene merely shook her head and answered, “I know you’ll protect me.”
That was unfair. How could she make him fall in love with her all over again and make his dead heart skip a beat?
Maybe he started getting overprotective after that. And maybe he started depending too much on Tiara’s natural talent to get his job done for him. But Tiara was always happy to help and Nene always properly compensated her for her work, not to mention Tiara seemed to rather adore them both. Hanako was glad she looked at him like her second brother had after their rocky relationship smoothed out. If she had taken more after her oldest brother...
Sometimes during the lull of paper grading and class scheduling, he took a peek at his wife and wondered, was this really okay?
Nene’s college debut hadn’t gone as she planned. She married without wearing the white wedding dress she wanted and she never actually took her first swig of alcohol once she was of age.
“Do you regret it?” He asked one day as the ring on his finger seemed to tighten around him and threatened to snap his finger clean off.
“Never.” She insisted.
Still, he felt horrible for robbing her future. Nene was human, she deserved more than to be held back by her ghostly spouse who had no future.
“Do you want to redo it?”
“It’s fine,” she said. “But if you insist...”
He insisted.
“Then I want to try a few new things.”
And thus, they had another wedding. They held a small ceremony in the bathroom with close friends as guests. Nene dressed in the snow-white gown she dreamed of wearing. They drank themselves silly and he helped her the morning after with her hangover and helped her plant a few flowers in his bathroom. It was strange to say the least.
“They might not make it,” he pointed out.
“They will,” said Nene.
When the first blooms of the pink primrose began to decorate the dreary bathroom, Hanako visibly cheered. When Nene suggested they try to grow other flowers, he readily agreed. When she jokingly called their flowers their children, Hanako began to cry.
“It’s not the same,” said Hanako.
“Not to me,” Nene stroked his head. “Congratulations, you’re a father.”
“The mother sure is putting him to work,” he laughed.
“Be prepared for another child,” she pinched his cheek in retaliation.
Nene may formally be a teacher, but she occasionally referred to him as Yugi-sensei. When that happened, she asked him about science and the stars. He didn’t know why she had those moments, when her gaze was wistful yet pained. So he would brush her hair out of her face and obliged.
“Will you teach me again?” She asked, a blanket tucked tightly around her. He peered down at her. Nene’s face was developing wrinkles, her strength lessening and her immunity worsening. She shivered from a stray gust of wind. Hanako scooped her up into his arms and immediately descended down the stairs into the much warmer school building.
“Of course.” When Nene self consciously touched her face, he shook his head. “You’re still beautiful, Nene.”
“I’m not,” she laughed. “But thank you.”
When he bid her goodbye that night, his heart clenched in worry. For the first time in a long time, leaving her side felt awful.
Though Nene retired soon after, she still found time and ways to visit him constantly. Hanako would show her their children and she would praise him for raising them so well. When she brought Kou to visit, he felt younger, though he no longer aged. The exorcist was wiser and more powerful, and his kindness only grew with time. Spending time with each other reminded him of the best times. He knew they felt the same. Their banter was different, but it held the same youthful dynamic as it once had.
“Come visit more often,” He told Kou.
“I’ll find time to,” the blond reassured him.
“Cheating on me?” Nene asked frostily. They froze and turned slowly. Her glare softened immediately. “It’s been so long since we three met up like this. I missed that feeling.”
“Yeah.”
“Same here.”
“We’ll see each other soon!” Nene chirped as Kou left for home. She stayed behind at the entrance with Hanako as the exorcist became a small dot in the distance. The floaty sensation from their reunion quickly morphed into bittersweet dread. “Hanako-kun.” He turned to her cautiously. “We’ll be okay.”
“Yeah.”
For now. But how much longer?
It’d been a while since either of them visited.
He could wait. It had been fifty years before he had the time of his afterlife.
Tsuchigomori seemed dodgy today. Was he scared that his rumor was fading? Or was it the rumors that he was more than he seemed, what with his many decades as a teacher of the school?
Nene didn’t come today either.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene.
Still no Nene. Still no Nene. Still no Nene.
Still no Nenestill no Nene still no nonononononono Neeeeeneeeeeeeneneneeeene
Still not here didn’t come either what happened where is she whyisntshehere why why why???
Today marked the ninetieth year since she made her wish in the sky.
Her book bled black.
Yashiro Nene.
Forever in our hearts and minds, may you rest in peace.
Their children would outgrow him. He didn’t care to look after them anymore.
Primrose. Forget me nots. Geraniums.
His children. Her children. Their children.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
He had a duty to perform.
It didn’t matter.
He had people worried for him.
It didn’t matter.
He had a ring still, on his finger.
It mattered.
He missed her.
He wanted to see her.
This hurt.
Thinking of her hurt.
Missing her hurt.
He wanted to see her.
God. Please.
Let me see her again.
He didn’t know when or for how long he fell asleep, but he regained consciousness in a white space. Nene was there beside him, slumbering and looking as she had when she first met him. God was in front of them. He looked to God for answers.
God told him he was absolved of his crimes. His brother had gone on ahead of them. But he was waiting. Tsukasa can wait, Hanako chuckled. God left them without a word.
Nene woke up shortly after. She looked at her hands and touched her face. She looked at the ghost beside her. The ring on their fingers thinned and reddened. A connection between their fingers was formed.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“Don’t leave me this time.” How selfish. Hadn’t she been the one to leave him? No... it didn’t matter. He took her hand in his and led her towards a new future.
“Never again.”