Pulchritudinous [read desc]

CHAPTER 14

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CHAPTER 14

Spook 14 - The 4pm bookstacks P.4

Amane was looking down at the floor. "Sensei. I want you to know.." Amane's hand went into his pocket. "I have a moon rock! It came one night when I think I was about four. It fell from the sky, right in front of me." He pulled out a rock. "This is it!"

Tsuchigomori leaned closer towards Amane's hand.

"Would you believe me if I said it was real.?" Amane asked.

"No.."

"AH-HA! Thought not!" He exclaimed. "But we believe it's real. And that's why no matter what anyone says, this is a moon rock!" Amane ran over to the chalkboard. "Sensei, how far do you think the moon is from the Earth?" He grabbed a piece of chalk and began writing on the board. "It's more than 380,000 kilometers away! And that's how far this baby traveled to get here from the moon! Isn't that incredible!? Even a rock like this... Can go that far." Amane held the rock between his fingers. "It's my prize possession."

Tsuchigomori looked at Amane. "..We're not talking about the moon, Yugi. We're talking about y-"

"Hey! Look at that!"

"Listen to me!"

"Sensei! The moon's already out!" Amane exclaimed as he opened the classrooms window.

Tsuchigomori looked at Amane's bandaged arm. 'It's coming untied' he went over to the first aid kit.

"Have you ever wanted to go to the moon, sensei?" Amane asked.

"Huh?"

Amane was now standing on the ledge of the window. "Well...I have." He held up the moon rock to the sky. "The moon's so big and beautiful." Amane's feet were at the edge of the windowsill. "Maybe that's why I just.. I feel like it's gotta be a really great place."

Tsuchigomori shot up from his seat and ran towards Amane. "JUST A- BE CAREFUL! GET DOWN FROM THERE! NOW!"

Amane turned around and slapped Tsuchigomori's hand. "Hey, sensei." Amane was now sitting on the windowsill. "Sensei, you said.. You're worried about me, right?"

"Yeah."

"You said you wanted to help me."

"I did."

"Then would you.. Do just one thing for me?" Amane asked.

"All right."

"Great!" Amane took Tsuchigomori's hand and placed the moon rock in it. "Then here. Take this."

"Isn't this your prize possession?"

"Yeah. It's just whenever I look at that rock, I feel like I could go anywhere." Amane looked at the moon. "But.." he turned to Tsuchigomori. "I've made up my mind now. I'm not going anywhere."

♡♢♤♧

(Y/n) woke up in the infirmary, she shot up from her laying position.

"Awake?" Tsuchigomori questioned.

"Sensei.." (Y/n) looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"Wh-what I just saw.."

"The same thing happened with number 2, remember.? You saw the memories housed within the Yorishiro."

"Then one of the people you said changed the future.. Don't tell me it's.."

"Amane Yugi. Number 7's past self. It's written with the first kanji in the word 'normal,' and pronounced 'Amane.' strange name, right? Well.. his name wasn't the only unusual thing about him.. The day before we had that conversation.. Humankind made its first moon landing. It might be difficult to imagine just how significant that event was. These days, the moon is just another place people can go. It's common knowledge that humans can get there. But back then, it was different. 'I want to fly.' 'I want to talk to animals,' 'I want to travel through time'. Kids would talk about dreams that couldn't possibly happen in real life. 'I want to go to the moon' used to be one of them- an unrealistic dream. But it came true. And if that was the case.. What other impossible dreams could eventually come true? Maybe there's nothing truly impossible in this world. We can all be anything we want to be. We can go anywhere we want to go. The whole world was full of hope. And this one boy says, 'I'm not going anywhere.'. As his teacher, I was worried about him. Or so I pretended."

"Pretended.?" (Y/n) questioned.

"That's right. I'm just a supernatural pretending to be human. Have been for ages. So I didn't think much of it. I had found Amane Yugi's book in the 4pm bookstacks. And I'd read his future. I kept asking him to talk to me. But I already knew what was happening, and what was going to happen. In his book.. It said he was going to be a teacher"

"What.?"

"A science teacher. Because of his love of astronomy. And he'd be working right here at this school. If he'd live we would've been coworkers!" Tsuchigomori laughed. His laughing came to stop as he leaned on the bed. "He wasn't supposed to die when he was still just a kid. Neither was she supposed to die.." He sighed. "Amane Yugi, the first person to have changed their future. He gave up his own future and, just like he said.. He wasn't going anywhere. To this very day.. He's still here as a supernatural. School mystery number 7." Tsuchigomori got up from the chair he was sitting in. "Well.. That's all I can tell you for now. As for what you do with this information, that's up to you. I don't really have much power left.. But I'll help as much as I can. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. I'm not human.. But I'm still technically your teacher."

Tsuchigomori left. (Y/n) was holding onto the blanket. Next thing she knew the boy known as Hanako burted in.

"(Y/N)!!" Hanako yelled as he jumped on top of (Y/n). "Good work destroying that Yorishiro! Now we don't have to worry about number 5 going berserk like number 2 did! You've helped keep peace at this school!"

"Not so close!" Kou hit Hanako's head.

"(Y/n)-chan! Hanako-kun get off her!" Yashiro yelled.

"Hanako-kun.." (Y/n) looked at Hanako. She hugged Hanako.

"(Y/n)?" Hanako said to the girl.

'His body isn't warm..Hanako is a ghost..'

"Were you scared in Tsuchigomori's boundary?" Hanako asked. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Mhhm.." (Y/n) muffled. Tears threatening to come out of her eyes.

"There, there, there." Hanako patted her head.

"Are you ok? Does your tummy hurt?" Kou asked.

"(Y/n)-chan.." Yashiro looked at the girl.

♡♢♤♧

Tsuchigomori was wandering the halls of the school.

"Tsuchigomori." Hanako said.

"What's the matter, honorable number 7?"

"It's (Y/n). I can't place my finger on it, but something's off.. Did you tell her something she didn't need to know? Did you tell her about... herself..?"

"No.. but we did discuss my Yorishiro."

"Hmm. Yorishiro, huh? Now that you mention it, what was your Yorishiro?"

"What do you think it was?"

"A super pervy book."

"Wrong."

"AH-HA! Thought not!" Hanako exclaimed.

Tsuchigomori looked at him. "You never change.."

"Huh?.." Hanako sighed. "Neither has she.."

(( Edited 3/21/22 )) (( Ngl, i've been lacking recently with my books i'm so sorry.. ))