Yashiro Nene skipped through the corridors, heading to the bathroom as the end-of-school bell rang. She passed numerous groups of students, but paid no notice to any of them until snippets of a conversation caught her attention. Specifically the subject of it, something rather familiar to her.
"...Did you know...?...Hanako-san..." "I overheard...possibly..."
Intrigued by the mention of her sort-of-maybe-kind-of-boyfriend, she approached the group of girls, inquiring, "What are you talking about?"
"Nene-chan!" one of the girls greeted her. "You're totally into these types of rumors and stuff, right? The Seven Wonders?" she asked.
Nene nodded, "Yes- why do you ask?" This was her specialty after all, as assistant to the boss of them. Another one of the girls grabbed her arm and pulled her into their tight circle, giggling excitedly.
"Well," the first girl whispered, as if what she was saying was very important, "You know Hanako-san, right? The ghost that haunts the girl's bathroom?"
Nene nodded, wondering where this was going.
"There's a rumor going around that Hanako-san didn't actually die from suicide. She died because someone murdered her, like abusive parents or friends. What do you think, Nene-chan??"
This caught Nene off guard. What was she supposed to say? It's not like Kamome's Hanako was the Hanako-san everyone thought he was. "Uh..em..." she stuttered. "I don't think h-she was murdered there..."
"How sad, honestly," a girl said. "I pity her. Probably was her fate to die like that."
"Isn't it a bit pathetic though? Like she couldn't do anything about abusive parents?"
"Hmm, that's true. I mean, she should have stood up to them! I know I would..."
As they continued talking, anger poked at Nene. Who were these girls to be chatting about another's death so lightheartedly, moreover Hanako-kun's? Sure they weren't actually talking about her Hanako-kun, but it was still rude nonetheless...
Nene slightly backed out of the circle, causing the girls to look at her quizzically. "Nene-chan?" One of them asked, "Is something wrong?"
How could she say nothing was wrong? First, they were rudely poking at a rumored person's death, and second, they thought having a fate to die young was pathetic? How would they feel if they were in her shoes?
"I...I mean...don't you think it's a bit rude to assume that Hanako-k-san didn't try to do anything? How would you defend yourself from someone trying to kill you?" Nene's voice raised at the end. .
"Oh Nene-chan," the leader of the girls, the rumor-spreader laughed, almost teasingly. "You're so sweet, honestly. Calm down, she's not real!"
"Or is sheeeeee~" a girl grasped at the first's shoulder, causing her to squeal. They all burst out laughing, but not Nene. Her face had taken on her signature determination.
"What if she is? What if she's hearing every word? What if it hurts her?"
The girls laughed it off, "She's just a rumor! Ghosts don't exist, silly."
Nene had no intention of shutting up, "Why don't you go and find out, then?"
The girls paused. Then one of them spoke up, "You mean, like, try to summon her or something?" Nene nodded determinedly. The girls looked at each other, then shrugged, "Sure, why not?" the leader quipped. "It's fun to try out these rumors once in a while, after all."
Nene turned around, leading the girls to the bathroom she was so familiar with (which was where she was planning to go in the first place). Walking inside, she walked straight up to the third stall. She jabbed her thumb at it and asked, "Well? Who wants to knock?"
