Help from Hidden Writers

Memories and Bonds, Part 4

Shutendouji had never felt as happy as he did now.

Altering the Hime's memories using a spell he had secretly found in the Arihoshi shrine which only required eye contact and a hug while thinking of the fake memories was the best idea he ever had. Because of that, he managed to trick the Hime into thinking that he had saved her instead of her friends, and she now thought that they had altered her memories so she would stay with them. 

To be honest, there was this small part of him that felt sad and regretful over doing something like this despite his purification by the Enma Mirror Holders, but he didn't care in general. 

Don't worry, Douketsu. I will honour your last wish.

Right now, he was eating ice cream with the Hime, who was licking on hers happily while sitting in her living room 2 days after she slapped Tsukinami.

"So, Hime, what happened to those traitors?" he decided to ask despite already knowing. 

The Hime's face grew sadistic in 5 seconds flat as she cackled evilly, "I told everyone the truth about Tsukinami and my relative. They're now avoiding them and my parents are not on good terms with my relative. He's been staying at Tsukinami's place since yesterday." 

"Hee? As expected from the Hime!" he smiled at her. She grinned back before she hugged him, "Thanks for saving me from them, Shutendouji." 

"No worries," he replied, patting her on the head. "So, do you want to bother them even more now? We can leave for the last Youseiken after that."

"Of course!" she nodded vigorously. 

"Well, why don't we go prank them then?" he suggested. 

The Hime's lips curled up into a cruel smile after a while, "I have an idea."

Touma had never been visited by anyone in his house before. 

So when Keisuke arrived at his doorstep in the early morning the day after Natsume slapped him, with his hood up and a backpack slung carelessly on his shoulder, he was completely confused until he realised that Keisuke was shivering. 

That was when he realised that it had been raining, and he was probably freezing, so he told Keisuke to come in and let him warm up. 

When he was done with his bath, Keisuke silently sat on the sofa, drinking the hot chocolate Touma had provided.

The silence between them felt unnatural, so Touma decided to ask, "Did something happen at home, Keisuke?"

"... How did you know?" Keisuke asked him. 

"Just a hunch. Was it Natsume?" 

"... Y-Yeah," he nodded. "N-Neechan t-told my p-parents t-that I had been u-using her, and even s-said that I-I was involved in shady stuff. M-my parents blew a gasket and d-didn't even l-let me protest. I-I grew so sad I decided to come here." 

"... You can stay here, if you want," Touma offered. "There's plenty of space here." 

"R-Really?" Keisuke looked a bit worried. "I-I don't want to bother you." 

"It's fine. As long as you don't make much of a noise, it'll be fine."

"... Okay. Thanks Touma," he smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it. Akinori's trying to find out as much as he can about this."

"Yeah, I hope he finds it soon."

Akinori HATED people who turned his friends against him. That's why he's been spending sleepless nights looking for the spell that could have done this to Natsume. It was bad enough that Keisuke now used his hood on a daily basis, while Touma had a cap on always. But it wasn't like Akinori himself hadn't changed a bit. He used his normal clothes more often, and his eyes had bags under them. He may not have suffered as much as the other 2, but he made up for it with the search for the cure.

He also helped Keisuke and Touma when they needed a little push.

None of them said it aloud, but it was kind of obvious that Natsume had done an incredible amount of damage to them.

But that just fueled their determination to bring their Natsume back.

Natsume, we WILL bring you back!