[To Live] T-B Hanako Kun x Reader

Keep It Together (Pt. 2)

I'm glad ya'll enjoyed the art! ^^

This'll be the last chapter I'll put up for this week. I've really been writing a lot these days, and ya boi has to study to pass her 4th Quarter!

- - -

It was as if the judgement day had arrived. Kou and Yashiro held the paper, looking at it with wide eyes and looks of complete disbelief.

Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes as they kept rereading, over and over again.

Finally, Yashiro slowly looked up, her red eyes wide.

"So what you're trying to say is that... you're transferring?"

"I'm not coming back." Y/N let the words stumble out of her mouth, not wishing to lie anymore. Her two best friends deserved the truth, and the truth alone.

"Sukora is a lot of distance from Kamome."

Both friends gaped at her with looks of disappointment and despondence. Her hands, which she clasped behind her, had a more firmer grip.

"I'm sorry!" Y/N shut her eyes tight, forcing back tears. She looked down at the floor, bowing her head in shame. "Yashiro, you're my best friend. You don't deserve my sudden absence. I want to stay here and help you..."

"Y/N-chan..."

"Kou!" Y/N looked up, dodging Yashiro's approaching hand. The blonde tensed up, holding his staff a little more tightly.

"You were the nicest out of everyone I've recently met. I want to know more about you, trust me, I do."

"Don't say that." Kou's blue eyes darted to the floor, and he blushed a little in embarrassment.

"Both of you," Y/N continued, trembling from the weight she had put on all of their shoulders. For maybe the hundredth time, she had failed her friends.

"I'll miss you. I want to go back. I don't want to leave. I'll make sure-"

Yashiro and Kou leapt on her, cutting off her shaky sentence. Y/N's E/C eyes snapped open with a start.

They were hugging her.

A very tight one, too. But both were shaky. Y/N realized with a jolt that they were both crying.

"I'm sorry...." Y/N feebly managed one last time, before wrapping her arms around both friends.

"Why are you sorry?!" Yashiro exclaimed, pulling Y/N closer. "You're going to live a better life! Why do you look so sad?"

"But you  guys..."

"Don't mind us." Kou buried his face into her shoulder, eyes unseeing and distant. "Sukora is a great school. You'll make a lot of new friends!"

"But..."

"You have a family, too." Yashiro continued, smiling to herself. "I'm sure they're lovely people."

"You guys are my family!"

Yashiro and Kou exchanged sad glances. They knew they had no choice but to silently agree.