𝕂𝕦𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕒𝕜𝕖-𝕆𝕟𝕟𝕒: 𝕛𝕙𝕤𝕜

十五

『ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀɪᴏᴜꜱ: ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 15』

Minamoto held onto your bleeding body, squeezing it tightly. Despite being half-naked, he cared less about the skin being revealed than your wounds. Your stomach was smeared in blood and scars, so many in different sizes that he couldn't keep track of them. He knows it was wrong to make assumptions, but what exactly happened to you before you died?

Were you tortured. . ?

He caressed your cheek, running his fingers against the cuts that may never heal. Despite facing mutilation, you looked just as ethereal as always. You seemed to had a personal fight with the 'Misaki', the two of you exchanging dialogue so personal, he couldn't understand it. But one thing he could remember vividly was the surname (L/n). Does this mean you used to be in the (L/n) clan? Minamoto's memory of other families was hazy, but the name sounded so familiar to him.

(L/n) Clan was the rival group of the Minamoto's. Both families placed heavy emphasis on their sons, but for the (L/n) family, they married off their daughters in search of greater power and children. This meant that every single person in their clan was expected of something greater. Minamoto glanced over at your ring and picked up your hand, examining it carefully.

You must have been in an arranged marriage at a young age, most likely to join another powerful family. Minamoto stared intensely at the scars on your stomach, his fingers touching it gently. There were a lot of hesitation lines. . . You could have been killed by someone unintentionally, but the more he stared at your body, the more he realizes this might not be the case. Hesitation lines meant more than just that, they played a key role in identifying something far malicious. . .

As he felt his heart drop to his stomach at the thought, he tightened his hold on your body. You carried a pair of scissors and fan, you must have used it to kill someone.

He has to come to terms with the fact that you were a murderer, you were a dangerous spirit.

He felt your body shifting in his hold, signaling that you were coming back.

"Mi. . . Minamoto. . ?" You gripped his shirt tightly as you struggled to regain your consciousness. "Where is. . . everyone. . . else?"

"They're at the very bottom, trying to get her yorishiro," he brushed your hair back, "don't push yourself. I know you're a ghost and all but you look really injured and tired!"

You let out a careful breath and pulled him closer, "I need. . . to get to. . . the others." You whimpered, tugging on his shirt to make him carry you. Your pleading eyes boring holes into his gentle orbs.

"Sorry."

"Huh. . ?"

"I'm not going to let you go down there."

As Yashiro and Hanako turned the page, eventually finding out that the woman above wasn't Misaki, she reappeared behind them while dragging her giant scissors. It screeched against the rocky staircase, the metallic surface soaked in blood and her kimono stained with the red substance. Hanako immediately realized that you weren't here, either the blood was Minamoto's or your's, either one made him panic tremendously.

"Where is Jiyuu?!" Hanako shouted, pulling Yashiro behind him and gripping his knife.

She lifted her sleeve to cover her smiling lips, "Jiyuu? Don't you mean (L/n). . ?" She swiftly swung her blade, the blood sliding off of it and soiling the staircase, "our little conversation and game have worn her out. . ."

(L/n). . ? Hanako's lips quivered at the sight of the blood.

"I don't understand how you could side with a monster like her."

Yashiro gasped and clutched onto the book, "You don't know what you're talking about! You. . . You're not Misaki, are you?!"

The imposter's eyes widened, "I don't know what I'm talking about? You know nothing about her and the things she did."

"I am collecting body parts to build Misaki, wouldn't it be easier to say I am Misaki?" She started to walk towards the duo, her shoes sliding against the floor as Hanako guarded Yashiro.

"I don't know what she told you, but it looks like you all fell for her tricks." Hanako gestured to Yashiro to start running towards her yorishiro in order to destroy it. "She's a murder can't you see?!" She ran up to Hanako, swinging her scissors violently at him.

"She gave up her husband for her own desires while I am willing to give everything for Misaki!" Hanako narrowly dodged the attack and countered it with his own power. "Misaki cared a lot about his students. . . If he finds out that I've been doing this to his students he'll get angry."

She grinned, "But that's what I want. . . I want Misaki to yell at me again." She kicked away Hanako and went straight for Yashiro.

"I would do anything to get him back!" No. 2 growled, preparing to slice apart Yashiro.

Yashiro started to cry again, covering the sides of her face with her hands, "Help Hanako-kun!"

No. 2 felt her hand be sliced by Hanako's knife, dropping the weapon and giving enough time for Hanako to get to Yashiro. "Hurry and get to the yorishiro!"

"The time for chit-chat is over." She charged at him with her scissors once again but felt the binding of ropes trap her, Hanako standing behind her with a serious expression. "No. 7?! Don't try to stop me!"

"Sorry, but I can't do that." He tightened the ropes even further, holding her in place while Yashiro ran towards the small shrine. "Go! Yashiro!"

"Stop!" No. 2 outstretched her hand, commanding the other dolls to stop her in her path. "I need my yorishiro, or I can't make Misaki. . . All this time, everything I've done is for him!" She cried out, screaming and fighting against Hanako's ropes.

"Uhm!" Yashiro spun around to face her, "Looking at you makes me. . . I don't know. It makes me fidgety or something. . . It's like seeing myself how I was a couple of weeks ago!"

"You're not doing this for Misaki-san. . . You're doing it for yourself!" Yashiro proceeded to step on top of the dolls, using them as a launching platform, "I don't know what Jiyuu has done in the past! But I'm willing to accept her because I know she's trying to change!"

Breaking open the door of the shrine, she ripped off the seal on the pair of scissors, "So don't call the person I care about, a monster!"

"No!" The moment the seal was ripped off, Hanako appeared in front of No. 2 to stop her from reaching Yashiro any further, his appearance changing as he adorned his signature cape.

Holding out his knife to her chest, "Mystery No. 2, The Misaki Stairs, you've abandoned your responsibility." he pierced her body.

"You are to return to your seat number." The boundary belonging to the woman started to break apart into triangles, Yashiro losing consciousness as Hanako picked her up.

The forest and dolls disappearing and the world falling apart into nothingness.

It was finally over.