𝕂𝕦𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕒𝕜𝕖-𝕆𝕟𝕟𝕒: 𝕛𝕙𝕤𝕜

二十九

『ꜱᴇᴀʀᴄʜ: ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 29』

"Hmm. . . I'm sorry for making you search with me." Yashiro apologized, picking up another book from the library while brushing over the others nearby.

"It's fine! I'd go through hell or high water for you senpai!" She could feel a tinge of red smeared across her cheeks as she heard that statement. Something about it made her feel a little special in a way, but that feeling didn't last long as she was determined to find Hanako's book no matter what. "Besides, I wanna read his book too." Kou continued.

Yashiro sweatdropped at this statement and awkwardly laughed in agreement. "Like to find out his weakness? Silly Minamoto-kun. You're still trying to exorcise Hanako-kun, aren't you?"

"Uh. . . " He scratched the top of his head in shyness, "I'm kinda. . . done with that." He bashfully responded.

"What?"

"I-I-I mean, you know! You said it yourself senpai! He's a good supernatural! And I think that Jiyuu-senpai is as well!" Kou shivered as he felt painful memories rush through his brain. "And besides. . . I mean. . . Stuff happened."

The scene of your beaten and bleeding body flickering in his mind like an old movie, your heavy breaths that came out of you and the intense pain coming to you in waves. Your arms which wrapped tightly around Hanako as you protected him with everything you had. Kou glanced down at his hands in sadness. It was difficult. It was difficult to comprehend the level of ignorance and resistance he held within him. He felt frustrated at the fact it took him so long to come to the conclusion that you were good supernaturals.

"I decided I wasn't going to exorcise him. . . before I figure out for sure if he's a good guy or a bad guy. . . Jiyuu-senpai, flipped my world upside down about everything I previously knew." He pressed his lips firmly against each other, "I wish I can properly apologize to them about what happened. . . When I stopped to think about it. . . I realized I didn't know anything about the two of them."

Kou grinned and gave Yashiro a thumbs up, "but if they turn out to be bad guys, I'm going to exorcise them! So I still want to know his weakness!"

"Minamoto-kun. . ." Yashiro grabbed onto his hand, "that means we both wanna get to know them. That makes us partners!"

She gave him a gentle, warm smile, "so let's both do our best, together!" Kou could feel his heart be penetrated by a sharp arrow, most likely from cupid who has blessed him with the existence of this young, sweet girl named Yashiro.

The moment was suddenly interrupted by the flutter of a small animal, specifically a black butterfly. The fragile and small creature gently landed against the spine of another book, Yashiro and Kou turned to it in confusion. The radish girl slowly reached out to the book, causing the butterfly to go up in smoke, she squeaked in surprise as she closed her eyes to avoid any particles getting within her eyes.

"Senpai!" Kou quickly ran to her side as Yashiro fell down to the floor in shock. The smoke cleared away, revealing an elegant and extravagant looking door that had the butterfly symbol upon its center. It seemed as if the other books that were in its space had disappeared, instead, it was replaced by the ominous door that led up to the other books from the library.

"This door appeared where the butterfly landed. . . Do you think it's. . ." Yashiro and Kou squinted their eyes at the door, ". . . the 4pm Bookstacks?"

The two of them carefully opened the door and peeked through. Yashiro widened her eyes at the sight of thousands of books being lined up against each other neatly, large spider webs strung across the different shelves while there were numerous ladders left behind. Kou stepped forward and noticed that his shoes were getting wet.

"Water. . . Which means. . . This is another boundary. A border between this world and the next. We better be careful, Hanako and Jiyuu-san aren't here with us." He warned as he guided Yashiro through the waters.

Kou thought about the outcome of this situation, it was just two mortals traveling through someone else's boundary without any sort of guardian or spirit of some sort to come with them. He shivered at the sight of several books, just seeing them reminded him too much about Teru's late-night studying and the numerous piles of books he had to reorganize for his older brother. Although they were searching for Hanako's books, they couldn't help but feel a tinge of frustration due to their desire and curiosity about Jiyuu.

'According to the rumors, as long as we don't read the red ones. . . We won't be any danger.' Yashiro looked around the boundary as she stumbled upon a Mokke holding a lantern, offering her a light source within the darkened halls. She held up the lantern up to the books next to her, seeing the white-colored books surrounding her.

"The white books are for living people and the black ones are for the deceased. . . At least that's what I heard." Kou scratched the top of his head at Yashiro's explanation.

"There's a lot of white ones and only a few black ones, huh?"

'And the red ones. . .' Yashiro held her chin with her left pointer finger, staring up at the deep abyss of books. 'Huh? I don't see any. . . Well, it's better if there aren't any but. . .' her thoughts were cut off by the sound of Kou's voice.

"Hanako's book would be black, right? Are you ready to get looking?!" Kou exclaimed excitedly, holding onto the lantern and Mokke in his left arm, his staff within the other.

"Yeah!"