the six of them had gone inside the student council room to devise a strategy on finding mirai. as the three humans talked among themselves, hanako, riku, and rika sat on the windowsill.
rika's yellow eye was less bright than usual as hanako hugged her close to him, his chest against her back. hanako and riku both looked downcast as they were both deep in thought.
kou had noticed this and gently poked a candy to hanako's cheek. "what's wrong, you three?" he asked, slight worry lacing his tone. "are you thinking... about what aoi-senpai said?" he asked.
••
『 "you know they're all murderers, right?" he asked, catching rika by surprise. hanako growled while riku held him back, despite being angry himself for watching akane manhandle his twin sister.
"its the same with the other clock keepers. these supernaturals don't know a thing. none of them. they don't know how precious it is just to be alive. they don't know how valuable a human life is." akane said.
his grip tightened around rika's wrist with every sentence, causing her to wince and tears prick at her yellow eye. "let me go-" she started to say but was cut off by akane once more.
"reformed villains make me sick. so what if they're good now? does that erase the crime they did in the past? what a joke." he spat. hanako gripped his knife tighter, his knuckles becoming white.
"breathe hanako." riku muttered to the boy behind him. "don't you see? it doesn't matter how good you are now or who you help. you can never take back what you did, ever." akane said.
"because once a person dies, there's no bringing them back." 』
••
rika shivered and unconsiously rubbed her wrist that was forming a bruise. hanako and riku noticed this and they clenched their jaws. hanako held rika closer and gently held her wrist in his hand.
he brought it up to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to it. he then took the candy that kou gave to him. "never mind that." he said, opening the wrapped and gently pushed the candy in rika's mouth.
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mirai laughed as she ate the candy that was set out for the mokke. everyone soon began to chase after mirai. yashiro dove for her as did rika and she fell on top of the daikon girl, protecting her from being hit.
