Against Time

"Plan Notice Me!"

"Let's try looking at the bright side. Atleast you tried."

"DOH! I overdid it! Gaaahhh!"

"We're not alone, remember?" Yukito snapped.

"ACK—" Yashiro clamped her mouth shut. The other students in the hallway raised a brow for a moment while others simply paused to look at her. Then they shrugged it off and continued walking. Yashiro felt embarassed and stared at the floor, with her face flushed.

The ghost floating beside her coughed, "Why don't we try a different approach?"

...

...

"Could someone helpfully explain why and how buttons are related to love?"

Hanako-san piped up, "Well, it could give Yashiro the opportunity to sew it back on for him. A simple favor could open up a nice and warm conversation."

Yukito crossed her arms, "...And how do you plan on retrieving it...?"

"Easy! I'll steal it!"

Yukito narrowed her green eyes, "Have you been in a correctional facility before?"

He pouted, "Hey! Do you have any better ideas then?" And then he crossed his arms and huffed, "And no, I haven't been to jail, sir."

Yashiro looked back and forth at her two companions. She voiced out, "I think that I should atleast try...I guess. Maybe I'll be lucky?" I just hope that Miss Luck and Fortune will be good to me. For once.

Yukito sighed but said nothing else as the boy, clearly happy that someone listened, beamed, "It's a go then! And it might turn out differently this time too!"

A few minutes later, just as the ghost got back successfully with a small button on his palm, there was an uproar in the hallway. Three—no—five students were volunteering to sew their own buttons to a boy at the center. Three others offered their own buttons on the spot, ripping it violently out of their sleeve, another forcefully opened his polo shirt. It was quite a sight.

"Riiight, it did turn out different this time," Yukito said sarcastically while uncovering her ears once they walked a good deal away from the ruckus.

Hanako-san led them at the end of a hallway, around the corner. He managed to convince Yashiro to try something else (without the help of a blue-haired girl). On the other side of the corner, a blonde walked towards their direction alongside another student.
Yashiro clenched her notebook tightly, partly to look determined and brave and partly to hug herself out of nervousness.

Yukito leaned on a wall, hands in pocket again, "Gonna burst your bubble here but I think this next one's stupid."

Hanako-san regarded her briefly, "Thank you. You're really helpful and kind." He grumbled, "It's nice to have a heads-up before you tell me I'm useless."

"I just think you and your ideas need pills," she replied nonchalantly. She added, "And maybe therapy."

He muttered something inaudible. Then he faced Yashiro, "Alrighto, so, this happens a lot in movies and the main couple always, always gets together in the end. I know there's a word for things like these but it slipped my mind."

Yashiro nodded for him to continue. He breathed in.

"Okay, so the signal is 'go'—"

There was a muffled thud. Was that a crash? And hey, why is there someone yelling for the fire extinguisher?

—the ghost blinked, "...I meant 'go' as in the word but...ah, geez." The boy decided that maybe it wasn't best to take a peek.

...