Hanako's Misfortunes

Rope

It was after school and a rare occasion. Teru Miniamoto was with Hanako. How did this happen? Well, sometimes they unfortunately need to work together because Hanako can't leave the school campus while Teru needs to learn teamwork as instructed by his elders. And so here they are, in the old school building. At night. But these were not one of those times.

"Soooo...you let it wander on school campus?" Hanako floated next to him with a confused smile.

Teru grimaced and glared daggers at the little cloud. "No. It escaped." His voice was icy and made Hanako inch away.

"Ah...what is it?" Hanako asked while still floating.

"It's an odd one. It has rope as a weapon and looks like a woman, but she has no head." Teru explained while looking around.

That made Hanako shrink a bit. Why rope of all things. He can feel his anxiety and PTSD levels rising, but quickly shoved it down.

'just don't get...tied up.' he sighed then smiled brightly at the exorcist.

"Hey! I didn't have to force you to give me the information this time!"

Teru frowns and pointedly ignores him.

'only him and Akane can annoy me this much. It's probably a spirit thing.' he sighs.

Footsteps. Hanako and Teru quickly look around.

"You weren't walking." Teru whispered.

"Nope." Hanako landed quietly behind him.

"Where?" Teru looked to the left.

"First floor locker room." Hanako looked to the right.

They bolted, but luckily their footsteps were quiet. Upon reaching the destination, Hanako quickly noted something.

"the rope...is stained red..." Hanako silently muttered.

'somethings wrong. He's out of it.' Teru stood closer to Hanako.

But he was just studying the room.

'this is definitely wrong.' Teru's eyebrows furrowed.

Hanako would have made fun of him by now. Something abruptly came and grabbed Teru's ankle and a rough tug was felt, causing him to crash onto the floor. Hanako quickly grabbed his arm and pulled back. Teru grunted and managed to get his left foot back on the ground while the right was currently being pulled. Then, at the same time the two boys pulled back, and a faint thud was heard.

'ah, did she fall?' the two sweat dropped while staring into the dark.

A few minutes passed and the headless lady appeared behind them. Teru went to jump away but the rope was still on his leg, he quickly sliced it up, grabbed Hanako and jumped at least 8ft away. Meanwhile Hanako's panic was going into a frenzy.

'...too close!' his eyes widened and there was a slight hint of fear.

And Teru smelled it like a dog.

"Hanako, go to your boundary." Teru ordered sternly.

"Huh? Don't be dumb Minamoto. You need help." Hanako frowned as Teru gently set him down.

"You can't help when you're scared." Teru looked at him with a cold stare.

Hanako bit his lip and looked away. Teru's telling the truth, he's not useful right now, he's in the way. He frowns and put his cap down in the front slightly. Teru noted he does this when he's upset. Hanako nods and goes to walk away.