of traffic-safety earrings and worn-out cameras • mitsukou week 2020

Day Six: rumor; hell of mirrors

day six; may 23, 2020 (written may 24, 2020)

prompt(s): rumor; hell of mirrors

universe: canon

summary: Whatever happened to the original Mitsuba, anyways?

—

Hanako sighed and watched as Yashiro walked away, trusting her to change the rumor of the latest supernatural. He couldn't allow student's necks to be snapping left and right, after all. So, he confirmed the new rumor with her, and expected to hear it tomorrow.

"Hey, have you heard? The rumor of the Bent-Neck Boy at the School Entrance? Apparently he is a very lonely ghost with a broken neck. But if you sit with him, even just for a minute, he will feel less lonely and will never bother you again."

He tried not to focus on the churning in his stomach and the bitter taste in his mouth as he thought about what— who— caused this.

—

Six students had sat with him today. Three had only been for two minutes before they had to go to class. One had been for one minute. They were clearly scared of him. He didn't understand why. It made him sad.

Two students had sat with him for ten minutes, though! At the same time! One was a girl with fat ankles. Aside from that, though, she was kind of pretty. Would he be pretty? If his neck wasn't broken? He hoped so. Something in the back of his mind told him he'd be the cutest boy in the world.

He doubted that, though, because the other student who sat with him was this blond boy with blue eyes. He was really cute. He seemed really familiar, though. ("Mitsuba... come on, say something...") He also had an earring on. The voice in the back of his head told him that it was a lame traffic safety earring, so the boy was a Hella-Lame Traffic-Safety Earring Boy.

But the boy was very kind to him, and maybe seemed a little sad, so he refrained from listening to the voice in the back of his head for the rest of the day.

But it was the end of the day, now, and the voice kept telling him that that boy was important. He hoped that the boy and the girl kept visiting him. They were nice- they even brought him a soda! It tasted really good, too. It was sweet- both the gesture and the drink.

He twisted his grotesque neck to glance out the window by the school entrance. The sun was going down. He knew what that meant. No more students would sit with him anymore. Not until the sun came up. This made him sad, but that was okay. He could play with the cute pink (and sometimes black) bunnies instead.

Something caught his attention, out of the corner of his eye. A flash of pink. He liked pink. Was it the color of his hair? He thought so. Oh, right, he wanted to see what caught his attention. A boy? Yes, it was a boy with pink hair and a scarf made out of bones. He wasn't a student though- he had the same kind of energy as the dark-haired boy with a fanged smile and a black seal on his cheek. The dark-haired boy scared him, but he never explicitly hurt him, so it was okay, he guessed. But this boy didn't seem scary.

In fact, he seemed... sad. No, that wasn't the right word. This boy looked at him like he was a dying small animal. It was... he remembered this word, he recalled the scary boy saying it. Pity? Yes, pity. This pink haired boy looked at him with pity. Maybe grief? He knew grief well. He knew what grief looked like, felt like. Yes, this boy looked at him with pity and grief.

He got a pat on the head. He liked pats! Come on, do it again! Pat him!

But the pink haired boy did not pat him again, and instead vanished into a mirror. He let out a groan of sadness. Oh. Maybe the blond boy with the earring will pat him? He had nice eyes.

What color were his eyes, again?

Oh well. He still hoped the boy and the girl visit him tomorrow. He hoped they gave him pats like the pink haired boy with the skull scarf. But no. He didn't like the way the pink haired boy looked at him. It made him feel weak. He only remembered feeling weak once, but it was a bad feeling. For some reason, whenever he thought of feeling weak, he thought of the dark haired boy with a black seal on his cheek and a voice calling out to him.

Why did that voice call him Mitsuba? Was that a new word? Maybe he'd ask the blond boy tomorrow. If he was lucky, he'd get soda and pats again. That would be nice.

The Bent-Neck Boy at the School Entrance thought of blond boys, sweet-tasting soda, and head pats until the sun rose again in the morning.

Then, he watched the students pass by and wondered what it would be like to not have a bent neck. Maybe, in that life, he'd be friends with the blond boy.

He'd like that a lot.

—

oops this was sad and I didn't know how to end it.

also, sorry if there was actually a bit where the original Mitsuba was addressed after Ratkasa screwed things up. If there was, I didn't see it, and I'm just kind of assuming it was never cleared up what exactly happened to it. This is really all just headcanon.