Before the Seven Mysteries (Amane x Reader) {Abandoned}

∙Seventeen∙

    "Where are we going, Hana-chan?" Amane muttered to his ghostly friend. She beamed and kept pushing him along.

    "Don't worry, Amane. We don't have much further!" She peeked around from behind him to check they were going the right direction. She allowed a little pout to slip into her words. "I thought ya trusted me." Amane let out an audible sigh, continuing to walk along the hall with little help from the spirit.

    He kept his voice low so the other students in the hallway wouldn't raise any eyebrows. "I do, but it's sketchy that you won't tell me anything about the supernatural we're going to see." (Y/N) walked beside him now, tilting her head at his question. He glanced at her, but didn't turn his head all the way towards her. "You told me everything you knew about Akari."

    She rolled her eyes at the boy. "Because I never met her until then, so I didn't know if she'd snap over anything. She was potentially dangerous, which is also why you didn't come in until the coast was clear."

    "You left me alone with her while you relaxed in a box," he scoffed at her.

    "Yeah, but that was after I had interacted with her. I'm not gonna put you in danger if I can help it," she looked around again, realizing the next hall would contain their destination and becoming excited.

    "Speaking of her, look at that," he whispered, nodding his head to gesture ahead of them. There was a small stream of ash that had just rounded the corner and was beelining towards them. The spirit stepped in front of him defensively, but her hakujoudai weren't alerting to any danger. She observed carefully for a few seconds. Instead of preparing to defend, they seemed to be helping the ash come closer by creating a slight wind as they circled it. (Y/N) made a quick decision and dashed forward towards it, meeting it by the end of the hall. Amane followed just behind.

    (Y/N) reached out her hand to the ash. She felt only faint power in it like it had been sent out in a panic. "What's happening with her?" she breathed. The ash coiled itself around a few times, churned around in a few different directions, and dropped undisturbed by the circulation of air onto  the girl's outstretched arm. 

    Her eyes widened at the single word it spelled out, white-hot rage seeping from every pore. "Damn it!" she snarled with enough ferocity to cause Amane to step back. The girl took a moment to regain her composure and revealed the word to Amane.

    "Minamoto? Like Minamoto-senpai?" he asked. He was met with a grim, angry look, so he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Well yeah, there's no one else named Minamoto here."

    "This means she's either trapped or under attack right now by that scum. I have to go, so I'll have you meet him some other time," she turned, ready to run off to try to help Akari. "Your cleaning is cancelled today. Go, and I'll see you tomorrow."

    He noticed a faint waver in her voice, acting on it immediately. "You don't even know that. I'm not just going to go home and forget about this." She turned back to him, clearly torn about her decision.

    "If I can't even guarantee my own safety there's not a chance I'd be able to guarantee yours, Amane. I'm not taking you with me, and that's final."

    "You can't stop me from following you," he retorted, crossing his arms as a subconscious defense against the stares he was now receiving. (Y/N) pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

    "Actually, I could if I didn't need both of my hakujoudai to stand a chance against her." She turned back around, walking fast enough to border a jog. "She doesn't have time for this, just let me handle it." Her voice was cold, unlike any tone she had used with him before. He wasn't quite sure why, but it filled him with determination to be there even more.

    "Lead the way, Hana-chan." It was a command, but it sounded so harsh to her. She nearly winced at it, and she was happy she was turned away from him.

    "I refuse to be the one to lead you to your death, kid." She felt bad putting it that way, knowing full well he wouldn't die for a long time, no matter what she did. Tsu's books were never wrong, but that doesn't mean she wanted to use him as a shield.

    "You're not leading me, I'm just choosing to stick by you."

    She finally relented, knowing that she wouldn't be able to really stop him. Chances are once she was gone he'd go and get himself into another sticky situation. "Fine! Alright, only if you can keep up and promise me to not fight that Minamoto-scum, no matter what happens."

    Amane stumbled over his words for a second. She knew that he was planning on jumping in to help any chance he got, like he almost did last time. "I was told not to make a girl any promises I can't keep. . ." 

    (Y/N) groaned in exasperation. Amane was easily keeping pace with her, even as she was speeding up, so she didn't think she would be able to shake him off before she entered the boundary. "Just don't do anything stupid that would get you hurt."

    He thought about it for a second, assuming that he would be able to make safe decisions. "I won't."

    "Good." They rounded the corner, going the opposite direction from their previous destination and heading towards the art room. (Y/N) dramatically stopped in front of the stairs, her old ghostly school shoes accidentally sliding on the floor so she was slightly past where she wanted to be. Amane stopped less dramatically, but with more skill.

    He looked oddly at the stairs. "Shouldn't we be going up to the art room? That's where we can get to Akari because of her rumor."

    "The announcements aren't going to be for a few more hours and we don't have that time. We're getting help from a supernatural I haven't met yet, but her rumor should help us. I just hope we don't have to use force against her. Her rumor is peaceful at least." She weighed all the possibilities in her head. This wasn't a part of her plan to recruit this supernatural yet, but she had to do what she had to do. If she didn't, she knew she'd not only lose a valuable ally, but a newly befriended and good-humored peer.

    "What's her rumor?" Amane asked. His voice was back to a normal conversational volume now that they were away from any other students.

    "'The Misaki Stairs.' All we have to do is follow the white fox to our destination, and don't lose sight of her otherwise we'll be lost." She turned with a serious expression to the boy behind her. "Imagine Akari's boundary. Not how it looked, because it constantly changes, but how it felt to be there. Follow close behind me, do not lose sight of me under any circumstances, and make sure you hit the fourth step. You got all that?"

    Amane played through his memories of Akari's boundary. They happened a few days ago, so he wasn't getting it exactly, but he figured it was close enough and nodded to (Y/N).

    "Alright, let's go." (Y/N) stepped up and disappeared into thin air. Amane followed soon after and was plunged into the border between life and death once more.

A/N
I know this is long overdue, I'll have another chapter out tomorrow probably to maybe make up for it? I haven't been updating as frequently  as I'd like but this is probably gonna be the first full story I finish.
If you guys have any suggestions, thoughts, comments, whatever, feel free to let me know. Also, thank you all so much for over 3k reads and nearly 200 votes! I'm glad you all seem to be enjoying this despite my nonexistent upload schedule.

Until next time!