Time Flies By // TBHK Role Swap AU

Chapter 10: Stress-Reliever Yashiro to the Rescue

Yashiro ran off after she got her nerves to calm down enough, and stupidly enough, Amane never followed her. He just made his way home with instant regret hitting him like a brick wall, which he did walk into, but that's not the point.

Man, he really should of followed her though. Even if her past was none of his business, he really wanted to learn who she was and help her whilst being her assistant. Not just because it was his unpaid job, but because Yashiro was a genuinely nice person. Its rare to see people, or ghosts, who still use their words before going into combat.

All night, he couldn't sleep. He couldn't turn off his imagination, his memory and train of thought were permanently stained by the event, and he desperately wanted answers. Why did she kill her? Was it with that floral pocket knife? He grabbed one of the stuffed animals that piled at the end and brought it close to himself, it was a small chibi-sized green dinosaur. Taking a deep breath, he glanced at Tsukasa, who sound asleep on the bottom bunk, almost off the bed. By now it was 2am, and hes been trying to sleep for 4 hours. He was throughly frustrated at this point, and this was all because of a teeny-tiny mistake he made.

Next morning, when he arrived at school, he was so out of it. He at least got 5 hours on the regular, but last night he barely got an hour. Every tiny thing almost made him set off and he had no energy to face Yashiro. In the middle of his 3rd period, he had to step out to the hallway because it got the best of him. And every other class period, even during lunch, he just slept. It did help him gain energy, but he wasnt prepared for Yashiro. Surprisingly almost none of his teachers even bothered to wake him up, not because of their ignorance, just because theyve been through this with him before, and they figured it was that. Why hasnt anybody bothered to help him by now?

So once the final bell ringed for students to head home, it signaled for him to suck up his anxiety and talk with Yashiro. He grabbed his tracker keeper, throwing it around his arm to be over his shoulder. He took a final deep breath as he walked out to practice garden, it was dead quiet, and the energy felt a bit more.. tense then usual. Its like that scene in a horror movie before the killer is revealed behind the main character.

"Boo!" Yashiro shouted from behind, grabbing both of his shoulders.

"AH!" Amane fell over on himself, getting tiny rocks and dirt onto his hands, which made tiny cuts, and as normal, flowers.

"Ah sorry my bad! You ok though? You seem a bit off?" She sat down next to him, it was like deja vu from when they first met.

"Yeah Im fine.. just a rough night." Amane yawned as he started rubbing the dirt and flowers off himself.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" What disappointed Amane the most is she seemed perfectly fine, well not disappointed, but he was expecting a similar reaction to the whole thing. On the other hand, he's glad Yashiro wasn't taking it badly. Perks to the bad.

"Over-active imagination kept me up, its nothing special." Was he really gonna talk to a garden ghost about his problems?

"I wont force an answer out of you, but just know Im here for you if you need anything alright?" Yashiro commented, ruffling his choppy brown hair.

"Ahh quit it!" Amane laughed out, the first time he smiled all day, maybe its because his nerves had been settled, or its the gentle and calming energy Yashiro gave out.

"There you are! Welcome back Amane!" She smiled, continuing as Amane laid on his side from laughing so hard. Even if Yashiro was a murderer, she makes it so easy to forget it. And that shes dead.. To think one of the people he's closest to is dead, it seems crazy.. He didn't mind though, the extra effort was worth it.

Kou walked in on the scene.
"Whats going on-"

Yashiro got off him, retrieving her hand from his head. "Just having some fun. Enough screwing around, you guys have chores to do." Amane and Kou got their stuff and started along their chores. Kou started more recently, and Amane taught him the ropes of the hobby. It was fairly simple. Water, pull out weeds, and sometimes give it plant food.

While tending to the plants, Kou kept staring at Amane, mainly his arms.
"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Oh no sorry! I just noticed you've been recovering lately, Im proud of ya." Kou replied.

"What do you-" Kou was right, he'd really been recovering. The bruises or scraps that littered his body were either fully or almost healed. "Huh, youre right."

This was a weird day. Except for the fact Yashiro was watching a music video on his phone. The first thing he thought of though was what Aoi said last night.

"Did you know there was a new music video out?"

Maybe thats why Yashiro liked the band so much, he would never ask though, not after last night. He didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"Hey Amane, c'mere for a second." Yashiro called out, Amane took his blue gloves off and walked over to her. She turned the phone off.

"I just want to make sure... You're completely alright?" Yashiro slid his phone back into his pocket. Kou couldn't help but eavesdrop, Yashiro is a terrible whisper.

"Yeah, Im fine." Amane answered.

Didn't Yashiro not care?
Didn't she and Kou have a whole talk on that?
This is why Kou decided to stay quiet, just in case anything changed, and hes glad he did.
Yashiro is one confusing ghost, thats for sure.