TBHK Oneshots!

Memory | Terukane

[I wrote this while having an hour to finish an essay, so it's lost all sense of direction.

Lemon goes to Teru to ask where Akane is.

Akane is dead, Lemon shouldn't know that name, Teru is going to lose it.]

The severance was supposed to be a celebrated and joyous thing.

All Teru seems to feel is guilt and heartache, though there are no more exorcisms that run from right after school to late in the night.

He should be happy, he gets more time to spend with his family (Kou feels like a shell of himself most days, Tiara is more worried than ever), he gets time to sleep (he rarely succeeds in actually falling asleep), and there aren't any roaches in the school anymore (that, he was the tiniest bit happy for).

He isn't though, he's far from it.

(How could he be? He's seen people become shells of themselves, from chipper to an all too painful fake smile. And he had failed not one, but two people that night.

He had failed Akane that night.)

It's dizzying most days, awful the rest. Too many people need him for him to falter. Kou, Yashiro, the student council...

Speaking of the student council, someone is knocking at the door and it's getting louder.

"Come in!" His voice isn't nearly as composed as he would like it to be when he speaks. The boy on the other side doesn't seem to notice (or care), he opens the door but doesn't step inside.

"Um, I don't know if you're the right person to ask this, but you are the student council president."

The boy is familiar, his name lingers on the tip of his tongue. "Well, that would be me. What do you need?"

"Minamoto-senpai, have you seen Akane?"

There's barely audible pop music playing from the boy's phone, probably because the headphones that he's hardly trying to hide are broken. He stares at Teru with an unreadable expression while the older boy looks back as if his underclassman had suddenly grown a second head.

"I-I thought he was sick, or maybe Aoi was sick and he was missing school to take care of her but it's been weeks and I've checked everywhere I could think of, it's fine if you don't-"

He starts rambling an explanation when Teru doesn't answer, there's a nervous shake to his words.

"You know Akane?"

Teru's voice is quiet and low, sounding stunned.  The boy (he needs to ask his name) raises an eyebrow, confused.

(God, Akane did the same thing-)

"Yeah? We were friends, why wouldn't I know him?"

The slightly anxious tone that Teru had heard from his mouth is quickly replaced with an uncertain one.

"What's your name?"

"Yamabuki Lemon."

"First year, I assume?"

"Yep."

"Have you noticed anything weird happening at the school recently?"

Yamabuki's confused look drops. There's disappointment in his eyes, though the rest of his face turns back to unreadable.

"Look, if you don't have an answer just say that. I really don't want to stay here if you're just gonna ask me unrelated questions."

"Wait." Teru hopes his voice isn't as unsteady as he feels, he's already lost enough of his composure around this stranger.

"You said you've checked everywhere you could? I think I might have a clue where he is."

That caught Yamabuki's interest again. He turns his body to face the student council room again, taking a step so he's inside of the room.

"...Don't make it sound like some murder mystery film."

It's much less a murder mystery than it is a death. Akane had faded into glass shards that rested in front of the dusty grandfather clock, no one else to witness the scene other than Teru.

(No one else to remember him other than a handful of people.  Yamabuki now in that palm of them.)

He puts on his most charming smile, hoping it would do the trick of convincing well enough.

"No need to worry, Yamabuki-san. I'll make sure to alert Aoi that you're concerned when I find him."

If  I find him, a voice echoes in his head.  If  he's still far enough from the far shore.

Yamabuki relaxes, even if it's barely noticeable, and Teru counts that as a win.

"Alright, have a good day Minamoto-senpai."

The door clicks shut and Teru is left alone with a new pool of thoughts to swim in. He contemplates dumping the knowledge in his notes app, but there is unfinished council work piling up on the desk.

(There would be much less if Akane was around. He would always do a portion of Teru's work while someone was confessing to him in the student council room, face cringing as he heard the confession pass and the rejection go through.)

He texts Kou instead.

: Yamabuki knows

Kou: Yamabuki? What does he know?

Kou: Actually never mind tell me when you get home and get some sleep.

There are a few other notification rings as he puts his phone down. He'll read them when he walks home.

The sun shines, hot and unbearable, straight onto his neck as he goes back to all the untouched papers.

...Summer is quickly becoming his least favorite season.