Strange Birds

•|• Lesson Eleven •|•

Hanako had been hiding out in Tsuchigomori's office, a distant look on her face as she stood by the window. Her head rested in her arms as she avoided Amane and Yashiro for the time being- mostly to avoid the conversation at hand. Tsuchigomori didn't need to say anything, they talked about it briefly, but he knew as much as anyone how much the girl hated to talk about her past. In both Amane and Yashiro's books, there were mentions they'd try to pry, and Y/N was in no hurry to confront that.

Y/N knew that nothing would have been the same after that first incident. Somehow her friend was beyond what she knew about the girl, and not in a good way. The change went from bad, to worse, and she had Y/N tangled up where she wanted her. Y/N had no options out of this, she had nothing to trade in. The girl would sit at her desk, notably worse off than she'd like to admit. Tsuchigomori was getting more pushy about her situation, and she sat and nibbled on her nails for a bit while ignoring the teacher's lectures.

Her friends started pulling away. That was the first thing that was obvious. They would make excuses to avoid hanging out anymore, they'd whisper when she wasn't looking. Y/N became more and more isolated- the one factor that did not change, was her blonde-haired friend, Yana. Whatever the hell Yana was at this point, anyways. The girl's change in personality was beyond her, since that fight, and the incident that followed after- Y/N found herself more and more distraught by the girl's change in demeanor, as if there was a collar around her neck and an invisible leash to match it. Nobody was going to save her from then on.

"Y/N~" After class, the girl's shoulders tensed as hands wrapped around her shoulders, nails digging into her arms. "We should go back to my house after club activities." The [h/c] girl gave out a sigh, avoiding the girl's pink eyes that held worse feelings than the friendly tone she used to have. "I really don't want to today, Yana-chan.." [Y/N] muttered. She gave a strained noise, the arms around her tightening. "Did I say you had an option?"

Not anymore.

"...Okay." She went limp a bit, defeated, knowing that Yana could drag her around like a ragdoll as she pleased now. Her clingy 'friend' gave a giggle, letting the girl go. "Good." She was satisfied for now, thank god. She sat at her desk a little longer, laying her head down into her arms. It was quiet.

"...[L/N]-san right?" Her head was back up the moment she closed her eyes, meeting that of a boy in her class, all she knew was that he recently transferred to the class.

"Yeah, what do you need?"

Pink eyes squinted at the new interaction, just outside the classroom.

Amane sat at his desk, head resting in his hand as he duly ignored his teacher's lectures. It'd have been a couple of days since the new encounter on the rooftop. He hadn't seen Hanako since then. Both he and Yashiro had tried many times throughout the day to figure out her whereabouts, but that was neither here nor there. She had completely vanished for the time being- even Kou was confused. He asked what happened at the time, but Yashiro seemed depressed at the thought. He even admitted to himself that it was unusual, and how he still could not erase the mere image of the girl being that afraid. Who was that apparition anyways? He knew that she was part of Hanako's past- a sensitive part of it, at that. He never thought the girl he bonded with could emotionally react that heavily.

He'd glanced over at Yashiro, who- at this current point in time- is mumbling and daydreaming to herself, enough that Aoi was once again concerned for the silvery haired girl. At this point, nobody was blinking an eye at Yashiro's strange habits of talking to herself, and fantasizing about whatever her fixation was through the day. Today, she was on the same thought as he was- Hanako's whereabouts, and her past.