𝕂𝕦𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕒𝕜𝕖-𝕆𝕟𝕟𝕒: 𝕛𝕙𝕤𝕜

二十七

『ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱᴛᴀᴄᴋꜱ: ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 27』

"Eh heh. . . W-Well something like that. . . " Yashiro awkwardly laughed as she pressed her books closer to her chest.

The green-haired student looked at the books in her hands, noticing one of the titles and familiarizing herself with Yashiro. "Hanako-san. . . Oh. The one that's like a cat."

"What?" Yashiro deadpanned as she quickly conjured an imagination of Hanako in a cat costume. In a way, she could see it? The other student waved her hands above her head, mimicking a cat's ears, trying to get Yashiro to understand the connection.

"Capricious, selfish. . . and childish." She leaned up against the windowsill. "Is yours like that too?" Her fingers twirled a strand of hair as she spoke cooly towards Yashiro.

'Does she know Hanako-kun?! What about Jiyuu-chan. . . ? Capricious, selfish, and childish. . . He's never wanted me to baby him! Wait I know this scenario!' Yashiro gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands, 'I've seen it in a manga!'

'Just who is this girl?! Don't tell me she's. . . Hanako-kun's girlfriend?!' She felt her heart crash down into a million pieces at the thought of him laying his head against her smooth and gentle legs.

She starts to head towards the open library door, not before calling out to Yashiro, "if you want to know more about him. . . You should see School Mystery Number 5." The green-haired girl is greeted by a familiar face that Yashiro overlooks as she tries to chase after her.

"W-Wait, what about the Kuchisake-onna! Wait!" Yashiro reached out to her but she already started walking away with another boy.

Although she was running fast, she accidentally slammed into the librarian's back and they both fall to the ground. The white and black-haired librarian fiddled with the glasses on his face and asked, "Wh-What are you doing? Y-Y-You can't do that. Running in the library is-!" Yashiro forcefully shoves him aside as she continues to run down the hall to reach the other girl.

She slams open the door, only to reveal an empty staircase.

"She's gone. . ."

"The fifth of the Seven School Mysteries?" Aoi was cleaning the chalkboard with her second hand caressing her cheek, "yes! I've heard of it!"

"Really?! S-So what's the rumor?!" Yashiro shouted excitedly, surprising Aoi a little but nonetheless, she continued.

"Tee-hee. Oh, Nene-chan! You sure do like these stories." Yashiro responded with a peal of nervous laughter, "all right, I'll tell you!"

"School Mystery number 5 is. . . The 4pm Bookstacks. In this school's library. . . There's a special storeroom you can only enter at 4pm. The room is full of books with people's names on it. Each of these books contains a record of that person's life at this school. What they did here, what they're going to do here. Past, present, and future. It's all written in the book. . . !"

However. . . You weren't part of this school, meaning that it was less likely that Yashiro would even find out about you. She didn't know whether or not you were living in this specific area before the school was built. The radish-haired girl worried that it might be almost impossible to look for your book when you existed long ago. . . Yashiro stared at her friend intensely by accident, creeping Aoi a little on the inside but she ignored it.

"It's all recorded. . . "

"Even things that haven't happened yet—makes you curious, doesn't it?" Aoi smiled. "And maybe I wanna read other people's books too! Like Minamoto-senpai!"

Yashiro sweatdropped as she remembered the girl from the library the other day. 'I guess she was telling me. . . to go find Hanako-kun's book? Because Jiyuu-chan isn't from the school. . . Is that why she didn't mention her?'

"What about you Nene-chan?" Aoi intertwined their hands together.

"Er. . . I, uh. . . I think I might wanna read someone else's book too. . ." She scratched her cheek as she turned away.

"Right?! Of course you would! Because we all want to know about the boys we like!" Aoi leaned in close to Yashiro's ear, "but. . . If you do go to the 4pm Bookstacks. . . You have to be careful."

"Careful?"

"There are three kinds of books in the bookstacks—white, black, and red. The white ones have records of people who are alive, the black ones are records of people who have died. And those two kinds are okay. . . But the red books. . . ! Those are the ones you should never read."

Hanako gazed at your sleeping body, so far, he finished sewing the edges of your clothing that had been torn. It took great work to learn how to stitch fabric but in the end, he felt achieved. He wiped the sweat off of his brows and noticed how often you slept to recover. Perhaps it was because you were so old you needed to sleep off your worries and struggles.

He chuckled at the thought.

He shivered as he remembered himself underneath your body, your hollow eyes looking down at him. There was another side to you that he needs to find out for himself. They were violent and ruthless, yet they protected him in the end. They laugh and giggle the same way Tsukasa did. . . Hanako frowned at the thought as he compared your two sides with this younger brother.

There was a vase full of flowers constantly by your side. His eyes narrowed at the sight of them. He didn't see anyone enter the infirmary the past couple of days, and especially not the bed in the very back of the room. The flowers' thorns were carefully snipped off, revealing a smooth stem that led up to the gorgeous blossoms. There was a folded up paper next to the vase, it seemed to be origami. It would be charming that someone would leave behind special gifts for you, similar to a secret admirer.

However. . . Whoever was sending you flowers, knew that you were resting in this bed. . .

They could see you.

Hanako bit the tips of his fingers.

Who is sending you these flowers?