Euphoria

Chapter 7

The morning bell rang as (Y/N) took her seat at her desk for first period. Tsukasa had tried to get her to stay in the broadcasting room instead of going to class, but frankly she needed some time on her own for a while. She yawned widely, she hadn't gotten much sleep after the warning from Hanako the previous night. Tsukasa hadn't seemed bothered about it when they got back to the broadcasting room, just his usual childish self. Somehow that worried her more, she had no idea what went on in that twisted head of his, it was probably better that she didn't. She scribbled random lines onto the page of her notebook as she thought back to Hanako's warning, "Your going to get yourself killed!" Anxiety wormed in her stomach and she pressed the led harder into the paper, leaving a hard dark stain in the middle of the page as flakes of it split off and were littered across the page. She had always known that Tsukasa was, a bit insane to say the least, but would he really go that far? A small part of her didn't want to believe it, but with everything she had seen and heard from him these past few weeks she couldn't deny that it wasn't out of the picture. The thought sent paralyzing fear shooting through her and she bit the inside of her cheek hard in an attempt to calm down, at least a little. A cold sweat formed on her forehead and her brow furrowed in frustration as she thought back to the parasite incident,"But then why save me?"  It didn't make sense, it angered and confused her the more she tried to figure it out, but then again logic never really applied to someone him in the first place. She desperatly wanted to talk to someone about it, but her classmates would pin her for a lunatic if she started spouting nonsense about a ghost that nobody had heard of before. (Y/N) scanned the class to rest her gaze on Yashiro's pale hair, the whole class already thought she was strange for hanging out in the bathroom and seemingly talking to the air. Besides she was Hanako's assistant, she wasn't sure if he'd told her what happened yesterday but she didn't need another lecture right now, she resumed scribbling on her notebook again as she thought back through the past few weeks and sighed. "This is getting to be too much.. Should I just avoid him?" The thought intrigued her as she rested her chin on her hand, "Is that even an option?" She wasn't sure, it annoyed her as she thought back to how little control she had over her life these days, "It isn't as if home would be a better option." If she lingered after school odds are Tsukasa would track her down eventually if he knew she had stayed. She gave an irritated huff, before gazing out the window to watch the classes who were playing in a heated soccer match, laughing and cheering when one of them scored a goal, "Lucky." she thought, "They don't have to deal with psychotic ghosts, or have every insecurity spat back into their face." She twisted her head to gaze at the pale bandages wrapped onto her skin, the cuts didn't sting as much but she'd need to keep these for a while longer. Yashiro had been alarmed when (Y/N) eventually showed up outside the classroom, rambling millions of questions about what had happened to her arms. (Y/N) had made up an excuse of her falling on something sharp in the cooking club, she hadn't told Yashiro about anything these past few weeks, to her knowledge she'd been busy after classes, so she wouldn't know the difference if it came down to it. Although Yashiro was always more than happy to share details of her adventures with Hanako and Kou, it was comforting and distracted (Y/N) from her own problems, and a distraction was exactly what (Y/N) needed right now.

The lunch bell rang out, students filed out of classrooms as (Y/N) followed Yashiro onto the roof, the sun warmed her back as they both sat down on one of the benches that littered the place. She silently ate some leftover food she had found in her locker while listening to Yashiro enthsiastically recall their latest escapade, something about the 4-o-clock library and Tsuchigomori-Sensei knowing Hanako when he was alive. (Y/N) simply smiled and kept eating, enchanted by her tale when the pair of them heard a loud voice echo from across the roof, they both looked over to see Kou, walking with a wide smile on his face, with Hanako in tow. The two girls waved at the young excorsist, while (Y/N) ignored the apparition, the last thing she wanted was to ruin her good mood. She wanted to feel like a normal student at least for a little bit, no ghosts following her around, nothing attacking or insulting her. Yashiro kept reciting their lastest adventure as (Y/N) went back to eating, Kou and Hanako occasionally commenting and adding details to Yashiro's stories. After a while (Y/N) relaxed a little and started loosening up and joking around, Hanako hadn't mentioned anything about the night before and she was grateful for it, this was exactly what she had needed after yesterday. Nothing complicated, just having fun with friends, she hadn't felt completely relaxed in a long time. Even during school, her home life always manages to creep and stick in the back of her head and ruin her mood, "The last time I felt like this was... After Tsukasa saved me." The thought perplexed her and she began to get lost in her own thoughts again, staring off into space before a hand shook her shoulder. "(Y/N)... (Y/N)!" She snapped back to reality and frantically racked her brain, trying to remember what they'd been talking about, a light flush of pink decorated her face as she nervously turned to Yashiro again. "Sorry, what?" The first year pointed to (Y/N)'s bandaged arms before gesturing to Kou, "Kou-kun was just asking what happened and I was just explaining the cooking accident." (Y/N) silently nodded and scratched the back of her neck, ignoring the conflicted look Hanako gave her.