𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍. ʜᴀɴᴀꜱʜɪʀᴏ

1 6 : 魂を救う十字軍

Soul Saving Crusaders

-—

"Say, Hanako," Nene begins as she stares out the window. Apparently, the cream-haired was doing her best to finally catch the extraordinary phenomenon of the changing settings. But it hasn't changed, although she has been waiting for like hours already ever since Mei left. "Won't you tell me how you arrived here?"

The said boy looks at her for a moment, before looking at the rain too, "It's not really important though. I don't think you'd even want to hear it. It's just some boring stuff."

"I want to hear it," she huffs. "I want to know more about you."

He finally looks at her, "But why? It's troublesome trying to get closer with people here in this place. No offense, but people come and go here, you know," he crosses his arms. "You'll eventually forget."

He was right; people do come and go there a lot. Moreover, each and every individual is different and unique with their characteristics and experiences. There's no doubt that you may end up mixing or forgetting about other people in that process.

But somehow, even if what he said has a point, she still couldn't help but think how it also feels wrong.

"You may be right about the fact that we may meet a lot of people here, but," she pauses before scratching her palm lightly, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. "You're my friend now and I don't think I'd ever forget about you."

Hanako looked at her, a bit stunned. It made her more conscious about her words, and so, while blushing furiously, she yelps, "W-Well, it's not that I'd forget about Kou, Teru and Mei either! They're my friends too!"

"I know," he laughs. "But do you really want to know?"

Nene nods eagerly, "Yeah!"

"Sure," he shrugs and them smirks. "I'll just tell you the next time around."

"Hey, that's unfair!" She huffs and puffs her cheeks, crossing her arms. "Why won't you just tell me right now? It's not like I'm going to hear the bell soon."

Hanako cocks an eyebrow at her, "Why are you doubting like that? You're nearly new here too. Well, at least, longer than the three we've met but, you should be more positive about your situation," he purses his lips then. "Besides, if you're going to tick me, I'll never tell you."

"Ugh," she sighs heavily, accepting defeat. Nene scrunches up her nose, "W-Well, I'm kinda in the hot seat about that part. I don't think my aunt would go looking for me after all the things I did and hid from her. Just to let you know, she's really scary when she's mad. I get chills just from imagining!" She rubs her arms as she grimaces at the sole thought of her aunt's intimidating look.

"But I'm sure she still loves you although she acts like that," Hanako grins at her. "I'm sure she'll be as worried as heck if she finds out what happened to you. And then, the next moment will be just like bye-bye! for us."

"Uh, why do I feel like you want to throw me out of this place but in a good way?" Nene grumbles as she shots him a glare. "Well, more like in an ambiguous way."

"I don't have any idea about what you're talking about." He shrugs at her, shaking his head.

And then, they fell silent again as they continued to either stare at the continuous pouring rain or close their eyes as if meditating or trying to sleep. It has always been like this; you either stare at the setting outside, rest with your eyes closed or talk and bicker with each other. But either way, it was fun.

Nene soon got bored of just staring at the passing boring houses and turned to Hanako again, "I have an idea that just popped in my head."

Hanako glances at her as he rubs his eyes, "I feel like it's a bad idea again though. Can I skip it?"

"Definitely no," she scoffs. "Hear me out. Besides, I think this is the best one yet."

He groans as he turns to the side, lending his ear for her, although he looks totally displeased and forced. She grins and moves a bit forward towards him, "I think we should name ourselves as the 'Soul Saving Crusaders', Hanako!"

When she moves back, he just stares at her in a peculiar and weirded out way, completely bothering her, "Hey, what's up with that look?!"

"That doesn't sound good at all like you said though," he says, rolling his eyes. Then, he parrots her words over, "I think we should name ourselves as the 'Soul Saving Crusaders', Hanako!" He laughs loudly. "You're funny."

"I'm not joking here!" She hisses at him. "Think about it! Together, we can encourage other souls we meet here to go back and continue to live longer! All of us got dreams here that we want to achieve. So if we meet any soul that's troubled because they're lacking motivation or encouragement, then we'll be here to be what they need."

Hanako stares at her before looking down, silent. Her idea wasn't totally bad at all though; just corny and a bit awkward. He was never good with socializing after all. He just reaches out to other people at first because he knows how it felt to be as confused as they are when he first arrived.

He looks up at her again and he couldn't help but smile as he sees her hopeful magenta eyes; besides, her ideas are way too pure and soft. It was cute and she only meant good intentions.

"Is it still a no good idea?" She tilts her head, her eyes full with hope. "What do you think?"

Hanako blushes as he looks away, flustered by her, "W-Well, it's not that of a bad idea," he then crosses his arms. "But I just want to let you know something."

"What would that be?"

He looks back at her again, "I know you know all too well that all people are unique and different from each other. We are individuals that have our own likes, hates and decisions. And as we are like that, we need to respect each and every decision being made by the person himself," he turns serious. "If someone decides to never go back, we should respect it. Be mindful that we can't change everyone's mind."