My eyes met his, looking at his frown. He bared his pointy teeth, that matched his pointed elf-like ears. Pushing his glasses up, he uses his other hand to hold a long gold pipe in his mouth, "Your late, Ms. Miri."

My face heated up, as I stomped my foot in anger & hissed, "DUDE! Don't use that in front of him!"

Tsuchigomori looked behind me, his eyes in slits. He inspected Hanako, who stood there un-menacingly. He gave a little wave & a smile, which Tsuchigomori ignored, "Since when did you hook up with No. Seven, Ms. Miri?"

I was a second away from trying to slap some common sense & respect into Tsuchigomori, but I realized, I shouldn't hurt my elders. I laughed to myself, as I gained back my head that I'd lost.

I ignored his comment, "Yeah, I forgot I had to be here."

He stared daggers into me, "Uh-huh, then why were you prancing around with lover boy?"

Before I could retort, Hanako jumped straight in between us & then started to talk, "Who's Miri?"

I facepalmed, "Seven, that's my undercover name."

Hanako grinned, "Oh wow, you have a lot of different aliases don't cha Seph?"

Tsuchigomori raised an eyebrow, causing me to flail my arms in front of me, "IT'S NOTHING! I'm sorry for being late, okay? Can you just let it slide? I have a job to be doing."

He grinned, "Hmm...depending. What's this job?"

"We're trying to-"

Hanako interrupted, "None of your business, Mr. Tsuchigomori. Let us get back to our job."

He looked over us once more, "Well, I will Seven...but as Miri being one of my students, I must speak with her right now...unless, you want to work out something between us."

Hanako's eyebrow raised, "& what would this deal entail?"

Tsuchigomori smirked, as he raised a finger to lead Hanako to come with him. Hanako looked at me before floating off behind the taller & older apparition.

Tsuchigomori, the fifth wonder of the school. He overlooked the four pm library, which is why I never stepped a foot inside. For starters, he creeped me out. He's also super nosey, & has a lot of attitude once you actually engage with him

This is why when I first met him, I got into a huge catfight with him. Our personalities just clash too badly, that neither of us can keep our cool. It's another reason why he hates having me in class.

With the slam of an open door, Hanako comes floating out. He looked amused, as he looked over to me, "Please go speak to him."

"What about the deal...?"

He sighed, "Seph, I'd recommend you just talk to him."

Hanako seemed very peeved off from whatever Tsuchigomori had said, which is why I slowly floated towards the door & even slower closed it behind me. Tsuchigomori sat at his desk, holding his pipe & watching me.

I muttered more curses under my breath as I floated to in front of his desk, "Yes?"

He smiled, "Now, we can finally have our talk."

I snorted, "Since when do you want to have a talk with me? You know I have a job to maintain as a wonder."

"Well, if that's true, your doing a bad one right now."

As I was about to spit out a mean comment, I bit the inside of my cold cheek, "I'm helping out Hanako."

He sighed, "I take a guess he revoked your number?"

I sighed,"Yes, for now. My boundary is still there, I just can't do anything my rumor says. Was it that easy to see?"

He nodded, adding on, "I'm guessing because of the incidents?"

I scratched the back of my neck, "Maybe a little bit...you knew that was me?"

Tsuchigomori laughed a little, pinching the bridge of your nose, "Oh jeez...you need to be more careful kiddo. & who else would throw a girl down the stairs, or cause such traumatic & dark deaths?"

"I know!" I snapped, "That's why I'm making it up to Hanako!"

His eyes widened in bewilderment as I continued, "I'm repaying him by being his assistant...& fixing my wrongdoings. He's protecting me from the exorcists..."

"Sounds like hell to have to hang out with the boss."

I stared at my feet, crossing my arms, "Well..."

A sudden noise was heard as he pushed his chair out & stood up. My head jerked up to follow him, as he stood in front of me, "Well...Ms. Miri...or, if I shall, Seraphina..."

"Keep your nose out of my book." I exclaimed, as he just chuckled & rolled his eyes.

Tushigomori continued, "I would like to be able to be around you a little more."

I blinked at him a few times, staring at him. I didn't understand the words that just fell out of his mouth. Did Tsuchigomori, really just say, he wanted to be around me more?

"Excuse me?" I stated confused, "I thought we butted heads too much, why would you want to be around me more often?"

He laughed a little, walking to the door, "Seraphina, that's a discussion for another time. In the time being, I would like you to be my half-time apprentice, in your spare time of course."

"Which, is never." I corrected him.

"No." he corrected me this time, "When Hanako isn't in need of your services, when I'm not having class, or even when you just don't want to attend your normal day to day classes - I would like you to be in the library with me. I need some help, & it'd be nice to have some company."

I stared daggers into the taller male, "Did Hanako put you up to this?"

He laughed, as he pointed out the window. I looked out to see Hanako standing outside, pacing back & forth, absolutely seething with frustration. He seemed to be muttering things to himself, things that I couldn't comprehend without hearing.

"No no, your lover boy did nothing of the sorts. He wants the opposite really." Tsuchigomori sighed.

I raised my eyebrow, but before I could speak he continued once again, "So please, I would like to see you in the library whenever you can in your free time. It sure would be better than going to class, wouldn't you think?"

I nodded slowly, as he started to open the door. We both walked out, & Hanako instantly perked back up from his angry pacing. He floated over to me, putting his arms around my shoulders. For some reason, this made me shiver. I couldn't place why or how, but it felt different this time.

Instead of friendly, it felt more protective than anything else.

"Did you take his deal?" Hanako whispered in my ear, a hint of sadness linked into his voice.

"I mean, I guess?" I whispered back, "It didn't seem like much of a deal. Just that when I had spare time, I'd go see him."

Hanako blinked a few times, a smile now on his face, "Oh! That's not as bad as I thought it was going to be!"

I stared at the ghost boy floating in front of me. I crossed my arms & huffed, "What do you mean, not as bad as you thought? I thought you went in there & he told you!"

Hanako laughed, "Nope! I went in there, we discussed a few things, & then he wouldn't tell me anything about the deal!"

"YOU IDIOT!" I snapped at him, "SO YOU WERE MOPEY FOR NO REASON!"

I tried smacking Hanako, but he dodged every attack with a little laugh.

"No no, I wasn't sad for no reason," he said softly, getting closer to me. He was close to my ear again, close to giving me a hug, "I was scared of losing my Sephy~"

My face felt warm for a ghost. I looked past Hanako as he chuckled, knowing my reaction. I was going to smack him, but I noticed Tsuchigomori inspecting us. When I continued to stare daggers into him for staring at us, Hanako stopped laughing.

He looked at me, noticing I didn't react like I usually did. He looked at what I was staring deadly at. Tsuchigomori was leaning against the wall with his pipe in his mouth amused.

"Whatcha staring at Tsuchigomori?" Hanako asked, floating towards him, leaving me where I was.

He sighed with a small smile, "Oh nothing. Just thinking about what we discussed."

I pranced over, "& that would be...?

Tsuchigomori almost opened his mouth to speak, but Hanako intervened. He got into my face gently booping my nose with his pointer finger. He gave a huge smile with his eyes closed, "None of your business silly! Now, let's get a move on with these Mokke!"

Before I could even say a word against it or say anything at all, Hanako grabbed me by the arm, & dragged me down the hall. I started to float as he dragged me, muttering words at him only he could probably understand.

We left Tsuchigmori behind to head to the library, with a secret I wanted to badly be let in on.