"Oi, (Y/N)."

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about a supernatural that has to do with time?"

I tilt my head. Time?

"You mean Mystery No. 1? Clock keepers."

"I knew it. I'll go talk to them now. Could you tell me where their boundary is?"

I was floating from behind on a normal school day. But today, Teru is more stressed and stern than usual. 

What's going on this time? And from the looks of it, I don't think it will be a simple 'talk.'

I quickly float in front of him with a frown and put my left hand out like a stop sign. "Stop right there, Teru-nii. Fill me in with the blanks first." 

"If you insist... " He covers his face, annoyed. 

"I have a feeling Mirai of the Clock Keepers turned the time for many of the students here in Kamome. I'll need to go check it out and deal with her." 

Before I respond, he walks past me, leaving me clueless and still processing his many words. 

"Hey, wait a second!" I shout chasing after him, "Bring me with you!"

"...Why?"

I smile and sigh dramatically, "I need a refresher after all that chaos a few weeks ago. Plus, I'm really bored!"

He sighs at the sight of my existence.

"Fine. Follow me, I'll show you where the victims are."

After walking for five minutes I noticed a classroom with mould and people panicking about their belongings. Walking near the middle school division there were people who became old.

"Hey (Y/n), do you know how to meet the clock keepers?"

"Ah, um, about that...", I nervously scratch my head, "When I first met them I accidentally screamed out how they can do all sorts of pervy and gory stuff... they eventually told me to never show myself in front of them ever again."

"Hah... As expected..." Teru sighs hopelessly. "Let's get to Kou. We need more people to help us find her."

"YES SIR! Oh, I remember one of the clock keepers is a student here."

"Yes, as far as I know, he's in the student council. Now, let's go find him."

It's been thirty minutes, endlessly searching the school for a shrimp sized girl.

"Hey, Teru-nii, We've been looking for them for the past 30 minutes... I'm tired-"

"Isn't that voice from the daikon girl...?" and then a thought enters my head, "IS HANAKO RAPING HER?!"

Teru and I locked eyes for a second and started sprinting towards the concert hall, where the shout had come from. Opening the doors, the entrance reaction was expressions priceless.

"NUMBER ONE! I HAVE BEEN FINDING FOR YOU, FOR LIKE, WHAT, 30 MINUTES! NOW FOLLOW ME WE HAVE TO UNDO THIS MESS!", I yelled out, teleporting in front of number one and a purple-haired girl, getting impatient.

"W-WAIT! We need Akane-kun!"

I turn to see the first year and Amane. How did I not realise my brother and the radish girl were still here?

It's good I put on my mask today.

"Well, if you're not going to help me fix this mess, go away." 

"We are.", Yashiro willingly yet nervously adds in.

"Then follow me. I have a plan." I signal everyone to follow me as I exit the room, "As you can see, while we were playing tag, more people got affected after time. Therefore, we need to find Mirai fast."

I quickly glance at Hanako, who is quietly hiding behind Yashiro while we walk.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH, MIRAI!" Akane screams out. 

Sure, he was a mystery, but I didn't know he was stupid enough to scream like that.

"Oi, if you call for her, she's definitely going to run away. Before I tell you guys the plan, let's make a deal." I put a finger up, "No fighting until our business together is over."

"Deal."

"Deal."

"I know that Mirai likes candy... like how about we can lure her to a trap with a trail of candies?"

"I'll do it!" The radish girl shouted as she cheerfully walked out of the room with a handful of candies with the help of the Mokke. 

"Guys..." Hanako says out of the blue, slightly forgetting I'm there, "I have a favour for you guys."

"Hm? What is it number 7?"

"Don't let Mirai touch Yashiro. No matter what."

'So he grew to care for her, huh...'

"Okay, got it." I whistle, starting to follow Yashiro Nene. "By the way I'm not letting Teru do the lighting cage because if he did it Mirai would be dead in a few seconds, hundred percent."

"What's that sound-?"

Mirai pops out in between the mokkes, eating candy and starts making Kou more "Handsome". He honestly looks way better when he's older. And is it just me or does he look a lot like Teru...?

"Guy's I'm done setting the candies... KOU?"

"S-Senpai?!"

"Please- don't come near me!"

"EHHHH?"

In that short amount of time, Mirai starts to eat in. This may work-!

"Aight, since she's done with the candies let's go catch the lion!"

ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: star action

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◄◄⠀▐▐ ⠀►►⠀⠀ ⠀ 5:30 / 3:48 ⠀ ───○ 🔊⠀ ᴴᴰ ⚙ ❐ ⊏⊐

I peep in to see Mirai following the candies Yashiro put earlier... I hope this works.

As soon as Mirai enters our trap, Kou swiftly comes out and makes the lighting cage. All of us quickly celebrate how we got her.

As soon as our celebration finishes, I turn to Mirai seriously.

"SURRENDER NOW, MIRAI!"

"Okay... But just one more!" She gets out of Akane's grasp and appears behind Yashiro, eagerly looking at the poor girl and touching her shoulder.

"I'll make this girl look hotter..." She stops.

"I can't move her time forward...? Honourable No. 7, does this mean she... has no more time left?"

At the sound of that, Kou angrily jerks up to look at Hanako. I guess they didn't know.

"What does that mean, Hanako!?" I don't know which he's expressing more right now, hate, anger or worry.

"Kou, shut up. Only people near the far shore can summon Hanako, which means she's either a human with high spiritual power or someone who's death isn't far off.", I say quietly, trying not to anger the boy any further, "Aside from that, it took you long enough, Kako."

"Ho, ho, ho... I'm never late."

How ironic for a guy like him.

"Just take the kid and turn the school's time back."

He nods and looks at the mischievous supernatural, "Mirai, let's go."

"I know I said just one last time, but that wasn't fun, so..." She vanished again and reappeared in front of me.

Kako tried to catch her but instead he touched me.

My mask is falling off... And my face is getting smaller.

This isn't good.

Before I knew it, I had turned into my eight year old self. The mask dropped quite far away from me while shrinking. In a hurry, I kneel down, desperately covering my face and reaching for my mask.

They can't see my face.

"MY MASK... MY MASK- WHERE'S MY MASK... NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!"

Panic rushes through me like a wave.

Hanako slowly walks in front of me and taps my shoulder calmly. I just look down and kept screaming as I didn't notice the gentle tap, or rather I didn't want to react to it. Realising that won't work, he moves in right in front of me and grabs my shoulder.

"OI, CALM DOWN...!"

If he moved my shoulder, he would be able to see my face.

"GO AWAY!" He gets pushed away by my ribbons and I still lay hopelessly on the ground screaming for my mask.

"EVERYBODY, TURN AROUND! Here Jisatsu now calm down." It was Kou, getting the message that I don't want people to see my face. Everybody has turned to their back as I quickly tightened the mask around my face.

'Did they see me? Did Amane figure out? What's Kou trying to do?' Anxiety rushes through me as I quickly look away from everyone, their backs still turned.

"Teru, I'll be off to my boundary... See you soon."

Running off flustered, I teleport back to the music room.

I play a special song I used to sing to my brothers on the piano. The secret room under the piano opens up the moment I step into the water.

The moment I set foot into the water, It all fades to black.

"What happened, nii-chan?" Kou, still looking slightly older, looks at his brother eye-to-eye.

"Jisatsu had to go somewhere... But now you. Kako? I need the school to go back to the way it was."

The old supernatural smiles and nods, "It has been a while since I moved time so much"

The mossy classroom turns back to the way it was and students change back to their usual selves. It was awkward with so many old people around.

Then the most interesting thing happened. Kou declared that he would save the radish girl from death no matter what.

The Aoi-obsessed boy looks at everyone, especially the student council president, and announces, "OKAY. Since everything's back to normal let's just call it-"

"Even? Akane, I'm afraid we can't do that. I'll hear your excuses in the student council room," Teru interrupted quite rudely.

And just like that, it became another "normal" day in Kamome Gakuen.