"If you want to change the world to how it was before, the method is simple. Yugi Amane and Mitsuba Sousuke. You need to kill those two boys."

Shijima's voice continues to ring through their ears.

Do they really need to kill Yugi Amane and Mitsuba Sousuke... Or is there another way out?

"...That's it... Yeah... I can't kill those two... And we can't return to the old world... That's it..."

"Senpai..." Kou wants to comfort his senpai. "It'll be fine! We don't even know if what she's saying is the truth."

It's not clear whether he has said that to reassure himself or Yashiro Nene. Maybe both.

"Even so, there has to be another way, and I'll find it!" The young exorcist stands up and reaches out his hand to the girl. "I promise!"

"I will too-"

"What are you guys talking about?"

"UAAH!"

"EEEK!"

"AHH!" Amane joins in the shouts.

"W-what is it? It looks like you've seen a ghost..."

"Amane-kun..." Nene stares at the boy sorrowfully.

"Hm?"

'Of course I can't do it...

How could I kill Amane-kun?

We have to find another way!'

Soon enough, Mitsuba comes running in with a cardboard box full of telescopes. "Senpai~! The supplies to bring to the roof- Ah..."

"Mitsuba!", Kou shouts.

Mitsuba quickly turns around to face Amane, ignoring him.

"Senpai, are these right?"

"Ah, sure! You've done a good job. I'll go soon, too."

"Ok~! Well then, bye~!" He happily waltzes off as if trying to piss off Kou on purpose.

"HEY- YOU- MITSUBA! WAIT RIGHT THERE!" Kou screams while chasing Mitsuba down the field.

"Uh- Kou-kun?"

...

"He's gone..."

"Um... Amane-kun, what are you carrying?" Yashiro asks.

"This? Isn't it obvious?! It's an astronomy telescope!" Amane's eyes light up with passion as he shows off the giant telescope. "We're doing an astronomy observation!"

"Eh..."

"There's going to be a meteor shower tonight! Everyone is going to watch."

"Meteor shower...?"

"Yeah!" He gives her the happiest, geekiest grin anyone could manage.

"It's the Perseids Meteor shower! Today is a new moon, so there isn't much light, so we'll be able to see it well... Of course winter would be preferable, but the night skies in summer are also not bad either."

A bright light flashes past my eyes.

"A shooting star..." I whisper.

"A shooting star!"

"AMANE! Did you see it?!" Tsukasa and I both scream at the same time.

"Tsukasa... (Y/N)..."

"Eh?" Yashiro looks at us three, confused and shocked.

"You dropped your telescope..." Amane sweatdrops, walking over to pick up Tsukasa's telescope.

Tsukasa jumps on his brother and I don't hesitate to jump on Amane too.

Sometimes... Amane reminds me of a shooting star. He grants people's wishes... and he's as bright as one. Maybe even brighter.

Yashiro looks at us, clutching her chest and sweating. I wonder what she's thinking of...

"Ah...this is just." He first picks Tsukasa up and gently places him in front of him while I get off walking towards Yashiro.

"Woah those ankles look swollen, Yashiro-san. Are you okay?"

I let out a giggle as I see her soul leaving her body. Before Yashiro could get her soul chipped any more, Amane started talking.

"Let's go to the rooftop, everybody is waiting there. Tsukasa get your telescope." The boy walks off flustered.

Tsukasa walks to the right side of Yashiro while I walk on the left. We whisper in both her ears.

"So about Amane...

"I hope you can do a good job of killing him." Tsukasa finishes my sentence.

I sigh. I told him not to go overboard with this.

...

"Yashiro-san?" Amane looks over to the girl.

Yashiro then sprints to the other direction while saying that she is going to change. We clearly scared her too much.

"Tsukasa, Amane. Go to the rooftop first. I'll bring Yashiro-san."

I quickly catch up to Yashiro and strike up a conversation.

"Don't sweat it, Yashiro-san. You'll be fine... you might as well find another way. Like they say, there is no right answer in life."

"Jisatsu-san..."

"Don't call me that here. Just call me (Y/N)." I pat her back with a grin, looking up at the ceiling. "I wonder if it would have actually been this way if we triplets didn't die."

"Ah..."

"Let's go since it looks like you're ready." She quickly packs her bag as we both get ready to exit the classroom.

But before we exit, I stop us both.

"Can't we go in the classroom?"

"NO! She's changing now!"

I let out a small giggle as Yashiro sweats nervously. Maybe she's body-conscious?

Amane and Tsukasa's heads peep out the doorway.

"Umm... Yashiro-san... (Y/N)...

Are you done changing?"

I slightly jab her in the arm as she regains consciousness. "OH! Yes! Sorry for making you wait!"

---------

"(Y/N)! Yashiro! Come here! This is the perfect place to see meteors." Amane beckoned us forward while I was eating the cookies my friends and I made, deciding to ignore my brother for a while. I happily nibble onto the bunny cookie Mitsuba had baked, picturing how mad he would be finding out I ate them. Looking back and forth from the sky and the rooftop, I find the two lovers.

It looks like Yashiro and Amane are on a date.

I giggle, finding humour in my thought.

I guess my childhood prediction will come true after all.

"There's no one here...?

I climb up the highest point of the school. It's empty.

With my curiosity getting the better of me, I peek through the telescope.

"Wow... This is..."

I turn to see Amane lying down on the roof. He wasn't here a minute ago-!

"Huh? Amane-kun..."

"See that red star in the middle?" He interrupts. "That's the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation. It's a red giant called Antares."

He points up to the stars.

"Can you see it, that red one?"

"Yeah..." I whisper in awe.

"It's actually a twin star, but it's light is so bright that you can't see it's companion star next to it through this telescope. The light of Antares is 100 times brighter than our sun."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. It's really far away so we just don't perceive it as much as the sun, but it's a really bright star. Although, the light we're seeing right now is already 600 years old. Red giants are stars that are going to die."

"So we might not even be seeing the real Antares. Even if it's visible now... It could already be dead."

"In a way..." Amane looks at me and smiles. "It's a bit like a ghost!"

A ghost...

So in a way... Amane-kun is like one of those red giants?

"Amane-kun, Do you want to look through the telescope?"

"Hmm... I'm good."

"But it's so pretty."

...

"Exactly." He only grins.

"If I look at it too much, it makes me want to go there.

Hanako-kun...

"After all... going to space is impossible!"

...

"Hanako-kun- I mean, Amane-kun.

You're Hanako-kun after all, aren't you?"

"...No..."

I don't believe him.

"You really like saying that, don't you~! But I'm Amane-kun."

I continue to stare at him, my eyes boring holes into his face. Why will he not admit it?

"What kind of person is he?"

"Huh?"

"This 'Hanako-kun', I mean. Are we that similar?"

...

"...Yeah. You are similar."

I stand up. "Hanako-kun... He does various annoying things."

Amane sweatdrops. "Eh-"

"He's always acting like a perv. And making dumb jokes."

"That guy... Is similar to me, how?"

"But...

"So... Hanako-kun! Let's escape together to the real world...!"

While I try go back to the real world with Hanako-kun, I'll have to hope that Kou will do the same with Mitsuba.

I grab his hand eagerly. If he doesn't want to come with me... If he doesn't want to open up to me...

I'll have to force him.

He smacks away my hand with a look of shock.

"...What...?"

---------

"Hanako-kun, let's go!" The small, frail girl managed to burst open the school gates.

Just what is she trying to do?

"Hanako-kun? (Y/N)-chan?"

And since when was I '(Y/N)-chan'?

"Yashiro-san... Are you going outside?"

"Yeah. Let's go together, Hanako-kun... (Y/N)-chan..."

Why am I a part of this again?

"I'm not going." Amane and I both dully tell her at the same time.

"You brought us all the way here, but... I... We... won't go outside."

"I'm with Amane. We're staying."

Yashiro Nene stares at us with disbelief. "...Why?"

"Why? Hanako-kun, Jisatsu-san... Do you want to stay here? Or should I say, Amane-kun and (Y/N)-chan."

"I want to stay here, of course I do!" I nod in agreement to my brother.

"Why would any of us want to run away? This is the happiest I've been in my life...!" I add in, smiling at Yashiro. We need to convince her, for her and Amane's sake.

"(Y/N) is right. This is the most fun I've ever had!" Yashiro stares at the boy with her pink orbs. "There's nothing good to be found outside. The roads at night are dangerous. It's too bright to see the stars. Let's get back to the others, Yashiro-san. Or..."

Just as Yashiro was about to walk off out of disappointment, Amane grabs hold of her hand.

They lock eyes for a brief second. I stand behind my brother, watching the scene unfold.

"No... I like it. There's a lot of fun things... But... I... So I have to go."

Silence.

Amane must be heartbroken... He just got rejected by his crush-

"That... Person you like... Is it the person who looks like me?"

"E-Eh?" I comment on that question.

He really must want to be loved back, huh?

"W-What kind of question is that?! Do you want to hear me say it again?"

Say what again?

"EH?! That's not what I meant-!"

Whatever she said, it must have been something about their relationship.

"NOW... JUST BE QUIET AND COME WITH ME, YOU TWO!" She screams, getting impatient.

"Why am I a part of this, again? This is a lover's quarrel."

"Is not!" Both of the two shout at the same time, starting to blush.

Is too...

After an awkward silence, Amane sighs.

"Oh well... Fine."

"What-?!" I exclaim. He's going to go that easily?

"You'll come with me?!" Yashiro's face lights up.

"Well, if you go alone, it'll be dangerous..."

Excuses.

"Hoorah! Thank you, Hanako-kun!" Her happiness is convincing. For a second there, I wanted to come with them.

"Sure, sure."

"What about you, (Y/N)-chan?"

"Huh? Me?" I point at myself, tilting my head. "You have Amane, so it'll be alright."

I need to hide the fact that I just want them to go on a date.

"Hmm... Okay then..." Yashiro glances at me and Amane, then the sky and punches the air. "LET'S GO FIND THE END OF THIS WORLD!"

"Ehh-" I can see Amane regretting his decision already.

I smile as I watch them fade away to the outside world, waving a goodbye.

Now, where was I?

"Hanako-kun... everywhere I go... the girl is there. In that case, there's nowhere we can go..."

"What girl?"

"You saw her, didn't you Hanako-kun? All the people on the streets had her face too..."

"Not really... They all seemed normal..." He looks at me as if I were mental. I guess Hanako can't see Shijima.

I've been chased by Shijima-san of the Art room all the way to the public playground. We can't outrun her canvas.

"I don't really get what you're saying, but for one thing...

Today was a really good day...

So don't you think it would be if tomorrow just didn't come?

I'm here.

I wish time would just... stop."

He starts to stand up.

"Just as I thought. Here, we can't see the stars." Hanako-kun pats my head. I hold back reluctantly. "Should we head back?"

I open my mouth to answer, but...

"Huh? Hanako-kun... what's that on your face?" On Hanako's face is a fake mustache which looks drawn from a marker. I hand him my pocket mirror, very confused.

"W-WHAT IS THIS?" He screams, horrified. "What..."

A "magical" paintbrush appears in the air.

"The paintbrush... Is floating?"

The brush continues to abuse the poor boy. I run in front of him for protection, but ending up accidentally pushing him backwards.

It's starting to... write in the sky...?

I am?

"How to escape..."

Could it be... that this brush can help us get out of this world?

"Yes... But..."

This situation...

Is seriously...

S... Seriously shady!

"That's what a shady person would say!"

"Y-Yeah! That's right!" Amane joins in. I admire his participation.

I am Yashiro Nene... I am not the kind of woman that is deceived easily!

What are you kids doing

Before my eyes, the floating paintbrush shattered Shijima Mei exactly how Aoi and Akane broke.

"Wh... What a nice paintbrush!" I look at it with awe.

I am Yashiro Nene,

A woman who believes in trust before suspicion!

"Who are you? And how do we get out of here?"

The brush starts writing on the floor.

"Door?! Really?! Where is it?"

Expecting it to answer my question, I wait. Instead, the brush splatters ink all over the ground.

"H-Hanako-kun?! What..."

Before my eyes is Hanako-kun crushing the brush in his hand.

"Wh-What are you doing?!"

Pulling me in, he swiftly comes near my face and places two fingers on my forehead. The next thing I know, it's all black.