"Amane, you cry-baby... Stop crying, I'm here."

And from there, I explained it all.

Mostly.

The fact that I've been hidden as Jisatsu-san and being stuck in the old building was something I shared.

And nothing else. Amane didn't ask any questions.

He was mostly mad the I've been hiding from him and toying with him. And he was mad that I told Tsukasa before him, but in the end it was no matter.

In the end, nothing ever mattered after all. Realistically.

I could reply the scene in my head over and over again. The sight of Amane's relieved yet angry face with tears falling down his face, and the nearly setting sun...

This world really is perfect.

If only I could stop time...

"Hanako? What-? Senpai?"

"Hey..."

Amane enters the school piggybacking Yashiro Nene.

I thought I told him not to go too far...

Those two really keep making the same mistakes.

"Oi! What happened?! Is she okay?" Kou runs to the two. I slowly walk towards them behind him.

"Yeah! She's just tired..." Amane replies with a smile.

Props to his acting.

"Seriously..." Obviously, Kou Minamoto is not as airheaded as many others, and seems to spot that Amane is lying. "What happened?"

"Well.. just, you know. Yashiro wanted us to go into town."

That slightly worries me. Even if it's a fake world, just a hint of a bad event can change all my plans. "Amane, what happened?" I decide to join in.

"Outside?! Are you saying something happened out there?" Kou screams.

"Nah. Yashiro-san just got knocked over by a bunch of handsome dudes that showed up out of nowhere."

"Are you..."

"Are you an idiot?!" Kou finishes my sentence slightly harsher than I intended. "That's a bunch of crap!"

"I'm just kidding-!" He wears a fake smile.

This isn't the Amane I know.

"Ah! Um-! Hey..." Mitsuba appears behind a bush, face flooding with sweat.

"Mitsuba-!" I exclaim. He's not wearing his school uniform.

Kou knows.

"Oops-! About this-"

Amane fixes his dark orbs onto Mitsuba. And then he turns to me, wearing the same expression. Towards me, his expression is filled with doubt.

But he doesn't speak.

"Minamoto-kun!" Mitsuba whips out her bones to pull the exorcist away from Mystery No. 7.

My brother turns away. "Well..."

Hanako-kun's true form appears.

"This is the real me."

...

Why did it have to turn out like this...?

Is what I want...

-----------

"Yashiro's life... Will run out within a year. Even though that's the decided future...

...If it's within this fictional world, it's possible for her to live beyond the limits of her life."

" 'Save Senpai... From dying'...?!"

I hear a laugh. "Like I thought, you hadn't realised. Even though you talk the talk,

"Amane-! Amane, this wasn't the deal!" A hurt, female voice calls out. She seems to be crying.

I feel myself float through a gust of wind.

"Wh-What are you trying to do?!"

"This world will be finished soon, so don't try to do anything stupid. Just leave things as they are."

"What are you saying?!" A boy screams.

"Don't get in the way. Yashiro's and your memories will disappear soon anyways. This world isn't so bad... For you either, right?"

"If it isn't so bad... The girl screams out again, sobbing louder and louder. The wind grows louder with her.

"Hey-! We're not done talking!

You still haven't listened to Minamoto-kun!"

Kou-kun?

My senses come back to me.

I can't open my eyes, but...

...Excuse me?

I feel weightless. Rage grows inside me.

Hold on... Someone stop and explain...! Don't just skip over this!

HANAKO-KUN... YOU IDIOT!

I'm too angry to be scared or worried.

Has he kept it from me all this time?

"WHY ARE YOU BEING LIKE THIS, HANAKO?" Kou screams at the same time as (Y/N), only difference is that she called Hanako-kun 'Amane' instead.

"Well then... I'll be taking Yashiro with me." Hanako-kun coldly replies to him.

Then I feel another sudden gust of wind, this time in which it seems like I am flying. Hanako-kun must be carrying me in his arms.

At last, after a long ride, he places me down somewhere soft. And that was when I opened my eyes.

A prison?

"Hanako-kun!"

He turns to me with a gentle smile.

"Yashiro... you're awake!"

"Hanako-kun? So you really were Hanako-kun all along..."

I grab a hold of the thick, metal bars, shaking it back and forth.

It's cold...

"What do you think you're doing?" I cry, "Why would you do this? Pr... Pretending to be alive... and locking me up here... Why...?"

"That's..."

He looks at me with a smile again.

"Because I think it's better in this world! I wanted to see what it would be like... To be your classmate... And to be with (Y/N) again like we used to! It's more fun than I expected."

Is this some kind of game to him?

"I-I'm...

Not really dying... right, Hanako-kun?"

He freezes with his smile glued onto his face.

"What are you-"

"Just now. I heard you say to Kou-kun... I'm... going to be dead in less than a year." I psychotically shout, feeling dizzier by the second.

...

"So then... I guess you heard... Yashiro." Hanako-kun just turned around with a sudden sad expression and walked away.

It can't be...

Right?

I feel like I'm being choked, being drowned forcefully at the bottom of the sea.

"How... How can you just tell someone... They're going to die..." I fall to the floor. I can't take this anymore. "Why... Why are you just doing whatever you want like this...

Tears start falling.

"Why, you ask?" He kneels down, reaching out for my face through the iron bars with a deceiving grin. "Why would I be doing this?"

Hanako-kun grabs a hold of me and pulls me in for a hug.

"It's okay...

So, don't worry. It'll be alright if you just stay here forever."

"Eh-! Hanako-kun, what do you mean-?!"

"I have to go now. I'll come get you when this world is complete."

-----------

"Honorable No. 7."

"Oh, No. 4 and (Y/N)."

I put on a nice smile for my brother.

"From now on please don't use No. 4's gallery the way you like. Although, we do thank you for your cooperation in creating this world." Shijima Mei looks at my direction with darkness in her eyes. "Honorable No. 7. Do you also perhaps intend on staying here?"

...

I'll leave when this world is complete."

Ah. I see.

"No. 4, your ability is useful for keeping Yashiro safe. I'm just using it.

I see.

"More importantly, can't you finish this sooner? Making this daydream world, I mean."

For a split second, Shijima and I both give him the same expression. I stay in my place quietly.

Shijima is the one to answer with her usual playful personality. "Yes, sir! Your order has been received!"

-----------------------

"Good evening~! How do you do- Oh my..."

Mei and I stand before a crying girl inside a cell.

"We came to check on you, but what's wrong?" No. 4 curiously asks.

"Was Amane bullying you?" I add on.

"I... I'm...

I'm going to die soon, he said..."

"Aah~!" Shijima and I both exclaim.

Hiding my face in the other direction, I give a dark expression.

"It appears so, but there's no need to be so pessimistic." Mei starts skipping through her sketchbook.

"Humans who are close to death have a lot of special qualities. They can see ghosts. Make contact with the seven mysteries. That's worth considering."

I peek to see that she drew a chocolate bar. It's creepily realistic.

The paper changes to chocolate in a flash. She opens the packet and breaks it in half, handing me one. I gratefully accept and nibble onto the chocolate.

It's not as good as donuts, but it'll work.

She then looks at Yashiro Nene. "Do you like sweets? They might cheer you up a bit."

-----------------------

"Hanako-kun said... If I leave this world, I would die. So he locked me up here."

"I see... The fact that this imaginary world has come to this point, is all thanks to you, in fact."

Yashiro perks up. "How so?"

"Don't you understand?"

"This convenient world is the thing Amane hates most of all." I explain, still nibbling on my food, "Normally, he'd have wanted to destroy it right away... But he started to realise.

So he couldn't bear to destroy it. Not with the chance of you living"

"He said he would wait until it was finished, and then he alone would return to the real world." Shijima tells her. I bitterly look away at that explanation.

"Amane's hope was that you might live here in a happy dream forever, never having to yearn for your death. Isn't it great? In this world, any of your dreams can come true. Hell, even mine! In short, he wants you to live a happy life."

"He seems to care for you greatly." Mei tries to lighten the mood. Sadly, that did not cheer me up.

...

"Shijima-san... can you give me your hands for a moment?"

"Huh? You mean me?"

"Yes... I just want someone other than Hanako-kun to comfort me..."

"Okay... Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter-"

Yashiro swiftly grabs her two hands, pinning her against the bars. She has the palette knifeclose to her neck.

"Don't move!"

"Mei!" I shout. Yashiro looks at me sternly. It seems she forgotten about me.

Quickly grabbing my ribbons, I pull Shijima back.

Putting out all her anger, Yashiro screams at Hanako-kun, who isn't even here.

"?! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS WITHOUT TELLING ME ANYTHING? YOU THINK YOU'RE SO AMAZING JUST 'CAUSE YOU'RE DEAD? WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS KEEPING SO. MANY. SECRETS?!

I GET THERE'S THINGS HE DOESN'T WANT TO TELL ME 'CAUSE I'M ALIVE AND HE'S ALREADY DEAD, BUT I'M JUST SO FREAKING ANGRY RIGHT NOW! I'M NOT JUST GOING TO DO WHAT YOU TELL ME...

BECAUSE I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE REAL WORLD!"

The daikon-legged girl bangs on the bars.

"

She stares up at me.

"H-Huh?"

"Just because you're alive, you think you understand us apparitions? What a joke." My eyes grow darker and darker. " 'He thinks he's amazing just because he's dead' ? What do you think life and death is? Some kind of game?"

"I-I never said that! I just want to get out of here-!"

"Do you truly want to leave this world? Even though you will soon die if you return to the real world?" I put on another grin. "What even is the point? You're better of here like anyone else would be."

"But, I still don't know if that's really the truth! 'I'm going to die'... How am I just supposed to believe that?"

Shijima and I both say at the same time.

"..."

"Oh my, are you alright? You're trembling. Can you really say you're not unsure at all?"

"B-But... But no matter what, if I leave this world... It'll be okay...! Because I-"

I guess, getting it spot on. Shijima only nods blankly in agreement.

I can't believe this girl.

"Eh?"

"Without any basis... Saying 'It'll be okay' is nothing more than a wish." I look away. "It doesn't make any sense...

"A long time ago, some people we knew said the same thing." I glance at Shijima. " 'As long as they're here... It'll be okay,' one of them thought. 'If they're here with me until the end of time, It'll be okay.'

The image of my dead siblings enters my head.

No.. I can't be thinking of that. Not here, not now.

Yashiro Nene mummers something to herself.

"...Were those people... Someone special to you both?"

This time, Mei answers her question. " 'Special'... Well, in a way. But even so, it's someone I can't meet again."

Ah...

"Tsukasa! Took you long enough." I grin, teleporting besides him, who had just appeared next to Yashiro.

Shijima and Yashiro both look at us with shock.

"Tsu- Tsukasa-kun?!"

"Why are you here...?"

"You called me No. 4! You made that wish, right? 'I want to meet again.' "

"And don't forget (Y/N)'s wish! I'm here for that too, but that's more on the long term."

Tsukasa's Joudai flashes across the cell.

"

"Well then," he continues, pointing at Mei, "The price is one. How about it, No. 4? "

"That's... not what I've heard... Woah-!" The joudai start wrapping around her, getting ready to teleport. "This is..."

"Eh?! Me too?!" Yashiro starts to get dragged in too. "Tsukasa-kun, please put me down!"

"Have a nice trip!" We both wave at them.