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"They're all around you."

Your eyes widened as you looked up to see hundreds of dolls, they all had the same features as your schoolmates. One doll quickly caught your eye, Yashiro's friend, Aoi. Her body was still, and her face has been covered by a white sheet of paper that read in Japanese Kanji, "two".

"Aoi!" Yashiro ran to her friend's side, tears filling her eyes as she fell to the doll's side.

"Wake up, Aoi! Please!" Yashiro begged, shaking her friend's shoulders. The doll didn't respond, it didn't even move.

Helpless, Yashiro shook the doll more. She continued to shake it until the head of the doll had fallen off. The head slipped off the shoulders and fell into the shallow water.

"It's just failure after failure. I've had enough." The Second Wonder spoke, her face still dark with disappointment.

The woman stepped behind Yashiro and with a swift motion, summoned her scissors.

"I'll do as the rumors say and tear you apart, too."

Without any time to think, Kou blocks the scissors with his arm, deflecting the blade away from him and Yashiro. You sigh a breath of relief and decide on making your way over to them to see if they were alright, but the abrupt yell from Kou said otherwise.

"Hey, what the hell is this?!"

Looking at Kou, you notice that his usual human arm has turned into a fluffy doll's arm. Misaki raised her scissors again, preparing for another lethal attack on both Kou and Yashiro.

With another flash of light, the attack had been diverted again, but this time by Hanako's knife. You stood protectively in front of Yashiro, but your troubled eyes couldn't help but look over at Kou's arm.

"Kou-Kun... do you think you'll be okay? You shouldn't stress that arm too much with fighting."

"Ah! It's n-nothing I can't handle. So don't worry about it too much, Senpai!" Kou blushed bashfully as he tried to hide the woolen arm. Your concerns didn't lessen, but you decided to hold it in until after the threat had passed.

"Well, now we know what those scissors do. They seem to turn humans into dolls when contact is made..." You studied Misaki's weapon carefully, finally able to see it without any extra factors in the way.

"Aww, man. What are we going to do about this?!" Kou exclaimed,

"Oh, I know! Y/N-Senpai, aren't you a Sourukonekutā? Can't you ask her to stop?"

You smiled shyly and revealed your cut and bruised palms. Kou opened his mouth to voice his tremendous concern, but the abrupt sound of Hanako's knife deflecting another attack stopped him.

"Hanako! Can't you transform like before and blow it away?"

"I can't. Without her permission, I can't use Haku-joudai's power."

Hanako pointed the tip of his knife towards the Second Wonder, a serious look masking his face as he spoke.

"Our predicament can change if we break her Yorishiro, but it looks like it isn't here."

"What do we do then?"

A gust of wind blew strongly but swiftly behind you, a slim and feminine face leaned in between you and Kou. You barely had any time to turn your head, but the voice made everything clear.

"I'll start... with you!" The older woman shouted as she attacked again.

Hanako quickly grabbed your hand and lead you away from the fight, briefly waving at Kou. Now that you were finally away from the chaos, you realized that one of your closest friends was in need.

"Yashiro, stand up." 

Hanako and you stood over Yashiro, he watched as she mourned her friend but his serious gaze never changed. You, on the other hand, bent down to her level, tucking your arms under your legs as you looked at her.

"We can't give up now. Don't you want to help her?" Hanako asked calmly, patiently waiting for her crying to lessen.

"She's still alive, I can feel her spiritual energy, she's calling for you, you know."

Yashiro raises her head, eyes sparkling from the tears she looks over at you. You smile at her warmly, hoping Yashiro's spirits would be raised.

"Y/N is right. This world is on the border between life and death. Nothing is born here, but nothing dies here, either."

Hanako raised his hand towards Yashiro as he spoke, smiling at her, his golden eyes shining just a bit. Standing up, you dust off your clothes. The sadness that dripped from Yashiro's soul was decreasing, hope was beginning to shine through.

"In a world without life and death, people who don't know when to give up are unstoppable."

Yashiro wiped her tears, her soul touched by the words of Hanako. She jumps to her feet with the help of his outstretched hands and her eyes were filled with hope and willingness to save her friend.

"I'll do anything!"

You smiled brightly and placed your hands together, the Yashiro you grew fond of was back. Everything was looking up in this darkened situation...

"Anything?"

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"Uh, Hanako-Kun? May I ask why Yashiro is being tied up?"

Nervously, you watch Hanako hold Yashiro close towards the edge. He wraps and ties a rope around her, which gives you more of a bad feeling.

"The Yorishiro isn't here. This isn't the deepest part."

Hanako turned to you as he finished tying the rope, you tremble a bit, fearful of being tied up as well.

"So, I was thinking. If it's not at the very top, maybe it's at the very bottom."

"D-Don't tell me..." Yashiro spoke, both scared and confused about the predicament.

Hanako smiled innocently as he grabbed Yashiro's shoulders.

"I'm counting on you!" He lightly pushed her, sufficient force to send her falling into the darkness below.

You watched in concern as your friend fell, unsure of what to do. A reassuring hand is placed on the top of your head, looking up you see Hanako smiling at you.

"Don't worry. You'll see her soon. But I wanted to ask you something first..."

Hanako's expression became a bit more serious as he looked towards Kou, who was in a serious fight with Misaki. You watched helplessly, waiting for Hanako's question.

"You can't completely control your power, can you?"

Tilting your head to the side, you pull your hands behind your back, operating that he wouldn't notice the damage done to your hands.

"H-Huh? What do you mean...?"

He looked at you with a concerned look, pulling your hands out from behind your back. He sighs and shakes his head, watching as you wince at the pain.

"Your hands are bruised and cut up. Additionally, your spiritual energy has significantly weakened."

Hanako pulled out some roller bandage from his pocket and begun to wrap your hands. You looked down at the bandages, frowning.

"You need to be more careful... You've officially become a Sourukonekutā."

Hanako gently placed his hands on your cheeks, his eyes were unreadable but that didn't keep you from being able to read his soul. Fear and worry...

"...Hanako-Kun?"

"Just be careful, alright?"

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You stepped off the edge, looking down deep into the darkness. As you fell, Hanako's words clouded your thoughts.

Why was Hanako acting so weird? He's not usually like this, and yet again, I'm still not able to understand his emotions fully...

It looked like he was trying to hide something from me... but what is it?

You come in contact with water, signaling that you were close to the bottom. You closed your eyes and held your breath until you felt the warmth of the sun on your wet skin.

"I made it... but where's Nene-Chan?" You stood up to wring out the water from your clothing.

Looking around you soon found your cream haired friend. You chuckled as you watched the Mokke try to wake her up.

"She must've turned to a fish, hopefully, she isn't too dehydrated..."

You bent down towards her body, poking her cheek until she regained consciousness.

"Ughh... Huh? Where am I?" She mumbled, blinking groggily as she rubbed her head.

"I think we're in the deepest part of the boundary. It looks different than where we were before."

Yashiro jumped up to her feet, startled by the sound of your voice.

"Y-Y/N-Chan?! Did Hanako-Kun throw you down here as well?"

"Aha, not at all... I jumped down here by myself. I'm not sure I'm very useful up there with them."

You scratch your cheek, slightly embarrassed from the girl's reaction. With a stretch you stand up, observing your surroundings.

"We should find that Yorishiro. That's the option to help them."

"Right!" Yashiro exclaims, running off a bit too enthusiastically.

Within a second, Yashiro knocks her foot on a table causing both her and the table to fall over.

"Ah! Yashiro, are you alright?"

You quickly run over to her to see if she was injured, but a book with "Secret. Look not" on the cover caught your attention. You pick up the book and show it to Yashiro, she takes it from your hands and opens it, reading the contents inside.

"Today I scarred students. It was fuun."

The writing was corrected with red ink, and on the second page, a neater writing in the same red ink was present.

"Stop that, Misaki."

You and Yashiro perk up at the mention of the name Misaki, you briefly turn to each other with realization and continue to the next page.

"Misaki cut my hair. I hate Misaki."

Again, the words were crossed and replaced with the same red ink words.

"Misaki graciously cut my hair. Thank you, sensei."

"I fixed it."

You smiled softly at the annotation, the relationship between the two people in this notebook seemed like teacher and student. This book looked like the students
journal.

You noticed the corner of an old photo of a class, Yashiro turns to that page and the two of you begin reading.

"Today I took a "photo" with Misaki and the other kids."

The man in the middle of the group of children in the photo looked to be the teacher, you concluded that he was the real Misaki.

This means that the woman from earlier must not be Misaki...

But why was she trying to build a body? And why did she call that body Misaki?

On the next page, it read, "Misaki gifted me a pair of hair cutting scissors. He didn't give them to any of the other kids, only to me."

"Misaki loves me. I will treasure the scissors in the wayside shrine. How nice, Misaki."

"Oh.. that was nice of him. This person must have felt really special." You mumbled to yourself, Yashiro nods in agreement and goes on to turn the pages.

"Misaki comes to teach me reading, writing, and the abacus every signal day. Thanks to him, I don't even have time to scare people."

"I wish he would hurry up..."

Yashiro perks up at that note, she smiles happily to herself, blushing lightly.

"This girl has a crush on her teacher! I've been there, I was the same way when I was in kindergarten and—"

You sweatdropped and clear your throat, catching the gushing girl's attention.

"A-Ah! Sorry, Y/N-Chan..."

Yashiro flips through more of the pages and stops on a particular page. It reads, "Misaki didn't come today. There was nothing to do, so I watched the road while making dolls all day."

"The teacher didn't comment on this page... I wonder what happened." You placed your finger on the blank part of the page, thoughts worry embracing your mind.

"Misaki didn't come today, either."

That statement repeated continually as Yashiro flipped the pages. The growing uneasiness filled your stomach as you watched the pages flowed past.

Then, the repetition stopped on another page.

"I heard a rumor today."

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