━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━

After Yashiro's small outburst in the library, her unusual behavior left you questioning what exactly she thought was so important when she met that green-haired student. 

You had your own queries about the girl, of course. She knows of Hanako and even has a personal opinion of him. She also hinted at knowing another apparition like him, you're mind went haywire thinking about all of the possibilities as to who they might be.

From the moment you woke up, till now, questions flooded your mind like a cup that was continually under a running faucet. You hadn't even noticed how much you've been spacing out until Yashiro's voice pulled your attention.

"Aoi-chan, do you know about the 5th Wonder?"

 You look over your shoulder to see Yashiro and her close friend, Aoi. You subconsciously faced them, quietly listening to what Aoi had to say.

"I know that one!"

"You do?! What kind of rumor is it?"

Both you and Yashiro leaned in, blocking out any other outside noise.

"The fifth Wonder is the 4 o'clock library. The school library has a special repository that you can only enter at 4 PM."

"The books inside it have the names of people on them. They contain records of those people's time at this academy."

"What they've done and what they're going to do. Both the past and future are written in them."

At the end of her story, you couldn't help but gape in astonishment. You're eyes sparkled and a smile soon formed on your face.

"The past and the future... all inside one book? That's incredible!"

Aoi nods in agreement to your words, a smile forms on her face as well.

"Doesn't that make you curious? I might want to read other people's books, too."

Aoi leans in closely towards You and Yashiro, holding a finger to her mouth as she whispers.

"But... if you ever go to the 4 O'clock library, you have to be careful. The library has three types of books: white, black, and red."

"White books are records of living people. Black books are about people who have already died."

"And the red books?" Yashiro chimes in.

"They say the red books are the only ones you must not read..."

━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━

"I'm glad you decided to join us, Kou-kun! We're sorry for pulling you into this as well."

You looked towards Kou with a bright yet apologetic expression. 

You, Yashiro, and Kou looked around the library for a book with Hanako's name on it.  It was originally supposed to be only you and Yashiro, but after telling Kou about your plan, he decided to join in.

"No sweat! I'd go through hell or high waters for you and Senpai! Plus, I'd like to look at a few books myself."

"'A few'? You're looking for multiple books? Not just Hanako-kun's?"

You could feel the gaze of the blonde-haired boy, but once you looked his way he quickly turned back to the bookcase, hastily dodging Yashiro's question.

"Uh Y-Yeah! You could say that..."

"Really, Minamoto-kun, you're still hung up on exorcising Hanako-kun?"

Kou reached for the back of his head, a troubled look glazing his face as he tried to explain himself.

"Yeah... Well... I realized that I don't actually know the first thing about him."

"So I thought it might not be right to exorcise him just 'cause he's an apparition."

He then looked towards you with a guilty expression, you sensed a change in his spiritual energy and his soul seemed to almost panic once he laid his eyes on you.

Something felt off to you, it felt as if he were hiding something. 

You could only assume that his unusual behavior had something to do with the talk he had with his older brother the other day. 

"In that case, I guess we all want to learn more about Hanako-kun."

Yashiro grabbed Kou's hand then grabbed yours with her other hand, she beamed happily at the two of you and her eyes sparkled greatly.

"Let's give it our best shot!"

You could help but smile at her enthusiasm, her soul seemed to warm yours up instantly, pushing away all of the worrying thoughts from your mind.

Those happy thoughts were soon replaced with ones of curiosity once you spot a butterfly glide past you. It lands one of the books on the shelf behind you, almost beckoning you to come closer to it. 

You reached out your hand to touch the butterfly, but instead, you are engulfed in a cloud of thick smoke.

"Senpai/Y/N-chan!"

The calls of your friends soon went silent as they stared with you in awe at the secret door that appeared in front of you, seemingly out of nowhere. 

"Could this be the 4 o'clock Library...?"

━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━

"Wow..."

The three of you gaped in awe at the large room filled with books, it was dusty and packed with cobwebs. The air was cold and it sent shivers down your spine.

You hesitantly placed your foot in the room, and in what felt like a flash, your school uniform once again transformed into the clothing you wore once before in the Misaki Realm.

"Another Boundary. A border between this life and the next..."

You gently placed a hand over your chest, trying to calm down your speeding heart. It's the second time since you've step foot in a boundary, and yet you still know nothing about your true abilities

"Senpai, you changed into your true form, again! That means that this is definitely the place!"

Both Yashiro and Kou huddled in behind you, scared to touch or knock anything over by accident. 

"It's awfully dark..."

Yashiro leans over your shoulder, trying to get a better look at her surroundings. A bright light appeared next to her, it was being held up by a mokke.

"Ah! Thank you." 

Yashiro gladly took the lit lantern from the mokke, stepping in front of you to light up the rest of the path. You and Kou followed closely behind her, looking around at the plethora of books that filled the many bookcases that surrounded you.

"White books are for the living people, and black ones are for the dead, or so I heard."

"So Hanako's book should be black."

Another butterfly flew past your face, the wing lightly brushed your cheek, grasping your attention in an instant. 

"A butterfly. It might lead us to something, like before!"

Unexpectedly, Yashiro dashed after the mysterious butterfly, leaving both you and Kou with both surprised and confused looks.

"S-Senpai? Wait!"

The two of you chased after her, stopping shortly once the butterfly landed on a white and gold book and was labeled "Yashiro Nene".

"Is this... my book?"

Quickly Kou grabbed a ladder, allowing Yashiro to reach her book. You watched as she flipped through some pages, gradually getting paler until she closed the book.  She then opened the book again and continues to advance through the book further, and soon, she stopped on a page.

Something that looked like blood dripped from above you onto your shoe and there seemed to be much more butterflies in the room than there were before.

The room soon became darker, and the aura changed from mysteriously soothing to gradually off-putting as Yashiro continued to flip through more pages without noticing.

But you do.

"Watch out!!"

━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━