Day 3 of "enjoying the school week" with Hanako

○○○

During Recess....

"Oh. My. God."

Y/N shyly looked at the floor as Tazumo slowly put down the paper.

"You got a perfect score?" She clutched her chest in a dramatic way.

"That I did..."

"Y/N-CHAN!" Aborochi exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug. Tazumo did the same. Y/N choked on air.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"WHO TUTORED YOU?!"

"C-Can't... breathe..."

The two best friends instantly pulled away.

"Sorry!" They laughed simultaneously.

"I'll tell you about them later," Y/N reassured. "For now, I'd like to ask... is there a donut stall around?"

Aborochi blinked in surprise.

"I'm fairly sure there is!"

"By the sushi stand," Tazumo added helpfully. "The one called Yaki Tori."

"Thanks!" Y/N let out a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, but... I'll take my leave for now!"

"Eh?"

"Y/N! Why are you-"

- But they were talking to thin air. Y/N had already dashed off to find the donut stall.

●●●

Earlier...

"Hanako-kun." Y/N piped up.

The ghost boy jumped in surprise at the new term.

"'Kun'...?"

"What?" Y/N smiled brightly. "'Makes us sound more like friends."

Hanako relaxed a little and returned the grin.

"Sounds fair enough!"

"So," she looked up curiously. "Just asking... as an apparition, can you eat?"

Hanako pondered for a moment on this question.

"Well, we spirits don't necessarily get hungry... but we do like to eat from time to time. We long to taste something once in a while."

His eyes narrowed curiously.

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, n-nothing!" Y/N hastily waved it off. Hoping not to sound suspicious, she slowly asked.

"My favorite food is F/F. And yours is....?"

Hanako perked up at the question.

"Donuts!"

"Donuts?" Y/N repeated incredulously.

Hanako laughed at her stumped expression.

"Why? I'm too scary to look like I like them?"

"No, it's just..." Y/N trailed off. She smiled teasingly as she repeated his words from last night.

"....that's very soft."

"Can you blame me, though?" He sighed. "I'm a sucker for sweet things!"

"Y/N-chan! Hanako-san!"

The pair turned to look at Yashiro, standing by the classroom's doorway.

"Some of our classmates are already approaching! Just a heads up!"

"...and that's my cue to leave," Hanako slowly floated up. "I've got errands to run."

Like before, a wisp curled around Y/N and unto her shoulder.

"If you do anything naughty with Kou or Sabiro...." Hanako smirked. "This wisp will hear about it. So don't even think-"

"A-As if I will..." Y/N retorted bashfully.

Hanako laughed, then showed himself out.

"Make me proud on that Math test, Y/N!"

●●●

Back in the present...

"Math, History, and English are the subjects I struggle with the most. The rest of the subjects are fine.... but with Hanako-kun's help, I was able to pull them up today.

I even got an A. I've never achieved that... no offense to Yashiro, but his tutoring helped a lot. So I'm buying this as a thank you. And I know you're probably gonna' tell him, because that's you're job, but... can you please keep it a secret?"

After Y/N finished her monologue, the wisp only stayed still, floating in place.

"Please, Mr. Wisp?"

The specter stayed quiet.

"O-Of course," Y/N sighed. "You can't talk..."

The wisp moved. It slowly curled its way to her hand, as if it wanted to get pet.

She patted it. The wisp stayed there.

"I-Is that a yes...?" She squeaked nervously.

The wisp stayed quiet. This time, the silence was a little more reassuring.

"Thank you..."

●●●

Dear Hanako-kun,

This week has been a rollercoaster of discovery and emotions. I never thought fate still had better plans for me. You helped me realize that. And so, about the wish...

Y/N's hand quivered uneasily as she thought of what to write next.

'Can I take back a wish?'

She was scared of what his answer might be. In all the rumors, Hanako had sealed his deals with his clients, never going back on his word. She took a deep breath in, then wrote again.

...I'm having some thoughts about it. Tomorrow, maybe... can we settle down and discuss this?

-Y/N

'That'll do.' She gently folded the note inside the box of dozen donuts, then headed for the girls' bathroom.

Y/N slowly opened the door. As expected, no one was there.

She gently placed the donuts in a corner of the third stall, making sure it was hidden from view. 

'Hanako-kun, please enjoy my small offering.'

●●●

Later at Lunch...

"So... did you like it?"

Hanako (just dropping by from all his errands), who had been arguing with Yashiro about who was the best tutor for Y/N, looked up.

"What do you mean?"

'Huh?!'  Y/N tried to hide her worry.  "Uh... the dozen of donuts..."

"What are you talking about?" Hanako looked puzzled.

'He never received them?'  Y/N looked away. "N-Nevermind..."

The ghost boy looked concerned, but nodded.

"Anyway, you two! I've got to take my leave again. See you around!"

Hanako disappeared, leaving a confused and dumbfounded Y/N. Yashiro looked at her worriedly.

"Are you alright, Y/N-chan?"

"Y-Yeah, it's just... I bought this box of donuts, so-"

Yashiro gasped.

"That's expensive! It was stolen?"

"You could say that."

"I know the problem!" Yashiro snapped her fingers. "Yousei-san!"

"Yousei-san...?"

"Another spirit!" Yashiro spread her hands, flickering her fingers in a "sparkling" manner. "I heard that it likes to steal things from people... if you look it straight in the eyes, however, you will die."

Y/N gulped nervously. 'Well, I want to track down this Yousei-san...'

"What if I wanted to find him?" Y/N asked.

"What?" Yashiro exclaimed, aghast. "Y/N... y-you might hurt yourself!"

"It was just a joke." Y/N hastily laughed. "Anyway... since I lost my donuts and all..."

"Don't worry!" The daikon curled her fists determinedly. "I'll share my lunch!"

Yashiro reached into her bag. Her face turned pale.

"Huh...?"

"Yashiro?"

"HUH?!"

"What's the matter?"

"MY LUNCH!" She exclaimed. "IT'S GONE!"

Y/N's eyes went wide. "You too?! Now how will we eat...?"

"L-Let's ask Sabiro!" Yashiro thoughtfully replied, getting up. "Maybe we can share lunch!"

Y/N agreed, hurriedly following Yashiro to his classroom.

On the way, however, something caught her eye.

A donut crumb.

"Wait a moment, Yashiro-chan."

"Hmm?" The daikon turned around.

"Can you go ahead? I think I forgot something..."

"Oh, sure!" Yashiro nodded in understanding. "Don't take long!"

Soon, Y/N was left alone with the donut crumb. She narrowed her eyes when she found another.

Sleuthing after the trail, she eventually came across Yashiro's lunch of strawberry rice cakes and orange juice.

'Wow! The nerve of this Yousei-san!' Y/N bent forward to pick up the lunch, but she spotted more donut crumbs. This time, they led into a darker hallway of the school. Fear began to overwhelm her, but so did her curiosity. 

She followed it. After a few more steps, she came across a door. She took a deep breath in, then opened it a crack.

She found her donuts. Half-eaten, that is. Eaten by what? That was a nice question -

There were a group of pink bunny-like creatures with crumbs on their faces; the natural suspect.

"Man! Those were delicious..."

Y/N held back a laugh. The creature's voice was so high. It made the prospect even cuter-

"Say... I think I heard something."

Y/N shut her mouth.

"Whaddya mean?"

"It came from the door."

"Oooh! We have a visitor?"

Y/N's face drained of all color. She was about to make a run for it, but it was too late, anyway. One of the pink-bunny-fluffy-creatures hopped to the door, swinging it open.

Soon, Y/N was face-to-face with the creature.

It studied her curiously, Y/N frozen still in terror. Until finally...

"What's your name?"

"U-uh... Y-Y/N..."

Something seemed to shine in the bunny's eyes.

"Hey!" It squeaked. "You're the girl the 7th Wonder's been babbling about!"

Y/N was caught off guard by the notion.

"Y-you know Hanako?!"

"Why of course!" One of the rabbits exclaimed. There was a group of them that had gathered by her feet now.

"He's a spirit, just like us!"

"He protects us, and keeps balance in the school!"

"He is our guardian!"

Y/N had so many questions in mind, but she could only summon the willpower to ask one;

"Who are you?!"

"Oh dear. I think we've frightened her..." One of the bunnies sighed.

"She must be so confused!"

"She's adorably clueless!"

One rabbit finally answered her question. It cleared its throat, then let out a pompous squeak:

"We are Yousei-san, but you can call us the Mokke!"

●●●

"We are sorry..."

Y/N crossed her arms at all of the Mokke, her brows furrowed.

"If you saw the note... then that means you knew it was for Hanako-san!"

"But he barely gets hungry!" A Mokke sniffed. "And we couldn't help it..."

Y/N sighed, shaking her head. She slumped down on the wall, some Mokkes coming up to cuddle her apologetically.

She absently poked their soft bellies. After some confused talking and introducing, she learned to grow comfortable with these Mokke; besides, it wasn't hard to have a liking to them. They were very friendly, clever pranksters... and obviously, incredibly cute.

"I can't believe it." Y/N said out of the blue.

The Mokke looked up in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"That you're all capable of killing."

A silence followed, Y/N staring at the Mokke in a disbelieving manner. Finally, one of them spoke up.

"We didn't want to be murderers." One of them squeaked sadly, bunny ears drooping.

"It's because of all those rumors!" Another piped up. "If we don't follow what your schoolmates say... we'll vanish!"

Y/N protectively grouped all the Mokke in one hug.

"I-I won't allow that!" Y/N held them close to her chest. "As mischievous as you are, you're all very nice..."

"Thank you!" One of them squeaked.

"By the way... that box of donuts, how important is it to you?"

Y/N looked down at the Mokke who asked the question. It seemed to regard her seriously, but Y/N didn't know why. She looked down.

"Well, uh... I spent my whole lunch money on that..."

All the Mokke immediately fell to a wave of hysteria.

"Oh my! You're so kind!"

"We'll make it up to you!

"No wonder why Hanako likes her!"

Y/N stiffened at one of their phrases.

"Hanako.... wh-what...?"

"Ah!" A bunny's eyes shone. "I think I know how we can say sorry!"

The bunnies hopped off of Y/N, clustering in a little niche. After quiet squeaking, they finally turned to Y/N.

"You said those donuts were for Hanako?"

Y/N nodded slowly.

"We'll help you get them back!"

"How...?"

"You'll see!" A Mokke cheerily squeaked. "By dismissal, come back to this room!"

●●●

"I couldn't find my flour for the science experiment..."

"My butterstick! It was this cool invention from Japan! Like a glue stick, but the glue is butter... now it's gone!"

"Have you seen my sprinkles?! They came from this candy kit I just bought-"

"MY EGGS! HAS ANYONE SEEN MY EGGS?!"

Judging by the panicked wreck the school was going through, Y/N could already guess what was in that room of the Mokke's.

She slowly opened the door, and saw, on the table...

Eggs. Flour. Butterstick. Sprinkles. Salt. Sugar. Even more..... all the essentials to making donuts.

'How the hell did they get all of these?!' She looked around for any signs of the Mokke, but they looked as if they weren't there.

"Thank you!" She quietly whispered anyway, hoping at least one of them would hear her.

●●●

Hanako was starting to get worried. The wisp he had given Y/N had already returned to him, meaning she left the school already.

He always liked to push away the pain of most things. But if he said he wasn't a little hurt, he'd be lying.

"Oh, well." He sighed to himself. "Who am I to feel this way?"

"Lookin' for someone?"

Hanako bolted up in surprise.

"WHO- oh... Mokke!"

The pink bunnies had surrounded Hanako, each with a teasing look on their faces.

"Who ya' thinkin' about?"

"The girl?"

"Definitely the girl."

"Defiiiinitely the giiirrrlll."

"Yeah, right!" Hanako laughed nervously, pulling away his gaze from the school grounds. It was true he had sat at the rooftop to look around for Y/N, but he wasn't that obsessed with her...

"Look, she has a name. Y/N L/N. And the only reason I brought her up is..."

Hanako trailed off in annoyance at the smug looks on the Mokke's faces.

"...I've been thinking," he got out his knife, absently tracing it with a finger. "Should I let her be my partner..."

The Mokke burst to a chorus of applause.

"YES!"

"THAT'S MY BOY!"

"WHEN'S THE WEDD-"

"....my partner in protecting spirits." Hanako finished icily, masking his embarrassment with a stern look.

The Mokke shrank back a little in fear. Hanako sighed. He turned away, pacing back inside the school.

"It's quite clear. It's already getting dark... Y/N's probably with someone else," Hanako mumbled sheepishly.

"Aww, look at the poor thing!" A Mokke teased. "He looks like he wants to steal something!"

Hanako tilted his head. "What would I want to steal?"

"Y/N's heart."

Hanako couldn't fight down the heat on his cheeks. The Mokke chorused to a fit of giggles.

"Don't worry! We're artful thieves!"

"We'll help you with that!"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" Hanako yelled loudly, covering his ears to not worsen his blush. "LET'S PLAY SOME CARDS AND FORGET THIS TALK!"