Y/N's E/C eyes opened with a start. They were alert and wide, looking for any sign of danger.

But the atmosphere was tranquil. She could no longer hear the snipping of the scissors or the roar of the waterfall. Overhead, she could see the rustling leaves of a hanging branch. A breeze flew by, but no birds sang.

It was quiet.

Almost too  quiet.

Y/N got on her feet, and it was only then that the cold hit her like a harsh slap on the face.

She let out a shuddering gasp and looked down at her uniform.

"It's drenched!"  She exclaimed to no one in particular.

She was aware of how still everything was. As peaceful as the garden around her is, she could not shake off the feeling that something was watching her.

Y/N furrowed her brows, running around to get past the cold. She cupped her face, letting out a yell for the first person she could think of:

"KOU!"

No one replied. She tried other names.

"YASHIRO!"

"TSUKASA!"

"MOKKE!"

When no one answered, Y/N stifled a sigh, finally arriving at his name.

"Hanako!" She called out, half-grumbling. "Is this funny to you? Making me all wet? Is it a sight to see?!"

It was still quiet.

Y/N tensed. Something was definitely wrong...

The sudden snapping of those huge scissors confirmed her suspicions.

She held her breath, scrambling behind a pillar, eyes wide.

"Y/N? Is that you?" A soothingly gentle voice called out.

Despite her looming fears, Y/N dared to take a peek.

What appeared to be a maiden in a white, billowing kimono was striding in through the garden. Her blonde hair was tied up in braided bun.

She held back a gasp. The Wonder was certainly very pretty.

"Come out!" She continued, the scissors snipping by her side dangerously. Her tone was gentle, but her cold green eyes betrayed it.

It was only then that Y/N's eye caught a small wooden house, with what seemed to contain...

'A pair of scissors!'

There was a funny white paper on it, too. With the symbol for "seal."

'Do I have to peel that off?'

"Found you."

Y/N forced her terror down, slowly turning to look to the right.

There stood the maiden, smiling. But it was one of no friendly emotion. It was one that a predator would give before eating its prey.

She instantly dropped down as the scissors slashed at where she had just been. The maiden huffed in disdain.

"You know, Y/N, I've heard a lot about you."

Y/N looked at her in confusion, but slowly slipped out of the pillar. The lady stepped out and followed pursuit.

"Number 7 has stirred a great deal because of you." She continued sourly. "Come closer, now! Aren't we friends? Haven't I introduced myself?"

Y/N looked at her in confusion, then spotted her hair clip.

They looked like two ears. One that belonged to a particular fox...

'No way.... this is Yako?'

"I honestly don't understand why he'd tail after a dunce like you!" Yako continued, laughing coldly. The scissors snapped. Y/N kept shuffling backwards, but she knew she was getting closer to the yorishiro.

"After my yorishiro, are you?" Yako deadpanned, making Y/N's heart stop.

Her fingers were on the scissors, but she guessed it was too late. Yako was too swift and smart.

'Okay, then. I'll draw myself to your level.'

"Clumsy and shy!" Yako sneered, now charging at her with full force.

"You're useless!"

Y/N held her breath. Just when she reached her spot, she took a huge leap.

Yako watched, dumbfounded, as she soared above her.

Y/N rolled to the ground; not exactly graceful, but it was better than a painful thud. The Wonder looked at her incredulously.

"Ridiculous!" She laughed, reaching into the wooden house.
"Leaving when the goal was right in front of your-"

Her green eyes went wide.

"Yes?" Y/N slowly unfurled from her pained knot, revealing the scissors she had snatched.

"No!"  Yako cried.

She held it up, her fingers on the seal.

"I'm sorry I don't meet your standards, Yako..." Y/N glanced at the nonplussed maiden, looking genuinely apologetic.

"But eitherway, Hanako is my friend. This is for him."

Before Yako could let out so much as a scream, Y/N peeled out the seal.

The whole world seemed to shatter around her. Y/N's eyes went wide as the scissors lunged at her for the last time.

'Yep. I'm going to die! Thanks, Hanako-kun!'

Her legs were giving away, and her vision was getting blurry.

Something knocked into her, and she thought she could hear an anxious voice, but it sounded faint and distant.

Y/N slowly closed her eyes.

~

And now, she was in a bed.

Y/N could feel it. It must be in the infirmary; she recognized the soft pillows and linen of the sheets.

'Kamome's infirmary.'

A wave of relief washed over her. She was back!

Not only that... someone was holding her hand. Y/N tensed up, and she rolled over, knowing who it was.

"Go away, Tsukasa."

"Tsukasa?"

Y/N's tired, half-lidded eyes went wide. She turned around.

Hanako looked back at her with an anxious expression.

"Are you okay?" He immediately pressed.

Y/N nearly laughed. She had just been drowned, tailed by scissors, and nearly died.

"Oh yes, very fine!"

Hanako snorted, but it wasn't out of contempt. His eyes shone with amusement.

"Still as fiesty as ever?"

"I don't plan on changing..."

He laughed; Y/N nearly tore up. It was almost too good to be true. She was smiling and bickering with Hanako again; something she thought she'd left behind forever.

"Look at you, though!" He grinned brightly. "The Mokke told me you've learned martial arts."

"Yes!" Excitement was flooding in  Y/N's voice now; she had longed to speak to Hanako for so long, and prove that she was not as feeble as she was before. "So watch out, you pervert!"

Hanako rolled his eyes, then leaned in, nestling his face in the crook of her neck. Y/N turned red as he began to nuzzle it.

"Who are you calling a pervert?"

"Pervert!"  She repeated boldly, though it took every inch of willpower to not stammer.

He sighed softly, and Y/N thought he would pull away, but he never did. She was forced to continue battling the heat threatening to rush to her face.

"What we ate." He continued quietly. "That's a mermaid scale. If you're here again, I don't want to lose you for a second time as well."

Y/N decided to let her blush take over. It was hopeless to fight.

"So I'm bounded to you... again?"

"Precisely. Consider it a reward for that yorishiro."

Y/N let out a small laugh; one of strange relief and amusement.

"It sounds more like punishment, if I'll have to stick up to your ordeals!"

Hanako pressed closer. Y/N stopped her taunting, fighting another blush.

"Oh yes?" He challenged softly, his voice a tone lower. "So what do  you want?"

Y/N shrugged him off, chuckling nervously.

"Let me sleep, Hanako..."

"Really? It's been three  months!" He pouted. "I want to talk! Especially  about how you got here!"

"The Mokke." Y/N answered sleepily, eyes already half-slits.

Hanako sighed, not wanting to bother her. Y/N was right. He had asked much from her and she deserved a well-earned rest.

Outside the bed's curtain, Kou and Yashiro were waiting anxiously, along with a pink-haired ghost Hanako had not seen before.

"You can check on her now!" He smiled brightly, feeling more better and energetic after speaking with  Y/N. He turned to the boy. "And who are you?"

"Mitsuba. Y/N's friend." The pink-haired boy went on smoothly. Something about his casual tone, as if he were very close to her, rubbed Hanako the wrong way.

"We thought you'd never come out!" Yashiro chuckled goodnaturedly. She walked up to the bed, followed by Kou and Mitsuba.

The blonde had been too anxious to ask questions. Hanako shot one last doubtful look at Mitsuba, before wandering out of the infirmary, where the Mokke waited.

"Well look  at that!" One sneered.

"Someone looks jelly..."

"I'm not!" Hanako forced a smile as he nudged them aside. They bounced after him anyway.

"Rightfully so, Hanako." A Mokke continued, looking deadly serious.

"Tsukasa's getting a little cozy with her."

"What?"

It was harder and harder for Hanako to keep his grin as the Mokke filled him in with Y/N's origin; right from the moment she had beated him up, to the introduction of the Rift, to the staircases, and finally, to the Misaki Stairs.

"So, Tsukasa is the one who helped her here?"

All the Mokke nodded solemnly. The spirit's expression darkened.

"He wouldn't do something that kind. Something's not right."

"Maybe Tsukasa is in love with her?" A Mokke suggested as a light joke.

However, even though it came out teasingly, Hanako looked at the Mokke anxiously as if the words meant a lot to him.

"Is that true?"

"Holy crap!" It shuffled backwards. "Calm down, I'm only kiddin'!"

Hanako rolled his eyes, continuing his grim, absent walking. However, the Mokke were delighted as ever.

"JEALOUS!"

"AYYIEEEEE!"

"Tsukasa, you've got a big storm coming!"

"What if she is  in danger?" Hanako suddenly whirled to a stop. The Mokke crashed into eachother.

They let out disgruntled noises, which he didn't pay attention to. They answered anyway.

"All the more reason to keep her close to you."

"I bounded her to me." Hanako confessed doubtfully.

"Not enough!"  One-eye snapped, practically bursting with impatience. Hanako was taken aback.

"We know you love her, Hanako! Is that all  you can give?"

The spirit blinked, turning red.

"What more can I give?" He pretended to sound bored to fight down his embarrassment.

"You know what I mean." The Mokke muttered. Hanako was too afraid to say he didn't actually know.

And then, to his surprise, the Mokke began to drag him. Their bodies, as weak and soft, weren't so tiny when a cluster of them hauled him away.

"Where are you taking me?!"

"If we can't get some sense through that thick skull of yours-" the Mokke prodded his forehead. Hanako grumbled. "-we'll let the others do it!"

His amber eyes went wide in panic. Another  spirit gathering?

"Oh no-"

"OH YES!"