It's my Fault they're Dead Chapter 1

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Natsume was walking home from school. Nishimura and Kitamoto had to talk to a teacher about an assignment they forgot to do. Taki was at home with a cold. Tanuma was helping his father clean the shrine right after school. Nyanko-sensei was probably drunk somewhere. So, Natsume was alone. That is, until he saw another yokai. Without thinking, he greeted it.

"Good afternoon," Natsume said.

"Yes… It is…," the yokai hissed out.

Something about it made Natsume feel as if it were dangerous. Of course, yokai were, but this yokai seemed to have started releasing waves of pure malice. Natsume picked up his pace and soon arrived home.

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Natsume woke up in the middle of the night. The yokai from before was standing over him, and Nyanko-sensei was still nowhere to be found. He tried to sit up, but found that an invisible force held him down.

"Oh… Yes… You are quite powerful for a human…This shall be… Quite fun…," it rasped.

Fear overtook Natsume, but he still couldn't move. Then, the yokai was gone. However, in its place was a blazing inferno. Natsume watched, helpless, as the flames spread. Soon, he knew that the fire had engulfed the house.

"Touko-san! Shigeru-San!" his mind screamed.

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By the time the firefighters had arrived, the house had almost burnt to the ground. They had managed to just barely save Natsume, but Touko and Shigeru… were dead. Natsume was rushed to the hospital to have his burns treated.

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Since he had been admitted, Natsume had barely spoken a word. His friends, both human and yokai, visited him. He could handle his human friends, but whenever he saw a yokai, he had a panic attack. This was during one of Tanuma's visits. When the doctors had managed to calm him down, Natsume only said:

"It's my fault they're dead."