Chapter 2

Imaginary Friend

Making his way to school, Keiichi couldn't help but to continue rehearsing what he had just experienced moments ago, in a matter of minutes at that. Hanyuu a thousand-year-old Spirit, a bond, this was all insane to a normal person. But at this point, he experienced every minute of it, so there was no point in trying to deny what he saw and heard wasn't true. Though he wanted to know more, he'd have to question this spirit later, since he had other troubles. For one, he's late for school. The other, well you can already guess...he would have gotten there much quicker if he had taken his bike with him. Unfortunately, he had to leave it at school yesterday because yet again, he got a punishment game, one that he would rather not remember the details of.

"At this point I should keep track of how many I get..." He thought to himself as he continued his way. Though he wondered something; since Hanyuu's in his head, does that mean she can see everything he's thinking? For now, he'd ask later, and also keep any naughty thoughts out of his head, else he wanted to corrupt this innocent loli spirit.

Finally, he had arrived. Hinamizawa Branch School, or how he liked to think of it; one of Japan's smallest schools. Though he'd make fun of that fact, in a way that was the school's charm here in this village. He made his way into the building, taking his shoes off at the front opening, then continued to the classroom door. He looked at the clock on the wall to check how late he was. "Well then, five minutes", he read out. Not as late as he thought but either way it was still tardy. He opened the classroom door, stepping into the room, "Maybe if I'm lucky she'll-"

Suddenly, a pan fell straight onto his head, making him tumble down onto the floor. He pushed himself back up onto his knees, rubbing his sore head from the impact. Once again, it was too good to be true for him, and the only culprit who he knew could be behind this trap could only be...

"Keiichi Maebara!"

Yep...that was her scolding voice...Satoko Hojo. The sleazy trap master herself who could fool Keiichi with those dastardly tricks and traps of hers. Although she was an annoying brat at most times, she knew how to make you fall into a pit with ease. She stood there in front of him, hands on her hips looking at him with an irritated gaze. "You're late! How tardy can you be, huh?" She exclaimed at him.

"H-hey, I can explain you know!" He replied, somewhat irritated himself from having a pan dropped on his head. Again.

"Hmph, there is no excuse for being a complete tardy-pants."

Rena walked up to Satoko calmly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Give him a chance to explain, maybe it was important." Ah, the negotiator of the group, thank goodness. At least Rena was giving him a chance. good old, nice, kind Rena. Though when she could, she was terrifying at her prime during their games.

"Yeah Satoko, let old Keiichi explain why he was taking his time to slack off." And then there was Mion...being a snide prick as usual. Then again, no one would have her any other way. Well...maybe. She was of course not just the oldest, but the leader of their club. She was energetic, confident, and oh so boyish.

Satoko pouted, crossing her arms as she agreed to Rena's terms. Good. Now that the gremlin was sorted out, he could finally tell them what happened. But the thing is, what could he say to them? Better yet, what's the right thing to tell? Now that he thought about it, he couldn't just say "Oh you know, I met up with Rika's dead ancestor that's a spirit and now she's inside me cause of some spirit soul", otherwise he'd sound like a complete nut job. So instead, he carefully thought out a quick story to tell.

"The regular path was closed, so I had to take another path to the school. It took me a while to figure out where it led because someone couldn't wait for me." He glared at Rena, who just quivered at his gaze.

"S-Sorry Keiichi, I thought you would have figured it out" she said apologetically.

"Eh, it's fine, I probably would have left you too." He said snidely, grinning.

"H-Hey, that's so mean!"

"In fact, I would probably never talk to you ever again, and replace you too."

Rena got into a blushed fit at what he said. This was one of the things he loved, teasing Rena. He couldn't help it at times, her reactions were just too cute for him to resist his evil side. But as well, it was only a half-lie. It was true that he had to take a new path and such, but he made sure not to add anything about talking to someone that caught him to be late in the first place. Behind him, a voice was giggling. He turned around to see Hanyuu trying to resist laughing at the ginger's reaction.

"Oh, hey Hanyuu", he said calmly.

She quickly looked to him, removing her little grin, "Ah, sorry I just couldn't resist. Moments like this are just too great to miss."

"That's fine" wait, if she was here, then...why not just introduce her to them? That way they'll know she's real! Duh, it's that simple, why didn't he think of that? "Hey, since you're here, you should introduce yourself to them."

Hanyuu stopped smiling, looking at him with a concerned look on her face, the room now feeling dead silent. "Um, Keiichi..."

"I mean you can appear and reappear, so it'll be easy."

"Keiichi..."

"That and you can just-"

"Keiichi, are you alright?" He slowly turned to look at Mion who had asked. Her, along with Satoko and Rena, were giving him an uneasy look, as if he was somewhat loopy.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just talking to this girl here." He pointed over to where Hanyuu was standing, though she herself looked at Keiichi with both sympathy and pity, realising that she should have told him about that issue.

Mion and the others looked at each other, before she replied, "What girl?"

He stood there, nervously sweating. He was now just realising what was going on...they can't see Hanyuu. He remembered those words moments ago. 'It's also why only Rika can see me'. He felt so dumb at that moment for missing that part out. It explains all this time why they could never see or hear her around Rika the entire time.

"Keiichi..." Mion spoke, somewhat worry in her voice. Oh shit, it's over, isn't it? He's going to be sent to a mental ward. Or maybe they think he's cursed by Oyashiro-sama? Either way, It just had to- "Does little Keiichi have an imaginary friend?"

...What? Mion and Satoko laughed to themselves, as he stood there dumbstruck. "Ohohoh, I didn't think Keiichi, at 15 years old, would have an imagination like that. So sad", Satoko retorted.

Ah, now he gets it, they just think he's pretending right? This just turned to a matter of good luck for him. So then, he decided to take the advantage on this turn of events and play along. "Hahah yep, silly old me is such a real loner that I have to make up my own friends. You got me." He said in a somewhat goofy tone, managing to fake a laugh.

The three of them calmed down, finally managing to catch their breath (well two of them, he was just pretending). "I didn't scare you, did I? Heh. "He asked them, still somewhat suspecting they were onto him.

"Almost, for a second I thought we somehow drove you up the wall to insanity. But yeah, that was a good one." Mion replied. He sighed of relief in his head. Thank goodness they fell for that. Though something was off to him, but he didn't know what.

Until Rena took his hand and placed hers on it, still seeming to be the only one still worried about him. She spoke with concern in her voice, "Honestly though Keiichi, are you alright?"

The brunette felt a slight guilt on him now. It was one thing to keep secrets, but lying to Rena? Probably the worst bit of guilt yet. He glanced over slightly at Hanyuu, who was behind her. All she did was put a finger to her mouth, an obvious signal for "Don't tell her". Sadly, he had to listen to her since no one would even begin to understand the situation. What Mion and Satoko joked about was almost basically true; Hanyuu to everyone else, is just his imaginary friend. He sighed, finally answering. "Yeah I'm fine, honestly."

Rena stared at him for a bit, until she gave up, smiling again as she pulled away her hand. "Alright, good to know. Also don't scare me like that again!"

He nervously laughed, waving his hands, "Yeah alright, alright."

"Jeez Rena, get him a paramedic why don't you?" Mion joked, smirking at her. She got an instant reaction from the ginger, as she blushed and stuttered on the spot.

So today was more maths. Perfect. Which meant he had to work with Mion and Rena as usual.

Mion sat there with her head rested on her hand, trying to figure out one of the questions. Whist she was the leader of their group, and an expert at many things, things like maths were her kryptonite. "Ugh, why are these questions so difficult? It's like algebra or something."

Keiichi looked at her unamused, "Seriously? It's just multiplications."

"Well, I can't help that you're some genius when it comes to these."

"It's not even that hard. Hell, even Satoko could figure it out."

Mion crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised, smiling smugly. "Alright then, prove it."

He shrugged, taking the paper with the question on it and faced to where Satoko was sitting. "Hey Satoko."

Getting her attention, she turned to face him, "Yeah, what is it?" She asked.

"What's 7 times 8?"

"Easy, it's 56."

Mion's jaw dropped to the loli's immediate answer completely baffled. Satoko, the same girl who didn't know how to spell most words, or even know the difference between cauliflower and broccoli, figured out a maths question that she couldn't!? Keiichi turned back to her, amused at her reaction. "Proved it." He said, smugly. Mion instantly puffed her cheeks, smacking Keiichi across the head. Welp, he deserved that to be honest, though he did get his point across to her. That and he got a good reaction. Score.

Though something was still bothering him enough that it was tough to concentrate. Hanyuu, the fact that no one in Hinamizawa except Rika, and now himself, could see this spirit wandering around them. The fact that he was having to lie to his friends about something abnormal made him feel guilty. Though in honesty, it's for the best. He was lucky enough to let it slip by Mion and Satoko, but Rena could have made him spill the beans. He couldn't let that happen though, he had to figure out all of this on his own, how to deal with Hanyuu, what abilities did she have, but most specifically, what Rika could possibly be hiding that's so important other than Hanyuu herself.

"Hey, Keiichi." He turned to look at Rena. It seemed like he had blanked out or something whilst thinking.

"Um, yeah?" he asked.

"I'm having trouble with this one here." She pointed to one of the questions in specific. "Could you help me out?"

"Alright then, let's see..."

Whilst he was examining it, he didn't notice Rena's look behind him, as if she was keeping an eye on the boy. It was obvious that she hadn't gotten over what happened earlier, leaving her concerned even more with what happened just now. She could usually tell when someone was lying to her. But for some reason, Keiichi was making it hard for her to tell. She knew something was on his mind, but she couldn't tell what. For now, she'd just continue to keep an eye on him, just to make sure.

The day went by smoothly after this morning, helping out Rena and Mion with maths, lunch, all of that stuff. He had managed to get through the whole day without a single mention of this morning's event, or anything else at that. Now all he had to do was get out of here, head home and continue questioning Hanyuu to figure out what was going on.

"Alright people, gather round" Mion called out to the other three. Shit, he almost forgot about the games they do at the end of school. They paid attention to Mion as she spoke out. "I'm sure you all know what time it is. I was thinking since Rika isn't here for today, making us one less of a person short, we could try to do something with just the four of us for now."

"So, what are we going to play I wonder? I wonder?" Rena asked curiously.

"Well, I was thinking-"

"Two less." Mion and the other two looked over to Keiichi, who had already gotten out of his seat.

"What do you mean? You're not joining in today?" Mion asked, curious as to what he meant.

"I can't do it today; I have something important to do." As much as he enjoyed the club games, today he couldn't. Not with something on his mind bothering him. He went pass the others, making his way to the door. But Mion wasn't having it. All day, she knew there's been something wrong with him, and he hasn't said anything at all about it. She decided to stand in front of the door, blocking his path.

"Important huh? Like what?"

He almost hesitated to answer, before replying to her, "I can't say, this is something private. So could you please move out of the way?"

Mion gave a small humph before asking, "Come on, it can't be that bad. If it's something that's bothering, you then-"

"I said move out of the way." He said that in a rather intimidating tone, a scowl on his face making Mion flinch back from him. Quickly realising what he had done he felt his chest go heavy, immediately regretting what he had done. He turned to look at Rena and Satoko, who had gotten an uneasy feeling from him, shocked at his reaction. It was rather aggressive compared to what they were used to. Keiichi wasn't an aggressive person at all in fact, just loud and energetic. But this, this was different.
"I-I didn't mean to..." he tried to say something, but he felt guilty. He pushed past Mion, running out of the classroom and leaving her there speechless.

"What's with him", Satoko asked, this time herself rather worried. They all knew this wasn't like him. Usually, he was eager to beat them in any game they threw at him, no matter how much of a disadvantage he had. But there he was, pushing past Mion and acting mildly aggressive.

Mion looked over to them, keeping her cool. "Hey it's fine, he's probably just having a bad day or something, ya know?" Though they didn't know if that was true or not, they agreed any ways. Though as they got ready to leave themselves, since there wasn't any point in doing the club activities with only a few people, Rena couldn't help but think of the brown-haired boy. She reminded herself to watch Keiichi a bit more often, just in case. If there was something wrong and he wasn't talking about it, then he could get himself in trouble, or even hurt. Or maybe, she just remembers him doing something similar for her one time, though she couldn't recall when...

Luckily, Keiichi remembered to get his bike today, which meant he could get home much quicker than he did walking to school. Still, he regretted his action back there, feeling guilty. He didn't mean to be like that with Mion, he just wanted to understand what he was dealing with as soon as possible, it's not like it was her fault for caring. Hanyuu appeared next to him, floating at the same speed as he was going, her expression looked rather upset. "I guess I'm not the only one thinking about it", he thought to himself.

"You didn't have to be like that back there Keiichi." She said, displeased.

"I know, and yes I do regret it, trust me. I don't know why I acted like that." He responded. But he was right, he had no clue why he reacted that way, the feeling was so sudden that it was now gone. He didn't mean to be like that with Mion, he just wanted to understand what he was dealing with as soon as possible, it's not like it was her fault for caring.

"I just need to know what's going on. The sooner we talk about this spirit stuff, the better." She nodded in agreement to his words. He was right, after all, Keiichi deserved to know the truth, she couldn't just leave him in the dark about all of this. At least, that's what she wanted to do. Perhaps, it was best to say it right now...

"The thing is Keiichi; I really want to tell you everything. But I can't."

He halted the bike in an instant, looking at Hanyuu in disbelief. "What? Why not? What's holding you back?" She looked down, almost ashamed of what she was going to say next.

"The thing is...I can't tell you anything without Rika. And even if she was here, she would deny telling you anything as well."

"Then why not just tell me without her?"

"Because she has the answers."

What he heard had agitated him to such a degree. Not only was he hearing that he can't be given answers into what's going on, but also that Rika, the friendliest person he knows, won't even tell him as well? He calmed down for a moment. "Alright then, so why won't she tell me?" He asked her.

The violet-haired girl replied, "It's because Rika believes that if she tells anyone, something bad will happen to them. But it's not just that." Keiichi waited in anticipation to what she was going to say next. What else was it that was holding Rika back? "Rika...has given up hope."

Keiichi was shocked to what he heard, no, refused somewhat to believe what he heard. Rika Furude, giving up hope? Was this secret that bad, it's gotten her to the point of not even caring anymore? Hanyuu though knew why and didn't blame Rika in the slightest. It was because so many Hinamizawas that they've gone to, so many times they've tried to change fate, just all ended up being meaningless in this loop of despair. Even the last one they were at, where they had gotten so close as well...It had gotten Rika to the point of just accepting the fate of Hinamizawa, and its great disaster to come.

"So, I guess I'll have to get her to trust me then."

Hanyuu looked up to him sharply, taken aback. "What?" she asked.

"If Rika's lost hope, then I'm just going to have to show her that there is hope. Whatever this fate is, I don't care. Either way we're going to rewrite it no matter what and give her the hope she needs to carry on being who she is, Our hope. You and me Hanyuu, we're going to figure this out together."

Hanyuu was surprised, not even that, amazed of him. She already knew much about Keiichi himself, the one who seems to be able to change fate itself at times. In fact, it was one of the reasons that made Hanyuu interested in him in the first place. If what he was saying is true, then they could turn this curse around, help Rika, and they can all live together in peace. For once, maybe what happened this morning isn't just a change in history, but a sign, or at least a shimmer of hope. Their chance to fix Hinamizawa, once and for all.

She gave a bright smile to him, "A-Alright then, we'll do this together. Au au!"

Keiichi couldn't help but smile back at the determined spirit, raising his hand, "Yeah. High fi- Oh, right..."

They both just laughed at the attempt however, under the bright moon of the village. Tomorrow was a new day, and on that day was going to be a new beginning for Keiichi Maebara and Hanyuu Furude.

End of Chapter 2