He's finally done it. After almost a year of heartache and close calls, he's finally managed to save Yashiro Nene from death. She will live for the next 90 years, just as she wanted, and will be able to complete all her hopes and dreams. He's given her the future that he could never have.


"Hanako-kun, where are you? Why did you disappear?"

Really, he's happy. This is what he wanted from the very bottom of his cold dead heart.

Yashiro looks around the girl's bathroom anxiously, her ruby eyes scanning for her ghost friend. One minute he was there talking to her in a cryptic manner, and then he just suddenly vanishes out of thin air. She didn't even know he could do that, he's never just turned invisible before.

"T-This isn't funny Hanako-kun!" She refused to acknowledge the shakiness in her voice.


He's happy…


Yashiro goes home for the day, figuring he just had some urgent supernatural business to attend to. She was tired anyway, Hanako's insistence on venturing into No. 6's boundary took a lot out of her for some reason. He was kind of rude about it in her opinion, she hadn't wanted to go after the last time she was in his boundary but he practically all but dragged her in.

She decides she'll give him piece of her mind tomorrow.


This is what he wanted, what he wished for so desperately that he was willing to become her enemy in the fake world. More than anything he wanted Yashiro Nene to live.

But then why were there tears running down his face? Why had he reached out to her as she was leaving? Why did it hurt so much to see her unconsciously shiver as his hand passes through her?

Hanako wanted Yashiro to live, but he wasn't prepared for the consequences.


She asked Kou if he knew what was up with Hanako and why he was ignoring her. He looks at her strangely, as though he didn't understand what she was talking about. He tells her that Hanako wouldn't ignore her and that maybe he was in the bathroom right now.

They hurry to his bathroom and practically tumble inside. She looks around restlessly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the seventh wonder she's come to call her friend. Yashiro doesn't see anything though, just the rays of the sunlight beaming through the glass stained window.

"Ah Hanako, you've been ignoring senpai! If you don't apologise to her right now, I'll exorcise you on the spot!" Kou was talking animatedly to thin air, his hand ready to grab on the spirit staff on his back.

Yashiro absently asks who he was talking to, and a thunder of realisation hits both him and her at the same time.


In hindsight, Hanako supposes that he should have expected this outcome. He should have told her what was going to happen, but a selfish part of him wanted to use his final moments to tell her other things. In the end though he couldn't even tell her everything he wanted, like how much he cared about her or how he's been hopelessly in love with her since she met him as a child.

He knows now that was probably the wrong choice. Seeing the look of despair on Yashiro's face, while she pieced together why she couldn't see him, was more painful than he could ever imagine. He could only watch uselessly as the tears welled up in her eyes before she runs away.

He expected the kid to get mad him, or at the very least have an accusatory look in his eyes before running after her. Instead he turns to Hanako and asks him,

"Are you okay?"

No he's not okay, but he doesn't have a choice anymore.

"It was always meant to be like this kid."


She cries her heart out in anguish, wasn't this what she wanted? She selfishly asked him to change her fate and let her live for the next 90 years. He's done exactly what she wished for.

His last words to her suddenly make sense.

"Live the best life Yashiro and don't forget me, okay?"

She never even told him how much he meant to her, how much she's grown to love him despite the fact he's not even her type. Teru couldn't even hold a candle to Hanako anymore. She loves him so much she probably would have been okay with dying if it meant they could be together-

No she can't think like that now. After everything he's done for her it would be a crime if she went down that path. He couldn't fulfill his wish while he was alive, so who was she to take away the only wish he had in his death?

She will live the best life possible, not just for herself but for him too.


For the last month Hanako has been throwing himself into his duties as the leader of the seven wonders. If any apparition even steps a toe out of line he's there, knife at the ready to remedy the situation by any means necessary. He knows his brother is the one changing the rumors but, as part of their agreement from their deal with No. 4, he doesn't do anything to stop it. He only intervenes when the student's lives become at risk.

He knows that ignoring his own problems wasn't going to make them go away. He also knows that Yashiro still comes by to clean his bathroom and he really should tell the kid to get her to stop. He imagines that she probably talks to the air as if he's still around, but truthfully he purposely leaves before she arrives.

Every time he sees her, he breaks just a little bit more.


"Senpai, you know he's not here… right?"

She ignores the pang in her chest at Kou's words. Of course she knows, maybe it's their bond or perhaps she's developed a sixth sense, but she knows he's not there when she cleans his bathroom. She talks about her day as though he's there listening to her, but deep down she knows he's as far away as he could be from her.

But whether Hanako liked it or not, Yashiro was his assistant until the end of time. So she will continue cleaning his bathroom until she no longer can.


It was pure chance that at that exact moment, of that exact day Hanako happened to be patrolling through the school hallway. He couldn't stand being in his bathroom for too long, the deafening silence was too much now for him. Sometimes the kid visits him without Yashiro, which he's secretly thankful for, but it's just not the same anymore.

He couldn't help but pick up on a conversation being (loudly) discussed by two random teenage boys he didn't recognise.

"You gonna ask her out bro?"

"Hell yeah. Have you seen those thick legs of hers? I just want to run my hands-"

Hanako knows he's overreacting and that they may not even be talking about Yashiro at all, but he couldn't help the seething rage that overtook him as he repeatedly stabs his knife through the boy's head. For a brief moment he's glad he's a ghost just so he could do this with no consequence.

"I'll get her alone during lunch and I will ask her to be my girlfriend."

They're not talking about Yashiro.

They're not talking about Yashiro.

They're not talking about Yashiro.

They.

Are.

Not.

Talking.

About.

His.

Yashiro.

"I don't know what you see in Yashiro Nene man, but good luck."

Hanako is gone before the boy even finishes his sentence.


Yashiro thought the pain would lessen overtime, but she's just learned to tolerate it better instead. She hides behind a mask so that to the rest of the world thinks she is the same old lively and bubbly Yashiro. Only Kou gets to see behind the mask when they clean Hanako's bathroom together.

Today was no different as Yashiro takes out her lunch and prepares to eat it. She has a strange feeling as though she's being watched, but before she thinks anymore of it she's quickly distracted by Aoi.

"Nene-chan there's someone here for you. He looks kinda handsome, maybe he's here to confess~" Aoi giggles.

Yashiro was sold at the word 'handsome' and had quickly gone to greet the boy who was calling for her. She vaguely recognises him as a second-year student who's been hanging around the gardening club recently.

He asks her if it were alright if he could talk to her in private on the school rooftop. A variety of scenarios roll through her head, was he here to sweep her off her feet and carry her off into the sunset? Or perhaps he was going to tell her he was a spirit medium, and he was here to tell her a bathroom ghost has been haunting her?

She desperately hopes it's the last one.

When they get to the rooftop, Yashiro finds she has to keep a hold of her school dress to stop it from flying up with the wind. She expected the boy to take notice of her discomfort and offer for them to go somewhere else, but he did no such thing.

She squeaks as he grabs her shoulders out of nowhere.

"I know this may seem sudden but-"


Hanako was quick to find them thanks to him having Hakujoudai follow Yashiro. He really shouldn't be doing this, it went against every rule in the book and if he's caught there would be major consequences. But he knows Yashiro, she'll probably go with that guy simply because he's handsome and he actually asked her out. She'll have no idea of the impure reasoning behind why he wanted to date her.

He couldn't allow her to fall into the hands of some lowlife like that. She was his responsibility to protect.

Or at least that's what Hanako told himself to justify his overflowing jealousy and possessiveness.

So that's why he raced to find the kid and begged him to allow Hanako to possess him. He couldn't possess Yashiro, he didn't want to risk anything happening to her soul while he was in her body. Kou, thank the heavens above, understood his reasoning (after threatening to exorcise him if he does anything stupid) and allowed Hanako to take over him.

At first he kept his distance, not entirely sure on how to go about this and he secretly enjoyed the glimpse of Yashiro's butt as she tried to keep her dress down. Although he scowls when he realises the boy she was with was also enjoying the view while seeing Yashiro was clearly uncomfortable.

If it were him, he would have at least asked her if she wanted to go back inside. Just because he enjoys the view doesn't mean he'll enjoy it at her expense.

When Yashiro's frightened yelp reaches his ears, all logic is thrown out the window as he reacts on impulse.


"Kou-kun?"

She couldn't explain it, but the boy in front of her at the moment didn't feel like the Kou she knows and loves. The way he held himself was different, his voice was a pitch too high, the way he grabs her arm and pulls her behind him was too possessive.

How he tells the guy to back off, that he wouldn't allow Yashiro to date someone like him, was very unlike Kou as well. The way he won't look at her in the eye, even after the boy leaves, is strange.

Maybe she's become so desperate to see him again that her mind is playing tricks on her, or perhaps this was a cruel joke the universe was playing on her. Heck, maybe she's asleep right now in class and she's actually dreaming all this. But even so, if there's a slither of a chance that she was right in thinking this wasn't Kou, then she was going to take it.

She may never get another chance.

"I love you, Hanako-kun!"


It was bad enough he prevented her being confessed to, no matter the reasoning behind it. He should give the kid his body back immediately, leave and this time not come back. It's only been a month since Hanako saw Yashiro, a month means nothing to a spirit like him, but she somehow became even more beautiful.

He wonders why fate was so cruel to them as she tells him she loves him.

It would be selfish to respond to her, to let her know even an inkling of what he feels towards her. It would be wrong to use the kid's body anymore than he already has.

But… he may never get another chance.

For the first time in a long time, Hanako allows himself to be selfish and claim Yashiro's first kiss. It was desperate, needy and over far too soon for either of their liking.

"I love you too."


She doesn't visit him everyday like she used to in her first year, but now as a third year Yashiro always makes sure to visit Hanako's bathroom twice a week. She'll do her usual duty of cleaning up the bathroom while talking about how she's been, what's happening in her life and of course boast about her new hamster Eternal Star.

She doesn't know if he enjoys her visits, or if he's even listening while she chatters away, but she's pretty sure he at least sticks around unlike before. Sometimes she'll walk a certain way and feel a blast of cold air, like she had just walked through a freezer.

In those times she apologizes for walking through him and continues on with whatever she was doing.

Ever since that day she hasn't heard from Hanako, he was gone as soon as he uttered those words and she was left to apologise to a very flustered Kou. The feeling of being watched started to occur more frequently after that, Kou later told her that Hanako has his Hakujoudai follow her in school because of how much of a 'trouble magnet' she was.

Although she resented that statement, it warmed her heart to know he still looked out for her as best as he could.


You would think now that Yashiro could no longer interact with the supernatural, she couldn't get herself into any more trouble.

Hanako found out the hard way that she indeed still could.

He supposes it's the leftovers from the mermaid's curse that will never go away, or maybe it's her previous ties as his assistant, but apparitions still like to try and mess with her. Of course she's never noticed now that she doesn't have the same perception as before, but ironically that just puts her even more at risk.

It got to the point where for the last 2 years, he's had one of his Hakujoudai follow Yashiro around whenever she's on school grounds. Usually the spirit orb is enough to warn away lower-leveled apparitions, but it's also plenty capable of defending her or contacting him in the worse case scenario.

The worse case scenario only happened once, when the mermaid tried one final time to take her away as her servant. He put a stop that before she got anywhere near Yashiro.

Hanako often worries what will happen to her after she graduates at the end of the year, when she is no longer under his protection. He tries not to think about how someday soon she won't be visiting his bathroom anymore, cleaning and talking as though everything was still the same.

He tries to enjoy her presence as much as he still can.


She tries not to be, but Yashiro is extremely jealous of the fact Kou could see the supernatural. The fact he can still see Hanako, talk to him and be his friend cuts her deeply. She would do almost anything to have that again.

Almost.

Although what really sets her off is the fact that because Kou could see what she couldn't, he could actually have the relationship she always wanted. At the start of his first year in high school Kou and Mitsuba started dating, or at least they were the closest to dating as they could ever possibly get. They both knew it couldn't last forever, so they mutually decided to just take things a day at a time.

Yashiro stops being jealous every time she reminds herself of that fact.


Hanako remembers her final day at Kamome Academy like it was yesterday. She walked into his bathroom like she was the most cheerful person on the planet and animatedly talked about how great the graduation ceremony was.

While he had never taken her for granted, Hanako really took notice of Yashiro that day. He knew she had obviously grown and developed since they first met, but he never really realised how much until he was trying to burn her image into his memory.

Without floating she easily towered over his forever 13-year-old form, and he shamelessly took note of how well her body had developed in all the right places. Her ankles were still daikon-like, but honestly she wouldn't be Yashiro without them.

She had truly grown into a beautiful young woman.

"I will see you again one day Hanako-kun."


The first year was especially painful after leaving Kamome Academy, Yashiro would often find her heart yearning to go see Hanako even if she couldn't actually see him. Although she refused to allow it to hold her back, she wasn't going to waste this life that Hanako had worked so hard to give her.

So with the decent grades she got in school, Yashiro goes on to university to study marine biology.

Yes, she sees the irony in that.

Starting university was a terrifying experience, especially since she didn't know anyone going into the course. However she soon found that it was pretty much the same for everybody else and had quickly settled in the course with some new friends.

A couple months in she was actually asked out by a pretty nice guy. She seriously considered dating him until she realised how he was nothing like Hanako and she couldn't stop comparing them.


He noticed that the kid was visiting him more frequently now that Yashiro was gone. He didn't complain though, having the kid around was still pleasant and he could actually talk to him unlike with Yashiro. Sometimes even No. 3 would tag along, which meant he had more teasing material to work with.

After thoroughly assuring him that apparitions were not bothering her anymore, the kid would tell him all about how Yashiro was doing. He laughs at the irony of the university course she has decided to study, but all the same he's proud of her for being able to get on the course. It didn't sound like an easy subject to study and he hopes she does well with it.

There's a pang in his chest as he also hears about all the new friends she's making and the new experiences she is going through. Hanako is quick to squash that down though, this was exactly what he wanted for her.


Kou cried a week after he graduated from Kamome Academy.

Yashiro wakes up in the middle of the night to her phone blaring on her nightstand. At the sound of Kou's blubbering and sobbing, she's quick to leave her dorm and drive all the way back to her hometown to comfort him.

His body trembled the whole time he was crying in her arms. Seeing how heartbroken he was over Mitsuba caused some tears to fall from Yashiro's own eyes as she held him, soothingly stroking his hair and whispering comforting words in his ear. When he eventually calms down, she takes him in her car for a drive out of town. They stopped by a random McDonalds and eat ice cream together.

Nobody else would understand their pain as much as each other.


Hanako has nothing against No. 3, if anything he feels sorry for the guy because fate has been cruel to him ever since the original Mitsuba died. But that doesn't necessarily mean he wants him hanging around his bathroom all the time.

It's lonely, he understands that, he had warned No. 3 about the consequences of getting into a relationship with the kid but he chose to go through with it anyway. Hanako doesn't think he would have been able to take it if he had done something like that with Yashiro. It's one of the many reasons why he never went down that path with her when he had the chance, no matter how badly he wanted to sometimes.

Besides, with No. 3 hanging around so much, he's forced to encounter his brother more often because he comes looking for him. Tsukasa doesn't stick around too long, but he always tells Hanako the exact same thing.

"I could make your wish come true Amane~"

He ignores him every time.


Yashiro is in her late twenties before she decides to give up on getting married. Even after all this time, she still compares every single guy she encounters to a bathroom ghost she had been in love with as a teenager.

Still in love with.

Oh she's tried, Yashiro has tried dating many different types of men in the years.

One was too tall.

Another was too serious.

She actually decided that one guy was not perverted enough.

The list goes on and on. No one can compare to Hanako, she's certain that he was the only one meant for her. Kou knew how she felt, he couldn't find anyone without comparing them heavily to Mitsuba.

It wasn't the end of the world that they couldn't find love partners, there was plenty going on in their lives to keep them busy. But both had dreamed of getting married one day and starting their own family.

The two supported each other heavily over the years, always being there for each other at the drop of a hat. When Kou was stranded in the middle of nowhere with a broken-down car, he calls Yashiro to come and get him. When Yashiro thought she may be being stalked one evening, her first instinct was to call Kou for help.

They had a deeper understanding of each other than they would ever have with anybody else.

"Why don't we get married Kou-kun?"


"Hanako-san, Hanako-san, are you there?"

He sighed as another student attempted to summon him from his bathroom stall. His rumor became even more popular ever since he met Yashiro, which is a good thing, but it also means he has to answer calls to students who can't even see him.

This time he decides to skip the whole 'trying to be scary' charade he usually puts up, it's not like the person will notice anything anyway. He simply opens his stall door and waits for the student to become creeped out and flee his boundary in terror.

"Wow that's so cool, you actually answered!"

Hanako does a double-take as he eyes the boy in front of him. He was wearing the Kamome Academy middle school uniform, which was clearly a little big for him, so he must've been a first year. He knows his rumor is popular, but he's surprised it's even reached the first years of the middle school division.

"Were you expecting someone else?" He mischievously asks.

The boy looks up at him with vaguely familiar bright ruby red eyes.

"You're exactly like mum and dad said you were!" He eagerly steps towards Hanako. "Hey how come you don't match your rumour?"

He wasn't sure what to think at the boy's words, his parents talked about him? He did look awfully familiar with that blonde hair and red eyes…

No…

"What's your name boy?"

"Minamoto Hinata!"


When her son came home after his first day in Kamome Academy, she hadn't expected him to immediately start going on about 'Hanako-san of the bathroom.' Hinata couldn't stop talking about his encounter with the ghost, and how he thought that she had been making him up all this time.

Yashiro was glad to know he seemed to be doing well, but at the same time it made her sad to know he was still in the bathroom. She hesitantly asks what wish Hinata made to him, slightly fearing what he would say.

Apparently, he had simply wished to be Hanako's friend, which made Yashiro sigh a breath of relief. The price however made her heart skip a beat like it hasn't done in many years.

"He says the price to being his friend is a picture of you mum. So say cheese!"


Hanako had absolutely no trouble believing Hinata was Yashiro's child, the boy was as much of a danger magnet as she had been only somehow way worse. The exorcist blood running through his veins made him a larger target to apparitions, Hanako lost count of the amount of times he's bailed the boy out of trouble.

He wasn't complaining though, Hinata was a nice enough kid and he had brought him a photo of his lovely radish girl. She had aged but she was still clearly the Yashiro he fell in love with.

Really the only thing that Hanako both liked and hated about the boy was the fact he was Yashiro's. Even if it's what he had wished for, it peeved him off that she had actually dared to go get married and have a child without him. Who did she think she was?

Although in the end he decided if he had to hand Yashiro off to somebody, then he was glad it was the kid.

(Doesn't change the fact he will absolutely give that exorcist a piece of his mind if Hanako ever sees him again)

And hey he really did warm up to Hinata, it was hard not to after protecting him and being his friend for the next 6 years of his school life. He really was a good kid.


Exactly 90 years after she made her wish, Yashiro Nene peacefully passed away in her sleep at 105-years-old.

Like she promised, she had lived her life to the very fullest.

It had been 140 years since Yugi Amane changed his future by plunging a knife into his twin brother.

140 years since he started his undead life repenting as the leader of the seven wonders.

90 years since he formed a bond with the human girl Yashiro Nene.

It has been 88 years since Hanako said goodbye to the girl he loves with all his heart.

Fate had been cruel to these souls, but they proved not even death could have pulled them apart. So just this once, fate decided to be kind.

He was done. He had finally repented his sin after all this time and had been granted access to the heavens above. Yugi Amane was finally allowed to lay to rest.

As the large golden gates opened for him, the bright light from within blinded him. He's spent so long in darkness that he was actually afraid of going towards the light. At least he knows what to expect in darkness, he can defend himself in darkness.

"Oiii Yugi, come over here!"

"Yeah we've been waiting for you crazy knife!"

At the sound of the familiar voices, Amane squints through the light to see Kou and Mitsuba waving him over. He smiles at the sight of them and hesitantly waves back.

He's too afraid to step forward.

Does he really deserve to go to such a warm place when Tsukasa was still stuck in the dark?

"Amane-kun!" He snaps his eyes to the voice.

She didn't look any different from the day he changed her future. She was waving at him enthusiastically with a large smile plastered on her face. The loving look in her ruby eyes makes his heart skip a beat.

Yashiro Nene was just as beautiful as he remembered her being.

He stepped towards the light and never looked back.