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Hanako is really starting to question this whole “being dead” thing.
“I’m a ghost,” he whines, sprawled cat-like across the bathroom windowsill with both hakujoudai fanning him. “I shouldn’t have to deal with stupid things like summer or heat.”
Kou looks up from where he’s helping Nene scrub the sinks, fixing Hanako with an incredulous stare. “You can feel heat?”
Nene pauses her work as well, frowning as she turns to face Hanako. “But you’re always so cold!” she protests. “Every time you hug me, your hands are like ice!”
“I would kill to be cold again,” Hanako sighs, wistful. He turns his head, glancing out the stained-glass window down at the school yard. It’s empty, save for a few stragglers just heading home after clubs.
Summer’s only begun, and already the school is sweltering. For better or worse, Hanako’s boundary is located in the upper, older part of the school, the part they’ve always planned but never gotten around to installing air conditioning in. Over fifty summers spent lounging around an empty, hellfire-hot bathroom, and here he is, with the year already winding up to yet another blazing summer.
Hanako blinks, eyes half-lidded, as he watches the students wander about detachedly. Just a matter of weeks before they, and Kou and Nene, leave. It’ll be fine, though. The two promised to visit, even if they have to sneak back over the school gate. Kou even claimed to be an expert, saying he had “hidden depths.” Hanako had decided to briefly suspend judgement, if only to mock him at a better, more opportune time. Besides, he’ll have the Mokkes to play Hanafuda games with anyways, so it’s not like he’ll be completely bored even if they’re caught.
Sticky fingers latch onto his jaw, and Hanako barely keeps from drawing his knife as Kou twists his head to face him and Nene.
Kou’s eyes widen further. “Man, she’s right,” he says, and plasters both wet, sink-cleaning hands against Hanako’s cheeks. “You’re absolutely freezing.”
Hanako leans back, tugging out of Kou’s grip with a lazy half-smile. “My, how forward of you.”
“Let me see,” Nene says, both blatantly ignoring him as she reaches out for Hanako.
The ghost allows it, only because it’s Nene, his face warming as she presses a hand to his forehead.
She sighs happily as she shifts her other hand to push back his hat, both resting against cool skin. “Just like I remembered.”
“Both of you,” Hanako blessedly manages, mind going absolutely blank at the touch. “Very, very forward.”
“You know,” Kou says thoughtfully, “I bet if you hugged him now, it would be like the perfect temperature.”
Nene’s eyes light up as Hanako turns red.
Subtly attempting to drift out of reach, Hanako laughs uneasily. “While I’m sure you’re both very eager to get your hands on me, what if we just—all go back to cleaning! Yes! It’s your job as my assistant, and my assistant’s friend.”
Nene, apparently deaf to Hanako’s words, turns to look at Kou. “You’re right,” she says. “You’re absolutely right.”
Kou beams.
Nene whips about to face Hanako, practically sparkling. “Hanako—”
“No.”
Her eyes widen for a moment, shocked, before her gaze quickly shifts to consternation. “You hug me all the time!” she exclaims, crossing her arms.
“Yes,” Hanako agrees. “When it’s not the actual temperature of hell.”
Nene’s brow furrows. “But you’re cold.”
“And you’re not.” Flicking a hand, Hanako sends one hakujoudai subtly inching out of the bathroom, ready for quick-escape teleportation. “Now, if both of you could get back to cleaning—”
“Hanako,” Nene says.
Hanako pauses, flashing a weak half-smile. “Nene?”
Nene closes her eyes for a moment, visibly taking a steadying breath, before she opens them again, practically burning with determination. “Hanako,” she says, and he can almost feel himself physically weaken, “with your permission, I’d like to hug you.”
He blinks once, twice. “Do you really want to?” he asks, and could almost die again at how shy it comes out. “Are you sure?”
Nene nods firmly.
(Off to the side, forgotten, Kou’s gaze darts back and forth, the boy seeming absolutely bewildered at the sudden shift in tone.)
Hanako plays with the edge of his cap, tugging it down over his face as he refuses to meet her eyes. “I guess, if it means that much to you…”
Nene brightens again, leaning forward. “I can hug you?”
Hanako ducks his head lower. “Yeah,” he says, voice almost impossibly quiet.
Nene beams, flinging her arms out and wrapping them tightly around him, head rested against his. Hanako stiffens, eyes widening, before slowly, ever so slowly, he lowers his cap and leans against her shoulder.
Even when he was still alive, Hanako had never been very physically affectionate. His dislike had only grown stronger with his death to the point that, now, he’ll draw a knife on anything he thinks too close for comfort.
But as he’s coming to find, Nene is always the exception to his rules.
Nene sighs blissfully, eyes closed as she tugs him closer. “Like hugging a human-sized icepack,” she says.
… That’s fine. If it helps Nene, Hanako will take it.
A sharp cough makes the two startle, both shifting slightly to glance at Kou out of the corner of their eyes.
“What, boy?” Hanako asks sweetly, even as his expression darkens several shades.
Kou shifts, gaze darting between the two, as he looks to Nene imploringly and Hanako almost hopefully. “You let senpai hug you, since you’re freezing,” Kou says slowly, awkwardly.
Hanako immediately reaches for his hakujoudai.
“Since I’ve been cleaning too,” Kou continues, “and it’s really, really hot in here, I was hoping that maybe you could like, let me hug you t—”
Hanako vanishes in a heartbeat.