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A yorishiro is what gives the seven mysteries their power — almost like a battery.
If it were to be destroyed, the wonder would be removed from their seat and have to relinquish control of their boundary.
———
(一)
“So you see, since you don’t exactly have anything important to you yet…you’re somewhat of a special case, Mitsuba!~”
Tsukasa hovers over Mitsuba with a wide, sinister smile plastered on his face. “Wh—What do you mean by that…?” Mitsuba asks hesitantly. He’s not sure he wants to know.
Tsukasa begins to pace back and forth, “Well, I was thinking…Until you find something important enough…” Tsukasa stops in his tracks and shrugs, “I’d just let the seal do the heavy lifting!” He looks back at Mitsuba, who is clearly still confused on what exactly that means for him. Tsukasa sighs, “Honestly, Mitsuba, do I have to explain everything?” Mitsuba’s face falls, telling Tsukasa exactly what he needs to know. “Well, that’s okay! It just means your yorishiro will become whatever feels important to you at the time, okay?”
Tsukasa pats Mitsuba’s head—similar to the way you would a puppy. “You don’t have to worry about it yet! Whenever you’re ready to pick your yorishiro yourself, let me know, okay?” Tsukasa hums.
Great , Mitsuba thinks. The one thing he’s supposed to be in control of and he won’t be. He grips the book in his hands a little tighter.
“Oh, would you look at that!”
Mitsuba snaps out of his thoughts and stares up at Tsukasa. “Look up there!” Tsukasa points towards the ceiling, guiding Mitsuba’s gaze to the larger mirror in the middle.
“…There’s nothing there…” Mitsuba points out. Tsukasa moves in a little too close to Mitsuba’s face and smiles, “Exactly! That’s where the former Number Three’s yorishiro was!” Tsukasa backs off slightly, much to Mitsuba’s relief. “Did something become so important to you already, Mitsuba?” Tsukasa teases, tapping a finger to his chin as if deep in thought.
Mitsuba can’t do anything but sit and worry. Did something become important to him that fast? He doesn’t think so, but Mitsuba assumes the yorishiro must know him better than he does.
Mitsuba’s hold on the gardening log tightens once again—He’s slightly worried he might snap the damn thing in half.
“Oh, well! I’ll figure it out eventually! No need to tell me what it is!” Tsukasa finally says. “Bye, bye, Mitsuba! I’ll see you later, okay?~” He excitedly waves goodbye with both hands before disappearing into thin air, leaving Mitsuba alone. Mitsuba sighs in relief.
What a welcome into the world , he thinks. He gets here—with no memories—and meets a know-it-all daikon girl who, Mitsuba guesses, was pretty nice when it came down to it. Then, he nearly gets killed by a bunch of ugly mannequins, he’s forced to eat a heart and assume the position of Number Three, fight a crazy guy with a knife, and—
And there was that boy.
Mitsuba thinks he said his name was Kou Minamoto? Yeah, there was no forgetting that. He had grabbed Mitsuba by the face and practically screamed it at him, after all. He seemed to know Mitsuba already despite the latter having never seen Kou a day in his existence. Even if Mitsuba desperately wants to—and he does—he can’t forget the smile Kou gave him, and the sadness in his eyes after he realized Mitsuba didn’t remember him. That, unfortunately, would stick with Mitsuba forever.
Even if Mitsuba doesn’t know who he is beyond his name and lame-ass earring, he figures it might not be so bad to find out. Suddenly, he’s reminded of the book in his lap—the book that Kou had shoved into his chest a bit too hard and Mitsuba had not let go of since.
What was so special about it, anyway? Why was this book so—
Mitsuba looks down at the book only for a smooth, black seal plastered on the front cover to stare back at him.
…Important.
Now, whether he likes it or not (and he’s not sure he does), Mitsuba has a new yorishiro. Something ‘important’ to him. Something that is his. What he’s sure he likes even less is that it has everything to do with the stupid boy who wears a lame-ass earring.
———
(二)
Being human can really suck sometimes, Mitsuba decides.
It sucks when you’re paired with a group of girls in science class that are too busy chatting away about the latest rumor or the newest couple at school to realize they mislabeled one of the chemicals for the experiment. It sucks when you happen to be Mitsuba, who doesn’t realize and puts the wrong chemical into the wrong vial, and suddenly—KABOOM!
It really sucks being a human because that means your hand can bleed and it can hurt like a bitch .
“What happened?!” Kou quickly rushes over to Mitsuba’s side—maybe too quickly, if you ask one of their classmates.
“I-It exploded…” Mitsuba says, holding the hand that’s covered in blood.
“Ah!~ It’s really bleeding!~” Yokoo exclaims, “Should we wrap it in a scarf?~”
“Use mine!” Kou pulls out his scarf from his pocket and goes to turn on the faucet. He holds his fingers under the running water for a few seconds, checking to see if the water is warm enough. It’s such a simple act of kindness, but it makes Mitsuba smile—if only a little.
Kou takes Mitsuba’s hand gently—another small thing that maybe makes Mitsuba’s heart flutter—and sticks it under the tap.
“Ow! It hurts!” Mitsuba hisses. Kou’s grip on Mitsuba’s wrist tightens only a little when he says, “Just bear with it for a minute. I’m almost done.”
When Kou starts wrapping his injured hand, Mitsuba knows he’s in trouble.
He knows because he doesn’t ever remember Kou’s hand being this soft. He doesn’t remember his eyes having ever been that captivating to him before—and he certainly doesn’t remember Kou ever looking as cute as he does right now.
It’s probably just the chemicals getting to his head.
Even so, Mitsuba can’t take his eyes off of Kou, who’s wrapping his hand with such care. Kou ties a knot and takes Mitsuba’s other, uninjured hand. At this point, Mitsuba is starting to think he inhaled something dangerous because his face is heating up and he doesn’t think that’s a good sign.
“We’re going to the clinic.” Kou says, eliciting various ‘ooo’s and ‘ah’s from their onlooking classmates. If Mitsuba hears one or two comments on how romantic this was, he pretends not to.
——
The walk to the clinic is somewhat slow, but Mitsuba quickly finds that he doesn’t mind, because the slower they walk, the longer Kou holds his hand.
Not that he likes it, or anything.
“I could have gone by myself, you know…” Mitsuba points out, examining his wrapped hand. Kou had clearly taken care to wrap the scarf tight enough to stop the bleeding, but not so tight that it would hurt Mitsuba. The cut is fairly deep, but his pain has long since subsided; he’s not exactly sure why, though. “Or maybe you’re worried about me?~” Mitsuba teases. Kou doesn’t look at him, “No…” He denies Mitsuba’s claim all too soon—Mitsuba thinks he’s a liar, but he doesn’t call him out on it.
They arrive at the clinic, where Kou sits Mitsuba down on a bed and looks for the right things to properly clean and redress his wound. When he returns to Mitsuba’s side, he unwraps the scarf and tosses it to the side. Mitsuba turns away when he feels the sting of rubbing alcohol and his eyes land on the abandoned scarf.
A wrinkled black seal complimenting the blood stains oddly nice catches his eye and he no longer notices the pain.
Mitsuba quickly but reluctantly shoves the scarf in his pocket. He was in big trouble.
———
(三)
Mitsuba stands in the street, holding onto Kou’s arm. He looks shocked and, to be honest, so is Mitsuba. He had expected Teru—he had expected he wouldn’t still be standing here right now. Briefly, he considers asking Kou instead—but then beautiful blue eyes meet pink and Mitsuba knows he can’t go through with it.
“Mitsuba…? You…”
Kou grabs both Mitsuba’s shoulders and smiles brightly, “You’re okay!” Mitsuba wonders if Kou knows what he’s doing to his heart right now, or even if he cares.
“I was so worried about you!”
He has to know, right?
“Back when the severance happened, and you disappeared…” Kou pauses briefly, his hands tightening around Mitsuba’s shoulders, “But it turns out you’re alright! I’m so gla—”
“What do you mean? I’m not okay at all.”
Kou’s face falls slightly and Mitsuba knows he shouldn’t have said anything. He really didn’t mean to, it just kind of slipped out. “Oh, but…It’s fine now.” Mitsuba needs something— anything —a distraction of some sort…
…No.
An idea pops into his head—quite possibly the stupidest idea he’s ever had. An idea he can’t possibly let Kou catch wind of.
But Mitsuba wants it. He wants it so bad he can’t stop himself from asking.
“Minamoto-kun…Do you have any plans tonight?”
This was stupid. So, so stupid.
“…Huh?”
But what if he never got this chance again? It’s not like he was going to stay together much longer, anyway.
“Hang out with me for a bit…”
——
Eventually, Mitsuba finds himself at the aquarium—on a date with Kou.
It was probably just a slip of the tongue when Kou called it ‘a date to die for’, but for some reason, Mitsuba just couldn’t let it go. A date .
With Kou .
He likes the idea so much more than he reasonably should.
“Have you ever been to an aquarium before?” Mitsuba asks. “I don’t think so. My elementary school had a field trip to one once, but I got sick and had to stay home.” Kou replies.
“So this is your first time, too.”
“Guess so.”
They sit in silence for a moment, leaning on the railing around the moon jellies before Mitsuba has another idea. “How about a contest?” He suggests, “Whoever finds the biggest fish wins!” Kou looks back at him excitedly, “Yeah! Whoever loses gets punished!”
Ten minutes later, Mitsuba is fully convinced he’s found the King of the Aquarium.
He spreads his arms out to emphasize the size of the shark in the tank. “So? Are you impressed? I’m totally the winner!” Mitsuba declares. Kou chuckles softly and points his thumb over to a different tank. “Get a load of this guy!”
“Behold! The ultimate eared seal!” Kou exclaims proudly. Mitsuba is less than impressed, “That’s not a fish! You’re cheating!” He whines. Kou stands his ground, “Seals live in water, it’s the same thing!”
“Th—That’s way too broad!” Mitsuba refutes.
Their argument is swiftly interrupted by a large shadow and a looming presence over them.
They both turn around to be met face-to-face with the biggest manta ray either of them have ever seen. It’s… beautiful . The presence it emits feels larger than life itself—as if a divine being was staring them right in the face—the smaller fish around it paling in comparison.
“…That one’s the winner.”
“Yeah.”
——
They make their way towards one of the lower floors with smaller fish, walking around the tanks.
“Look! This one’s so cute! It kinda looks like me!” Mitsuba points to a small clownfish in one of the tanks. Kou points to a wide-eyed eel from the other side, “This one looks like you, too. Look at his face.” The eel stares right at Mitsuba, offending him deeply.
And then he spots the penguins.
Mitsuba has never seen anything cuter than these penguins—other than himself, of course, but these come alarmingly close. If only they weren’t behind the glass; Mitsuba really wanted to pet one.
Oh, right, why would glass stop him?
Mitsuba tries to jump through the glass, only to be stopped by Kou pulling him back by the waist. “Ah! You dumbass! Don’t try and catch them!”
——
After Mitsuba’s failed attempt at stealing a penguin, they move on to the rest area, where the gachapon machine catches Mitsuba’s eye. “What’s this? Looks fun!” He turns to Kou and reaches out a hand, “Minamoto-kun, money!”
Kou sighs, “You…seriously suck, dude…” Even though he complains, he gives Mitsuba a few coins anyway because they both know he’s a sucker for Mitsuba’s cute face; Although, Kou would probably deny the ‘cute’ part. “Sure, sure…I wonder what’s in here?”
Mitsuba opens the capsule and is greeted by a giant isopod. “…A…bug…? I didn’t even see this one on the machine? What even are you? Some kind of shrimp?”
“I think bugs are pretty cool.” Kou decides to try his luck, too. He puts a coin into the machine and turns the knob. A capsule falls out and when he opens it, he finds a penguin. “Oh.”
“Woah! Lucky, you got the rare one…” Mitsuba groans. First, he couldn’t get a real penguin and now he can’t even get a keychain ? This is just embarrassing.
“You liked the penguins, right?” Kou asks, crouching down next to Mitsuba. “Well, yeah, I guess…” Mitsuba says, fidgeting with the isopod in his hands.
“Then, here.”
Kou offers the penguin to Mitsuba, “You like this one better, right?” He places the penguin in Mitsuba’s hands and takes the isopod in return, “Let’s trade.”
Mitsuba looks down at the penguin. A fuzzy feeling rises in his chest and he knows it can’t mean anything good—but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care at all because he likes the feeling. He likes being here with Kou, and he doesn’t care if that means trouble for him because he enjoys this. Kou makes him happy .
“You’re being nice to me…? Gross…” Mitsuba giggles. “Give it back!” Kou complains, but makes no real move to take the penguin back. Mitsuba smiles softly at the penguin before turning back to Kou, smiling wider than ever.
“This is pretty fun!”
——
When Mitsuba gets back to the school that night, he finds that despite the anglerfish attacking, despite both of them falling apart—Mitsuba more literally than Kou—and despite having to eat another heart, he had fun on his date . He giggles a little stupidly at the memory of the aquarium, and a little more stupidly at the black seal that blends into the flipper of the penguin keychain.
A cute yorishiro for a cute boy like him. Mitsuba can work with this.
———
(四)
Mitsuba’s yorishiro likes to fuck with him.
There’s really no better way to put it.
Mitsuba is sure that this sadistic seal takes pleasure in his suffering somehow —because why else would the little black seal adorning the penguin keychain just last night be missing?
Mitsuba knows all too well this cannot be good.
And now, because it isn’t good, he has to ask Hanako for help.
Mitsuba’s yorishiro was definitely fucking with him—and it was enjoying it.
Mitsuba stands in front of the mirror leading to the abandoned bathroom and considers if there’s any other way out of this. Maybe it isn’t so bad. It’s totally fine that he doesn’t know what his yorishiro is or where it might be—not a problem at all.
He hates this.
Mitsuba steps through the mirror and lands with both feet on the floor.
“Ah, Number Three! To what do I owe the pleasure?” A voice calls out. Mitsuba turns in the direction of the windowsill, where Hanako is sitting playing cards with the Mokke, smiling. “Let’s take five, you guys.” He says, and the little pink creatures disperse.
“Are you alone?” Mitsuba asks, eyes wandering around the room to see if the coast is clear. “Ouch. Way to get to the point.” Hanako whines playfully. Mitsuba shoots him a desperate look and Hanako seems to get the message. “I’m alone. What do you need?”
“I…” Mitsuba’s voice dies in his throat, “…I seem to have…lost…my yorishiro…” Mitsuba sighs, staring at the floor. He fidgets with his too-long sleeve and he can feel his face flush with embarrassment.
“Oh, so that was yours?”
Mitsuba quickly looks back up at Hanako, “W-What?”
“I should’ve guessed.” Hanako shrugs, hopping off the windowsill. “I found it.”
“You did? B-But how? Not even I know what it is right now!” Mitsuba sputters. Hanako begins to walk towards the door, “Well, you’d be the only one, then.” He gestures for Mitsuba to follow him. “Come with me.”
Mitsuba catches up to Hanako fairly quickly and follows close behind him. “Where are we going?” Mitsuba asks. Hanako doesn’t offer an answer. “A-Aren’t you going to tell me what it is?” Mitsuba tries again. Hanako sighs, “I think it’s better if you see for yourself—you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Mitsuba decides it’s not worth it to ask again. Hanako was probably right—he wouldn’t believe him.
The walk is silent and long. There’s a thick tension in the air that Hanako’s knife could probably slice through quite easily and it makes Mitsuba uncomfortable. They enter the middle school division’s building and from there, every step Mitsuba takes is more hesitant than the last. “Hey…are you sure it’s a good idea to be this close to all these people? I-I’m pretty sure class is going on right now…” Mitsuba laughs nervously. “They can’t see us.” Hanako dismisses him.
Mitsuba really doesn’t have a good feeling about this.
Hanako finally stops in front of a classroom window. “Before I show you this, I need you to promise me you will stay calm.” Hanako glares at Mitsuba and he can tell Hanako isn’t screwing around. He’s serious and that means this is really bad.
“O-Okay…I’ll try…” Mitsuba takes a deep breath in and out to steady himself.
“Look.” Hanako presses a finger to the glass and Mitsuba isn’t sure he wants to know anymore—because in the back of his mind there’s a thought—a guess as to what might be in that classroom, and he really hopes he isn’t right.
But he knows that he probably is—because this isn’t the first time he’s looked into this exact classroom.
He hesitantly peers through the glass and his gaze all too quickly settles on the same mess of blonde hair he’s seen through this window many times. A sharp pain settles in his chest, “No…” Mitsuba whines quietly. “Look closer. Around the collar of his shirt.” Hanako says. Something in his voice almost sounds sympathetic, but Mitsuba doesn’t notice.
He does , however, notice the small, black sliver of a yorishiro seal peeking out of Kou’s shirt.
And suddenly, it all clicks.
As stupid and random as all of Mitsuba’s yorishiros seem, they’ve all had one common thread:
Kou Minamoto.
This one, however, just happened to have way more to do with him than the rest.
Mitsuba’s yorishiro was absolutely—without a doubt— fucking with him.
“Oh, my God! ” Mitsuba slides down against the wall, lowering himself onto the floor and putting his head in his hands. This couldn’t be happening. “I don’t need to tell you how stupid that was, right? Making your yorishiro a human? An exorcist ?” Hanako scolds. “It’s not my fault! Th-That thing moves on its own!” Mitsuba protests, “It likes to screw with me! It’s been doing that ever since I got it!”
“You’re crying, you know that?”
Mitsuba reaches up to touch his face and sure enough, it’s wet with tears. The realization only prompts fresh ones to fall and a choked sob to escape from Mitsuba’s throat. “What am I going to do? I-I can’t—” Another sob and any hope of getting another word out is lost. “This is just stupid! ” Mitsuba shouts. Hanako sighs loudly and mumbles something unintelligible before he knocks gently on the window.
A few seconds pass and the door opens. Mitsuba knows who must’ve come out of it and he thinks he’d rather see anyone else right now.
But really, that’s a lie. It’s the only person he wants to see right now.
Mitsuba turns to face the wall when he hears footsteps draw closer.
“Hanako? I’m in class right now, what could you possibly —” Kou’s frustration falls away when he catches a glimpse of Mitsuba in his current state; curled up in a ball, red-faced and teary-eyed. How pathetic , Mitsuba thinks.
“You deal with him.” Hanako says, pointing his thumb over at Mitsuba. Footsteps draw even closer and Mitsuba wishes he would disappear right now as he tries—and fails—to curl into an even tighter ball. Kou sits down next to him, “…Mitsuba?” Kou whispers, “W-What’s wrong?”
Mitsuba feels a gentle hand rest on his back and he can’t keep it together anymore. Fresh tears fall and ugly cries find their way out of Mitsuba’s throat. He tries his best to quiet himself, but then Kou wraps him up in the warmest hug he’s ever been in and that just makes things worse .
He doesn’t hate it, but it makes things worse.
“Hanako, what happened?” Kou turns back to Hanako with worried eyes, rubbing his thumb back and forth on Mitsuba’s arm to soothe him. Mitsuba finally lets himself lean into Kou, resting his head on his shoulder. Maybe he does it because he’s tired of crying, or maybe he does it because Kou is here and he feels safe . Despite kicking himself for it, Mitsuba lets himself be held because he doesn’t know if Kou will still be holding him when he finds out.
Mitsuba wouldn’t blame him.
“…Don’t freak out.” Is all Hanako says. He runs a few fingers over the smooth black seal stuck to Kou’s skin and the way the hug tightens slightly tells Mitsuba that he knows .
“ …Oh .” Kou says breathlessly. Mitsuba bites down on his sleeve, trying desperately to stifle the louder sobs attempting to make themselves known. All Mitsuba can think is that he knows . Kou knows and he hates him for it. He knows and he’ll never look at Mitsuba the same way again.
“…Mitsuba…” Kou says his name so softly. Mitsuba wishes he could hate him. He wishes Kou were easier to hate, then maybe they wouldn’t even be in this mess to begin with. But he doesn’t; he doesn’t hate him. Not even a little bit.
“…Do you—Do you hate me…?” Mitsuba whispers through quiet whimpers. Again, Kou squeezes him just a bit tighter.
A soft kiss is pressed to Mitsuba’s temple and all his worries instantly fall away.
“Of course not…” Kou whispers back, “…You’re important to me, too.”
Part of Mitsuba is relieved to hear that, and for a moment he lets himself enjoy it. Just for a moment, though, because there’s another part that still feels like he’s lying to Kou—he doesn’t want to admit it, because Kou is important to him, there’s no denying that—but Mitsuba knows there’s more to it.
“It’s not just that…” Mitsuba says shakily.
“…I’m going to leave you two alone, now.” Hanako decides he’s seen enough—this no longer concerns him and Mitsuba is grateful for that. So he disappears, leaving the two in a less-than-comfortable silence. If Mitsuba thought he was done crying, brand-new tears pricking the corners of his eyes told him he was dead wrong.
A hand rests on his tear-stained cheek, Mitsuba leaning into it. His eyes come up to meet Kou’s and he smiles softly.
All of a sudden, Kou’s lips are on his and all is right with the world.
It’s soft and warm and perfect —saying more than a thousand words could ever hope to—and Mitsuba is happy .
“I love you, too.” Kou says, as if him kissing Mitsuba like that didn’t say it already. Their foreheads rest together and Mitsuba thinks that maybe his yorishiro isn’t so evil after all. Maybe his yorishiro is kind, maybe it has a dorky smile, maybe it has messy blonde hair, maybe it has a lame-ass earring; and maybe it loves Mitsuba, too.
A yorishiro is what a school mystery cares about the most.
Mitsuba knows this to be true, and he wouldn’t trade his for the world.