Hitomi: Hope you liked the first chapter so far! Man, it was sort of hard to think for ideas since writer’s block is still there to annoy the Hell out of me.

Anyway, shall we get to work?

Review responses:

Sone Anna: I’m glad you really liked it! XD Rai’s not really a bastard, though, unless it’s Keiya related. But I say that the reason why he’s like that now in the last chapter, rather than in the YnH: AR plotline, is because that he had character development. In other words, these side stories do take place in the future. And hey, I’ll continue writing until Chapter V, anyway!

Kebin: (evil grin) I knew you’d review this! And yes, Rai would die if the Ouran Host Club anime was like that.

Yami no Hikari: Halloween Chronicles

Fragment II

Of Germs and Ghost Hunts

(The OCD spaz and the indifferent beauty are back!

What could possibly go wrong with this?)

“Always remember this, Kohaku!” The sharp female voice called to a young boy not older than maybe seven or eight. They were both in what looked like an attic and both were cleaning it.

The woman looked to be in her mid to late twenties, maybe even going on to the early thirties, wearing what looked like white and pink priestess robes. Blonde hair that was always short during her younger days was now up to waist length. Emerald green eyes looked serious, her body language being hands on both hips as she watched her son go to every nook and cranny there was in the room to make them spotless.

“If you don’t clean up every other day, you’ll get sick from the germs! The world is a germy place, but we’ve learned to cope up with it. So, I suggest you do the same. I don’t want you to get sick. Now, work! Work, I say!” She barked in a commanding voice, currently dusting off wooden furniture and using Pledge on them.

“Y-Yes, M-Mother!” The young Kohaku stuttered, coughing from the dust as he worked diligently. Kohaku didn’t like cleaning to begin with, really, but his mother had always scared him with microbes. And so, this was the beginning of how he came to have a cleaning OCD.

“Again with the cleaning, Louise… Really, don’t you think you’re going a little overboard?” An older male made note in a joking tone, a light sigh following along after. The female turned around and saw who came in the room.

The young man was about the same age as the woman, a bit older than her. He was wearing an orange robe top, blue pants, and a red cape. Neck length violent hair was currently tied back into a small ponytail. Blue eyes held a gentle look, though they had engrossment in them as he watched the woman and the boy clean.

“Well, sorry if my cleaning tendencies annoy you, Erick.” Louise Cornwall shot back with a mock annoyed voice. “You can also blame your mother for that.”

“Haha, Mother always did like cleaning up, though.” Erick Thomas laughed, remembering on how his own mother would have him clean up when he was not so busy with school work. “Though it is nice to clean… Just don’t go excessive with it, okay?”

“Ah, what are you worried about, anyway? Don’t worry about it! The only times I’ll ever go overboard with this cleanliness policy is that you have to brush your teeth and take a bath every day. Other than that, there’s nothing else for me to make a big deal out of.”

“I don’t know… You were able to scare Kohaku into cleaning since he would refuse to clean up his room until it was a last minute thing… And he wouldn’t really help around the house…”

“I’m aware, which is why I had to make the boy learn. I could never have that boy clean on his own, not even if the Apocalypse were to show up!”

“But I really don’t like to clean!” Kohaku yelled this from the other side of the attic.

“What did I tell you?! This is what you get for refusing to make the house sanitary on your own! You should, at least, clean up your room in order to help us!” Louise snarled, pointing a finger at him. “Either you go clean up or I’ll lock you in the closet for, at least, ten minutes as punishment!”

“Ewww, I don’t want that! There’s too much bacteria in there! All right, you win, then!”

And Erick could only laugh a little at this, knowing he would face the wrath of his wife or his son if he were to pick sides; so, he stayed out of it.

- - -

“Dammit, what a memory…” The present Kohaku Wakahisa griped, rubbing his temples as he walked through the cemetery. Being the splitting image of his father, but having his mother’s green eyes, he was wearing a remake of his grandfather’s outfit (sewn by Hotaru herself), which was mage robes.

“Remembering your parents, are you?” A familiar voice fell upon his ears, the owner walking beside him through the graveyard. Though she is a girl with jade green eyes and dark steel blue hair that fell only up to a little below her ears, Hotaru Shizuka was now crossplaying as Hakkai from Saiyuki. And being Hakkai fit her perfectly, really; from the personality to the monocle she legitimately wore over her left eye because of being blind there (though, since Hakkai also wears glasses—aside from having a monocle over his right, blind eye—and she couldn’t afford to switch the monocle to the right eye , she switched to wearing glasses).

“Yeah, Hotaru. I’m just remembering the fact that it’s my mother’s fault I don’t like germs. For a long time now, around the night before Halloween, I tend to get nightmares about them. Ugh…”

“Well,” She was trying to reassure him, smiling that smile that nobody knows whether she’s serious or not. “You know how it is with fears… Eventually, you’re going to confront and conquer them.”

“Bah! Whoever made that notion really needs to put a sock in it.” He scoffed, not really watching where he’s going, unaware that something bad was going to happen. “There are people who can be scared as much as they want to be and not overcome that terror at all. We’re only human, after all.”

“That would be true, but I believe that, in order to change yourself, you’re going to have to do that.”

“Right, that’s what they all say… And I intended to ask this before, so I’ll just say it now… Why the Hell are we walking through a necropolis, anyway?”

“Oh, about that… I just thought that we could go have a little ghost hunt. Since Halloween is official today, we might as well scare ourselves a little.” And there she went with that innocent smile on her face as she reported this.

“Oh no, we won’t!” Kohaku turned insipid, feeling a tight knot in his stomach. “I’m not going, just because it’s Halloween! I’m going back home!”

“Then, would you like me tell you ghost s stories? This way, your fears can be put at ease a little, so you won’t be so scared of the ghost hunt.” Hotaru suggested, smiling as she did so.

“…No way.” This didn’t help him at all. “The last thing I need to is to get freaked out by you, Hotaru. Well, it’s already too late since your smile is raising my freak out level to 90%.”

“Ah, all right. Suit yourself, then.” Walking on ahead of him, she looked around the graveyard, humming as she did.

Growling a little, he had kept on walking straight, following her. Of course, he wasn’t watching where he was going. At that moment, when he took his last step onto a tomb accidentally, a hole erupted from below.

“Agh!!!” This was what Kohaku last uttered as he descended down the hole against his will.

Hotaru stopped a moment, having heard the racket behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Kohaku had disappeared without a trace.

“Huh, I wonder where Kohaku went.” She was confused, scratching the back of her head. “Maybe he went to another part of the cemetery alone; so, he can test his bravery against the ghosts. Well, I’m glad that he’s decided to join my hunt for the paranormal.”

Oh, she had no idea at all.

- - -

“Owww… Damn.” Kohaku groaned, wincing in pain as he sat up in his new location. “Where… Am I?”

Oh right, I fell in a hole; a hole where someone was buried, no less. Ewwww, this is really bad. I need to find a way out of here…

Huh? Looking around, he realized that, despite it being someone’s resting place, there was no coffin in it.

The coffin’s missing… Why is that? And judging from how far I had landed, this was most likely the farthest they have buried it. Maybe… Maybe, somehow, the one resting in the coffin managed to get out?

Nah! That’s just Hotaru trying to scare you! He supported himself with this thought, trying not to feel so horrified by all of this. With all of the paranormal I’ve seen throughout my lifetime, all I know is that there’re no such things as ghosts! Yeah, there’s no such thing!

Getting up and dusting his clothes off furiously (the OCD was starting to kick in), he surveyed his surroundings. From what he can observe, the place was dim because, oddly enough, there were two torches on each of the wall. Straight ahead of him was another hole; this time, it looked more like a tunnel if anything else.

What the…? Where does this passageway lead to? Well, it couldn’t hurt to check, now, could it? Curiosity getting the better of him, he cautiously walked down the burrow as if he was afraid to wake up the dead on this day (never mind the fact that he had said countless times that he doesn’t believe in ghosts).

After walking down the channel on what seemed like a long time, Kohaku finally stumbled upon a door nearby at the end.

And where would this lead to? If this is what I think it is… Oooh, this is a rather tough call. What to do, to call it a day and find a way out to the surface or to go in there to satisfy my assumptions… Which will it be? If I go back now, I will brand myself as a coward for life.

That’s it, you idiot, you’ve got to stop being chicken and just go in there!

Taking out a handkerchief from one of his pants’ pockets, he kept it in his left hand and used it to open the doorknob of the door. Slowly, he opened it; the door’s creaking making him a little anxious again (“Oh, for the love of God,” he grumbled to himself. “There are no such things as ghosts! Get that through your head!”).

Poking his head into the room, his mouth almost dropped open.

The room was very spacious for such a small burial underground. The light sources in the room were torches all over the walls as well as there were some lanterns onto some tables (there was a globe on one of them). Inside the room were a lot of bookshelves that had a lot of books inside of them. On top of the ceiling was a world map. The room’s condition looked a little old; but, nonetheless, it seemed to be decent in terms of cleanliness.

“So, I was right… I’ve heard of the legends, but I thought it didn’t exist!” Kohaku was awed, feeling some sort of glee inside. “Long ago, Kyuusai Academy had an underground library to keep the rare books safe. But I also heard that, for unknown reasons, the library had to be sealed up. They said, back in the academy, that the underground library can be found; but it’s only if you look around carefully for its passage in the academy grounds. However, nobody was able to find it except… Well, me.

“Anyway… Geez! This place needs to be clean! And goodness, the books aren’t in alphabetical order! I must tidy this up, I must!”

Mumbling an incantation, Kohaku summoned miscellaneous cleaning items and warped them to many directions; so, that they would be able to do their jobs. Since they were operated by magic, there was no need for him to go place to tidy the library up. His only task was to alphabetize the books; although, he’s made more work for himself by organizing the furniture as well.

“This may take forever, but might as well fix everything around here before they rot over time. And ewww, I don’t want that to happen! …And what the Hell is all of this?!” After counting the books from each bookshelf and the furnishings, the poor boy realized that they were in prime numbers. “Are you serious?! They’re in odd numbers?! There’s no way I can cope up with this because, in the end, I’ll be dissatisfied with making this room neat!”

Grumbling, Kohaku began organizing in disgust, trying not to loose his mind while trying to put the furniture and books together in an orderly way.

Must not loose my sanity just because the items in this room are in odd numbers… And if I do, I may end up setting the room on fire. And I don’t want that… Of course not!

As if eternity passed, he was done arranging and categorizing. However, a book caught his eye.

“Hm? What’s this?” Taking it out, he flipped it open.

“’Read at your own risk… Depending on how strong your feelings are, there is a chance that your biggest fear(s) will come true.’ Oh, really now?” He snorted at the warning, having read a few excerpts before closing the book. “That’s just a bunch of—”

When he was about to complete his sentence, it sounded like something teleported right behind him. Hearing it, Kohaku slowly turned around to take a peek.

And he felt like he was going to be sick. Behind him were many germs of all kinds and varieties, giant dust bunnies (not those dust blobs you’ve been seeing around the house; yes, they’re actually shaped like rabbits), odd numbers, disorder in general and, you guessed it, ghosts.

“…Bullocks?” He finished this is a squeaky voice, instantly dropping the book as he saw this.

“SHIT!” Running around the library, he needed to find a way out. If he didn’t, they would be all out to get him.

“There’s got to be a way out… There’s got to be… There!” Looking besides the first bookshelf was an opening. When running towards it, though, he ended up smacking his face and, somehow, falling to the floor on his butt.

“What the?! Are you telling me there’s a barrier here?! SHIT!” He looked behind him hastily and saw that the abominations were coming towards him. “Man! Why does this ALWAYS happen to me?!”

“I told you to go confront your fears, didn’t I?”

“Who—” Unable to question, Kohaku felt himself being pulled forcefully and, before he can register what was going on, he had succeeded going through the barricade.

“EH!?” He turned his head around, seeing a familiar, smiling face. “Hotaru?! How did you—”

“Oh my, you really did get yourself in a pickle this time. Hurry, there’s no time!” Both of them ran up the staircase as the living (and non-living) things were chasing after them.

Pretty soon, they found themselves in Kyuusai Academy’s bomb shelter, which was at the bottom of the gym.

“So, it was here all along? Damn, I should’ve gone to the bomb shelter ages ago, then…” Kohaku cursed, reprimanding himself on how he had not searched down there for the underground library.

“Ahaha, of course.” Hotaru was amused to see him like this. “When you want to look for something, you must have the drive to search from top to bottom, even if it kills you.”

“…Yeah. Of course, you’re right.”

“But I think we still have to do something about those.” She said with a smile, pointing to the paranormal.

“AHHHHH! I don’t want to die! They’re going to kill me!” Without even reconsidering to deal with this, he had turned around and fled up. The mob of disorder and ghosts continued to pursue their hunt for the boy, passing by Hotaru with ease.

“Well, these are his fears, not mine. But… I wonder if he’s ever going to meet them head-on.” Shaking her head, she went after them.

- - -

Outside on the academy grounds, Kohaku had been chased all around. At last, the crowd of his nightmares cornered him into the academy garden.

“Dammit.” He hissed, in an offensive position as they approached closer and closer. “What am I going to do now? I’m trapped. Right now, my only outcome is death if I don’t do something. What to do, what to do… C’mon, Kohaku. Get a grip. You’re considered a genius, after all, and what do you have to show for it? Think! Think quickly already!”

Looking around frantically, he finally laid eyes on the flower beds.

Oh no… You’re not thinking of… That, are you? You can’t! You just can’t! This is against of what you’ve been taught! But… It’s the only way.

Taking a deep breath, and shaking as he walked, he went over to the flower beds. Without thinking of consequences, he took a huge amount of soil and dumped it on himself from head to foot. And he made sure that he was dirty EVERYWHERE.

Turning around to face his fears, he ran over to them, summoning cleaning supplies with his magic.

“TAKE THIS!” He yelled as he managed to pass by the germs easily without being infected; spraying disinfect, throwing around hand sanitizer, and aiming soap bubbles at them. Immediately, the germs have died.

“AND THIS!” Without a struggle, he had gotten ride of the dust bunnies by using a giant Swiffer duster and Pledge spray.

“THERE’S MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM!” Kohaku snarled as he exorcised the ghosts with holy water and light magic, their screams ear shrieking as they had gone off to the afterlife.

Now, all that was left were illusions of disorganization and odd numbers.

Closing his eyes, he sighed and whispered, “I’ve already accept the fact that there is carelessness in every day life. But if you work really hard on fixing it, you’ll get beneficial results from it. As for odd numbers, nothing I can do about that. It’s part of the numerical system. And, come to think of it, without odd numbers, what would the world be without them? I don’t think the world would be this way now if it weren’t for odd numbers.”

Opening his eyes, he saw that the delusions had gone.

“There… That’s much better.” He sighed, for once, in satisfaction, feeling accomplished of doing something he should’ve done a long time ago.

- - -

“Back already?” Hotaru asked as she heard the door open and seeing Kohaku enter. “And… My, my, you’re rather filthy today.”She was grinning a little at this.

“Yeah and, for once, it feels great!” Kohaku smiled brightly, feeling so liberated. “You were right… I should’ve brazen out my fears. But… Though it’ll be hard for me to change little by little, especially when the OCD is still there, I… I think I can take it down a notch now, right?”

“Of course, Kohaku…” She responded softly, a relieved smile on her face. “But um…”

“Yes?” He asked cheerfully.

“Um… This may be a bad time to bring this up, but…”

“What is it?”

“I want you to take a deep breath and listen calmly.”

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s something I’ve to say… About the things you’ve faced.”

“Eh?”

“Though, it’s true that opening that book you found would summon your fears… The germs and dust bunnies were just figments of your imagination. Though seeing disorganization was from the back of your mind… And the paranormal was real… And the odd numbers were obviously there as well… Erm… The germs and dust bunnies were illusions. They wouldn’t have harmed you. I know this because Hitomi and Azami were using a projector for it. They were able to hide well because they were using Naoki-kun’s cloak.”

There was absolute silence. And Kohaku’s smile was frozen when he had heard this. And Hotaru waited for his reaction when his mind would finally register this piece of information.

“WHAT?!” Kohaku spat, ready to go outside and go after those two.

But instead of doing that and going into rage, his frozen smile gradually turned into a snarling mouth. And just when he was about to curse up a storm, he suddenly went quiet. Slowly, as time passed, he took a deep breath and sighed loudly.

“…I’m going to go take a shower now.” He finally said in resignation; a vacant, frozen look on his face as he passed by Hotaru, got a towel, went inside the bathroom, and closed the door.

“Well… He took that better than expected.” Hotaru mused, grinning again as she flipped open the novel she was reading earlier. “At least, he can accept this now.”

However, then again, she spoke too soon. As soon as she heard the water in the bathroom running, she also heard her male counterpart yelling at the top of his lungs.

“WHY?! DAMMIT, WHY?! DAMMIT, THEY’RE GOING TO HELL FOR THIS AND I’LL MAKE SURE OF IT!”

Hitomi: XDDDDD Poor, poor Kohaku. (cracks up) Sucks to be you, but I still love you.

For those who are unfamiliar with Erick and Louise… They’re Kohaku’s parents. However, before they were given those roles, they were (and still are) my Fire Emblem 7 muses. Erick is the son of Erk and, my friend, Kate (known as Keito in YnH: AR; in the Fire Emblem/MT (Merlinus Tent) world/forums, she’s Marchioness Kate of Kathelet) while Louise is the daughter of Lucius and Priscilla.

Kohaku definitely received Erk’s snarkiness, as far as I can see. Like grandfather, like grandson. (SHOT)

I hope you liked this, though! Really! Took me a while to think of a concept like this, but I’m very, very pleased of the results. (innocent grin) Especially pleased of the ending of all of this.

Now then, Chapter III… Azami x Naoki or Hideki x Aiko… And what ideas for these two couples before Keiya x Hitomi…

We’ll see! (wave)