Chapter 106

Mismatched (ちぐはぐ) is the one hundred and sixth chapter of Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun by AidaIro.

Summary
The chapter starts where Chapter 105 left off with Hanako, Akane Aoi and Teru Minamoto standing near the ruins of the Big Clock. Teru is presumably summing up something Hanako just told him off-screen by guessing that the incident inside of the school and the school's time stopping were coordinated by the same person. Akane adds onto this by taking the chance to roast Hanako, saying that he did nothing to help with the situation at the school and stood helplessly by as his little brother kissed Nene and kidnapped her. Both Teru and Akane insult Hanako as we finally get a look at the man in question, who is currently crying and wailing on the ground.

The color spread this time depicts Tsukasa, Sakura, and Natsuhiko within the Broadcasting Club room. Natsuhiko is sitting on a desk, wearing headphones and holding a smartphone in his hand as he lazily smiles at the camera. Sakura is sitting in a chair next to him, lowering her headphones with one hand as she gives the camera a somewhat puzzled look. Tsukasa is crouched close to the camera to the right of them, a wild grin on his face as he squeezes a pink, goopy supernatural creature in his left hand and holds a radio and pen in the other. The flavor text included within the magazine version reads: "A voice beckons from the darkness. But whatever you do, you mustn't respond."

Back to the actual story, Teru ties Hanako up with his special supernatural-binding beads and guesses that Nene was taken to the Clock Keepers' boundary. He states that, if she is, then they'll have to go there, too. Hanako, still crying and slightly drooling, feebly agrees. As Akane and Teru jump off the roof, dragging Hanako with them, Teru confusedly tells Akane that he thought that only Clock Keepers could enter No. 1's boundary. Akane affirms, saying that is "normally" the case. Teru asks him to elaborate, and Akane proceeds to explain that the entrance to their boundary usually only appears in a realm where time has stopped, essentially implying that, at least while the school's time is frozen, those who aren't Clock Keepers will be able to enter the boundary.

The chapter then cuts to Nene, who is first shown suspended in air against a dark backdrop. She notes to herself that she can't move her body, and tries to remember what just happened. Suddenly, she awakens, and we see her lying in a puddle of water on top of a large gear. Nene stares at her hands in confusion, before getting up, exclaiming in bewilderment that she can move as she shakes her right arm. A voice asks her if she's awake, and Nene turns around to see Tsukasa, who urges her to look where he's looking.



From atop a large gear, Tsukasa tells her that they're in the Clock Keepers' boundary. The boundary is a technological fantasy world filled with machinery and steampunk-like structures, somewhat reminiscent of the inside of a clock. As gears turn and steam rises around them, Tsukasa informs Nene that the flow of time works differently here, and that even though the time inside of the academy has been stopped, it still flows within this boundary. Tsukasa then turns to smile at Nene and tells her that they should go destroy the Clock Keepers' yorishiro now. Nene jumps in surprise, and inches nervously away from Tsukasa as he walks closer. Unwilling to do what he wants yet unsure of how to escape this situation, Nene just winds up leaning against the pillar behind her and feigns to have fallen asleep.

Tsukasa looks on confused, asking her if she died and smacking her cheek a few times. As he pulls on her cheek, Nene wears an expression of serene calm on her face while she tries to figure out what is going on. She tells herself she needs to decide what her next move is, as well as consider other important things like her rescue, what to do with the yorishiro, and how to contact the others. Despite telling herself not to get distracted by unimportant things, however, she immediately stops to wonder about the kiss that Tsukasa gave her earlier, visible beads of sweat forming on her face as she does. She wonders if Tsukasa likes her, but notes to herself that she's never gotten that impression from him before. Then her imagination starts to get wild, and she vividly imagines her complicated love life in a style reminiscent to a shoujo manga, complete with gratuitous sparkles and rose flower imagery. Tsukasa now looks much taller and older, and he speaks like some trashy rival love interest to Hanako, asking her if she belongs to his "big brother" and saying her lips are now his. Nene also imagines Hanako saving her, pointing his knife at his brother and saying he won't let him have her. Nene wonders if this is what Tsukasa meant by the kiss, but before she can get too swept up in her fantasy, she peeks an eye open to look at the real Tsukasa.

She finds that Tsukasa has caught some kind of wind-up mouse, which he then offers to Nene, asking her if she's hungry. Nene just smiles before closing her eyes and pretending to sleep again, looking somewhat disappointed as she concludes her guess was off the mark. She then gets back to contemplating her next move, this time without the romantic delusions.

She notes that Tsukasa seems to want her to destroy No. 1's yorishiro, and assumes that Tsukasa will have to protect her from all of the dangerous traps typical of a boundary until she does. Working off of this logic, she formulates a plan to pretend like she's going to help Tsukasa and get him to lead her all the way to the yorishiro. And this is where her plan will kick into gear: a Clock Keeper, upset that someone is trying to destroy their precious yorishiro, will come fight Tsukasa and Nene. When this happens, Nene plans to betray Tsukasa and get the Clock Keeper to destroy him for her. Throughout this, the Clock Keeper in question is undefined, represented by a mysterious figure in a hood with a label over their face that reads "Clock Keeper."

Confident in her plan, Nene opens her eyes with a smile, only to find that Tsukasa has since moved into her personal space and is now staring at her point-blank with a wide-eyed grin on his face. Nene flails her arms in surprise and tries to distance herself from him, only to hit her back against a wall. She briefly wonders if he was going to kiss her again before berating herself to stay focused. Feigning confidence, she points her finger at Tsukasa and tells him she will only destroy the yorishiro for him if he agrees to some terms and conditions beforehand. Despite putting on her A-game, before she can start listing out her terms, Tsukasa wonders why she doesn't want to destroy the Clock Keepers' yorishiro when she has already destroyed most of the previous yorishiro (No. 2's yorishiro, No. 5's yorishiro, and No. 4's yorishiro) and asks why it's only now become a problem for her. Nene tries to act cool about this, but refrains from comment as sweat pours down her face.

Contrary to expectations, however, he surprises Nene by telling her that she doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to, and begins walking away. Nene somewhat hopefully asks him if he's serious. Tsukasa confirms, but turns back to her with a sly smile before telling her that, if that is her choice, then she'll have to try and escape him, explaining to her that it's his job to get her to destroy the yorishiro.

Before Nene can even say anything, Tsukasa suggests to her that they play a game of tag. He quickly lays out the rules, telling her that he'll count down from 10 before beginning to chase her. He says that if Nene can escape the boundary, then she wins. As Tsukasa considers what he'll get when he wins, Nene tries to interject and tell him that she never agreed to this, but Tsukasa interrupts her by saying that, if he wins, then he'll take the arm Nene uses to destroy the yorishiro. Scared by the prospects of Tsukasa's game, Nene makes a dash for it the moment Tsukasa begins counting down. Sobbing as she runs away, Nene whines internally about how she never wanted to play tag and frantically wonders where the exit is. Eventually, Tsukasa finishes counting down to zero, and opens his eyes with a grin. He wonders aloud to himself where she went before beginning his search.

We cut back to Nene, who has locked herself in a room filled with grandfather clocks and has barred the door she entered from with one of them. She thinks to herself that she will stay in here until Tsukasa travels far away from her hiding place. Suddenly, she hears loud noises on the opposite side of the door. Nene is startled at first, but eventually hears the sound of footsteps fading into the distance, and wonders if Tsukasa has left. Unfortunately for her, Tsukasa pops out of a valve in the ceiling and spooks her, causing her to scream and flee. In contrast to Nene's terror, Tsukasa screams at her to wait with a joyful grin on his face. He's about to grab her when Nene suddenly ducks under a rod which then proceeds to slam into Tsukasa's face. Tsukasa is knocked backwards, and Nene takes the opportunity to run away. He isn't incapacitated for very long, however, and reacts with childlike amusement at Nene's trick before returning to his relentless pursuit of her.

Tsukasa eventually chases Nene to a place where flat weighing scales line up and down the walls. When Nene steps on one, it suddenly falls down really fast. She discovers it's an elevator, and her weight on the scale pushes Tsukasa, who is on the elevator next to it, upwards. Taking advantage of this good fortune, Nene travels all the way down in the hopes of escaping Tsukasa, but just when she thinks she's safe, we see that Tsukasa has copied her maneuver and taken advantage of the elevator himself. Screaming in terror, Nene runs away with tears streaming down her face as Tsukasa laughs. From a distance, we hear Nene begging him not to come any closer as Tsukasa vocalizes his confusion.

Some time later, we see Nene hunched over on the floor in a dark room while catching her breath. Peeking warily out of a window, she sees Tsukasa and notes to herself that he's been lying motionless on his back in that same spot for a while now. She wonders if he's bored of the game now, and hopes that he stays that way. Turning away from the window, she bemoans the fact that her plan isn't going how she expected: not only are there zero Clock Keepers around, but she fears she's getting farther from the exit instead of closer to it. Disheartened, she crosses her arms over the tops of her knees, sinks her head down, and wishes that she was with Hanako right now instead.



All of a sudden, Nene hears a loud "coo," and turns to discover a large mechanical owl perched on a rod behind her, several birdhouses depicted in the background behind it. The owl begins cuddling up to Nene, and she wonders if it belongs to the Clock Keepers before commenting on how friendly and cute it is. Then the owl bites Nene's hand, and she scolds it, telling it not to bite her. As it pulls away, it drags a tendril out from Nene's hand with it, and Nene looks on in horror as it gobbles up whatever came out of her. Once its swallowed it, a needle on the face of the instrument below its neck ticks slightly to the right, and Nene appears to turn into a middle school version of herself as she collapses to the floor.



As Nene wonders what happened to her, several other owls similar to the one that bit her, all of varying size, stare down at her from the birdhouses above. When she sees them, she shrieks, and the owls cascade upon her, pecking at her and stealing more of whatever is inside of her. As they feast, her body grows younger, her clothes changing with it. Helpless and desperate, Nene calls for help, and fortunately Tsukasa is there to answer her call. Leaping down onto an owl, Tsukasa grabs its head and wrenches it off. As he's jumping off of the owl he just defeated, another comes diving towards him, and Tsukasa penetrates its metal exterior with his fist before ripping out the wires inside of it, looking deathly calm as he does.

A short time later, we see that Tsukasa has finished beating up the owls. As he holds one of the thick wires that came from the owls in his hands, we see the wreckage of them all around him, all disassembled and missing their heads. He guesses that the owls were guards created by the Clock Keepers to protect their boundary, and notes to Nene that they seem to have gobbled some of her time. Tsukasa then takes notice of one of the birdhouses located near the ground and approaches it. As he opens it, he asks if Nene is in there, and is surprised to find an extremely young version of Nene inside, looking to be no older than 6. He remarks on how little she's gotten, and Nene is too upset to speak, her eyes welling with tears.

Despite Nene's best efforts to fight back her tears, the dam eventually bursts, and with it comes her loudest wail yet, loud enough to even shock Tsukasa. As Nene begins her temper tantrum, she asks in vain what she did to deserve this and complains that she doesn't want to be small before devolving into more wordless wailing. Tsukasa, covering his ears and clearly perturbed, asks her if she turned little on the inside, too. Eventually he gets up and raises Nene in the air, much to her displeasure, and she flails her limbs and bonks his head to little effect.

As Nene grasps a part of Tsukasa's kimono sleeve in her tiny fist, Tsukasa comments that this is fine and that he can just take her to the yorishiro like this, earning another wail of displeasure from Nene.

Characters in order of appearance

 * Minamoto Teru
 * Aoi Akane
 * Hanako-kun
 * Yashiro Nene
 * Yugi Tsukasa (Chapter Cover, appears in story)
 * Nanamine Sakura (Chapter Cover Only)
 * Hyuuga Natsuhiko (Chapter Cover Only)

Trivia

 * Within the chapter, the "Clock Keeper" in Nene's fantasy is represented by a faceless figure in a hood. This might be because she is imagining Kako, who she has never formally met due to being deceased when he makes his first appearance in the manga.