Chapter 73

At the Minamoto House (にて) is the seventy-third chapter of Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun by AidaIro.

Summary
Aoi Akane and Yashiro Nene follow Minamoto Teru to Teru's house. Minamoto Kou welcomes back his brother and friends, who are exhausted from their earlier endeavor. He prepares a meal and brings it to the table, where he sees that Nene and Akane are extremely exhausted. Akane recalls all the debilitating activities that Teru had forced upon them. Teru giggles and shows Kou the souvenirs he brought back home. Teru also asks about Minamoto Tiara, Teru and Kou's younger sister. Kou replies that it was past nine and that Tiara was already asleep. Kou puts the meal on the table; Miso soup with tofu, some meat and potatoes, rice cooked with salmon, and some boiled mustard greens with soy sauce. Akane, Nene, and Teru praise Kou's cooking skills, proclaiming that his food is delicious. Akane even wonders if Teru and Kou are really related, as their skill sets and personalities are very different.

After the meal, Akane cuts to the chase and immediately asks Teru whether he would cooperate with Nene and him. Teru tells Akane that his question is extremely vague. Akane restates his earlier question and tells Teru that he wants to save Akane Aoi, who was sacrificed. Nene tells Teru that she wants to save Hanako-kun as well. Akane tells Teru that to accomplish their goals, he first needs to learn more about the severance. Teru agrees and takes out paper and a marker. He illustrates the Near Shore, the Far Shore and the ocean (the boundary) that connects them. He explains that the sea between the near and far shore, the boundary, was never a connection that anyone could freely enter. The Seven Mysteries are said to control the seven main paths to the far shore, from which all supernaturals leave and enter from. However, now, the boundaries have been blocked by the severance. This means that humans cannot cross into the boundaries anymore and supernaturals are forever trapped in them, unable to cross into the near shore. This sort of blockade also forcibly removed all of the remaining supernaturals from the near shore.

Nene comes to realization that her supernatural friends didn't disappear and that they are only trapped in the boundaries. Teru also says that curses are evidence that the supernaturals didn't completely disappear. For example, Akane still has his watch with him, and Nene still turns into a fish when she gets wet. Akane confirms this, stating that even though he can no longer use his ability to stop time, the watch is still there. Akane expresses regret about not meeting with Mirai and Kako before the severance happened and Nene asks if Kako could turn back time to before the severance happened. Akane says that this is a possibility, but he doubts that Kako would do that for him. Teru says that no matter the solution, if there is no way of interfering with the other side, they wouldn't be able to do anything. Akane asks if there really is no way to cross over the boundary right now, recalling when Teru went to save him and Aoi. Teru says that, instead of going through a proper entrance, he found a small crack leading to the far shore. He only used his powers to pry that crack open and connect it to where Akane and Aoi were. The cracks were sealed during the severance.

Akane realizes that Teru was planning to save Aoi all along, because Teru gave Aoi a bell to ward away evil spirits. Teru was strong enough to protect Aoi and Akane on his own, but when Aoi became stranded, no one would be able to protect her, so the bell was used so that she could protect herself. Teru remains silent and lets Akane continue on. Akane figures out the Teru already has a way to get to the sealed off boundaries. And given that, Akane assumes that Teru is only trying to figure out whether he should let them know, and whether he should let them come with him. Teru smiles and asks Akane how exactly they would get to the boundaries. Akane thinks for a while, and concludes that a hint probably lies in Teru's usual behavior. Akane asks Nene if she has ever seen Teru do his exorcist job while they're at school. Nene says that for the most part while they are at school, Teru has seem just like a regular student. And with this, Akane points out that his usual place of work should be somewhere outside of school. As evidence, he asserts that, ever since Nene and he had been able to see supernaturals, they have never been attacked by any outside of school. He initially thought that it was just because the school itself was dangerous, but now he wonders if Teru had been keeping the town safe. Teru smirks. Akane says that if that's the case, then Teru would know very well about the supernaturals outside the school.Teru sighs and says that he will be giving his answer a passing mark. He reassures that he will take Akane with him. Akane pauses for a moment and then celebrates with Nene. Akane grins as he takes out some notes from his baggage, and asks if it's okay for him to ask Teru a few other questions. Teru agrees. When Akane starts asking more questions, Teru decides to leave and get some drinks, knowing that the rest of the questions will take a while.

Kou approaches Nene and asks her to come with him. They go to Kou's room where he confronts Nene to ask whether she likes Hanako. Nene becomes very flustered, flailing her arms around and acting embarrassed. Kou reminds Nene that Hanako is dead and that he even killed someone else. Kou brings up the time when he met Natsuhiko, revealing that he learned how to turn someone into a supernatural.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Minamoto Kou
 * Minamoto Teru
 * Aoi Akane
 * Yashiro Nene
 * Minamoto Tiara
 * Hanako (memory)
 * Yako (memory)
 * Akane Sumire (memory)
 * Mirai (memory)
 * Kako (memory)
 * Akane Aoi (memory)
 * Hyuuga Natsuhiko (memory)
 * Mitsuba Sousuke (memory)

Events

 * Akane confronts Teru about the Severance.
 * Teru assures that he will bring Akane with him to the boundary.
 * Teru mentions that while there are seven proper paths that lead to the boundary, alternatively there are also cracks to which one could pry open to travel to the boundary. The ones on the school has since disappeared, but he later talks about the existance of cracks outside the school aswell.
 * Kou confronts Hanako and asks what Nene would do after reversing the Severance. He brings up a discussion he had with Natsuhiko on how one can become a supernatural.