Volume 15

The 15th volume of the manga. It covers Chapters 71 to 75.

A special edition of this volume that comes with two keychains featuring Hanako, Nene, Kou, and Mitsuba is available.

Synopsis
Nene’s best friend Aoi has been trapped on the Far Shore—but to Hanako-kun, who has been worrying for ages over how to save Nene from her rapidly approaching death, this turn of events is exactly what he needs. Nene and Akane have no intention of letting Aoi be sacrificed instead, but when every supernatural in the school starts to disappear, they realize it might already be too late. Is it time to say goodbye to the paranormal inhabitants of Kamome Academy once and for all?!

Severance
Aoi Akane worryingly searches for Akane Aoi who had went back to the aquatic boundary in the previous chapter. Minamoto Teru explains that Aoi isn't here because she wasn't in a state she could have returned, stating that from the moment she stepped foot into that place, Aoi was no longer one of the living. Akane lashes out at Teru in a fit of rage, asking why he didn't say anything during their journey going back. Teru answers that even if he told him, it wouldn't have done any good, suggesting that it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the event no matter what he does. Akane then tries to go back, however he lost balance due to his severely injured state. Teru tries to stop him from going further, pinning his head on the ground in order to restrain him. He tells Akane that the passage used to return here was already closed, and that going back there is impossible. Meanwhile, a hostile supernatural had approached Teru and Akane. Teru whips out his sword attempting to exorcise the supernatural, but during the battle it started shattering into triangle-shaped pieces at different proportions. Teru who has witnessed this occurrence immediately drags Akane for medical treatment, also telling him that they'll go to meet the Clock Keepers.

Hanako is seen sitting by the window, and counting the supernaturals lurking below the school grounds. They then simultaneously shattered into many triangle-shaped pieces. Yashiro Nene who is looking for Hanako finally discovers him in the classroom, she enthusiastically requests Hanako to embark on finding No.6 and save Aoi. Given no response from Hanako, she asks him what's wrong. Hanako tells her that it's about time. Nene asks what he meant by "it's about time." Right after this, the school bell rings. This is unusual as it normally doesn't ring in the middle of the night. Nene dismayed by the bell, asks Hanako what's about to happen. Hanako turns to Nene, showing a shattering face, replies stating it's the Severance. Now that a girl has been offered up as a sacrifice, the human and supernatural worlds will be completely separated. He hugs Nene, telling her that supernaturals will disappear from the school, but it no longer has anything to do with Yashiro because she will soon forget all about supernaturals and happily live on. Hanako reaches for Nene's forehead with his hand, attempting to erase her memories. The attempt failed due to protection charms she got from Akane Sumire. Nene then demands Hanako to explain everything to him. Hanako sighs, telling Nene that her wish has been fulfilled. He recalls that she made a wish to Hanako back in Shijima-san's boundary to live longer in the real world. And Aoi took Nene's place in her stead. This puts Nene in denial, asking if it's a lie. With Hanako not responding, she tells him she didn't wish for any of this, despairingly she tells him that Aoi can't die in her stead. Hanako replies telling Nene that he likes her more than Aoi-chan, he says he's sorry but it's okay because he's going to disappear soon too. Urging Nene that she'll forget him someday. Nene attempted to slap Hanako, but she hesitated seeing his fragile state. She instead grabbed him telling him not to go. Hanako hugs Yashiro, telling her that he wanted to try living with her too, before breaking into pieces.

Day Off
The story continues on summer vacation. Yashiro Nene reflects on how her daily life had changed ever since the supernaturals were severed from the world, since most of her time was spent on interacting with supernaturals. Aoi Akane tiredly stares at the empty balcony across his window, presumably it belongs to Akane Aoi's household. Both of them receive an invitation from Minamoto Teru at their door asking them to hangout.

The three then went on to an amusement arcade. Teru gazes at the arcade games with excitement. When Nene asks him why he chose the arcade, he explains that as a member of an exorcist family, he works all day and all year to do his job. He says that this is the first time he ever took a day off, since all the supernaturals had completely disappeared. The mention of this triggered some memories of Hanako during the severance within Nene, she hesitatingly offers to explain to Akane about Hanako and the supernaturals. Akane declines this offer, saying that he already knows what happened and whatever Nene knew he probably already had a general idea of it.

Teru looms his stuffed toy over to the two, frightening Nene. He suggests that that the two should play too and says he surprisingly finds crane games fun. He then tosses a bunch of stuffed toys he gained from the crane games over to them, which irritated Akane.

They then went to a karaoke bar. Akane shows Teru a device where he could enter the songs. They discover a food menu within the device and Teru went on to order a Jasmine Tea for Nene, a Mango Float for himself, and a Vegetable Boba Crush for Akane. Teru also orders a super-mega-sized Sugar Honey Toast.

Nene reflects, telling herself that she finally got on an outing with Teru, and that when everything goes back to normal, she would tell it to Aoi and brag about it to Hanako. She thinks of what they would say. She smiles, and then crumbles. Teru notices this and excuses himself out of the room, telling Akane to look after Nene. Nene begins to cry. Akane asks her what's wrong. She apologizes for crying and confesses that she didn't know what to do about Aoi and Hanako. Akane tries to come up with words to say, but fails. He sits down and reveals to Nene that he made a promise to Aoi that they would do a lot of things in the future, such as going to the zoo and playing games together, so he won't cease any effort to bring them back. He asks Nene for her cooperation to extract some information from Teru, expressing that they share similar goals, and that Nene is someone he could trust. Nene asks if there is anything she could do. He replies with "Who knows?" and rhetorically asks that even she would be angry if things ended up just like this.

The delivery for the food arrived, and Akane ponders on what they are going to do with the massive sugar toast. Nene lifts the spoon and starts chomping on the food, while doing so she agrees to cooperate with Akane. Teru returns and comments on how he came back and sees that Nene became a hamster. Akane pins it on Teru for making an outrageous order. Teru asks if Nene is feeling any better, she nods. He then asks if she is free for the evening, she replies with "More or less." He suggests that the two has something they wished to talk to him about, he then invites the both of them to his place.

At the Minamoto House
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.

Loss
Minamoto Kou tells Yashiro Nene about a person he met during the Study Camp, who told him the secret to becoming a supernatural. Nene asks if he was referring to becoming one through means of dying; Kou says no, but seems hesitant to continue further and attempts to leave the room. Nene grabs his arm and asks Kou if anything is bothering him. Kou remembers his deceased friend, Mitsuba Sousuke, who turned into glass during the severance. Kou tries to say something as Aoi Akane storms into the room. Akane asks if he could have a word with the two and requests them to come downstairs. He announces that they have put together a general plan to solve their issue. Nene walks downstairs with unresolved questions and wonders what Kou did during the severance.

Akane and Minamoto Teru explain that each supernatural has a deep connection with their origin in this town. Even after the severance, it is possible to open a path to the boundary through those. Akane assigns Kou and Nene to look into the Hell of Mirrors due to their familiarity with its representative, Mitsuba Sousuke. The next day, Kou comes to the school with Nene to look for things that Mitsuba may have had a strong bond with. When Nene asks if Kou had any ideas, Kou reiterates that the current third mystery is not the Mitsuba they knew, referring to when Tsukasa made a completely new supernatural with a part of Mitsuba. Kou admits to sometimes being confused about who Mitsuba is and stresses the possibility that Mitsuba truly is gone. He then suggests that they should go to ask different people.

Nene and Kou askes on of Mitsuba's old classmates, Yokoo. He states that he doesn't know much about Mitsuba, and instead refers Nene and Kou to his second year teacher. They ask the teacher in the faculty room, but he refuses to give up info about Mitsuba due to student confidentiality. Instead, he refers them to the members of the Photography Club. The members of the club didn't know much about Mitsuba, but one drew Nene and Kou a map leading to Mitsuba's grave. The two then went to the cemetery to search for Mitsuba's gravestone. Nene catches the attention of a woman passing by carrying heavy items. The woman loses her balance as her foot bends the wrong way. Kou and Nene run to tend to the woman, who askes them. The woman reveals herself as Mitsuba's mother.

Mrs. Mitsuba brings Kou and Nene to her apartment. Within the residence lies old photos of Mitsuba and his family and a shrine. Nene and Kou pay their respect to the shrine. Mrs. Mitsuba serves Nene and Kou some snacks. She says that it is the first time Mitsuba's friends have every visited. She asks the two what Mitsuba was like in school and wonders if Nene was the girlfriend of Mitsuba. Nene says no, but describes Mitsuba as a cute underclassman who had a cheeky side to him, referring to when she was called Radish-senpai. Mrs. Mitsuba sympathizes with her, stating that Mitsuba also called her a Carrot Monster Hag.

Nene says that Kou was the one who Mitsuba talked to the most. Kou says that he only went with him to take photos. With the small mention of pictures, Mrs. Mitsuba smiles and shows them some of her favorite pictures, all taken by Mitsuba. She also explains how Mitsuba adopted photography from his father's hobby. Mrs. Mitsuba had sometimes left the camera lying around the house, and somehow, Mitsuba had learned to use it. Soon, Mitsuba was earning photography awards.

Mrs. Mitsuba describes that Mitsuba has a very particular taste in fashion and nagged a lot about it. Every time she asked Mitsuba to take a photograph of her, Mitsuba would say no, saying that she should wear make-up and go to a beauty salon. Mrs. Mitsuba notes that Mitsuba took a specific interest in nature.

On his mother's birthday, Mitsuba promised to make curry for dinner. When Mrs. Mitsuba came home, the curry was there, but Mitsuba was nowhere in sight. Mitsuba left a note on the table, saying that he would be right back. The only missing ingredient in Mitsuba's curry was the potatoes. Mitsuba had forgotten to buy them, so he had left to buy them. That was how Mitsuba got into the accident.

Kou recalls a promise he made to Mitsuba, to develop the photos they took together. Sadly, they were never able to do it. Mrs. Mitsuba asks Nene and Kou to look at the pictures Mitsuba took, which were in his room. In the room, Nene sees the winter uniform and felt as if time had stopped. They looked through some old photos. Nene notices that Mitsuba barely took pictures of people. The only photos with people were of his mother. A photo slips out from the book. Nene picks it up and wonders what it is of.

Encounter
Kou and Yashiro leave Mitsuba's house with a bag full of pictures. Yashiro talks to Kou about one of the pictures. That particular picture was apparently just a picture of blackness, but slowly changed to depict a scary looking house. The house was very old and in a western style. Kou and Yashiro start to talk about Mitsuba, but Teru interrupts them with a call and explains the house in the picture. Teru tells Kou and Yashiro that the house is called "The Red House". "The Red House" is a cursed house that kills anyone who enters it. Around 50 years ago, a family of four was murdered inside that house. Teru warns them not to enter the house, Yashiro and Kou listen to Teru but change their minds when they hear a little kid crying for help inside the house. After they enter the house they start to hear a conversation. Suddenly, they hear a noise through one of the doors. There seems to be the voice of a young child. The child starts to talk to Nene and Kou. He asks them if they still have all of their body parts. After Kou and Nene confirm that they do, indeed have all of their body parts, the child opens the door and asks "What should we play?" The child is a young boy who holds an uncanny likeliness to Hanako and Tsukasa when they were younger.

Features

 * This volume includes a preview of volume 16.