Hey, have you heard?
This school has seven wonders.
You haven't?
"Four" "Five" "Six" "Seven" "One" "Two" "Three" You haven't?
"Four" "Five" "Six" "Seven" "One" "Two" "Three" Then I'll tell you about one of them.
The most famous story...
"Seven" The most famous story...
"Seven"
...is the seventh of the Seven Wonders:
Hanako-san of the Bathroom.
In the third stall in the girls' bathroom on the third floor of the old building...
"Girls' Bathroom"
...lives Hanako-san, who grants a wish to anyone who summons her.
But in exchange,
she takes something precious from them.
To call her, knock three times.
And then...
Hanako-san, Hanako-san,
are you there?
Here I am.
Oh, it was just my imagination.
Over here.
No!
A boy's voice?
Are you okay?
A see-through body, an old uniform, ghostly orbs...
Y-You're a...
I'm an apparition.
The seventh of the Seven Wonders of the School,
"Hanako-san of the Bathroom."
Nice to meet you.
"Toilet-bound Hanako-kun"
"Apparition 1: Hanako-san of the Bathroom"
"Girls' Bathroom"
Y-You're Hanako-san?
You got it.
You're lying!
Where's your bob cut? And your red skirt?
That's stuff's out of fashion these days.
Fashion?!
You can call me Hanako-kun.
And you're a boy, too.
I am a boy, but the rest of the rumors you heard are true.
I grant a wish for whoever summons me and take one thing as payment.
You've got one, right?
Tell me your wish.
Are you really...
...not just some perverted ghost?
I'm done. Bye.
Wait! I take it back!
A boy Hanako-san is cool!
Cool...
All right, tell me your name and your wish!
He's simpler than I expected...
I'm Yashiro Nene, high school, first year, class A!
"YASHIRO: LOVE" I'm Yashiro Nene, high school, first year, class A!
"YASHIRO: LOVE" I want the person I like to return my feelings right away!
"YASHIRO: LOVE" Yashiro, huh? And you want success in love...
"YASHIRO: LOVE" Who with?
Minamoto-senpai, in second year!
He's amazing! Cool, smart, and nice to everyone.
One time I dropped my pencil case and he picked it up for me.
I see.
"Stare" I see.
Got it. I'll grant your wish.
Yes!
How do you grant wishes, Hanako-san?
"Success" How do you grant wishes, Hanako-san?
"Success" Do you use special items or something?
Yup. I've got a great one right here.
You do?!
"100 Methods of Love: This is Love"
Here.
"A how-to book"
--No. --Now, now.
If you borrow my power, you need to pay a fitting price.
If you want power beyond human comprehension, the price will be that much steeper.
So, this is safer.
But... what if I said I still wanted more?
That would be...
...impossible, since I haven't got the tools for it.
What?!
But this will work out, right?
"High hopes" But this will work out, right?
"High hopes" Hanako-san is a ghost who grants wishes.
"High hopes" He must have granted love wishes lots of times before!
"High hopes" Method 78: Make the most of your special skills.
Do you have any special skills, Yashiro?
A field!
It's our school's practice garden!
I'm in the gardening club.
"TA-DA!"
My special skill is gardening!
"Dirt..." What's that look for?!
"Dirt..." I grow flowers, too! I'm plenty feminine!
I started gardening
because a boy I used to have a crush on said that he liked "feminine" girls.
I also started cooking and sewing.
I was going to tell him I liked him once I was good at all of them.
When did you start liking him?
Since right after I started junior high.
I confessed my feelings to him a month ago.
It took me three years.
But...
Huh?
You like me?
Who're you?
"SHOCK"
That's creepy.
Plus, you're not my type.
I'm not into fat daikon legs.
Daikon legs... Daikon... Daikon...
But that was a month ago! I'm totally over it now!
No, you're not.
I am!
I'm totally obsessed with Minamoto-senpai now!
I'll get a wonderful person like him to return my love and prove I'm too good for that guy!
Oh?
So, anyone would do?
Of...
Of course not!
Don't be silly, Hanako-san!
You say that, but I bet you don't know much about Minamoto-senpai.
Of course I do.
Okay then, what's his first name?
Oh, a bug. I should feed it to the carp.
Yashiro...
Here.
A message card?
"Love" Yup. Give your senpai this along with something you grew.
"Love" I call it Operation: Present!
"Love" How literal.
But I've tried before and--
You won't know if it'll turn out the same until you try.
Come on, make the most of what you've got.
You've put in all this hard work.
Hanako-san...
All right! I'll give it a shot!
Yeah!
Still, I feel like confessing my feelings would be too sudden...
You dropped your pencil case.
I'll write him a thank you for picking up my pencil case the other day.
He's dazzling!
By the way, Yashiro, what do you grow here?
Those.
Let me see.
Well... I guess it's fine.
Good morning. What's up?
Minamoto, look!
There are summer vegetables on your desk!
"Thank you for the other day." There are summer vegetables on your desk!
"Thank you for the other day."
Did you save a fox or something?
No.
Huh?
It's turned into a weird mystery.
"Mermaid"
I thought Operation: Summer Vegetables was a good idea. It had the element of surprise.
It was not! It was a failure the minute they thought it was a fox returning a favor!
A daikon returning a favor.
Thank you.
That girl's been talking to herself for a while.
Maybe the heat's gotten to her?
I've had enough. I'm going to quit gardening.
Now, now, don't be hasty.
You've got other talents, so let's switch to those.
Let's go!
Enthusiasm is all well and good, but...
"Operation: Button of Love"
I found an opening and grabbed one!
Sew it back on and boost his affection!
Got it!
M-Minamoto-senp--
Minamoto-kun, you're missing a button!
Oh, you're right.
Use one of mine!
--No, mine! --No, one of mine!
I'm the one who's going to be Minamoto-kun's button!
Failure.
"Operation: Boxed Lunch"
Make him a boxed lunch with your summer vegetables!
A normal lunch would be boring, so make them look like cute characters.
Got it.
"Chop, chop"
"Sizzle"
Oh, is that from a girl? You lucky devil!
Who could have...?
I think someone forgot this. I'll bring it to the lost and found.
I overdid it! Another failure.
"Operation: Corner of Love"
Hold a piece of toast in your mouth and bump into him as he turns a corner.
Run out when I give the signal.
"Now!"
Is what I'll say to-- Huh?
Kou?! Kou!
Hey, someone just went flying!
He fell down those stairs! Is he okay?
Huh? Who did I run into?
Ambulance! Call an ambulance!
I'm so sorry!
"Girls' Bathroom"
Jeez.
None of this is working.
And that last one had nothing to do with my talents.
This is no laughing matter!
Besides, this is all too roundabout.
Hmm... In that case,
why not just tell him?
I can't!
Come on. I'm a beginner at this.
It's the only thing left I can think to try.
A beginner?!
Well, not many people can or do summon me.
No wonder I thought something was off!
Your plans were way too normal and wholesome for a ghost!
That's me, wholesome Hanako-san.
"Grrrrr"
I-I have unwholesome items, too!
"Grrrrr" Like, let me see...
Found it!
Here.
What's this?
A kokeshi doll.
And?
It's a little bit sexy.
And I was so sure I was going to get my wish...
Why did the window have to be open?
"Seal"
Did Hanako-san drop this?
Hanako-san, what are these?
Oh, those are matchmaking...
Matchmaking?
Wait! Yashiro!
Don't touch that!
Give it back!
Explain! Explain or I'll swallow it!
O-Okay, okay!
Those are mermaid scales.
Those who swallow those scales
will be cursed, but also united by a strong--
"Gulp" will be cursed, but also united by a strong--
"Gulp" Yashiro!
"Panic, panic" Yashiro!
"Panic, panic" I said not to swallow it.
"Panic, panic" You'll be cursed.
"Panic, panic" I don't mind!
What?
If it means Minamoto-senpai will return my feelings, I don't mind being cursed!
You did have the right items after all!
Hanako-san, you...
You liar!
I finally found him.
But...
...don't tell me...
"Slender legs" ...don't tell me...
"Slender legs" U-Umm... Minamoto-kun!
"Blushing" U-Umm... Minamoto-kun!
I...
I've liked you ever since first year!
I see.
No! Don't!
No! Say no, Senpai!
I was so close!
I'm sorry.
There's someone that I like.
I've liked her for a long time, and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else.
So... I'm sorry.
Senpai has someone he likes.
But as long as I have this, that doesn't matter.
So, anyone would do?
That's not...
Huh?
What's going on?
No!
Why? Why is this happening to me?
I worked so hard, but...
No, that's not true.
I barely even talked to him.
I didn't even try to tell him my name.
You've put in all this hard work.
But what was I working toward?
I put in misguided effort and convinced myself it would pay off.
I even resorted to this thing. I'm so selfish.
It serves me right.
All of it.
Found you.
Is this... water?
A little longer and you would have dried out.
Hanako-san?
I've got everything ready for you, Yashiro.
What's this?
What happened to me?
Ta-da!
Huh?
What?!
Why am I a fish?!
She loves it.
I do not!
Didn't I tell you? It comes with a price.
You're under the Mermaid's Curse.
Fish are the mermaid's servants.
If you'd gotten someone else to eat a scale,
the curse would be split between you and you wouldn't turn into a fish completely.
You would turn kind of fishlike, though.
"Ugh..."
Mermaid scales just curse whoever swallows them.
They're only called matchmaking charms
because people under the same curse share a special bond.
You didn't use it, did you? Why not?
I realized I don't love Senpai at all.
I was just using him.
Like you said, Hanako-san, anyone would do as long as they returned my feelings.
I guess that was my real wish.
I'm the worst.
What have we here?
Wh-What?!
Humans are truly foolish creatures.
But rejoice, girl.
From now on, you will serve me.
I will show you the utmost kindness.
There you are,
mermaid.
A fish with a face!
This is the mermaid.
She's here to collect you, her new servant.
But that's a problem.
You're obstructing my business.
You're in my way, boy.
Hanako-san!
Pathetic!
My life spans millennia. A mere School Wonder could never hope to best me.
Now, come with me.
--Wait a second. --Hmm?
I haven't granted one of that girl's wishes yet.
If you're going to take her, could you wait until I have?
Silence! Do not presume to command me.
Oh, I see.
In that case...
...I'll use force, too.
What impudence!
What?!
How can an apparition a paltry few decades old be so...?
Curse you, School Wonder!
Nice catch!
I managed to send her packing for now,
but she seems persistent, so she'll probably be back.
Well, I guess buying some time is good enough.
N-No way!
What should I do, Hanako-san?
Is that fish going to take me away?
I wish I'd never made that wish.
Crying won't save you.
This is what happens when you get mixed up with apparitions.
Didn't I tell you not to use it?
I went out of my way to warn you, didn't I,
you big dummy?
But you didn't use this on your senpai.
That means I can still grant you a wish.
Do you want to be human again?
If that's your wish, I'll grant it.
For a price, of course.
Wh-What kind of price?
Who knows? But I'll let you lead the bare minimum of a normal life.
How about it?
I-I'll turn back! I want to turn back!
Please, Hanako-san, make me human again!
You said it.
In that case,
I'll have you pay me
with your body.
With my... Huh?
Huh?
Across the border between this life and the next, we have been linked.
I'll minimize the curse's effect on you.
In exchange, I'll take...
...your labor.
What?
Man, what a relief. I was just thinking I wanted a human assistant.
Did you think I meant something dirty?
Yashiro, you naughty daikon!
Huh? I can touch you, Hanako-san?
I just told you, we share a bond.
Go easy on me.
I did grant you two wishes, after all.
Two?
You wanted someone, anyone, to return your feelings, right?
And as far as you're concerned, sharing a bond with someone is the same thing, right?
Th-That's...
And that was how I met...
...an unearthly boy apparition in a classroom lit by the red rays of twilight.
Oh, also, those will get better if you dry them.
You might want to wipe them off.
"Scales"
Where do the things that everyone has forgotten go to?
Do they simply disappear?
No, they remain near us, even as we speak.
Have you heard this rumor?
Yousei-san.
"Next Episode Preview"
"Tell Me, Hanako-kun: The Motive"
"Why did you become Hanako-san even though you're a boy?"
"Did you have some special reason?"
"Hmm..."
"I gave in to lust."
"Y-You're awful!" "I gave in to lust."
"Next Time" "Apparition 2: Yousei-san"