Chapter 1: The World is Terrifying as Expected
In retrospect he really should have expected things weren't going to end well when Isshiki had rudely awoken him on the weekend of all things with urgent student council business. It was one thing to ask him to waste his precious weekend on school related activities but entirely another when the task at hand had him traveling for three hours on bus to get where he was going. Oh he may have felt responsible for Isshiki's current position as the StuCo. president but that didn't mean he would bend over backwards at her beck and call. Fortunately for him he wasn't going uncompensated for his efforts, a whole day off of school while the business was being conducted as well as a hotel room all to himself a pretty good deal if he did say.
Unfortunately for him the end result was much more of a headache than he was initially lead to believe. He had been waiting for almost twenty minutes in the student council office of one Kuoh Acadamy.
"I'm so sorry mister Hikigaya the president is wrapped in urgent business with some of the other students on campus. I assure you she'll be back any minute to help finish the forms for the event."
Now this was his current predicament, being forced to wait with this over anxious brown twin-tailed haired girl who had done nothing but apologize for the last twenty minutes while he sat in one of the admittedly comfy chairs off to the side. It wouldn't have been so bad if she left to go about her business, now he was just growing irritated with how persistent she was. Hell even Yui wasn't this bad at her most annoying this woman needed to tone down her overtly placating attitude. She was definitely a 'nice' girl and nothing could be more irritating to him right now than that.
"As I said please don't mind it, I'm sure she has a lot to deal with and I really don't mind waiting." he quickly muttered off, a lie of course but anything to get the girl off his back so he could at least be in peace during these moments of boredom.
"Well please just tell me if you need anything." the girl replied before wandering off to other side of the room containing some smaller desks, probably back to whatever task she had been doing before his arrival.
Finally he was left to his own machinations and took the leisure time he had to had to examine the room he currently presided for the last while.
To be frank it was ridiculous, the amount of money that must have been spent to furnish this room probably costed more than his own home. The ornate desk that made the centerpiece of the room looked to be an antique of a pretty decent age if the scars and marks that littered it were any indication. All the chairs seemed to be made out of quality brown leather, hell even the drapes that hung off the windows behind the desk were probably something stupid like 100% silk not that he was uncouth enough to go up to them and check.
His ruminations were broken from the overtly lascivious room when the front swung open finally revealing who he presumed to be the president. She was a rather short young woman with a slim figure, her black hair styled into a short bob cut that along with her glasses gave her a very serious looking mien. It may have been the aura or demanding respect or maybe it the way she held herself, but she had a remarkable similarity to a certain ice queen.
"I appreciate your waiting patiently on this matter Hikigaya, some of the other club students that were staying on the campus were making a ruckus that I had to deal with," she sighed forlornly making her way to the desk before taking her and straightening herself out. "Now if you would, did you bring all the documents we requested."
"Right here." he said reaching into his bag to take out the papers that Isshiki had left for him to deliver, to be honest he hadn't even bothered to read figuring it had nothing to do with a loner like him anyway. Best for him to get this over with before spending the rest of his time relaxing.
"Thank you," she accepted the papers from his hand, sifting through them and signing her signature on all the documents that needed it. "Well everything seems to be an order and all the information is here, thank you for your time hikigaya."
Ah finally time to put an end to this and get on his way. "No problem miss president, thank you for your time."
"Please call me Shitori, after all we'll be working together quite soon. It would be good for us to establish a working relationship." the now named Shitori responded giving a brief smile.
Now that was certainly something he couldn't ignore. "I wasn't aware that you needed anything else from me."
"Really?" Shitori blinked surprised, "Of Course you'll be helping us for the festival, that's what the request forms were for."
"I didn't bother reading them, after all I'm only the delivery boy it has nothing to do with a loner like me." Hikigaya shrugged parroting his own thoughts from earlier.
"Well this will certainly be an issue after all you were sent here as a representative of your academy to give presentation on modern society." she said looking bemused before handing him one of the sheets from the desk.
He scanned the page over and exactly as she said it was a release form for a student to take time off school for an official event. However the part that really caught his attention was his own signature at the bottom. Obviously he had no recollection of him signing this piece of paper but it was undeniable that it looked exactly like his down to the letter. This also explained why he was getting monday off school it seemed the whole situation was an elaborate bait in order to get him to attend this event. The next time he saw Isshiki he was going to definitely make her pay for this.
He sighed, things were very quickly going down hill. "I'm sorry I had no idea at all that I was going to participate, unfortunately I have no speech prepared so I'll have to decline."
There Perfect and polite answer to set him free of the silly obligations that had been forced upon him now he could enjoy the rest of the weekend.
"I'm sorry that won't do." Shitori replied immediately.
What.
"What?" he parroted.
Hikigaya may have been quite an expert in linguistics and his spouts with Yukinoshita may have improved his verbal wit but even he could be caught off guard.
"Sorry but you're just going to have to prepare something by monday we already have the slots planned out meticulously and it's too late for changes to be made." she gathered several sheets from her own desk and handed them to him.
"This is the schedule and guideline for your presentation. I've heard many great things about your skill from your teacher, I believe her name was Hiratsuka-sensei. It would be a shame if she learned her student was being unreasonable." Shitori spoke with candidly.
Blackmail was certainly not something he expected to have to deal with from her but that was one game that he was more than willing to play.
"It wouldn't be much more unreasonable than expecting a person with no prior knowledge to produce a presentation in less than two days." he fired back.
"I have the utmost confidence in your abilities Hikigaya, I'm sure it will be fine." she easily brushed aside his complaint.
"I'm sorry my parents expect to back monday I don't have time to stay," not a complete lie as he did tell them he wouldn't be back till monday he just hadn't specified a time.
"No worries we've already contacted all the parents to inform them on how late the festival would run." she responded gesturing towards the phone on his desk.
Looks like he would have to break out the big guns. " what if I said I don't want to."
At this point the other girl in the room who had been silently listening to the conversation started to get very nervous. Sona Shitori was not a person who easily backed off once her mind was set on something however neither did Hikigaya seem to bend under pressure. Not that this hadn't happened before, she was more worried about what she knew would be coming next.
"Well mister Hikigaya since you've already consented," she motioned towards the paper with his signature on it, "I'm disinclined to let you go free of your obligations, however I understand that that this issues seems to not be completely your fault therefore I'll offer you way out."
She reached underneath the desk and pulled out a very fancy looking chessboard before setting it on the desk between them.
"So here's what will happen you and I will play a game of chess. If I win you will write a speech of the quality that is expected of you and deliver it yourself. If you win I'll let you off the hook, feel free to spend the remaining time as a vacation. Will that be agreeable to you?" The president spoke confidently.
To be honest chess wasn't something he was particularly good at, after all it was normally a two player game. That being said he did occasionally solve the mate in 3 puzzles on his phone when he was particularly bored.
"Fine, I'll play along." He agreed but quickly appended, "obviously no one would be told if I didn't partake in the festival of course."
"Naturally." Shitori waved him off as she set up the chess pieces on her side of the board, "Well than shall we begin?"
Ten minutes later
"I admit defeat," Hikigaya let his head hit the desk as he sighed in frustration.
Sitiri simply chuckled at his actions, "I must admit I'm quite impressed you lasted two minutes longer than I actually expected."
"No need to rub it in I accept my defeat I'll write up the speech." he smirked with his face hidden by the desk.
"I admire your grace in defeat I expect your speech will be wonderful, I'll be attending myself so don't let me down." she gathered up at stack of papers on her desk and passed them back to him, "This all the information you'll need about the festival plus the signed forms for when you go back, you're dismissed."
He picked himself off the desk, gathering the paper and putting them in his bag before making to leave the room. Yes he thought he would right a splendid speech, after all if hiratsuka-sensei had in fact recommended him than she knew exactly what he planned to deliver.
By the time he had left the school the day was already approaching a close, the sky taking orangish hue as the sun slowly sank behind the buildings in front of him.
"Ahh," he sighed contentedly taking a sip of his favorite beverage, "Nothing like a MAXX Coffee to take the edge off a stressful day."
He rested on the bench located next to the vending machine in the town square taking his time to savor the absence of people in his vicinity as odd as it may have been. The fountains soft splashing serving a perfect accompaniment to his mood. His thoughts quickly rewinding through the events that had occurred throughout the day, certainly he had slipped up to end as troubled as he was. Not to mention just thought of giving a speech to fellow students left him more terrified that he'd ever admit. He always tried as hard as possible to blend in with the rest of the crowd and here he was about to make a spectacle of himself. The only redeeming factor of the whole thing is that he would be able to crush their idiotic naivety and built up social constructs.
"Listen Issei …. To commemorate our first date would you mind doing something for me." an unknown girl's voice stirred him from his reverie on the other side of the fountain.
Damn he thought, some stupid couple no doubt trying to live up their 'youth'. Time to activate one his amazing 108 skills the infamous stealth Hikki as he slowly tried to find the fastest way to excuse himself.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next.
"Would you die for me?" was the only thing that alerted him to the real tragedy taking place as he saw quickly afterwards a spear of white light pierce the boy's chest whom she'd been clinging to moments before. The boy slowly collapsed onto the floor blood spilling from the new hole his body sported.
"Aghhk," he quickly cupped his mouth to stop the bile that was threatening to be purged from his mouth, unfortunately for him it also alerted the woman to the intruder that had witnessed the events.
"Woops looks like I didn't quite check hard enough to make sure no one was around, no matter I'll just have to eliminate you as well." The lady contrary to her former attire was now wearing what he could only describe as cosplay. She had long black wings as tall as she was and long thigh high boots with the rest of her body being practically uncovered except for the important bits.
He didn't take the time to ogle her appearance though, as soon as he knew he'd been found out his mind immediately booked into high-gear. Spinning around on his feet he ran as fast as possible in the direction he'd previously had his back too.
"How amusing I do love it when they run," her voice howled seductively behind him.
He just had to make it a more populated area where she hopefully wouldn't be able to continue to follow him. He brought to muster what little amount of athletic capability he had and ran as fast possible towards what he hoped would be a more densely trafficked area. He ran between two of the neighboring shops hoping to lose sight of her taking a couple of the twisting paths behind the buildings in sheer twisting panic.
"Too slow," he could hear the whisper behind him as he felt something sharp slip into his back sending him to the floor, all the papers in his bag flying to the floor. "Sorry little boy your luck seems to have failed you today, try not to curse me too much while you die. Now I have some more important things to go tie-up so just stay down and die, okay!" she winked at him before flying back the way she came.
His breaths grew slower in contrast to how more erratic his thoughts became, multiple people flashed through his mind in what seemed to be his final moments. His beloved sister Komachi smiling up at him, Yuigahama holding his shirt about to leave after the fireworks they had gone to see, Yukinoshita requesting, with a blush on her face for him to help her find her true self, Isshiki and her constant teasing, even his corporate slave parents flew by in the continuing acceleration of memories that he bore witness too.
Yet one thing, one feeling, seemed to stick out the most. He reached out trying to grab onto something that didn't exist in the literal sense, no he was reaching out for that elusive feeling that he had confessed to be the one thing that he desired.
"I wish I had found that something … something genuine." he coughed out sadly feeling his conscious slowly start to escape his grasp. The last thing he noticed was one of the many papers that had fallen from his bag was now glowing a bright blue along with a flash of light before he slipped into death.
A/N:
So this is just some random idea that slipped into my head and decided to put it down onto some metaphorical paper. These two fandoms are definitely something that intermix so I assume that anyone reading this could end up a bit confused but hey who knows maybe it'll interest someone.
Also I'm more than aware that my writing probably isn't great so any constructive criticisms or suggestions would be lovely. Thanks for your time.
