[Hikigaya Hachiman, 1st April (one year ago), 0750 hours]

Change is a common occurrence in the lives of several, though not always a positive one. The world changes, and individuals change along with it. Be it changing one's mannerisms or way of thinking, many individuals regard embracing change as a positive activity, which is well and good. For what is a person's worth, if not for self improvement?

But most individuals strive to change blindly, striving to improve themselves even without the clear concept of "better" or "worse" in their minds. That is one thing I have never understood. If you are willing to change your behaviour and ideals so easily, doesn't that mean you were never attached to them to begin with? In that case, these portions of your identity were arguably never part of you to begin with, and constantly switching them out for new ones will not help anything.

Humans are detestable, selfish creatures. They can continuously improve and change themselves however they want, but when given half the chance they will not hesitate to reveal the avarice under all their farcical behaviour and betray just how far they are willing to go for the sake of personal benefit. It is with this belief that I shall enter high school, and with this belief that I will graduate from it. Unlike the shallow individuals who use the pretense of changing themselves to mask their genuine, disgusting selves, I will cling on to my ideals as if clinging on to my life.

And the world around me will never change them. In fact, when push comes to shove, my ideals will change the world around me.

I will make sure of that.

[Hikigaya Hachiman, 14th May (present day), 1350 hours]

Hiratsuka-sensei slammed my essay onto her desk, crumpling it by accident. I would have been offended if that essay had taken me more than fifteen minutes to write, but I decided to look offended anyway. Couldn't let my demonic Japanese Literature teacher know that I didn't take her classes seriously, after all.

"...Hikigaya, what is this crap?" queried Hiratsuka-sensei as politely as she could manage. She was probably employing the classic tactic of asking rhetorical questions to dominate the conversation. In all honesty I had no problem with that, except that this meant the conversation would take a while, and I had no intention of letting that happen.

Step one, infuriate her by being a smartass. "An essay, Sensei."

The entire left side of her face twitched, not unlike a stroke patient's. "An essay degrading our school and our education system. Did one of your teachers piss you off or something?"

Step two, catch her off guard. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

She blinked, evidently shocked. "Wait, really? That's still no excuse to vent your anger on one of my essays, you know. Can't you control your emotions?"

Step three would either be to appeal to her sympathy or go for a personal attack, basically psychological tactics that only work when the target has shown a mental opening. But I would rather be beaten half to death than to be pitied by an old hag.

Step three, attack her insecurities! "It's one of the burdens of youth. Not that you would understand."

[Hikigaya Hachiman, 14th May, 1351 hours]

I stopped wheezing and got off the floor as Hiratsuka-sensei blew on her fist. Now that the illegal corporate punishment had been dished out, Sensei should be frustrated enough to dismiss me. However, she was looking at me with a contemplative look on her face, which was always a bad sign.

"Mid-life crisis?" I ventured. Another punch to the gut was worth distracting her from whatever heinous scheme she was plotting, I figured.

"Hikigaya, what do you truly think of our school?" she asked, completely disregarding my insult. She ignored my taunt! The very thought of what she could be planning sent a chill down my spine. Time to get her to calm down...

"The teachers don't get paid enough... I guess?" Giving politically correct answers is an art that every student must master, but with Hiratsuka-sensei you never know.

"Agreed, but I was asking about the student body. You know, social circles and stuff."

"I wouldn't know. I'm a loner, remember. I refrain from all sorts of social interaction."

Her eyes hardened. "Don't give me that crap, Hikigaya. You don't participate in any social activities, but you observe people a lot, don't you? Give me your honest opinion."

Ah, so it wasn't a rhetorical question. "It's almost dystopian, Sensei."

Hiratsuka-sensei leaned forward and steepled her fingers; evidently this was the answer she was looking for. "How so?"

"It is perfectly normal for social cliques to be formed in a school, forming some sort of caste system. Students segregate each other by factors such as popularity or grades. However in our school, the caste system is a little too well defined. Rather than popularity and grades being the cause of moving up the social ladder, they seem to be the effects of being high up in the school caste."

She leaned forward some more, and I suddenly realised why she called me to the staffroom when there were no other teachers around. "Elaborate."

"I'm saying that this school is rigged. Everything from popularity to grades seems to be determined by which social group you are in."

"So you did notice." Hiratsuka-sensei sighed, leaning back against her chair. "That's right. Apparently the student body has implemented the idea of a caste system in which students at the top reap all the benefits of high school life and everyone else suffers. But not only that. Apparently I heard from one of my other sources that students in the lower groups need a recommendation from students in higher-up groups to rise up the ranks."

"...which leads to unpleasant instances like bribery, right?'

"You catch on quickly. Are you sure this is your first time hearing about this?" She fixed me with an inquisitive stare that was full of intensity.

It was, in fact, my first time hearing an explanation about this system. "I never bothered to look further into it. I don't even know what group I'm in."

"There are five groups in total. Since you're one of the few people who don't care about this system, you're probably in the lowest rank, F."

"That's nice to know."

We stared at each other in awkward silence for about half a minute.

"Hey, Hikigaya. Doesn't it piss you off?"

"Not particularly."

Sensei scoffed. "Don't lie. Why did you write that essay, then?"

"Because it's true. Youth is an illusion, and all those who prescribe to the concept are selfish individuals who would rather engage in fake relationships and lives than face their own ugliness. They-"

"You're bitter."

This sudden statement caught me off guard. "Excuse me?"

"You're full of resentment toward your peers because of what you have seen them doing, right? In your mind, they are weak individuals conforming to the school's warped caste system."

"That's... not particularly..."

"What if I told you that can be changed? I'm on your side, Hikigaya. All we need to do..." she slammed a hand on her desk for emphasis, "is to destroy this rotten system."

I looked up, slightly dazed. In all honesty, this wasn't what I'd expected when Sensei called me to talk to her after school. "Wait. Aren't the teachers part of the system too?"

"Yeah. Their pay comes out of the generous donations by students who wish to rise up the ranks, so they're constantly on the lookout for people who defy the system. I won't deny that this is a dangerous game to play, Hikigaya. But I need your strength."

The teacher sitting before me seemed nothing like her usual self. Gone was the slightly hotheaded Modern Japanese Literature teacher who wore a labcoat to every lesson. This woman had eyes that burned.

Genuine, honest-to-God resolution. It had been a long time since I last saw that. Resolution that could topple empires and move mountains.

Resolution that I did not have. With a sense of impending failure, I tried to weasel my way out. "Um, well... I'd love to, but the two of us can't do anything by ourselves..."

"Who said it was the two of us? I have an entire student organisation ready to set this school straight."

An entire student organisation? Rebelling against Sobu High's twisted system? I stood up just a little straighter. "Sensei. Let me join, please."

[Hikigaya Hachiman, 14th May, 1400 hours]

When secretly plotting a large-scale rebellion against a large and powerful organisation, where would be the best place to set up your base of operations? Common sense would dictate either a highly protected area or a place well out of the organisation's reach. However, I had long realised that Hiratsuka-sensei and common sense went together like Japanese Literature and Shounen Manga. So when we stopped in front of a clubroom and she presented it to me with a flourish, I wasn't exactly surprised.

"Of all the places you could have chosen for your base of operations-"

"-But we haven't been discovered yet, have we? Sometimes hiding in plain sight is the best move you can make," she replied, grinning triumphantly. Before I could retort, she slid the door open violently.

I steeled myself internally. Inside this clubroom were the students that were to become my comrades. Highly capable individuals that had the talent to topple an entire school and the resolution to go with it. The team that I would be staking my ideals, my entire existence on. Mentally bracing myself, I peered into the room.

The first thing I saw was a girl. Seated on a chair, with her school bag placed neatly to the side, she was reading a book. Wind from outside entered through the clubroom window and gently tugged at her long, flowing raven-black hair. It was a surreal image, the kind you would usually see in a work of art.

The second thing I saw was...

...well, that was it.

I turned to Hiratsuka-sensei. "Where's your organisation?"

She grinned and spread her arms out. "Behold, the Service Club! A club formed to assist members the student body with their various social issues... well, that's what it is on paper anyway."

The girl, who had been wearing an irritated expression on her face, only found her irritation intensifying as Sensei slung an arm around her shoulder.

"But in actuality," Hiratsuka-sensei continued, trying and failing to imitate the narrator of a Shounen anime, "This club is a secret rebellious organisation, formed with the aim of taking down Sobu High's twisted system!" To top off all her ridiculous antics, she broke out into a wide grin.

The girl sighed in exasperation. "Knock, Sensei. And don't reveal our cause to outsiders so easily. We cannot afford to be caught by the authorities."

Who was this girl? She had good looks and seemingly superior intellect to all the students of our school. She seemed like the type of student who would be extremely popular among her peers. And yet, I had never seen her in any of the popular cliques before.

She turned to me. "You are Hikigaya Hachiman, correct? From Group F."

Oh crap, she knows me. How does she know me? How do I tell her that I have absolutely no idea who she is?

As if reading my mind, she flicked her long black hair in a somewhat smug manner. "My name is Yukinoshita Yukino, from class 2-J. You shouldn't have heard of me, as I am in Group F as well." Wait. Group F? By the look of her dignified posture, she was probably a sheltered daughter from a rich family and could have easily paid her way up the social ladder. Why was she at rock bottom?

Oh, right. Rebelling against the system. Completely forgot about that.

Yukinoshita continued, "I memorized the names of all the Group F students for scouting purposes. As individuals who suffer the brunt of the system's backlash, they would be the most suitable as allies. I've had my sights on you for quite a while, Hikigaya-kun."

"I scouted him first!" Hiratsuka-sensei cheered. By silent consensus, we ignored her.

"Yeah... okay. Speaking of allies, how many of those do we have?"

Awkward silence reigned in the classroom for about half a minute, before Yukinoshita broke it with a cough. "The club compromises of two of us, for the moment," she stated with a level of regality you would only find in royalty, as if she had nothing to be bashful about.

To be honest, I should have expected something like this. Why did I believe that there was a rebellious student organisation willing to and capable of revolutionising my beloved school? Because Hiratsuka-sensei said so. In retrospect, that point was where I should have stopped thinking and thrown in the towel.

"I'm going home," I announced to the world in general, before heading for the door. A crushing iron grip landed on my shoulder, appealing to my baser instincts. Against the direction of my mind, my body stayed.

"Oh no, you don't," leered Hiratsuka-sensei. "You agreed to join, remember?"

"I concur," sighed Yukinoshita in the tone of one who clearly wished she didn't. "We cannot guarantee that you will not leak information about us to anyone from Group S."

"I agreed to join a sizeable, revolutionary organisation," I snapped. "And why would anyone from Group S bother to deal with the likes of you? Don't delude yourself. Your 'organisation' is way too insignificant to warrant any attention from a bunch of popular kids with their own statuses to maintain!"

"That would be true, but only if the Group S students were our only enemies," Yukinoshita interpolated. "Even the teachers pose little threat to us. However, I believe that there is a more significant adversary behind this system."

That caught my attention. "A larger enemy? You mean the student council?"

"No, although they are a part of Sobu High's system as well. As you might know, the student council is in charge of school events and club funds, all of which are delegated in a way that favours students at the top. However, don't you find it strange that all its members are only in Group A?"

I had genuinely never thought about this. Indeed, that would attract quite a bit of suspicion. "Well, come to think of it..."

"Hikigaya-kun, I believe that there is an individual working behind the scenes. Unlikely as it seems, he may well be manipulating the Group S students, the teachers and the Student Council simultaneously. That person is the source of Sobu High's detestable system, and he is the enemy that we must take down in order to restore our school." Yukinoshita declared.

Frankly speaking, I was dumbfounded to the point of silence. All I could manage was a feeble croak. "A mastermind?"

Yukinoshita straightened abruptly and held her hand out to me. "I have studied you for a while now, Hikigaya-kun. While your the way you do things is... unadvisable, I cannot deny that you have the skillset this organisation needs. Will you lend me your strength?"

I stared at the proffered hand wordlessly, my mind desperately trying to catch up. A mastermind behind the system? She had inferred all of that by herself by simply observing her surroundings? Compared to her, I felt vastly inferior; despite priding myself on my observational skills and having all the time to do so, I had allowed all these things to fly by my head. What was the difference between her and me?

Gazing upwards, I caught a glimpse of the hardened chips of sapphire that were her eyes. Behind a wall of cool collection, her pupils blazed with fiery determination, much like Hiratsuka-sensei's had just minutes prior. Perhaps the answer to my question was not all that difficult to find.

This was what I lacked; the resolution to adhere to my ideals and my warped sense of justice, even if it meant changing the world around me and prevent anyone else from changing it back.

But before venturing into dangerous territory, one must test the waters to see if it is worth his time. I stuck my hands in my pockets and switched to the brutally condescending tone that had made countless individuals fall to their knees in despair.

"What's the point of all this? You're just a little girl playing house. A normality in an environment of abnormalities. All of Sobu High likes this system the way it is, so why shouldn't I feel the same?"

Had she been thrown off by my sudden refusal, or cowed into submission, I would not have been surprised. But the flame in her eyes did not falter.

"Then you will never change anything. And you will never save anyone."

It seems I have a lot to learn from this girl.

"Good answer," I replied as I took her hand. And with this, my fate was sealed.

"Welcome to the Service Club, Hikigaya-kun."

[Hikigaya Hachiman, 14th May, 1600 hours]

Indeed, what I have been lacking all this while is resolve. Even though I kept convincing myself before I started high school that I would not give in to my surroundings, I ended up giving in to my own negligence and passivity. For the past year or so, my will to stick to my ideals to the very end has been fading continuously. It's just been so tiring to keep this charade up this whole time...

But now, I have a rival. A girl with determination that far exceeds mine. And assuredly I will not rest until I have pitted my resolve against hers and emerged the victor. Through the pretense of being her only ally, this is my will against hers. My ideals against hers. My existence against hers.

That's right, Sensei. For all your big talk about hiding in plain sight, you're just an amateur, aren't you?

Yukinoshita, you ignorant fool. The mastermind that you're looking for...

...is me.

END OF CHAPTER 1

Author's note: This is just a small idea I've been experimenting with. Do you guys think I should continue with it?