Author's Note: This is my first story so please bear with me XD I'd like it if you could point out some stuff that'll help me out later, there'll be a lot of thanks!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hyouka.
On a rather cool afternoon, Houtarou Oreki sat in the empty room of the Classics Club reading silently to himself with head in palm while enjoying the peace that rests in the atmosphere. It's not always this quiet for there was always three more people who were in the club that took up most of the peace that Houtarou loved so much and were now away. Satoshi Fukube, Houtarou's best friend, and Mayaka Ibara were at the Sewing Club meeting for prepartions on the 24th of December, the Christmas Festival, where the Manga Society are at also, leaving the him and the club President, Eru Chitanda , alone though it seems she hasn't arrived yet.
While dozing off, Houtarou almost banged his head on the table while slipping off of his hand but, luckily, caught himself in time. He looked around to expect someone to open the door and apologize for being late but all there was was silence. Yawning, he stared at the closed window and saw it was getting late. But before he could do anything, the door slid back to reveal a surprised girl. "O-Oreki-san? I thought you would've gone home by now." said a slightly red Eru Chitanda.
Slightly surprised he quickly recollected his thoughts. "I was reading and lost the time." he simply said. Noticing Chitanda's delay in replying, he saw there was a slight blush on her face and shook her head.
"I'm sorry I'm late. I... I had to go somewhere." she said. She walked and sat in front of Houtarou and dozed off. Houtarou closed his book and wondered if he should ask what happened but knew if he asked, he might be sent on a trip to satisfy endless questions that wandered inside her head.
Almost regretting his decision, he asked, "You seem a bit dazed. What happened?" Caught by surprise, Chitanda jumped and hesitated to tell. In the end though, she did anyway.
"Y-you see, this morning there was a note in my shoe box asking if I could meet up with someone behind the school at 5. Thinking there was nothing wrong with it, I decided to be quick with it see what they wanted..." she trailed off and blushed again. "Um... A guy from class 1-D c-confessed to me and a-asked if I could go with him... to the Christmas Party next week..."
Houtarou almost fell out of his chair at the last sentence of her story. "And you replied?" he asked carefully while looking directly at her eyes.
"I told him that I'd think about it." she finally said. (To which Houtarou sighed in relief) There was a silence between them that seemed to last hours but Chitanda finally broke it. "W-What should I do?" she asked desprately.
Houtarou crossed his arms and started to think. What could she do? She might as well give him an answer but ... "Do you like him?" he asked calmly. Surprised by his question, she stared at the table as if it'll answer for her.
"Well, he doesn't seem bad and he seemed very happy that I didn't reject him...and I'd feel bad if I said no." she said while staring down at the table still. Houtarou sighed again. Chitanda was nice enough to ask him for help so he might as well give her a suggestion. Though, it might not be to his liking.
"Just say yes then. You're not going to lose anything." he grumbled and began to read his book again. It's not his problem so why waste energy? he thought. But unnoticed to him, Chitanda, in disappointment, thanked him and left quietly.