Labcoats: Flowers, Text & Christmas Eve

by Betrayed Dreams

Hiratsuka Shizuka ends the year on a good note. (Long One shot) (Re-upload.) (Complete)

Don't own Oregairu.

Labcoats: Flowers, Text & Christmas.

---

.One Late Evening

Hiratsuka Shizuka had a lit cigarette between her lips. She had been smoking for the past fifteen minutes and this was her second cigarette of the day. On her day off, she loved to drink and smoke, having nothing better to do in her house all by her own. She would read a shonen manga to stave off her boredom from time to time but nothing elevated her frustration away like a good drag from her cigarette did. Lost in smoke and cloudy thoughts she almost missed the ringing sound of her doorbell and only after repeated knocking did she realise someone was standing outside her door and waiting for her to open up.

She took her cigarette out from her mouth and trapped it between her index and middle finger. Without looking she opened her door and sighed upon seeing the person standing on the other side. He looked as cheerful as she was.

"…"

"Don't stand there like an idiot. Come in!"

Hikigaya Hachiman was her student. He was good at literature but he was hopeless in the sciences. Out of the goodness in her heart, Hiratsuka Shizuka decided to tutor him to help his chances of passing in any of his future examinations. Being a responsible teacher was tough and it didn't help that her student walked into her apartment with all the candour of a man approaching the gallows. He had to open his mouth at some point but for now his dead fish eyes was taking in the appearance of her living room.

"Not much to look at Hikigaya. Take a seat."

"Where?"

"Anywhere. Here try the sofa."

Her student followed her instructions and sat himself down comfortably. He placed his school bag on the coffee table before him and then he looked up at his teacher. He said nothing but waited.

"What are you waiting for? Take out your books."

"Aren't you going to finish your cigarette sensei?"

She looked at her cigarette and sighed. Being a responsible teacher meant no smoking before students. Even disillusioned students like him. She found an ashtray from under the coffee table and stubbed out her cigarette.

"Happy?"

"…"

"Who am I kidding? You are never happy."

"Not true sensei. I will be extremely happy if you didn't make me redo your essays. Those take a lot of effort"

"Then stop writing like an idiot. Be a little more optimistic."

"You have a better chance of getting married than I have of becoming optimistic."

Hiratsuka Shizuka was a good teacher. She was kind to her students and had high hopes for their future. She believed her other students would easily forgive her if she killed only one of her students. If Hikigaya was to be believed than he was so invisible that his fellow classmates would forget all about him and his death after a couple of days.

With these sane thoughts Hiratsuka Shizuka drove her fist straight through Hikigaya Hachiman. Hearing him groan and collapse on her living room floor almost made up for having to teach him mathematics for the next couple of hours.

When he left after his study session Hiratsuka Shizuka lit another cigarette and wallowed all by her lonesome in her empty apartment. She blamed Hikigaya for being insensitive to a woman who was fully aware of her chance of getting married.

---

After a few days Hiratsuka Shizuka had to call Hikigaya Hachiman for another tutoring session. His marks were becoming a problem. He had no problems in acing modern Japanese but that was because he had such a wonderful teacher like her. She wondered how Hikigaya could be so good in one thing and be a complete idiot in the other. Just like she wondered how he could hurt himself and hurt others without understanding the consequences in the long run. He was satisfied with getting results and felt no shame in employing disgraceful means. His future was troubled and Hiratsuka wanted to help him change his outlook. But with the way things are going even a small change was a lot of hard work.

Even thinking about it made her reach for another cigarette but she changed her mind at the last minute when she heard the doorbell. She sighed but ended up opening her door nonetheless.

"You're late. What took you so long?"

"I was busy buying flowers."

Hiratsuka Shizuka kept her hand firmly planted on the doorframe to keep her balanced and standing on both feet. She must have misheard what he said for it sounded like her student bought flowers. Had it been anyone else she might have believed but not Hikigaya Hachiman.

"Come again?"

"I bought flowers. Here take a look"

He opened his school bag and produced a bunch of white lilies. They looked beautiful and smelled wonderful. Her senses became engulfed by their rich fragrance and she almost caught herself before she reached out and touched one of the petals. These are not for her. They are for someone else.

"You didn't have to come all the way here, you know. You could have easily texted me if you wanted to cancel my tutoring session for today. I understand."

"Understand what?"

Now she was getting angry. He was being especially dumb and she was wondering whether he was doing it on purpose, trying to rub it in. Now even he had someone whereas she had nothing. Nothing except her bad habits. But being a grown woman she would not complain. She understood what was happening, where he was going and decided she would let him off easy. He could study later. Maybe have group study session from now on instead of having tutoring sessions with her. This was all for the best.

"Go on your date Hikigaya. We will talk later."

Hiratsuka told herself she was not being immature when she tried to slam the door on his face. She told herself she had one less thing to worry about. Now all she had to do was have a good smoke and maybe a drink later on. But her future plans got cancelled when her doorbell began to ring. Again. She opened it and found her student staring at her with a dumb expression. She was losing her patience.

"You have something to say?"

"I'm confused."

"Well aren't we all. Tell me what confuses you? I haven't got all day and neither do you. Don't you know its bad manners to keep your date waiting?"

"…I wouldn't know. I have never been on a date."

Now Hiratsuka felt hurt. She had obviously touched a sore subject. Unfortunately, Hikigaya always looked like he was hurting or was about to hurt somebody. His dead fish eyes made it very difficult to understand what was going through his rotten brain. Hiratsuka was a teacher but she would never be an expert in understanding him. But she decided to try like always and took a tentative approach

"You want to come in?"

He nodded his head.

She stepped to the side and let him in. He stood in the middle of her living room but hesitated from taking a seat before he was told.

"You don't always have to ask, you know. Take the sofa. I will take the chair."

He nodded again but then he lifted his hand up and showed her the flowers he was carrying.

"Um, where do you want to put these?"

She must have heard wrong.

"Excuse me."

"These flowers. Do you have like an empty vase or something? If I hold them any longer roots will begin to sprout over my fingers."

She wondered whether he was being sarcastic or whether he was this bad in biology. Another thing to look forward to in their tutoring session but for the time being she had only one thing one her mind. He had asked where she wanted to put 'these'. 'These' being the flowers he brought. She became extremely cautious in her approach

"These flowers. Are they for me?"

Well subtlety was not her forte

"No"

As expected. She couldn't believe she fell for it. She was really stupid.

"These flowers are for your living room."

As expected. He never made any sense. He was really very stupid.

"Say, Hikigaya. Mind explaining what you just said. How these flowers are not for me but for my living room."

He had the audacity to sigh. She was genuinely trying not to strangle him with her bare hands.

"Well, you smoke a lot sensei. During our last tutoring session my nose got irritated with all this tobacco smell and I thought, wouldn't it be great to have a few flowers around to cancel out this horrible stink. I mean they look good too but I'm no expert. What do you think sensei?"

"…you are saying my house stinks."

Hiratsuka Shizuka would kill him. She had already thought of a way to bury the body. Nothing could save Hikigaya Hachiman today. Unfortunately for him he realised his mistake a lot later.

"Your house doesn't stink sensei. It has a natural aroma."

Keep pushing. They will never find his body. There is nothing he can say that can change her mind and stop him from getting butchered by her hands.

"And well, um, I wanted to apologize."

It is never too late to apologize but his chances of surviving are dwindling. But she decided to humour him

"About what?"

"You know, about last time. When I said what I said and promised never to say again."

Hiratsuka knew what he was saying and she felt thankful to know he would never bring up that stupid subject. But promises like these never last. She will give him a week. Two weeks maximum. Then he will mention something hurtful about her not getting married and she will pummel him to the ground for being an idiot. This was the cycle of life for these two. He would apologize.

"I'm sorry sensei."

She would forgive but never forget.

"Ok, alright. I will letting you off the hook"

But never before had he tried to seek her forgiveness by bringing her flowers. This was not how he did things. This was not how she expected him to do things. But like always Hikigaya Hachiman was tough to read. He was not an open book.

She became uncertain but curiosity made her brave and she pushed one of her hands forward. Without needing any further instructions he gave them to her and afterwards placed his empty hands down to his sides.

Hiratsuka Shizuka ran a hand through the petals like she was wishing to do earlier but she was still hesitant of bringing the flowers closer to her face. He was watching but like always he was not saying anything more than he needed to communicate the only necessary of details.

"I will look for a jug. I might have one in the kitchen"

She hurriedly left him standing in her living room and began heading for her kitchen. She knew he will not take a seat until he was told. Might be some form of outdated etiquette. Might be, he consider himself a stranger at her home. Maybe he considers himself a stranger to everyone. She felt sad for him and tried to hide her sadness through idle chit chat.

"Where did you get these? I hope you didn't spend all your money on them."

He snorted. Better. This was like him. Disillusioned and cynical. This was someone she had experience dealing with. She could handle him when he is like this and not bringing her lilies as a gesture of apology.

"Of course not. I went to a rundown flower shop. They said I was their only customer for days and they gave me a sweet deal."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. I mean I can't go to a boutique or a flower shop. A lot of girls go there and they keep looking at me like I'm a creep. Moreover they sell pretty expensive flowers. I would have nothing left if I went there."

"Good thing you didn't"

"Right, anyway, so this rundown flower shop was run by an old lady. She began telling me about how different flowers had different meaning and how they convey hidden feelings and anyway she was really starting to annoy me. So I asked her to give me a flower which says I'm sorry without having me say anything. Figured, I would mess things up again if I tried apologizing using words."

Hiratsuka believed him. But she had one problem with his explanation. She knew what most flowers meant and lilies never stood for apology. She smiled to herself and decided to poke fun at him.

"You got played Hikigaya. Lilies don't mean apology."

"I know. She said something about purple hyacinth to convey feelings of sorrow."

"She told you! Then why did you buy these?"

"Because lilies have a stronger smell-"

Hiratsuka never knew Hikigaya held such a high opinion about lilies. She wondered whether this was his favourite flower. She could definitely ask.

She had found a small vase from inside her kitchen cabinet and while talking to him she had already wiped it clean and filled the inside of it with a little bit of water. She wished she could keep herself busy and spare herself from the indignity of having to listen to him utter the next sentence but as expected she was unlucky.

"-and your house stinks"

She was in the kitchen. She had knife on the top counter and a glass vase in her hands.

She loved choices.

---

Hikigaya studied silently for a couple of hours. His sensei promised to help him out again and he promised himself to learn to dodge her punches better before taking her up on that offer. His rotten brain made it impossible for him to learn the sciences but with her help he might have a chance of getting better.

He had learnt his lesson. He was unable to stop himself from saying something hurtful and this time around he had surely crossed some imaginary line. He had no business making comments about the state of her house even though her place reeked of tobacco and alcohol like a seedy bar. He had never been to a bar before but he had eavesdropped on enough conversations to know what they smelled like.

Not like he would be telling her that anytime soon. He rubbed a hand gingerly over his stomach remembering the pain he had felt when her fist made contact with his gut. He was thankful she hadn't bludgeoned him to death with the vase that was currently sitting on her coffee table. He could see the contents of the vase from outside the doorway to his sensei's living room.

"Um, sensei you can throw those out if you want. I won't mind"

"What do you mean?"

She sounded genuinely confused.

He sighed. There was no need to play dumb to spare his feelings. He had hurt her worse than he had expected but here she was trying to be a good teacher all over again.

"I was talking about the flowers. I know you kept them because you didn't want to throw them away while I was in your house. You thought my feelings would be hurt but I don't mind. Those flowers did the complete opposite of what I had intended. Sorry again sensei."

Hiratsuka looked back at the flowers. She tried to remember the last time someone gave her flowers. She had a hard time remembering and decided it was better to not drudge up those past memories. These lilies are fresh and she would water them daily to keep them from wilting on her.

"No need to apologize Hikigaya. And what made you think I want to throw them out?"

"You don't?"

"Of course not"

He looked puzzled. Like this was another problem from his mathematic textbook. Hadn't he solved enough problems for today? She should really cut him some slack. He already knew those flowers would be thrown out. If not right now then perhaps tomorrow, and if not tomorrow maybe the day after tomorrow. Flowers are meant to die when they are uprooted from a plant. She would forget to take care of them, forget to water them and they will probably dry up. Now that would look horrible and make the smell of her living room far worse. He could already imagine the smell of tobacco, alcohol and rotting plants. He was not looking forward to this nuisance for his nose. He decided to try one last time.

"Are you sure sensei?"

"I can throw you out instead Hikigaya. Do you want that?"

"No ma'am"

---

She gently locked the door after she made sure he left her neighbourhood. He had a tendency to loiter around unnecessarily. Or so she had been told from her other students. Those could probably be rumours but she didn't want to take any chance.

The last time he left she had taken up smoking and drinking to comfort her. But this time around thoughts of indulging in those bad habits of hers never crossed her mind.

She decided to lay down on her sofa and closed her eyes resulting in heightening her sense of smell. The vase was within reach and she opened her left eye, just a crack and plucked a single lily from the rest of the floral arrangement neatly kept inside the vase.

She laid there with her back against the soft cushion, her feet slightly curled up and decided to finally have the courage of bringing this exquisite flower close to her nose. She inhaled deeply and got lost in the fragrance. Lost in the comfort of privacy knowing she would be alone and he would be lonely. Maybe for the time being. Maybe forever. These smelled heavenly and that's all that mattered.

She closed her eye but forgot to put the flower back inside the vase. The flower lay over her breast, rising and falling in a steady rhythmic fashion. She breathed calmly and dreamt about significance of white lilies. She heard a foreign exchange student say white lilies stand for innocence and virginity. She felt herself blushing even in her sleep. Then she remembered this student saying something about Madonna. Then she remembered lilies having close association with death

Hiratsuka opened her eyes and resumed a sitting position on her sofa. She placed the lily back into the vase and wondered what was going through Hikigaya and his rotten brain.

At the end she shrugged her shoulders and decided to head to her bedroom. On a whim she decided the vase would look good on her nightstand but she would be sure to put it back on the coffee table before their next tutoring session.

---

In their next tutoring session Hikigaya found the lilies watered and healthy kept at the same vase and at the same spot on the coffee table. He also noticed that her house smelt less of tobacco and he caught not scent of alcohol.

Must be the flowers, he thought.

---

..Two Weeks Later

Hiratsuka Shizuka had many complaints. Most of them were addressed towards the top management of Sobu High. They took advantage of her 'young' age and dropped a majority of their responsibilities upon her lithe little shoulders. She was an adult woman and she prided herself in living upto most of those responsibilities. But of course they often forgot that she was human. She was bound to make mistakes. When it came to pointing out her faults, never once did they take her youthful inexperience into account.

Such hypocrites!

Urgh! Now she sounded like her dead fish eyed student. Yes! Hikigaya Hachiman is entirely responsible for everything wrong with her life. He is a creepy little loner who has corrupted her entire existence by stepping into her humble home. She is doomed! Why did everything have to be so difficult? A teacher should influence their student not the other way around. Urgh! Now he was making her doubt her own teaching skills, something she prided upon since she became a teacher in Sobu High.

Truly, Hikigaya Hachiman is evil. There! She said it!

Now she should stop lazing about and water those plants. They really look good in her bedroom. She kept them on top of her nightstand. After waking up every morning, she would freshen herself up by taking a long whiff from these beautiful flowers and every night, before getting ready for bed, she would run her fingers through their delicate petals and afterwards fall asleep, happy and content.

She loved those flowers, her beautiful white lilies. She watered them daily without a miss and she was even beginning to keep her curtains open to provide them with enough sunlight. She was seriously considering taking up gardening as a habit. She had plenty of bad habits, smoking and drinking mostly. Developing a good habit, for once would be a wonderful change.

---

She cursed her luck and called herself stupid for answering her doorbell without looking. She was proficient in martial arts and she could take care of herself but unfortunately she had trouble remembering whether she was expecting one of her students to drop by, unannounced, at her house.

Her student, being one Hikigaya Hachiman, hardly elevated her worries.

She was thankful, she was wearing proper enough clothes to meet with a student, for she would have clearly died out of embarrassment had she been spotted, lounging around in one of her short shorts and tank tops, like she was used to in her home.

Of course, Hikigaya Hachiman made no comments on her choice of clothing. He sees her walking around in a lab coat, of all things, despite being a language teacher and he was used to her several eccentricities by now and turning a blind eye to them had become second nature to him.

"Can I come in sensei?"

"Sure Hikigaya. You can come in. You know where to sit, right?"

"On the sofa, sensei."

"Absolutely correct! At least you learnt something from our tutoring sessions. Speaking of tutoring sessions, remind me, did we have one planned for today?"

"No."

And he refused to utter another single syllable. He just went over and sat down on her sofa, placed his school bag on her coffee table and released a deep world weary sigh, which made him look like a person engaged in slave labour for many millenniums. Only he was capable of pulling this off and making it seem remotely believable

Of course his eyes made him look tired all the time, tired of schoolwork, tired of life, tired of mostly everything. One day he would say he was tired of getting tired.

Now, Hiratsuka Shizuka considered herself a polite woman but even she was getting tired of his attitude. She wondered whether it would be terribly impolite of her to ask what the hell he was doing here right now. Then she remembered how he was used to getting treated badly by everyone and she decided why should she be left out of the fun.

She sat opposite to him on a chair and re-enacted their sitting arrangement from whenever she called him over for one of their tutoring sessions. He hated change and here she was pandering to his whims. She decided to remind him of his place.

"Why are you here Hikigaya?"

"Um, it's about a request for the service club. You wanted to keep yourself informed about the kind of requests we handle and well, here I am keeping you informed. Hope you are happy sensei."

She was the exact opposite of happy. Unhappy. Of course, her student already knew about it and this was only his way of making her feel miserable. She decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"We have these things called phones Hikigaya. Have you heard about them? You should buy one and while you're at it, you should also buy a new brain because your old one has clearly become completely rotten."

He looked hardly offended by her mockery. She wondered whether insults even registered into his brain these days. He had been called many horrible things and yet he act unaffected. Of course this had to be an act. He showed a blank face to others, made his eyes look dead, and silently suffered the consequences of his actions. She often wondered whether she was wrong in her decision to place him in the service club. She may never know.

"Sensei, this new request. I would like to handle it personally."

Or maybe she would know right now.

"What kinda request are we talking about?"

She was well aware of many of the requests undertaken by the service club and she had made it her business to know about the methods employed by all three club members to solve each and every request brought to their collective attention.

She was not keeping scores like she promised when she forced Hikigaya to join this club. She doubted whether he remembered he was an unwilling participant in a contest where the winner could make the loser do anything.

Of course knowing him, he must have this little information locked somewhere in his rotten little brain. His memory was amazingly creepy and his resemblance to a stalker helped him gain his rotten reputation and his unwillingness to change made him refrain from doing anything about it.

He would do anything do get the job done and that made her worry. Hearing him right now made her fidget in her chair and here she was, thinking she would have a nice time, all to herself, moments before he arrived and ruined everything.

This was so typical of him and here was another. He refused to let others in on his schemes, considering it an alternative of keeping others away from shouldering this terrible burden, even going to such lengths as to keep his own teacher in the dark. She wouldn't take any of that.

"Tell me Hikigaya. What is this request about?"

She was watching him think up a way to carefully evade the question. She almost found this entertaining. Here he was trying to figure out what to tell her and what to leave out. He would never tell her the complete truth. She never expected it of him for it was clearly not in his nature. But it was in her nature to coax, at least a little bit of truth out of him and if that meant beating some sense into him then she held no qualms about employing violence.

She was not perfect and when she cracked her knuckles a certain someone found his self-preservation skills kicking in.

"T-Tobe. Tobe from our class, you know, the one in Hayama's clique. He came in with the request."

Warning bells began to sound in her head. She knew about his fake confession, about his latest attempt at social suicide. She was not pleased with what he did but by the time she had found out she could do nothing. But not this time around. She would have her say.

"And what is the request?"

Her tone of voice made it certain that he would not be exiting her apartment without giving her every bit of information she asked. He already knew the consequences of refusing and decided to offer up Tobe as a sacrificial lamb.

"He wanted me to complete a videogame for him. He got stuck in difficult level and he thought I could help him out a little."

Hiratsuka Shizuka was confused. She needed a moment to take this all in.

When she became an advisor to the service club she thought, the club members would seek her consultation over difficult problems which were beyond their capabilities. In her attempts to be a respectful teacher, she tried never to be judgmental to her students and did her utmost best to treat them with equality and fairness. But she had her limits. She tried again.

"He wants you to finish a videogame for him?"

"Yes"

She had better things to do and clearly this was a right moment to give her troubled student some good piece of advice.

"Refuse. Just flat out refuse."

He smiled and she couldn't help but shudder. He really looked creepy when he smiled. Forget about his eyes, his smile needed a lot of work to become acceptable in modern day society. Of course, the smile vanished as soon as it came. He must have realised he was being extremely creepy and he, once again, schooled his emotions perfectly.

"Thanks sensei. I will let him know tomorrow."

"And tell him he should be focusing on his studies instead of wasting his time around playing stupid videogames."

"…you can tell him yourself sensei"

"Maybe I will. Is there anything else you like to talk about Hikigaya?"

He looked at her for a moment then collected his bag from her coffee table and stood up.

"No sensei. I better leave. I have school tomorrow"

"You make it sound like I don't."

"Well sensei, no one punches you in the gut for being late, now do they?"

"Oh shut up. You deserved getting punched for making such a lame excuse. Working corporate hours! Don't make me laugh, Hikigaya."

She smiled and walked with him till he was standing outside of her home.

They never exchange any parting greetings, he never says goodbye, and she never asks why. But she always ends up giving him a firm reminder.

"Remember Hikigaya, we have our tutoring sessions on weekends. Don't be late."

This was her invitation.

"Looking forward to it sensei"

This was his promise.

Both of them had nothing further to add. He was leaving her but he would be back soon. She was watching him leave, knowing he would come back to her. They had a long journey ahead. They would be meeting one another, their interactions would grow but for the time being they found an unknown comfort in keeping up appearances. Him, just showing up, meant something to her and her, just being there, meant something to him.

Meant what? Both of them didn't know. But for the time being both of them were content at remaining ignorantly blissful. She didn't ask what stopped him from calling her and having this entire conversation take place all over their respective mobile phones. However, she decided against searching for a deeper meaning in his visits. He was unwilling to tell her and she had reservations over asking him.

He was just around the neighbourhood and decided to drop by, she thought to herself.

---

...Three Weeks Later

Hiratsuka Shizuka was a very perceptive woman and she had made it a habit of repeating this to herself whenever she noticed small changes in just about anyone who she had to deal with on a regular basis, which mostly and unfortunately meant her students.

As a teacher she noticed changes in her students, she could practically read their emotions on their faces by studying their eyes and body language. Her students were simple minded people, bothered about simple things, mostly their homework, their crushes, their idle gossips and of course their animated chitchat about falling in love and all the happiness associated with being in a relationship.

However one of her students, a certain Hikigaya Hachiman continued to respect his so called 'status quo'. He was an exception to everything and everyone, an outcast, a loner. He never mingled, he never joined in on any conversation and he kept his thoughts mostly to himself. Unless he was handling a request for the service club, his interactions were mostly limited only to his club mates and her. She was the advisor of this service club and even though Yukinoshita Yukino was the president, it was Hikigaya Hachiman who handled most requests, solved all problems and always ended up hurting himself in some manner or form while never understanding the consequences of his actions.

But now she was here, she was his teacher and through this tutoring session she was willing to help him learn and understand more than just high school level mathematics and science.

Of course this was a one way street. It was her responsibility to teach him and it was his task to soak in all her knowledge and use them whichever way he wants. She never considered learning something from him and she often wondered whether she was wrong because everyone has something to learn and everyone has something to teach.

However like her student she refused to learn.

---

Hikigaya Hachiman came to her home for their next tutoring session like he promised.

He was neither late nor early, neither gloomy nor enthusiastic.

In short he was himself like she had come to expect.

He sat on a sofa, kept his school bag on her coffee table and she took a chair, facing him and thus began their usual interactions where both of them took on their respective roles and participated in a banal bubble of redundant routine.

However Hiratsuka Shizuka was a perceptive woman and his teacher. Hence she easily spotted subtle changes and alterations in his body language but like a good teacher she kept her thoughts to herself.

Or at least until she was done making him study some basic geometry.

Truly, Hikigaya Hachiman was horrible in mathematics but today he seemed a little more distracted than usual.

"Pay more attention!"

"Ah, sorry sensei"

She noticed him, his eyes especially and saw him, looking at those lilies of her kept in a vase on top of the coffee table. His school bag was lying right beside it.

"You want to take something out of your bag Hikigaya?"

"Not at all sensei. What made you say that?"

She decided against pursuing it any further.

"Never mind. Focus on your studies"

"Gladly sensei"

But after a couple more minutes Hiratsuka Shizuka lost her patience because Hikigaya Hachiman kept losing his attention and his eyes would always wander over to his schoolbag. She had already asked him whether he had something in it and he had already given his replying saying he did not but clearly he was lying. She reached over and closed his text book with an ominous snap of finality and after receiving a heated look from her purple eyes, Hikigaya Hachiman understood that this was his time to plead guilty. His throat felt dry and he gulped.

"Can I have a glass of water sensei?"

But he could stall and delay the inevitable.

"Sure Hikigaya. I will be right back."

She could play along. For all she knew he might actually be thirsty but for some twisted reason he was hesitating from asking her to give him a glass of water. He was a loner with dead fish eyes who looked a little creepy but surely no one would deny him a glass of water. She had at least this much faith in humanity and to prove it she hurried into her kitchen to fetch him a glass of water.

She returned within minutes and caught him red handed.

"What are you doing Hikigaya?"

"Nothing sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka saw stupid on a regular basis. It was almost an occupational hazard associated with teaching high-school students. However she expected Hikigaya Hachiman to be a little bit different. But here he was, messing with her beautiful lilies and calling it nothing. He had taken out all the lilies and was in the process of inspecting them when she came in and surprised him and now he was standing there looking like an idiot, flower in one hand and an empty vase in another.

"I will ask again. What are you doing Hikigaya?"

Her voice was low, dangerously low and she was holding the glass of water he had asked for a minute ago with incredible firmness, almost like she was imagining the glass to be his throat and by the looks of it she was planning to strangle him yet again. Of course strangling him would have to wait for if she applied anymore pressure, she would shatter the glass and hurt herself in the process.

"Can I have that glass sensei?"

"…Put those down first."

This was beginning to sound like a hostage negotiation gone wrong.

He half expected the water to be boiling with the amount of heat radiating from her gaze but after he drank a mouthful of the cold liquid, he found himself calming down a little. Of course calmness was a hard thing to find when a violent woman was glaring daggers at your face instead of your back for his sensei didn't even have the courtesy of doing this when he turned around.

On the other hand presenting his back to her was not a clever thing to do right now. He had angered her by disturbing her flowers, obviously she no longer cared that these were given to her by him but he was fairly certain that his chances at surviving this would become nil if he said nothing to her right now. Hence, he tried coming up with a believable lie.

"Don't even think about lying Hikigaya. Just tell me the truth."

But she was afraid of hearing the truth herself. She believed honesty was a virtue, over the years she taught her students this exact same lesson but nonetheless she also learned that there was nothing crueller than a sincere explanation which could erase a lovely misunderstanding and demolish an imaginary miscommunication. She waited in anticipation for a bubble to burst.

"…those were not here before."

"Excuse me"

She heard his explanation but like always he failed to make himself comprehensible to people who were well versed in communicating with members of society only by using longer sentences and bigger words.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was one of them and no matter how much he wished she couldn't turn into a telepath and read his thoughts. Instead she wanted to hear him speak his mind and clearing her throat in a rather obvious manner was her attempt to make him continue this explanation of his which by any standard was lacking in both effort and content.

After clearing her throat and hearing not further elaboration, her words became tinged with mild impatience.

"Explain Hikigaya!"

He had no other choice but to confess.

"I'm talking about these sensei."

He pointed his index finger at the vase full of flowers which he had disturbed a few moments ago that led to this whole debacle and infuriated his sensei this much.

Currently they were placed, peaceful on the coffee table like they should be and Hiratsuka Shizuka found no problem in their arrangement.

"What's wrong with them?"

"Those were missing a few days ago."

Hiratsuka Shizuka was glad she was sitting on her chair when she heard him say those words. She was careless and he had just dropped by a couple of days ago, unannounced, which was something completely out of character for a guy like him and unfortunately, she had been caught off guard by his casual presence.

Finally she understood what he was saying but this made her feel extremely guilty. She was not expecting him, when he came by a few days ago to discuss with her a request made by Tobe to the service club to which she acted as an advisor.

At that particular moment she paid no heed to the condition of her room and overlooked the fact that the vase containing the flowers he had given to her as an apology was kept in her bedroom instead of her living room.

As expected nothing escaped his dead fish eyes and every detail got registered in his rotten brain. Against her better judgement she decided to open her mouth.

"They were not missing Hikigaya. I kept them in my bedroom instead."

She started of strong but her voice kept getting lower and lower with each uttered syllable. Her mind was telling her, warning her, she was telling him too much but words kept flowing from her mouth.

Hikigaya was not accusing her of anything and there was no hint of resentment in his voice. His voice, like always, was a lazy drawl marred by many afterthoughts and many unspoken words. He said little but whenever he did, he always chose his words wisely, something which Hiratsuka Shizuka was growing incapable of doing for the past few minutes which was clearly evidenced by the fact that she had just blurted out a secret she was unwilling to share.

However it would have been worth it if Hikigaya gave a proper response instead of trying to look over her shoulder at the direction of her bedroom. She was glad she had the forethought of keeping her bedroom closed whenever he came over for their tutoring session and unless he could see through walls and wooden doors, her privacy was safe and secure.

"Ah, I understand sensei"

Guess she was getting her hopes up for no reason.

Her mind ran a step by step analysis of this claim to break down every possible interpretation of this statement in order to completely comprehend the meaning and understand the mindset of the speaker.

She started with her own experience and according to Hiratsuka Shizuka all guys are perverts. Then she moved on to entertaining rumours and according to Yukinoshita, Hikigaya Hachiman is a pervert. Needless to say Hikigaya Hachiman is a guy. Hence her inference based on sound reasoning dictated to her only one outcome which concluded with the knowledge that like most high school boys Hikigaya Hachiman is also a pervert.

With a sneer on her lips she asked him to further enlighten her.

"And what do you understand Hikigaya?"

"…Nothing sensei. Um, could you help me solve this equation?"

She smiled at his effort to escape by changing their line of conversation and bringing it back to their primary goal of having a studious tutoring session. But for the time being Hiratsuka Shizuka wanted to teach him another type of lesson.

Regardless, she took a look at the equation which was supposedly giving him trouble and with a few strokes of her pen she solved it in a matter of minutes, with enough time left to gloat and continue their previous conversation.

"There! Problem solved. Now back to what you were saying"

"…I forgot what I was saying sensei"

"No, no, no! You forget nothing Hikigaya. You were telling me about how you understood something. Tell me, what did you understand?"

"…Understand what sensei?"

She was growing incredibly frustrated at his cheap attempts to tiptoe over the entire issue and confuse her with clever wordplay and needless repetitions. But she was not a woman who would easily back down and to push him into a corner she laid all her cards on the table. Exhaling loudly she reigned in her anger and spoke through clenched teeth.

"What did you understand when I said I keep these flowers in my bedroom?"

She was not blushing. She told herself repeatedly in her mind that her cheeks were becoming bright red with suppressed rage not embarrassment.

She looked at Hikigaya who was carefully looking at her vase, then at his textbooks, and then at the pen she was holding tightly in her clenched fist like all of them were a form of improvised weaponry which could inflict him immense pain when he made her angry. As expected, his voice shook with hesitance.

"…will you hit me sensei?"

"That depends on your answer Hikigaya"

"Meaning you will hit me. Ok then, just don't poke my eyes out with a pen."

"…"

Her silence was far graver than he expected and watching her roll over her pen to him across the coffee table made him fear for his life because this meant she had actually thought about stabbing him in the eye. He had many complaints against his dead fish eyes but regardless he cherished the gift of vision that was currently showing him no way out of this frightful situation which only promised to grow far more dreadful by the second.

Regardless he decided to show courage for once.

"I think your bedroom has the same problem as your living room sensei."

She only needed to think about it for a minute before fully comprehending what he was actually saying and when she did her temper gradually began to rise at this sense of déjà vu.

"…you're saying my bedroom stinks?"

She saw him gulp before he faintly replied.

"…your words not mine sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka was having trouble controlling her anger again. On one hand she was glad he had kept his perversions at bay for his answer was neither lewd nor scandalous. It was a short reply, carefully thought out and he had showed the courage of using her words against him.

As a language teacher she should be proud of this accomplishment of her student but as a single working woman, who looked after her own home, she was hardly pleased by his criticism.

Her bedroom didn't stink!

Regardless, she realized Hikigaya had refused to shed any light on his reasons behind vandalising her flower vase and she decided to hold him accountable. She asked him again in a conversational tone.

"Say Hikigaya, why were you messing with the vase in the first place?"

"Um, I thought I told you sensei. It's because I thought they were missing"

He was lengthening his sentence which meant he was trying to hide his own embarrassment. Of course she caught onto it rather quickly.

"But they were not missing Hikigaya. You saw them before you today. Then why?"

She left the rest unsaid and waited patiently. Hikigaya kept his eyes on her flower vase and replied shortly.

"I thought you picked them up from the garbage sensei when you knew I would be coming today."

She took another moment to have all this sink in.

Hikigaya spoke or was rather choosing to speak currently in an arbitrary manner.

He was refraining from speaking coherently and she understood this was his attempt to puzzle her. Anyone else would call him an idiot and give up but she at least felt herself understanding him better overtime.

She remembered on their second tutoring session he had given her these flowers but before leaving he had said this stupid thing about how she should throw them away because he felt like this gift of his had offended her further instead of granting him her forgiveness.

These flowers, these lilies had done the exact opposite of what he intended, he said.

Of course she playful warned him that she would throw him away if he said something this stupid again.

Now she realized what it looked like when he came in a few days ago and saw those flowers he had given her missing. She decided against digging deeper into her more unrealistic thoughts and decided somehow Hikigaya felt, that since these flowers were missing, they had been thrown out and if they were thrown out, then his apology was also unaccepted.

Thinking about it made no sense but she was not dealing with a completely reasonable person. Hikigaya Hachiman was a person who would think somebody would throw away flowers in the trash and then just pick them up another day and display them in their living room. Of course, he had already said her home stunk no less than three times and she really didn't want to know what he thought about her sense of personal hygiene. He saw her smoke and drink and making assumptions from these bad habits of hers was easily possible.

However she wanted to make one thing clear.

"I never threw away these flowers Hikigaya"

"I believe you sensei"

His reply was instant and it made her feel happy to know she had finally gained his confidence after all this embarrassment and hard work.

Now she could resume their tutoring session with renewed gusto. But unfortunately Hikigaya chose this inopportune moment to open his mouth and continue talking because certainly he had missed the subtle hint that this particular line of conversation was already over. But he carried on in the same vein and said:

"And about your bedroom problems-"

"Don't say it like that!"

Hikigaya Hachiman is a pervert! She has evidenced proof now. There was no away he could say those words without knowing they carried an innuendo.

"Sensei I can solve your problem"

"Stop it! Stop it Hikigaya! I'm not hearing this"

To emphasise her point she placed both her hands on her ears to muffle his voice. However his voice carried over and she heard him clearly across the coffee table.

"I will bring some more flowers next time sensei"

"…Focus on your studies Hikigaya!"

"Y-yes ma'am"

Like always Hikigaya Hachiman misunderstood her look to mean anger and her halting voice to mean annoyance.

---

Hiratsuka Shizuka was worried she had committed a horrible mistake.

Like a prisoner of war about to be presented before a firing squad, she was smoking like crazy but she had refrained from pouring herself a drink thinking she might do something further stupid like drunk-dialling one Hikigaya Hachiman.

After their tutoring session he had left and now a couple of hours later Hiratsuka Shizuka was torn with indecision.

He had promised to bring her more flowers and throughout the course of their study session she forgot to tell him, not to bring any. She was embarrassed and felt self-conscious all of a sudden. She could try sending him a text, telling him not to bother with flowers but then someone might read her text by accident. She was sounding paranoid and she blamed it on the mystery manga she had been reading for the past few hours to dissuade her mind from wandering into unhelpful thoughts. She could call him but then again she lost all her confidence in thinking about what to say to him.

He promised to bring her flowers.

Why? To solve her bedroom problems

Anybody would consider this an extreme form of dirty talk but not him.

Apparently he was worried about his own nostrils because he found it unbearable to study at her place unless her entire home smelled like a garden.

Surely Hikigaya Hachiman had high standards!

Fearing for his life at the last moment he had phrased his words rather carefully and omitted to use the words 'smell' and 'stink' in any given instance. Instead he said these flowers will match her home décor. She was certain Hikigaya Hachiman had no clue about what went with her personal décor and she was thankful his maths textbook was heavy enough to land a heavy blow on his head which was capable of even flattening his stupid ahoge.

However when they were talking about this she once again failed to refuse his future offer to bring her more flowers

Why?

She didn't have to take this!

She could call him right now and cancel their next tutoring session. She took her out mobile phone but unfortunately it read no network. She cursed to herself and decided to head out of her apartment for a better chance to make this call yet she was incapable of rearranging her own thoughts which had begun to form a whirlpool of indecision.

She opened her main entrance and was surprised at what she saw. Her lit cigarette fell from her mouth and she felt her grip loosen from her phone. There was nothing she could do but step on the unfinished cigarette and extinguish its flames but she held onto her phone with all her might. She might need to call a doctor because certainly she was seeing things, because there was no possible way a bunch of purple hyacinths, wrapped in an old newspaper, was jammed into the outer door handle of her apartment.

She carefully took the flowers out and took them inside her home, where in the bright artificial lights, she discovered a small note attached to them, carrying a very recognizable and distinct handwriting.

It simply read-"Problem solved sensei"

She sighed and went into her kitchen to retrieve another vase.

"You have no idea Hikigaya", she said to herself.

---

Next morning she woke up early and after taking her morning bath she spent most of her time brushing her hair like always before leaving for Sobu High.

Her long black hair reached her shins and though taking care of it proved to be tiresome and time consuming on many occasions, especially when she had to hurry up and be on time for school to set a proper example for her students, she always allowed herself to have ample time to carefully brush and comb each of her natural strands until they fell over her shoulders in a smooth manner which was soft to touch and glossy to look at.

Looking at her reflection in her vanity mirror while brushing, her eyes caught another object resting upon her nightstand which was a latest addition to her humble household.

She had decided to keep the hyacinths in her bedroom and the lilies in her living room. There was no particular reason behind her decision. It was taken completely at random.

However, as expected Hikigaya Hachiman was completely clueless about matching things to her home décor.

These purple flowers matched nothing.

She already knew purple was a very particular colour.

They felt out of place in her living room, in her kitchen and in her bedroom.

They matched nothing!

…Except her eyes.

She came to this realization a few moments ago while she was staring at her own reflection in front of her vanity mirror. She was no longer brushing her hair anymore. The purple hyacinths had the exact same shade as her eyes.

…Her purple eyes.

Just a coincidence, she thought to herself.

---

...In December

Hiratsuka Shizuka had a lit cigarette between her lips, a stack of unchecked papers on her desk and an offending piece of paper clenched tightly in her hand which was coming close to bursting out in flames by the intensity of her gaze.

After wasting no less then fifteen minutes trying to decipher this abomination which had somehow made its way into her pile of unchecked assignments without spreading illiteracy and idiocy more likely to be found in crackpot scientist foretelling about an oncoming apocalypse and predicting the very end of our world. She was amazed to find that despite being a complete piece of garbage, which went completely out of the set parameters of the topic, this essay, if she dared to call it that, was still written in an articulate and sophisticated form, which made the other essays in her pile read like doodles drawn by elementary school kids instead of the usual high school brats.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was dealt with a bad hand and her luck refused to shine despite this immense passage of time. She had improved her outlook and attitude towards people and she had done her fair share to get along with most of them but there seemed to be some unwashable stain, some unwashable stench sticking to her body and soul, which was dissuading her from completely changing her personality. She had come a long way from her university days, she had learned from her mistakes, made peace with her past but something was making her unable, discouraging her even, to completely let go of her own ideals. Miscalculations regarding relationships and human emotions continued to plague her and like her family loved to point out, it was messing with her chances of getting married.

She took a long drag from her cigarette and watched these swirling clouds of smoke gather over her head and reach towards the ceiling of the faculty room where they slowly vanished into thin air from the breeze passing through from an open window. She drew a parallel of her entire life with these vanishing strands of smoke. Outwardly she looked free, dancing and swaying, caught up in movements of a playful wind but within a fraction of a second a gust could blow her away and extinguish her fragile reality.

Hiratsuka Shizuka shook her head to clear herself of these melancholic thoughts and then she proceeded to smoke silently while mentally complaining about the unfairness associated with reading pessimistic essays written by a loner with dead fish eyes. She was expecting him to arrive any moment now to further elaborate upon this outlandish essay of his in a vain attempt to propagate his twisted logic and warped sense of reasoning onto her.

She gave a deep sigh, flicked some ash from her cigarette into an ashtray and then continued smoking like always while entertaining her thoughts. Mandatory school hours were already over by a final chime from an electronic bell and here she was waiting for him to make her day end on a miserable note. After tutoring him on her Sundays it was only fitting to have him contribute to her Monday Blues but at least now she had a better reason to drink after returning home.

---

Hikigaya Hachiman received summons from his home room teacher and like a good student he made his way towards this faculty room which had gradually become a place closely associated with divine retribution and physical violence, aimed at improving his outlook towards life to make him a mediocre member of society. Without any further delay he walked towards a figure clad in a lab coat and waited for her to finish her cigarette.

Hiratsuka Shizuka stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray and looked at him with doleful eyes. Like always, Hikigaya Hachiman averted his gaze from her direction and found a solitary chair in a forgotten corner far more worthy of his attention.

"Say Hikigaya, do you ever read your essays out loud before submitting them to me?"

"…I tend to read them silently sensei"

"Of course you do! Otherwise someone might have heard these by now and thrown you into prison for crimes against humanity"

"…"

Hikigaya Hachiman continued to avert his gaze from her direction but he had excellent peripheral vision, a skill which he had carefully crafted and honed, after he made a commitment to himself to pursue this solitary path of an exemplary loner and refrain from willingly associating with sociable members of society. Utilising this skill he took a look at his teacher and her work desk while remaining constantly on high alert for any oncoming punches aimed at his gut.

Her work desk was not an exemplary example of a dedicated teacher who considered teaching a higher calling and her service, a noble profession aimed at creating a better future for every student who would one day become excellent members of society. Like his sensei, her desk, gave a false impression about her personality and sullied her image of an educator who tried her best to redeem lost souls like him.

Hiratsuka Shizuka found him acting like himself and for once she was glad at his notion of maintaining his sacred 'status quo'. She was slightly worried about any change taking place in their interactions during high school after those occurrences which happened at her home during their scheduled tutoring sessions. Calling them occurrences might be an over exaggeration but she had nothing else to label his abrupt offerings of flowers to her without having any amorous connotations.

After his first tutoring session caused irritation to his sensitive nose, a complaint he wisely kept to himself, he decided to eradicate this problem by undertaking certain steps which he failed to mention to her while leaving her apartment after his tutoring session came to an end.

On his second tutoring session he brought lilies and upon asking, he specifically said that these flowers were not for her but for her living room, and then he unwisely went on to mention how her apartment stank from her smoking and drinking habits and needless to say he left this tutoring session after getting taught several lessons from an irate educator who took offense to his hurtful comment, pertaining to her apartment carrying a stench. Her lessons left a mark and formed a bruise but afterwards his flowers found a place on her nightstand. After giving her lilies he once dropped by announced into her apartment to discuss a foolish request made to the service club to which she gave him some very important advice which amounted to rejecting that request downright. He left without saying anything else except promising he would be back again for their next scheduled tutoring session. On his next tutoring sessions there was a lot of confusing caused by him which was finally cleared when he made a promise to bring her more flowers to solve her bedroom problems. Needless to say he was dumb and stupid and completely misunderstood this situation resulting in her getting completely embarrassed which made her unable to reject his offer. By time she came to her senses, she was already late and there was nothing left to do but accept his offer of hyacinth to improve her home décor. They matched nothing in her home but these flowers had the exact shade as her eyes but once again she found this nothing more than a mere coincidence. However, she had her doubts which cleared completely when he chose to ignore the latest addition on her faculty room work desk.

Hiratsuka Shizuka had everything cluttered on her work desk except for a slim vase capable of holding only two flowers- one was a white lily and the other was a purple hyacinth. Hikigaya Hachiman shifted his eyes only a little when she habitually ran one of her fingers over a few petals of this small floral arrangement.

"Got you attention, I see"

"You never lost it sensei"

Miniscule changes, almost negligible in nature, had taken place in their interactions and though anyone in their present vicinity paid no heed to them, she was certain he was not completely absent minded. Her work desk reflected her personality and defined her individuality. Strewn books, stacks of unchecked assignments, uncapped pens and markers, dull pencils and dirty erasers, made her into a three dimensional figure, not an uneven caricature. A pack of cigarette and an astray spoke of her tragedy in life but everyone especially her colleagues mistook it for callousness and insensitivity towards her teaching career which was marred by troubled students and him.

Hikigaya Hachiman belonged to separate breed of high school students. He had no other and by his propensity to remain alone and lead a solitary existence, it seemed he was in no hurry to start an occult or spread a religion. Without meeting him, one can have the unfortunate capability to formulate his character and identity by studying his twisted essays which was tremendously close to being called hate speeches. He was not a bigot by any means, he was severely lacking in extremism on any department but his writings had a tendency to evoke thought which she found nothing more than a guilty pleasure.

"Now Hikigaya, remind me. What was the topic of your essay?"

"Uses of wind energy sensei"

His voice was flat and toneless like reading items from a grocery list and his eyes continued to evade from her scrutiny. She tapped a finger ominously over his essay and caused a small crease with her fingernail which made him wince on a subconscious level.

"And now tell me Hikigaya, how did you begin your essay? What was the very first sentence that came to your mind?"

"'Like airheads, wind energy is completely unreliable and unpredictable, causing major noise disturbances and threatening wildlife, hence it should only be allowed in hilly areas away from populous civilisation"

"There! You see where you went wrong Hikigaya."

"…"

"You don't see do you?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka sighed and rubbed her temple to prevent an approaching headache. Hikigaya Hachiman was asked to write about uses of wind energy and he began his essay by comparing it to airheads, which he then chose to elaborate further by explaining various disadvantages of this particular form of renewable energy with his typical rotten reasoning and sophisticated writing.

Regardless, he made an effort which, was evidenced by his ability to recite it without having to take a single look from his assignment, which was lying face down on her work desk.

"You were supposed to write about various uses of wind energy not its disadvantages. Did you write about any of the uses of wind energy Hikigaya?"

"…I wrote four uses sensei."

"Mind telling them to me"

He took a moment to gather his thoughts before starting an imaginary countdown. Hiratsuka Shizuka hoped he would be smart enough to skip over a certain detail although she already knew he would hardly miss a single thing even if it was stupid and idiotic not to mention completely unacademic to mention in a high school essay which was later handed to a respectable teacher.

"Pumping water, grinding grain, generating electricity and assisting in tennis. These are the four uses I wrote about sensei."

"…Assisting in tennis? Really Hikigaya! Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Of course not sensei. But during a past request made before the service club I utilised the sea breeze to win a tennis match. I felt it was as good a use as any of wind energy and so I wrote about it in this essay."

"Writing about changes in sea breeze is not the same as writing essays about wind energy Hikigaya."

"Why? Air is air, sensei."

Hiratsuka Shizuka took a moment to careful come up with a retort but she found herself lacking in forming any witty comeback. Hikigaya Hachiman had a point and though academically he was wrong in a literal sense he was right.

Of course that hardly made up for writing an entire paragraph about using wind to win a tennis match and the possibilities it presented towards other games and sports. Hikigaya Hachiman was clearly wasting his time and by an extension he was wasting her time as well.

She already knew which request he was talking about and though he was careful enough not to mention any names, he was unable to refrain from highlighting certain characteristics from several players involved with that particular scene on that particular tennis court. From his descriptions she could clearly picture Totsuka Saika, one of her students, and on a subconscious level it made her shudder to wonder about certain implications of this meticulous pen picture.

Hiratsuka Shizuka toyed with a glass paper weight and decided to humour those thoughts another day when her mind was not trying to mimic Ebina Hina, a fujoshi, who was in a habit of shipping Hikigaya Hachiman with Hayama Hayato. Truly, Hiratsuka Shizuka had a miserable luck when it came to her students and their prime representative was standing before her with shifty dead fish eyes and a suspicious demeanour, which can be easily mistaken with that of a creep and a stalker. But she had a way to paint him into a corner which was only possible by continued exposure to his demented ways and twisted logic. He was a forgotten book in an abandoned library but she was willing to run a finger over those dusty bindings and unfurl a few pages to quench her thirst for curiosity and elevate her own loneliness by proxy.

"You quoted a scientist in your essay Hikigaya. Do you remember who it was?"

"…Yagami Kazehana"

"You forgot to mention doctor."

"Oh sorry, Dr. Yagami Kazehana"

Hiratsuka Shizuka smiled from ear to ear and looked at him with eyes of a predator playing with his prey. Her nails scraped over his assignment paper and left more marks, once again making him flinch over an unexplainable feeling of dread.

"Now Hikigaya, I might be wrong, but here me out. Doctor Yagami Kazehana seems like a wonderful and intelligent expert of her field but sadly I found no reference of her in any documents or studies. Not even in the internet. Why is that?"

"…I don't know sensei. Maybe her quotes are lesser known to normal people"

"I thought so too. But then I wondered why did this name sound so familiar to me and after thinking about it for a while I stumbled onto something very clever. Do you know what I found clever?"

"…"

"Oh, you don't have to answer Hikigaya. It was a rhetorical question. You see, Yagami Kazehana is not a real name, in fact, it is a combination of two different names from two contrasting characters from two distinct series. Kazuma Yagami from Kaze no Stigma and Kazehana from Sekirei"

"…"

"Feeling not so clever now, are you Hikigaya? I also know where this quote is from. Though I will give you some points for picking up such a memorable quote: 'Life is like trying to sweep during windy weather' If I'm not mistaking, this is from Kekkaishi. Anything else you want to add Hikigaya? I found your essay full of many references but I don't think there was anything original about it except for your usual sophistry and cynicism."

Hiratsuka Shizuka had a smug look on her face and she was enjoying teaching her student an important lesson on discouraging him from trying to hoodwink his teacher. No matter how many times he tried, her success was inevitable. She was well read in all types of mangas and caught up with all the latest animes. However, now she was waiting for him to make a negative comment over discrepancies between her age, her reading material and her television viewing pleasures. These mangas and animes she mentioned were relatively new but he could always make a comment about her age whenever she mentioned mangas and anime regardless of them being either old or new. Her age was always a basis for comparison and her inability to play her part in a role unsuitable for anyone irked everyone. She was a teacher who loved reading mangas more than some of her students and one of them was standing before her with rotten dead fish eyes and a corrupt personality

"…Do I have to rewrite this essay sensei?"

"Excuse me?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka openly stared at him with wonderment and Hikigaya Hachiman finally found his eyes resting on her humbly seated form. His eyes remained neutral and inexpressive and betrayed neither any sentiment nor any emotion. He was not displaying any signs of anger over having her dismantle his entire work and neither was he getting worked up over repeating his mistakes again and again for only her to correct and amend. Hikigaya Hachiman was completely abnormal and unmalleable but he played his part and kept his head down, careful in limiting himself and stopping from overreaching his bounds.

Hiratsuka Shizuka found herself lost for a moment. Hikigaya Hachiman never brought up her age during this entire conversation even though he was presented with an opening which meant he was serious when he apologized after giving her lilies. He was taking her sensitivity into account but she failed to understand what that meant. At present it meant he was paying respect to his teacher.

"Yes, Hikigaya you have to rewrite your essay and give it to me today."

"But, sensei. How is that possible? School is already over"

Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at an overhung clock located over the entrance of the faculty room and realised her student was in fact, telling her the truth. Everyone was trickling out from this faculty room and only those with a penchant for gossip remained behind. Hiratsuka Shizuka was not one of them and she spent her time wisely by rebuking her loner student, although she had to say this was slowly growing tedious. Club activities finished a long time ago and only students serving out punishments remained behind under strict vigilance of their respective teachers.

"You can stay behind and finish it. How long will it take Hikigaya?"

"But sensei I want to go home early today"

Hiratsuka Shizuka never missed subtle changes in interaction and such protests when made by Hikigaya Hachiman always registered in her cluttered brain. She tried again to make sure he was clearly capable of understanding the meaning of this particular utterance.

"You want to go home early? Why?"

"I promised to help Komachi with her homework today. She is lagging behind"

Hikigaya Hachiman was many things and he was capable of using many outlandish means and deplorable methods but Hiratsuka Shizuka knew for a fact that he would never use his own sister to satisfy his own ends. He could concoct many a lies but not one of them would be about his own sister.

"You can leave Hikigaya. Just remember to resubmit you work tomorrow"

"Alright sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka watched him turn from her direction and make his way towards the exit. Unknowingly or knowingly, she didn't know but Hikigaya Hachiman had capitalised on their subtle changes in interactions to escape from a punishment. She was capable and it was within her rights and duties, directed towards a slacking student, to hold him back for detention and stop him from leaving until he finished his routine school work. She was his teacher, he was duty bound to follow her instructions or else he would suffer the consequences like her other students. Hiratsuka Shizuka was disgusted of herself when she felt like she was giving Hikigaya Hachiman preferential treatment. She was trying to help his studies but he was taking advantage of her by his offerings of lilies and hyacinths. They meant nothing to him and by essence they should mean nothing to her but on her cluttered work desk there remained two flowers in a slim vase, waiting for a caress from her fingers. Hiratsuka Shizuka solidified herself and carried out her responsibilities of a teacher.

"Hikigaya, wait just a second."

He stopped and turned around. His dead fish eyes glanced at her direction from the threshold of a quick exit. His face carried no signs of outwards impatience but a small fidget of his clammy hands against a door knob found her attention. He was in a hurry to leave but sadly he was not capable of taking this decision.

"Anything you want sensei?"

"I changed my mind. You have to stay behind and complete this essay. Otherwise I will not allow you to leave."

Hikigaya Hachiman made his way towards her direction once again but this time his dead fish eyes made steady contact with her purple gaze. She was unnerved by only a slightest fraction but she remained seated on her swivel chair like a throne. No one else was there in this faculty room and they had the complete privacy all to themselves.

"Sensei, I really want to go home. Please cut me some slack."

"No Hikigaya. You are to finish this essay right now."

Hiratsuka Shizuka watched Hikigaya Hachiman descend into deep thoughts. She wondered what his rotten little brain was planning and she waited from his to come up with a response. For now only thing she could think of was for him to offend her by showcasing a glaring loophole coincidentally missed during the course of this entire conversation.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was his homeroom teacher and his modern Japanese teacher in Sobu High. However, this essay of his was written for one of his science subjects and hence she should have no say in this particular matter. This was between him and his science teacher. This was not the first time this has happened and there were other instances before. Hiratsuka Shizuka remembered his ecological essay stating he wanted to be a bear and in that instant also, she was asked by his science teacher to deal with him and help him see reason.

Hikigaya Hachiman had one choice. He had to offend her by saying her senior colleagues dumped their work load on her and shirked responsibility leading to a failing education system to which she would counter with the usual punch to his gut. Afterwards, she would force him to finish his essays by giving threats of bodily harm and then making him lose hope of ever passing high school within three years, thus prolonging his youthful suffering. This was her routine and when it got him into joining the service club, she believed it could get him into doing anything.

"How about I rewrite this essay and deliver it to your home"

"…Excuse me"

"I will come to your house tonight sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka lost her train of thought. Gaping at him like a fish out of water, she closed her mouth and nodded her head having nothing better to offer for a reaction.

A moment later she banged her table top with enough force to leave a dent. Hikigaya Hachiman had managed to take advantage of their teacher-student relationship and escaped from finishing his essay within a fixed time period. She took another look at this offending piece of paper which he dared to call an essay and then without sparing another thought she crunched it into a ball and threw it into a dustbin.

Despising him and his very existence and most importantly his stupidly, idiotic essays, she deliberately forgot to water her vase containing to flowers given to her by him. These flowers would survive a day without water, she thought.

---

Hiratsuka Shizuka was alone at her apartment and she was down to her second cigarette packet for tonight. At some hospitals terminally ill patients received plenty of cigarettes to smoke without any stringent rules and regulations and tonight she was depressed enough to pretend that she was dying from boredom. She was dressed casually in a pair of short shorts and a loose tank top. At home she was at ease and not expecting anybody.

Hikigaya Hachiman had played her like a fiddle and she was stupid enough to fall into his carefully laid plan. He was laying a foundation and developing an excuse to escape her clutches and now through a clever choice of words, he had outsmarted her. She should have expected nothing else from a scummy student like him and it was hardly surprising that she fell for his act. In actuality, he was not pulling any act or performing any stunt, he was simply being himself. Hiratsuka Shizuka often wondered whether he was intentionally playing dumb towards the painfully obvious advances made to him by his club mates but now she had a better idea of his capabilities. Hikigaya Hachiman was oblivious to everyone but somehow he had this amazing ability to turn girls into blithering idiots. She was certain that girls around him found there intelligence lowered by double digits upon simply interacting with him and now she had become a causality to this unexplainable phenomenon. He had casually said that he would come to her house tonight and all it took was one word to make her lose her steady footing over realism.

'Tonight'

She inhaled her cigarette and released smoke through her nose, in a comical effect similar to a mythically annoyed dragon. She had completely misunderstood his sentence and her mind was filled with nothing but lilies and hyacinths. However, Hikigaya Hachiman was not coming tonight. He might have lied to her or he might have been honest, but she would never be sure of it and quite frankly, she was happy at feeling completely unbothered over his ability to break promises. This meant, she could pummel him to her heart content the very next day without feeling any regret whatsoever over never thanking him for giving her flowers. She already knew he was not expecting any thanks from her but unlike him, her social etiquette was eating at her and weighing on her conscience. But tonight, she would have no problem with her sensitive conscience because unlike her, Hikigaya Hachiman had broken a promise. He promised her that he would deliver his stupid essay at her apartment but obviously he had gone back on his words. For his own well being and continued existence, Hikigaya Hachiman better meet up with her tomorrow at Sobu High and give her his poorly written essay with a proper excuse in hand. She would be better prepared to deal with his obliviousness than she was today back in the faculty room when she made an error and allowed him to get away from her. But to his credit, he did that not for him but for his sister which was always commendable and Hiratsuka Shizuka promised that it would save him from at least two well deserved punches to his gut. But she would have no say over the half dozen other punches delivered all across his rotten body which would surely force him to pay a visit to the school infirmary much to her dismay. This called for another pack of unopened cigarette and forgetting about high school loners with a penchant for writing threatening essays.

---

At fifteen minutes past nine, she opened her front door to throw out the trash and found herself in the presence of the living breathing embodiment of everything that is rotten and disgusting. This physical entity had a pair dead fish eyes and an ahoge.

"Aren't you cold sensei?"

"What do you mean?"

Hikigaya Hachiman moved his head sideways for a moment and allowed Hiratsuka Shizuka a moment to scrutinize her own appearance. A pair of short shorts and a tank top was comfortable inside her cosy apartment while she was indulging in her vices of smoking and drinking but when she stepped outside from her apartment for a moment to throw out the trash, her body felt the chill of the fast approaching longer nights and colder months. Having her arms and legs bare was suddenly uncomfortable on various levels and she had a feeling that though Hikigaya Hachiman was averting his gaze from her general direction, his dead fish eyes might be in the process of scrutinizing her by using his more than inappropriate peripheral vision. Upon getting hit by this realisation, she dropped her trash bag onto the floor and hid herself behind the main door, thus distancing herself from him in a less than subtle manner.

"Why are you here Hikigaya?"

"…to give you my essay sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka now noticed that he was holding a piece of paper in his hands. She would have noticed this further if she were not shocked with the fact that not only Hikigaya Hachiman came to her apartment this late but he also somehow managed to catch her off guard and take a glimpse of her homely clothing. She was not ashamed of her body but she felt severely self conscious at having him here and near her presence when she was wearing less than appropriate clothing to welcome guests, especially a student of her, into her humble home.

Hikigaya Hachiman made no movement and gave no indication of wanting to enter her premises but out of social convention and proper mannerism, not to mention civility and politeness, she offered him a chance to accept her hospitality.

"D-do y-you want to come in?"

She could easily say that she was stuttering because of the cold and not because of any other obvious implication and her reddening cheeks was easily excused with this same reason. But she already knew even before asking that he would decline her offer.

"Sorry, sensei but I have to hurry. Komachi is waiting up for me. I would have come sooner but she had a lot of homework and rewriting this essay was a pain in itself. I hope you understand"

"I understand"

Hikigaya Hachiman said nothing else and gently handed his essay to his sensei. She took it from his hand without saying anything else either. Their fingers did not brush, their skins never touched and there was no exchange of a harmless greeting of a simple goodnight.

He turned his back to her and made his way towards his stationery bicycle.

"Wait a sec Hikigaya!"

He turned around and looked at his sensei with patience and serenity embodied in a skin of carefully crafted disillusionment and distortion. She looked at him with a glimmer of hesitance but her thoughts betrayed her at the penultimate moment.

"Nothing. Just remember Hikigaya, we have our tutoring sessions on weekends. Don't be late"

This was her saving grace.

"Looking forward to it sensei"

This was his missed opportunity.

---

Hiratsuka Shizuka was nursing her second bottle of beer after sending off Hikigaya Hachiman without saying a proper goodnight.

These two words, 'good' and 'night' were trapped in her throat but when he turned around with a collected demeanour and expressionless eyes, her voice hitched and she fell back on her usual parting greeting of telling him to be on time for their next tutoring session. He was late only once and that was when he brought her these lilies. She looked at her two flower vases. One was on her coffee table located in the middle of her living room and the other one was on her nightstand beside her queen sized bed. After his confusion during their last tutoring session, she had come up with a clever way to cease any form of doubt from forming in his mind regarding any implausible chance that she might throw away her flowers. Currently both her flowers vases contained a unique combination of floral arrangements which consisted of equal amounts of white lilies and purple hyacinths. She had to buy a few flowers herself to even everything out but she was certainly happy over the present arrangement and paid no mind to the small cost she spent over them. Now she had flowers at her home and also at her work desk and she had to admit that it was an improvement over her overall décor.

She drank straight from her bottle of beer and gave a deep sigh. Her flowers never needed greetings. Good mornings and goodnights was a stupid concept to them and anyone who wished them such things had severe mental problem and suffered from mild delusions. Her flowers only needed a healthy serving of water and a little caress from her fingers.

Unfortunately Hiratsuka Shizuka had no clue what Hikigaya Hachiman wanted from her and by now she was uncertain about whether she was the one who was wanting something from him.

She took another sip of her beer and fuelled by liquid courage she fished out her mobile phone from inside her pockets. She found his number on her contact list and without thinking too much about anything else she typed a small message and hit send:

[Gn8]

---

Next morning Hiratsuka Shizuka woke up early and checked her phone which showed no new messages from anyone during the course of the entire night.

She chuckled dryly at herself and thought it was very much in his character to ignore text messages, not just from her, but from anyone else for that matter.

She specifically lacked credibility after she hounded him with countless text messages and calls to force him to join her and several of his classmates and club mates, on their summer trip to Chiba Village where they helped out a number of elementary school students on an outdoor camping expedition where once again he employed his rotten methods to help out a small girl who was ostracised by his peers and forced to become a loner. His methods alleviated the situation but failed to completely eradicate it but he had already foretold about it before he set out to destroy something which was never there to begin with. Hiratsuka Shizuka felt herself sympathising with those poor elementary school students but they must have learned a valuable lesson that day and now it was her turn to learn and move on.

She bathed in warm water, brushed her hair in a time consuming manner and dressed herself in her usual apparel while heading out to high school. She was in the process of wearing her heels when her phone buzzed from within the confines of her labcoat. She took it out and unlocked the screen and noticed that she received a new text message. She opened the text message and found only one word staring at her from the screen:

[Gn8]

Hiratsuka Shizuka knew of only one person who would wish her good night instead of good morning during the beginning of a new day. She chuckled good naturedly and found her spirits getting uplifted within a manner of minutes, over the stupidity of a certain loner.

What an idiot, she thought to herself while blushing.

---

...On Christmas Eve.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was an incredibly tolerable woman and she made it a habit of repeating this to herself whenever she saw a young couple walk right past her while displaying an ungodly amount of love and affection through both physical and vocal means without getting rebuked by any nameless stranger from a faceless crowd like it was usually expected in a busy shopping mall right at the middle of Chiba.

Everyone turned a blind eye to such a blatant display of public affection which was no longer limited to innocent hand holding and giving soft pecks on their lovers cheeks in between several cherished moments and by now most couple were only interested in rushing to a love hotel for a remarkable night to satisfy all of their wanton urges. As expected Hiratsuka Shizuka saw many high school couples frolicking around in such overindulgent exhibitions and once in a while she felt a sudden need to give them a thorough thrashing but a moment later she would change her mind and let them carry on their night of promised romance.

However one of her students, a certain Hikigaya Hachiman refused to partake in this celebration and continued to remain aloof from those obvious sidelong glances bestowed upon him by both of his female club mates. He was not exactly unintelligent by any capacity though he constantly obtained poor marks in both mathematics and science related subjects which baffled Hiratsuka Shizuka to a certain extent even after having him come over to her home during the weekends for their scheduled tutoring sessions which, she was happy to say, was helping him improve in his studies tremendously. But like his stagnant relationship with both his club mates there was always room for improvement in order to facilitate a healthy progression.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was here for them in every capacity but all three of them were reluctant to take a necessary step forward and their unwillingness was destroying their cherished camaraderie and though each and every one of them were equally culpable for ruining such a genuine connection of three grossly unalike individuals coming together from very different walks of life while carrying various mental baggages of their own making, there would always be one Hikigaya Hachiman and he would forever remain far guiltier than anybody else in their little group.

However, unbeknownst to Hiratsuka Shizuka gradually Hikigaya Hachiman was learning to share his guilt with another individual over time.

---

Hiratsuka Shizuka had forbidden Hikigaya Hachiman from coming to her apartment this evening for their scheduled tutoring session and she was hoping her wildest delusions would come true tonight and one of his club mates would express their feelings for him by taking advantage of this romantic night known for stealing kisses and unexpected confessions from unsuspecting love interests from both sides of the gender. Hiratsuka Shizuka was unlucky at her inability to sustain a relationship over a prolonged period of time and like last year she would be spending this Christmas Eve all by her lonesome while renewing her dalliance with an unhealthy amount of alcohol and a suffocating amount of cigarettes which would culminate into a terrible hangover when the sun rises the very next day. However she had taken into account their unlikely chance of running into one another which would result in an embarrassing situation and likely ruin a developing moment and hence she had taken certain necessary steps to steer clear away from their path to romance which not only included visiting a shopping mall located far away from her home but also resulted in her adopting a disguise which she was convinced would fool everyone of them even if them were standing a foot away from her and staring straight at her face.

"…Sensei, why are you dressed like a film noir detective?"

"Who said that!?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka looked to her immediate left and then to her immediate right like she was about to cross a heavily congested road known for many fatal accidents and having a death toll which would shame most traffic policemen into quitting their jobs but still she was unable to locate a single voice from amidst a swarming crowd of shoppers jostling about inside this busy shopping mall on the night before Christmas.

"Sensei look over here"

"Where!?"

She followed this voice and when a gaggling crowd of shoppers slowly dispersed before her wondering gaze, a familiar pair of dead fish eyes caught her attention. Hikigaya Hachiman was standing fifteen feet away to her left, drowning in a pool of overly excited people and despite her disguise and their widening distance, he was correctly able to discern her identity among hundreds of other nameless and clueless individuals. Hiratsuka Shizuka waited for him to find his path and catch his breath before throwing him a question.

"How did you recognise me Hikigaya?"

"By your hair sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka subconsciously ran a hand through her long, black hair which fell over her shoulders and nearly reached her shins. A trench coat covered her body, a fedora was on top of her head and a dark pair of shades hid her eyes to bring together this makeshift disguise and like Hikigaya Hachiman said, her look was influenced by a hardboiled detective from a classic American movie. Only thing missing to perfect her appearance was a cigarette but due to strict fire safety protocols enforced by a number of serious mall cops, she had decided to forgo smoking altogether while shopping inside this busy mall. Her hair gave her away and she should have been unhappy at getting discovered by him but surprisingly enough she was experiencing a rather warm and special feeling which made her speak without thinking.

"Thanks Hikigaya"

"What are you thanking me for sensei?"

"N-nothing"

Hiratsuka Shizuka should have expected this from Hikigaya Hachiman. He was dumb regarding certain aspects and unlike her he would never understand this feeling of pride at her natural black tresses and their ability to capture his attention from other more colourfully dyed and stylised varieties of hair nowadays found among both teenagers and adults alike. Despite his phrasing this was not meant to be taken as a compliment like she accidentally did and to divert her attention back into commonplace subjects she put forth an unassuming query while removing her fedora and shades.

"Why are you here Hikigaya?"

"Because of Pan-san sensei"

"…Who?"

Hikigaya Hachiman squinted his eyes in annoyance, tilted his head to his right and roughly jerked it backwards and following his movement Hiratsuka Shizuka saw a banner hanging downwards from the third floor to the second floor of this shopping mall displaying a soft toy which was a black and white panda wearing a Santa hat and holding onto a candy cane. There was nothing unnatural about this stuffed animal except for it eyes which shared an uncomfortable similarity with her dead fish eyed student.

"Is that supposed to mean something Hikigaya?"

"I don't know sensei. I never asked her"

Hiratsuka Shizuka allowed his sentence to sink in completely into her psyche and she painstakingly went through every scenario which might make his utterance have a different meaning altogether. Hikigaya Hachiman had certainly made a reference to a girl and she was certain he was not talking about her. Everything pointed to date which she had clearly interrupted much to her chagrin and hence she decided to make amends by beating a hasty retreat.

"Alright then Hikigaya, I will be leaving now."

"Me too sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka took a couple of steps and then came to an immediate halt making Hikigaya Hachiman come to an abrupt stop right beside her. She will never be able to understand him and yet she bothered with him anyway. He obviously came here with a girl and now he was trying to leave with her without showing any consideration to his date. Hiratsuka Shizuka fiddled with her grocery bag and turned sideways to punch Hikigaya Hachiman in the gut for callously mistreating a girl by abandoning them on Christmas Eve.

Her fingers curled into a fist and she was moments away from striking him down out of her own misplaced anger and romantic frustrations but then she noticed him proffering a hand to her at her general direction which took her completely by surprise and made her uncurl her fist back into dainty little fingers. She was taken aback by this bold gesture of him wanting to hold her hand all of a sudden which was extremely forward of him and very much out of character for this socially stunted loner. Hiratsuka Shizuka hid her blush but she was unable to keep a certain level of coyness out of her voice.

"Y-you want something Hikigaya?"

"Your grocery bag sensei"

"My grocery bag?"

"Yeah sensei. I saw you fiddling with its strap a moment ago and I thought maybe it was getting a little bothersome for you to carry all those groceries around with you. So if you want, I can carry it for you, sensei"

"Al-lright then Hikigaya. Here you go"

Hiratsuka Shizuka dropped her grocery bag onto his outstretched hand in a brusque manner and then mentally berated herself for once again misreading an entire situation involving her student, Hikigaya Hachiman and getting flustered by one of his more endearing qualities. She had seen him carry bags for his kohai and student council president Isshiki Iroha on several occasions out of duties expected of a sensitive senpai but she had never expected him to show this polite gesture to her of all people. She now wondered whether both his club mates ever received such a gracious display of forgotten chivalry from him and amazingly enough she no longer cared about them anymore.

"Sensei you are getting left behind. Am I walking too fast for you?"

"Not at all Hikigaya. I was just wondering if I missed something"

"…On your grocery list?"

"Y-yeah, that's right! Some stuff on my grocery list."

Her voice trailed off in a warm sigh on this cold evening and her escaping breaths fogged her purple gaze which was fixated on his back. She refused to air certain unspoken thoughts pertaining to her easiness at walking with him in companionable silence and her sudden lack of an issue with his club mates getting purposely ignored by him due to their subtle advances. Hence, gradually, Hiratsuka Shizuka found herself getting delighted over spending her remaining evening with Hikigaya Hachiman without anticipating and participating in any forced exhibition of misguided, one sided feelings by exploiting Christmas Eve, the most romantic night in all of Japan.

However, a moment later, when she spotted a female student from Sobu High with waist length black hair which was tied by two red ribbons by both of her shoulders and a pair of angular blue eyes, her happiness faded away like smoke escaping from one of her cigarettes. This female high school student was standing on the third floor of this busy shopping mall with a lost look on her face and she was clutching onto a toy panda which Hiratsuka Shizuka recognised from the banner Hikigaya Hachiman had shown to her a while ago. Her voice was not bitter but there was a certain level of detachment to it when she addressed his back.

"Yukinoshita is waiting for you Hikigaya. You should go back to her"

"Don't worry about her sensei. She can take care of herself."

"Did something happen between you two?"

"Lots of things happened today sensei but right now I just want to avoid her"

"Alright then Hikigaya. I am with you"

Hiratsuka Shizuka watched Hikigaya Hachiman take a sharp turn away from this direction they were previously heading which stopped both of them from falling into the visual range of his service club president Yukinoshita Yukino. She noticed his voice held a hint of coldness while speaking about her and naturally she presumed their date had met with unsatisfying results and ended prematurely. Hiratsuka Shizuka followed Hikigaya Hachiman hoping to comfort him like any commendable teacher would do to a student suffering from their latest heart break.

She wanted to cheer him up and silently decided on buying him an innocent looking gift, devoid of any romantic undertones, to take his mind of Yukinoshita Yukino. While she perused through several displays on various stores selling merchandises at great discounts, her eyes landed on one of her students with shoulder length coral hair, a small portion of which was worn in a Chinese bun. This student of her was scurrying through the second floor of this crowded shopping mall while carrying a number of shopping bags and speaking rapidly into her phone with a very nervous expression. Hiratsuka Shizuka grew incredibly confused and spoke with subdued reluctance.

"I think I just saw Yuigahama right now. She might be calling you on her phone Hikigaya. Do you have it switched on?"

"No sensei. I turned it off just after I left them."

His blunt tone made her worried and she asked for more details even though this was slowly treading into meddlesome territories better left alone for only these three to figure out by themselves. But she gave into curiosity and put forth her question.

"Did she do something to ruin your evening Hikigaya?"

"No, she didn't sensei. She was just unlucky to be there."

Hiratsuka Shizuka saw Hikigaya Hachiman retrace his steps and move away from appearing directly below one of his classmate and service club member Yuigahama Yui. Moving beside him, she was able to see a fraction of hurt glimmer through his dead fish eyes before getting replaced by their monotonous purpose of staying alone and turning their back on everything and everyone. She was not certain but she supposed Yuigahama Yui might have been responsible for ruining his night out with Yukinoshita. All three of them had reached a cross road and now they were trying their level best to wedge their way through a number of complicated emotions to resolve their own relationship problems.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was unable to put a label on her own feelings towards these three but when she spotted one of her former students riding down an escalator with a fake smile plastered on her beautiful face, she grew completely stupefied and utterly puzzled about everything which has been happening since she met Hikigaya Hachiman earlier this evening.

"…Haruno?"

"Quickly sensei! Come inside. We have to hide."

"Wait a sec Hikigaya!"

Hiratsuka Shizuka had noticed Hikigaya Hachiman freezing up at the sight of Yukinoshita Haruno but she never expected him to grow this much terrified after just looking at her for a few seconds. His dead fish eyes grew comically large and he began to sweat despite the cold weather and without thinking he ran into an open door while asking her to come after him. She was quick to protest but she ended up following him and before they could realise both of them found themselves standing inside a café which was catering to mostly couples tonight in celebration of Christmas Eve.

Needless to say this teacher and student duo was not a couple.

---

Hiratsuka Shizuka was feeling extremely awkward inside this café full of lovers and Hikigaya Hachiman had made matters worse by asking a waitress to give them a table in the very back of this establishment while personally making a request to stop anyone from interrupting their privacy. As expected his words were grossly misinterpreted and taken out of context but their waitress had left them alone after taking their order with only a blush marring her features. Both of them had overcome their discomfort to a certain extent at this sudden change of atmosphere and unfortunately an inherent need to speak about all these latest developments had finally emerged over a small interlude involving coffee and cake. Like always Hiratsuka Shizuka was burdened with starting these types of discussions with Hikigaya Hachiman.

"What the hell is happening around here Hikigaya?"

"I don't know myself sensei but whatever it is, it's not my fault."

"Like hell it isn't! If it's not you then whose fault is it?"

"The fault of our failing education system sensei"

Hiratsuka Shizuka calmly took a sip from her cup of hot chocolate before she could pour it over his head out of a sudden burst of uncontrollable rage. Having Yukinoshita Yukino, Yuigahama Yui and Yukinoshita Haruno all under the same roof on Christmas Eve could never be passed off as a mere coincidence. When Hikigaya Hachiman stealthily bypassed two of them by purposely making some clever detours Hiratsuka Shizuka was a tad concerned at this loner falling prey to yet another sad setback but when he grew stupidly terrified after spotting Yukinoshita Haruno and took refuge in a café full of passionate couples, her concerns morphed into suspicion.

Yukinoshita Haruno was a former student of Hiratsuka Shizuka and Hikigaya Hachiman appeared unusually tensed around her at all times but never before had she seen him display such an abject level of horror by only taking a glimpse at her. Having taught Yukinoshita Haruno during her stint at high school Hiratsuka Shizuka was no stranger to her manipulative tricks and ulterior motives but they never did warrant such a dramatic reaction from anyone. But then again having been her teacher and afterwards, staying in contact with her, made Hiratsuka Shizuka immune from most of her mind games.

Unlike Hikigaya Hachiman she only saw Yukinoshita Haruno as a mere nuisance and hence she had no patience over his fears surrounding her and furthermore she was unamused at his intention of placing blame on an education system in which she participated wholeheartedly.

"What does our education system have to with this Hikigaya?"

"Everything sensei. High school students are given outrageous assignments and reports to complete by their respective teachers and when they force a topic which has nothing to do with imparting knowledge then their practices become nothing more than a shallow power trip."

Hiratsuka Shizuka stabbed a strawberry sitting innocently on top of her sponge cake and chewed it carefully while pondering her next action which included torturing him to death at his rude generalisation of her entire teaching profession. But sadly it was the season of forgiveness and she was curious about his latest tirade. Moreover she had nothing better to do back home and therefore wasting her time over a meaningless chat with Hikigaya Hachiman felt like a wonderful change of pace. However she had to teach Hikigaya Hachiman a lesson on correctly reiterating a story to an invested listener. She licked her spoon clean before pointing it harmlessly at him with a sweet smile which gave him ample motivation to continue.

"Hikigaya start making sense before I gouge your eyes out with this spoon"

"A-ah alright sensei. Give me a moment"

As expected Hikigaya Hachiman took a nervous gulp from his cup of coffee to wet his throat and moisten his lips before he could narrate his string of misfortune and miseries like a proper veteran loner. He began in his typical weary monotone.

"A couple of days ago, during service club hours, Yukinoshita was telling Yuigahama about a difficult report which her class was asked to submit by their homeroom teacher after Christmas. Apparently Yukinoshita was having trouble completing this project and she was wondering whether Yuigahama could help her regarding certain aspects. As expected Yuigahama was of no help to her and my services were required which led to this unlucky evening full of anarchy and chaos. And all of this could have been avoided if her homeroom teacher did not give her a report to write about 'Commercial Significance of Christmas'"

Hiratsuka Shizuka was carefully listening to Hikigaya Hachiman but she had to admit that this ploy adopted by Yukinoshita Yukino was severely lacking in originality. Needless to say Yukinoshita Yukino wanted to spend Christmas Eve with Hikigaya Hachiman under the pretence of having him help her with her assignment and judging by the topic he mentioned she had already made plans about coming to this shopping mall beforehand. But this did not explain one thing.

"So you got stuck with helping Yukinoshita do her homework which involved coming into this shopping mall, am I correct?"

"Pretty much sensei. Now that I think about it maybe her choice was influenced by this huge sale of latest Pan-san merchandises taking place at this mall. Figures, she decided to kill two birds with one stone. Hm, I didn't know her obsession ran this deep. From now on I have to be careful about it"

Hikigaya Hachiman was a terrible story teller with his tendencies to ramble and get off topic but Hiratsuka Shizuka was able to bring him back to the crux of the matter.

"But where does Yuigahama come into this? You already said she was of no help"

"I never said she was of no help sensei. Yukinoshita said that and let me tell you, Yuigahama proved her wrong. She broadened our horizon so much. I never knew there were people who would spend so much time and energy over completely useless items just for the sake of cheap novelty. By the second half of our trip I was pretty much certain that Yuigahama Yui is the living-breathing embodiment of commercialism on Christmas"

Hiratsuka Shizuka listened to his narrative and came to a conclusion that love triangles do exists outside of movies and mangas. Both of his club mates wanted him for themselves but none of them wanted to jeopardise their established status quo. Hikigaya Hachiman remained oblivious either by his own choice or by their collective inexperience. However Hiratsuka Shizuka was certain of one thing and she wanted to hear it from his own mouth.

"So Hikigaya, it looks like you had a great time."

"Not at all sensei. In fact, I think I never had such a horrible experience since I got into an accident with a limousine which had me hospitalised for roughly three weeks."

Hiratsuka Shizuka blinked at his morbid way of comparing two unlikely scenarios. She had been informed of his accident by school authorities and at a later date, Haruno had told her all about the shared connection between both Yukinoshita and Yuigahama in this tragic incident which arguably ruined his chance to make a better life out of his high school experience. She knew Hikigaya Hachiman was a cynic with a twisted sense of logic and warped reasoning skills but having him draw such a grim parallel to today made her feel dread and now she was growing anxious.

"You are over exaggerating Hikigaya. What could Yukinoshita Yukino and Yuigahama Yui possibly do to make you feel this horrible?"

"…both of them took me dress shopping"

Hiratsuka Shizuka hid her smile behind her glass of hot chocolate. She could already picture both of his club mates dragging Hikigaya Hachiman into a store full of women's wear and him breaking into cold sweat upon getting asked to choose between various dresses to complement their wearer. She was surprised at both of their craftiness but at least they were coaxing him into new situation and making him choose between them both literally and figuratively. Hiratsuka Shizuka was unable to stop herself from giving a wry smile.

"Like I said Hikigaya, you are exaggerating this more than you should. This was quite harmless. Tell me what did they do next?"

"…they took me lingerie shopping"

Hiratsuka Shizuka was glad she had not asked him this question with her mouth full otherwise she might have choked to death over a small piece of cake.

"…Come again?"

"You heard me the first time sensei"

After a moment of uncomfortable silence she carelessly decided to continue this line of questioning and decided to ask him to reveal the identity of his tormentor. She had a good idea who this could have been but it was better to leave no room for any form of doubts to linger and create confusion.

"And whose idea was it to go there Hikigaya?"

"Her's"

"Her's who?"

"Yukinoshita Haruno"

Hikigaya Hachiman had accused her of playing a film noir detective before by taking into account her unusual choice of clothing but she had to admit this story of his really did make her feel like a genius level investigator solving a grave injustice and like any great investigator she already knew Yukinoshita Haruno was the culprit way before Hikigaya Hachiman said her name. Her reasoning was quite flawless since out of all the suspects she met this evening only Yukinoshita Haruno was capable enough to pull off such an audacious crime like forcing Hikigaya Hachiman to enter into a lingerie store.

Unable to keep a straight face from this ludicrous imagery Hiratsuka Shizuka burst into a loud raucous laughter and Hikigaya Hachiman felt himself growing slightly annoyed at her lack of sympathy to his situation.

"…Not funny sensei."

"Actually Hikigaya it's freaking hilarious!"

She laughed at him to hide her own petty selfishness of even daring to think that this evening would become salvageable at any fixed point of time. Hiratsuka Shizuka finally came to this realisation that she was not following Hikigaya Hachiman throughout this entire evening rather it was Hikigaya Hachiman who was staying at a close proximity to her to deter these unwanted artificial developments which were a direct result of Yukinoshita Haruno meddling into affairs which did not concern her in any manner or form. Hiratsuka Shizuka wanted to laugh at herself, at her own stupidity and idiocy of looking for something which was never there, which was never meant for her, but due to her own cowardice she instead settled at making fun of poor Hikigaya Hachiman. Her voice choked but she kept on laughing and those couple of tear drops escaping her eyes were not entirely of joy but nonetheless she urged him to finish his narrative.

"And then you ran away by causing a distraction, right Hikigaya?"

"Yes sensei though it was more by creating a small misunderstanding than a clever distraction. I wanted nothing more than to leave this place as fast as possible"

Hiratsuka Shizuka lost her interest but there was one miniscule detail which failed to make sense during his whole retelling of this entire course of event. She already expected it to make no sense whatsoever but she was a sucker for punishment. Hiratsuka Shizuka had not forced her company on Hikigaya Hachiman tonight and she had never taken advantage of their scheduled tutoring session for any kind of scandalous behaviour. She wanted him to disregard her presence and forget their association in favour of one of his club mates and clearly he was provided with more than enough opportunities to do just that but he chose to pay no attention to them which begged the final question:

"Then, why didn't you ignore me Hikigaya?"

"…Because you looked like you needed help with those bags sensei"

Hikigaya Hachiman was unable to give a satisfying reply to her query but Hiratsuka Shizuka never expected him to give a straight answer which would inadvertently ruin this mystery surrounding their unexplainable feelings which remained deeply buried within them but occasionally bubbled onto the surface under certain unmanageable circumstances.

Hikigaya Hachiman finished his cup of coffee and Hiratsuka Shizuka stopped nibbling on her piece of cake. He would be taking his leave first to make a smooth getaway while carefully evading capture by either of his club mates or worse Yukinoshita Haruno. At last he made a request to his teacher before leaving.

"Sensei, if one of them happens to find you, please say you didn't see me."

"Of course Hikigaya. You don't have to worry"

Hiratsuka Shizuka agreed to lie for him despite this being an incredibly silly situation and Hikigaya Hachiman, upon getting distracted by her helpful nature momentarily forgot to weigh his own words which lead to him to blurting out an accidental phrase which she was unable to ignore.

"Thanks sensei. Love ya"

Hiratsuka Shizuka took this phrase of his as an expression of absentminded gratitude. Her cheeks felt warm, a small smile graced her lips and she momentarily lost her ability to move and form a coherent sentence. She was only able to quietly observe Hikigaya Hachiman while he paid both their bills before stealthily exiting this café after giving her a small look over his shoulders.

Hiratsuka Shizuka would think about this entire event on a later occasion but currently she wanted to splurge a little and enjoy all the commercialisation that was taking place on Christmas Eve by doing some mindless shopping.

Not your worst Christmas Shizuka, she thought consoling herself.

---

End...