The shoe lockers were devoid of any and all life as I stood there in wait. Earlier this morning, a note was left in my shoe locker asking to meet after class. Of course, I first assumed that it was a prank done by the students of this school, but upon flipping the paper over, a photo of my list of people to kill was printed onto the back.

I had thought that it was gone forever after I disposed of it, never to be seen again, but I was astonishingly wrong.

My eyes stared at the digits on my cell phone, checking the time. It was roughly forty-minutes after classes had ended, which meant that most students were either at club or had already left campus.

Distant footsteps brought my focus back into my surroundings and I pocketed my phone. The sound slowly got louder as each second passed, my anticipation making my hands sticky with moisture, and a lump of saliva slid down my throat.

The footsteps were shockingly loud now, as if they were happening right beside me. I looked towards the doorway of the shoe lockers, my attention completely fixated onto whoever was approaching.

Suddenly, the footsteps stopped, and all was silent again.

My breath became stuck in my lungs, and my hands hesitantly exited my pockets, becoming clenched at my side.

DON

It was as if a gust of wind suddenly flew by me. In response to the sudden sensation and sound, I stumbled backwards, my back slamming against the lockers behind me. My entire body shook out of pure fear, and my breaths were raspy and in small bursts, as if I were struggling to breathe.

My eyes darted to the side to see a pale and slim hand at the side of my head, pressing against the locker and pinning me in place. Slowly, my eyes moved to look in front of me where my assaulter lay.

Their eyes.

Their piercing, cerulean, icy, narrowed eyes which seemed to stare straight into my soul.

I simply stared back, as if I were caught in a trance.

"Be my boyfriend," she demanded. She was close enough to where her breath caressed my face, making me blush in response.

I was shocked out of my trance-like-state. "W-What?" I sputtered out.

"Be my boyfriend," she repeated, her voice unfaltering. A sharp contrast to my own.

"F-First of all, move b-back."

She did as she was told, moving backwards, though only a few feet, and removed her hand from the side of my face. Finally, my breaths began to steady themselves with my hand pressed over my heart.

Upon further inspection, she had black hair, a similar shade to my own, and it reached down to her waist. Tied into her hair were red ribbons just above her shoulders.

Her sharp voice, her piercing eyes, her black hair with red ribbons tied into them.

Yukinoshita Yukino, the unrefuted Ice Queen of Sobu High.

And she wanted me to be her boyfriend.

"So," I coughed, "You're the one who placed that note in my locker?"

"Yes," she replied.

"First of all, how did you find my list? Second, you have ample blackmail material, and you decide to use it to make me your boyfriend?"

"Hikigaya Hachiman, your ranking in Japanese is quite misleading when it comes to your intelligence. Just why would you dispose of such a list in the school trash cans, nonetheless with the list of your targets in plain view? In fact, I'm quite shocked that I was the first to retrieve it."

"Be quiet," I grumbled. "It was a decision I made on the spot. You still haven't answered my second question, by the way. If you need a boyfriend so badly, I'm sure you can easily find one with your-" I waved my hand towards her face and down at her figure, at which she gave me a look of repulsion, and she shielded her chest with her arms.

"And I know my face, though above average, is outclassed by some other guys here." That admittance was quite a blow to my already low self-esteem. I would need to drink away my sorrows with Max Coffee later.

"Oh? You think quite highly of yourself, but your eyes leave much to be desired."

"Oi, answer the question woman."

She sighed. "What I desire isn't a boyfriend, per se, but a deterrent."

I glared at her. "My eyes aren't that bad, you know."

"You misunderstand. I need a deterrent against confessions. As you can guess, a girl like me receives a plentiful amount per day." The smile she wore did nothing to comfort me. "And this is where you come into play, Hikigaya Hachiman. With this notebook that you've generously provided me with, I now have absolute control over you."

If I remember correctly, her family deals in politics. Of course she would come up with a scheme like this.

A meagre laughed escaped me. "S-So what if you have my notebook? My name isn't written anywhere in it, and if you release it, I can always deny it."

She clicked her tongue. "Hikigaya, if you truly believe that you're important enough for me to know you, then you're wrong. I know your name from this book, which means that your name is indeed, inside of it."

Shit.

"You bitch."

"Ah, I would be careful with your words, Hikigaya. Not only do I have a physical copy of your list, I have also scanned it and uploaded the files to a very secure device. I can release it whenever I desire."

My legs buckled beneath me and I fell to the ground. A sense of defeat coursed through me. "...How long do I need to serve as your deterrent?"

"Until I graduate from this place, of course. But even then, I may have a large amount of suitors in the future, and depending on how they are, your services could still be required."

My jaw dropped to the ground. No way. No way. This can't be true.

Time to play the guilt card.

I rubbed my eyes, making them red and moist. I forced my lips to quiver as I spoke. "Do you feel no shame? Forcing someone into this miserable life of yours? I'll let you know that I want a normal high school experience. I'm not even asking for romance."

"No, I don't feel shame. Because, if you look at the bigger picture, this actually benefits both of us."

Clearly, my magnificent acting didn't work. I stood up, wiping my pants and eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I can infer that the student body thinks quite lowly of you, yes?"

"...That's debatable."

"I'll take that as a yes. You see, with your low social standing combined with my high social standing, they balance each other out."

"That's definitely not how it works." Well, probably.

"And who are you to know such a thing, Hikkimori-kun?"

"Stop with the nickname before it becomes a thing, and I didn't willingly become a loner."

"And I didn't willingly become a target for heinous amounts of confessions per day." She sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter if you want to engage in this deceit, because the fact is, you are completely and utterly loyal to me."

"...That will change." A smirk gradually formed on my face and I crossed my arms. Yukinoshita, upon seeing my change in demeanor, narrowed her eyes.

"Is that a challenge, my significant other?"

I corrected her. "Fake, significant other."

A/N

I'm sorry for writing this.