The Vultures circle
The sun slanted through the fogged windows of the service club room even as cold winds had started blowing through the hall ways of our school's corridors, announcing the turning of summer into autumn.
Wild leaves and petals blew across the courtyard and the playground as the Riajuu prince and his team mates pressed each other in pointless running. Can you imagine? Eleven people on one side run after the ball while another eleven try to run…after the same ball? Ridiculous!
Meanwhile, I had opened the door to our club room to find our resident cat lady and well-mannered Ice Queen pouring out fresh water into the tea making machine we used so much.
Before I could greet her though, she interrupted me.
"Tea, Hikigaya-kun?"
"Hello to you too. Yes, please."
"Oh," she straightened herself, "Hikigaya kun has begun caring about receiving greetings from others too. That counts as progress, doesn't it?" She looked over her shoulder and gave a rather condescending smile. I could hear my insult sensors screaming. Something big was coming.
"I think Hiratsuka sensei's request in now nearing completion."
"Which one?"
"The one about fixing you… though there may be one or two I need fixing…" that last part came out in barely a whisper and I wasn't sure I was meant to hear that.
"Well, then, I think it's about time I retired from official duties. I've done enough." I said with a sigh and looked over towards her.
"Amazing!" she said with a hand at her chin, "he's already thinking about retirement when he hasn't even started working. Just how lazy are you, Lazy-kun?"
Wait a minute. She didn't say Hikki-lazy kun? Don't just drop people's names, Yukinoshita san.
"Oh, no. I meant leave the club. Since I have done enough, and you have evaluated me as being A-okay, as if something was wrong with me before, I think I can leave now and go back to my dear bed and go to sleep."
"Hikigaya kun, I can put you to eternal sleep right here. Just give me the word."
Vow, that's scary indeed. What are you going to do? Poison my tea? I think I'd rather not drink my tea now.
"Here." She offered me my cup of tea, while I gave her a suspicious look.
The door burst open, and Yuigahama came in with her tribal greeting that is not worth repeating even in my head. Then she came directly over to me with a pout, "Hikki, you didn't wait for me. Why didn't you?"
Ow, ow, she seems to have levelled up her powers, I thought as she hit me repeatedly.
"I'm sorry, I forgot.."
We were interrupted by two polite knocks, and Yuigahama immediately went back to her seat, although that might also have been due to the cold look and harsh comment would have come from Yukinoshita any time now.
"Come in." Our president called out. Does she have to talk elegantly too?
"Hello everyone." A sweet smiling 2nd year student came in. His smile was sweet, putridly sweet. It was sickening that it could be so sweet.
"Ah, Hayama-kun, Hello" Yuigahama welcomed him. Yukinoshita was looking at him with a wary eye, while I looked at him with narrowed eyes.
Of course Yuigahama would welcome him since he was from her own cliché, but that didn't mean any of the others were comfortable around him.
"What brings you here, Hayama-kun?"
"Ah, I just needed to talk to Hikitani kun for a bit, that's all…" His voice petered out as he found out to his great discomfort that… the Ice Queen was staring daggers at him. And this time, she looked downright hostile and murderous.
"No, you cannot come in here and request a single member's help. Either we all help or none of us do." She said with an air of finality.
"Wait a minute, don't I get a say in this?" I interjected.
"No, you don't. Who is the club president? That's right, Hikigaya-kun. Anything related to the Service club needs to go through me."
Why was she so hell bent on me staying away from Hayama?
Meanwhile Hayama had decided to appeal to Yuigahama, since they were relatively closer. Good tactic Hayama-san. The Yurigahama can melt the Ice right off the Ice Queen.
But for the first time, I saw Yuigahama shaking her head. "No, Hayama. I don't want Hikki involved in anything."
If I was surprised at Yuigahama's aggressive stance, I didn't show it. But Hayama's face seemed to twist with disappointment.
"Very well." He sighed with an air of resignation. "The matter is too private to discuss. So I'll take my leave." He bowed and left with a last backward glance at me.
I kept my face neutral the entire time.
A heavy silence descended the room and we could all hear Hayama's footsteps receding through the empty hallway outside. Not surprising given this wing was usually entirely deserted during these hours.
As the sounds of his footsteps disappeared, I turned around to object with the way Hayama had been handled.
I mean, it's not like I loved working for him, but the last time he came with a request, it was a well thought out one, that had saved Ebina from falling out of the group. And since she had herself admitted she had needed the cliché, and she was facing a lot of other problems in her personal life, him asking me to save the cliché was understandable, even if it continued their fake relationships.
"Yukinoshi-" I had just turned around when I saw her get up and wave a hand silencing me.
She went to the door, looked outside, and then turned back satisfied. Was she making sure no one was outside? She hadn't done this before. Unusual…
"Hikigaya kun." She returned towards our table, but to my utter surprise, stopped in front of the table, and placed her hands firmly on the table, looking into my eyes intently. For some reason, I didn't remove my gaze.
"Yes?" No stuttering. I briefly congratulated myself for that achievement.
"You will not listen to his request at any point in time, inside or outside the school. Is that understood?" Her regard was as intense and powerful as a lion bearing down on its prey.
"Okay. But-Why?"
"There is no point in me explaining trivial matters. Let's just call it an executive decision on the part of the club president. Do you have any problems?"
I made to reply, but she cut me off again.
"Actually, scratch that. You don't have any problems."
Wow, she had just disregarded every rule in the democracy book. And what's with the executive decision? Well, I am a corporate slave after all this avoidance, huh? Seems I failed in the quest to avoid corporate slaverism after all.
"Very well, I won't do any such thing." I gave her a suspicious look, then went back to the book.
But my mind was anywhere but in the world of shoujo manga fantasy that I was pretending to read.
That was unusually cold of Yukinoshita to do the very opposite of what the Service Club was supposed to do.
What was even more surprising was the fact that Yuigahama never once objected despite Hayama being in her cliché. Such a development was…what, Interesting? Disturbing? I had no idea what to think.
No matter what Yukinoshita thought of Hayama, this entire thing smacked of secrets.
Was it something in her past with Hayama?
Then how would Yuigahama know about it? It naturally followed that if Yuigahama had not stopped Hayama's request, then she was in concurrence with Yukinoshita.
Of course I was assuming Yukinoshita had told Yuigahama of her past.
Though I prided myself in my accurate analysis of others motives, with Yukinoshita I just couldn't be sure. Did she open up enough to tell Yuigahama everything?
If not, how could the two of them synchronize with each other?
With these thoughts swirling in my mind, we continued in the tense don't-ask-questions atmosphere until it was time to go.
"Hikigaya-kun, just keep in mind what I told you."
"What are you, my mother? Keeping me from bad influence and all that…" I teased her lightly.
"That's not funny, Hikigaya kun."
"Fine, fine." I raised my hands in a placating gesture.
With a last final warning glare my way, she turned around, dismissing me entirely, and giving her full attention to the table that she would clean up at the end of every day.
I took that as a cue to affect my escape, and I was glad for it.
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My phone vibrated as I was unlocking the chain on my noble steed- a bike of course.
That's funny, did I have any engagements or meetings today? I laughed at the sarcasm of my own joke. Ha! Meetings indeed. As if I was a riajuu king or something.
"Onii chan, Komachi is at the mall which is on your way back home. I need someone to carry the bags. Meet me at the food court."
Tch, so cold, and did she even request my help? No, she was just assuming I had the energy after classes and club to carry around her heavy shopping. Well, better me than that toad of an insect. I have to keep an eye on him and…uh, flatten him or something.
I got on my bike and was just about to pedal off when I heard a faint "Hikki".
I sighed with exasperation. Can I not get peace of mind even when I'm about to ride my bike?
I waited for her as she made her way towards me.
"What?" I decided to keep this short
"Rude, Hikki." She threw an angry glance at me. Gosh, even her angry face was cute… No, not what you should be thinking, Hachiman.
"I need to get to the mall."
"What?" She looked genuinely shocked at that. "Who are you meeting?"
"A girl" I decided to tease her a bit.
"No way…" She fell into thought. "Okay, then, I'm also coming with Hikki."
Wait a minute, this was not going the way I wanted it to go. But such few things went my way anymore.
"It's just Komachi, Yuigahama. She needs help with the shopping. Ad no, you are not coming with me. I need to get there quickly on the bike and you will only delay me. Speaking of which, you are delaying me now."
Her face seemed to relax instantly.
"Ah, ok, that's fine then."
I raised my eyebrow asking her to hurry up what she wanted to say.
"Ah, oh, yes, yes." No need to say yes so many times. "I just wanted to make sure you aren't going to talk to Hayama."
What, this again? What was going on here?
"Yuigahama, is it not weird that the two of you don't want to help someone?"
"But it was a personal request! I mean, we all know how those go…"
What did that mean? How did that go? And what's with the nervous expression on your face?
"How do they go?" I asked raising an eyebrow in askance.
"Never mind, Hikki, just don't talk to him, that's all. Promise me. Please." She gave those puppy brown eyes treatment, and suddenly I felt very discomfited. What was it with these girls? Why were they so desperate to keep me away?
"Alright, fine. I won't do it." I told her with a sigh. Anything to get away from your clutches, Yuigahama san.
"Now, if you will excuse me, hell hath no fury like a delayed sister, or so the saying goes."
"What? But I don't know that saying."
"What a surprise" I muttered under my breath. What was I doing spouting Shakespeare at her? If it was Yukinoshita, she might have understood.
"I need to get to Komachi, is what I'm saying."
"O-Oh, Okay."
With a last look, I turned around and cycled off, her disturbed face weighing on my mind far much more than what it should have.
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The cool wind brushed my hair back as I rode onwards with exhilaration and the wind snapped my clothes about me.
My thoughts though were still a mess.
I did not have any facts, but you know that feeling when you see two lights in the distance on a dark road with only one lane? Yep, that's what I was feeling right now. As if…something was happening around me and I was blissfully oblivious about it.
Obliviousness was sometimes a mercy. What you did not know didn't hurt you.
But on the other side of the coin, if you didn't see a car coming from the side, then got injured in an accident, wasn't it better to know that car was coming beforehand? To try and avoid it?
People always wanted to not know what was going on with others' lives because if they did, they would be forced to act; or not act and rue their lack of actions and face the stigma of not having acted for the rest of their lives.
There was that photographer who loved to photograph war zones. Then he decided to snap a photograph of a starving child about to die in Africa, and a vulture waiting by his side…waiting for him to die so the vulture could devour him.
So when the common folks asked him why he didn't do anything about it, he ended up losing control of his life and committed suicide.
Because he felt guilt for not doing anything. For disregarding the child's fate and proposing that he was being a 'professional'.
Was this a corollary to life in its entirety?
No matter, I shook my head, clearing all thoughts. I imagine my eyes looked deader than usual. But such was the reality of life.
Things would occur as they did, in their own time, and there was no stopping that.
I arrived in front of the mall and locked up the bike, proceeding towards the food court.
And found Komachi in a very dangerous situation indeed.
She had been kidnapped by Chiba's resident demon queen, Haruno Yukinoshita, who was also sitting with a well-dressed young man at an airy Italian style cafe.
"Hikigaya kun, Hikigaya kun, this way. Join us." So loud. Does she have to attract attention so much? Wait, what am I asking? Of course she needs so much attention. Even if she doesn't need it, she still gets it.
Something was off though.
Usually, Komachi's scheming powers matched that of Haruno's, and no, I say that with immense pride. She really is on par with the best.
But today, she looked quite uncomfortable. Was it because of the young man sitting besides Haruno?
"Ah, Hikigaya kun. You look tired. Come, come, do join us." She waved me towards an empty chair, and reluctantly, I dragged my feet towards the group.
"Actually," Komachi interrupted raising her hand as if she was in school, "I think me and Onii chan will just leave the two of you alone."
The young unnamed gentleman nodded his head as if agreeing with all his heart. Was that sweat on his forehead? Strange… he might be feeling nervous. I'm sure most of the others felt the same way.
"What are you saying, Komachi chan? I would love for the two of you to join us. I know Hikigaya kun likes his coffee sweet right?"
She suddenly stood up and waved her arms beckoning the waiter who came over double time, all the while the rest of us stayed silent.
"One coffee, extra sugar. Anything to eat Hikigaya kun?"
I shook my head.
"Don't be like that, I'm paying you knooow." She drew out the last word like a kouhai of mine that I knew. "Black Forest cake then."
Haruno continued her chatting with Komachi, and it was all inconsequential. I felt she was trying to make a point out of ignoring the person besides her.
As awkward as it looked, I was never one to start up conversations with someone I did not, especially if he had something personal to do with Haruno.
It occurred to me that this was the perfect time to see what happened to people who listlessly fawned over someone who was as dismissive as Haruno. Not 'see' as much as observe.
From what I had read into Haruno from my interactions with her before, if she was as disinterested in this person as she was showing, she would dismiss him in a painful manner…with a smile on her face. And the person would go away feeling he had conquered all just because she decided to give him a smile.
"Haruno san, can I get you something?"
Interrupting Haruno when she was chatting with Komachi might not have been the best thing.
"Yeah, sure." She said turning her head around. I averted my gaze, not wanting to add awkwardness to the person's attempt at gaining attention.
And almost missed the next exchange.
"Go over there to the counter, buy yourself a few manliness points, then get out of here."
Have you ever seen a Samurai movie? When a certain samurai slices through with one single move. The difference in their expertise levels is so different, or perhaps it's the technique that is missing from the fallen warrior's repertoire of moves.
Now imagine if an assassin does this move. What makes it unorthodox, downright un-professional for an assassin to fight this way is that an assassin's style of fighting precludes any fighting in the first place. An assassin never takes on his/her opponent head on, that's what a warrior does.
I seemed to have lost myself into these analogies.
If there was anything that was surprising, it was that Haruno dismissed him so publicly.
If she had called me a monster of self consciousness, then I would have called her a monster of facades. The Haruno I knew got her point across in the most subtle of fashions, but the Haruno I saw in front of me was entirely different.
With utter dismissal, Haruno got up and started walking away, virtually dragging Komachi away. What choice did I have but to follow?
If there was one word that could describe me right now, it would be 'dumbfounded'.
Unsurprisingly, Haruno took her leave immediately after walking a distance away and near the exit. And the Haruno I saw leaving was so tense, I could not recall the last time I had seen a frown on her face. Cold disregard, yes, calculated manipulation, definitely, but a frown, never.
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Most of our walk back home was near silent.
I imagine Komachi had yet to experience something of this magnitude of social rejection that she witnessed today.
She was the first to break the silence.
"Onii chan, is this how a rejection happens?"
I stayed completely silent at this.
I understood the premise of a rejection. If there was no chemistry nor was there any common ground, a rejection became necessary.
Was I too hasty in classifying my own rejection as someone else's fault? I never knew anything about Orimoto, so how much of it was my fault? Was it not natural for her to reject me?
Sure, the society around me reacted with, what I have now come to understand as characteristic, disdain. And my views on the reaction of the sheep of the society were justified.
But did that young man deserve the rejection he got from Haruno.
No, every way I looked at it, this was highly uncharacteristic of Haruno.
Komachi seemed to be mumbling her thoughts to herself throughout.
"She's never this way…"
She suddenly turned towards me and I could see the earnestness clearly in her eyes.
"Onii chan, I want you to promise me something." She took a breath. "I want you to keep Yukino san safe."
The effect was immediate. I spluttered a cough out.
"What are you talking about, Komachi? "
She raised her hand and held her chin. "Komachi thinks Haruno is very disturbed right now. If she becomes angry with Yukino san, I don't know what will happen to her."
She turned towards me. "So that's my request then. I want you to help Yukino san if she ever falls into trouble."
I cleared my throat. "First of all, I think she's perfectly fine. Second, she can deal with her family issues by herself. Third, even if she is in trouble, how will I know-"
"No. Stop." She clapped a hand over my mouth. "Onii chan doesn't know the right answer to the question so I will tell him." She looked at me with an intense angry face. "The answer, Onii chan, is 'Of course Komachi, anything for Yukino san'. That's the answer."
"Fine." I sighed. "I'll do it."
We were approaching the main road where there were a line of famous shops where students and other working class usually hung out.
A certain blond boy with his cliché stood out. He was accompanied by the Fire Queen along with Tobe and err… the other two stooges, whatever their irrelevant names were.
On an impulse, I said, "Komachi, go on, I'll be home in an hour."
"Komachi wants Onii chan to remember her request."
"I will." I waved as she crossed the road, and turned to go another way. The road diverged, and I wish I had taken the other one, the well beaten path of retreat and not knowing.
But if I wanted to know what was going on, I had to talk to Hayama about what was going on. Now, of course, I knew what I had promised Yukinoshita and Yuigahama some time back, but if I wanted to get something done, I needed to have this conversation with Hayama.
I approached the group whose female part was window shopping (don't look at me like that! I know the word from when I went with Komachi to the mall) and the male counterpart walking leisurely with those completely reckless and open smiles.
Have some respect for your surroundings and the loners, damn you!
Hayama saw me approaching, and said something to his three stooges, then surreptitiously slipped away making his way towards me. I really hated the way he did things so smoothly. Disengaging from an inquisitive group of friends to make his way was no mean feat, and even though it was my specialty to stay unnoticed and incognito, he managed both to disappear and appear in front of people so well.
"Ah, Hikitani kun." He waved like a true riajuu. I'm right in front of you so why wave?
"What was your request?"
"Straight to the point as usual, huh?" He ran a hand through his hair, as if thinking how he wanted to handle this. If I knew any better, I would think he was nervous.
"Okay, it's just this. Can you keep an eye on Haruno for a bit?" What was it with the Yukinoshitas that everyone wanted me to take care of everyone.
I mean, for crying out loud, Komachi just asked me to keep Yukino safe. What next? Is someone else going to ask me to keep the mother safe as well?
Hayama must have seen the open conflict on my face and sighed.
"Look, you owe me nothing."
"No, but you owe me a lot."
"No need to rub it in the face." He frowned, then continued. "But Haruno is going off the rails."
"I noticed…"
"So quickly!" Hayama seemed to be astonished by my lack of response or surprise at the statement. I mean I had just seen her unravel, but I wasn't going to tell him anything about that of course.
"Look, is there a point to any of this?" I asked him brazenly.
For the first time, I saw Hayama look nervous. He licked his lips then looked around, then got closer.
Personal space, man. And are you trying to give Ebina a nose bleed?
"I'll let you in on a secret, then, Hikitani kun."
"Love those." I muttered sarcastically.
If I've ever learned anything about secrets, it is that they are extremely burdensome.
Flashing me a curious look, Hayama continued. "There are rumors of a power struggle within the Yukinoshita family."
Aha. So it was politics was it? All the reason for me to stay out of it.
"All due disrespect," I told Hayama with a withering look, "I'd like to stay out of-" He raised a hand cutting me off.
"This one's different. From what I hear from various sources, Haruno is poised to usurp her father's seat and CEO position with Yukino's help."
And it would take some time before I formulated a response to that.
A/N: Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
I have decided to dip my fingers into yet another fanfic, this time a mystery/thriller.
I'm not sure how frequently I will be updating this story since I have a lot going on, but expect the plot to take a turn for the drastic. I got the story setting and background, and this one's just the calm before the storm. I hope you enjoy.
For those of you who have read the LN series, this story owes its origins to 'Gekkou'. A translation is available on Baka Tsuki. I would recommend it.
'Til next time.
