I laid in bed, my covers thrown about with a book in hand. I could understand most of it, but I would need to ask Mom and Dad later for some meanings. Right now, they were downstairs, having a meeting with someone that didn't concern me, nor did I find it interesting.

As I read, I heard light footsteps creep up the stairs. Mom's footsteps. A knocking on my door followed soon after, tearing my attention away from my book.

"What is it?" I called out, not wanting to leave the comfort of my bed.

"Hachiman, we have some people we'd like you to meet," Mom said through the door.

Before I could respond, Mom had already left, her light steps creeping down the stairs once more. Whenever she demanded something of me, she would leave soon after, not giving me the chance to argue.

Sighing, I got up from my bed, stretched, and left my book on my bed, making sure that it was properly closed.

Walking toward my closet, I grabbed a random a jacket and left my room, my exit just in time for me to see Komachi leave her room as well. She wore a shirt with some sort of panda on it, but it was clearly too big for her. The shirt reached past her waist and the sleeves drooped.

"Komachi, that shirt's way too big for you. You're supposed to wear that when you're older," I chided as I tried to guide her back into her room, urging her to change.

However, she slipped out of my grasp, stuck her tongue out at me, and disappeared from my view as she went downstairs.

I followed after her, and as I came close to the final step, I heard someone cry out in what sounded like joy. It was feminine, but it didn't sound like it belonged to an adult, and I didn't recognize it, either.

Reaching the final step, the living room came into view. Mom and Dad were seated, observing Komachi as she was being fawned upon by a girl with long black hair who seemed to be around my age. She was quite… pretty. Her blue eyes reminded me of the sky during summer, and her face was clear and pale, yet not in a sickly way.

Seated close to her were two adults who looked similar to her. They each had black hair, though only one of them had the blue eyes of girl fawning over Komachi. She had a small smile as she watched the two play. The man seated next to her wore a black suit, his hair short and styled so that it was parted to the side. His eyes were a pale purple, and he had a big grin on his face. The two adults were probably her parents.

Looking away from the pretty girl, I was now met with the gaze of a blond haired boy. His eyes were blue, but paler than the girl's. He also appeared to be around my age. Seated next to him were who I assumed to be his parents, each of them having the blond hair and blue eyes of the boy.

Dad looked toward the stairs, noticing me, and Mom followed his gaze, noticing me as well.

"Hachiman, come over here," Dad said with a wave of his hand.

"Okay." I started for the empty chair next to Mom, and I made eye contact with the pretty girl as I walked by her. She smiled, and I looked away, a weird warmth coating my face.

I sat down, and the pretty girl's mom cleared her throat. Komachi and the girl separated, with the pretty girl walking to an empty seat beside her mom with Komachi clumsily walking to my seat, sitting down in front of me.

"Komachi, there's a chair next to your brother." Mom pointed at the chair next to me only to receive a pout from her.

"No, I want to be with Onii-chan." She crossed her arms and looked away, earning her a sigh from Mom.

"Mom, why are they here?" I asked, playing with Komachi's soft hair as I spoke.

"They're our friends."

I looked around, the adults nodding with smiles donning their faces. "O-Oh, nice to meet you," I said with a quick bow of my head.

"What a polite young man," the blonde woman commented, the man beside her nodding in agreement.

"Thank you."

Dad coughed into his fist. "Anyway, we wanted our children to meet since you're around the same age."

Looks like I was right.

"Hachiman, introduce yourself," Mom instructed, directing me to stand with a wave of her hand.

I stood up, making eye contact with the girl and boy. "My name's Hikigaya Hachiman. Nice to meet you."

The blue eyed woman whispered something, and the pretty girl stood up. "My name is Yukinoshita Yukino. Nice to meet you as well," she said with a smile. The same warmth returned, making me avert my eyes.

Next, the blond boy stood. "My name is Hayama Hayato. Nice to meet you."

Komachi stood up next. "My name is Komachi. Nice to meet you!" she said to the amusement of everyone around her.

"Alright, the kids can go play while the adults talk," Dad announced. "Hachiman, can you lead Yukino-chan and Hayato-kun to the backyard? Take your sister with you as well."

"Okay."

Yukino-chan and Hayato-kun stood up from their chairs, with Hayato-kun coming to my side while Yukino-chan went to Komachi.

I led them to two big sliding glass doors which showed off a big backyard. We had a basketball court, a tennis court, a pool, and some other stuff that I couldn't remember the name of.

"Cool backyard. Do you have a soccer ball?" Hayato-kun asked as I slid the doors open.

"Yeah, it's over there." I pointed toward a white and black ball, slightly hidden in a grassy area.

"Thanks, Hachiman."

"Sure, Hayato-kun."

He waved his hand as he left my side, running toward the soccer ball. "You don't have to say my name with the honorific."

"Oh."

I went outside, Komachi and Yukino-chan following close behind me. I began to walk toward the tennis court, expecting the two to eventually branch off and do what they wanted. However, when I looked over my shoulder, they were still there.

"I'm heading to the tennis court. Don't you want to do something else?" I asked them.

"No, I want to follow Onii-chan," Komachi quickly answered.

I looked toward Yukino-chan only for her to avert her eyes.

"I'll follow Komachi-chan."

"Why do you always follow her?"

Her cheeks became tinted with a light pink. "She has a Pan-san shirt..."

"Pan-san?" I wondered aloud. "That's what it's called?"

"You don't know him?" she gasped with widened eyes, quickly walking ahead of Komachi to my side.

"Well, uh, no…"

"Pan-san, also known as Pan-san the Panda, was created by an American biologist for his son. His son wasn't able to adapt to their new life after they relocated, so his father created the story for him," she spoke with pure confidence, not pausing or stuttering once to my amazement. "By the way, a biologis-"

"I know, a biologist is a scientist who studies biology."

She smiled. "Usually, when I tell people about Pan-san they don't seem to care, and sometimes they don't know what a biologist is. Do you, by any chance, read a lot too?"

"I do." I paused. "Did you see the big bookshelf in the living room?"

"Yes, it's quite large."

"All of those books belong to Dad. I want to read them all one day," I said, making a fist and pumping it into the air.

"I also have a similar goal."

With the end of her sentence we had reached the tennis court. Next to it was a small shed which contained racquets, tennis balls, and some sort of machine which Dad told me to never touch.

"I'm gonna get my racquet." I opened the metal door of the cage that surrounded the court, but before I could step inside, Yukino-chan had grasped my sleeve, effectively making me stop in my tracks.

"I know how to play. Can I join you?" she asked.

My eyes flickered from her hand to her eyes. "Oh, um, sure."

"Thank you."

We walked inside, Komachi included to my dismay.

"Komachi," I sighed. "You already know that you can't come in. Father and I have told you at least ten times by now."

"I'll watch from far away."

"No, you need to be outside the fence."

"But-"

"Komachi-san, you should listen to your brother. Maybe you can go play with Hayato?" Yukino-chan interrupted, pointing at Hayato who was juggling the soccer ball in the distance.

"Fine," Komachi muttered, and I watched her stomp away.

I turned to Yukino-chan. "Thank you."

"Not a problem."

I closed the door behind us and we went toward the shed. Opening the door, I switched on the light and headed to the back of the shed where my racket was usually placed. It was grey, with an "H" written in the middle.

"What should I use?" Yukino-chan suddenly asked, looking over my shoulder. I quickly backed away, bumping into another racquet hanging from the ceiling. It was blue and the same size as mine.

"Can you use this?" I took the racquet off and showed it to her. She promptly took it, inspecting it with the racket only centimeters away from her face.

"Yes, this will do. Thanks."

"Sure."

We walked back outside, and I could see Komachi now passing the ball back and forth with Hayato. Both seemed to be enjoying it, especially Komachi, making me smile.

"Who's going to serve?"

I turned back around. "Do you want to?" I replied.

"Sure, I don't mind." I passed her the ball and she bounced it against her racquet, catching it.

We went to our respective sides of the court. I placed my legs far apart from each other, hunched my back, and brought the racquet in front of me. Yukino-chan prepared to serve, but before she did, she called out to me.

"You ready?"

"Yeah!"

She threw the ball up, hitting it with her racquet. It flew across the net into my side, and I was just able to return it.

We hit the ball back and forth for a few minutes until one of my returns were particularly bad, and she was able to strike it past me.

She pumped her fist. "I win."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my wrist. "You're pretty good."

"So are you." She wiped her head as well, though she had more sweat than me, and I could see that her steps were unbalanced.

"Wanna go one more time?" I grabbed the ball from the ground and bounced it up and down with my racquet.

"I'm actually quite tired. Can we take a break?"

"Yeah, sure."

We placed our racquets in the middle of the court with the tennis ball in the center of my own racquet. Sitting down outside the cage, we watched Komachi play with Hayato-kun.

"Do you take lessons?" I asked.

"Yes, my older sister took them so I wanted to as well." She frowned. "She's quite better than me, though."

"Well, she's older, so of course she would be. You're really good, though. I'm actually the best in my own class and you beat me," I laughed, and her frown turned into a smile again.

We continued to watch, but somehow, the silence between us wasn't uncomfortable.

I saw the glass door slide open, and Father stepped outside.

"Time to go," he called out.

I stood up, reaching my hand out to her since she still seemed tired. She grasped onto it, and I pulled upwards.

"I'll help you cleanup," she offered.

"No, don't worry about it. It's not that much and you're still tired."

She smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem."

She walked toward Father, meeting up with Hayato along the way. Before they went inside, they turned around and waved toward me.

I waved back.