Date written: 21/12/11 – 31/12/11

Posted on FanFiction: 31/12/11

A/N: It's already the New Year in my country, and I thought about finishing this chapter before I go to sleep. God, I'm tired, so I'll just post this chapter as it is and revise it once I get some shut-eye. The notes after this are just tidbits I added while I was writing the chapter.

The HaGaNai light novels comprise mostly of dialogue between the club members, and it is in their dialogue that the story progresses greatly. Sometimes their conversations lead to something, sometimes they just lead to comic relief, but in either case they were there as if I were reading a slice-of-life novel. This chapter intends to stay true to that format, unlike the previous chapter, which was 85% monologue text. A more HaGaNai light novel feel for this one, guys.

I'm also writing this to address a few patterns in the story I began to dislike severely. I can sum that up with a simple meme: Kodaka Hasegawa . . . Y U NO TAKE ACTION?

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY READING, EVERYONE!


–– CHAPTER 2 ––

A Meeting of the Neighbors Club

The next day, there was a meeting of the Neighbors Club, so it was vital that we were in attendance. Yozora texted me the time, and Kobato and I left for St. Chronica Academy just in the right time for us to arrive at the start of it. I wanted to be punctual, but Kobato demanded a much better offering for today, so I decided to indulge her with my culinary expertise. I made her tonkatsu ramen. I had a little trouble with the broth that I was forced to remake it. Such was the fruits of experimentation; I was hoping to enhance the flavor somewhat.

We entered the clubroom and found the rest of the members already there. Rika was seated on the sofa, reading a yaoi omnibus manga from the looks of it—no, not the book but her face. She looked less content than when she was reading that mecha yaoi of hers. Maria was beside Rika, taking her afternoon nap, which was good because if she had been awake, I would've told Rika to stop reading smut in front of a child—she tainted the poor girl enough with her impromptu Sex Ed before. Yukimura came up to us in his maid uniform, greeting me with a bow as he usually did. Yozora and Sena were in the middle of an argument when we arrived, although the vigor of one dissolved when our eyes met.

"Y—Yo," I said to Sena, who was staring at me for a while now, the relentless calls from Yozora unheeded. Just as she heard my voice, she looked away, flipping her hair with a haughty air to its action. What the hell was that about?

Yozora, having enough of being ignored, grabbed her flyswatter and swatted the back of Sena's head. It must've been a powerful slap because Sena definitely felt the impact, rubbing the spot where she was hit. "What the hell was that for?"

"It's bad to ignore someone who's talking to you, Meat," she said, her arms crossed, the flyswatter held firmly in one hand, resonating an aura of sadistic malice. It made me wonder how could an inanimate object could possess such an aura, but realizing that it was being held by Yozora, maybe she was channeling her own malice to the seemingly harmless insect crusher.

"Maybe because I find our conversation pointless," Sena replied, crossing her own arms—where my eyes treacherously lingered on the bounce of her meat when she did that.

Ignoring her, Yozora said to the room, "Okay, now that everyone is here, let's—"

"Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking, you hypocrite."

"Oh? Did you say something, Meat?"

"It's bad to ignore someone who's talking to you, that's what you said."

"You're correct, I did say that."

". . ."

". . ."

Uh, what's with the sudden silence?

"Well?" Sena demanded.

"Well what?"

"That's all you have to say?"

"Of course, Meat." She narrowed her eyes. "I'd rather not waste any more of my words to a presumptuous lump of rotten meat such as you."

"Kuh! You're the one being presumptuous here."

"Am I? Are you so deluded that you believe yourself courteous while the rest of us are doing our best to show kindness to a stupid deplorable little wretched meat such as you? How unsightly." Every sentence sounded dosed in venom and contained varying levels of insults aimed towards the blonde bishoujo.

"Kuuuuh!" Woah, Sena looked pissed. If this kept up, the same old routine would occur wherein Sena would say words spoken out of desperation and despair before dashing out of the clubroom like a bat out of hell. My old response to these confrontations and their same inevitable conclusion was to let the cats have their fight and somehow salvage Sena's wounded pride from the destruction left in their wake—let the cats have their fight, you could say—but today was different. If not for that night at the Kashiwazaki abode, if not for that promise I made with Sena in her bedroom, I would've continued doing the same old thing without any further thought on the matter.

Sena was about to explode with another one of her tirades, which mostly fell short to Yozora's more powerful and malevolent tongue, and if I didn't act quick this would all end the same way.

"Leave it, Sena," I said it as gently as I could.

"But—" Her eyes directed a message that left me stunned for a few moments. Those cerulean orbs were almost screaming 'Traitor' right at me.

Still, I pushed on lest she got the completely wrong idea from my statement. "You too, Yozora."

"Why me, too? Don't tell me you're taking Meat's side on this?"

"I'm taking neither side," I said to them and also to myself, but a part of me was still saying otherwise, saying with firm belief that I was doing this all for Sena's benefit. "I don't even know what you two were arguing about when I got here, so I'm quite out of the loop on this one."

"Then you're not supposed to stick your nose in when you don't know the situation."

"I know, but why can't we all just get along?"

Yozora looked at Sena. Sena looked at Yozora. Both harrumphed as they quickly looked away, swinging their hair highly.

I sighed at this. It seemed a miracle would be the only thing that could put these two people together in a room and not have them end up arguing over the most trivial things.

"So? What is this meeting for?" Sena asked, her arms crossed, bouncing her meat, making my eyes betray me once again.

That got the attention of the rest of the members as Yozora cleared her throat for her announcement.

"As everyone here knows, we'll be conducting our training camp tomorrow." She waited for the rest to say their affirmations before continuing. "So for today, we'll be discussing what activities we will do while we're at camp."

"Activities? Like what, Yozora-senpai?" Rika seemed bewildered at first, but somehow, her glasses fogged over and she smiled a . . . very disturbing smile. "Rika thought of a great activity we can all do!"

"Rejected," Yozora and Sena said at the same time.

"Eeeehh? Rika didn't even get to say what it is yet."

"Since it's you, I already have a basic idea of what it is you're thinking," Yozora said. "Completely rejected."

Sena's remark was this: "I'm with Yozora on this. You were probably thinking of a reverse gangbang or something."

"Rika didn't think about that." Rika didn't say this out of confirmation, but out of surprise, as if she were looking at gold but suddenly saw diamonds right behind her. "Yozora-senpai! How about we—"

"Re-Jec-Ted." Her voice was dozed with utter finality.

"Awwwww. Anyway, Sena-senpai, how come you got to that conclusion? Were you thinking of something similar?"

"Eh?" She blushed. "N-no, I wasn't . . . I mean, I just assumed . . ."

"Hehehe, Rika isn't the only one with a dirty mind, it seems~."

"I don't have a dirty mind!"

"You play eroge in the clubroom," Yozora interrupted, "harass Kodaka's little sister with homosexual undertones, and even deem s-s-s-se—the dirty deed in your eroge to be works of art. If those are not signs of a pervert, then I do not know what is."

I had got to say, Yozora's words were quite damning that even a stranger would believe Sena was a pervert. Well, it was not like I hadn't already deemed her a pervert, but I didn't look at it as if it were a bad thing. I consider it an odd quirk of hers. Every one of the club had at least one of those. Yukimura with his samurai-like ways and instant belief that by being girly (wearing a maid uniform in the clubroom, a bikini at the pool) he would be more like a man, despite how contradictory it was; Rika with her fascination—more like obsession, actually—of everything hentai that she found no qualms in corrupting herself with some of the most disturbing content in the genre, excluding ero-guro (I hope). Maria with her young age but intelligent mind that she easily became a teacher-nun of the Academy, despite how . . . unproductive the whole idea of her employment on educating people older and more mature than her. My own little sister, Kobato, and her insistence in being a fictional anime vampire character, going so far as to mimic the character's choice of clothes, heterochromatic eyes, and matter of speech. Yozora with her straightforward mannerisms, distorted outlook of rape and sex, and underhanded moves to get her way (at least to Maria, who was easily manipulated due to her naivety). And as for me . . . well, they say a person is often the worst judge of character of themselves, either through ego-inflated exaggerations or evasive omissions, so I couldn't safely say something about myself and not come under fire for being untruthful. Ah, but at least I knew I had a great sense of humor. Don't believe me? I made Maria laugh so hard, her sides were aching. Hah! Sena and Yozora just didn't know good comedy when they hear it.

Back to the topic at hand, Sena didn't take the accusation lightly and lashed out at Yozora again. "I am not a pervert!" I never said she was being creative or genial in her attempt to prove her 'innocence,' pun intended.

"Evidence says otherwise, Meat."

She swore under her breath, clenching one hand into a fist. It might have been accidental, maybe even intentional if I stretched the plausibility of it a bit, but I was sure Sena made eye contact with me, as if she were passing on a message through the use of those enrapturing teal orbs. The expression on her face, the smug smile on Yozora's, and the helplessness of her situation that she seemed more inclined to seek help where she could find it. And I just happened to be someone she could depend on apparently.

"Anyway, Kodaka, you better deliver on your promise."

Words from yesterday, acting like spikes holding me in place next to that promise. A promise I had made without really thinking it through, but would follow nonetheless, if nothing else but to ensure I'd never see Sena cry because of me again.

"I will. Count on it."

"Okay, girls, you had your fun, you had your fun. Can we go back to the meeting's purpose now?" I interjected, clapping my hands for placation, making my voice sound impatient for added effect to my intent. I wasn't as quick-witted as Yozora to think up well placed insults and the like on the fly, but I had enough experience to break up an impending fight. My friends in middle school (as little as their numbers were then) sometimes got into disagreements and I somehow became their unofficial mediator, taking neither sides yet still wishing to end the dispute all the same.

I believed I still got the touch because Yozora didn't brush me off, but she did look at me as if I just kicked her favorite kitty. "Well . . . I guess. I had my fun for today."

"This is your idea of fun?" Sena yelled indignantly.

"So, other than Rika's tastes, does anybody else have ideas for a good training camp activity?"

"Stop ignoring me already!"

God, I beg of you, please let them get along, at least for the rest of the meeting. If this were to continue, Sena would give from the pressure and flee the room like always.

"Oh be quiet, Meat. If you don't have something to input, then don't speak at all. Better yet, how about I duct tape your mouth to ensure your silence? Even your voice sickens me."

"You're despicable!"

"That is enough!" I shouted at them, shocking them out of their heated argument with uneasy jolts from their shoulders. They seemed to have realized that I was not in the mood for their usual banter in the clubroom. I was often the neutral peacekeeper, but never have I raised my voice like I did now, and a small part of me felt guilty for doing so. It was just small, paling in comparison to the size of the percolating irritation engulfing my thoughts and actions. "If this keeps up we're going nowhere at all."

"Onii-chan is scary-looking," Maria said, hiding herself behind Rika.

"The dominion side of senpai," Rika said, adding a small moan in the end. "Ahhhh, the sound of senpai's commanding voice is such a turn-on!"

And just like that, the irritation I earlier felt vaporized in an instant. With Maria's fearful face and Rika's disturbing opinion, it didn't seem right to be frustrated anymore. I wasn't angry; I have less self-control when I am.

Yozora cleared her throat. She was looking away from me, something I had noticed right away but didn't comment on. "Right. Does anybody have ideas for an interesting activity?"

Already feeling sorry for my outburst, I intended to speak out what I thought up. So I raised my hand, got Yozora's attention, and said my piece outright: "Board games."

"Board . . . games?" This was Sena, surprisingly. Yozora seemed to have accepted my suggestion or at least considered it for validity, but what else could we do there other than do our own thing? It was not like the rest were raising their hands for bright ideas—Rika excluded for obvious reasons. "Like what?"

That was actually a good question. I rarely played board games, even when I was young. I was certain I and my old best friend, whose nickname still escapes me, played one board game before I left this town, but I forgot the name of it. It had been one of those "let's do it for the heck of it" moments in our short childhood friendship, and unlike its brother moments, this one gave us both fun and excitement. We got to imagine ourselves as someone in a purely fictional world of our own making, making up quests and triumphing battles whenever they came our way. It was probably the most fun we had from simple rules and game mechanics. If only I could remember the name of that board game.

"Dovahkiin Labyrinth," Yozora said.

Wait. A. Minute.

"You played that game too?" I asked her, finally remembering the name of that game.

Surprised, she replied hesitatingly, "Uh, yeah, back when I was a kid."

"Rika also plays it! My developer friends from Largehard used that as one of their reference materials for the company's Romancing Saga games."

How exactly did that shitty game become based on Dovahkiin Labyrinth, a super cool game?

"Even Romancing Saga XIV?" I asked, hoping that it was the black sheep of the series.

"Especially Romancing Saga XIV!"

. . . It was better I think little of the inner workings of a gaming company's direction on their games, yet a large part of me refused to let things go. They'd reached the fourteenth installment of a series for a reason, but having it based on the coolest game I've played during my childhood felt more than a mere affront. It made me feel like throwing out a protest for Largehard to retire from developing any more Romancing Saga games. Useless wizards, no enemy attack patterns, all enemies modeled after warasubo, and tutorials ending with killing the final boss. Yeah, a protest seemed a better idea to me now.

"Aniki, how does this board game work?"

"Well, I can't exactly explain the whole thing. I mean it's been some time since I last played it and—"

"We'd still need a copy of the game to play it, though," Yozora interrupted. "Unfortunately I never owned one. I always played the game with an old friend of mine who owned a copy."

"I don't have one either," I admitted. "We moved around a lot and I must've forgotten to pack mine during one of those moves."

"Then we're left with no board game to play."

"That's the not the only board game out there, right? I mean there's still games like, like . . ." Damn, I couldn't think of one. My lack of friends ensured I was as inexperienced with board games as it was. That Dovahkiin Labyrinth had been a gift from our neighbor, thus it was the first and only board game I owned and played. Kobato would've played with me, but by the time she turned five she switched to television for entertainment. Dad was seldom around, so I never played with him. But there should be something I remembered in the shows I've watched where they played board games. A game like, like—

"Ouija board!"

. . .

Crap! Wrong board!

"Nice idea, Kodaka."

Was Yozora being sarcastic?

"No, I'm not. That's actually a good idea. I remembered in middle school that a group of my classmates used an Ouija board while they were at summer camp. They said it was fun."

"But do we even have an Ouija board?" I asked.

"Rika does!" Rika said, her hand raised.

"Why do you even have an Ouija board?"

"Muu," she pouted, "Kodaka-senpai thinks it's unbelievable for Rika to have one."

"Sorry." I scratched my nape, truly apologetic for my bluntness. But you had got to admit, there was no possible connection between Rika the fujoshi shut-in and Ouija boards, unless, of course, she was into that sort of thing.

"It's all right, Kodaka-senpai. And why Rika has an Ouija board is because Rika wants to re-enact a scene from Bible Black!"

I had a hunch. ". . . eroge?"

Rika bopped her head excitedly. "Satanic eroge!"

I didn't know what to say. A teenaged girl playing eroge, I could live with (Sena being the prime example here), but a teenaged girl playing Satanic eroge while enrolled in a Christian school just seemed to initiate a metaphoric tug-of-war between the idea and my logic. But then my mind suddenly realized that the idea involved Rika and so the war ended with a stalemate, the idea no longer having an impact and my logic consenting to the implausibility through the "Rika illogic immunity" treaty. Confusing? Don't worry. It's my logic, not yours.

We talked some more after that, as a club. A few of us even tossed other wild suggestions for the trip. Some were considered, some were unanimously agreed upon, some were flat out rejected. In all the exchanges, I noticed Sena kept quiet, content to just observe the club dynamics and debates rolling around. In a way, I was guilty of similar actions, going quiet right after the whole board game thing. And by quiet, I did not mean silent. I still added my own two cents every time I wish to point something out, and though I often doubt Yozora would require my opinion on club matters, she would always listen.

The meeting started at one o'clock, and by the time we fine-tuned the list of activities we would do for training camp, the day had already passed the seventeenth hour. 5:23 in the afternoon, to be exact. Sena opted to go home via bus like the rest of us, and that in itself was a little suspicious. At least to me and Yozora, who was also less subtle in her approach of this thought. The four of us (me, Kobato, Sena, and Yozora) rode on the same bus, Yozora ending up seated next to Kobato, while I was next to Sena. My suspicion was born the moment Sena rode the same bus as us because I knew where she lived, thus knew which bus to use to get to her home. Yozora confronted Sena about her own suspicions, but somehow Sena worked her way around the accusations and ended their conversation with a dignified harrumphed and a flick of her long blonde tresses. Yozora, indignant but tired, decided to just let it go, although she might have instigated another verbal match if not for my hand on her shoulder, suggesting to her that a fight in public would attract more attention than what we were getting already.

Yozora exited in her stop, which left me with Sena to silently confront her about my suspicion. It was more likely that this was her first time using a bus ride home and that she rode the wrong one by mistake (I knew how that felt), but I still had my doubts. To accentuate that, my curiosity was burning from the tense silence pervading between us that the general chatter of schoolgirls and boys in the bus with us could not diffuse it. We were getting close to our drop off near the train station.

If my hunch were somehow correct, then Sena would end up wandering the city on her own with no guide and no idea where she was supposed to go. And there were plenty of tricksters and sleazy people lurking in the streets, waiting for prey like circling vultures. I hated thinking of Sena becoming one of their victims, so it was either I kept my silence and let my curiosity burn or confront Sena about this.

Somehow, the answer came to me faster than I could think "Confront."

"Why are you really taking the bus, Sena?"

Sena turned to me, her teal eyes shining in a distorted shade as the setting sun blended basked the city in a yellow and orange ambience. She remained silent, pursed her lips before opening them, but then closed it shut as quickly as she opened. There was turmoil floating in her eyes, in her actions. If she didn't act now, the bus would pass my and Kobato's stop. That wouldn't do.

"We'll be using the train home," I said, gesturing outside the approaching station and the railway piercing through its sides. I hoped that this would put her into a talking mood instantly, but this action was an all-or-nothing bet. I was pinning it all on the concept that Sena wants me to do something for her but is too shy to ask right away without the proper motivations. Considering her sheltered life, I probably had a better chance of breaking the bank than going broke.

"Heh?" At first, she hadn't comprehended what I said, but as the seconds ticked by (I counted three), the neurons that proved to her and the school that she was top dog in academics connected the dots just as the bus stopped before a red light. This intersection was the last one before we reached the station, so Sena was in borrowed time. So was I, because I wouldn't be satisfied in letting things hang like one of those cheesy cliffhangers in TV series.

"Will you be all right on your own from here?" I asked, purposefully letting that out to cause a more motivated response from her.

Sena looked to me, then the station, then the stoplight, and then back to me. Within that range of seconds, her face morphed through at least five different expressions ranging from panic to resignation. One particular expression stood out from the others: Embarrassment. The way her cheeks flushed like succulent red apples, the way she bit her lip that she looked lipless, the way she lifted her cheeks upward that her eyes looked squinted. In a nutshell, she was displaying a cute side unintentionally and made my heart skip a beat.

Nodding her head down, as if showing her accumulated courage to a physical action, she faced me again, my dark gray boring into her teal. "Kodaka, I need you."

. . . huh?

"To—To accompany me, of course," she continued, blushing at her embarrassing pause that led to a conclusion far from what she originally intended to convey. She was not used to asking favors and the like, but seriously, did her inexperience actually placed her into this short-lived misunderstanding? Short-lived it might be, the damage done was like touching a whistling kettle—touch, pain, pull back, still feel the burn.

And the addition did not alleviate much of the embarrassment, shock, and dirty thoughts. Damn you, brain!

"I need to do some shopping before we go to the trip," she elaborated. "I'm not familiar with the shopping district. That's more of Stella's forte, so I'm more or less in need of a guide."

Oh, so that was what she meant. Hmm . . . strange, I felt disappointed for some reason.

"Then why didn't you ask Yozora for he—" I caught myself before I finished that sentence. The fact she didn't ask Yozora for help was a no-brainer.

"Where do you think I'd end up in if I asked that stupid Yozora for directions?" She arched her eyebrow at me, her arms folded in front of her, once again lifting and bouncing her meat, once again making my eyes betray me.

"No idea," I answered nonchalantly, not really listening because I was busy reeling back from the ero-overload that my brain required time to bypass the glitch in my mental processes.

"Probably get me lost in the middle of the Red Light district or worse."

The stoplight turned green and the bus staggered forward.

"So," she said, "will you"—she looked away, cheeks flushing again—"accompany me or . . . not?" She said that last word with her teal irises pushed to the left corner of her eyes, showing off to me a dangerous yet very effective puppy dog eyes. And she didn't stop there, oh no. She included a pout. Argh! How could any man resist such sad-looking cuteness? A small part of my mind, one in the dark corner, picking up dust and cobwebs as the rest of my brain tried to process the overloading pack of blonde cuteness presented in front of me, protested against my initial response. It tried to reason out that Sena did not specify what things she needed to buy and if he was not careful, he'd end up having to buy some galge or, worse, eroge that she's too embarrassed to buy herself. Granted, I'd be underaged, thus the storekeeper couldn't possibly let me buy the latter, but what if Sena insisted I buy it, to rely on my 'scary Yankee' persona to force the responsible storekeeper to sell?

The question was vague and I understood then that to agree was like activating a time bomb. But . . . the puppy dog eyes and pout, the thought of swindlers in the streets and Sena's sheltered naivety, the morals instilled to me from my father and ethics classes—

I delivered my answer and I was given a whoop of joy in return. Either this joy was because she now had a guide (slave) or because her attempt to put into real life the moe aspects of the puppy dog eyes in galge had worked, as she proudly pointed out to me, was left to question. I was screwed, one way or another.

Yet why was I feeling happy as well?

I looked at Sena, her smile enchanted by the setting sun outside her window, and again my heart skipped a beat.

Was I happy because she was, too? That couldn't be, can it?

But, looking at her again, having my heart skip a beat a third time, and turning away to inform Kobato of my aborted plan to go home with her . . . in an odd sense, I believed this was so.


Chapter Afterword:

Writing Yozora's dialogue had been a real chore to write. I'm not exactly the kind of guy who equips himself with insults at any moment or opportunity, thus I have to really think hard on a good response before anything else. But this is Yozora we're talking about! I see her insults and interactions with Sena to be ten steps farther from my current position, and so my attempts at acting out her character is incomplete, if not disloyal. Anyway, I tried my best. Yozora/Sena arguments are so hard~!

Dovahkiin Labyrinth – it's a play on Dungeons & Dragons. Granted, I never played the board games, but I know the basic rundown of it. Besides, I also decided on making this fictional game far less complicated than the real D&D, though none can really tell since I won't be going in-depth on its game mechanics and the like. The name itself is an easy play to tell, changing Dungeon for Labyrinth, Dragon for Dovahkiin, which means Dragonborn (FUS RO DAH!).

And lastly, the promise from last chapter will be fully explained in the next one. It isn't that important in the story, but I included the lame foreshadowing in the previous chapter, so it's better I eliminate the thing now before it becomes somewhat reminiscent of a forgotten Chekhov's gun (it also contains potential as a Meaningful Echo or Ironic Echo, but let's not get ahead of the story here).