Chapter 3: For a short moment, her compassion spoke louder than anyone ever has. (Part 1)

A week ago, I was asked by Omiya to help Hanasaki out with one of the requests the Student Support Team received, and then decide later whether or not I would like to join the team. When I declined, Omiya quietly threatened to blackmail me. Even knowing it was no more than an empty threat, I complied anyway, not having anything important to do at that point in time.

In the end I decided not to join.

"Where's that room?"

However, I did decide to help the team, comprising only of Hanasaki at the moment, with some of the requests that sounded too much for just one person to handle.

Oh, it's over there, I thought, coming across the club's room that was the location of one of the big requests. A certain club wanted the Support Team to setup the club room for their next event – all of the members having extra classes, none of them had enough time to do it themselves. I decided to check out the room in the morning to assess the time it would take to set the room up.

As I approached the room, I noticed that the door was slightly slid open. Going nearer, I could hear blunt noises from the inside. Knowing that none of the members had the time to be there, it was certainly strange.

"Huh?!" I said as I peeked through the open space.

The person in question was Hiratsuka. She was inside the room doing various things: moving the tables around, carry boxes, and other menial things. It was obvious that she was setting up the club room.

I immediately made my way back to my classroom, and with all the time I had left before homeroom, I approached somebody who introduced the matter to me in the first place.

"Just to confirm, she has a beef with the Student Council, correct?"

"Yup, she really does" the person said, turning around to face me. As she did that, the lower half of her brown side-ponytail was lifted up to counteract the wind at hit it when she turned. When her hair settled, Omiya, having one hand on her hips like usual, simply said,

"Why?"

"No reason in particular," I said, "Do have any idea why she hates you guys so much?"

And why was she helping its Support Team with one of the requests, if that's the case? How did she even know about the request in the first place?

"I don't really know, but," she said, sliding the hand that was holding her hips back down her side, pausing to think, "If I have to guess, it was probably jealousy"

"Jealousy?"

"Remember how I told you that she screwed up during preparations for the Cultural Festival, and that costed them the whole event?"

"Yeah."

"After that, the Student Council decided to take over the event, and in the end, it turned into a big success," Omiya said, "I'm only speculating here, but being the chairperson of the Cultural Festival Committee, she probably wasn't happy about how the spotlight was taken away from her. What happened after that is as I have said: she started avoiding everybody."

Knowing a bit about Hiratsuka's circumstances during this time period, it wasn't hard to believe that the shame of failure was what got her to become anti-social. However, it is a bit of stretch to assume that jealousy was involved. If that bit were true, then she would have started approaching more people, and bad mouthing the Student Council in the process to make herself look good.

"Since I am in the council, she probably started hating me too judging from the fact that she even refused to hand in her future plans form," Omiya said, hooking her upper lip with her index finger, "If she doesn't hand it in soon, she's toast."

"Class Rep, is the counseling session happening soon?"

"It's this Friday"

"Huh?!"

According to Omiya herself, that is a big deal – if Hiratsuka doesn't hand in that form, then the counselor will refuse to talk to her about post-graduation plans. In the worst case, she won't be referred to any university.

Isn't there something that can be done?, I thought.

I stood there, cranking my brain power to the max, hoping to come up with the remedy to this situation. Tens of "what ifs" came and went – none of the idea I thought of was any good.

However, as I was deep in thought, I forgot for a moment that I was still standing in front of Omiya. To her, it was as if I suddenly stopped talking to her and started making disapproving expressions every now and then.

"We could secretly follow her during lunch, and find her weakness from afar." she said.

To be completely honest, it was one of the ideas I came up with. If I really couldn't ask the person herself, then I don't have to. It was one of the ideas that quickly scrapped, saving it as the last resort. Not to mention that if Yuigahama was here, and she could read my mind, she would have slapped my face with her orange backpack.

But then again, there is probably no other way.

"Hikigaya, just so you know, I was joking."

Monday – Lunch – 5 days remaining.

"Hikigaya-kun, are you going somewhere? What about lunch?" Hanasaki said.

"I'm just gonna go get some fresh air. Just go ahead and eat without me"

As usual, Hiratsuka immediately left the classroom soon after the bell rang. Without any consideration for the damages to her textbooks, she quickly shoved them inside her bag and headed for the door.

The first place she went to is the place I am all too familiar with. Hiratsuka sat down on the front steps of the door in front of the bicycle racks. Of course, I wasn't sitting beside her on the steps.. I didn't need to to know that – there were windows behind where she was sitting.

No, I wasn't there either.

On the second floor, there were also windows at the same location as on the first. From there, I could see Hiratsuka from above. To not pry into her personal life too much, I only elected to peek down from time to time, mostly to see if she was ready to leave for another location.

During my observation, there were certain things that caught my attention. One of them is the fact that her lunch box contained what looked like ramen. The noodle, the sliced fish ball, the bamboo shoots, the hard-boiled eggs, all of the ingredients you would expect are all there save for the soup. The only thing absent was the soup, although it was understandable as it would

probably leak from the lunch box.

For the time I knew her, all I had ever seen on her face was a determined expression. The emptiness in her eyes when she chewed her food.. it doesn't exactly screams "this person is going to be setting examples for the next generation". To me personally, that scenery was rather like a reflection through a mirror – even If was surrounded by Yukinoshita and Yuigahama after school, lunch would always be my personal time.

It was probably because of my personal experience with her, but I know for a fact that expression doesn't belong on her face.

When she was done with her main course, she brought out a pack of instant ramen from her bag. After squeezing on the pack a few times, she ripped opened the smaller pack of seasoning, and sprinkled them into the ramen pack. When she was done shaking the pack, she ate the crushed up noodles as a snack.

So her love for ramen started pretty early on, I see.

Having cleaned up her mess, she stood up and went back inside the building.

Being on the second floor, I headed straight for the nearest stairs, assuming that she would too for convenience. Still on the upper floor, I peeked from behind the wall at the side of the stair section. A short moment passed, and I began hearing footsteps which got louder with each one taken.

Eventually, strands of black hair emerged from the stepped slope, and that was when I ran straight into the boys toilet, which was immediately to the right of the stairs.

When the footsteps started gradually getting softer, I peeked outside. Hiratsuka was walking down the opposite direction.

Wait, isn't that..

Look down at the corridor she was walking toward, there were windows on the left, as well as at the middle wall where the corridor ends. The left side of the corridor were classrooms.

That room at the end of the corridor.. there's no mistake: that's the room.

But as I was pondering about something, Hiratsuka went into a classroom and was second to the last.

I quickly jogged toward the location, slowing down as I approached it to not give away my presence. 'Literature Club', the sign at the door said.

I slid open the door slightly, and through the small gap, I saw Hiratsuka walk toward an empty chair where the other side of its desk sat another girl.

The girl had a black hair tied into pigtails which rested on her shoulders, its end going no farther than her chest.

"Sorry, if I was a bit late" Hiratsuka said as she sat down.

The other girl gave a slight, gentle smile, while waving very slowly with both hands, as if to say "It's alright" or "I just got here, too"

"Then shall we continue where we left off?" Hiratsuka said, returning an equally gentle smile.

That's a first.. from this version of her, at least, I thought about this side of her that most people had yet to see.

The girl nodded in reply to Hiratsuka's previous statement.

She must be a really timid person.

What happened next.. Or rather, a lack thereof, really got me intrigued.

After that exchange, none of them uttered a single word (not that the pigtail girl has said anything, but still) – it was dead silent.

Both of them started writing something down, and during the ten minutes that I spent squatting in front of the classroom, the only noise that came through the door was that of pencil lead being stroked down a paper.

But then again, it's the Literature Club, so it might not be so weird, after all.

Judging from what I saw, nothing of note probably happen after that, but it was still a shame that I couldn't continue watching.

"Dude, over there! The Literature Club is just around the corner," a voice approached from somewhere.

Crap!

"Yeah you're right!"

I sprang up and walked away from the door, pretending to be leaving. Two guys appeared from the corner and made their way toward the Literature Club.

Luckily, I got away without them paying any attention to me whatsoever. It was unfortunate, but that was all for the day's reconnaissance.

I guess I'll have to save the observation for tomorrow.

Or at least, that's what I thought…

Tuesday – Morning before homeroom – 4 days remaining.

"Hikigaya-kun," Hanasaki called as she and Omiya approached my seat, and with her usual playful smile, she continued,

"You were tailing Hiratsuka-san yesterday, didn't you?"

"Huh?!", "Eh?!" Omiya and I said in unison, with myself trying to come up with a response,

"Umm.. I"

"You actually did!?" Omiya said, grabbing my blazer with both hands.

"Uhh..", struggling to say anything, I simply averted my eyes.

"You idiot! I said I was only joking!", she added, pulling me back and forth somewhat violently.

"Id– idiot.. ?" holding up my hands in front for her to back off, "I was just trying to find a way to approach her."

"That doesn't make it any better!" she said, shaking me even harder, "Agh, I can't believe this guy!"

Stop shaking me already!

When she finally let go of my collar, Omiya immediately placed her hand on her face, sighing as she pinched between her eyes.

"Just.. ugh," Omiya said, having calmed down somewhat, "Saki, how did you even know that, anyway?"

"I mean, he kept staring at her yesterday, and then immediately followed her when she left," Hanasaki said, "It was really obvious, y'know?"

And you, joker girl, stop exposing my every subconscious decision!

"Just.. whatever.. no more stalking, got it?" Omiya said, looking at me with a worried expression, "Morality aside, that kinda thing is illegal, so don't do it again"

"Yeah"

"But then again, even if you did, it probably wouldn't matter," Omiya said, "she wouldn't have the time to be spied on anyway."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I consulted the Student Council President about this issue – he said he will have the members pester her about it for the rest of the week," Omiya said, "She'll probably spend all that time avoiding the bureaucrats running after her."

But..

"Wait a sec, Class Rep," I spoke out what was on my mind, "Wouldn't that be a blatant invasion of personal space? How's that any better than what I did?"

"I never said I agreed with him, Hikigaya," Omiya said, "I'm only telling you that's what he decided to do."

If Hiratsuka herself would be too distracted to be able to perform her usual routines, then there wasn't anything that I could have done about it. Even if that wasn't the case, there still wouldn't be any proper way for me to approach her, judging from how she seemed to have come to dislike me like she did anyone who are associated with the Student Council in any way.

"In any case, no more stalking!"

"I got it, I got it.. alright?"

If she was going to have her lunch break taken away from her, that means there was only one place for me to check out.

Tuesday – Lunch – 4 days remaining.

Entering the enemy territory when you are unarmed is never a good idea. When Hiratsuka managed to shake the Student Council loose, then that will be the end of this mission. If this place is to her as Service Club is to Yuigahama, then she'll do anything in her power to protect it. This method involves way too high of a risk.

With all that said, however..

I ended up coming here, anyway.. I thought, looking up at sign that read, 'Literature Club'

While I am the type who never made friends during an orientation, it was still worth a try. If I couldn't penetrate here fortress from the outside, then I can at least cause an espionage from happen from within.

I slid the door open normally, as anyone would, and a mysterious person was there to be seen. It was the pigtail who girl was sitting on the inner side of her table, seemly writing something on her a notebook before slowly facing up toward my direction.

"Umm.. Hello," I greeted.

The girl, after pausing for a short moment, suddenly shot up her spine, sitting up straight. With a gentle smile now on her face, she slowly waved at me, the same way she did with Hiratsuka yesterday. She stretched the same arm forward, showing her hand palm side up, toward a chair on the opposite side.

I could only assume, but it was most likely an invitation. Any human being who saw those actions would probably get to the same conclusion.

Is she really that shy?

That aside, there are people who consider that rude, too – they would assume she wasn't treating them well.

If she kept going like this, she's going to get in trouble at some point.

When I sat down, what she did next cleared up all the ambiguity of her actions completely.

With her right hand, she first pointed at me. Then, pointing both her hands toward each other, she moved them in circles, with one halfway ahead of the other. Holding up two fingers on one hand, she tapped the shoulder on the other side, then the one on the same side as the arm.

Finally, she stretched the same arm forward, and once again showing hand palm side up, this time toward me, to which I assumed was to hand me over the turn to speak.

That was when I realized her shyness had nothing to do with her not speaking. In fact, it was something more basic than her just playing the quiet character. Even if she was as confident as Omiya, It wouldn't have made one bit of a difference.

"I'm sorry, I don't really understand.."I said.

Even with the seemingly impossible communication barrier, rather than feeling down, she maintained that smile on her face. Although, that could also mean.. It was probably a bit insensitive of me, but I decided to ask her anyway.

"Do you at least hear what I'm saying, though?"

She nodded, and, from a stack of sketchpad, pulled out the one with the label "Introduction" taped on the cover. After flipping over to the first page, she held the sketchbook in front of her, showing me the phrases written on it.

'Welcome to the Literature Club! My name is Narita Narumi, nice to meet you!' the first page said.

The pigtail girl showed me her palm once more, as if saying "And you?"

"Hikigaya Hachiman" I said, "Nice to meet you too.. Narita"

Making a worried expression, Narita reluctantly flipped open to another page.

'Not a lot of people visit our club, so thanks you coming!' she wrote, 'Would you like to read some of our club's work?'

"Sure"`

With a sigh of relief, she handed me a notebook, presumably containing all the written works of the Literature Club.

Reading through the pages of the notebook, I could tell that the people of this club really did put a lot of work into them. I personally am not into poetry, but the words and structure they used were simple enough for me to enjoy to an extent. Oddly enough, some of the pages appeared to have been ripped off.

It wasn't so hard to tell that this club probably only had two members, since that's the number of writing styles that I came across. One of them I am very familiar with, being the similar to that of my favorite author.

"A lot of these reminds me of Watari Koeru's works" I muttered.

As I said that, a brief slapping noise came from the opposite site of the table. When I looked up, Narita was bending forward over the table, with her hands lying flat on the wood surface. Her was eyes sparkling with excitement, and her mouth was wide open in awe. She reached both her hands out to grab mine, which was still holding her notebook, and started shaking with enthusiasm.

When Narita sat back down, she immediately brought out a book from her bag, and handed it over to me.

"Oh, this one," I said, receiving the book from her, "I really like this one. Not really a popular choice among his fans, though – such a waste."

Without hesitation, she nodded, show an expression that was full of agreement.

I don't remember how long the conversation lasted. (Although, it would be strange to call that "a conversation")

When I was done giving my opinion on that one book, she brought out another one, seemingly wanting to know what I think of it. The only input from her side was either that of agreement via a nod, or an implication of the opposite via a troubled expression.

Arguably (and ironically), that was the most I have ever spoken in a single setting.

The same thing repeated until the 5th period bell went off, much to the dismay of Narita, who made it very clear through her expression that she hadn't had enough of the exchange. I'm only guessing, but even if she ran out of books from that author, then that "conversation" would still have gone on somehow.

However, while my interaction with Narita went on relatively smoothly, I have completely forgotten about my original intent, and that was to know more about Hiratsuka's situation.

In hindsight, the encounter would have gone the opposite direction had I actually brought it up. Even if she had the means to effectively convey the information to me, that didn't mean that she would be willing to do so.

I'll try to make that happen tomorrow.. somehow.

Wednesday – 3 days remaining.

"Oh, that? Yeah, you can have it, Hikigaya-kun."

"Thanks, you saved me a lot of trouble."

"We still have yet to return you the favor for helping us clean up our storage room. Besides, that thing is kinda old anyway. There is a box of old equipment over there – feel free to take the whole thing with you."

Today, I'll definitely bring it up.

It was arrogant to think that everything will go as planned, but as Friday closes in, there was not much else I could have done. The main objective wasn't to keep a kindred spirit company – that could always be done after this mess is over. That was nothing more than a reconnaissance mission.

"Here, have this, Narita," I said, handing her a tape recorder I received from the Newspaper Club this morning.

Receiving the device, she first stared at it for a short moment, then looked up at me, expressing confusion with her slightly tilted head.

Sugarcoating isn't my thing, especially not when it comes to my own actions.

"..."

But..

"You said not many people come here, didn't you?" I said.

She nodded.

"Then, record someone reading the poem, and play it whenever somebody visits – this should make your club easier to approach, especially when you're here alone," I said, and after thinking for a bit, added, "You probably have more members, right? If you didn't, this club would have been disbanded long ago."

Now, for the segue!

"Speaking of the other members– "

"Excuse us!" someone yelled from outside the clubroom. Immediately after, the door was slid open so hard, the reverberations probably went all the way to the stairs at the opposite end of the hallway. What emerged from the hallway were two male students whose body build were of someone who often play sports. Just by standing at the door, their intimidating aura radiated throughout the room.

"Oh, it's just Narita today?" one guy said.

"Well, that'll make things easier." the other guy said.

I got a bad feeling just by looking at these guys.. what are they up to?

"Let's get down to business, Narita," one of the guys who were slowly approaching her said, "I hope you're ready to give the correct answer this time."

"Are you disbanding or not? The Art Club really needs a room of its own, you know?" the other guy said, having made his way to the table, standing beside me.

"So..?"

Narita, frozen as if the intimidating aura had already shut down her brain, just stared at the guys whose shadow was practically towering her. After a short moment, with her lips visibly shaking, she forced a slight smile, probably to imply, "I'm sorry, but I have to refuse"

"Who do you think you're smiling at?!" one guy suddenly raised his voice, slapping the table, immediately striking fear within her.

"Your useless club is such an eyesore. What's the point of keeping it going?!"

"Right? You can't even speak, so who is going to be listening to these stupid stories?"

Now, that's crossing the line.

"Someone like you wouldn't amount to anything!"

"Hey," I said, getting their attention. With eyes full of intent to murder, both of them turned toward me, who was on the same as of the table as they were.

She was probably like this for as long as she could remember.

"Making fun of somebody else's shortcomings is a bit much, don't you think?"

People like you would never be able to comprehend that.

"Who the heck asked for your opinion?" the guy closest to me said, reaching for my shoulder.

With sweat rolling down my face, I sat still, looking back at his threatening eyes. At that moment, my lower jaw had already gave in, shaking harder than when I was out in the cold, half naked. My breathing pattern was no better, having the rhythm of somebody suffering from asthma.

"Let me give you a life advice," the guy said.

Without any warning, the guy shoved me hard on the shoulder, holding a pose that suggested that he only used half his strength. That said, it was enough to send me falling off my chair, with the back of my head hitting the floor at the same time as the chair. If the pain wasn't bad enough, the ear-penetrating sound of the metal rails hitting the floor made it a lot worse.

"If you don't wanna get hurt, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong," the guy said, "You better stay back from now on!"

The later part of their exchange happened in darkness as I lay on the ground, trying to suppress the pulsating pain at the back of my head with my hands.

"So, what's your answer?" the guy said, presumably shifting his attention back to Narita.

I, too, am curious about what happened next, but whatever her reply was, they weren't happy about it.

"Why are you so persistent?!"

"Yeah, disband this stupid club!"

"I guess you haven't learned your lesson from the other day."

What the heck are they gonna do!?

"Give me that!"

Even without seeing what was going on, I got an answer immediately as soon as I heard the sound of paper being ripped – it was when I also realized why it seemed like some of the pages of her notebook were missing.

The club's work..

The rippling at the back of my head were telling me to stay down, but I had already risen to my feet at that point. Barely able to let the pain be, I stretched my left arm forward, reaching for whatever was about to wash the Literature Club's efforts down the drain.

Catching the hand that was pulling on the page of the notebook, I yanked the guy's wrist past my face, and up into the air. Looking straight into in eyes over the arms that were obscuring the lower half of our faces, I said,

"Let go of the notebook."

"What the– what are you doing?!"

"I said let go of the notebook."

"You really got the nerve!" the guy said, slowly pulling his other hand backward, holding it into a fist. I only saw the fist coming toward me for a brief moment before seeing a bunch of stars. Even though the impact zone was nowhere near my legs, they still gave out immediately, leaving me falling butt-first to the ground.

"I told you to stay back, didn't I!?"

"Seems like he didn't get it, I'll help you teach him a lesson!" the other guy said, walking toward me.

The hail of kicks started being thrown at me, most of which went to either my shoulder, or my arm that I held in front of my face.

"Take this, idiot!" one guy said before something a lot softer than their feet hit my face. When it slid down behind my lap, it was as if the almighty-whatever said, 'Here's your chance, do something, Hachiman!'

The notebook!

"Narita!" I said, and with the other hand, I threw toward her the binded good containing the accumulation of her club's effort, "Take it, and go!"

I knew I let my guard down, when right after I said that, I took a blow that sent my face turning to the side, almost twisting my neck.

"Go!" I said, to which the rapid footsteps presumably coming from her started, and got softer in a matter of seconds until it vanished into the hallway.

Now that she was out of the fray, there was nothing else to be concerned about. I stayed down, anticipating them to strike me even more violently, hoping in vain that they would eventually be satisfied and simply leave me alone.

"Dude, Narita's gotten away!"

"Crap, she'll probably go get the teachers…"

"Let's leave, dude.. Or we'll be toast!"

"You're right.. "

With that conversation done, those two finally stopped stamping shoe prints on me.

"Agh, dammit.. she did say not to involve others."

"Not my fault! That guy suddenly grabbed me – it was for self-defense!"

Those two ran out quickly as if their life depended on it, leaving me on the ground, trying to process what just happened.

With the pain still coming back to all the various places that got hit, I stood up slowly.

"Ouch!" I said, covering the cheek that got hit with the sneaker. Just based on how it felt, I could already guess the shade of purple my cheek has turned to.

As I walked out of the room, a liquid of some kind that was dripping from my lower lip made its way into my mouth. Even without looking into the mirror, I knew as soon as the metallic taste set in, that I needed to go to toilet to wash it off before lunch break ends. I wiped the red stuff off my chin with my black blazer's sleeve, and swallowed the portion that flowed into my mouth.

I began walking toward the toilet, covering my bruised cheek in case I ran into someone.

"What are you doing here?"

Before I could even walk away from the room, somebody who walked from the opposite side of the hallway said. There is no mistaking it – that voice, even with its owner current demeanor, was still completely recognizable to me, who was all too familiar with it.

It's Hiratsuka, I thought, still facing the opposite direction.

"Nothing." I replied.

"Nobody ever visits our club.. not without some sort of motive" she said, having a serious tone mixed in with her usual lack of emotion, "So tell me, what are you doing here?"

"I.."

Suddenly, the rapid footstep from earlier grew louder from Hiratsuka's side, only to abruptly stop with a squeak when it reached the origin of the voice. The panting that followed soon after notified me of another presence, one that hurried back to this place for some reason or another.

"Narita-san?" the Hiratsuka said, "where have you been?"

Seem like she didn't go and get a teacher like the guys feared.

"Huh? Narita-san, why are you crying?"

She's crying? I thought, though, the fact became obvious when the sobbing became audible. Even if your vocal chord goes bust, air still flows through there, after all.

"Don't tell me.. " the future teacher said. After a brief pause, she followed up in a manner that suggested she gathered all of the suffering she had built up over her time at Sobu High, and released it on me in one small sentence,

"You.. what did you do to her?!"

What the..?!

"Bullying a girl, and it's someone like Narita-san, no less."

Wait a second, Hiratsuka–

"You're doing the Student Council's dirty work again, aren't you?"

The strings of accusation threw me off into space, leaving my mind blank on what actions I should take next. But before she could say anything else, she was abruptly stopped by something.

"Eh.!? Narita-san, what are you doing?!"

So Narita's defending me?

"Just stay back – the reason why those guys keep coming back is because you're always too kind on them."

If Hiratsuka didn't believe the person herself, then there was no way I could have gotten away with a simple "I was the one who got beaten up".

"If you don't want me to go get a teacher, I suggest you leave right now."

There wasn't much else I could have done. Even If I showed her the bruise on my face, she would have thought Narita was the one who did it in self-defense.

"Never come back here again."

But then again, not that it matters.

My job here is not to be liked, or to become popular. Yuigahama tasked me with "saving" Hiratsuka, the girl who just accused me of trying to destroy something important to her. If it meant making sure that her life don't take a turn for the worse, the least I could do is to not be the cause of that.

Not to mention..

"It's alright, Narita-san.. Everything is going to be alright"

I couldn't have possibly come up with any phrase that would put Narita at ease. Even if I could, my words wouldn't have no meaning to her anyway, being someone she only met a day ago. When you think of it that way, Hiratsuka's arrival was the most opportune.

It's best to just let them be for now.