Hachiman, invisible 3
"What is this man…" I gulped, trying to squeeze the words out of my dry throat. The person before me, Kaiki Deishu made me feel really weird. Not in the weird way as Totsuka's weird way, but a really weird way. Like I needed air, like I was drowning, the feeling of something so fake that reality stopped having a meaning "…doing here"
"Kaiki-san is here to help"
"I am here for the money" Kaiki corrected the good willed Hanekawa "You're interrupting my business, I hope this is an emergency"
"It is" Hanekawa stated.
"That so? I don't see the iron-blooded, hot-blooded and cold-blooded one running rampant at night…" he sighed after finishing his sentence full of irony "…I don't see how's this important"
"Isn't it always important if someone got an oddity?" Hanekawa asked, earning another sigh from the strange man.
"Look Hanekawa, I know you have some sort of… Hero… Complex. But that doesn't mean I feel the same way. If this is not an emergency then I'll have to charge you, because I had to take a plane to come in here you know?"
"But as far as I know you already were in Chiba"
"…"
This guy… Tried to deceive Hanekawa and failed miserably.
"Ah~ How did you know? Don't tell me you've become a stalker" Kaiki's voice denoted amusement, but his expression remained the same all the time.
"Kaiki-san, I'd like you to fix Hikigaya-kun's problem" Hanekawa insisted completely ignoring the old man.
He sighed tiredly "Of course, I'll do it. It'll cost you but I'll do it" so the only thing you're after is money, huh?
"But, you caused this" Hanekawa's comment left the private room in silence "This is your fault, isn't it?"
"How could this be my fault?" Kaiki inquired "I don't even know this guy. I'd remember someone like him being my client. The weird ones are easy to remember you see" hey, I take offense for that.
"The last time you arrived to a city…"
"Look" the man dressed in black interrupted "This is not my problem Hanekawa. You're wasting my time, from this point on I'll charge you. Yes, or yes. So you better keep going with what happened to this guy" he pointed at me "Sit down, by the way. Right there, alright. Thank you. Now then… What's the problem?"
"That you're charging us" I gave a reply full of irony, what I could manage at least.
"Hikigaya-kun is invisible" Hanekawa took the word.
"I can see that" Kaiki replied and I swear he grinned for a moment "Basically, you want me to make you visible again, yes?"
"Ye-"
"No, we want you to eradicate the oddity that turned him like this" Hanekawa quickly interrupted me, as if preventing something really bad.
"Hmmmm, I don't see the point" the man said after biting his meat "I'm not a specialist, go ask Oshino, he'll surely help you"
"You're charging us already, Kaiki-san, at least do your job properly"
"Properly you say?"
"Earn the money we'll give you"
"Oh, but I'm earning the money alright. I'm listening to your problems here" he started victimizing himself. I know because I've done something similar to Hiratsuka-sensei again.
"Not like we have said that much" before the victimization could make us lose terrain I cut him the best way I could.
"True" something in him changed, it reminded me every time Haruno wanted to hide something, there's just a thing I can't place my finger on, just a thing that changed everything, that made it seem like it was another person I am before to "What was your name again?"
"Hikigaya… Hachiman"
The conman fell silent for a moment "Nice name, you should thank your parents for that"
This name made me get chiinobyuu, so no, I'm not thanking them.
"Well then, let me hear the story" Kaiki said staring at me intensely "Let's see what you've got to me this time, Hanekawa"
"I promise it's worth it" was her reply.
"The money will decide if it's worth it or not" Kaiki stated closing his eyes.
You know… People always says that corruption run rampant in the country (for some reason, it applies regardless of the country you heard this in), but truth must be said; I have never seen such a blatant display of greed before. Like, everyone covers what they want with pretty, words and ideals, but this man… For the first time I saw something true of him, but quickly that feeling rotted away, leaving me more paranoid.
There can't be something real about him, nothing, so this sensation… Must be fake right? A well told lie, right?
This thought rooted in my head until the fruit appeared.
Wait, if we're dealing with the supernatural, it wouldn't be strange that there's more about it than what I've been told. Just a thought, an idea. The sensation was so natural to me that I overlooked it until now.
Is this Kaiki Deishuu a person at all?
"Honestly I expected a way longer story" Kaiki said while looking at his watch.
"Well, it doesn't have that much…" how is it called? Juice?
"Is it enough?" Hanekawa at some point started eating as well. She was busy heating her piece of meat with a small smile. Almost like if we weren't in an important situation.
"Ah, yes, yes. It is enough" and raising his hand Kaiki asked how much will it be.
Wait, what? You're leaving?
"H-Hey, Kaiki-san, what're you…"
"I've made up my mind, I shouldn't have listened to you guys after all"
I stood up and slammed the table with my hands "What? How's my problem not important?" both of them stared at me with blank expressions. I slowly sat down again.
"Hikigaya, you don't rely that much on people, huh?" Kaiki asked.
"Well…"
"It was a rhetorical question" he interrupted and sighed "Well, I guess it can't be helped, you're a teenager after all"
"What is it?"
"First of all let me tell you that you were deceived. Something like oddities and the supernatural does not exist"
"Does not exist? Wait, what do you mean…"
"As I said you're a teenager" he replied tiredly "Hormonal change and that stuff, I'm already a grown up so I can notice these kind of things" he placed his hand on the side of my shoulder "Go see yourself in a mirror. You're not invisible, you're just feeling that way"
Before anyone could say anything my phone ringed. A call from Komachi.
"Hello?" I picked the call, then quicked myself mentally as she probably couldn't hear me.
"Ah! Onii-chan you picked!" or she can… Okay, now I'm confused.
"Yes… What's up Komachi?"
"It seems like you called me by accident in the morning, is everything alright?" how could something be wrong? You said it yourself, an accident.
"Probably, yeah"
"Oh, okay. I'm at a friend's house, I hope you didn't wait for me" wait for you? What time is it?
"Ah, no, no. To be honest I'm outside too"
"EH?" I got the phone away from my ear to prevent it to be destroyed "ONNI-CHAN ARE YOU OUTSIDE?" stop it! Hanekawa can hear you! See? She's giggling! That's totally embarrassing!
"Yeah, I'm with a friend…"
"Eh? Is it Yui-chan? Or perhaps Yukinoshi…" I hung at that moment. The needed information was already delivered after all. Further argument is unrequired.
"Komachi…" crap! I forgot Kaiki was there "Hmmm, so you are the brother of that little girl…"
"Little girl?" Hanekawa asked "Don't tell me…. Kaiki-san, the reason you're here… Don't tell me…."
"Business" he replied.
"You're selling charms again?" Hanekawa stood up scandalized "You do know where it led the last time right?"
"Yeah, yeah" he sighed "It kicked me in the face… Literally" I don't know why but I imagined a cute little girl kicking Kaiki on the left cheek… And he didn't seem bothered at all "But I'm earning money, that's what I do after all. That city, I'm sure Gaen-senpai explained it, is special"
"If you're selling charms…" I interrupted the conversation I couldn't keep up with "That means… No, you said… The supernatural… These oddities doesn't exist"
"Yeah" he answered without a second thought "But there are people who still believe in them"
Oddities exists because humans believe they exist. That's what Hanekawa told me. So what Kaiki said is right. In not believing you make them nonexistent, but if you believe then…
"But how could it be…" it seems like he picked the meaning behind my confusion, because of the next thing he said.
"Hikigaya, given the real thing and an undistinguishable fake, which one is worth more?"
"What is worth more you say?" what a strange person "The real thing of course"
My answer didn't surprise Kaiki at all.
"I see, so tell me Hikigaya, what do you do to fall asleep?"
"Eh?"
"It's quite simple, what do you do to fall asleep?" he repeated himself.
"Well, you get comfortable and…" Kaiki turned around and I heard a suppressed sound. Wait, did he just laugh at me?
"Well then Hikigaya, when you find the answer go to me. I'll be waiting for you expecting my money" Kaiki paid and was about to leave when Hanekawa stood up.
"That's all?"
"You expected something else?"
"…"
"That's what I thought, good evening Hanekawa" and like that he left us. Hanekawa looked somewhat upset, and we staid quiet for quite some time before I managed to pull something to say.
"So… Am I visible now?"
"Didn't you hear? Go check into a mirror"
Harsh! That's really harsh woman!
"Sorry… Yes you are Hikigaya-kun, I can assure it to you"
"That guy… Was really strange" I commented trying to make the mood lighter "I wonder what he meant with his last question…"
"You pretend to be asleep" she said to no one in particular "To truly fall asleep you must first close your eyes and pretend to be asleep, so your body is convinced, and you actually fall asleep" she looked upwards deep in thoughts "Let's go home Hikigaya-kun, I'm suddenly having a headache"
"Oh, well you should rest then…"
"No, no. Not that kind of headache" she looked down and didn't say anything and I was concerned if I should ask at all. In the end I decided that I shouldn't.
Both the conman and her were strange people, but Kaiki made me feel really weird. We left the restaurant and I couldn't keep myself from thinking about what he said.
Between the real thing and an undistinguishable fake, the real thing obviously holds more value. Just when I was so sure about my answer he pulled an example… Or something like that.
Ehem… Let's see if I got things straight. To fall asleep you have to pretend to be asleep, that's true… To an extent, but let's concentrate. It was quite obvious, not that difficult to figure out; so to make things real, you have to pretend they are real first.
Oddities exist because humans think they exist. Kaiki said oddities are fake, but if you believe in them then they are real, right?
"Hikigaya-kun"
I don't understand it… I haven't warped my head around these 'oddities'.
"Hikigaya-kun"
To being with he never told me what kind of oddity I supposedly got… There's the probability that I had none at all.
"HIKIGAYA"
Hmm?
"Ah…" the world spun around me and I felt like something flat was on my back. I stared at the sky, night wasn't that far ahead and the clouds were hiding.
The cold floor was what held me, something wet was approaching me quickly. Then I remembered, that day, when I woke up in the hospital, I felt so glad to be alive.
"Hikigaya-kun!" Hanekawa Tsubasa appeared in my range of vision and held me, then I saw a car behind her and knew what happened.
It hit me, right? I was so deep in thoughts that I didn't notice it.
Ah… Such a pain. I'm getting so tired… I'll deal with this later.
A/N
Okay, I actually wrote this chapter like 3 times because I was so scared my personification of Kaiki would be wrong. Now, next episode is the final chapter of Hachiman, Invisible. Things that weren't settled down will be settled, and Hikigaya's impression of Kaiki will fully develop... I hope. Hahaha.
Omega11: I honestly am always looking forward to your review. IT's the kind every writer hopes to get from their fans so thank you.
Echo4576: Yes, you can, but take me to dinner first.
hikigaya: You know? I may actually show what's going on in school while 8man is not around. Chapter 4 will take place in two-three days so there's some plot movement going on in there.
Lightningdestroyer & ArmantusCumPinae: Things will get real next episode, Hanekawa may need the cat's assistance against (spoiler) 8man.
TALOS X: Me too :(
Yuji-kun: I don't know how to portrait Kaiki I'm so sorry :((((
Well, that's all for today. Remember, corrections about grammar, ortography, etc. Are very welcome. Please R&R
Greetings~