After what took place, Reishiki went back home to change out of his stained clothes. As for me, I did the same so that I could put on my school uniform.

On my way back, I thought of everything that just took place and realized I had yet another person who heard me talk about finding something genuine.

I've been dropping that word pretty easily, huh?

At this rate, I'm going to be known as the genuine guy.

As I entered the house, Komachi rushed from upstairs to the door, where she saw me. She then showed me an angry look and yelled,

"Onii-chan! Where were you?! I went into your room to wake you up, but you were already gone. I thought you might be with Yui-san or Yukino-san, but when I contacted them, neither of them had any idea!"

Ah, I forgot to tell her I was leaving. But even if I did, I don't know how I would explain it to her.

Hey, Komachi, I'm going to tear open this guy's deepest secrets and force him to change by splashing juice on his face. I'll be back in hour!

Yeah, right.

As I was thinking that, she assumed my silence to be one of shame and lectured me in the most ridiculous way,

"Onii-chan...you can't run away, okay? That's reserved only for Komachi!"

I ignored it and apologized without saying the reason for my absence,

"Sorry, I was taking care of some stuff"

It looked like she expected my response as she made a bored expression,

"Well, I should have realized that you weren't going to say it...Unfortunately for you, those two told me what you were probably doing!"

Halfway through, she smiled and spoke in a excited tone.

There goes trying to look cool and mysterious.

Soon enough, I was at school as if nothing new had happened, currently sitting in my desk as I waited for classes to end. The only thing that had caught my attention was that group in the corner with a very lackluster blonde girl. Next to her, Yuigahama and Ebina both looked troubled from seeing her so depressed.

With all three of the girls obviously looking down, I could only wonder what a certain handsome blonde was thinking.

Before I knew it, I was facing the door leading to the club room. Without any hesitation, I opened it and entered inside.

Alone in the room was Yukinoshita who looked up from her book as she saw me entering and greeted me calmly,

"Hello. I trust you weren't up to something illegal again this morning, Hikky-thiefy-kun?"

Scratch that, she was already starting today.

Not in the mood to play around, I replied honestly,

"You already know, don't you?"

She made a gentle smile as she responded with,

"I can think of a few guesses"

With that, she turned back to her book as I pulled my own out of my bag.

After a few minutes of peace, the door lazily slid open as Yuigahama entered with a halfhearted, "Yahallo", and sat in her seat.

She made a small sigh that caused Yukinoshita to look at her with worry.

Well, that was expected. There's no way Yuigahama would be able to stay normal after seeing Miura like that. Unfortunately, that kind of behavior spread, evident from Yukinoshita looking worried.

As I watched her trying to think of something to cheer Yuigahama up, I realized there was one more person missing before club would unofficially begin. However, I wasn't sure if he was even going to show up today. Even though he looked calm as he was leaving, I'm sure that he's still thinking about everything.

Just as I did.

After finishing that thought, I heard the door open once again as someone entered.

Walking in was a male student with short black hair that looked like it was combed down then blown back by the wind. He wore his uniform to school regulations and adopted a good back posture. On his face were a pair exposed eyes with its irises colored black.

In other words, it was Reishiki Rei. Almost everything about him was the same, yet fundamentally, something was different. For starters, I actually heard him open the door.

But the key difference was the pair of glasses missing from his face.

Off to my side, Yuigahama and Yukinoshita both stared at him in wonder. When he noticed their stares, Reishiki tilted his head curiously then raised his hand up to his chest and gave his greeting,

"Hey"

Out of habit, the three of us returned it with our own,

"Hello"

"Yahallo"

"Yo"

Afterwards, he moved to sit down in his spot between Yuigahama and I. As he sat down, Yuigahama turned to him and asked,

"Did you forget your glasses today, Reicchi?"

"Nope, I decided to put them to rest. I'm wearing contacts right now"

He looked at her as he spoke, then after a short pause, he added with a sheepish grin,

"It's a bit uncomfortable though"

Before I realized it, I had already responded with,

"You'll get used to it"

Hearing that, he turned his head towards me and gave me a mature look,

"I guess so..."

Just what were we talking about, I wonder?

Changing the subject, he turned back to those two and asked,

"I heard from Hikigaya there's a request concerning Hayama Hayato.."

After hearing that, Yuigahama looked down and said, "Yeah..", in a small voice. Realizing that she probably wasn't going to elaborate, he turned his attention to Yukinoshita who answered his expectations,

"Yes. We received it yesterday after you left. It's a request to find out what Hayama-san is picking for his third year classes"

Already knowing this, I questioned why Reishiki would ask them about it, but as he continued, I understood what he was aiming for.

"Hmm, I don't see how this would help the one who made the request though..."

Understanding what he meant, Yuigahama looked up in shock while Yukinoshita turned away in guilt.

What he was referring to was the Service Club's purpose: To help others grow...

While the three of us understood how much value this request held for Miura, Reishiki was unaware. That's why inside Yuigahama's eyes, I could see her in conflict. It looked like she wanted to be mad at Reishiki for saying that without knowing Miura, but at the same time, objectively, he was right. Struggling to explain it, Yuigahama created a nonsensical excuse,

"Well...it's more of a personal request...sort of thing..."

I saw Reishiki close his eyes for a moment and think. After a few seconds, he opened them and said,

"In that case, I'll help out"

Yuigahama looked relieved at having Reishiki accept, but being a club member, that was already expected of him. The problem now is whether he's going to be of any help. I don't think he knows much Hayama or Hayama's maxed out social skill. In an attempt to confirm that, I spoke up,

"You're already supposed to do that. In any case, what do you know about Hayama Hayato?"

He stopped and thought for a couple seconds.

"I know he's popular and captain of the soccer club..."

That's it? So you know just as much as everyone in the school then?

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, he's in a different class after all. I guess there's not much he'll be able to help with if he didn't understand who Hayama is. At least, that's what I thought, before he continued,

"But there's only one thing I need to know to solve this request.."

Then, Yuigahama and Yukinoshita looked at him in anticipation while I looked with suspicion. After seeing that our attention was focused on him, he asked,

"..Is he a trustworthy guy?"

It was the next day, Friday.

In other words, it was the day of the marathon.

After receiving a yes to his question, Reishiki told us with a small smirk on his face, "to tell the requester that he or she would be receiving the answer tomorrow". Following that, I questioned him, only for him to avoid it. Yuigahama and Yukinoshita also looked curious about it but decided to leave it him.

As of right now, the boys were getting ready to start soon by warming up and changing, though I was already done with both.

Man, if this was a changing race, I would have won.

After a few minutes of walking around, I saw Hayama and Reishiki some distance away. Moving closer, they appeared to talking to each other. Curious about it, I moved even closer to hear and heard the very end of it,

"I don't mind, but I don't see what you're trying to do..."

"It's too late to back out now. You've made a promise, haven't you?"

I see. So Reishiki was aiming for this...

By making Hayama promise something, he would be able to force out an answer. But there were a few shortcomings:

One, the fact that Hayama could break his promise. It was rather obvious, but seeing how sure the three of us were when we answered, he must have judged that Hayama would keep it, even if Hayama was on the losing side.

Two, I don't know what the promise was, but if Hayama agreed to it, then that must mean that it was supposed to be fair for both sides. Though the look in Reishiki's eyes showed no doubt on his own victory.

After Reishiki turned to leave, he saw me and made a small wave,

"Hey"

I replied and asked him about his previous conversation,

"Yo. Was that related to your plan from yesterday?"

He made a small grin and responded with a question,

"Did you hear what we were talking about?"

"No, just the very end about keeping a promise"

His grin widen and he ended the conversation with,

"Then it'll be even better when you see..."

...

We were now lining up at the start with me around the middle of the group. In front of us was Hiratsuka-sensei holding a start gun, but as she was about to begin the race, Isshiki interrupted to announce something on the microphone,

"Um~. To motivate the boys to do their best today, I, the student council president, have decided to give the first place winner, a kiss on the cheek!"

What followed was dead silence as the boys processed her words. Then in an instant, there was a mix of reactions. Most dominant were the poor virgin boys shouting for joy as they realized they finally had a chance to score, but another group groaned in defeat as they complained how they weren't going to win anyway since Hayama was so fast. Lost in the noise were the cheers from the girls waiting at the sidelines.

Next to me, I heard a restrained laughter.

"That girl's ridiculous..."

Recognizing his voice, I turned to see Reishiki next to me.

You still have that crazy stealth mode, huh? I should give that its own name. You're kind of like a ghost, so how about Phantom Rei? Wait, that's a little too close to the name of one plane. Never mind, we might get sued.

Then he turned to me and said in a happy voice,

"So, how about it, wanna race?"

"Hell no"

He made a small frown then continued,

"In that case, I'll have to find someone else..."

His eyes directed themselves to a person in the very front of the line.

Hold on. That's not what he's doing, is it? If it is, then I'm actually kind of worried that we left this to him.

Seeing that I realized, he turned to me with a huge grin on his face and said,

"What do you think? Think I have a chance?"

"You're crazy..."

Then I saw his face take on a serious look,

"I've decided to take more risks from now on"

Afterwards, it reverted to an easy-going expression as he added,

"Besides, there's a reason I chose this way. I'll give you a hint. You know how I bike to school, right?"

I responded with a yeah, without seeing where he was going.

I biked to school too, but I had no confidence that I could beat Hayama just because of that. Isshiki also mentioned that the soccer club's not all that lax about its training either.

But he answered just as I heard the gun fire, signaling the start of the race.

"Do you know how far I live away from school?"

In the next instant, he disappeared from my sight only to reappear close to the front of the pack after about a minute of searching.

That stealth works even when you're in a race? That's totally unfair! I'm going to call for that to be patched, okay?

Soon enough, Reishiki was close behind Hayama without looking all that tired. I realized that I was most likely going to lose sight of them soon, so I pushed myself and increased my pace. Struggling to catch up, it became more laborious to breathe, but I wanted to see this.

Looking towards the front again, I saw Reishiki next to Hayama, neither one looking at each other. Then, Hayama sped up significantly as if he was just taking it easy before, leaving Reishiki behind. I saw Reishiki, let up for a second in surprise, then he also pushed forward with more force.

At that point, they disappeared from my sight, and as I tried to push myself once more, my legs gave away for only a moment. But in that moment, I tripped and fell on my face.

...

Finally making it to the end of the finish line, I stopped and absorbed as much oxygen as my body needed while I was leaning on my knees. My face hurt like hell, but seeing that nothing was bleeding, I relaxed. With being one of the last ones to finish, there wasn't a very large crowd to congratulate me. But it's not like anyone was going to do that anyway.

Or so I thought, but Yuigahama jogged over to me.

"Hikki! You finally finished! Did you hear yet? Reishiki won the marathon!"

Never mind. Yuigahama, you raised my hopes only to crush them! On another note, holy crap! This guy actually did it. Is he actually strong or what? Now that I think about it, what would have happened if I was wrong, and Reishiki kicked my face in after I splashed juice on him?

Yuigahama crossed her arms while closing her eyes.

"Man, apparently it was really close with Hayama having the lead right up until the final stretch. After that, Reishiki was suddenly in front of Hayama before anyone realized it, but at that point, it was too late for Hayama to catch up completely"

Satisfied with her explanation, she stopped then looked at me and shyly held out her hand,

"U-um, so hurry up...so we can go see the ceremony..."

I decided not to take it which caused Yuigahama to frown, but I preferred to stand up by myself. Then I remembered Isshiki's announcement before the race.

Oh, I have to see this.

Arriving on the ceremony grounds, Yuigahama and I made it just in time to watch Reishiki walking up to the podium to receive his medal. Even now, it looked like he was still breathing a bit heavily. In front of him was a visibly shaken Isshiki who was probably regretting her earlier actions. As he moved closer to the center, Isshiki managed to sound barely decent as she announced his win,

"A-ah. Ahem. Alright then~. Our first place winner for this year's marathon is, ummm, what's his name again?"

You're still on mic, Isshiki-san~.

Or maybe was that on purpose? Obviously disappointed in her, the vice president whispered his name to her to which she continued,

"..ah, that's right. The first place winner, Reishiki Rei-san! Let's give him a round of applause"

A good round of applause was heard. Though I felt that most of it was from the people who didn't want Hayama to win.

Trying to sneak her way out of the hole she dug, Isshiki quickly tried to move on,

"Alright then~. Next is the second pla-"

But the world(read: poor virgin boys) would not stand for this injustice. They roared out in rage while one of the girls in the crowd, probably jealous that their cheers went unheard, yelled out,

"Heeey, Student President-san? Aren't you forgetting something?"

Sweatdrops formed on Isshiki's head as she tried to use the age-old excuse,

"Ah. T-that, that was just a joke at the beginning, you know? Nobody took that seriously right~?"

But nobody responded.

As the pressure continued to be forced onto her, Isshiki looked very nervous, but before she broke, Reishiki had already taken the microphone.

"Ah. That's okay, I didn't really want it anyway. Now that I think about it, it wasn't all that important either"

With a nice smile that hid a deeper meaning behind it, Reishiki answered the crowd which grudgingly accepted it, since that would mean that Isshiki is getting rejected. Behind him, Isshiki's eyes looked almost murderous for a split second before she reverted back to normal and took the microphone back from him. She made a fake laugh and continued,

"Hahaha..Well, you heard him. Now onto second place winner, Hayama Hayato! Let's all give him a wonderful applause for a great race! Yay!"

While the applause filled the silence, Hayama was handed the microphone.

"Ah. I don't know what to say...It was a great race. Throughout the whole thing, I had no idea who would win. I want to thank Reishiki-san for a fun race, but next time don't expect to win, alright?"

He took the loss with extreme professionalism and made a refreshing smile at the very end towards Reishiki who didn't seem to care as he was twirling his medal around his fingers. Somewhere in the crowd, I had a feeling somebody was having a nosebleed from seeing a new pairing.

With the ceremony finished, Reishiki approached us and informed us,

"Hey, I'm about to get Hayama's choice from him. Tell the requester to get ready"

Yuigahama then said,

"Eh? Right now? Ok, I'll go get Yumiko!"

With that, she ran off to find Miura. I, with nothing better to do, followed Reishiki to Hayama.

While walking, I wondered where Yukinoshita was at, only to see her appear from the school building.

What? Was she in the nurse's office or something?

She seemed to spot me and walked towards my location, as I slowed down for her to catch up.

I turned my head to look at Reishiki who was now dragging Hayama away from the crowd around him.

Meanwhile, I watched as Yukinoshita got closer to me.

"Hello, how did it go?"

Unsure of what she was talking about, I answered,

"The request? Reishiki's taking care of it right now"

"I was referring to your race, but I guess that's fine"

She corrected me with a sigh then Reishiki came back towards us,

"Oh, Yukinoshita-san. When did you get here? I got Hayama's choice just now"

Yukinoshita nodded and said hello, then stated that she just heard from me.

In a few minutes, Yuigahama arrived with Miura who was looking very agitated knowing she was about to get what she's been waiting for.

"Hey! You guys disappeared! Ah, Yukinon! Yahallo! Anyway, I had to walk around looking for you guys, only to end up circling back here with Yumiko!"

Now that I think about it, why did you even go get her knowing she was probably already close to Hayama to begin with?

Reishiki looked at Miura, probably for the first time, then asked,

"Are you the requester? If so, I have your answer"

Miura looked sort of confused and turned to Yuigahama,

"Who's he? Like an outsider or something?"

Right...only the three of us and Isshiki really knew about Reishiki joining the club.

But before her question was answered, she turned back to Reishiki. Probably too excited to care, she replied,

"Yeah, it's me"

Reishiki then walked over to her and whispered the answer to her ear.

Woah, what's this guy doing? Do you wanna die or something? You're playing with fire here! Don't think you're all smooth and stuff just because you won a race!

But Miura seemed to be more interested in the answer and didn't mind. After Reishiki stepped back, she looked at him with a grateful look.

"Thank you"

It apparently took Reishiki by surprise since his eyes widened, but quickly calmed down.

"You're welcome"

As if by habit, the three of us, along with Reishiki, ended up in the familiar club room and as usual, the aroma of tea was in the air. After a few moments of silence, Reishiki put down his paper cup and spoke,

"I have an announcement to make..."

Wondering what it was about, the three of us turned to look at him. For some reason, my first thought was that he was going to make his own request, but I realized that was completely off as he finished his sentence,

"..I'm quitting the club"

...

...

...

"Come again?"

"Eh?"

Yukinoshita and Yuigahama both stared at Reishiki in shock. I, myself, was actually surprised too, but there's no way that Hiratsuka-sensei would just all-

"I already got Hiratsuka-sensei's permission as well"

Huh? What kind of voodoo magic did you use?

Hearing that he already got Hiratsuka-sensei's approval, Yukinoshita closed her eyes and accepted it, only to be followed by Yuigahama quickly asking some questions.

"Seems like you're being serious..."

"But why? Do you not like it here?"

Reishiki played with his empty paper cup and made a solemn expression as if he understood something that he didn't want talk about.

"You guys already realize why, don't you? This isn't my place...I'm just a visitor"

While I didn't want to admit it, what he said was true. From the very beginning, all of us felt like he was intruding in this space. Even now, it still felt like he was out of place, but he wasn't done talking,

"Besides, there's something else you guys are worried about, right? Even I can see it"

Without even mentioning anything specific, he managed put us at a tough position. Sudden thoughts that I've been pushing away were now flooding my mind. Even now, I still don't want to think of it. To distract myself, I looked at those two. While I wasn't completely sure, I had a feeling that those two were thinking of the same thing as me.

After seeing us like that, Reishiki stood up, holding on to the empty paper cup, and made his way out, but after opening the door, he turned around.

"Thanks for letting me join the club. I'll see you guys around"

Then the door closed as Reishiki made his exit.

The following Monday morning, I found myself in the teacher's lounge with Hiratsuka-sensei who was sitting down on her chair.

"Man, you solved that request pretty quickly, Hikigaya. I'm honestly surprised you did it so quick. You get bonus points from me!"

She congratulated me with a grin on her face, but I wasn't too keen on accepting it. I looked down as I spoke, unable to accept her thanks.

"I didn't really do anything.."

Just like before, I didn't actually solve anything. I just pushed my own beliefs onto someone else and called it good.

"..In the end, I never solved the problem. Just because he looks and acts a little different now, doesn't mean he's actually changed on the inside..."

That's why, again, I didn't help anyone.

But Hiratsuka-sensei just sighed and lectured me as she stood up.

"You idiot...People don't change that easily. It happens slowly over time; you should know this by now. And it sounds like you're mistaken about something..."

That caused me to look up and see Hiratsuka-sensei's eyes, holding that mature look that I remember very clearly on that certain day.

"I never asked you to solve Reishiki's problem, just to help him. And you did just that. You're probably right that he hasn't changed on the inside, but what matters is that now, Reishiki is trying..."

She paused and then placed her hand on my shoulder.

"What you did will probably stick with him for a long time. That's different from you usually solve things, where you fix the situation but not the underlying problem..."

As memories of the past requests entered my mind, she took her hand of my shoulder and moved it to my head, rubbing my hair softly. Then, her eyes took on a gentle look similar to that of a caring mother looking at her son.

"That's why this time, I'll praise you. Good job, Hikigaya"

Being treated like that, I couldn't help but push her hand away carefully.

"I don't need you to treat me like a child"

Looking a bit surprised, she sighed loudly and rubbed her head.

"Haaa...you really are uncute, you know?"

...

As I was walking back from the teacher's lounge, I had some time to think about everything that happened recently.

One thing was why Reishiki's attitude had bothered me so much. Looking at the reasoning behind his actions, I saw something we shared in common. Or rather, had shared. But seeing someone else suffering from it, I realized I could no longer accept it.

Something I'm sure the Hachiman of the past would have.

In that case, doesn't that mean I've changed? What else would you call this? Even though I still don't like the idea of it, for some reason, I don't feel like I've been defeated.

Another thing was Reishiki after that talk. He certainly acted different from before, but I wonder if that's just a mask, or if that's his true personality. In either case, his actions do seem to show a bit more self-worth, what with believing in himself to win against Hayama and actually attacking Isshiki back.

Has he actually taken step forward? I'm not too sure, but for now, I'll trust the look in his eyes.

And finally, the club room. After Reishiki left, there was a very awkward silence. The three of us were all looking down, refusing to look at each other, but still taking peeks at each other every once in a while. Since that day, there was the week-end and I haven't see either of them yet.

Right now, I have no idea what's going to happen. I'm sure that soon enough, we'll have to face it. That which the three of us have been avoiding.

But when that time comes, is it okay for me to be selfish?

End note: First off, thanks for the views! If you've made it this far, whether you liked it or not, please leave a review if you can. I'd like hear your opinions on the story, but if you have any comments on the writing itself, for example, the general flow of it, if it was repetitive, word choice, stuff like that would be much appreciated.

With that said, I do have some plans with making a sequel, but that'll be a while since the only thing I really have so far is the title: But with the courage to move forward.

Once again, thanks. I hope this was worth the time to read!