Hey there everybody, we have a new chapter in this saga.


"We need to talk Hachiman."

Great.

Just great, when I thought this was over, I now have to face the chief interrogator of the House of Hikigaya, man mom you should join the police forces, you'd make criminals speak in a flick.

"Hachiman." My mom's voice broke my thoughts, looking up in her eyes, I saw unfettered determination, 'looks like there's no way out'

I simply nod in response, talking seems too taxing for now.

"Okay then" she speaks up, "Would you like some coffee?"

"Not really" I answer her, though I like coffee, especially when it is sweet, I've had way too much caffeine in the last few hours.

"Hmmm" my other gives me a surprised look, well then again, I've never said no to coffee, guess there's a first for everything. "Ok then Hachiman," she walks over to the living room as I follow her, man I'm tired, "Sit" she says gesturing towards our armchair.

Oi I'm your son not a dog!

I simply obey her without any objections, I just want this to be over with. Sitting down, I sink into the armchair, man this is comfortable, good thing dad went out, otherwise he always parks himself here and refuses to get up.

"Now Hachiman" mom speaks up as she sits on the sofa in front of me, "Tell me what happened" her voice is like that of a military commander asking for a report.

Sighing, I steady myself and start speaking. I tell her pretty much the same thing I told to my clubmates, excluding that…moment of physical intimacy that was thrown in suddenly and the emergency meeting with my clubmates afterwards, I especially emphasize on the point of me footing the bill, can't have her thinking I made a girl pay for the outing, it'll only make this worse. Mom listened to everything with rapt attention.

"Are you sure you're telling me everything?" she asks me as soon as I complete my story, woman, are you an ESPer or something?

"Yeah" I answer her defensively, I really don't want to talk to her about that…episode on the streets.

"Well, if you don't want to say, I won't pry…for now." She speaks up as she leans back. "Just to be sure Hachiman, you aren't…romantically inclined towards her are you?"

Her question just hangs in the air as I feel the color drain from my face, me with Haruno Yukinoshita? Sure she is one of the most attractive women I've ever met, on the physical level that is, but with her ugly personality…I'd rather stay alone forever, becoming a wizard sounds better dammit!

Collecting my thoughts, I straighten up, mom's blunt question just jerked me out of whatever trance I have been in.

"Not a chance."

I speak up as normally as possible, there is no room for any embarrassment, anger or any other emotion, while I reacted to her incessant teasing due to the physical proximity, it would be the same with any other physically attractive woman given my hormones, as for feelings, I had none for her, well maybe there were traces of rage and anger for what she had done to me.

Mom smiled at my statement, "Good to know" she spoke up, "this makes the matter much easier to handle," she then looks up at the ceiling, "well given that you inherited your dad's eyes, I think you'll probably have his good taste in women too."

Wait, she just praised herself didn't she? I mean saying dad had a good taste in women just means you're praising yourself as you are his wife, narcissism isn't good mom, especially when you put it slyly like this, you really remind me of a certain annoying kohai; but then whatever saves my hide, I'll play along.

"Yeah" I said, "She's not my type anyway." Actually what is my type? Man I've never even bothered to consider any preferences. But then again, preferences connote you have options.

Mom giggled at my comment, "Do you even have a type Hat-chan?"

What!? Did she read my mind? Wait, is she did is she agreeing with me on the point of not having options? How desperate do you think your son is!? You're losing a lot of Hachiman Points here!

"Anyways Hat-chan." Mom spoke up again, "Make sure you are free this weekend."

Eh?

"Oh, I almost forgot, you are coming with me tomorrow to the market. I'll pick you up from school after you are done with that club of yours."

What?

"We're back!" I heard a high pitched voice that could only belong to Komachi, looks like she's done dragging dad through the city, she'd better have gotten me cheeseburger, I deserve that much after all I've been through today.

"Welcome back" I say tiredly as I walk towards the door, as expected Komachi she's standing there without any bags in her hand, which means I've got to go to the driveway and help dad with bags as he wouldn't let his daughter carry anything, sheesh think about me sometimes!

"Hey there Onii-chan" Komachi spoke up, how can she remain this cheerful all the time, I mean aren't you tired at all after dragging a middle aged man across the city for over an hour?

"Yo…" I speak my usual lame greeting as I proceeded out of the door towards the driveway, Komachi knew the routine, I'll talk to her afterwards.

As I walked to the driveway, I saw my father get out of the car and open the back door, that's quite a few bags, you remember it's only the 4 of us having dinner, right?

"Hey there dad" I greet him as I grab 3 bags, how much stuff did Komachi make him buy?

"Ah Hachiman, good to see you are home." Man he sounds tired, you've got to be kinder Komachi, life as a corporate slave is taxing enough for him.

"You guys sure brought a lot of stuff." I comment off-handedly, looks like Komachi won't need to cook tomorrow.

"You know your sister" dad says as he closes the back door, "By the way Hachiman…"

"Hmmm?" I respond, I'm on autopilot now.

"Your mother mentioned that you were on an outing with a girl just now." He speaks up, why is he hesitating?

"And, ummm… she didn't look happy." His demeanor changes, he's serious now, great, another interrogation.

"You aren't in trouble are you?" he asks me a reasonable question, but what can I tell him…

"It's not something… I can't handle."

'Atleast I hope so.'

I give him a vague answer, hoping that he doesn't probe further, my misanthropic tendencies have become a cause of concern for my family after all, and given my loner addition and self-loathing, my parents have become quite worried of me.

"Well, just so you know, we're here for you, and if you do mess up, don't be afraid to tell us." His voice is full of authority as he moves in closer and pats my shoulder, "I wasn't able to do much earlier, and though one cannot change the past, the future is in your hands."

"Just know that you don't have to shoulder the pain alone," He takes off his glasses to reveal the signature Hikigaya dead-eyes, almost making me freeze, he only does that when he is really serious.

I simply nod, do these eyes actually hold this kind of paralyzing power? Maybe it's the shock that throws the other person into this state, I should really consider buying glasses…

"Because,.." his voice is deep, I've never seen him this worried, except when I jumped in front of that car on the first day of High School, "When you fall, the pain will be felt by others as well."

I nod, "I understand dad."

"Good." Seemingly reassured by my reply he moves towards the house with a bag in his hand, putting on his glasses again. "Off the record though, you really aren't seeing your modern Japanese teacher are you?"

'What' I simply stare dumbfounded.

"I mean I've seen her in the PTA, she's pretty and all, but your mom will raise hell, plus age can really be a big issue, especially when the gap is this big." He doesn't even face me, I can't even tell if he's serious or joking.

"Nothing like that." I simply mutter in a tired voice, not letting any emotion seep into it, when I suddenly feel a smack on my shoulder again.

"Sheesh, your mom was right, you've got to unwind a bit." He says as he motions me to follow him, we move into the house, into the kitchen and dump the bags on the dining table.

"Honey, Hachiman and I are going out to get Ice-cream." He shouts as soon as he puts his bag down, weren't you tired just a while ago? And why do I have to go with you to get ice-cream? Didn't Komachi make you buy it already?

"Sure dear, make sure you bring us the sugar-free ones." My mom answers back, looks like the day isn't over for me yet. Dad dumps his coat and tie on a chair before we move out again, I was just about to move to the car when dad suddenly said,

"Let's walk." Great, as if we aren't exhausted enough.

So here we are, walking in the streets of Chiba silently, there isn't much traffic and neither me nor dad is yet to speak a word, then again, both of us have always been the silent ones.

"So Hachiman" Dad begins the conversation, "Tell me a little of this problem of yours."

His tone leaves little room for argument, steeling myself, I open my mouth to make some sort of excuse, but dad beats me to the punch,

"And just so you know, I'm already aware of what you've told your mom before leaving."

Alright, so plan making excuses fails.

"She's just annoying dad, nothing more." I speak up again as I slouch even more, this day is too much…

*Smack*

I wince slightly as dad gives me quite a stinging smack on my spine, what the hell old man?

"Never underestimate the problem Hachiman," he speaks in a serious tone, "Or overestimate your current ability. Those are the two biggest mistakes a man can make, and making these mistakes is exactly what makes situations even more problematic."

"I know that," I speak in a normal tone, "You told me the same thing when I started high school."

"But it seems I failed to get the message across." He's smirking now, "The mistake you are making here is quite simple, but the behavior and demeanor of yours is in complete contravention to your approach right now."

What do you mean old man?

"Consider it this way Hachiman, your general behavior is the opposite of what I've said to you, you overestimate the problem, and underestimate your ability." He says as he looks at me, seeing my puzzled expressions he continues, "When this becomes a behavioral trait, it is generally called self-depriciation." He pauses for a moment, "But as you are doing now, you are underestimating the problem, and overestimating your ability, something completely contrary to what you generally do, and that is what can cause the problem to be blown out of proportion." He goes silent after that.

I take a moment to let his words seep in, come to think of it, what dad says is true, generally, I consider myself to be the lowest of the low, my methods of problem solving are generally those which end up hurting me as I can't consider falling any lower than I already have.

But there are moments when I act completely contrary to this, my confession to Orimoto in middle school suddenly flashes before me again, what was I thinking so suddenly confessing to her? I knew she would never go out with someone like me, and yet I did that, did I actually expect her to say yes? If I did, was I that big an idiot?

If that is true, is it the same with Haruno?

I give it more thought, if I wanted, I could've avoided the problem with her somehow, making a scene, my repute would be spoiled but I wouldn't care, but instead I chose to have face-off with her, my actions were truly contrary to my general behavior, was this why I was feeling this tired and sick of myself?

"Seems like you're giving it some thought." Dad speaks up as he points to a convenience store, man we've walked quite a bit, "We'll talk again after we buy ice-cream," we enter the store and head to the freezer where he picks a pack of sugar-free vanilla, "Pick what you want for yourself and Komachi, I'll be waiting by the counter."

Putting my thoughts to rest for the moment, I pick up a raspberry bar for Komachi and a coffee flavored cone for myself, well, something tells me I'll need more so I drop the cone and pick up an entire packet, well more ice-cream is good. I head to the cash counter, dad pays the bill, for which I'm grateful, I already spent too much for my liking today.

Collecting our bags, we move out in silence, dad's words are still repeated again and again in my mind, I'm actually able to understand the futility of my actions, and the reality of the situation, not of now but of the past as well, my proud loner lifestyle is slowly crumbling apart in my own mind.

"So I take it from your silence that you understand what I want to tell you Hachiman." My dad reignites the conversation, I'm now all ears to hear whatever life lessons he has to give me.

"You see, from what I've known about you Hachiman, as you are now, you tend to overthink the simplest of things, interpret actions to suit your bidding, but most of your interpretations are construed negatively as you believe that everything done for or expected of you is because of selfish intent." He nails it exactly, "I know that because I was once the same," his tone mellows down a bit, "Seeing the world as it is isn't exactly pleasant, but keep seeing the coal and you may just miss the diamonds in the mine."

"So what do I do exactly?" I can't help but ask him this, this is truly the first time we're actually having such a deep conversation.

"Though it may be a crude way to put it," he speaks normally, "You need to loosen up Hachiman. You have to stop overthinking and overanalyzing, read between the lines too much and you may miss the lines themselves."

We stop at a signal after this, the silence is comfortable, it gives me time to absorb the knowledge that I am being given.

"Just think about it Hachiman, you are young, healthy and pretty smart, give yourself a little more credit and make something of those qualities."

What he says is true, what have I done in my time in Sobu? I didn't join it because of its academic repute, it was merely a good escape route from my previous life. As it stood even now, I wasn't doing much aside from complaining to myself about society, my motto of 'to work is to lose,' my dream to become a house-husband, weren't they just fronts I put up to escape from the true problem, that I lacked a dream…how was that any different from what Hayama or Haruno did? While they lied to others, I lied to myself… I sought genuine when I wasn't genuine myself.

"As for your problems Hachiman," I felt his hand on my shoulder again, "Just remember that you don't have to face them alone."

We reached home soon afterwards, dinner was a quite affair, none of us spoke too much, except for Komachi that is, but soon it was over and Komachi left us all as soon as her phone rang, it better not be that bug…

My train of thoughts breaks there as I move upstairs to my own room, there is a lot to think about, to see my own self.

'Hikifroggy, hopping to home again…'

'Hikigerma can take down any barrier…'

'Hey isn't he the one who asked out Kaori, he looks creepy…'

'I'm glad I didn't give him my phone number...'

'Look there's a new guy in class, man his eyes look creepy…'

'He's the one that insulted Sagami isn't he, what a jerk…'

Memories, a lot of painful memories flash in my mind as I sit alone on my bed, each one makes me cringe this time.

I said I didn't care about what society said.

I said I didn't need any friends.

I said it didn't hurt.

I lied.

Tears escape from the confines of my eyes as I let go of the dam that has been holding back everything, truly, in trying to become what I had thought, I had already become what I hated the most, while people held facades to protect themselves from the scrutiny of others, I made it for myself, just like them I was afraid of the pain, I refused to change as I believed that the result would be pain, had I been such a coward?

Was this why I was interesting to Haruno? A person who stays true to the society he claims to hate, and yet lies to himself, the person he truly hates for not fitting into society, I can get where she is coming from, her façade and mine aren't that different, it is just that our targets differ.

Slowly, the pain recedes away, a few good memories come in as well, especially my time at the service club, I should really thank Hiratsuka-sensei for pushing me into that.

The memories from the past fade as I accept them, the past cannot be changed, but the future is still something that can be worked upon. I put up walls, far too many of them, walls which ultimately limited my own self, but not anymore.

I would not lie to myself anymore.

I won't hurt myself anymore.

As for Haruno,

I will not lose to her, not anymore.

(8mom PoV)

"Do you think he's going to be okay dear?" I ask with most concern, Hachiman had been in a trance ever since he got back from shopping with my husband.

"He has to be" I get a rather neutral answer, "Or he will never be able to grow and fight for himself."

"He doesn't have to" I answer with a sharp voice, "I can take care of this, I have…"

"And pray, what will that achieve?" he interjects me before I can complete my sentence, his words seep in slowly, my son is in pain, and yet I sit here, not doing anything…

"Look Hitomi" he speaks up, moving in much closer this time, "I know you want to make it up to him, rush upstairs and be with him, fight it out for him, for when neither of us were there for him, but you have to understand that this will only worsen the situation."

What he speaks is true, but then…

"To be honest I feel the same," he speaks up again, "I wanted to talk to him directly, to help him get across, but when I talked to him, I noticed that the current situation is only a part of the problem."

What is he saying?

"What we need to do here is not help him this once, but for once and for all, we have a strong son Hitomi, but his strength is not real, he needs to grow. After all I don't…" his voice cracks a little, "I-I don't want him to make the mistakes I did."

His response cools me down now, Hachiman has learned to walk in our absence, but with crutches of his own, if he truly wants to walk now, he must fall again, if I intervene now, I will merely replace the crutches, not solve his problems. But in this scenario,

"But if anything happens to him…" I speak up,

"Then feel free to raise hell." He completes this for me, well I married the correct man.


So finally done with chapter 11, 12 is on the way.

(No cliffhanger here)

PS

hikigaya: You'll get your answers. Thanks you.

NirvanaFrk97: Thanks man! And I'll try to do that.

Zeranvor: Thank you very much!

Flash Falcon: I understand monologues may get a bit boring, but that is what makes 8man awesome!

Ruffes: Your Welcome.

HaruxHachi: You'll find out soon enough.

6man: I shall endeavor to fulfill your expectations.

Dragons. reaper101: Thanks!

TouMikasa: You'll find out.

HeroBladeRiyet: I haven't read the novels at all, the essay analogy kind of stuck to my mind from an earlier example of a sermon I had attended.

fluffpenguin: Thank you! I think your oversight will change from here on.

wildarms13: Thanks!

Lightning Destroyer: I'll present you with more.

katjaguar: Thanks, could you point out the mistakes exactly?

BentShuriken: Thanks man! The omake is a nice idea, maybe I'll do that.

Jonny Walker: Yeah, I hope so.

Sorashita Charyubi: Relief is still a distant dream for 8man.

Mr. Self-Depriciation: Thank you!

AnimeLoverq8: Well his mom is his mom.

PPS

If you'e got the time, please do try my new story, 'The Flow Diverges.' I'll be updating that next.