Chapter 22: Tomoyo Sakagami #1

Tomoyo Sakagami couldn't do much to stop the spread of rumours about her violent past and delinquent tendencies. In her second year at university, she tried to be a model student, be kind and help others, but there was a part of her which thought it was all a huge lie.

It was like she was pretending to be nice.

But there were others who tried to get close to her. There was Miyuki Shirogane, the current president of the associate body. He had got around to her thanks to someone opening their big mouth and talking about how she had solved the delinquent problem of the university to some extent.

Talking to him, knowing she would fail to get his job this year and become the president, it hurt a lot and naturally she bottled up that anger. But she was not very good with bottling stuff up. She needed a release, needed to unleash a chain of kicks on someone who deserved it. Unfortunately Sunohara was admitted in the infirmary. Hitagi Senjougahara didn't appreciate someone cutting in line at the food court, especially when she was craving sashimi.

Tomoyo would have picked a fight with her, but she was not nearly that desperate or crazy. However she didn't have to look much long. Fate decided to have pity on her and she literally bumped into a delinquent.

"Ah, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." This person looked like he was in a hurry. "If you want to make a formal complaint, please go to Hiratsuka-sensei. My name is Hachiman Hikigaya by the way. Did you get that, thank you."

Tomoyo Sakagami had heard somewhere that some narcissist serial killers liked to get caught because they liked the idea of getting fame and recognition for their killings. This guy, well he did fit the profile, those god awful eyes, looking like he had just woken up and he was breathing though the mouth, panting a little bit. Yeah, he definitely looked like he was in the run from the cops.

But something was definitely fishy.

"Why did you give out your name like that?" she asked.

"Isn't that the normal way one makes introductions."

No social skills whatsoever. Yup, her serial killer theory was looking good. He looked like a petty criminal, scrawny too, not exactly what you would call a delinquent. But beggars can't be choosers, she thought.

"Why don't you tell me who you are?" she asked, non-threateningly.

"I told you, I'm Hachiman Hikigaya."

"Yeah, I got that. But I can't help but think it is some sort of set up. You bumped into me on purpose, this is what I think."

Hachiman Hikigaya gulped and looked around for a bit. He looked frightened all of a sudden. Perhaps he had heard about her violent reputation. Sunohara did have a pretty big mouth. He talked, he listened and now here he was face to face with her and suddenly it looked like whatever ambush he had planned, it wouldn't work out.

"You must be crazy."

Tomoyo Sakagami moved closer to him. Took one step after the other, but never once did she blink. She would give him some credit. He never tried to step back. He stood fixated on the ground. Perhaps he was paralyzed with fear. Did she have such an effect on boys, she didn't exactly want to know.

"How am I exactly crazy?" she asked, keeping her voice calm and cold.

"Okay, that was too much. I didn't want to call you names. But," he took a sigh. "You were right, I was kinda setting you up for something."

Tomoyo Sakagami crossed her arms. She knew it. He did look like a cross between dead beat and a petty pick pocket, and to top it off he wasn't really all that intelligent. He just thought he would bump into her and then she would pummel him to the ground. Who did he think he was, she thought.

"Are you a masochist?"

"I don't know why girls keep calling me that, but the answer is no."

"You look like one." She added.

"Well, I can't do much about my looks."

The conversation was going nowhere and once more she got the feeling that it was his doing, his preferred method to trail off and leave her out here in the wind. She felt like she was being kept out of the loop for something. And wouldn't you know it, she didn't like the feeling.

"Okay, straight talk, what do you want with me?"

She made it clear that refusal to answer will be met with physical violence. He must know her reputation from all the rumours. Unlike a common thug, she didn't need to crack her knuckles.

"I wanted us to be involved in a slight altercation that would lead me to be bedridden for a couple of days. A week tops."

Tomoyo Sakagami snorted. She had it right the first time. He was an idiot. He wanted to get beat up by her, probably because he wanted to skip some lectures. Well tough, if she had to sit through most of her boring classes, well, he was not going to get any special treatment. And by special treatment she meant a volley of chain kicks that would mess him up real good.

"I thought you had something else in mind." She didn't know where she was going with this. It was poor judgment, a stray thought.

"Like what?" he asked, confused.

"Well," she blushed a bit, because it was embarrassing to say this out loud. "I thought you bumped into me because, you wanted to talk to me."

"We are talking." He pointed out.

"Not like this, the other kind of talking."

"What do you mean?"

He had the audacity to look confused. He was a guy, right. He should know more about this. A guy bumps into a girl. She falls to the ground, her things lies scattered. He helps her pick up her things, helps her get back and lo and behold the two of them had struck up a conversation. And if he played his cards right and he is smooth about it, and also if the girl finds him good looking and overall considers him a nice guy, well it's obvious that they would try to meet up again in a better setting.

But she was Tomoyo Sakagami and he was probably some kind of loser and they would probably never work out. So, it was better to get this over with, whatever this was.

"Okay, so you want to get beaten up. Why exactly?" she asked.

"Because then I would have an excuse for not getting involved with the SOS Brigade."

"The what?"

"The SOS Brigade." He clarified. "It's a really weird club. I mean the name itself." He shook his head. "It's a cry for help if I ever saw one. There is this chick called Haruhi Suzumiya and I have to tell you, I never felt like hitting someone more in my life."

"You would hit a woman?" Tomoyo Sakagami raised any eyebrow.

"Technically Suzumiya is a God."

Okay now he wasn't making any sense. At first he wanted her to put him in the hospital, so that he could get out of working for this so called SOS Brigade, which had a woman named Haruhi Suzumiya, who was also a God.

There was a lot to take in and she didn't know whether to believe him or not. But there is something he said which piqued her interest. Perhaps, she needed to listen to him some more.

"How did you know about me?"

"Sunohara has a big mouth." It was like he was psychic or maybe everyone on campus had the same thought. "He also may or may not have a small bruise forming on the right side of his face."

This was not all that interesting of a news. Tomoyo had kicked him in the face multiple of times. There was also his run in with Hitagi Senjougahara. It was believable that he would be nursing more than a couple of injuries for a while. But the way he said it, it sounded like –

"So you would like to physically hit a woman and from what you have told me, I guess, you had earlier hit a cripple on an infirmary bed. I don't see how that is supposed to make you more endearing, if that's what you are going for."

"I'm not going for that. Besides, he deserved it." Hachiman muttered under his breath. "He was calling you a bitch."

Tomoyo Sakagami didn't know what to feel at that moment. Here was a guy, she had never met, who had defended her so called maiden honour against a boy she chain kicks half to death on a regular basis. Taking everything into account, she would say that she knew Sunohara better than she knew Hachiman Hikigaya. But he had defended her, which wasn't exactly needed. Maybe it was out of habit.

But that would make him a gentleman who knew something about this thing called chivalry. He definitely didn't look like it.

"He calls me that, sometimes."

"It didn't sit right with me."

"I have kicked him in the face more than a thousand times."

He gave a dry chuckle. So Mr. Serial killer knew how to laugh. Well it wasn't exactly a laugh, but it had a nice ring to it. She didn't know why she was giving it so much thought. For all she knew, he was a pathological liar who was just stringing her along. Along where, she didn't know.

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration." He said.

"You don't believe me." She made up her mind rather quick. "Fine, take me to the SOS Brigade. I will show you what I mean."

Hachiman Hikigaya looked like he didn't believe her. But she had made up her mind. This Haruhi Suzumiya sounded like a delinquent. She was a woman, but there no reason she couldn't be anything else. According to Hikigaya, she was also a God.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked when they reached the clubroom. It didn't look all that special from the outside. Tomoyo was expressionless as she stepped inside.

"Huh? Who's this?"

The woman who asked had a pale skin tone, brown eyes and brown hair. She was fairly short, though among the other two girls present in the club, she somehow appeared the tallest. High heels no doubt, Tomoyo thought. The woman also wore an orange-yellow headband with ribbons on the side in her hair.

"Hikigaya, who's this?" Haruhi Suzumiya asked. "Is she an alien, a time traveler or an esper?"

"Well, she is." Hachiman Hikigaya looked at her uncertainly, while rubbing his neck. "Let's just say she is someone special."

Haruhi Suzumiya looked unimpressed and scoffed. "Well, to you maybe, Hikigaya. But I don't see it." There was a bored expression on her face. "I mean, she isn't even cute."

Tomoyo Sakagami tried to take a calming breath. It would be better not to escalate this situation. So what if Haruhi Suzumiya was a bit of a brat. She was probably at the age, when she thought it was the norm to be a bitch about everything. Wait, weren't they all in university now. There goes that excuse out of the window.

"Why are you silent?" This time Haruhi was talking to her. "Are you dead or dumb? Can't you do something to amuse me? I mean, Hikigaya over here called you special. I don't see it. But why don't you prove me wrong. Not that you will ever manage it." She balanced her face on her palm, elbow placed on her knees, nose pointed up in challenge.

"I'm not here to do tricks for your pleasure." Tomoyo Sakagami controlled her voice.

"Huh? Then why are you even here." Haruhi was now playing with the other woman's hair. The other woman had a pitiable look on her face, like she was not really enjoying this, but she appeared helpless to do anything otherwise. This didn't sit well with Tomoyo, and what Haruhi said next didn't help. "It's not like you are special. I have heard about you. You get in fights with delinquents and that's how you get your kicks. Literally, am I right?"

Haruhi Suzumiya looked at the others as if waiting for the others to join in on her laughter. Even when no one laughed, she kept on giggling. This was really beginning to piss her off.

"And to top it off you are the most unfeminine girl I ever met!"

Hachiman Hikigaya knew it. It had to happen. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. He didn't know the other two women members of the SOS Brigade. Kyon had said one was an alien and the other was a time traveler. But it proved nothing in face of the might of an unleashed Tomoyo Sakagami.

Haruhi Suzumiya was introduced to Tomoyo's foot so many times that, Hachiman wouldn't be surprised if she developed some kind of weird foot fetish. It was art, watching her unleash a volley of kicks on that bratty woman.

"Let's go" Tomoyo said when Suzumiya's face was nothing but a pixilated mess on the club room floor. "I think I got everything out of my system."

Hachiman smiled as he followed her out. "Glad I could help."

Tomoyo blushed a little, but on seeing the look of amazement in his face, she didn't seem to mind that he had gotten a glimpse of her unwomanly behavior. "We should do this again sometime, Hikigaya." She said as she left.

"You can count on it." Hachiman replied.

Later, when Tomoyo Sakagami had left and Kyon had arrived to have a talk, Hachiman told him what happened in his precious SOS Brigade. He listened impassionedly and then punched him in the shoulder lightly.

"Ow!" Hachiman faked a wince.

"What did you do that for?" Kyon asked.

Hachiman Hikigaya smiled. "Like you said once, the brat needed to be taught a lesson." Then, offhandedly he remarked to no one in particular. "Besides, I fixed the endless eight."

A/N: I tried writing two chapters in this new style, but it's not working out I think. From the next chapter it will be back to the usual one shot style. And now because of popular demand, I bring you this voter list:

Option 1: Aki Adagaki – (Masamune-kun no Revenge)

Option 2: Asuna Yuuki – (Sword Art Online)

Option 3: Kurumu or Moka – (Rosario to Vampire)

Option 4: Makise Kurisu – (Steins; Gate)

Option 5: Ami Kawashima – (Toradora)

Please pick any of the above options or suggest a character in the reviews.

You can also send a voter list.

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.

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Won't betray your dreams.