'Hermm, Damian-kun... Do you have your eyes on someone at the moment?'

I couldn't, and still can't help it but to have, at random intervals of time, this question repeatedly popping into my mind. Why did it came out of Ebina.. Hina's mouth?

Could it be because of what I told her on the rooftop of Kyoto's station when I was messing up with her and forcing her to spill out the truth? Has she been affected that much so now she is perhaps considering me as a possible boyfriend material? Does SHE has her sights on me?

If so, what to do with Shizuka and Haruno then? About Yui? I do know for a fact that Kawasaki... Saki has a soft spot for me, so does that mean there's a race, and if so, should I include her in too? What is my role in all of that?

My 'reverie' was cut-off quickly when two noisy voices invaded my ears, soon followed by a third one, standing next to me, his fake smile proudly on display.

Hayato Hayama...

I could've told the elder Yukinoshita sister last evening to come drag me to this date by herself when she phoned me. Hell, I could've easily turned this in my favor by telling her I would rather spend the day on a date with her instead, and I'm pretty sure she would've loved it!

But alas, in order for things to stay the way they are, and without taking risks to wake up the still slumbering Murphy's Law, I chose to abide to this ridiculous situation and presented myself at the time and place that were decided by Hayama. And now, I have to spend my precious Sunday with those annoyances, when I could've done something more productive, like staying at home.

Home? When did I started to refer as the Hikigaya household as my 'home'?

Komachi...

Komachi had been pretty shaken up by the revelation of the other day, that much was obvious. It's not every day you learned that not only your elder sibling has been dead the whole time, but someone else has been inhabiting his body! There was no way to turn back the clock...

I comforted her as best as I could, as her 'non'-brother, and the first evening together was, well, weird to say the least. For the first time since I became Hikigaya Hachima, we were blood-related strangers living under the same roof! The silence was so much worse than what happened earlier in the clubroom I considered going into my room, leaving her alone to process everything and have some peace..

But she refused that! Instead, she latched onto me and pleaded, begged me to not leave her alone, especially now that her brother was gone.

I may be cold, I may be cruel, I may be insensitive, I don't cry anymore, but that scene, that memory which engraved itself into my mind, it felt like a punch in the guts. A hundred-times stronger than Shizuka's worst punch!

Due to the fact that I had been born a lone child in my former life, I never had experience in comforting siblings... I was at a serious loss on what to do.

Thankfully, Komachi saw that, perhaps through the slight troubled look I had at that moment on my face, and we went into my room together, where we spent our time talking. Her asking me more about my old life and stuff like that, probably trying to get a better understanding as who she was going to have to deal with on a daily basis from now on...

We talked so late into the night, the following morning came with a funny surprise one would say, when we realized we had been sleeping together in the same bed, cuddled and holding each other, with her wearing my baggy t-shirt, with only her underwear beneath, whereas I was only wearing my large black pants, her head buried against my naked chest.

Talk about awkward...

Huh, aaaaanyway...

"Sorry we're late!" Orimoto Kaori shouted while waving her hand at Hayama, with her friend in toe, whatever the fuck her name was.

The trio discussed where to go first, while I was walking slightly behind, letting my gaze wander left and right because I had nothing better to do, I was just the fourth 'spare' wheel of a side-car here.

We soon find ourselves in a theater, with a huge cinema screen displaying a movie labelled as 'romance', and everyone is watching dumbly with a dumb smile on their face.

Well, everyone but me of course!

"I'm watching a movie with you, Hikigaya! If people from junior high heard about this, they'd freak out!" Comes out of the voice of Kaori Orimoto, who leaned up my way a bit to tell me this.

I ponder for a few seconds about what to say, or just saying nothing, but I think I'm going to drop a little hint for her there, and entertain myself at her expenses...

"They sure would if they found out that not only you're on a date, but out of all people, with the dead-eyed freak, Orimoto-san." I keep my composure as Hikigaya Hachiman, and speak with a tiny innocent-looking smile on my face.

Although if you read between the lines, you would see a rather cruel grin spitting out venom-laced words aimed directly at you, bitch!

She replies by giggling stupidly like those annoying modern day gooses. I seriously wonder what the hell had been through Hachiman's mind at the time to ever considering her a potential romantic candidate. Even if I have his memories in my head, what has he been thinking? Had he been thinking at all?

She's nothing out of the ordinary. She was plain looking, brown hair, a nice face, 'acceptable' proportions in the womanly area, but she doesn't seem to be a bright or sharp one. I mean, Hachiman ended up in Sobu, which was a high standard High School in Chiba, and she didn't.

That means by smarts alone, he was better than her, despite his looks and how people treated him, while she ended up in... Was it Kaihin? Gaijin? Whatever the name, it didn't had the sort of 'High standard High School' Sobu beneficiated from. So if she was still trying to downplay me, who she thought was still Hachiman, did she thought him ending in Sobu was a fluke?

That would be your third mistake by now girlie. Go on, keep piling them on top of another, that will give me an even better reason to teach you Humility at the end of the day. You don't know it yet, but you're walking barefooted on eggs and broken shards of glass every single second.

And I am enjoying it!

"Wasn't that explosion totally insane? I'm pretty sure Hikigaya wet himself! The look on his face had me laughing so hard." Orimoto spoke while facing me, with her equally idiotic friend smiling in the background, and Hayama next to me, his uncomfortable usual smile on display. Heh, of course it would be too much of the 'Saint' to appease things even though he knows deep down that it will esclate at some point.

You still haven't learned the lesson I see...

"Hmm? I wasn't expecting it to be that loud. I was focused on something else entirely so it took me out of my thoughts, hehe..." I speak with a calm tone, faking an utterly ugly false laugh. Fucking hell, the shit I have to pull for this dickhead next to me... Calm down, breathe, and remember: HE OWES ME!

Now that instantly pulls me into a better mood!

"Yeah, it surprised me a little."

Hmm? What was that sound? Did I just imaginate it or did the mute 'Saint' just spoke? Might've been the wind...

"But weren't you totally calm the entire time?" The secondary annoyance, Chika I suppose, speaks while leaning towards Hayama with some lovesick eyes, quickly followed by Orimoto.

Huh, so he DO speak after all? Well, he sure didn't 'wet himself' too much here. Be careful, once you drip so much as a toe, who knows what kind of monsters will drag you into its den underneath the surface?

"I know right? It made me jump a little, but he acted like it was nothing. Hikigaya though..." Orimoto went next to Hayama's left side, and started laughing like the idiot she is, hugging herself as she did so.

I say nothing and fake perfectly a slightly embarassed face, but inside, the counter keeps adding new points every minute or so.

"I-If we don't hurry, we won't have time to check out the shops."

Ooooh, what a brilliant attempt at defusing the situation here, Hayama-kun...

Let's see where that leads us...

After a while, we are in a large building, a mall with the name Palco on the front of it, and when I say 'we', It's actually Hayama standing like a buffoon again all by himself, with the two lovestruck puppies showing him clothes, while I lay with my back leaning against a wall, watching the scene from afar. And even from that distance, that still gives me some strong stomach aches...

I let my eyes wander around once more when I stop upon seeing the two figures on my right, barely ten meters from me. A standing Hina Ebina, and a sitting Yumiko Miura trying up some brown high boots.

It appears Hina being as surprised as I am also garnered Yumiko's attention, and the three of us are actually staring at each other.

I slowly lift up my left hand, and give the two of them a very light and casual wave, but it seems that out of the two of them, Hina has actually picked up what is going on. She realized I'm wearing the Hachiman mask, so whatever I'm doing here, it's because I am forced to do so.

She gives me a cute small smile and reciprocate my wave, which I appreciate, until Yumiko spots Hayama, and a light frown appears on the female blonde's face, before staring back at me.

I sigh and mouth out a few words for her to understand.

Here because of him. He owes me now.

Her green eyes do a bit of back and forth between the blonde male and me, staring directly into my own red-brownish orbs, before nodding and acknowledging my wave. She then turns her attention back to the boots she was closing with the ziptie on the side.

Did she... Did I... Did she just acted like a jealous girlfriend who gave me a pass? Huuuh...

Whatever, the less I think, the less of a headache I'll get...

I resume my walk towards Hayama and inform him that we would better get going, as it's already late, and this bothersome joke of a date is nearing its end.

On our way to the floor upstairs, we actually meet two persons going down, turning out to be...

Dobe... AND Iroha!

Is it a coincidence that next to our right, there is a giant sign with a pair of lips in the shape of a kiss, and underneath the words 'Reach first base'?

...

Hayama and Dobe engaged into the why him and Iroha were in that place too, a clear one-sided conversation due to the later's whining, until he realized, and it's something that shocked me a bit inside that he was, indeed, 'interrupting something' as he said so himself.

So it seems he has learned self-awareness, or a least a bit of it? Kyoto may have had a much more changing experience on him than I thought it would...

As for Iroha...

"Sen~pai~..."

Soldiers, this isn't a drill! The U.S.S Hikigaya is under attack! Prepare the weapons! The target in on our right flank! Don't waver, we can push it back! Give your all!

The attention turned towards me as the sirens and red lights were franctically blaring in my mind at the proximity and display of speed Iroha just used to get next to me. No one saw her move, not even myself! That is a very critical situation if even I, with my eyes, can't keep track of her movements!

"What are you doing here? Out having fun?"

Or at least that's why you'd think she is saying, if you don't read any deeper, nor take into account her facial features. The real meaning is much darker.

"You've got some balls to be goofing off with chicks while you've got work to do."

Oh well, better let her know through some code of our own, even if we barely haven't established a common code just yet, let's just hop she'll be able to pick up my message.

"Yeah, I'm doing an errand for Komachi. Besides, it's Sunday you know?"

At face value, this sounds like an actually good excuse, considering the price tags all over the place show some serious reductions on various items.

Iroha stares back at me, and lean a little bit closer to my face.

"I'm doing this guy a favor so he owes me. Do I struck you as the guy who would willingly go out with girls on a weekend, considering my 'reputation'?"

I see her eyes widening ever so slightly, and she pulls me by my sleeve so heer mouth is right next to my ear. WAY TOO CLOSE! Has anyone taught you about personal privacy?

"Who is that anyway? Your girlfriend maybe? But there's two of them. How do you know one another?"

That is fucking scary and interesting as shit! Did I just heard Iroha Isshiki's true voice whispering words jealous words into my ear?

Not only that, but that wide pure smile on her face makes it incredibly more... disturbing? Arousing, for some reason? unsettling? I wouldn't be able to put a word, but it's a perticular feeling I get right now.

"One and four, past. Second, no. Three, ask Haruno. Favors." I reply with an equal whisper to my 'cute kouhai', and she nods while maintaining the same smile on her face.

"Sorry about that Iroha. I made him tag along." Is all the 'Sobu Saint' can manage out of his mouth and through his dumb mask, who probably reacted when he heard me whispering the name 'Haruno'. Pretty sure he wouldn't have said anything if I didn't placed an invisible knife under his throat right there.

After visiting a few more shops, the four of us end up in a fancy café, where mostly Orimoto and her dumb bitch of a friend make light conversation, although it's more pathetic than what Hayama had tried with me talking about how, according to him, neither of us actually were in love with anyone, despite thinking at the time, we were, only because we were younger and naive.

Four trays lay on the table, the two females on one side and two males, me included on the other side.

As I tune out the pointless noise coming from the female side, I see a suspicious figure sitting by herself in the back of the café, wearing a bi-colored hat, and a white coat on her chair, waving at me with a smile on her face.

Her face...

HARUNO?

Oh yeah, of course it's Haruno. She's here to both make fun of me, and making sure everything goes according to her own plans. Woman, really...

"I'm not really fond of that... the way you two are acting."

Ooooh, does little Hayato-kun is finally intending to lower his mask and act like a grown-up all of a sudden? It sure took you a lot of time keeping it inside all day long, didn't it? But you see, since you are a hypocrite and said nothing until now, you are no better than them, that's why you are mostly going to let them go with a slap on the wrist.

I however, am not so nice...

As I hear footsteps coming, Hayama turns his face towards the corridor of the café, and stand up to face the two persons he seemed to have invited.

"Yukinoshita Yukino, and Yuigahama Yui..." I say while leaning back in my chair, closing my eyes and interlacing my fingers together, taking the stance of some pathetic James Bond villain about to uncover his World domination plan to his mortal enemy, with a restrained knowing smile on my face.

"So you asked them to come here, to prove a point to those two, didn't you, Hayama? You once again faked your way through and relapsed into your pathetic nice guy attitude to 'save the day' by defending me in front of people I don't care about and who are, might I add, less than subtly trashtalking me. You lied to these two on my left about them coming for the Student Council President matter so you could use them as a some sort of 'defense' to prove that I'm better than those dumb gooses sitting in front of me with their shocked faces?"

By now, even Haruno is wearing the same face as everyone else except me and Hayama, because no matter how Yukinoshita Haruno tries to make a foolproof plan, she knows I'm always going to be a wild card, and act according to my own beliefs. Not only that, but she is one of the many few who knows the truth about me, and how cruel I can be. She has mostly by now come to the realization that her own plan backfired the moment I opened my mouth.

"And then you were going to dramatically turn towards those two bitches and tell them something along the lines of 'Hikigaya's more than the kinda guy you make him out to be. He's close to a pair of girls far lovelier than you could ever hope to be. Could you stop judging books by their cover and running your mouth?' Is that it?" I send a icy glare with a knowing smile towards him from my sitting position, seeing him frozen on his spot.

"H-How do you..."

"Oh please, Hayato-kun, we don't want to make Ebina-chan's fantasy a reality and making me fall for you after that display of bravery, don't we? Don't you remember how many times you asked for my help, as part of the Service Club? Don't you remember the number of favors you owe me? And above all, have you already forgotten about our 'discussion' back in Kyoto? I was sure I made a convincing argument back there... You don't like me, and the feeling is mutual, but it's mainly because you are jealous of me, jealous of the fact that I can say and do whatever I like, that I have a freedom you lack. Being part of the Hayama family and being acquainted to the Yukinoshita, Your public image is always at risk, and you crave the so-called freedom I possess."

The moment my words leave my mouth, despite everyone still being shocked by my slight outburst, Hayama's hands clench into fists and they start shaking a bit. I know, no, I knew that I had aimed and pinpointed the very problem of Hayama Hayato's existence, exposing it in broad daylight. Ah yes, it sure brings back that nostalgic feeling from Kyoto, that afternoon on the riverbank when I volontary exposed a slight crack in my mask to him. Hearing him trying to steady his breath, stopping himself from gritting his teeth in anger and punching me square in the jaw...

That sensation of control, of domination, of Power over others...

I LOVE IT!

But hey, I can't explicitly show it now, can I? It would paint me as the manipulative villain, and ruin all my work and good acting so far. Exposing someone for the fraud he is in front of many people is enough of a punishment for him so far. I'm only telling the truth after all. However if I start showing some signs that I love this situation ever so slightly, it will be my own plan that will backfire...

I stand up and pick my tray from the table, as I turn to face Yui and Yukino. I can already see from the corner of my eyes Haruno standing up as well on her way to join us.

"Hikki..."

The meak voice of Yui makes me sigh and I know that there are many options available to me right now, but a single one sticks out as a proper response to this impending fiasco about to happen. It is risky, but then again, I don't have much of a choice.

I take a couple of steps towards my two clubmates, stopping next to Yukino and blocking Haruno's way, closing my eyes before letting out a 'parting gift' for Hayama and Orimoto, undeer the shape of a warning or course.

"Hayama needed my personal help and without a lack of ending hour for this 'double date', I am free to consider my contract complete and free to leave at any given moment, and right now seems quite appropriate. Hayama-san, don't forget this time that you owe me for the numerous favors me and the club I am a part of have done for you. On another note, Orimoto-san, the next time we meet, you and I will have a very long conversation..."

"Hikigaya-kun/Hikigaya-kun/Hikki-"

The three girls surrounding me all call my name at the same time, but it doesn't faze me one bit. After all, despite this small change of plan, I still know what every one of them wanted to say, and I sure as hell wouldn't let those events happen.

"Haruno-san, Yukino-shita, Yui-gahama, if you don't mind, there is a topic I would like to talk to you about, so perhaps since the four of us are gathered here, we could talk about it while we still have some time ahead of us? Oh and of course, I would rather leave this place and go further about it in a more private area, a neutral territory maybe without hypocrites and cowards..."

My voice, being smooth and chilling at the same time, gives little room for debate on the fact that I am not exactly asking or pleading for them to listen to my query, but rather that I order them both to follow me.

Haruno is the first one to comply when her eyes widen just a bit when she sees me slowly opening my eyelids to revealing the deadly serious face underneath the mask she has seen a handful of times by now. She nods to me, then turns towards her little sister and Yui.

Both clubmates after eyeing my glaring irises from the corner of my eyes, quickly understand that I won't back down now that I have made my mind, and soon enough, the four of us are exiting the establishment, leaving the three abashed faces of Hayama, Orimoto, and her friend.

Now outside on the sidewalk, I wave my hand for a cab to stop, and the three girls stare at me in confusion.

"If we are to talk seriously the four of us, and we sure as hell do, we are going to do so in a neutral place, which instantly excludes Yukino and Haruno's apartment respectively, giving us only two alternatives: My home, with Komachi probably in, or..."

"M-My house?" Yui exclaims, shocked with a blush on her cheeks.

I nod, and turn back to the road where a cab has just parked in front of us. I open the back door, and let the girls enter the vehicle, before doing the same and taking the front seat next to the driver. I ask for Yui's adress, and she gives it although a bit reluctantly, but that's good enough for the driver.

As I insist on paying the driver while the three girls are waiting outside the door of Yui's house, a thought that hadn't crossed my mind before suddently pops in my head, and I stand where the opened window of the passager's seat of the taxi had been a few seconds ago, with my hand pocketting my wallet in the back of my pants, a stupid look on my face due to the dawning realization that hit me harder than the infamous Truck-kun...

"Mama, It's me, I'm home! And... I have some friends with me..."

Yuiga-mama!

FUCK!