A few days passed after that. The Planning Committee didn't have a meeting on one day in particular due to a lack of material to discuss, so I ended up heading back to spend time in the Service Club that day after school. It had been a long time since I'd been in that clubroom. What with the Planning Committee meetings, the extra work, and Miura dragging me around wherever she pleased, making time for drinking tea and listening to Yuigahama talk endlessly for hours on end was something I was ready to go without. Speaking of which, I wondered what she'd been up to the whole time. I'd practically left her alone when I joined the Planning Committee and stopped visiting the clubroom, even more so than Yukinoshita who still went out of her way to visit her every now and then.

The two of them were already inside and chatting together when I opened the door as if nothing had changed at all. Their conversation stopped when I entered, and Yuigahama stood up from her chair and jabbed a finger at me as I stood in the doorway.

"Ah! Hikki! You're late!"

"...Late for what?"

"It's our precious day off, obviously! We finally have a chance to spend time together in the clubroom again!"

"That doesn't sound important enough to be celebrating."

"Because you don't realise how important it is! That's why you're late, you idiot! Stupid Hikki! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

"Please, Yuigahama-san, there is no need to resort to such vulgar accusations. It is merely clear Hikigaya-kun does not consider us to be important to his life in any way whatsoever. We are simply witnessing his true intentions to abandon us at the first opportunity finally revealing themselves at last."

"H-Hikki, is that true…? Was our entire friendship a lie…? All that time in the clubroom together, just so you can cast us away when you get the chance…?"

"Very funny, guys. Just the warm welcome I was hoping for."

Yuigahama laughed, and even Yukinoshita couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. It seemed like my worries were misplaced. Nothing had really changed. Even when we couldn't find the time to spend together, there didn't seem to be anything different in how well we got along with each other when we finally did. I couldn't tell if I should've been relieved or not. On one hand, it was reassuring to know our 'friendship', or whatever you wanted to call it, still remained the same even when we were apart. But, on the other hand…

"Hikki, is something wrong? You look like you've been thinking about something for a while now."

My eyes shifted from the two of them to the floor below. My relationship with Yukinoshita had not changed the entire time the three of us had been apart. We were still friends, sure, but we were only friends. And I wasn't getting the inclination that Yukinoshita was worried about much more.

"It's... nothing."

"Oh yeah! You know, you and Yumiko seem really close now! When I first saw the two of you walking to school together I was like, wait, did you manage to hypnotise her or something?! There's no way she'd hang out with someone like you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Also, don't casually imply I can only befriend people against their will. I'd like you to know I haven't hypnotised either of you, thank you very much."

"Please do not try to boast about that. That is a low bar to be proud of, Hikigaya-kun."

"Don't try to play dumb with me! I've heard all sorts of rumours about the two of you! Some say the two of you are walking home together at the same time, some say you two are going out, and some even say the two of you have... a-already... k-k-k-k-kissed!. That's forbidden, Hikki! You hear that?! Forbidden!"

"I think you need to stop listening to whatever rumours your friends are trying to tell you. Do you really think I would date someone like that?"

"An excellent point, Hikigaya-kun. I struggle to think of a single person of the opposite sex who might even remotely show interest in you, let alone commit to spending any amount of time with you more than is absolutely necessary."

"Don't turn her misunderstanding into an insult on my entire love life! The scales of our conversations are totally different!"

"But, like, um, it's totally true that the two of you are closer now, right?"

"Maybe. So what?"

"Because that's awesome, Hikki! I'm so happy for you! I thought you were totally incapable of making friends, and you were doomed to be totally friendless without us in the Service Club, but this proves I'm wrong! Hurray!"

"That doesn't sound like something I should be happy about..."

"I must confess my surprise as well, Hikigaya-kun. Congratulations. You are finally able to talk to another human being."

"Stop assuming I'm doomed to loneliness so easily!"

"Hehe~! Just kidding, just kidding! I'm actually really happy for you, you know! I'm glad you're making new friends now. But why didn't you tell us about it sooner? We're your friends too, you know!"

"It's... a long story."

I tried, but I couldn't say anything back. I couldn't tell them the real reason why Miura and I had partnered up in the first place. I couldn't tell them the only reason we joined the Planning Committee was to see if the rumour that Yukinoshita and Hayama were dating might've actually been true. I couldn't tell them these things, because telling them would've meant I had to admit I liked Yukinoshita. And if I admitted that, it was all over.

I changed the topic and went to sit down in my usual chair across from them on the opposite side of the table. We spent the rest of the afternoon after that in the same routine in the Service Club as if it were any other day. I quietly read my copy of My Little Sister Is So Cute I Can't Keep My Raging Boner Down as Yuigahama pestered Yukinoshita with whatever seemed to come to her mind. Occasionally, the conversation would fall to me when Yukinoshita seemed like her head was starting to hurt and she wanted a break from Yuigahama's incessant ramblings, but I wasn't paying much attention to humouring her either. There were only so many answers you could have for what did you have for lunch today? and what are you doing on the weekend? until you couldn't be bothered to continue the conversation anymore. But there was one question Yuigahama asked that day that I couldn't ignore.

"A~ah! Maybe I should get a boyfriend after all!"

"...What's this all of a sudden?" I asked.

"Because I'm lonely! You two are never here anymore! If I had a boyfriend at least I'd have someone to spend time with in this empty clubroom!"

"You are free to do as you wish, Yuigahama-san. I see no issues so long as your relationship does not interfere with your clubroom duties."

"No, no! That's not what you're supposed to say! You're supposed to be, like, more jealous and stuff! You're supposed to be all 'I have seen the error of my ways. I must apologise for my neglect of you and how I have jeopardized our friendship in the process. I will never make the same mistake of taking our friendship for granted again, Yuigahama-san.'"

"...I fail to see what my response has to do with anything."

"Aaaaah! Forget it! You dummy! You too, Hikki! This is your fault as well!"

"What did I have to do with this?! I didn't even say anything!"

"You should've, like, gotten jealous or something!"

"There's nothing to be jealous about..."

"Says the guy who'll never get a girlfriend!"

"Hey, that's uncalled for! You've never dated anyone before either!"

"W-Well, that's, like, different, because, um..."

"It is true that Hikigaya-kun is a hopeless virgin, but so are you, Yuigahama-san. It is best you are not too harsh."

"Yeah! W-Wait, huh?!"

I couldn't help but smile, to which Yuigahama crossed her arms and looked the other way.

"...Um, so, have you already done it, Yukinon?"

"I have not. But the opportunity may arise in the future. Virginity is hardly an obstacle to overcome."

"Yeah! What if we get boyfriends, Hikki?! You're going to miss us then!"

"Then they'll break up with you and you'll be back to square one."

"That's so mean! Why are you assuming they're already going to break up with me?!"

"Because that's how relationships work and why couples break up all the time. You spend enough time with someone until you realise why you hate them. Even most marriages don't end up together forever."

"...Your myopia may be unsurprising, but it is just as unflattering as ever. Relationships are hardly such simple and petty affairs," retorted Yukinoshita.

That pissed me off. It felt wrong hearing Yukinoshita tell that to me, of all people, when she was just as much of a loner as I was. Thinking about how she was saying that because she really might've been dating Hayama pissed me off even more.

"Oh, yeah? And what if they don't like you anymore, and break up with you?"

"If, hypothetically, I were in a relationship, then that would easily be their fault, I'm sure. I do not make mistakes. Relationships are no exception."

"And what if they cheat on you?

"That's… well..."

That seemed to strike a nerve. Yukinoshita went quiet after that and didn't say anything for a while, the full implications of what I'd just said probably coming to fruition in her mind. She said she wasn't dating anyone, but I couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking about Hayama in that moment. I didn't have any evidence they were dating. But I didn't have any evidence they weren't, either.

"They wouldn't. I would make sure of it."

"Yukinon... s-scary..."

"Heh. You'd make sure of it, would you? I'm afraid that's not how it works. People don't need your permission to cheat on you. They're free to do it whenever they want. In fact, if you were going out with someone, they might even be cheating on you right now, right as we speak. It happens all the time. You think you can trust someone, then BAM. Turns out they've been lying to you the whole time."

More silence. I thought she'd have more to say back to me, but I guess Yukinoshita wasn't the kind of person who did well with people she trusted lying to her like that. It was the kind of thing I knew she didn't want to think about. It would be like Yuigahama telling her how she was lying about being her friend the whole time. It would probably break Yukinoshita on the inside. Yukinoshita had very few people she trusted, but she trusted those few people very dearly. If she were to find out one of them was lying to her…

"H-Hikki, aren't you taking this a little too far…? I think you're, um, really pressuring Yukinon to answer something she isn't ready for. I mean, it's not like she's even dating anyone anyway, right?"

"Oh? Really, now? You say that, but how do we really know if that's true? What if she's been lying because she didn't want us to find out? That seems like the kind of thing you'd do, Yukinoshita."

"Hikki! What's gotten into you today?! Why do you care so much if she's dating anyone or not? What does that have to do with you?!"

"...Sorry. I guess I got too carried away."

Silence, again. Some time passed as we returned to the clubroom routines we were doing before. Well, we returned to them as best we could, because I really killed the mood that day. I could tell Yukinoshita was uncomfortable with the topic, but that didn't stop me from piling on the idea that she was going to be cheated on one day. It wasn't like she'd said she was going out with anyone either. In the end, I had gotten jealous over nothing, and all I'd managed to find out was how to make being in the clubroom more uncomfortable than it needed to be. Some friend I was.

Yukinoshita excused herself after some time and left early. She'd gotten another urgent phone call that she had to respond to, which left Yuigahama and I together in the clubroom alone. We talked about some minor things here and there, but the conversation changed when she brought up something I thought I'd completely forgotten.

"You know, Hikki, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while..."

"Hm?"

"I've been putting it off for so long because I thought it wasn't important anymore, but after what we just talked about it's, like, I don't know if I can keep saying that to myself."

"Ask whatever you want. Hikigaya Hachiman has no secrets. Except for that time I got rejected by that girl in fifth grade. We don't talk about that."

"It's… about Sagami."

"Minami Sagami? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while. What, is she up to no good? Need me to show her her place again?"

"N-No! No, but, um, I mean, it's about that..."

"What do you mean then?"

"On the rooftop that day, at the end of the cultural festival last year… why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Humiliate her."

Something made me think Yuigahama wasn't just trying to have a polite chat.

"I don't know. It wasn't like I had any particular reason at the time."

"But, like, you must've had some reason, right? Something that told you it was okay... to make someone cry like that."

"Because she was a selfish brat without any skills who wanted everyone to pay attention to her without having to do anything?"

"Um, yeah. Something like that."

"And why are you asking me this…?"

"Well, her friends told me all about what happened, you know. You told her 'We're the same. We're the lowest of the low', right? Apparently, that experience really changed her that day. She said it was thanks to you that she got the opportunity to realise what an awful person she was being."

"Uh-huh. That's great. I hope that means I never have to see her face again."

"But then she said… something strange. She said the two of you really are alike. She said you both treat other people like things to be used, but deep down the two of you want to imagine you're still good people on the inside. She said you both want to think the cruelty of the world has twisted your ways, not that you were both twisted already. Is… that right?"

"...Huh? What are you going on about? Sagami and I are totally different. I hate people. Why would I care if other people thought I was a good person or not? Don't compare me with someone like her. She got what she deserved. She was a selfish bitch who needed to know her place. I just happened to be the first to do it."

"You… think that about a lot of people, don't you?"

"Of course. Lots of people need to be given a good dose of reality to know where they really stand. I can't tolerate people acting all high-and-mighty over others just because they're popular and everyone likes them. It's people like Sagami who've made the lives of loners much worse than they've had to be."

"But, like, I mean… what did they do, exactly? What did she do? To you, especially?"

"What did she do? Are you stupid? She slacked off during the cultural festival Planning Committee meetings and dumped all of the work on Yukinoshita. And then she had the audacity to try to take credit for everything she did!"

"Um, right. That was really messed up, I know. I ended up telling her off for that as well. But, like, what did she do to you?"

"Why does that matter? It was enough for me that she was just being a bitch."

"So… nothing?"

"There's probably something, I don't know. It was a while ago. People like her do this stuff all the time. Who cares? Why are you even asking?"

"I'm asking, Hikki, because Sagami changed. And when I look at you… you don't seem like you have."

"I… huh? What are you talking about? What do you mean I haven't changed?"

"Do you, um, remember our school workplace trip last year, when you told me to get lost because you didn't want me spending time with you out of pity? Because that… that really hurt me, you know. I really didn't know why you were telling me such horrible things all of a sudden. But, um, I still forgave you for it because I figured it was just a misunderstanding. I thought you were just upset that one time, and you'd go back to the same old Hikki the next day once it was all over. I forgave you… because I thought you wouldn't do it again."

"Well, I… I don't know. What does that have to do with anything? I figured you didn't care that much about what I said or otherwise you wouldn't have come back to the clubroom so easily. It's not like a bunch of mean words were going to matter anyway."

"But, I mean, that's the thing, right? Because they do. They do matter. And I can tell you don't think about that because, if I'm being honest, you haven't changed one bit, Hikki. I know you like to think you have, and how it's everyone else's fault that you're like this, and that, deep down, you're a good person on the inside… but you're not. I'm sorry, but you're just not. Just like today, when you made Yukinon so uncomfortable like that—like, why? Why would you do that to your own friends? I'm only telling you this now because I'm… I'm afraid of you, Hikki. I don't know when you're going to hurt someone like that again. Just like you did with Sagami. Just like you did with me. And, unlike those times, this time it might be with someone who you actually truly care about, and that's when there'll be no turning back."

"..."

I didn't know what she was going on about. What was wrong with me telling her off for being a bitch, just like I told Sagami off for being one? I apologised to Yuigahama after I realised I was wrong, didn't I? What haven't I changed? And what did she mean 'there'll be no turning back'? I had no idea what she was trying to tell me. I had no idea why she was asking me about Sagami long after she'd already lost her relevance. And I had no idea why she'd apparently put off asking all of this to me for so long when none of it seemed very important in the first place.

"I want you to promise me, Hikki. Promise me you won't do it again. Promise me you won't hurt someone else like that next time."

"Yeah, I promise, whatever."

She eyed me for a moment before sighing and giving me a smile, apparently satisfied with my response. She stood up, took a big stretch, and slung her bag over her shoulder before walking over to give me a big hug.

"Thanks, Hikki. You're a great friend, you know that?"

"H-Hey, don't just hug me out of nowhere so suddenly..."

She let go after awhile, put her hands on her hips, and beamed me her usual fiery smile.

"A~ah! Sorry for talking about something so serious all of a sudden! It was just, like, something I had to get off my chest, you know? Anyway, it's getting late so we should, um, probably go home. The cultural festival is coming up soon, so I'm sure you and Yukinon have another big day ahead of you!"

"Oh, great. More work tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me. Just what I wanted to hear."

"Hehe~! That's what friends are for!"

I grabbed my bag and joined her as we left the clubroom to go home. That afternoon in the Service Club felt longer than usual. It probably felt the longest in a while. At the time I still didn't quite understand what it was that Yuigahama was trying to tell me, or what exactly it was that she was trying to warn me about. Looking back, I realised it was the same thing Miura was trying to tell me too. Because, if I were being honest to myself then, I didn't think I had done anything wrong. That's why I didn't think too much of it by the time we left the school grounds and went our separate ways home. I had a cultural festival to prepare for, and I had better things to do than to think about how I made some girls cry in the past.

Yeah, I had better things to do.

That was what I was trying to keep telling myself at the time.