Author's note: Hey there, it's been a while! Oregairu Shin has come to a close, putting me back in the mood to write some more HachiYuki fluff. Thank you for your patience – a lot has happened in the world lately that has gotten in the way of my writing this. As always, your comments and feedback are much appreciated. Without further ado, let's get to it!

There are rare times in life when we feel at peace with the world around us, when it feels as though our worries are cast to the wind. One of these rare times was surely on the train ride back from Motohakone, snuggled up to Yukinoshita with our bodies touching from shoulder to toe.

It had only been a couple of months since that evening on the bridge when we put our feelings into words, yet it already felt as though we had been together for much longer. Thinking back on the past year, it's undeniable that I had spent most of my social interactions with her and her alone. One could say that we were simply getting to know each other on a deeper, more physical level as well.

"Hikigaya-kun…" A soft, lingering voice came from a source surprisingly close to my ear.

"Feeling sleepy?"

"Yes…I suppose that longer train trips do take their toll…"

"Even though you're sitting?"

Yukinoshita gently bunted her head against my shoulder in response. I gently ran my fingers through her hair and she sighed softly in a cute, cat-like manner. She looked up at me and smiled.

"I can tell you understand…"

I did have to admit – she and I were good at communicating without words. However, we still had to work on the "words" part to an extent. Seventeen-odd years of poor communication wasn't going to change overnight.

But I believed that some change could come, however slowly.

"Hey, Yukinoshita…"

She perked up in her impossibly cute manner.

"Yes?"

The words momentarily stuck in my throat.

"How…how can I communicate better with you?"

Her eyes widened in momentary surprise, perhaps in recognition that this sort of statement was out of the ordinary for me.

"Well…ah…asking such direct questions like that is probably a good first step, I suppose."

Thinking to myself for a moment, I realized that she was certainly right. These vagaries of language in which I'd wrapped myself over the past few months were still holding me back.

Without warning, Yukinoshita sat up and started to stutter.

"H..Hachiman…"

Her words surprised me so much that I had to blink to make sure that Totsuka was not, in fact, sitting next to me at that moment.

A closer glance confirmed that, as expected, it was still Yukinoshita – who was now blushing and trying to glance away.

Before I could respond, she spoke in a soft voice.

"Sorry…was it too soon?"

I'd been put on the spot in the best way possible. But no matter how good of a spot it was, it was still a stressful situation. I inhaled deeply in preparation for my next words.

"No, not at all…Yukino..s…"

"Are you seeing double?"

If I had a little less self-awareness at that moment, I might have even scowled. Thankfully, I maintained a steady face as I, at last, produced the name with a full stop.

"Yukino."

A look of surprise flitted across her countenance, followed by a smile that only grew in sincerity and intensity. Suddenly, she buried her face in my chest and exhaled deeply, as if to express her relief in my response.

"…Took you long enough." Yukinoshita – no, Yukino – whispered into my chest. It felt refreshing to call her by her first name for once. With this came the need to invent some new nicknames that fit this shorter name – a task that I was more than willing to take on.

Once more, the scenery changed as we left the mountains behind for the Kanto plain.

And there's Pallet Town on the left – what shall my starter be? I hear the Kamakura Pokémon's moves are super effective against cat-obsessed girls [1].

A gentle tap on my shoulder brought me back to the present.

"Where is your mind at?" Yukino asked with a smirk.

"Who knows…"

"How mysterious. Maybe I'll just assume it's something dirty then."

"Dream on."

Yukino huffed in mock indignation. "In any case…"

Now, her voice took on a more nervous tone.

"…have you thought more where you're applying for university?"

The topic of which universities we would attend was one we hadn't explored much since our memorable evening on the beach back in March. Since then, time had given us both some perspective on where we'd likely end up in a bit over a year's time. Although the Yukinoshitas were deeply rooted in Chiba, and Haruno went to university here, I got the feeling that Yukino aspired towards somewhere a little further afield. As for me – my family of no pedigree would not exactly be tied to my going to university here in Chiba. In fact, they might just gently push me in the direction of Tokyo.

"First I'll have to think about cram school if I'm to have any chance of getting in anywhere," I said matter-of-factly.

Yukino nodded thoughtfully in response. "Perhaps we could find a place that works for both of us?"

A place? My mind wandered. I had messed up my first chance at this [2] and was determined to not make the same mistake again. This time, I would take a moment to come up with the perfect response…

"Hachiman?"

"Ah…I hope the place is spacious…"

"Spacious…" Yukino spoke with some trepidation. But before I knew it, I felt a playful bump on my arm as I realized that I had once again failed, perhaps even worse than last time.

"As in…lots of space…for activities…" [3]

"What sort of cram school activity would require lots of space? The definition of cram school is in its name."

Before I could come up with a clever retort, Yukino was already smirking. I didn't need to blush for her to know that I was as helpless as Nishikata in this moment [4].

"Ah…in any case…let's pick a place that would work for both of us."

"Yes, maybe somewhere in Makuhari."

Makuhari was Yukino's home, but I didn't live too far to the north. Although a place halfway in between our homes would be ideal, the more developed setting of Makuhari meant that we would more likely find a suitable cram school there. To come up with a satisfactory outcome for both of us, I was more than willing to take the bike ride.

I could tell that Yukino wasn't satisfied with stopping there, though.

"Beyond cram school…where were you thinking of applying?"

"Schools in Tokyo, most likely. My plans haven't really changed on that front."

I could sense the inevitable follow-up question poised to make its return.

"I see. I still wonder if we'll end up at the same school…"

"Shouldn't we put our academic and job prospects before that? As limited as mine may be…"

Realizing after the fact that - even with my concession - my words could be seen as arrogant, I opened my mouth to begin to apologize. But before I could do that, Yukino spoke.

"You're right. If we make an effort, surely we can still stay involved with each other."

The words took me right back to the night of our confession – no, the whole second prom, my attempt to find a way for us to remain connected. With that in mind, a thought of drifting apart to pursue our respective careers haunted me. Part of me knew that it was far too early to assume that our relationship couldn't work if we went to different universities in the same city. And yet, another part of me knew that we needed to broach the topic. Either way, I had to say something.

"Let's keep talking about which universities we're considering, so that we can make informed decisions."

"Sure, we would have been doing that anyways."

I smiled. It was an honest answer and yet one that gave us some space to think carefully about the situation.

After whiling away the time with some idle conversation, the buildings rose ever taller around us. In the distance, I could make out the Tokyo Metropolitan Government towers and, before long, we were pulling into the Shinjuku terminus station.

Once we gathered our luggage, we stepped off to the platform hand in hand. Our remarkable trip to Motohakone and Mt. Fuji had given us relaxation and stress in nearly equal measure. But that was par for the course for people like us; we both knew what we'd signed up for.

Despite such challenges, we took pride in the fact that we could walk together with our heads up anywhere, from the side streets of a Kanagawa prefecture town [5] to the busiest train station in the world [6]. It was in this spirit that we finally parted ways at my station. As I stepped out of the train, I was struck by how the moment felt so similar – and yet so different – from one earlier this year when we were coming back from our New Year's visit to the shrine. Her words from then lingered in my mind, as did her tug on my sweater:

"I'm looking forward to this year." [7]

Little did either of us know how auspicious those words would become.

Haruno-san had insisted on picking up her sister personally and so, once we left the station, we were again greeted by the sight of the Yukinoshita family limo. Although the chauffeur instinctively stepped out and approached Yukino to help her with her luggage, she gently picked her bags up off the ground to lift them into the trunk. She looked back at me, her eyes filled with some trepidation. The partial source of those uneasy feelings was behind her, through the window that was now rolling down.

"Yahallo!" Haruno-san exclaimed unnecessarily loudly. "Looks like the honeymoon went well. Next time, you'd better invite your future sister-in-law."

Yukino and I let out a tired sigh in near-perfect sync, which only served to amuse Yukino's sister even more. She let out a loud laugh.

"Perfect!" She exclaimed while clapping in an exaggerated fashion.

"Nee-san, we are not the comedy duo you think we are."

I joined in with my most convincing air.

"She's right. Only one of us here is a clown."

The exasperated look on Haruno-san's face was well worth the self-awareness I suddenly developed in that moment. Yukino stifled a laugh.

"Always a contradiction, Hachiman."

Did I unwittingly induce a gap moe in my partner? Was my sense of humour so bad that any attempt at humour was unexpected behaviour from me?

Before Haruno-san could react to her sister being on a first-name basis with me, though, the chauffeur called out to Yukino.

"Yukino-sama, it is time for us to go."

I took that as my cue to slide into the Toyota Century limo, following Yukino. With Yukino in the middle seat, I was at least somewhat shielded from the negative influence of Haruno-san. I trusted that Yukino could fend her off better than I could. Before long, we were retracing our path of a few days earlier, meandering along the shores of Tokyo Bay.

In spite of our tired state, we instinctively slung ourselves back in the plush seats instead of seeking one or the other's shoulder. There was a time and a place for that, one that would not involve the unsolicited comments of our neighbour – although it was incredibly tempting.

Before long, we arrived at the remarkable high-rise that was Yukino's home. If not for our being accompanied by Haruno-san, I might have been tempted to make a visit out of this moment. However, we both knew that Yukino's sister would never let me live that down. Knowing that such a moment would come in the future, I slid out of the limo. Yukino followed suit, and soon we were looking into each other's eyes with only a vague idea of what to do next. Even after these few days spent in each other's company, we still got butterflies in our stomachs when doing many things together.

Even though a visit to her place seemed excessive at that moment, I felt that I had to settle for something quick – no matter what her family felt.

Yukino started.

"Thank-"

Before she could finish, I held her and gazed at her. She soon followed suit.

Then, without a care in the world, and in spite of those in our presence, our lips met.

The pairs of eyes burning into my back were nothing compared to this sweet sensation. For perhaps the first time in my life, I thought:

Who cares if others see me doing something like this? Indeed, what does it matter if her family sees this? We are happy, and that's what matters.

Even in casting my mind back to dinner with the Yukinoshitas – and the awkwardness of that whole experience – and knowing that they were surely judging me for such a public display of affection, I felt liberated in my love for Yukino.

And so, after waving goodbye to her, I turned back to the limo and smiled at the stunned Yukinoshita ladies.

Author's note:

I'll try my best to get out the next chapter in a more reasonable timeframe this time, but I cannot promise anything. Thank you all for your support!

References:

[1] The Kanto region is both the geographical region in which Tokyo is located, and is the region featured in the first Pokémon game, Pokémon Red and Blue. Pallet Town is the town in which the player begins in this game.

[2] A reference to Oregairu Volume 14, Chapter 8 (adapted in Season 3 episode 12), in which Yukino points out a wedding chapel as being the perfect place, and Hachiman responding in a way that implied that he and Yukino would get married there.

[3] A very silly reference to the Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers.

[4] Nishikata is a character in the manga and anime series Teasing Master Takagi-san, who gets mercilessly teased by his classmate Takagi.

[5] Motohakone – the site of the hotel they stayed at - is in Kanagawa prefecture.

[6] Shinjuku station.

[7] A reference to the scene in Volume 10 where Yukino and Hachiman rode the train together on New Year's - these were roughly her parting words as Hachiman disembarked.