Prologue

Our story begins in another dimension, similar yet different to the one we live in and know so well. As above so below, it is said, and thus, even in that world, we come across a place we are quite familiar with: a roadside cafe. Here, at one of the tables on the footpath, a gentleman was seated. He wore a simple two-piece suit, black in colour, and at his side, propped against his chair, was a wooden cane with an ornate metal handle. Leaning back, he took a sip of coffee, even as he stared at the screen of a curious device he held in one hand, his eyes rapidly scanning what it displayed. He nodded slightly to himself as he read, seemingly finding nothing unusual about whatever it is he had learnt.

"You're early," a voice said, causing him to look up. Standing across the table from him was a tall, wide-shouldered man. Like the first, he too was dressed in a suit, though his was stark white. He did not carry a cane, but the sharp-eyed observer would notice he wore a gold ring on his right hand.

"I had some free time," came the reply. He put down the cup, and the other gentleman pulled back a chair and took a seat at the same table. A waiter approached, and he gave his order: an espresso. His companion watched with mild amusement, and when the waiter walked away, decided to make his feelings known.

"Do you have a use for that much energy?"

"There are always things to do."

"The same things, repeated ad nauseum. Do you not feel it is tedious?"

The man in the white suit leaned back, though his posture remained quite upright. His face was hard to read, but if one looked closely enough, they might see the ghost of a smile upon it.

"It is tedious until one of us does something to remedy that. If experience serves right, this is normally where you come in."

The black-suited individual took another sip of his coffee. It had slightly more than the average amount of sugar in it. Enough to make the waiter frown slightly, but not make any comments. But he had no problem with that. He was used to such reactions. To an extent, he even looked forward to them.

"Tell me," he said. "How does Universe 95871 sound?"

"It sounds like part of the tedium you mentioned."

"How about Planet 11877 in that universe?"

"The one its inhabitants call Earth? What about it?"

"The inhabitants are curious, are they not?"

The wide-shouldered man scoffed.

"They're glorified apes with too little intelligence, and far too much greed. Considering the course they're on, in another 1000 years of their time, they will-"

"Yes, yes, all that is for the Apocalypse Scenarios people to deal with. We are Maintenance, remember?"

"Unfortunately, I do."

"But this is the best job there is. Why would you prefer a planet of lifeless rocks or screaming, dying people?"

In answer, the white-suited man's eyes gleamed red for a brief moment, and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Ah, I forgot. You enjoy that kind of thing."

"I merely enjoy seeing the true nature of things revealed."

"And that is precisely why we get along. But you know it's possible to learn what someone is without destroying them? What if I could make something entertaining happen?"

"That's why you called me here. You might as well get on with it."

"What do you think it would take to change someone's life completely?"

"Outside of unexpected occurrences, such changes don't happen. You know this. 90 percent of human lives follow the paths we predict for them on birth based on genetic data and knowledge of their surroundings."

"Aha, nature and nurture. Together, they form a groove so powerful, very few realize that these are the very factors that can allow them to change their lives. But the tiniest possible change would be all it takes to create a domino effect, and change everything."

"The so-called ripple effect? Data has shown that it's a myth. The number of times factors align so that a large change can happen… is very few. Thousands of occurrences have to take place, just for a single life to deviate from its projected path."

"How about we put it to the test then?"

The larger of the two men closed his eyes for a moment, considering the proposition. Opening them, he looked at his colleague, who had finished his sweet coffee.

"Very well. What does it take to deviate a single life from the projected outcomes?"

The black-suited man smiled, even as his eyes glowed blue.

"Even a slight psychological push is more than enough."

"The human psyche? You're counting on such a fragile thing?"

"It's stronger than you think."

"We shall see. What is the deciding factor?"

"Hmm… let's see: fear is boring. I've watched too many horror films to care. Anger can be interesting, but we don't want to tip off those Apocalypse Scenario people. How about confidence? A slight boost to confidence. My theory is that even a 5 percent increase in confidence will be enough to completely deviate from the projected path."

"A mere 5 percent? And who will be the subject?"

The black-suited man gripped his cane, and lifted it up. In front of the two of them, a three dimensional projection formed, an image depicting the "subject".

"Him? His confidence levels are below average to begin with. Also, his data shows issues that existed since early adolescence."

"Which will make it all the more interesting when this experiment succeeds."

"Hmph. I doubt it. He assumes the worst probable outcome is the one that will happen, and thus, he acts accordingly. He has conditioned himself into it. Do you really think a little more confidence will overcome what he has experienced?"

In answer, the man's cane flashed for a moment, and the two individuals disappeared from view.

Chapter 1:

Chiba, Japan

Sixteen hours ago:

Hikigaya Hachiman looked at his phone. Ten minutes to eight. He was cutting it a little fine, but he would make it. Pedalling harder, he rode past the gates just in time; he could hear the sliding of metal, which meant they were being shut. Well, to be fair, they were low enough that he could just have climbed over them. In fact, plenty of students actually did this. However, concern for his own well-being prevented the implementation of any such maneuvers. After all, not every student in the school had a raging single Saiyan woman as their teacher. A chill went down his spine.

Why do I feel like I shouldn't have thought that?

He decided to ignore the feeling. Telepathy didn't exist. Probably. Hopefully. In any case, he should really hurry. Parking his bike and chaining it to a post, he began to run. There were still a few minutes left, and she generally arrived a little late anyway. Putting those factors together, he should be able to enter just in ti-

"Ah, Hikigaya. Nice of you to join us."

Of course.

Sliding open the door, he was greeted by the sight of the very Saiyan woman he was thinking of. True to her heritage, she was tall and attractive, with the long hair and impossible strength that were characteristic of her kind. Perhaps if she changed careers from teaching to intergalactic warfare, maybe she would finally get some-

"Hrgggh!"

Before he could complete the thought, a fist rammed into his stomach. He doubled over, collapsing to the floor.

"Why? I was on time…" he managed to groan out.

Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at her student crumpled up on the ground, and frowned.

"I'm not sure. For some reason, I felt you were thinking something rude."

"This is abuse. I want my lawyer."

Hiratsuka waved away his objections.

"Don't be dramatic. Go take a seat. Homeroom is starting."

Hikigaya groaned once more, and began to push himself up to his feet, when he noticed a hand in front of him. Looking up, he found Hiratsuka reaching out to him, the tiniest of smiles on her face.

"You're a senior now. Here's to another year."

In spite of himself, Hikigaya found himself smiling slightly. A lot of things had happened last year. More drama than he had ever wanted to get himself involved in. But he'd managed to make it through all of that. His homeroom teacher had been a part of that. Well, to be fair, it was her actions that made much of what happened possible in the first place. And even after it was all done, she hadn't quite got over her habit of being unnecessarily violent to him. Even so, as he grabbed her hand and allowed her to help him to his feet, he realized they were closer now than they had been when it had all started, a year ago.

"Well, I'll be in your care as always."

With that, he walked over to an empty seat and took his place. Putting his bag in his desk, he began to listen to the opening announcements. As he did, his eyes unconsciously wandered around the class. As they did so, they met a familiar face. Light orange dyed hair and brown eyes. His mind jumped back to a moment from a while ago, and he looked away instinctively. It wasn't something he wanted to think about. And there wasn't really any point thinking about it anyway. Firmly pushing his mind away from the matter, he focused on taking notes of the announcements, and as the subject teachers came in, he became too busy to think about the events of second year.

Classes passed by in a blur, as they always tended to. Hikigaya had gotten a little more serious about studies, and he had also chosen humanities (his strong area) for his final year, so he understood the lectures. He was even slightly ahead in his reading, since he found most of the material interesting. The process of writing notes and sitting through classes was still tiring though, so by the time lunch break rolled around, he was more than happy to put down his books and breath a sigh of relief. Reaching into his backpack, he found his bento and got up to head out of class. His old private spot, the steps leading to the tennis courts, was still a hidden gem in school, and he very much planned to continue the tradition of having lunch there. As the rest of the class chatted loudly, he quietly got up and made his way out. To his surprise, he felt a tapping on his shoulder, and turned around to find someone he hadn't expected to speak to.

"Hikki…"

Yuigahama had grown a little over the end-of-term break. She was a little taller now, and also bigger in other areas. In addition, she'd let her hair grow out a little. It now hung past her shoulders, framing her face. The overall effect made her look more mature. Hikigaya had been surprised enough by her new look earlier in the morning. Seeing it up close had even more of an effect. Even before, no one in their right mind would have said Yuigahama wasn't cute. Now though… well, one would have to be a fool to say so. She looked healthy, glowing, fresh.

Maybe we made the right choice after all.

In spite of that, or maybe because of it, Hikigaya felt uncomfortable with the situation. It hurt to remember.

"How was your break?" Yui asked. "Did you go anywhere?"

The conversation was casual, banal even. As ever, she was good at being friendly.

"Not really," said Hikigaya. He was surprised how steady his own voice was. Perhaps it was to be expected. He did have years of practice at appearing unbothered. "Just stayed home and played video games."

Yui laughed lightly, and he felt his heart skip a beat. She really had gotten much more beautiful.

"That sounds just like you, Hikki."

"Hmm."

It bothered him slightly that he had almost put on a fake smile, only able to stop himself at the last moment.

Have we really grown that much further from each other?

It wasn't entirely a surprise, given the conclusion they had reached.

Yuigahama may have read the mood. More likely, she knew from the start, given how good she was at that, so when she spoke again, it was in a softer voice.

"Yukino and I are going to have lunch in the club room."

She would have said something else too, but wasn't quite able to do it.

"I see. Well, I'll see you later then," Hikigaya replied. He had some idea what she would have said, but he didn't want to think about it.

"Mmm. Okay."

With a slight smile that didn't entirely reach her eyes, Yui walked away.

Hikigaya watched her go for a while before proceeding on his own way.

The walk to the tennis courts was otherwise uneventful. He was a little better known than before in school, thanks to the escapades of the Service Club, but by and large, he was still mostly unknown, and thus, could walk around without drawing unwanted attention. Arriving at his beloved spot, he took a deep breath and let it out.

"Aah. It's nice to be back."

Sitting down, he opened the lunchbox.

"Itadakimasu."

As he began to eat, he watched the courts. A few of the members of the tennis club were there, hard at work.

Don't they eat?

Regardless of such unanswered questions, it proved to be a pleasant sight, so he watched them play as he continued to eat.

"Ah, Senpai!"

Oh, shit.

He did not turn around or otherwise acknowledge the voice. Maybe if he pretended it didn't exist, it would go away. Unfortunately, all it succeeded in doing was making the owner of the voice more insistent. Thus, the next words he heard were from right next to his ear.

"Senpai, are you in there?"

"Ow, you're loud!"

"Finally! I was starting to think you'd finally spaced out for good."

"Are you trying to put me into a coma or something?"

Grumbling, Hikigaya glared at his junior by one year, Isshiki Iroha. As usual, she was cute, too much so. She smiled brightly at him, and he felt his past trauma being triggered. Whenever that smile came, it was usually followed by hellish amounts of work.

"I refuse!" he said preemptively.

Isshiki frowned.

"But I didn't even say anything."

"It doesn't matter! Kotowaru!"

Isshiki's frown deepened.

"I'm not even here on business. You know I'm not the StuCo president anymore, right?"

Oh, wait, that's right.

He breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

"Hey, you don't have to be so happy about it!"

"Sorry."

Isshiki pouted slightly, but decided to let it go. She muttered something that sounded like "stupid senpai", but this might entirely be my imagination. Or Hikigaya's. It doesn't matter.

"Anyway, what are you doing all the way out here?", he asked her.

"Oh, I lost at rock paper scissors, so I have to buy juice for everyone. Yukino senpai is too good."

Once more, Hikigaya felt his heart skip a beat, upon hearing that familiar name.
Since the long thread of his second year at Soubu High had come to an end, he hadn't seen Yukinoshita Yukino even once. He realized, with a sense of bitter satisfaction, that he had been right.

"If I'm not able to hold on to you here, I feel I'll lose you forever. That you'll disappear as though we had never met."

To be sure, her contact was still on his phone. If he were to dial the number, or send it a message, it was possible he would receive a reply. Probable even. But somehow, that wasn't something he could do. It was a door that was closed to him. There was a distance between them now. Perhaps even greater than that which existed between strangers.

He pushed the thought out of his head.

Yuigahama had mentioned she was meeting Yukinoshita for lunch. It wasn't surprising that Isshiki had been invited too.

"Hey, Senpai, why don't you come back with me? Komachi's there. We can have lunch together."

He shook his head.

"No, thank you. I have a feeling you just need me to carry the cans over to the room."

"Tch! He figured it out."

"Oi. At least try to hide your evil side."

Silence followed that exchange. Hikigaya continued to watch the tennis club members batter the ball back and forth, while Isshiki stood next to him.

"Senpai," she finally said. "Don't you want to come back?"

He didn't reply.

For a moment, they simply stayed that way.

Hikigaya found himself reflecting on their history with each other. Initially, they had both started off by using each other. Isshiki needed his help to solve the problem of her classmates, who had entered her for a student council election without her permission. Hikigaya needed her to prove that his methods were better suited to help people. And so, from that had sprung a relationship of mutual dependence. Of two people using each other for their own ends. Isshiki continued to ask for Hikigaya's help, to successfully run the student council, to successfully get closer to Hayama. And he… he continued to help her because he was the one who had gotten her elected in the first place.

Wait, that's not mutual dependence. I was doing most of the work.

Oh, well. It could have been worse. And she did help out sometimes.

There was something refreshing about being around someone who was manipulative, unfair, selfish, but didn't attempt to hide any of that.

Hold on, am I actually saying I enjoyed being her slave? I might need counselling for Stockholm Syndrome.

"Senpai, you've changed."

When Hikigaya answered, he was once more surprised by how steady his voice was.

"That so?"

"I remember you being scummy, a bit of a creep, and way too forward with your confessions-"

"There it is," he interjected in a deadpan voice.

"- but I didn't once take you for the type to give up."

He turned around to see Isshiki glaring at him. It wasn't one of her usual manufactured expressions. Her hands were clenched by her sides, almost imperceptibly shaking.

"No matter what kind of underhanded method you had to use, you didn't stop until you won. I thought for sure, Service Club or not, you wouldn't stop searching for what you wanted. I heard it from you, remember? Your genuine thing."

Done with his lunch by now, Hikigaya got to his feet.

"Would you want the genuine thing if all it gave you was sadness and pain?"

Before Isshiki could answer, he walked away.

The rest of the day's classes went by without incident. By the time they were done, he was more than ready to go home. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, and made his way out. He did have a certain book he needed to pick up from the library, so he decided to visit it before heading to his bike. Given the mass of students in the corridors, either going to their clubs, or like Hikigaya, on their way home, it took a while before he was able to make it to the library, find the book he was looking for, issue it, and then leave. By the time he reached the building's entrance hall, it was mostly empty. He caught sight of a head of long, bluish silver hair receding.

Oh, that's Hayabusa Ryu from the Ninja Gaiden series. Wait, hold on. There are no superhuman ninjas in our school. What was her name again? Kawa.. Kawasaki? That's the one.

It was a bit of a tired gag, since he actually remembered her name perfectly, but it managed to draw a bit of a mental chuckle from himself every time, so he kept it going.

As he was about to reach the lockers, he heard footsteps, and turned to the staircase to see a figure making her way down, carrying a stack of notebooks.

"Hnn… damn these kids, running away and leaving me with all of these…"

"Sensei. You need some help?"

He found himself calling out before he could stop himself.

Hiratsuka peered around from behind the tower of notebooks, blinking.

A few minutes later, Hikigaya found himself in the staffroom, putting down the stack on Hiratsuka's desk.

"Thanks, Hikigaya. You're a real lifesaver."

He scoffed.

"You're at least 5 times as strong as me. I have no idea why I did that."

"Hey, strong women need help too!"

"If only they were less violent."

Hiratsuka's eyebrows slanted dangerously, and Hikigaya wondered if he should take evasive measures, when she sighed.

"Honestly, I don't know why I put up with you."

Despite her words, her eyes were warm.

"How have you been, Hikigaya?"

He shrugged. Bantering with Hiratsuka was easy and natural. It also made it easy to forget she was actually very reliable and kind. Which was why he didn't want to bother her with his troubles anymore. She had already gone out of her way to help him in his second year. He'd taken that chance, and done what he could with it. It wouldn't be fair to ask her to change those results now.

"I'm all right," he replied. "Was I not supposed to be?"

She shook her head.

"No. It's just, a lot has happened, and I know it can be hard to move on from."

Hikigaya didn't reply.

It was unlike him. At the very least, around her, he was able to be himself. Strong in his own way, and decisive. Over the past year, those traits had slowly but surely grown. From barely caring about anyone at all, to going out of his way to help them, he had come a long way. Most importantly, he'd learned to value himself. And so, seeing him like this, defeated, hurt. With his own methods, Hikigaya had fought as hard as anyone to hold on to the things he valued. And in the end, it hadn't been enough. It was easy to forget, but he was only eighteen years old. No matter how much he tried to sound like a jaded man in his forties, he was still young, and this kind of experience hurt at any age.

And so, Hiratsuka did something she very rarely did, since it was generally unneeded between the two of them.

Gently, she placed a hand on his cheek.

"Hikigaya. I'll let you in on a little secret. You're a lot better than you think. Whatever happened… was in the past. Stop living in it. You can easily be happy again. So believe in yourself."

It was very unusual for her to give any direct advice to him. Most often, she gave hints, allowing Hikigaya to figure things out for himself.

It was even rarer for that advice to not be from experience, or objective truth, but instead from her own personal feelings.

In other words, this wasn't so much advice as it was support.

It was the really simple act of letting Hikigaya know that she believed in him.

And it was precisely what he needed at the moment.

However, neither of the two knew that certain outside forces were involved here.

And so, that night, when Hikigaya slept, those outside forces acted.

"You are certain this will be enough?"

"Quite so. It's no fun interfering too much. Better to see what they can do on their own. I'm simply going to leave a suggestion in his mind. That is, to think about what his homeroom teacher said. Not accept it, not reject it, just think about it. He has to make the decision himself, otherwise it would be the equivalent of hypnosis. This is a suggestion, nothing more, nothing less."

"Well, choice is important. I suppose removing free will would ruin the experiment. Why not raise his confidence stat directly?"

"Aah, and let that impassioned plea from his teacher go to waste? That would be rude. Besides, we agree that our involvement should be minimal, yes?"

"Very well. Proceed."

And so, blue light flashed in Hikigaya's room, the energy emitted by 5th dimensional beings, who are, in our universe, what we would call reality warpers.

The next morning, Hikigaya woke up feeling rather refreshed. The regular sluggishness that he had to overcome everyday was missing; he felt energetic. More importantly, he felt good. He had all his homework done, he was ahead on his reading, and the new season of Doctor Stone was airing. Life was… pretty damn good.

Is this what getting up on the right side of the bed feels like?

Not thinking about it too much, he showered and made himself breakfast. Midway through eating, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and Komachi appeared.

"Onii chan! I'm going with Taishi kun and some friends today, so you don't have to take me by bike."

"Hmm. Okay. Be safe."

She was happily about to step outside, when she realized something was wrong. She scratched her head for a second.

"Wait a minute. Aren't you forgetting something?" she said, whipping around to face him.

"Umm… not really? Not that I know of, anyway."

She frowned.

"You… don't have a problem with me hanging out with Taishi?"

"Not really. He's a good kid. Long as you're safe, I don't really care who you hang out with."

Komachi blinked a few times.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"

Hikigaya finished his food, then put his plate away.

"You should probably hurry. Actually, I gotta go too. Ah, don't wait up for me. I'll be a bit late coming back tonight."

This time, Komachi's jaw dropped open.

The ride to school was… fun. The streets were mostly empty this early, and Hikigaya pedalled freely, riding faster than he normally did. On the way, however, he stopped at a magazine store. The front shelf had caught his attention, specifically the weekly release of Shounen Jump on it. Ultimately, he ended up browsing manga magazines for a while before buying the issue of Jump. The result was that he was barely in time when he made it past the school gates.

As he parked his bike, it occurred to him that he would probably get hit again.

Hnn… I really don't look forward to Sensei's gut punch. I should probably find a way to avoid it. But given that she's basically a Saiyan, there's no way I'll be strong or fast enough to block or dodge it. I really shouldn't have stopped to buy this issue of…

Wait a minute.

He stopped, opened his backpack, and pulled out the issue of Jump.

Isn't Sensei actually a hardcore closet otaku?

Hikigaya grinned.

Opening the magazine, he checked the contents and quickly flipped to the week's chapters of Boku no Hero Academia and Black Clover.

She likes the older stuff, but she reads the new stuff too, because there's no way she'll let herself fall behind the times. Which means… these are valid weapons.

He paused for a moment, reading through Black Clover's chapter again.

This is actually really good. I don't know this series gets so much shit.

Armed with his counter-strategy, he comfortably walked up the stairs, arriving at the classroom just a minute before the bell. He slid open the door, and found Hiratsuka waiting for him, cracking her knuckles.

How does one woman have so much violence and kindness in her at the same time?

His mind flashed back to the scene with her the previous afternoon, when she had given him some much needed support.

He found himself smiling.

Yeah, behind those fists, she's actually amazing.

"Hikigaya. Any last words?"

She was walking towards him.

He felt a little bad about doing this to the one most likely responsible for him feeling so much better. But he was still going to do it.

He held up the magazine.

"I do, in fact, have some. In this week's chapters of Boku no Hero Academia and Black Clover, X happened. Y also happened to do Z things-"

"Aaaaahhhhh….. Stop it! The pain… it burns!"

Hiratsuka collapsed to the floor comically, hands firmly on her ears so that she wouldn't be able to hear the spoilers.

The class looked on in amazement as Hikigaya walked up and offered her a hand.

"This is my first win," he said, exaggeratedly mouthing the words so that she would be able to lip-read them.

She pouted.

"This is so unfair," she muttered.

She's really cute, Hikigaya thought. I'll get diabetes at this rate. Why is she not married ye-

Before he could complete the thought, she accepted his hand, and he found himself helping her up. He had never noticed, but her hands were actually smaller than his, and surprisingly soft. In a moment, all kinds of things he had never noticed hit him all at once. She smelled nice. A sweet, almost icy scent, which even the hint of cigarette smoke couldn't ruin. The rustling of her long black hair against her lab coat, and her graceful movement as she brushed it back.

Hiratsuka Sensei… is really beautiful.

This wasn't new information to him.

But he didn't run from that thought this time, or brush it aside.