I do not own Oregairu

Now just because Hikigaya Hachiman had a bite of lust insect didn't mean that he had lost his other sins. By the time of the day for high school opening ceremony, his perversions had somewhat settled down and he was regretting working so hard just to see some thighs. His greatest desire was still to do minimum work, specially if that work was for others and not himself. A good thing that a nice little accident involving a dog and a car helped him out with resting in hospital bed.

His parents showed up once panicked enough to show that he was indeed their son and they did love him before job forced them back and that was the only time. People in black suits showed up way more often to pay his hospital bills, likely something to do with the car owners. The most frequent visitor of course was the worlds best imouto, perhaps too often.

"So a dog, a car and a Hachiman go into a bar ... "

"Enough with these stupid jokes, and my name is not for punchlines."

"Not as stupid as you risking your life like that, onii-chan. That got you minus points in Komachi's book."

"It was reflex. I guess Kamakura has increased my empathy to animals too much."

"No need to lie now. It was to impress the owner of the dog, wasn't it?"

The owner. That reminded him immediately. He had not seen the owner at all before jumping but he had seen her hugging the dog afterwards through his haze of pain, she was definitely a high school girl.

Now just because he had the heart or instincts of a hero as shown by the recent incident didn't mean same was true for his mind. He immediately started drowning in one of his doujinshi. She comes to thank him in tears, then offers to repay the debt with her body.

"You are drooling. Wipe that creepy smile off, onii-chan."

"How rude. Minus points for you imouto."

She immediately climbed on him and started shaking him. He panicked for a second but relaxed when he felt nothing like usual. He had been a little fearful ever since reading some imouto-incest material but thankfully he didn't awaken to that fetish. If he did then he was even prepared run away from home to protect Komachi from himself.

After some rough-housing on the hospital bed, she went back to her chair.

"Anyway, that girl came to our home to offer her thanks."

"She did?"

How polite of her. That was a pleasant surprise. Then maybe even aside from his perversions, she was someone worth knowing as a person. He wasn't petty enough to actually count on anything but a simple thank you would still be nice. Wonder why she didn't visit him in hospital though? Doesn't matter.

"She was so beautiful, like an idol."

All his thoughts ground to a halt and all his hopes disappeared. No wonder she never visited him. She just wanted to get over the formalities of having thanked him. If she could do it indirectly by his sister then all the better.

Hachiman was not as negative as he could be and he no longer thought that no one would want him, but there was a limit to how positive he could be. He had more than enough evidence from his life that appearance and pride were directly proportional to each other. He considered the upper-limit of appearance for who would ever consider associating with him to be Orimoto.

Komachi had met her and he knew how harsh her evaluations were so he naturally concluded this. This could still be corrected if his sister told him about the sweets that girl brought but she had eaten them all and didn't want to be scolded for it.

" ... so good job saving that girl's pet. It seems you are taking steps so that I don't have to take care of you for life. I am so proud of you."

"Yeah, sure."

He said in a bored voice looking at her wiping an imaginary tear.

Now just because that girl was a fail didn't mean the everything had to be. There were some other people watching the whole incident and some of them might be Soubu students. The entire school might know of his actions by now. More than his heroics, he was counting on the power of a cute an fluffy dog in the story. He could see it, several girls fighting for a place by his side as the savior of animals. He might even get a call from PETA one of these days. Hmmm, should he be picky or should he start planning for a harem? Hehehehe...

Naturally all of it shattered on his first day to school. Not just the girls, everyone was staying away from him. Rumors had spread that he was a delinquent who did not come to school because he had gotten into a fight. His eyes did not help at all. It was all back to zero for him.

This Hachiman does not slouch. Naturally a lot of skills like stealth Hikki are missing from his set of 108 as a result of being more positive. His eyes are still like that of a fish, except the fish is alive and hungry (and thirsty too, definitely thirsty).

So about pairings

Hachiman x Haruno - Hikigaya is still an interesting person but his actions are so common now that only someone who spends some time with him can dig it out. What reason would Haruno have to associate with a commoner like him if he is not close to Yukino? The monster of logic is sleeping (but not dead).

Hachiman x Kaori - She first needs to get over her crippling need for affirmation of majority of her surroundings and I don't know how to do that. Its similar to Ebina and early Yui except not restricted to just friends and includes those who shouldn't matter. Her repeated words from the meetings "Sore-aru" describes her mindset perfectly. I read other Kaori stories for inspiration but she seemed to have turned into either Isshiki Iroha or a female Hachiman.