"Wow! Big bro, these are delicious." Komachi cheered, munching on a cookie after dinner. The night she'd learned that I was going to be attending Sobu she had been in a bad mood after. But, she did seem to get over it, overnight. I believe the reassurance that she could still attend Shuuchin really helped to bolster her spirits. She was even letting me spend time with her. I was helping her with studying for a test for what felt like the first time in forever.

This was amazing, just helping my sister. No second intentions or intricate legal webs. A night with my adorable little sister was an easy way to recharge my social battery.

I'm still a little pissed off that I didn't win in my showdown with Yukinoshita. But, at least I got a killer cookie recipe out of it. All the recipe cost me was a few tips on teaching and communication. The inner lawyer in me hummed cheerfully at executing an uneven trade in my favor.

We kept snacking on the after-dinner treat while I occasionally stepped in and corrected Komachi's approach towards certain problems. Watching her face scrunched in concentration was a rare treat for me. Just seeing my little sister gives me hope for our family's future. She may not have an eidetic memory or read ten-thousand words per minute, but she's amazing in all the ways that you can't teach. She's gentler, kinder, and less rough around the edges; that's why no matter how far I went I could never make my parents as happy as she did.

And on to her intelligence, Komachi's plenty smart, she's clever, quick, and plucky. She has the potential to do anything she wants with her life. I'm happy that I now have the resources to provide for her future, no matter the expense or exclusivity I can safely say that I can provide for her. All it took was selling my soul, but when I know she'll be taken care of it's all worth it.

I was having so much fun just basking in our time together, that the hours passed me by. Before I knew it she was asleep on the coffee table. Snoring ever so softly, she hardly even moved when I picked her up and carried her to her room. I lay her down to bed, gazing at her peaceful face from the doorway. I'm so glad I had the foresight to make Komachi brush her teeth after she polished off the last cookie.

I shut the door to Komachi's bedroom, leaving her curled into her duvet. I had insisted my mother and father use some of the money I had earned to buy Komachi a high-end mattress.

I walked outside to begin my own nightly routine, exercise. I didn't particularly enjoy the habit but had read that it increased neurological capacity and output, so had resolved to train thirty minutes a day to ensure maximum brain function.

In the mornings, I ran as hard as I could for ten minutes. Though the amount of exercise was short, I was always left gasping for breath and exhausted by the end of it. At night I did agility drills, like side to side steps and suicides for ten minutes, before doing strength exercises for ten more. I rotated between pushups, pullups, and squats because they were the biggest compound movements and most efficient exercises to target the entire body.

All of this to say that like many other things in my life, exercise is just a tool to increase efficiency; nothing more, nothing less.

After the quick exercise, capped by a fast shower, I finally opened the voicemail on my phone that had been sitting in the back of my mind since it arrived, two hours and thirty-six minutes ago.

Received: Ryuuju Momo

Hey, call me back as soon as you see this message it's urgent!

Biting back a sigh, I punched in the familiar phone number and waited as it rang. It only took two and a half rings before she picked up. I heard first a slight intake of breath, there was slight background noise, but nothing majorly significant so she was probably in a private setting. Good, no one else needs to hear what we're about to discuss.

"Hey, Hikigaya, one of our family's employees is being wrongly accused of robbery. I was hoping that as a friend of the family you would do us a favor and look over the case. Of course, the usual payment will be provided." Translated as one of the members of her family's yakuza is being charged with something that they definitely did.

If she's speaking so vaguely then she knows that she is most likely wiretapped. I'll ask just to make sure. "How many people can hear what I'm saying to you?" Translated as is this line secure to discuss possibly incriminating details over.

She replied with a coquettish giggle, "It's just me in the room, but you're still in the presence of a lady; so do try to filter how crass you are." Well, that settles it her phone is being tapped. Just the way she said it she was definitely warning me to not spill any incriminating details in our conversation. Much less a giggle, that was the equivalent of screaming in my ear that something wasn't right. Why else would the caustic heiress of a major yakuza be giggling to me on the phone at one fifteen in the morning? I glanced over at the clock; goddamn it's late, and I have to be up in five and a half hours.

Oh, the things I do for my clients. After a short lull in the conversation where I stifled a yawn, I responded. "Okay sounds good, let's meet at that swiss cafe in Saitama to talk it over. Also, by the way, what do you mean friend of the family, I'm just your legal consultant."

Another brief pause, another exasperated sigh, this time from her side. "Seriously, Hachiman, after being over for dinner multiple times, helping plenty of us, and having the whole family bow to you, you just think of this as just a client-lawyer relationship. You're a friend of the family and we both know it. Goodnight." The line clicked signaling her abrupt hanging-up. That was something I always liked about dealing with her, which was the fact that she never wasted either of our time. There was none of that small talk nonsense that made so many conversations unbearably tedious.

I opened up my computer inputting the sixteen-digit passcode. I encrypted it so heavily because so many important documents could theoretically be uncovered from the computer's metadata. I then logged into the secure email server, inputting the swiss (.ch) website tag. The request to meet up at any given nation's cafe was coded for the country in which the server was set in and the city or prefecture noted the specific server number.

My fingers flew across the keyboard inputting an overly long and complicated username and password to find the information that she had sent to me.

My eyes flickered through about the one hundred pages of pertinent information, police reports, eyewitness testimonies, and arrest reports. After about two minutes or so of reading, I closed all open windows and opened a word document.

The man was stopped and searched without a probable reason for officers to suspect that a crime had occurred. When he refused to comply stating that they needed a reason to search him the officer took his refusal as an admission of illicit activity. The suspect was forcibly detained even after showing ID and without evidence of criminality. Then only after all of that did the police find a switchblade and one million counterfeit yen inside the suspect's backpack.

Of course, she would call me for an annoyingly hard case. I guess it's time to roll up my sleeves and make the prosecutors think twice about indicting. First, I'll examine the arresting officer's background.

Tsuchida Hitomi, age 26, unmarried. Up for a promotion with a significant spike in arrest numbers in the last four months. Okay, now this, this I can work with. I can already see the narrative forming, an officer desperate to bump up her arrest numbers illegally searches innocent citizens until she finds evidence to arrest them. Maybe even take it one step further, insinuating that she planted the evidence seeing as she was the only officer present. Utilize the weak, and unreliable eyewitness testimonies to cast more aspersions on her character and motives.

Now to explain away the evidence she did find. First is the switchblade, which is easy enough. He cooks at home all the time and tossed it in his backpack forgetting that it was in there. Odd sure, but oddity and stupidity can hardly be called crimes. Now to do the same thing for the counterfeit cash, again; this really is too easy. A grin was on my face. The grin when the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place and I'd figured out checkmate.

He was a moron and got scammed. He can say that he saw a flyer in Shibuya advertising trading your gold for cash, say Shibuya because it cannot be proven that the flyer wasn't there. There are simply too many stimuli present for anyone to document all of it, let alone remember a single measly flyer. I'll say he reached out from a payphone and invited the appraiser over to examine a watch handed down by his grandfather. When in his home the appraiser offered him a million yen and left soon after. The next day with plans to deposit said money at the bank and open an account he was (illegally) detained.

The current method creates two layers of doubt; first, that any crime had been committed by the suspect; and second, that any evidence from the suspect was legitimate. This is an easy way to protect the client and prevent an indictment from even taking place. I finished typing up my solutions with a gasp and shot the email back to Momo's encrypted account.

I stared at my black desktop background and sat still for a moment before pushing back my chair.

With a single press of a button, my computer was shut down.

I stripped off my house clothes down to my underwear.

I hopped into bed, shoulders tight and neck somewhat stiff. Despite the cool night air and an appropriate amount of daily, sleep still didn't come easily tonight. I rolled around on the bed drifting in and out of consciousness and trapped by the things that I could never forget.

I remembered brief flashes of my middle school life, how the only person in my life who didn't depend on me or treat me like an asset was Orimoto. Trying to confess to her, her uncomfortable expression, and the brutal aftermath. Like Icarus, I aimed too high and the social order's retribution was swift and painful. Like a coward, I had fled away to Shuuchin and hurt the person I had cared most about while doing it.

Komachi had always given me a fake smile when I burst through the door late and tried to apologize. She always told me that 'it's okay' or that 'I know big brother is trying his best.' But she could never really disguise the fact from me that she wanted me home.

I tried, I tried so hard to make up for my absences. That was the first time I dipped into my own earnings but no fancy items or catering from expensive restaurants ever seemed to make her as happy as just spending time with her. It seemed almost ironically cruel that I had access to or knew people with access to almost every other resource on the planet, but the one thing I couldn't obtain more of was the one thing that she wanted. Above all else maybe that's what motivated me to take the job. I could earn more than I would ever need and never work again. I could spend far more time with her and make her happier.

But as usual nothing in my life can go as planned. What I had done broke me in a way that nothing else could. Even seeing the massive deposits into my portfolio did nothing to cheer me up. I still remember the day, after I realized what I had done, I had just sat in the shower letting the tepid water run over me. The worst part was I couldn't even muster tears to cry or curses to spit. The only thing that was left inside was numbness and despair.

I think that the pit inside of me would've swallowed me whole, if not for Komachi. She saved my life, in more ways than she could ever know of.

On those somewhat warm thoughts of the best little sister to ever grace this cursed existence, I drifted off to a fitful sleep that was more unsatisfying than usual.

The next day when I woke up I was more irritable than usual. I still ran through my morning exercises and cooked breakfast and bento for Komachi but it was all done while muted by a heavy cloak of exhaustion weighing me down. I could barely find the energy to eat so I instead munched absent-mindedly on an apple while sitting in the kitchen. In sharp contrast to my lethargy, Komachi was even more chipper than usual this morning. She ate happily while engaging me in breakfast banter.

Telling me all about her adventures at school and the boy who she heard thought she was cute. Surprisingly my overprotective big brother senses didn't start tingling, if anything I'm glad that her psychosexual development is par for the course. I was worried for a long time that her development was stunted or skewed by the irregular household she lives in.

With parents that are never home and constant tension between said parents and her caretaker/big brother, I'm glad that she can develop a healthy interest in the opposite sex.

I left home in a surprisingly neutral mood for having slept so poorly but then and there I should have known that something would go wrong. For I have never had a peaceful day and the universe is not about to let me start now.

The trouble all started in class, I put my head down for just a minute during homeroom and then was suddenly shaken awake (Roughly, I might add) by an irate math teacher, whose name I won't even bother mentioning in my internal monologue. He was about middle age, likely recently divorced. I would guess judging by the tan line on his ring finger. I looked at him blearily as he spoke, "Mr. Hikigaya, care to take the midterm test now if you're so bored that you sleep through class."

I guess I'll smooth things over. Because any other action would draw more attention than I'm already receiving, there's no need to have everyone in the class stare at me longer. "I'm sorry, sir. I was up late last night helping my sister prepare for an exam, and didn't get to sleep until late. I apologize for disrupting class and it won't happen again."

His wrinkled face straightened out, somewhat. Then, he nodded, apparently satisfied that I'd been appropriately chastised and put in my place. He resumed teaching and the class as a whole quickly lost interest in me soon after. The only one who gave me a long scrutinizing look was Yuigahama, she probably feels guilty somehow because she's a nice girl. Maybe I should confront her about what happened; or then again, it's not harming me, so I may as well let it be. The day carried on and I perked up somewhat after downing two Maxx Coffees from the vending machine down the hall.

The taste was quite nostalgic as it had been what I'd used in grade school to stay up and finish the research on cases. There was nothing else my juvenile palate could handle. I mainly liked Maxx because of the sugar but now long-time brand fondness was half the reason I drank it.

I stumbled through the rest of class with little regard for what happened around me. At some point, Yukinoshita arrived to collect Yuigahama, who had been in a minor standoff with her clique, for lunch together.

The rest of the day went by in much the same fashion until my second ever journey to the clubroom took place. I expected a little peace as I shuffled along but instead was joined by Yuigahama at my side, incessantly chirping at me.

"After you left yesterday I asked Yukinon to join the club, and she was all like, 'That would be fruitless, for the service club has already taught you how to fish. Now, you must go out into the world and implement what you've learned.'" She giggled, and I chuckled halfheartedly. "I think she's just a bit shy. Because after I pushed her on it she gave me the form. And then she was blushing when I hugged her and said we would be good friends."

"Yeah, that does sound like her," I spoke voice on the edge of curt. Hopefully, a response will kill all this bothersome babbling. Even Fujiwara can enjoy the silence (on rare occasions, but still).

I increased the pace of my stride tuning out her chatter about what she and her clique had been doing recently, until we finally, mercifully hit the clubroom.

When we entered Yukinoshita looked up from her perch, a new book in hand. Her hair was again tied in ribbons and the uniform on her was again immaculate.

She would have maintained that image of a perfect girl if she hadn't looked up and greeted us in her idiosyncratic fashion. "Ah, Yuigahama nice to see you. Hikigaya, you've come back after your embarrassing defeat."

Yui jumped in first, while I boiled at her insinuation that I had been defeated.

"Mouuu, Yukinon , I told you just call me Yui. That's what friends do with each other." Yukinoshita blushed, seems the ice queen is weak to friendly people.

"Wellll, Yuigahama, you see-" She started

"Nope, try again." Yui interrupted.

"Yuigaha-" She hesitated.

"I know you can say it."

With a defeated sigh. "Okay, Yui."

Yuigahama smiled and ran over embracing her, tightly. "Oh, Yukinon we're going to be the best-est friends ever! Yay!" She cheered and nuzzled her cheek to Yukinoshita's.

I turned my gaze away from the scene of two girls cuddling with slightly flushed cheeks. For totally innocent reasons I glanced back as I ambled over with two chairs. One for me and one for Yuigahama. She smiled at me when I set hers down and gave me a wink. What the hell does that mean?

Anyways, back to what's really important here.

"Oi, Yukinoshita, what do you mean after my embarrassing defeat? It was at best for you, a tie, and at worst, a slight win, because the goal was to teach Yuigahama, not necessarily make the best cookies."

Yukinoshita matched my fervor, "How would she learn to do the task without seeing it done in an optimized manner. Besides the bet, that I graciously chose not to accept lest I bankrupt your college savings, was that you were both a better baker and teacher than I was. That statement was proved patently untrue in the last meeting; therefore, it was your defeat ."

She returned to her book but I wasn't done. "Yeah, by my criteria perhaps, but by yours incorporating the whole 'teach a man to fish' philosophy then I taught Yuigahama how to help herself better than you did. Making me the victor by your own definition. Unless you wish to prove your words as unreliable, and since you rank higher than me in the club your criteria are more important than mine in determining victory."

Our verbal spar was interrupted by two soft plastic projectiles each aimed at one of our faces. We both reflexively grabbed them as Yui spoke. "You guys have the weirdest conversations I've ever seen but they seem super fun." As Yukinoshita and I made to protest that our battle of the titans in the form of rhetoric and prose was not fun, she interrupted us again. "These are cookies as thanks for yesterday." I stared down at the very regular-looking cookies and bit into one.

For such a woeful novice it was surprisingly good. I guess me and Yukinoshita really did manage to teach her something. Both Yukinoshita and I munched on a cookie, they were far from the best either of us had tasted but far better than what had been expected.

With the somewhat chaotic estate of affairs, we almost missed the shy knock on the door. Deducing that a woman like Hiratsuka would never knock so gracefully or even bother knocking at all. I decided to roll the dice. "Come in!" I yelled out to the mystery person.

A petite, short-silver-haired girl walked into the clubroom, almost wilting under the weight of our neutral gaze. "Umm, hi, I'm Saika Totsuka. My friend Yui said that she was in this awesome club that helped people, and I had a request." I watched her smooth legs walk for totally non-lewd reasons I swear. The inter-muscular mechanics seem a tad off.

"Alright, how can" Yukinoshita paused momentarily. "we help you?"

Totsuka went on to explain how she wanted to recruit more members for the tennis club.

And I in my infinite wisdom and knowledge proceeded to put one foot in my mouth and still walk into a 'trap'. "We can just capitalize on your feminine appeal, guys will be lining up to join."

She shifted awkwardly, I hope I didn't make her uncomfortable. "Ummm, Hachiman," Since when were we on a first-name basis you damn nice girl. "I'm a guy." Oh, oh my.

Well, that's a surprise, Yui looked unphased and Yukino did a discreet once-over of her, I mean his body.

Yukinoshita was quick on her feet and recovered without ever revealing her misstep, "Well, if you run until you die, then, swing until you die, and, finally, do pushups until you die you should make progress; eventually." Damn, that's harsh even for me. Totsuka looked downtrodden and I decided to give a little free advice. Lest we have to head down to the tennis courts and help out.

"You should change the way you walk; and consequently." At the rest of the room's confused gaze, I reluctantly elaborated. "Well, the way you step with your heel creates a larger pressure on your achilles heel and at higher levels of force, which you face in a game like tennis. You increase the likelihood of a meniscus or ACL tear occurring. In the future try to step more with myour midfoot it's safer and more energy-efficient."

As both of the girls stared at me, the girly boy looked at me with sparkling eyes.

Somehow, I couldn't help but feel that I had made a terrible mistake.

(A/N): Thanks for all the feedback and I am also looking for a beta reader to help review my work. Please PM me if you're interested. Also, no Zaimokuza because he and Hikigaya wouldn't've had enough time to become acquainted with him to the point that Zaimokuza would feel comfortable sharing his work.

I2ose: Yeah, in this story Hiratsuka can be a tad vicious, but I reiterate that a teacher who would canonically threaten her own student with violence is likely not going to care about coercing them.

TheAbyssWatcher: Yes, he is indeed a monster even among the elites of society. I would say that you are partially correct about his demeanor and behaviors. Yes, his experience with analysis and law, assists with this. But also, when Yukinoshita tries to attack there's no effect on him because she herself matters little to him. As they become closer the amount of damage she can inflict with her words will increase. With Yui, he views the whole matter as relatively trivial and sees no particular reason to deal with the emotions at play. If it were to ever become even a slight inconvenience he would probably act, but currently, he can't be bothered to step in. Overall, he is a dangerous opponent but one relatively slow to ire or action.