Luna, no me abandones más.
Author comments at the end:
If hugs were really necessary for survival I'd surprisingly be alive and kicking.
The quote that says we need 3-4 hugs a day for survival, 8 hugs a day for maintenance and 12 hugs a day for fulfillment has been tormenting people since time immemorial.
The reaction to reading or hearing it is pretty much unanimous, people will grumble, complain and wail that they don't get enough if any, and that if this was true they'd be dusty skeletons for a while now.
Because no matter how warm someone is, nobody gets or gives that many hugs to reach fulfillment, much less everyday. Heck, even Shiromeguri-senpai must have almost reached the Mictlán when she was studying for her entrance exams over a year ago.
But here's a little fact of life that would make someone fall backwards in incredulity:
Following the hug rules I live comfortably, and the days where I reach the maintenance requirement aren't that rare.
And to top it all off, Komachi is never the author of more than two clasping moments.
I'm having such corny thoughts for a reason, as I found out yesterday, that bullshit hug theory isn't that far fetched.
Her board of teachers and staff held an important meeting yesterday and I couldn't visit her. To put it in comprehensible terms as a comparison, imagine a developed modern city suddenly facing a drought. Only then did the people of the city realize the sheer impact of losing a pivotal thing, for a shortage of said resource didn't even visit their thoughts beforehand.
That's right, Hikigaya Hachiman, the brat that roughly two years ago indulged in unalloyed solitude has been tamed, I cannot live without my quota of hugs anymore.
At this point I'm pretty shameless about it, at most a self conscious thought might still linger around, I mean the change was pretty drastic, but it's not like I didn't fantasize about it back then. If I recall correctly even before everything happened I… spotted a resemblance between her behind and the golden ratio.
Yes, yes I am a pervert and associating an aureus number to a woman's body is something internet nerds get excited about, but for every star in the firmament as my witness, she is hot.
As I approach the grounds of Chiba Higashi High School I remember, I have to stop and fetch something from my bag.
I take off my black blazer, fold it and stuff it in my bag, in exchange I retrieve a dark green sweatshirt that matches with the tie I never wear.
Iroha, ever the Western kabure decided that wearing a coat to school in the cold months only to be taken off when you got to your classroom was too boring, so she proposed ripping off those American University sweatshirts that have the name of the college in big white font.
Surprisingly it passed and those sweaters have been selling handsomely.
Komachi wears hers with utmost pride, even though she insisted several times that I should buy one so we could match (Komachi points surpassed 9000) I refused to spend extra money on school attire when I barely bother with keeping my shirt and blazer in good condition.
Alas here I am with this thing in my hands. Dark green with huge white letters that read 'SOBU' and 千葉市立稲毛高等学校 in smaller typography bellow. At this rate Iroha is sure to command a second restoration with how much western stuff she's importing and implementing.
It's not a bad design.
Well, I have to turn it inside out and look ridiculous with a reversed sweatshirt. Why? Well, Higashi staff already knows who I am with how frequently I come to their school without being an alumni or a current student, but they're hellbent on me taking off any official signs of Sobu from my person, so I must travel the hallways looking like a dumbass or some adventurous hipster.
I walk across the second floor of the school building and make my way towards 1-E.
Upon arrival I peek through the wide-open door of the classroom, there are like 5 kids still getting ready to leave, which means I got here extra early. Man, I'm such an ardently uxorious… simp.
I then opt to lean against the wall outside while I wait for all these pygmies to exit. Seriously, every generation comes shorter than the previous one, aren't Japanese people taller now than decades before? These imps sure as hell hinder our stats.
"Oe.. that's Sensei's boyfriend isn't he?"
"Yeah, I've seen him before. Isn't sensei lucky? She landed an attractive bad boy like him."
I don't open my eyes and I resist the urge to scoff in amusement.
Ah, the slanted vision of youth. Being a couple of years older than someone really puts a bias in your favor. I mean, me being here is exhibit A. I digress however, it's not an older woman fetish, not even close to being the full picture.
Onto what these girls said and thought I didn't listen, well they're partially right. I'm no Ikemen but no matter how much Yukino describes me as hideous, I think these last two years have been generous with how much better I look, certainly the girl's Sensei isn't getting a bad deal herself.
bzzt
I take a look at my phone that just received a text.
[Hachiman, I don't even need to ask where you are, but should you leave school grounds immediately after the regular schedule concludes? I know our third year is almost at its end, but they're BOTH here and I have to deal with them alone.]
[img.3452727i3furiousneko]
Heh, think of the Ice queen and she somehow makes her appearance, digitally this time. I wonder if she sneezed just now.
They're both in the clubroom with her huh? I kinda regret that I left now, not because I want to act as her personal bodyguard, no. The sight of Yukino losing her kuudere persona and stammering obtuse responses would be peak entertainment.
Who would've thought? Around midway of our second year Yukino found herself in her very own romcom setting, a love triangle with herself, Hayama and Ikusa-kun. How it's been more than a year since that and they haven't solved it never fails to amaze me.
It's not that I don't care, I esteem my best friend to the other side of the Pacific when Ensenada starts and back to Chiba, but that is her own shitshow to sort out. Of course, if any of those bastards were to hurt her I'd raise all hell as if they had slapped Komachi or Rumi.
But Yukino has not once told me of them making her uncomfortable, she's just one disappointing cookie that panics when it comes to deciding herself for one of them. So for now, I'll let them carry on being down subatomically for the president of my club. After all, we are the same. I'm just as lovestruck as they are, if not more.
[Do not go gentle into that good night Yukino, Ad astra.]
Just as I finished typing my taunting wisdom and hit send I took notice of the last shrimp taking his leave, buoyed by the now almost lone classroom I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and prepared myself for battle.
I peek through the door and there she is, Hiratsuka Shizuka, my ex-disciplinarian and the woman I love.
She is thoroughly focused on the papers she's going through, with a pensive expression, eyes halfway squinted, marker in hand occasionally descending to correct something.
I get a fever, I combust into fire and I am slowly consumed by this sight again.
Selecting one of my 92 remaining loner abilities: Stealth Hachi
I slowly make my way to the teacher's desk. Mom always says my steps are as silent as Kamakura's so she never knew if I was actually asleep or still playing the idiot in my room back when I was a kid. That is right, my cat steps that make Stealth Hachi possible didn't come to existence because I was ignored by my peers, I mean I was, but stealth Hachi was initially a skill to sneak past the Orwellian curfew that mom enforced when we were little. It was never used to actually sneak out of the house.
I reached a spot directly behind her and I took a look at her head. Students watching her from their seats wouldn't notice it and would just see this gorgeous woman instruct them on the literature of Japan. Hell, when I was in their shoes I remember thinking she looked perfect, but from this short distance I see a bunch of her hairs rebelliously starting to dishevel themselves, proof of a hard day of work in which she put her all into…at least I'm 8/10 sure that she did.
While I was waiting unnoticed she started to hum a melody I recognized: sparkle by RADWIMPS, a smile made its way to my lips as I pinpointed the correspondant lyrics to her tune.
'And all the courage I had let start to mildew
At an unprecedented speed, I will dive right into you'
I resonate with the lines that follow, because I too have dozed off into a lukewarm can of MAX, staring out of the window and in the commuting train, dreaming of something that no one can direct me to, craving for it.
It exists. I now know it's authentic, what I feel for her is real.
I patiently wait until she finishes grading the paper so I don't actually interrupt her work, in the meantime I position myself a little bit to her left and start progressively leaning closer.
Done, she dictated a score and marked it as such in the paper, she put it in the pile of already graded assignments and ponders for a moment, showtime.
With my face almost parallel to hers, I exhale a gentle and short gust of air to her cheek, effective immediately.
"Waah!"
I laugh a little at her wide eyes and surprised form.
"Oh,Hachiman."
"Hi"
"H-how long have you been there?"
With a deadpan I enlighten her with a reference she'll understand
"Seriously woman, how little situational awareness do you have?"
She cutely pouts
"Imagine I was a Special ANBU hunter, don't you think that it could've been easy for me to…put a kunai to your neck?"
Just as the last word rolled off my tongue I snaked my right arm around her, not choking her, but in the section between her neck and her cleavage while simultaneously I neared my face further until our cheeks were touching.
The increasing warmth that I felt being exuded from her face didn't go undetected. As she felt my body heat in return we burned into a state of ataraxia, I allowed my eyes to close themselves while she took hold of my hand on her shoulder.
"I missed you"
Hearing those words coming from her always produces an emotional rumbling within me.
The Hachiman that I was when we met was only a boy who had 16 years going around the same sun, the only thing he had learned to do was to think and talk. Someone who hoped that at the end of time he could embrace the nothingness and leave no regrets behind.
But 18 year old me, the me that won't let his past mistakes be the passive tomb of this, our so stupid timeless wish, because I would miss missing you Shizuka. Because dying by my side will never be better than a life together.
"I love you."
3 words I formed from the pits of my mind, 3 words I pronounced, 3 words I want only her to listen and understand.
As I open my eyes she dislodges my arm from her chest and shoulder and rotates her her chair 90 degrees in order to face me.
She's shooting a warm and caring smile, one I've seen in a ton of previous occasions, not all of them pleasant, in fact it even carries some reminders of past fuckups by yours truly. But through the time we know each other, the interactions, the lectures, her efforts, everything that followed along that smile of hers, you could call it the weapon that slayed the monster of reason.
Her words, her personality and this smile, they're like the mirrored shield and blade that were used to behead Medusa, the beast that transformed life into stone.
She places a hand on my cheek and caresses it with her thumb.
"Hachiman, it was only a day."
I get hold of her hand in my face and get my face up close and personal until our foreheads touch.
"It is kind of your fault that I don't just suck up the shitty days anymore."
This would normally guarantee some tsundere reply from me instead of my quip of just now. However, it's true that there was this peace in my monotony before she got her hands on my…inflammatory take on youth and High School.
But that monotony was boring and shitty, and I have never not been blatantly in pro of my own interests, ergo one day that I can't hug her is a shitty day that I'll have to make up for later.
"What is it that school prepares us for? To grow and become adults right? Responsibilities come with adulthood, so please take responsibility for saving me…Shizuka."
Her grayish irises glow as her eye are fixated on my own
"I will do what I must…Hachiman."
And so, Hiratsuka Shizuka closes the distance between her lips and mine.
After a bit of our lips dancing the Soran Bushi (It's not a choreographed ballet, fuck no. This is a frenetic flowing movement similar to throwing and pulling nets) in which I once again failed to be aggressive to the end.
Sigh… another defeat. Dokkoisho.
Shizuka stood up after breaking the kiss and stretched her arms upwards.
"Ahh! Humanity restored after a crappy day as well, not bad Hachiman."
I scoff in amusement while she finishes stretching and casts her gaze to me, with a smile she pinches my green sweater.
"Heh, you look like some eccentric Tokyoite that some foreigner will record on social media thinking that your fit is a niche trend started here."
"Oddly specific comparison."
"Still, you look real good with that thing, if you actually wear it how it's intended as you might even come across as handsome."
Iroha has said several times that I look like a bizarre 'eboy' with her creation, something about being stuck in the past and embarrassing fashions from overseas. Of course she followed it with a sly proposal to take me to try on clothes and her old psychological technique of rapid rejection.
In the past I may have found it cute if not a little annoying, but that foxy Kouhai of mine has to move on. The fact of the matter is that our relationship will never go to further stages than what it is now, friends with school hierarchies. I'm sorry Irohasu, I'm taken.
"You know, add your tie to the picture and now it's beyond that, you'd be charming and I would even consider taking you."
What a blow to my confidence. Excuse me for a bit Sensei, I'm going to go look for a place to die in.
Speaking of, didn't the girls with great taste or acute myopia (depends if I'm feeling humble or cocky) call me her boyfriend?
Yes, they did.
Chance!
"Well, isn't it high time for it to happen already? At this rate I'll take you first."
Pink starts spreading across her features, time to keep up the pressure.
"Your students already think I'm your boyfriend, I'm already of legal age to take that role and we are no longer student and teacher.-" I take her hand in mine "Moreover, I want to."
While it is incredibly adorable to see her so flustered and shocked that I took the step to make us official, I don't budge to the cuteness and follow through staring at her with seriousness in my gaze, I can only assume the dead eyes look revitalized in this moment.
"But…"
I haven't graduated yet? My admission into Chiba U is already a fact.
We were tutor and pupil once? Macron didn't care and he gets to call himself Jupiter, I don't even have to go that far, I'm already Hachiman.
But above all, if I'm allowed to be dauntless and make an assumption, we both want this.
Shizuka shows all that concern and thought in her expression, most likely pondering about all of these obstacles and how we've discussed them in the past arriving at the answers I have. The cards are on the table and it is up to her to choose.
She steels herself and looks me dead in the eyes with an expression that conveys resolution.
"Hachiman. Do you really want us to be a couple?"
"I-"
"Wait, think about it very thoroughly Hikigaya Hachiman, I don't want you to take this decision on a whim."
Hm, I guess I should have expected this, this woman has been around me before and after taking very important decisions, this woman has been my support and my guidance even after she stopped getting paid for it.
Studying the school of thought of Hiratsuka Sensei I ditched some old mantras and adopted new ones, I had my views challenged and put to the test, sometimes I had to learn of her peaceful ways… by force. Yeah, that I don't miss.
But with her supporting me I pondered, I suffered, I resisted, I asked more questions and then pondered again. A lot of people have taught me lessons I can't forget. Saika, Yukino, Yoshiteru, Iroha, Rumi, Kawasaki, mom, dad, Komachi, Shiromeguri-senpai and even Haruno.
But without Shizuka they would just be faces I see and voices I hear. Because the logic she presented to me is different from the logic that helped me survive the wasteland beforehand.
You see, the luck I've had can make a bad man turn good
Because pondering, suffering, resisting, questioning and then pondering some more unlocked the ability of feeling.
My efforts that came to be from her instruction made it so that the citizen registry number, the Sobu High ID number or even the agglutination of cells that make up Hikigaya Hachiman's existence, that said existence could turn into something else. Something difficult to explain and intangible, but something that God couldn't dare to say it's not real.
With that said, I can only intoxicate myself with memories and sensations with her. Like how cute she looks in turtlenecks, or how passionate she gets about her favorite mangas, how impressive her skills at finding fine ramen in every category conceivable, or how ecstatic I feel when we kiss and how seeing her excited for any particular reason does indiscernible things to me.
Because now I know that thanks to her I can happily call myself Hachiman Hikigaya, and Hachiman Hikigaya's heart beats faster when he's with her, more than just pumping blood faster, my heart feels contempt with her.
So, taking all that into account I can only answer in one particular way.
"Hell yes."
Shizuka looks surprised for a second but soon enough her lips spread into a breathtaking grin and her eyes start looking misty.
She takes a step closer to me and my arms once again wrap themselves around her waist as if they were programmed to do as such.
She snuggles her face in my neck, reminding me of how I overtook her height in the lapse of these 2 years.
"I really missed you… I told you."
I lean my chin downwards so it can touch the top of her head and I plant a little peck in her now slightly more disheveled hair.
"And I also told you, didn't I? I love you Shizuka."
I hear a sniffle and a sloppy chuckle from a combination of her tears that managed to escape and her face being buried in my neck
"I would miss missing you Hachiman."
The grin that at this point had become as involuntary as breathing somehow grew larger on my lips as she voiced that confusing phrase I thought of earlier.
"Then only miss me, I will always come back so the lingering feeling doesn't go away."
Even I can indulge myself in braindead romanticism from time to time, if it's with her it beats my oxymoronic fatalist cynicism any day of the week.
She looks up to see me eye to eye and smiles tenderly.
"Your eyes don't look half bad, is the Omega-3 supply dwindling?"
"You can say the fish has been caught already."
She lets go of the cloth of my dipshit backwards sweater she had been holding onto so her arms can fill in as a necklace around my neck, in retaliation I raise one of my arms to her middle back so I can embrace her a little bit tighter.
As she leans closer I can feel her breath in my lips.
"I love you too Hachiman."
I push forward and kiss her with everything I have in me, it's not competitive this time. I try to express through my unvocal lips all the desire, all the lust, all the care and all the affection I have for Shizuka Hiratsuka.
After we separated it was pretty evident we were both tipsy with everything that had just happened, we talked about mundane stuff and we filled our hug quota to reach maintenance.
At one point Shizuka fetched something from her pocket, I knew plenty about her so I already anticipated what it was, I readied my counter to it, for I came prepared.
Of course, it was a cigarette. I readied the anti-nicotine device beneath my sleeve like a hidden blade.
When she got hold of her lighter and was about to ignite the death rod I snatched the cigarette from her hand and blitzkrieged a small tube of meiji coffeebeat candy in its place.
"Wha-?"
"Thanks for the trade." I shamelessly announce our barter finale
"Hachiman.." my girlfriend stresses the middle syllable of my name, clearly annoyed.
"Yes?"
"That was the last one in my packet, please give it back."
"Yeah? Those are my favorite sweets, they're basically the solid version of MAX. I believe you got a sweet deal."
"That was actually a smooth pun, but for real, I need a smoke."
I couldn't play dumb anymore.
I want to spend my life with her, her lungs being clogged with ash as if they were the Popocatepetl or the Erebus kind of got in the way of that.
"...you idiot. I want you to live a long life! Dummy! Nincompoop! Shizuka!"
"H-huh?"
"Shizuka, you know how much I joked about this when we were in Sobu, but I seriously want you to have a happy and long life, I think you deserve it more than any other person I know. But goddammit woman, stop sabotaging yourself with these carcinogenic sticks."
"I-uh… I didn't know." She looks flabbergasted by the activation of my brand new boyfriend-mode.
I look at her pleadingly causing her to falter even more
"Please."
"uh… damnit Hachiman, how can someone with your previously rotten gaze manage to make a kitten look as adorable as that one."
It took 18 years for it to work but my Hikigaya genes finally blessed me with a little bit of the gifts Komachi was awarded.
You've redeemed yourselves romcom gods.
"Anyhow."
"hm?"
"So, your plan is to save me from the effect of the cigarettes but make me diabetic instead? Oh, lovely."
I grimace at her antics enacting a precious fit of laughter.
"I know you don't have a sweet tooth like me, I would've brought you the green grape ones otherwise." I grumbled
"Ah no, these are actually fine, I do like these."
Hm Hm
"Hang on, did you stuff my cigarette in your pocket?"
"I… did?."
"Yeah, but why? Aren't you going to dispose of it?"
"Eh most likely, although I might keep it around. Smoking locomotive Shizuka's frustrated last cigar, even if I hate the smell, this is some commemorative shit."
"Huff, you're not even old enough for it."
With a shrug of my shoulders I wanted to convey indifference but I remembered something I read in a digital newsletter on the train.
"The diet's currently debating lowering the age for everything to 18, like literally right now."
The elicited response was an exasperated grin
"Just throw it away idiot, come on. Check your phone."
I did just that and lo and behold, there was a message from the more challenging Yukinoshita sister that once again is requesting us both and Shiromeguri-senpai to go out drinking with her.
Why am I not surprised?
"Geh, let's just go."
"My place?"
"Yeah, I left an emergency sweater there. I need to lose these Sobu clothes."
"Oh? Ah right, I'll also take the chance to get changed."
So we departed her classroom with direction to her apartment, hand in hand as it has been a tradition for a while now, just that today's the first time it doesn't feel like some inconspicuous contraband.
"Shizu-chan, Hachi-kun! Yo yo!"
Migraine.
Ugh, ever since Yukino once offhandedly complained to Haruno about how she never liked my casual greeting Haruno took it as a personal challenge to make me hate it by bastardizing it.
"Eurgh…Hello."
"What's up Haruno? How you doing Meguri?"
"Hiratsuka-sensei Konbanwa! You too Hachi-kun!"
"Yo…-"
Big grin spotted from annoying friend with purple tips
"Ah fuck, what's up Shiromeguri-senpai."
She smiles in understandment of my Freudian slip and hands me my accustomed chilled bottle of Kirin lemon tea.
Shiromeguri-senpai and I always have to drink all sorts of soft drinks when we four meet up in this bar. Now, I have no actual rush to get shitfaced, but it's safe to say that proclaiming to the four winds that I am an adult in order to be with the woman I cherish, but then have to drink tea.
If I was an American, the equivalent would be having to eat a happy meal in Wcdonald's and not for the nostalgic factor.
"Cheers"
We all proceeded to relax and follow our usual routine, although the clear signs that Haruno got ahead of us and started drinking as she was bored, that if her rose tinted cheeks point to anything, her teasing behavior is just her regular mode.
"Shizu-chan you look happy."
"mm, I am."
888 Shizuka points
"Is that so? You always steal glances at Hachiman, but today they seem… different in a way I'm not sure I can put into words y'know?"
My senpai looks amused as she will ever be, my most troublesome, pain in the ass friend is grinning because of her effective barrage, and my girlfriend now looks like a strawberry.
Sigh
"As you mentioned I may have something to do with that, but even more so today."
"Hoho? Do tell Hachi-kun."
"Well, unless I get runned over again, get a stroke or I die because of any other miscellaneous reason… nobody can tease Shizuka about finding a partner anymore."
They all look stunned. I try to keep my stoic face, if not a little smug but I'm pretty sure my ears are glowing red and my face is catching up with them.
"H-Hachi-kun, are you two… finally official?"
"That's right, we had been stuck in that twilight zone of a relationship for quite a while, kinda felt it was overdue."
"T-that's right! Hachiman today grew a pair at last."
The woman beside me just now got hold of her musings again, recovering from her shy maiden look she put an arm across my shoulder and brought my face close to hers. Back to business as usual so I'll get teased it would seem.
"Seriously, you should've seen him beg for my hand so passionately."
"O-oi"
"I'm not making fun of you, it was cute and it made me feel so happy. I'll remember it lovingly and tease you for a while.
"O-oh"
I cowardly look away from her gray eyes, that indeed stared lovingly at my very core and fiber.
Damn it woman, you don't have to actually kill me yourself.
My gaze landed in a very strange sight, both of our friends smiling warmly at our shenanigans, even Haruno. If I had to bet money on whether that expression of hers was real or not, I would confidently place my coin in yes.
"M-maybe I can finally confess to Yoshi-kun then."
Our 3 heads turn towards Shiromeguri Meguri because of the bold claim she just uttered.
Who is this Yoshi-kun she speaks of? Well none other than my comrade in arms, the myth, the dumbass, the man. Zaimokuza Yoshiteru.
Good thing Yoshi means good and respectful, because when I found out about the cutesy pet name Senpai gave him and imitated the green Yoshi's voice he didn't like it one bit.
"Hm, I also think it's high time for it to happen, he's leaving for college soon. You've got to decide soon, senpai."
Yeah, Zaimo got close with Shiromeguri senpai because they constantly met in the library. He chose the sciences curriculum because he always aimed for a kōsen, so now he had to actually study in the library instead of just hanging around there being a dickwad and schizoposting.
Alas, he actually managed to get into the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and while at it he managed to worm himself into Senpai's heart who at some point stopped coming to Sobu's library just for the quiet as seeing him became a motive.
So Yoshiteru got accepted into Tokyo Tech and is now the target of the Megu Megu Megurin power at its full might.
Honestly Yoshiteru and I entered Sobu as the absolute lowest losers of them all, yet look at us, now exiting it as Gods among men. I think we earned the right to a bit of chuuni tomfoolery.
"Et tu, Haruno mon ami?" (Gargled froggy french)
"Moi?"
"Oui" Shizuka joined me in our desecration of the french language
"Le truc avec moi, c'est que l'homéostasie est une propriété des organismes qui consiste en leur capacité à maintenir un état interne stable en compensant les changements de leur environnement par l'échange régulé de matière et d'énergie avec l'extérieur."
She said in what I assume is perfect francais or she's one of those very convincing comedians who can speak complete gibberish and make it sound like a language
I didn't understand a word of that.
"Haruno, I showed you Eva, and even though I didn't make sense of any of that I heard the word homeostasis."
Haruno shows a self deprecating, sad smile.
"Listen, in this table we all know what you think has become you, which would be the opposite, transistasis, you switch from role and mood according to the burdens put on your back. But like you just told us, you feel stagnant, you feel like everything stays the same and that's the end of it… but it doesn't have to be that way Haruno, like Meguri or Hachiman and I, you deserve to struggle and feel, you deserve to be happy."
Below the table she gives my hand a squeeze.
"I'm… I'm afraid that's not for me Shizuka. I've got the future of the family to safeguard, Yukino-chan for example hasn't taken a decision, and I have to be the PR of the company, and.."
"Haruno, fuck all that. You know when I was your age I self inserted into Ritsuko? And right now I see the same woes in you, the eye of an otaku doesn't miss these things y'know?" She gives her a comprehensive smile
"So you have to alternate the parts of you differently, you manage yourself as the speaker, as the controlling onee-san and as the academic, but while fragmenting those you think you lost the Haruno."
It hit me.
This is Shizuka's nature, even well past their student-teacher bond Shizuka keeps caring for her and trying to set her on a better path in this world.
A few hours ago I was having very similar thoughts, but they were focused on her impact on me. Not so much in her explicitly.
But this is Shizuka Hiratsuka, not just the woman who made me truly Hikigaya Hachiman, but she's also the woman who even past their societal bond is making an effort to make Haruno Yukinoshita her again.
When she helped Yukino start the Service club and stayed as our councillor, when she took notice of every fool that couldn't fight any longer and stayed with them to put people back on their feet, when she saved me, she proved it and more.
I love her so damn much.
I'll help her in any way that I can, plus Haruno is also a dear friend, even if she's an arsehole, I don't want her to keep suffering the soulless state I got out of.
"Haruno, Yukino is a strong girl, like you Shizuka and I won't leave her alone, she'll eventually become more assertive and confident. Even now you must realize how she has come a long way, she just needs a little of space and time to ponder, to suffer, to resist and then ponder again."
'The Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo held an event in the Arc of Triumph in which a countdown to the start of the PARIS 2024 Games was unveiled. Many more of these timers appeared across the city of lights overnight. The Olympic flame is currently in Munich, Germany.'
The sound of the radio somewhere in the bar must have been turned up since the news report became audible by us at our table.
"But there's nothing that can be done, I was born this way. I was born to fill in a position."
A couple of tears were falling from her eyes.
"Haruno, you can't be everywhere and do everything, nor all at once nor in intervals of different masks and tasks. I know I speak from privilege since I was born free, but don't you want to know what it tastes like? Don't you want to feel true autonomy?"
Shizuka asks and I'm up
"If the answer is yes then let me put this over the table, you help Yukino as much as you can without going back to being an overreaching tormenter, but you let us help you as well, if Yukino has to learn to take decisions so do you. A decision that you actually pondered about and took."
"Haru.." Shiromeguri senpai put her hand on Haruno's shoulder as sobs escaped from the cracking mask.
"P-please don't abandon me guys, not you…"
Shizuka got up and rushed to give her former student a hug.
'Crisis averted in Mexico, putting an end to the 2 week long political drama after the coup that ousted the government took place amidst the turmoil lived in the country. Provisional elections are to be held next month with none of the previously registered parties being allowed to participate. President AMLO and 17 other former government officials are now in custody awaiting trial, they're charged with treason, negligence and mismanagement of funds.'
"Y'know Haru, you are my best friend in the world, even if sometimes I didn't know what I was seeing when I looked at you, you really are important. Know that if you risk it I'll be behind you to back up your bet."
Sob "Th-thanks Meguri… thank you."
Damn it. How troublesome, but not just because of Shizuka, I will also be here for Haruno. For real. Shizuka freed me from my emotional Shibari, if I see someone in the same predicament I want to help.
'In the domestic affairs, the two houses of our country's diet came to a consensus about the age of maturity for the Japanese youth, just as the legal minimum age to vote was lowered to 18 eight years ago, the diet passed legislation that allows 18 year olds to sign contracts, open bank accounts of their own and ingest alcoholic substances. Tobacco regulations will stay the same.'
That last run through from the anchorer really got Shizuka's and mine attention, our ears basically perked.
"Holy shit, really?"
I turned on my phone and got into the newsletters when you swipe left. It didn't miss, the Asahi Shinbum's top article titled: Adult age lowered, Japanese Youth to be able to-
"Yeah, it just passed."
At that moment I saw Shiromeguri senpai's tea and mine own half drank bottle, and a yellow bulb of warm light lit up above my head.
"Say, Haruno"
"Sniff… hm?"
"Would you like to get drunk with us for the first time?"
Noticing one of the things I was hinting at with my shit eating grin, Shiromeguri joined my attack.
"A-ah, that's right Haru! I told you one time I'd get drunk for the first time with you! Let's do it."
"Heh, you shrimps sure are excited, but it's a new legislation. You didn't even hear effective when."
"Perhaps, but that's something a monster of reason would say."
"D-don't use my own spells against me Hachiman!"
Shizuka gave her a taunting smile like the one she gave me back in camp that exuded passive aggressiveness.
"Don't tell me you fear success Haruno, or are you afraid these 18 and 19 year olds beat you at your own hobby."
The purplish ravenette deadpanned, her poker face ruined by the trail of dry tears in her cheeks.
"Shizu-chan, you might be confused about which Yukinoshita daughter you're dealing with, it's more difficult than that to bait me. Besides… I can't get drunk."
"Coward."
"Coward Haru."
"Coward."
We could almost see a vein pop in her head at us 3 simultaneously provoking her into an inebriated state, what a great influence we are.
"If we get questioned on why two minors that can't hold their alcohol got drunk it'll fall on me."
"Then allow us an interlude of being parasitic friends that wholeheartedly ask you to bail us if that happens."
"Ah what the hell."
She gave in and got up to order some drinks and a busser came back with two little cups of Chika sake to start senpai and me gradually, 4 Sapporo cans and a bottle of Mezcal.
That night Haruno got sloshed.
Shizuka and I walked at least in the direction of her apartment, but we somehow reached the bay. Chiba port Tower can be seen not far away from where we are with its blue intermittent beacon shining on top.
The light of the moon gives me a clear view of this wonderful woman I call mine.
My vision feels a bit blurry but I am hypnotized by her long hair falling freely until it stops in her mid back, her turtleneck acting as another chain that binds my eyes to her, and her face that I adore so much all form one hell of a memento I want to tattoo on my mind.
It might be the alcohol that doesn't show me the details one could spot when standing at point blank, but right now I'd daresay she looks perfect.
As I stumble a little in my step my gaze makes an Apollo mission and lands on the moon that make this scene surrealistic.
With Kaguya-hime looking down on us I start yet another voyage through my mind. I remember how many times the sky was dark during my youth, and thus I understand I can't beg her again to keep shining on us. But all I ask is that she caresses us now and that should last until the night dies and we lose her craters from sight and the waves get weak.
But we're living for each other now. I want the moon to give us one last kiss that could last us until we die, because it was a vice that hurt before, now it's a vice that I cherish.
Luna, don't leave us anymore.
But nothing stops, not the beats that pressure my blood, not the passing of this moment and the night… not my engine that revs up when I get close to Shizuka.
And close I got, I approached her from behind when she was observing the coast and I embraced her.
She relaxed in my arms while I dug my hot face in her hair, we stayed like that for a few minutes.
"Na Hachiman.."
Her voice suddenly got me out of some sleepy trance, I was like 2 minutes away from falling out cold while standing up and clinging to her, that could've been embarrassing in itself.
"Y-yeah?"
"We never actually had that dance did we?"
yawn
"Uhh..no, we didn't."
"I see."
We kept the silence for a bit until she reached her hand behind to touch my face
"I want to see your eyes."
The alcohol and the night teamed up to camouflage my flushed face, but my plea to the moonlight not to leave kind of bit me in the ass by making it noticeable.
She wiggled in my embrace until she was facing me, her hands on my shoulders.
"Want to dance?"
"...sure."
She dug through her pocket and pulled out her phone, she tapped on it and a song started playing.
"Well Hachiman? Please grant me this piece while the sky burns down."
I smiled serenely and counter offered her by extending my hand to her. She took it and drew her body near mine again, we positioned ourselves in the traditional closed position, my left hand finding her right one and clasping my fingers in the openings between hers, my right hand securing her touching her shoulder blade.
We moved and rotated to the compass of the instance, a moment in which we love like dawn and live like fire.
"So stupid, this timeless wish of ours."
"Well, soon enough nobody will remember us. If we're not immortal it's fair to succumb to that wish. Hell, chances are tomorrow we don't even remember much of this night."
"Yes..even facing the eternity away that is the end of time, we have this moment in which the moonlight starts being consumed by embers."
My laughter sets itself free, we really are like kindred intellects spouting the same esoteric and pseudo-poetic shit.
Upon the end of the song I straighten my posture and grab her left hand not letting go of her already captured right one. I lean towards her so our foreheads meet again and I intertwine my hands with hers as they meet wide open.
"Make me miso soup every morning please."
"Huh? You make me miso soup every morning, didn't you yap about the noble profession of the househusband?"
"Hm, we'll alternate making the miso soup and make it a battle royale, whoever makes it better must treat the other to the finest tonkotsu ramen in Japan."
"Never leave me Hachiman."
"I never will, please never leave me Shizuka."
She backs up a little bit to hug me and I take her lips before she can even react, she kisses me back with equal reciprocated passion that explodes like the normies I wanted to kill.
This is the closest meaning I have found of something authentic.
Si alguien habla español y creyó que se encontró un fic en dialecto Ñ perdón por el bait del título, evidentemente esta madre estaba en inglés jajjaaja. Un saludo a la banda del discord Faculty Room
A Xynovitch: Escribe una fic en español para el próximo semestre puto, mínimo espero un comentario en español.
To Wahrheit: Promises are debts bro, I hope you enjoyed this.
To John: Much needed break from the standard, next up is that fic we've discussed so many times.
To Will: I'm sorry for becoming a neutralcuck Sensei, but I had to do this. Think of it as dedication for being the second coolest Teacher related to Oregano.
To weed: Keep the HachiShizu coming as if you heard the people sing, singing the song of Kino hungry men.
To Kiryuu: Fuck you
To the wider public: Man, I really hope you found this good, I certainly had fun writing it. In fact it was a breath of the purest air, don't get me wrong Battle Station is my most important creation by a long shot, but ever since I posted chapter 9 writing it has sucked ass, I have like 60% of chapter 10 done and meticulously revised (probably not enough lmao) since I've gotten stuck over and over again I have had no choice than actually editing my shit.
After posting chapter 10 I'll take a break from my HachiYuki fics, they won't be dropped. Hard to believe I know, I've been breaking promises ever since I called my readers 'lads' and I stubbornly used '¿/¡' in English, but I actually value the hours I threw away writing those and I'm constantly thinking of where those stories will head next.
At least Battle Station and Kimi no Nawa won't be dropped lest something happens in real life.
I have nothing more to add in English other than:
Keep writing Sensei, you fucks.
Eventualmente voy a escribir una historia en Náhuatl, si no, soy puto. Acabo de cumplir los 18, si para los 22 que es cuando me gradúo la primera historia de Oregairu en Náhuatl no existe soy puto.
Ye yuhqui tonemiliz yez. In ipan teotla tipanoh.
