I didn't think I would have to face her petty tyranny at all today.

With a loud click sound, the door swung open. In came Yukinoshita Haruno, the one person I was so glad I didn't have to deal with for today, that is until she arrived.

Donning a thin smile, she took off her black cap and waved her hand.

"Sorry for being late," she apologised, almost skipping as she approached the dinner table.

She went straight for my cheeks and poked them repeatedly with her finger.

"Hey, I never thought you'd man up and finally come here, Hikigaya-kun." she teased. The engulfing flower-scented perfume she wore was almost suffocating.

I grumbled in response as I desperately inched my face away from her. I glanced at the person by my side for help but she simply just shook her head.

It's far too early to give up, Yukinoshita!

"Haruno, take a seat." her mother instructed.

Smiling as if nothing happened, she did as told, taking a seat beside her mother.

A bitter feeling began to consume me. I could foretell my incoming doom with the arrival of the storm.

Yukinoshita's father thinly smiled at his first daughter.

"How was school, Haruno?" he asked softly.

And cautiously, may I add.

Haruno shrugged as she began to scoop a portion of the dish in front of her into her plate.

"It was alright. Just as usual."

"Anything interesting going on?"

"I had to bring a bunch of foreign exchange students from Singapore around the campus and that's about it." she replied plainly.

Seeing that his daughter was not interested in talking about her day, he immediately turned to me - the main subject for tonight's dinner.

I averted my gaze away from him and continued to eat slowly. He was going to ask me a question anytime soon.

Soon, I wondered if having my mouth full would deter him from talking to me. After a short deliberation, I came to the conclusion that he would beg to differ. He seemed like the type to get what he wanted almost immediately after all.

Dinner is supposed to be a calming affair which relaxes and fills a person's physical and spiritual body. This dinner however, defies all the ideals of a comfortable one.

By pursuing this dangerous venture approximately one hour ago, I have accumulated more stress and anxiety than what Sobu High's examinations have given me in the past three years.

I looked down at my hands and opened them weakly. They were drenched in sweat.

"Hikigaya-kun," a sly voice called out.

I looked up and met her eyes.

"How was your day?" she asked with a wry smile as if almost taunting me.

"It's been great," I replied sarcastically. "Everything so far has been nice."

Giving her a self-deprecating smile, I reached for my glass of water and took a sip.

She wasn't trifled by my sarcasm in the very least and laughed because she knew my true sentiments.

"Is that so?" the mother asked amicably, ignoring the boisterous laughter of her first daughter and painfully unaware of my use of sarcasm.

I nodded. When I looked her in the eyes, I couldn't help but think of the girl sitting next to me. The two of them look too similar to be true so I unconsciously smiled.

"That's good to hear." she replied.

She then turned to her husband with a pensive expression.

"I just remembered something," she said seriously. "The next heir of the Shizu conglomerate is going to be revealed tomorrow. Are you going to attend the meeting? If Hakuro-san is the chosen one, your bargain for the shares will go through, will it not?"

I just witnessed someone voice out a series of lines that you would only hear from dramas.

He nodded calmly. "That's correct."

"Hakuro-san will most likely be chosen," Haruno-san remarked seriously, which caught me quite off-guard. "I don't believe that the current head would choose Watanabe-san after his slip up last month even if he is the popular choice."

Her mother nodded. "The head will never look past grave mistakes like that."

"Mother..." Yukinoshita called them out politely.

I looked elsewhere to pretend as if I didn't hear their conversation but I was pretty sure they knew I was listening. They spoke in their normal voice after all. How could I not have heard that when I have functional ears, right?

She gazed at Yukinoshita calmly before answering her.

"Considering what happened earlier, Yukino, I believe he is no longer considered a visitor to this household."

That's it. I'm done for. She heard that for sure.

"Ehh?! What happened earlier?" Haruno-san asked eagerly, getting up from her seat in excitement.

"Haruno, sit down." her mother told her.

She sat back down as told but her curiosity did not diminish one a bit.

"Yukino-chan," she pestered her, "what happened earlier?"

This is bad.

After letting out a small sigh, she looked at her sister.

"You don't need to know," she replied coldly.

Yikes, that gave me some serious goosebumps.

Haruno-san raised her eyebrow and rested her palm on her chin. "Ehh…" she mused.

Something was coming. Something very bad.

The two of them stared at each other for what seemed like eternity and neither of them backed down.

Haruno-san spoke up first. "But why, Yukino-chan? I just want to know what happened earlier."

"I already said you don't need to."

"But I want to."

"Unfortunately for you, what you want to know this time is something you don't need to know."

The audience of their exchange - namely me, their mother and their father - watched on like spectators of a tennis match.

Yukinoshita massaged her temples. "I can tell you another time," she said softly, "just for now, please don't."

A few moments of silence passed. My heart palpitations were so abnormally fast that I wondered how I was even still alive and breathing.

Before I could even register what happened next, her father was already telling her what had happened.

"Father, what happened earlier?" she asked quickly.

"They admitted that they are dating."

Accomplices in crime, I see.

Yukinoshita had her mouth agape in disbelief but somehow, I felt that this was just a normal thing for them.

Haruno-san and her father were similar in terms of their guileful personalities. It is this same characteristic that makes them have friction with one another yet, even with this friction, their synergy because of their likeness is impeccable. So perhaps half the time they get along and the other half, they are not looking each other eye to eye.

I lifted my hand above my lap and hesitated. Then I remembered the embarrassing things I said earlier so whatever I do next is completely fine.

I placed my hand on Yukinoshita's shoulder gently.

"That's okay," I said softly.

She turned her head towards me and nodded shyly.

Haruno's boisterous laughter returned to fill the room once again but this time, her father laughed along lightly with her, giving her a hi-five at some point.

Wiping a small tear from his eye, he looked at Yukinoshita.

"I'm sorry, Yukino, I couldn't help it," he said, not even sounding apologetic in the slightest. "All this time, we've kept asking you if you were dating someone and you've always avoided the question. To have you finally admit what you've always denied is something worth celebrating."

Yukinoshita sighed after hearing that but I noticed her lips curl up ever so slightly.

Haruno-san was still crying from laughter but the rest of us feigned ignorance until her mother patted her shoulder as a strict signal to stop.

"No, no," she panted, still recovering from her intense bout of laughter, "I can't believe the two of you finally admitted it."

"Don't act so surprised," I replied bitterly.

"Can you repeat what you said to them earlier?"

I narrowed my eyes. "No way in hell."

A dry cough interrupted our exchange.

"I hope you continue to take good care of my youngest," the mother said with a mysterious glint in her eyes.

Yukinoshita stood up from her seat abruptly.

"Mother, you don't have to do that!" she asserted frantically, her face turning slightly red as she did so.

"Calm down, Yukino," her father beckoned gently, "sit down and listen."

Yukinoshita did as told but her sitting posture was incredibly tense. Her hunched back made her look so small and it was unusual to me because her usual air of command and confidence was gone.

"Ah… yes," I replied softly.

I wanted to slap myself. My resolve was far too weak.

Taking a deep breath, I responded to her request with far more conviction. "Of course."

"And do you know what we will do if you don't?" her husband added almost threateningly, tearing down the mountain of confidence I had built from scratch just seconds earlier.

"Kill me?" I responded jokingly in an attempt to hide my feelings of malaise.

"That's right."

"Eh?!"

He laughed at my reaction. "Relax."

How can I? You have the power to do that after all.

"Stop teasing him, Father." Yukinoshita said from beside me.

"But he's so amusing," he replied, blinking his eyes innocently. "How can I not when he's so stiff yet so bold?"

"I know, right?" Haruno-san interjected.

"Let's not get so carried away," his wife said. She turned to me. "My apologies, Hikigaya-kun, but it's been a while since all four of us had gathered here together so please excuse our rather uncivil behaviour."

She directed her ice-cold gaze to her oldest child and her husband. Both of them averted their eyes away from her subtly.

I looked at her in confusion. "But I'm no longer considered a visitor here, right?"

Her eyes widened as if I just said something mildly offensive.

Eh? Did I say something wrong?

I found myself flustered by their eyes once again.

"What I mean by that is, uh, I'd much prefer interacting with all of you sincerely." I explained.

A few moments of silence passed.

"Why didn't you use the word 'genuinely'?" Haruno-san questioned.

Is she trying to make me lose my sanity?

I raised my hand. "I have trauma with regards to that word." I replied frankly.

Seriously, hearing that word will always, without fail, remind me of my patheticness that day.

After I put my hand down, Yukinoshita giggled beside me.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"I just realised," she replied.

"Realised what?"

She shrugged with a small smile. "Nothing. Forget about it."

Did she just realise I've been avoiding the use of that word since that day? Shouldn't she have known earlier that that cursed word will be associated with my most pathetic state for the rest of my life?

Haruno-san nodded understandably. "If I were you, I probably wouldn't use that word anymore too."

I smirked. "But you're not me."

"And thankfully so."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. Her casual impertinence combined with her sharp wit were enough to make my blood boil.

Yukinoshita has both of those qualities but I've grown to find them endearing so it's fine.

"Why so?" the father asked curiously. "The word 'genuine' is quite a beautiful word in my opinion."

Ah, I never should've talked about it. My stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

Before I could respond, Yukinoshita spoke up.

"It's what Hikigaya-kun wants," she said.

Haruno-san clapped and gave her sister a thumbs-up.

I groaned and violently thrashed about internally.

What sins have I committed in my past life to have her treat me like this?

He turned to me with a puzzled look. "You want something 'genuine', Hikigaya-kun?"

My desire to be one with the earth resurfaced but this time, I could feel my eyes slowly grow moist.

If I cry here, I will never be able to face them again.

I think Hawaii would be a good place to move to. I heard that their beaches and mountains are one of a kind scenic beauties so it wouldn't be so bad to live there forever even if the experience of winter will permanently be out of my reach. Ah, but Hawaii is right across Japan… maybe somewhere farther away. Europe perhaps?

My spontaneous thoughts of migrating disappeared in an instant when a pair of sharp burgundy eyes caught my attention.

His gaze on me was so intense, how can they even expect me to respond coherently?

With the very last of the little resolve I had, I clenched my fists tightly and forced my eyes to revert to its normal state.

Just this once, Hikigaya Hachiman will defy all odds.

"Not anymore, I believe."

Yukinoshita immediately looked at me with the same puzzled expression as her father.

It took a moment before she understood what I meant and she smiled when she finally did.

"We all learn something new everyday, don't we?" she said softly with wonder in her eyes.

I knew that she understood what I was thinking about. If she didn't, I surely wouldn't have so recklessly admitted in front of her parents that she was someone important to me.

"So why don't you want it anymore?" she asked with a teasing smile.

"Because I finally have it."

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"Do we need an interpreter here?" Haruno-san interrupted quietly.

Italy sounds nice.

/

Hey guys, EJ here again. Next chapter will come out in a few months once I get over my writer's block. This was actually fun to write so I got it done quickly.

I would like to apologise for the short chapters. It's just really not within my ability to write more than 2k words per chapter so Kudos to all the writers who can achieve such an insane feat.

Also, would anyone be interested in beta-reading my chapters? Just a thought. I mean, I do wish to release quality content after all. How does beta-reading even work? lol

That's all I have to say. Please leave a review if you can and finally, thanks for reading :)