"…Are you sure this is a safe place?"

"You may doubt yourself but never doubt me."

Hachiman deadpans at Fu Hua as they stand in front of a rundown café in an alleyway with the sign broken and looks like it could fall at any moment. She pushes the door open then walks in, prompting him to sigh before following her.

He blinks as he sees that the inside looks spotless and well-maintained compared to the outside, making him raise an eyebrow at her, "This is not what I expected."

"Don't worry kid. You ain't the first one to say that." He jumps as he hears a voice coming from behind him, prompting him to look back and see a buff male with shoulder-length gray hair and a beard sipping tea while sitting behind the door.

"Hello, Creed. I was hoping that you would have fallen in a ditch somewhere." Fu Hua raises a hand to him as a greeting.

"You wish. Looks like you brought another green horn here huh?" Creed squints his eyes at Hachiman, who raises an eyebrow in return, "Huh, he got guts. A step above than the rest."

"I beg to differ but I don't have the energy. Hachiman, this is Creed, a coordinator of multiple Valkyrie training teams."

"Ex-coordinator. I retired a long time ago or is your brain already rotting?"

"My brain is a step above yours, so that would mean your brain is already moldy with worms inside."

Hachiman blankly looks at them before heading to the counter, "Do you have any max coffee?" He asks the female barista with shoulder-length yellow hair, styled in a ponytail and wearing blue glasses, who is wiping a glass with a napkin.

The barista nods as she sets the glass down and bends down with her ass raised high, though he doesn't notice as he has his head on the counter. She places a max coffee can with vapor around it next to him.

He looks up then grabs the max, "Thank you." Opens it up and downs the whole can in one go, prompting the barista to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Tough week?" She asks while resuming her work of cleaning glass cups.

Hachiman sighs as he glances at Fu Hua and Creed arguing, "More than you know."

"Want to talk about it? The name's Candy."

"Hachiman Hikigaya. Maybe, maybe not, I don't know."

"Talking about your problems can be a relief."

"I know. But I don't think you will believe me."

"Try me. I was a Captain for three years before setting this café with that old lump of bones there." She points at Creed, prompting him to blink.

"…I think I know why Fu Hua brought me here," He quietly mutters, though Candy hears it and snorts.

"She came here only like what? Few months ago? Because my husband dragged her here after seeing the loneliness in her. Ever since then, she kept coming here while dragging new Captains, though all of them never came back."

Hachiman raises an eyebrow, "Why? This place looks like a nice place and you got max coffee here. I couldn't even find it anywhere here."

"We did get shipments of that stuff but not a lot of people drank it, so they marked it off on the shipment list. We only got five left that are drinkable."

"I'll buy all of them please."

Candy bends down then returns with 5 max coffee cans, prompting Hachiman to gulp as his gaze turns into worship.

She notices the look and wryly smiles, "You must really like this stuff. Tell you what, we'll order some more max coffee. In exchange, please become friends with Fu Hua."

He freezes before turning to look at her and awkwardly smiles, "Um… You drive a hard bargain… I don't like her since…" He glances to the back, only to see Fu Hua and Creed sitting at the table and talking, "She insults me."

She grimaces, "Yeah. She does that but I can assure you that she is a good kid. You just need to look deeper into her."

Hachiman opens up another can then takes a sip, "Hard to believe but we'll see…" Another sip, "Fine. But please teach me how to be a competent Captain, coordinator, whatever. Along with the max coffee shipment."

"Mei! Duck!"

Mei ducks in time as a bullet whizz by and strikes at the hologram of a small Honkai beast.

"Bronya, watch out!" Mei shouts as she sees another small Honkai beast creep up to Bronya, who looks unfazed and just materializes her construct to smack it away with a punch.

"The Bronya thanks Mei for the warning." Bronya gives a thumbs up at Mei as the holograms all around them slowly disappear. She also dematerializes her construct at the sight of Himeko coming to them.

"Good work all three of you. Now, take a quick break then resume." Himeko nods at them before leaving, prompting Kiana to fall down and land on her back.

"Oh god, I can't feel my legs! Mei~ please help me." Kiana lifts her head with hope shining in her eyes, though she pouts as she sees Bronya talking to Mei, "Damn midget."

"Bronya, have you thought about talking to Hachiman? You can't just keep avoiding him at the house forever and he doesn't blame you for what happened before."

"…This Bronya feels reluctant in interacting with subject Hachiman. The Bronya is the one responsible for forcing him on this path."

Mei awkwardly smiles with pain shining in her eyes, "Yeah… But you are trying to change right? You need to talk to him before the test since it also concerns us and whether we can enter as official students."

Bronya looks away, "…Why are you nice to the Bronya? This Bronya was the one who was responsible for turning you into a Herrscher and killing your classmates."

Mei closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath and exhales, "Yes… It still hurts, I won't lie to you. But… Truthfully, I don't feel sadness or regret in their deaths… Maybe it's because of the Herrscher inside of me but… I just can't. The pain mostly comes from me almost killing Hachiman…"

"…This Bronya would like to ask why do you care about subject Hachiman? As far as This Bronya understands, you only interacted with him after meeting subject Idioka."

Mei slowly opens her eyes and places a hand to her chest, "I always wanted to talk to him since our first year… He was always alone whenever I saw him… I… Wanted to be his friend since I could see the sadness in him. That sadness was bigger than all of my classmates combined… So, I wanted to make him… Better. Luckily, the sadness is decreasing now."

"…This Bronya is curious just why is subject Hachiman the object of yours and Idiotka's affection?"

Mei blushes and fidgets, "Does it look that way? I don't really have any experience in having friends until my first year, so I don't really know any of the hints or is it actions? Of this stuff."

Bronya blinks as she hears Mei babbling away with her face becoming redder, "…Subject Hachiman is now categorized as a womanizer," She quietly mutters while glancing at Mei then at Kiana, who is watching the clouds.

*A...N*

Candy and Creed are two OC I made (though I have a feeling both of them exist somewhere else... Meh) that will now be helping Hachiman in becoming a Captain. A sneak peek at what the trio are doing while Hachiman is off on his own adventure. Anyway on to the comments!

calderoneric758 - 99% in favor of *REDACTED*

XianYun - thank you, enjoy a blushing Mei at the bottom

bluecookie420 - thank you

Alt Zero - *insert a pleased bengal cat face*

LowlifeNolife - lol

Patiphat1998 - thank you