My Youth Romantic Comedy Was More Platonic Than Expected Part 2

by Morii Hikikko

(AU). Continuation of My Youth Romantic Comedy Was More Platonic Than Expected. This will narrate what will happen to Hikigaya Hachiman's relationships after that eventful summer vacation. The struggles of the third-year Sobu High student named Hikigaya Hachiman will only get much harder from this point onwards. Is the true form of his genuine a platonic relationship all along?

3. Chapter 3

Earnestly, Miura Yumiko Harbors A Humble Wish

"Sagami is acting weird," were the first words that came out of the requestor's mouth.

He was Hatano, the second member of the bespectacled duo of the UG Club, the other being the younger Sagami. Aside from his glasses, his other most notable feature was his green hair which was also styled into a bowl cut. He looked so similar to the other club member that I would even believe it if I was told that they were long lost twins or at the very least, distant cousins.

Needless to say, since Hatano is involved, the Sagami in question here refers to the junior and not the one in our year.

"There's not really a whole lot we can work with just from that statement, you know?" I sighed as I supported my head with my arm while Yukino brewed tea for our guests.

Yes, you heard me right.

Its guests, in plural form.

Even though there is only one requestor, the Service Club was still in full capacity because of these people.

Considering what we've been doing before this, the identity of these visitors who invited themselves in was pretty much obvious.

It was the rest of the clique.

"By the way, why are all of you guys here today?" that question of mine was of course, directed towards the other visitors.

"Isn't it fine?" the one who acted as a representative for the rest and answered was Hayama. "After seeing your reaction I couldn't help but be curi… I mean, concerned," I raised one of my brows when he almost slipped and said curious instead of concerned. "Besides, having more hands just in case it was an emergency should be advantageous for you guys as well."

"That might be true but..."

"Well since they're already here anyways, it will be too much effort to persuade them to go out so let's just have them listen in for today.

"Mm. Besides, it's more fun with more people after all!"

The opinions of both Yukino and Yui respectively, gave me no other choice but to concede.

"Whatever you say."

With that out of the way, we could now redirect our attention to the request at hand.

"Can Hatano-senpai please elaborate?" was the inquiry of Komachi, the current President of the Service Club.

Hatano shook his head in response, "I'm sorry but even I'm not sure what's going on to be completely honest that's why I thought to come here and ask for help."

If the problem wasn't already vague before, it sure as heck became vague now.

Without any information like this, it was hard for either Yukino or I to formulate anything.

Luckily for us, the Service Club wasn't only composed of members who relied on logic.

In situations like these…

"Can you at least tell us what made you think he's acting weird all of a sudden?"

…It was time for Yuigahama Yui's intuition to shine.

"Right," Hatano realigned his glasses first before continuing. "For people like us, we usually abuse the extra free time given to us by large-scale school events like this in order to have more time to fool around more on our clubroom but for some reason he went ahead and said that he had to do something for the coming festival and thus, wouldn't be able to play."

"Disregarding your improper school conduct," opened Yukino as she brushed aside a lock of her long hair. "I don't think there's anything wrong with a student trying to actually participate in a school activity he is supposed to be involved with in the first place."

"With all due respect, Yukinoshita-dono," came Zaimokuza's overly formal greeting. It was only when Yukino decided to nod did he continue to speak. "I think it might be difficult to understand for you but for students like us, these kinds of events are rare opportunities to unwind in school though in a completely unorthodox way compared to others. In other words, it's very precious it is normally something we don't give up so easily."

As a member of the lower caste in school, Zaimokuza's words carried some weight however…

"Weren't you asked to write a script for your class' play last year?"

Zaimokuza scratched his head awkwardly after hearing Yukino's remark.

"Well, those are extremely special circumstances that are beyond my control…" Zaimokuza forced out a cough. "At any rate, it's sufficed to say that without that task, I would've done something similar to them, heck, I might even join them!"

Before Yukino could comment once again, another voice joined the fray.

It was Kawasaki Saki.

"Had my sewing skills not been noticed by Hina last year, I would've been using that time to just rest."

I raised my hand and decided to give my own two cents as well.

"Same here. If it weren't for being the representative last year and for this one, I'd also be on the same boat."

Now that there were three people in the room who sympathized with the requestor, even Yukino could not just ignore it anymore regardless if she empathized with it or not.

Although Yukino is a loner like us, her competence made her stand out so whether she liked it or not, she always ended up with responsibilities that fell in line with her skillset. Given her nature, she also wouldn't refuse such an assignment. As such, she never experienced what the other loners normally go through in this kind of situation.

"Supposing that change in attitude is indeed something strange, what do you think caused it then? Did you ask him already?"

After being asked that, Hatano shook his head.

"I don't know and when I asked him about it, he just shook me off."

In any other day, the cause for that Sagami's abnormal behavior may be hard to figure out but given the timing, it could only be related to that event.

"It's definitely got something to do with the Cultural Festival, right?" Miura started. "That Sagami is the one who volunteered to be this year's chairman if I remember correctly."

That's right.

In the end, it all went back to the one thing that happened earlier that puzzled me the most today.

"Just the fact that he volunteered to be the class' male representative was strange enough but now he goes ahead and becomes the chairman too! No matter what, it is way too strange!" exclaimed Hatano.

"Well, I only talked with him once or twice last year but even I can tell that Sagami-kun isn't the type to do something like this on a whim," Yamato wondered in confusion.

"Ah!" Tobe exclaimed with his usual over-the-top energy. "Do you think he's being bullied or something?! That's like really bad, yeah?"

"Wouldn't that make things easier?" Ooka answered. "After all, we can just report the bullies to the teacher and be done with it."

Hearing their discussion prompted me to give them a warning.

"Let's not jump into conclusions just yet."

"But isn't their idea another way of looking at the situation?"

Yukino nodded at the point that Ebina raised.

"I'll ask just in case," Yukino's lapis lazuli eyes locked on to our requestor. "Hatano-kun, you wouldn't happen to know anyone bullying Sagami-kun recently, do you?"

"I don't think so. We're not only clubmates but classmates as well. I'll be one of the first people to know if something like that happens."

"Too bad. A part of me was really hoping that that was the case."

"Yeah. If we just find the bullies and give them a piece of our mind, I'm sure they'll stop."

The aggressive female duo composed of Saki and Miura exchanged ferocious smiles with each other as they voiced out their opinion.

It was a good thing these two were our allies.

If bullies really were behind this then even I would be a little reluctant in turning them over to the pair if I found them first.

.

.

.

Okay. Maybe not.

"What if there's something he really wants to do that he can only achieve if he became the chairman?" that kind of optimistic statement could only come from Totsuka Saika.

"Ah! Maybe it's similar to the thing that Hachi suggested to Saki before!" the other person in the group who always looks on the bright side, Yui remarked with excitement.

"A scholarship, huh? Or rather, he'll use the experience of leading a school-wide event to increase the value of his application papers for whatever university it is that he plans to apply in the near future," Yukino nodded to herself several times before giving her verdict. "It sounds like a completely practical reason for me."

It does but…

"Do you think Sagami will do something like that, Hatano?" Hayama asked the exact same question that I had on my head before I had the opportunity to do so.

In response to that inquiry, Hatano shook his head in doubt.

"I've been friends with him for a while and I personally can't imagine him doing something like this for academic merit."

At that, I sighed.

"So we're back to square one, huh…"

As I complained, my eyes inadvertently landed on my smartphone which I forgot that I've been holding on to this entire time.

The time displayed said that there was only around twenty more minutes before the end of club activities.

In other words, it was almost time for us to call it a day so we needed to wrap things up here for now.

After all, I still have some part-time work from the Yukinoshitas to complete on my side.

"Taishi."

"Yes, Aniki."

"Given what we discussed so far, what kind of action should the Service Club take?"

Taishi was initially surprised that I threw a question at him this suddenly but he set that aside and began to ponder what I asked him seriously.

"Because we don't quite understand what to do, it's hard for us to plan for something specific but it's also a bad idea if we don't do anything," Taishi tried to rack his brain for any good ideas but ultimately came up with zilch. "Aniki, I'm sorry but I can't think of a single good idea."

Well, that should serve as a good lesson for now.

"Don't worry you're on the right track, Taishi," I assured him with a smile. "In other words, what we need to do is poise ourselves in a way that we can gather the information we're currently lacking and act accordingly once we obtain it. Luckily, all five of us ended up being part of the Festival Committee so we could just observe from there but as an insurance policy, I'd like to suggest something."

I really didn't want to go through with this if I could help it but at the moment, this seemed like the move that gave us the most options in the future.

My eyes locked on to Komachi's own and by the looks of it, she already had a rough idea of what I wanted to say next.

"Komachi, what do you say about being the Festival Committee's Vice Chairman?"

…

Yesterday's worries manifested in front of me in the form of the younger Sagami's series of declarations.

"You have got to be kidding me."

I had to physically stop myself from swearing right then and there.

I felt a searing headache as Sagami enumerated his so-called rules.

All committee members can take it easy and help out with their class if they want to.

No one is allowed to work beyond 7:00 PM.

He will only sign all the documents that need his authorization at the end of each day.

It was like he was asking for us to not finish the festival preparations before the set date.

I don't get it.

Thanks to these rules, committee work ended very early on the first day.

It was a good sign of the days to come… Not.

The reason that we were able to finish early was not because we were very efficient with our work.

It was the exact opposite.

Because of Sagami's third rule of only giving his approvals at the end of the day, we could not proceed to the next stage because the documents that we needed him to stamp are prerequisite requirements to get the ball rolling.

In other words, there was a mountain of work ahead of us that we haven't even gotten started yet.

As if that wasn't enough…

Because of his first rule, some of the first-year representatives who did not quite understand the gravity of the situation chose to not come to the committee regularly anymore.

By the third day, the Student Council Office was not as cramped anymore as only around half of the committee was present.

"Hey Hikio," came the voice of my irritable partner beside me.

"Oh, Miura? How can I help you?" I adopted a business smile and pretended I could not see the figurative flames of fury dancing behind her.

"I remember hearing someone say that the third-years' workload isn't that high, was that a lie, I wonder?" she tried to intimidate me with her smile but anything below Haruno-san's intensity was already like a breeze to me so it didn't really do anything. Seriously, when will this girl learn?

"That was under normal circumstances. What we're going through right now can't be described in that manner."

"Then, can I ask something?"

"Shoot."

Miura moved her face closer to me before saying her question. Given the current circumstances, what she wanted to ask was most likely about the elephant in the room.

"Why isn't anyone saying anything?" whispered Miura so that the older Sagami beside me would not be able to hear.

To answer her, I also chose to speak a little softer myself.

"Because that would mean that you're willing to take the troublesome job of being the Committee Chairman for yourself which also means, you're going to have to clean up this big mess that he's already created."

"Surely, there's someone else who could do a better job, right?" Miura complained while maintaining her soft voice. It was obvious to me that she was not mad because of her own sake but for the others who are hard at work in the festival's preparations.

"It will be a very difficult task. Given our current progress now in relation to the target date, very few people could pull it off."

"But you didn't say it's completely impossible."

"Well, nothing is truly impossible unless you actually try after all," I shrugged and before I knew it, a wry smile was already plastered on my face. "That includes the possibility of failure, of course."

"If it's Hikio, you can turn this situation around, right?"

Miura's words no, Miura's trust in me rendered me speechless for a few seconds.

I had no idea when she had this much faith in me all of a sudden but I wouldn't really say it's all that bad.

Expectations are like a poison.

Poison, depending on how it's handled, could either treat the body or cause it harm instead.

The same can be said of expectations.

Humans need a certain level of expectation in order for them to be motivated to do something however; too much expectation will also cause that person's downfall in ceaselessly trying to meet them.

Case in point, a mutual friend of Miura and me called Hayama Hayato.

That being said, I still grabbed the chalice filled with the poison of expectation that was handed to me by Miura and took one singular sip.

"Even if that's true, as I'm a third-year student, the faculty will discourage me from taking up the post."

"But… There should still be something we can do, right?"

The way her expression was almost on the brink of tears awakened a sort of protective instinct in me that I didn't know I had.

It was strange and familiar at the same time.

It wasn't my usual Onii-chan instincts kicking in. After all, Miura did not really give me the impression of a little sister.

Loner Skill No. 1: Hikki Zone.

I had to reflect with myself a bit in order to recall when I was moved like this.

Surprisingly, it didn't take me that long to remember.

Or rather, it seems like I unconsciously knew what I was looking for before I even began the search.

In my head, instead of the Student Council Office, what I could see was the view of the amusement park approaching nighttime.

The chair I was sitting on became that of the attraction that I apparently was riding on that specific moment.

"Hikigaya-kun…" came the voice of the girl beside me. Her hair was still long but instead of being blonde, it was black. She also looked like she was on the verge of crying but the gems on her eyes weren't verdant emeralds but were serene lapis lazulis instead. "…Save me someday."

After that delusion finished playing on my head, my mouth let out an inquiry without my conscious input.

"Miura, why are you so invested in this year's Cultural Festival anyways?"

"I mean…" Miura began to twirl one of her blond locks using her finger. "It's our last festival as Sobu High students, you know? I just wanted it to be memorable. Is that too much to ask for?"

I was hit with a sense of realization after hearing the end of Miura's reply.

It was pathetic.

I focused way too much on Hatano's request that I missed the bigger picture.

Regardless of the younger Sagami's intentions, for the sake of everyone else who is working hard in preparation for this event and for those who are looking forward to it so much…

The Cultural Festival must be successful.

"No, Miura. You're not being unreasonable at all, in fact, you're completely right."

"Is that so?"

At the rate things were going, we were definitely not going to make it in time for the event.

If there was anything that I learned from working in the committee last year, then it would be that putting up with the incompetence of the chairman was sure to lead to disaster.

It took way too much effort to try to fix their mistakes. It would've been way easier if I took action much sooner last year.

Change of plans. It's time for me to go for the offensive.

If Sagami has some sort of objective that he could only achieve by being the Committee Chairman then it's suffice to say that if he achieved it, he has no reason to be the chairman anymore.

In that case, the quickest way to resolve this would then be to try and cooperate with Sagami to accomplish his goals.

But then, what are his goals even?

.

.

.

Nah, pondering about it without any solid leads like this won't let me go anywhere.

Depending on how I play my cards, there was one surefire way to get the information that I want to know.

It can't be helped then, how about I try asking from him nicely?

After all, there are some things that we don't want really want to share with others even if they are your friends or rather, it's exactly because they're your friends that you don't want to trouble them.

"Miura, can I ask you for a favor?"

This strange yet familiar feeling which compelled me to move…

While I can't really put it into words, it was surely something along the lines of…

The desire to help a friend.

…

Loner Skill No. 8: Stealth Hikki.

With all the other high-profile students present on the room, it was easy for someone like me to slip away without being noticed.

The reason I was doing so was obvious.

It was to follow this year's Culture Festival Committee Chairman, Sagami to wherever it was he was heading.

For the past three days, this guy always chooses to leave the classroom a few minutes after everyone gets started with their work.

It's like he's purposely avoiding the possibility of us getting him to stamp some documents early.

Is this sabotage perhaps?

What was he going to gain from doing something like that?

That was what I was going to try and find out later.

As I tailed him, I noticed that he didn't seem to have any particular destination.

He was just wandering around the school campus.

He did however seem to have some sort of criteria in mind but as he kept walking, he wasn't able to find any place that fit so far.

After a short while, it seemed like he lost his patience and opted to just go outside instead.

The timing at which he did so was very similar to how the other person following me also lost hers.

Well, they are siblings after all.

The fact that she followed me after I went outside meant that she already had her eyes on me even before I used Stealth Hikki. It was one of the few weaknesses of the skill.

The younger Sagami eventually settled on a place in school that was close to my heart. It would probably rank second after the Service Club clubroom.

It was the stairs near the back of the Tennis Club courts where you could feel the sea breeze during lunch time.

Since I've been eating at the classroom with the other members of the clique that I've been classmates with this year, it's been a while since I've hung out in this place.

Though I would've preferred if the set circumstances didn't involve the stressful confrontation that was about to happen soon.

I observed him for a short while before I decided to interact with him.

After all, there is something you can only discern from taking note of the involuntary body language of the other party especially when they're in this state where their guard is down and they thought no one was watching them.

Loner Skill No. 2: Spectator Hikki.

He was frowning, his eyes were closed and his hand gripped the stairs' railing hard enough that it felt like he wanted to crush it between his fingers.

To me, it looked like an act of shame and regret, perhaps even pain.

That means, he is completely aware that his current actions will most likely lead to the cancellation of the Culture Festival or at the very least, Sobu would end up hosting an event that will be way below its usual standards.

Hmm… In that case, is the hypothesis where he was getting bullied actually correct?

If I wait a little longer, maybe I'll get to see the identity of said bully, take a recording or something and then just turn them over to the rest of the gang to get this case closed.

But that plan of mine evaporated after I saw the next thing that Sagami did.

He was taking deep breaths and by the end of it, his face was filled with resolve.

That was not the expression someone would make if they were being bullied.

From this, it can be inferred that whatever his goal is, it was a prerequisite that the coming festival will not become a successful one.

With this information, I don't even need to know his motives anymore.

So long as the festival succeeds, everyone who is looking forward to the event is happy and we also get to fulfill Hatano's request because Sagami's weird behavior will likely stop after that.

But…

Since I'm here anyways, I might as well extract as much information as I can about this person who's been bringing me several headaches for quite some time now.

In other words…

Let me vent a bit.

Loner Skill No. 50: Maou Hikki.

"So this is where you've been."

Understandably, Sagami was frightened when someone suddenly spoke to him like this when he thought he's been on his own for this entire time.

"You! What are you doing here?!" Sagami pointed his index finger at me rather accusingly. "Shouldn't you be at the Student Council Office?"

"Ha! I don't want to hear that from you of all people," my retort caused Sagami to reel back in shame.

If he understood that he's doing something stupid then why is he still going through with this, I wonder.

"I'll cut to the chase," I sharpened my eyes such that it was just right under the boundary of what you'd call a glare. All I needed was to apply pressure and not to frighten him after all. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

His pathetic attempt at playing dumb made me sigh. Is he really going to take this route when I'm so used to dealing with Haruno-san and Iroha's antics?

I'm pretty sure I'm at the point where I could get a degree for this.

"Look, Sagami. We've worked together before and I know you're not as incompetent as your sister so-"

If you could get your act together, were the words I wasn't able to say because Sagami himself decided to interrupt me.

"She's got nothing to do with this!" Sagami exclaimed rather strongly.

Hey, hey, if you say something like that with that kind of intensity then it only makes me think of the exact opposite and that your sister is most definitely one of the reasons why you're doing something this incomprehensible.

At the same time…

"Just who do you think you're calling incompetent?!" an enraged Sagami Minami came out of her oh-so-obvious hiding place and revealed herself. As expected, one single provocation was enough to smoke her out.

"Nee-san!" the younger Sagami's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you doing here?!"

"That's..!" from her expression, it was obvious that popping out impulsively like that was not part of her plan but she tried to gloss over her blunder by coughing and adopting the visage of a strict older sister. "I'm here to try to get you to straighten up, you idiot little brother!"

Those words easily triggered a reaction from the younger Sagami.

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" the rebellious younger brother spat out words laced with a lot of venom towards his own older sister. After doing so, he then turned to leave.

While I knew that their relationship as siblings wasn't the best, I had no idea that it was this bad.

"Hey! You!" the sister tried to reach out her hand to grab her brother but the latter swatted it away.

"Don't you dare follow me!" he directed a glare to both me and his sister before finally getting away from this place.

Had I been a nosier person, I would've told him to apologize to his sister for glaring at her, shouting at her and even physically harming her but since I am not fully aware of the dynamics of their relationship, I decided to keep my mouth shut.

For all I know, Sagami Minami may have done a couple of things in the past that her brother didn't quite take well and everything that had been bottled inside burst out just now.

At any rate, now that the younger Sagami has left, I had no reason to stay in this area anymore so I also chose to leave.

But before I could do so…

"Hey!"

Sagami Minami just had to go ahead and call my attention.

Since there was no one else around, I couldn't use my previous trick of pretending that I didn't know that I was the one she was calling out to.

"Can I help you?" I respond courteously but it was obvious from the involuntary grimace on my face that I wanted nothing more than to get this over with as soon as possible.

"What was that about me being incompetent, huh?!" Sagami glared at me as she raised her protest.

Apparently, it bothered her more than I thought.

Even then, I didn't think I'm obliged to apologize to her.

After all, what I said was just a solid fact.

Furthermore, I really didn't have the time to waste on her.

"Exactly what it's supposed to mean," I say in a matter-of-fact manner which seemed to really grate on her nerves.

"I'm not the same person as I was last year!" she declared while placing both of her hands on her waist and puffing her chest proudly. It was obvious that she wasn't used to doing such an action as it lacked the queenly majesty that Yukino or Miura naturally emitted.

"Is that so?" I say while being completely uninterested. It's not really my business if she changed or not in all honesty. "Is that all that you wanted to say to me?"

"Y-Y-Yes. Pretty much," she says a little awkwardly, while trying to avert her eyes away from me. It seems like confronting me like this was also not part of her plan.

Not like it matters to me, personally.

"I see."

With that, I moved to the nearest vending machine and purchased two drinks, one of them being a can of Max Coffee of course, while the second one was a carton of strawberry milk.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be taking my leave."

Before I could take another step, Sagami once again chose to interrupt me.

"Wait! I'll come with you. I have to finish my work as well."

Well, well, well, maybe, just maybe she was not just all talk after all but I'm not going to keep my hopes up.

"Suit yourself."

During our walk back, I noticed her eyes cast passing glances on the strawberry milk that I was holding on my left hand.

Was she expecting me to give it to her?

There's no way, right?

…

Because Sagami went with me, my return to the Student Council Office wasn't as unnoticed as my departure.

As such, I was treated to a good number of judging stares from the people who were left behind however, thanks to the thick skin that I developed from working for the Yukinoshitas, I was able to shrug it off easily.

"Good work, Miura. Thanks for holding the fort while I was out."

For some reason, even though I was the one who greeted her, Miura's attention locked on to the other person who returned with me, that being Sagami Minami.

"You two went together?"

"As if! Who'd want to go with this creep?!" Sagami answered angrily before strutting to her seat.

Because of that, even more eyes were now looking towards our direction albeit briefly.

I sighed.

Is there really no end to the troublesomeness of that girl?

I ignored the stares from the peanut gallery once again and just returned to my seat.

"Here," I handed the carton of strawberry milk to Miura after I sat down. "A token of my gratitude or apology, whichever way you wanna look at it."

I could see Miura's mood noticeably improve after receiving her drink.

"Thanks. I was really getting thirsty too," Miura moved her hand to her pocket and fished out her wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing. Like I said, it's a little thank you for covering me earlier."

"You sure? In that case, I'll happily oblige."

When she punched the straw to the milk carton, I also chose to open my can of coffee while I scanned the remaining paperwork on my desk.

After Miura was a few sips down on her drink, she decided to ask me a question.

"So? Did you learn anything?"

"Yeah, somewhat. Let's talk about it later," without warning, I grabbed the rest of Miura's papers and piled it on top of mine. "You must be tired. Go ahead and take a break, I'll deal with the rest."

"Eh? Are you sure? That's quite a lot of things you have piled up."

"Don't worry, I can manage."

"Well, if you say so," Miura leaned towards me a little and whispered a few words on my ear. "I'll see you at the Service Club then?"

That act caught me off-guard. While the strawberry milk really did wonders in improving her mood, this kind of Miura was also dangerous in its own way.

"Yeah, sure."

When Miura took her leave, it was now time for me to confront the pile that I volunteered to deal with on my own.

But like I said earlier, this was not a big issue for the current me.

As a by-product of working for the Yukinoshita family, my ability to deal with paperwork has also substantially improved.

That's why even though I was a bit behind because of my earlier stunt of trying to talk with the younger Sagami, I was still able to finish all the documents on my end as well as Miura's surplus before I had to go meet with the others in the Service Club, much to the dismay of the other Sagami beside me.

…

Later that day, the clique was once again gathered on the Service Club clubroom like they've chosen to do so in the past few days ever since Hatano's request.

At this point, I gave up wondering about it anymore and just chose to go with the flow.

"Hachi-kun, did you finally understand what Sagami-kun's intentions are?" Yukino asked straightforwardly. You can tell from her expression how fed up she was with the current state of affairs.

If she wasn't in her senior year, she would've taken action and wrest control of the situation with her own two hands already but because the third years' role in this was only to act as support, the rules discourage her from doing exactly that.

"I'm not quite sure yet but without a doubt, it definitely has something to do with the Cultural Festival," my eyes then sharpened as I adjusted my statement. "Or rather, the failure of one."

"What?!"

"Eh?!"

"Seriously?!"

Everyone noticeably became startled upon hearing my words. Though she was holding it in quite well, even Yukino herself was panicking a little bit.

"Do you mean to say he's trying to sabotage the festival? What would he even gain from doing that?"

"That's the part I'm still confused about but without a doubt his goal seems to be screwing over the festival preparations. Otherwise, all of his actions so far wouldn't make any sense."

"Isn't that bad?"

"It is. After all, the Cultural Festival does not only concern the students but also the faculty and the school's reputation itself." Hayama answered Saika's inquiry while wearing a frown.

The reason for Hayama or rather, Hayato's anger is simple.

If Sobu's reputation plummets on the year when he's currently enrolled as a senior, it will reflect badly on him, which also translates to incurring his parents' dissatisfactions, something Hayama found unpleasant to his very core.

"Can't we just replace the chairman?"

I shook my head towards Saki's suggestion.

"The turnover and all that will be a hassle at this point and I don't think any of the second-years would be willing to clean up this mess," I sighed as I massaged my temple to nurse the headache that all this festival preparations is giving me. "Furthermore, if that younger Sagami's goal really is the festival then there's no way he's going to stay quiet if we make an aggressive move like that."

"In that case, we need to devise a plan to make the festival successful without alerting Sagami-senpai. Did I get that right, Aniki?"

"Yes but that's easier said than done."

At this point, I was already so done with this situation that I was resting my head on the table in exasperation.

"Hachi, do you have a plan?"

Even though Yui was the one who asked, when I took a peek at everyone else from my resting position, I could see expectant glances being cast by every occupant in the room.

They were fully expecting for me to have the perfect plan for us get out of this predicament.

Unfortunately for them, their trust is misplaced.

"I've got nothing," my straightforward answer seems to have surprised everyone. "Since the scale of this is the entire school, there's only so much that I can do as a singular student."

"Hikitani-kun, can you at least tell us what you're thinking about right now?"

I sighed before I entertained Ebina's request.

"Before we think about salvaging the festival preparations, we have to find a way to get around the three rules that Sagami established first," I raised my index finger, middle finger and ring finger for emphasis. "I've already thought about how to deal with rules number two and three," I lowered the latter two fingers as I spoke. "It's the first rule which involves a majority of the student body that I don't know how to deal with."

"The first rule is the one which says that the representatives can freely assist in their class' preparations if they wanted to, right?" I nodded towards Yui's inquiry. "Then, wouldn't they understand if we just ask them nicely?"

"I don't think it's going to be that that easy…" I scratched my head and was about to explain but before I could say another word, Yui's prior statement gave me an idea.

I then alternated my gaze towards the people present in the clubroom.

The first being Hayama Hayato, the most popular guy in school.

The next was Miura Yumiko, arguably, depending on who you ask, the most popular girl in school.

Then there's Yukinoshita Yukino, the other most popular girl in school and also the top student of our year.

Saika, Tobe, Yamato and Ooka are all rather respected senpais in their respective sports clubs.

Zaimokuza himself is infamous in some small otaku groups in the school.

Ebina is also in contact with the fujoshi community in Sobu which regrettably exist.

As for the lower years, there is Komachi who already has a network among the first-years even before the semester began and there is also the second-year Iroha who has gotten quite a following since assuming the role of the Student Council President.

Last but not the least was Yui who was basically friends with everyone in the school.

Wait a second, this might actually work?

"Oh…"

"What do you mean oh?"

"Did you think of something, Aniki?"

The impatient Yukino and excited Taishi asked me respectively.

"Yeah, but I'll need a lot help."

This time, the one who responded was the idiot trio composed of Tobe, Ooka and Yamato.

"You can count on us Hikitani bro."

"Say the word, Hikitani!"

"It's not often that you rely on us, after all. We'll give it our best!"

That was exactly what I wanted to hear.

Thus, in the most neutral face that I could make and the flattest tone that I could muster, I summarized my plan in one line that I was sure would motivate anyone to work with me once they hear it.

"We're going to use the power of friendship."

Despite the positive vibe of the words that I said, everyone still shivered in fright.

Eh? Did I stutter?

---

SS: For Once, Isshiki Iroha's Uninvited Intervention Was Helpful

"I'll be going ahead," said Hikigaya as he closed the door behind him.

"Take care!" came all the greetings from the rest of the clique who chose to remain in the Library's conference room before they all moved together and changed locations to the Service Club clubroom where Hikigaya Komachi and Kawasaki Taishi welcomed them.

As to why Hikigaya chose to leave early then that was because of his part-time job with the Yukinoshitas. Between that, being a member of the Cultural Festival Committee and his studies in preparation for the upcoming university exams, he was given special privilege by former Service Club President, Yukinoshita Yukino and current Service Club President, Hikigaya Komachi to leave earlier than the others.

Today was the first day after Hatano made his request to the Service Club.

After the Service Club laid out what they'll tentatively do yesterday, it was agreed that they'll regularly exchange information for the duration of the Cultural Festival preparations but because nothing noteworthy has happened today, Hikigaya Hachiman had no reason to come to the clubroom and the same can be said for the rest of the third-years.

Despite that being the case, the others still chose to be here today.

As such, this gathering is not related to Hatano's request at all.

"Well then, I recall that you three had something to talk about that requires Hachi-kun to not be here. Care to share that now?" Yukinoshita's gaze landed on the three she mentioned, them being Tobe, Ooka and Yamato.

"It's not like we have a solid idea really," Yamato scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "There's just something we want to consult with you."

"In that case, you've come to the right place though I believe Hachi-kun's input would also be helpful as well."

"That would be difficult." Ooka pointed out. "You see, what we wanted to ask about is if there's something we can do to help Hikitani."

"You want to help Hachi-kun?" Yukinoshita blinked twice in surprise. "What brought this up?"

"Ah! It's nothing too serious," Yamato waved his hands about before clarifying. "It's just that when I offhandedly mentioned his name to some of my younger clubmates, all of them did not have the best opinion of him."

"It's the same on my side as well," Ooka added. "Some of them even said that he was a member of the yakuza."

"Even if it's Hikio, isn't that too much?" Miura indignantly complained and her point resonated well with the others.

"Yes. We were thinking maybe we can do something to help improve Hikitani bro's reputation so we wanted to ask for the Service Club's advice."

"Count me in!" Yuigahama declared while standing up. "It's not just about giving advice; we'll give it our all to help! Isn't that right, Yukinon?"

The blue-eyed ravenette smiled. "Yes. Though Hachi-kun can sometimes be a little problematic, it doesn't change the fact that he's our friend. You have my full cooperation as well."

"Komachi will help too!" the younger Hikigaya raised her hand fervently. "If its information about Onii-chan you want then look no further than Komachi."

"Oh! We're counting on you Komachi-chan!" Komachi puffed her chest out after hearing Yuigahama's encouragement.

After that, all the other occupants of the room began to join in, one-by-one.

"If it's about sharing Aniki's greatness, then I'm in!" offered Kawasaki Taishi while he closed both of his fists to pump himself up.

"In the countless battlefields that we've walked together I've owed Hachiman several times, it's about time I pay even a fraction of that debt," the overly long introduction came from Zaimokuza. "Please allow this lowly self to offer his meager assistance!"

"Come to think of it, I've always been the one helped by Hachiman," Totsuka giggled. "Let me know if there's something I can help with, I'd love to do so."

"Well, since Taishi's also helping, I'll have to do my part as well," Kawasaki Saki said with a blush. "I do owe that lazy bum a lot after all."

"I'm his friend too so of course I also want to help!" Miura declared while one of her hands began twirling on her blonde hair.

"Hikitani-kun has also been a big help to me as well," though there were some events with Hikigaya that Ebina couldn't reveal so easily, it didn't change the fact that she was indeed helped by that pessimistic logician in multiple occasions. "Please let me assist in any way."

"Of course, you can count me in too," Hayama plugged in at the very end. Since everyone else was on board with the idea already, there was no way someone like him who can't go against the majority will disagree.

With that, everyone was now in agreement to execute Operation: Improve Hikigaya Hachiman's Reputation.

"That being said," Hayama suddenly took the lead of the discussion. "Exactly how are we going to help fix Hikigaya's reputation?"

"Oh, I know! We should highlight his good points!" Yuigahama made a suggestion in good cheer.

"Hachi-kun's good points, huh?" Yukinoshita brought a hand to her chin and began to think but even after pondering for a short while, she still wasn't able to come up with something.

"Hey, Yukino, you're kidding, right? You can't think of anything?" Yukinoshita denied Miura's accusation by shaking her head.

"It's not like I can't come up with anything positive. Hachi-kun does have his good points but those are, how should I say it, hard for the general student body to understand. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Well, I guess that's true."

As they were stuck in that impasse, Hikigaya Komachi managed to cook up a good idea.

"How about everyone writes down what they think is Onii-chan's best point and we'll all look at them together afterwards?" the younger Hikigaya quickly fetched her notebook and pen then passed both articles to the person beside her, namely Kawasaki Taishi. "We'll start with you Taishi."

"Eh? Uh… Okay," Taishi promptly received the two items and wrote down a couple of words on it before handing it over to the next person.

Before long, the entire room's occupants were gathered around the notebook which contained their respective thoughts of their mutual friend, Hikigaya Hachiman.

Aniki is wise.

Since it was public knowledge that Taishi went first and given the honorific that was used, it was obvious who wrote this line.

Hachiman is a very kind person.

From the beaming smile he was currently wearing, the writer could only be Totsuka Saika.

Hikitani bro is a good bro.

Needless to say, the writer was Tobe and for some reason he was wearing an expression that assumed that he wrote something really smart.

Hachiman is cunning, brave, unscrupulous…

An essay that took over an entire page was next and from the way it was written, it could've only been done by Zaimokuza. This was further supported by the fact that he took the most time in writing in the notebook. Naturally, the clique decided on omitting the bulk of what he wrote and moved on to the next, much to his dismay.

He has high scores in subjects concerning the liberal arts.

Anyone could have written this about him but from the way Ooka scratched his head and awkwardly averted his eyes, he basically admitted that it was him.

He's good at looking out for his siblings.

It was another generic phrase that anyone could write but if you look closely at the blushing cheeks of one misunderstood delinquent then you can immediately tell that it was Kawasaki all along.

Hachi's a pet lover!

All eyes instantly went to Yuigahama at that moment who only giggled embarrassedly from being found out.

Hikitani-kun can be either an uke or a seme.

Those strange words that brought goosebumps to the male half of the clique can only be written by Ebina Hina but the prime suspect just wore her usual amiable smile as if she did/wrote nothing wrong whatsoever.

Hikitani is surprisingly athletic.

With all the others who addressed Hikigaya as Hikitani done already, the only possible writer of this was Yamato.

Hikio is very smart. He always seems to come up with solutions for everything.

It was already obvious who wrote this just from the nickname. At the same time, it was also very in-character of Miura to have so much faith in one of her friends.

Hachi-kun is a witty person.

As the only one who regularly bickers with the person-in-question and given the elegant handwriting of the statement, the writer was undoubtedly Yukinoshita Yukino.

Hikigaya is a dependable friend.

Since he was the only one remaining, the last line was of course, done by Hayama. The safe and inoffensive manner in which he constructed his statement also falls in line with his usual tendencies.

At the end of it all, despite each of them writing a unique good point of Hikigaya Hachiman, none of them were traits that other people will be able to easily resonate with.

In other words, they were back to square one.

At that time, something unexpected happened.

"Yahallo!" the door opened to reveal a flaxen-haired fox who was wearing an impish smile. "Wait, Hachi-senpai isn't here anymore?" Isshiki Iroha became a little disheartened after hearing that fact but immediately bounced back after noticing someone else's presence. "Ah! Hayama-senpai is here!" the little devil then changed her target and approached him instead.

Hayama was awkward at first but upon remembering that this girl in front of him was quite close with Hikigaya whom they've been talking about earlier, Hayama decided to take a shot in the dark.

"Hey, Iroha…"

After a few minutes of listening to everything being explained to her, Isshiki nodded in understanding.

"In other words, you wanted to improve Hachi-senpai's reputation with the other students and thought that utilizing his good points was the best route to take?"

"Yeah, something like that, do you think you can help us out?" Hayama made his usual perfect smile as he pleaded but it didn't seem to be necessary as Isshiki already looked willing to cooperate.

"I mean, isn't this easy? After all, Hachi-senpai is…"

When Isshiki finished her words, most of the people in the room were simultaneously struck with a sense of realization.

"That's it!" they all exclaimed at the same time.

"I'm surprised no one thought about it yet," doubt colored Isshiki's eyes before it changed into excitement. "So, is that what the senpais are planning?"

"Yeah. If you don't mind Iroha, can you make arrangements for us?"

Isshiki puffed her chest proudly. "That won't be a problem. I'm the Student Council President after all!"

Last year, in order to redirect the student body's dissatisfactions of the Festival Committee Chairman, Hikigaya took all the hatred upon himself by insulting said individual on her face, thus effectively becoming the villain or rather, the scapegoat in the end and building a foundation to become the most hated student in Sobu.

This year, on the same event, the clique that he was now a member of seemed to have found a way to turn everything around.

After all, there is one surefire way to overwrite the thoughts that other people have of you.

And that was to imprint them with a more overwhelming memory.

"Komachi-chan, I trust you won't say anything to your Onii-chan about this…"

"Of course, you can leave it to Komachi! I can even help with setting things up, if you like."

"Thanks, that will be a big help," Hayama's gaze then moved towards the trio who suggested for all this. "Well then, Tobe, Ooka and Yamato, we're going to be busy."

"Yeah! You can count on us Hayato-kun!"

"It's going to be a blast!"

"That Hikitani better be ready!"

Komachi looked at the third-years making merry and smiled. Amidst her happy expression however, she was doing her best in holding back tears of joy.

Onii-chan, you found really good friends, didn't you? Komachi's so happy for you!

---

SSS: Wherein Hikigaya Hachiman Interacts With More Than One Fujoshi Albeit Reluctantly

Welcome Home, My Princess!

It was the title of an otome game that is now one of the most talked about topics in Japan.

The player enters the game as the daughter of a noble and is asked a few questions after you proceed from the title screen.

Depending on how you answer, a different butler is assigned to you.

There is no option for a reverse-harem ending.

There is only one conquest target and that happens to be the butler character that you get after answering the introductory questions.

Each butler has a different personality and the way the story is told is vastly different depending on which conquest target was given to you initially.

There are six possible candidates and whoever you ended up with, the rest of the five butlers are distributed to the other female NPCs which end up being your classmates.

Because of this weird set-up, the game wasn't too popular to its target audience at the beginning.

In fact, its current popularity was not because of the original otome game in the first place.

It was because of the incidental compatibility that these six male characters had with each other.

In other words…

They were prime BL material.

The turning point for these series began when a well-known artist posted their drawing about their own BL ship in their socials.

Following that, several other artists famous or not, began posting more and more BL ships of the franchise's characters online.

Ever since then, the popularity of all the BL artworks of said franchise skyrocketed to the point that doujinshi made from big names have even begun to be circulated.

In the first month, fan-made arts easily trumped the source material's debut in its first year.

It wasn't even close.

And by some strange coincidence…

The most popular character in the game just happened to be a black-haired guy who wears glasses.

How is this relevant?

Well, there is one biannual event held during summer in Japan that otakus all over the world would love to attend at least once in their life.

The Summer Comiket.

And there is one particular member of the most popular clique in Sobu that planned to go to that event this year.

Though, she's currently on a pickle.

As such, she required the help of someone she knew.

…

On a supposedly peaceful summer day, Hikigaya Hachiman woke up early in the morning feeling refreshed.

He had neither prior commitments nor obligations to do for today so for the first time in a long while, the cynic could just laze around for the entirety of the day…

*ring* *ring*

And just when he thought about it like that, his phone suddenly received a call.

Since it was within his arm's reach, he checked the caller's identity first before deciding whether he should ignore it or not. There were only a couple of people who would call him at such an early time after all and if it ended up that he ignored Haruno's call then he'll be in hot water.

Ebina Hina?

The caller ended up being one of the female members of the clique he belonged to in school.

The Hikigaya Hachiman three to five years prior would've immediately be in cloud nine after getting a call from such a cute girl but with the jaded cynic that he's become, he could only harbor doubt.

Since he himself knew that he possessed nothing that would make a girl pay any special attention to him then that could only mean that this girl most probably just wanted to ask him for a favor.

However, because said girl also happened to be his friend, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and at least hear her out for now.

"Yo, Ebina."

No sooner from Hikigaya's greeting did Ebina decide to go on the offensive.

"Good morning, Hikitani-kun. You're free today, right? Can I ask you for a favor?"

Sometimes he can't help but hate himself for being right.

"I refuse." came Hikigaya's refusal the moment he heard Ebina's request. Unlike a certain half-vampire high-schooler, his delivery did not contain much emotion but instead was just languid and lacking in energy simply because he just got up from bed. [1]

"But I haven't even said anything yet."

"No."

"Eh?!"

At that, Hikigaya sighed.

"What's this about?"

"Does that mean you changed your mind and you want to help me instead?"

"No, I was just a little curious," Hikigaya clarified. "If you don't want to share that's fine too. See you later."

"Wait wait wait. I can explain!" Ebina hurriedly added in a panic.

A few seconds later, a drowsy Hikigaya Hachiman regretted his decision.

As it turns out, Ebina along with her otaku friends decided on selling their doujinshi during the Summer Comiket that was going to be held today.

However, as they were all girls who were rather timid, they thought that they wouldn't be able to deal with some people with troublesome personalities so they asked if any of them had male acquaintances that aren't too uncomfortable with BL and Ebina apparently volunteered Hikigaya Hachiman without his prior consent.

Now that he knew that there were security reasons involved, he couldn't just leave Ebina by her lonesome otherwise he'll incur the wrath of the female half of the clique.

At this point, he could only curse his drowsiness but at the same time, it also wasn't like him to not even try to resist.

"Have you tried calling Tobe or any of the other guys?"

There was a short pause in their conversation before Ebina gave her answer.

"You know that I find it difficult to show this side of myself to them."

Hikigaya could easily picture the frown that Ebina was making on the other side of the phone. He once again cursed his still half-asleep brain for his lack of tact.

He tried to come up with other ways such that he could secure Ebina's safety without getting personally involved but they were either too impractical or something Ebina herself would find a little uncomfortable with.

By the end of it all, Hikigaya sighed in defeat.

"Where should we meet?"

…

Thanks to the good habits fostered (read: forced) by Yukimama on him, Hikigaya now woke up much earlier than in the past and so, he was able to arrive before the actual opening of the event despite only having been informed by it on such short notice.

That time allowance helped as the venue was a 30-minute train ride away from Chiba.

Summer Comiket is held in Tokyo Big Sight, the largest international exhibition center in Japan.

Once he got close to the location, Hikigaya already had a headache from seeing the sheer number of people outside waiting for the front entrance to officially open.

It was his first time coming to Summer Comiket.

As an otaku himself, he'd always wanted to attend this event at least once in his life but the distance from his house as well as the crowd of people was a turnoff for him so he never bothered.

Now that he had to help a friend in need, he now has another excuse to come here so he chose to not miss the opportunity.

He was not being a pushover.

This was just him being efficient.

It was essentially hitting two birds with one stone.

Or so he tells himself.

Since he was entering as a member of a group who was planning to sell doujinshi i.e., a circle, he was allowed to go inside the venue from a different entrance. In order to do so however, he had to meet up with the perpetrator of why he had to go through this hassle as she was his only proof of identity.

Who else could it be but Sobu's notorious bespectacled fujoshi, Ebina Hina?

"Yahallo, Hikitani-kun," greeted Ebina in her summer attire composed of an airy blouse, long skirt, sandals and a hat. Despite combining her appeal with her cutesy way of greeting him, the best it did to Hikigaya was make his cheeks a little redder, his eyes however were locked on Ebina's own and they didn't look the least bit happy.

"Just to let you know, you owe me big time for this, alright?" Hikigaya dropped that before Ebina could say anything else.

"I know, I know, Hikitani-kun." Ebina smiled apologetically. "Now come on let introduce you to the others," she continued while grabbing Hikigaya's wrist and dragging him towards one of the booths set up in the event.

Because the volume of people outside took his attention, Hikigaya almost forgot how huge of a venue Tokyo Big Sight is.

Rows of booths lined up as far as his eyes could see, with each one trying to display their own uniqueness through using bright colors, adding flamboyant designs, some showed off their skills by putting on a large drawing that they made themselves and others even resorted to cosplaying as one of the characters in their doujinshi.

In spite of how ridiculously many groups are present; the event organizers were still able to properly contain all of this chaos in an orderly fashion.

If one looked closely enough, the exhibition hall is separated into two major areas, one of them presented the written media which contained the mangas and drawings while the other one displayed digital media where they shared fan-made music, videos and even games.

Each section is divided into four areas which are arranged by the type of content they wished to showcase.

Right next to the entrance housed material for trending series and are safe for all ages. What can usually be found here are doujinshi about what happened to the hero after he defeated his arch-nemesis or an epic fight between two popular characters that will never happen simply because they belong in different series.

As you go deeper into the hall, the level of degeneracy also increases proportionally.

The next area featured all kinds of romance-oriented themes without the physical aspect just yet. The most sought after items here are usually the stories about the male/female lead (depending on which applies) getting together with a different partner. Even if it wasn't canon, if you see someone who likes the same ship as you and even made an entire doujinshi about it, you'd go all out to try and support them. This space was pervaded by that kind of emotion.

After this, came the 18+ age restricted zone. This was where the bulk of the doujinshi groups are situated. One could even say that this is the section where the whole event truly lives or dies. The reason for that is simple. Where and when can the ideas of doujinshi writers be openly shared with the rest of the community without being criticized? That's right. It was only here. To some people, this was not just an event to buy rare pieces of media from; it was also the bastion of their self-expression.

That being said, this was not the final level in the event.

Even further back was a place that even someone as rotten as Ebina Hina would be reluctant to go to.

That region could best be described by the word abyss.

As curious as Hikigaya was to find out more about it, he chose to prioritize his primary reason of being here in the first place.

And that was to lend a helping hand to his friend, Ebina Hina.

Unsurprisingly, Hikigaya was led by Ebina to the 18+ age restricted zone. If he wasn't brought to somewhere similar by this same girl before then he would've been in a much more nervous state. Was he being conditioned at that time? If that was the case, Ebina Hina was one scary girl.

Needless to say, because of her peculiar tastes, Hikigaya was brought towards the booths which featured BL. Without exception, every single girl on this area that they passed by on the way to the booth of Ebina's circle casted curious glances on a guy like him waltzing into this space though he chose to ignore them all for the time being as paying too much attention to it all was not the best for his mental health.

Upon finally reaching their booth and seeing Ebina's otaku friends, it was here that Hikigaya's mental moniker (i.e., bespectacled fujoshi) of Ebina Hina became redundant.

After all, the other five members of the circle could also be described in the same manner.

The first one was called Chie. She had her brown hair tied into pigtails and her frisky attitude reminded him a lot of Komachi, his younger sister. She also happens to be the shortest girl among the bunch. Despite appearances, she was the main artist of the circle.

The name of the next girl was Airi. She had wavy pink hair and from the way she spoke and carried herself, she seems to possess a gentle disposition and the vibe of a strait-laced honor student. Her role for the circle involves the other affairs that didn't involve the creating of the doujinshi itself. In other words, accounting, taking care of the members, securing their art supplies, etc.

The third one had green hair fixed into a short ponytail and gave a more mature impression than the rest, Mai. Given that trait, she acts as the leader of the group. She, along with Ebina, apparently came up with the story behind the doujinshi. She also helps out a lot in the other affairs that Airi deals with.

Another member was a tall girl that was only a couple of centimeters short of Hikigaya's own height. She is Mika. Her hair was purple and it was arranged in a crisp bob manner giving her a more boyish impression. Given her body outline, she is the designated model of the group when they need reference on how poses and the like worked. If it's required, she's also the one that does cosplay for the group.

The fifth girl is Emi. She has her gray hair tied into a fishtail braid. She was the type of girl who easily gets excited or discouraged depending on the situation. In other words, she wore her heart on her sleeve. She is the secondary artist of the work and she focuses mainly on the background and other minute details while Chie took care of how the characters themselves look.

Finally, the last one among them was his current classmate and friend Ebina Hina, the doujinshi's co-writer, with her trademark shoulder-length hair and olive-green eyes.

"Oh! You really managed to bring a guy! That's a relief!" said Emi as she released a sigh of relief thus, causing her chest to move up and down as she did so. Hikigaya had to physically stop his eyes from wandering towards that vicinity as it happened.

"Is he the one who is going to cosplay as Raven-sama?" said Chie as she enthusiastically approached the raven-haired guy while still tactfully keeping her distance.

After it picked up a word he was hoping to have heard wrong, Hikigaya's ears immediately sent a red alert signal to his brain.

"Hey, Ebina?" Hikigaya's head creaked towards his friend with a threatening glint on his eyes that were already scary enough on its own. "How come I didn't hear anything about this cosplay thing?"

Before the cynic could even make eye contact with her, Ebina already turned her head away and was sweating bullets.

"Ahahaha…" rang out Ebina's forced laughter. "It must've slipped off of my mind. Silly me."

"I'm going home," he dropped before turning to leave but Ebina was one step ahead of him and grabbed him by the arm.

"Okay. I'm sorry I didn't say anything," Ebina pleaded. "It's because I knew you wouldn't say yes if I told you in advance."

"What great foresight you have, Ebina, now if you'll excuse me…"

Hikigaya tried to yank his arm away from Ebina but before he could completely do so, the rest of the circle's members crowded around him.

In no time at all, he was surrounded by different scents of fruit-based shampoos and flower-based perfumes.

"Don't go!"

"We really really really need your help."

"Please! You're the only one we can rely on."

With all the workout he has been doing in the past few weeks, he should've at least been able to offer a better act of resistance but with the way things are arranged right now, it would risk him hurting the girls physically so he refrained from doing so.

Hikigaya Hachiman was no pushover.

For emphasis, it shall be repeated.

Hikigaya Hachiman was no pushover.

However…

If a group of six relatively cute girls beg to him from all sides then even he would find it difficult to refuse them, especially not from such a close distance.

That last line in particular was extremely dangerous as it was one of the top phrases that can trigger a guy's protective instincts.

If I just ignored Ebina's phone call then I wouldn't be put in this position in the first place, Hikigaya lamented mentally.

It wasn't even noon yet and Hikigaya was already forced to sigh in defeat twice.

Now that he thought about it, sighing in this manner has become a habit to him as of recently.

He wasn't the most superstitious kind of person but if it was ever true that your happiness escapes every time you sigh, he was getting a little worried about his future.

"Treat me to lunch and pay for my train fare back-and-forth."

That single line sent the other girls except for Ebina into confusion.

After all, as the only one among the six who hung out with this guy periodically, she was much more acquainted with his idiosyncrasies.

"Does that mean?" Ebina's eyes which were filled with hope prompted Hikigaya to grimace.

"I'll do the cosplay thing…" Hikigaya admitted in resignation. "But only if the costume fits," he added as a last act of resistance.

"That's great!"

"We did it!"

"We're saved!"

"Thank you very much, Hikitani-kun!"

The last statement made his eyebrow twitch.

My name is not Hikitani though, he quipped mentally.

…

By yet another strange series of coincidences, the costume that was prepared for Hikigaya…

"It fits!"

Fit him to a T.

In contrast to the despairing Hikigaya, the faces of the bespectacled fujoshis were all filled with glee.

"I can't believe that Hikitani-san has almost the exact same measurements as Raven-sama in the game!" Emi happily cheered with stars twinkling in her eyes.

"Um, Hikitani-san?" the one who asked this time was the pink-haired Airi.

"Yes?" Hikigaya answered blankly. At this point, he didn't care if they got his name wrong anymore.

"Should we do your hair and make-up as well?"

Hearing that made him sigh.

"Do we really have to?"

"Unfortunately…" Airi responded a little apologetically which made Hikigaya feel bad at sounding so reluctant.

"It's fine, do as you will," since he put on the costume already anyways, Hikigaya just chose to resign himself to his fate.

The cynic had been forced to have his face be applied with make-up in more occasions than he hoped for and from there he can deduce that the skills of the girl in front of him who was around the same age as him wasn't that bad considering her youth.

In no time at all, Hikigaya was now looking at a mirror with a face that he wasn't sure he would call his own. The usual bags under his eyes were concealed properly. Both his eyelashes and brows were emphasized in order to lessen the threatening factor of the eyes even by just a little bit. A little hair spray was applied to his hair before it was swept to the left and combed properly.

Long story short, his profile wasn't that different to how he is usually is as Fake Hikki.

"There we go!" Hikigaya mentally forgave Airi because of the satisfied smile she wore after she was done.

"Ohhhh! He looks cool!" Mai clapped her hands as she commented.

Hikigaya knew she was talking about the character he was cosplaying as and not him. Nevertheless, it wasn't often a female stranger complimented him because of his looks so you can't blame him for trying to bask in the afterglow even if it would only be for a few seconds.

"All that's lacking are the finishing touches," Airi turned to consult the rest of her fellow circle members. "Did anyone bring an extra pair of glasses?" in response to that inquiry, Ebina began to search her bag for said item.

"It's not here…" Ebina exclaimed while furrowing her brows. She frantically searched for a few more seconds only for it to end in vain. "Oh no! I might have forgotten it…"

"That's bad! What should we do?!" Emi alternated her gaze worryingly amongst themselves as she spoke.

Like a chain reaction, the other girls also began to slowly but surely feel more anxious.

While the members of the circle were huddled up together in worry, Hikigaya resolved himself to make a difficult decision.

Why am I even doing this to myself, I wonder?

"Will these do?" Hikigaya addressed the girls who got too distracted with one of their blunders that they almost completely forgot about his existence.

Turning around, the six pairs of eyes concealed underneath their respective glasses were able to see Hikigaya now donning his own pair of spectacles.

"Raven-sama?" Chie innocently asked to which Hikigaya responded by immediately taking off his glasses.

"No, I'm not," that swift reply was akin to Hikigaya dousing her with a bucket of cold water.

"Wah!"

The other girls then looked at Hikigaya judgingly after seeing the downcast Chie.

"Hikitani-kun, shouldn't you read the mood and just say yes?" Ebina criticized him with a frown.

"It's exactly because I read the mood that I chose to answer in that manner. Who knows what she would've done if I said yes?" Hikigaya shrugged.

The other girls guiltily averted their eyes away in response.

"Well, at any rate, you really do look a lot like Raven-sama after all," Ebina forcefully changed the topic which Hikigaya didn't bother pointing out.

"I'm not too sure if I should be happy with that kind of praise," Hikigaya smiled wryly while the other girls all giggled.

"Should I tell you a little bit about this character you're cosplaying as?" Mai graciously offered. "While we're at it, should we also let you practice on how a butler usually acts?"

"Yeah, some pointers about the character himself would definitely be a big help however I think with regards to the butler thing, I think I can manage that on my own," Hikigaya replied in an uncharacteristically confident manner. "We don't have much in the way of time after all."

The reason for this inconsistency was simple.

Back during the spring break, Hikigaya had a very short amount of time to learn proper etiquette and decorum before the first event where he was asked to be Haruno's escort. As such, in order to drill the concept of etiquette as quickly and efficiently as possible into his head, the Yukinoshitas made Hikigaya learn it from one of their longest serving butlers.

That was why he was very much acquainted with all the kinds of mannerisms a butler does. His skills with actual butler work still need a lot of work however but if it's just for appearances' sake then he was sure he'll be fine.

In fact, whenever he was free in the office, Haruno would usually make him act as a butler and complete minor tasks expected of one to relieve some stress from her work.

It wasn't something he liked doing but it was also somewhat mandatory for him to master it because of its various applications.

As such, he couldn't help himself from chuckling sardonically at the irony that this one unconventional thing he learned would come in handy for today.

"Well, if you say so."

"Thanks. I'll be in your care," he bowed his head a little as he replied with some of the grace already expected of a butler.

Loner Skill No. 110: Butler Hikki.

…

"Thank you for purchasing the book." Hikigaya said to the buyer while wearing a business smile.

At around 10:00 AM, the event was on full-blast.

Naturally, the most populated area of the event is the 18+ restricted zone.

That much was something that Hikigaya expected however what he didn't foresee was the huge number of girls scrambling towards the BL section.

Overwhelming would be an understatement to what was reflected on Hikigaya's eyes.

Nevertheless, that wasn't much of a concern for him or Ebina's circle.

Welcome Home, My Princess! is a popular title used for doujinshi as such, there were several other groups who were selling their own iteration of it. This, according to Ebina, even included the bigger names in this industry.

The cosplay scheme that the circle tried to set-up was also something done by the other circles so it didn't quite stand out. There were several others dressed as Raven or the other butlers from the otome game all around them.

At around thirty minutes since he's helped watched the stand, the circle was able to sell around three copies. Hikigaya was not quite sure if that was good turnout or not, though if he had to take a guess then it was most probably the latter.

With nothing much to do, Hikigaya's eyes landed on something that he had been trying to avoid staring at ever since he began helping out Ebina and the others.

It was the cover of the doujinshi that this circle decided to put together.

While the theme of the art didn't cross the boundary that Hikigaya mentally labelled as inappropriate what bothered him more is the fact that the character he was cosplaying as, namely Raven, was in there and he was cornering one of the other butlers in the series who was called Tristan. In contrast to the orderly black hair of Raven, Tristan's orange hair was shaggy and he had to use a headband to hold them all together. Something about this Tristan guy reminded him about someone though he can't quite put his finger on whom.

"Interested in reading?" a voice from beside him said. Turning around, he saw the other character on the cover, Tristan in full butler attire, talking to him with a curious smile on his face. Of course, this wasn't the character himself but was instead Mika. The orange hair she had on was nothing more than a wig. "We could give you one free copy if you want," she offered candidly.

"Thanks but I'll only take one if there's extra remaining at the end of the event." Hikigaya returned the book he held on his hand back to the pile.

Mika giggled after hearing the young man's response. "At the rate things are goings, there will surely be several left over but don't worry, we expected as much and besides, we're not really doing this for the money," the girl waved her hands around in denial. "Though it would be nice if our sales are a little better," she added in the end.

"Disregarding the contents that I can't quite uhh, appreciate; the art itself is pretty good. If I wasn't told that this was fan-made, I would think it was done by a professional artist for sure," Hikigaya honestly commented. "So I don't think it will do that poorly in this event, though we might need to do something to catch the attention of other people."

"Hear that, Chie and Emi?" Mika turned towards her two fellow circle members. "Hikitani said he liked your drawings."

"Thank you very much!" Chie made a thousand watt smile after bowing. "It's really reassuring to hear you say that, Hikitani-san."

In contrast to the optimistic Chie, Emi was casting her eyes downwards.

"But the other groups should have made better ones," she sighed. "There's no way we stand a chance."

"Just because other people made something better than what you did, doesn't change the fact that what you've made is indeed good."

Emi looked confused for a few seconds after hearing Hikigaya's words but upon letting them sink in, she was able to understand that she was being comforted in a roundabout manner.

"Thanks, Hikitani-san."

"Don't mention it."

At that moment, the four of them didn't notice that there was one girl approaching them who wanted to buy a copy of their doujinshi.

"Um, excuse me but… Oh no!"

By the time they heard that sound, it was already too late. The girl tripped on her foot and accidentally knocked over some of the copies that were arranged on the corner of the table to the ground.

Luckily, because the front of the booth was pretty much empty, no one else would be potentially hurt from the accident aside from said girl.

Hikigaya moved ahead of the girls and checked the situation with the girl while they began to tidy up the mess done by the accident.

"Good grief," Hikigaya maneuvered himself around the doujinshi and went towards the girl who fell down. "Be a bit more careful next time," he advised the same girl. "Can you stand?"

The girl blinked twice to clear her vision first. Once she was successful in doing so, she was treated to the sight of a young man who looked almost completely identical to her favorite character in Welcome Home, My Princess! Needless to say, she got extremely flustered to the point that she found it difficult to respond.

"I-I-I think I'm okay…" she stuttered multiple times during saying so but she eventually was able to talk.

From Hikigaya's point-of-view however, it looked as if she was indeed in pain because of how she was stuttering.

In this scenario, there was only one thing he could do.

"Do you need help?"

She didn't.

She really didn't.

But if she said no here, she didn't know when something like this will happen to her again…

So she just had to say yes.

"P-P-Please…" the girl answered as she looked away. For the first time in her life she was thankful for being clumsy.

Upon hearing that, Hikigaya grabbed both of her forearms and brought her to a standing position as he himself stood up as well.

"Mm, it seems that you really are okay," Hikigaya quickly scanned the girl for any injuries before turning back and cleaning up some of the doujinshi that were scattered on the ground. "By the way, are you looking to buy one of our doujinshi?"

"Yes!" the girl said in a louder voice than normal. "As thanks for the service, I'd like to buy ten copies."

Eh? Service? Ten copies? What's going on?

That being said, Hikigaya Hachiman was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Thank you very much."

It was only after he took off his attention of the girl who fell down did Hikigaya finally notice the amount of eyes that were on him.

The sound of the books falling down brought their attention towards this direction but it was how Hikigaya moved afterwards that kept them interested.

Accompanying these stares was a series of murmurs that were barely audible because of how noisy the entire exhibition hall was.

"Hey! That scene was straight out of the game, right?"

"Yeah and he executed it so well too!"

"Wasn't that scene what made Raven-sama so iconic?"

"Do you think we could..?"

"I mean it's worth a try…"

From there, one of the girls spectating then decided to approach Hikigaya.

"Um… Excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you can say a line or two from the game just like earlier perhaps?"

Hikigaya looked alternately at the expectant gazes of the women around him.

By the end of it all, his eyes finally landed on Ebina. Even underneath his glasses, Ebina could tell exactly what he was trying to convey from his look.

Ebina, help!

The girl he put his faith in immediately took action. She grabbed one of their doujinshi, showed the cover so that Hikigaya could see the title properly before running her index finger on it multiple times in order to emphasize it.

I see.

It took a short while but the cynic was able to understand her assist.

Loner Skill 109: Fake Hikki.

He straightened his posture, placed his right hand on his left breast and bowed such that his upper body was completely parallel with the ground. He remembered the exact tone of voice he used when he was speaking to the girl that fell down earlier and made sure to apply it to what he was about to say next.

"Welcome Home, My Princess."

The delay in their response worried Hikigaya a little bit but upon seeing how flustered they were, he figured that what he did was more than effective.

"Eh? Isn't that?"

"It's really like Raven-sama!"

"Kyaaaa! It's so realistic!"

"One more! One more!"

The only time he was ever crowded around in this manner was back at the Summer Ball after his honorary Yukinoshita status was announced. He can't say he liked the experience but given the situation with the circle's doujinshi, he'd be a fool to not make use of this golden opportunity.

I guess I'll have to endure it for now.

"I'll consider it if you buy a copy of our circle's doujinshi," Hikigaya shamelessly smirked.

Unbeknownst to him however, that kind of expression and audacity was very much in-character with the Raven in-game so it became a good way to amplify the excitement of the girls once again.

From then on, the sales of the doujinshi that Ebina's circle made skyrocketed until it even managed to completely sell out around two hours before the closing of the event.

Even after seeing everything unfold with her own two eyes, Airi still couldn't quite believe it.

"Hey, Ebina-san, isn't he a bit dangerous?" Airi asked Ebina who was beside her by poking her with her shoulder. "Was that just an accident? Or perhaps?"

"Ahahaha," Ebina laughed awkwardly as she scratched her cheek. "Who knows? Even if you ask me, I'm not really too sure myself."

…

"Thank you very much!"

If his future self told him that six girls would line up in front of him to bow down and thank him in this manner, then he would ask that guy to stop whatever it is he's smoking.

After all, he himself couldn't believe what just happened earlier.

"I get it so please raise your heads already," Hikigaya hurriedly called out to the girls before the people around them could think of any misunderstanding. "Besides, what happened earlier was just a fluke."

In fact, he'd like nothing more than for them to forget everything that happened today but if he were to say that then it would only make them think that he was so concerned about it so he refrained. The best he can do was to pretend that it was no big deal if it spread or not.

After he bowed in front of that crowd of girls and figured that putting on a performance would allow him to persuade them to buy more copies of their doujinshi, he automatically applied everything he learned from his stint at the host club and got those unsuspecting girls to buy out everything.

Without him knowing, Fake Hikki seems to have grown inexplicably by integrating the persuasion techniques taught to him in one session from the hosts of Paradise.

If he had worked there for a couple more times, how much more would it have evolved?

He was really afraid to find out.

For the time being, let's stop using Fake Hikki for a while or at least, avoid situations where I have to use it, unless it's for work of course…

Unfortunately for Hikigaya Hachiman, that kind of thing was far beyond his control.

"Even so, that fluke really helped us," Airi responded with a wry smile.

That statement somewhat saved Hikigaya. If he didn't hear that, there was a big chance that he was going to head into a downward spiral of self-loathing.

"Is that so?" he forced himself to answer even amidst his turbulent emotions.

"Umm…" Chie began as she pulled out something from her bag. "We know that you only asked to be treated to lunch and your train fare but since you've been such a big help to us…"

"We thought it wouldn't be enough if we gave you only that so we reserved one copy of our doujinshi for you," Mika added. "You said you wanted a copy, right?"

"Is this enough as thanks, I wonder?" Emi worriedly asked while fiddling with her fingers.

When his eyes inadvertently landed on Ebina, she quickly urged him to take the gift with a nod.

Well, at least I used it to help others and not just for my own self-interests. I'm still not that far gone thankfully…

Hikigaya decided to respond to their sincerity with his own.

"Thank you. I'll accept it."

After the book was handed to the cynic's side, Mai took the opportunity to grab everyone's attention with a clap.

*clap*

"Alright, how about we commemorate this day with a groupie?"

"Oh! Let's do it! Let's do it!" Chie instantly got excited and walked over to Mai's side.

"Then, I'll excuse myself," Hikigaya tried to step away but one of his arms was grabbed by Ebina who predicted that he'll do something like this after the mention of a photo.

"Hikitani-kun, just where do you think you're going?"

"I'll just get in the way."

"Nonsense." Mika appeared from the other side and grabbed his vacant arm that wasn't occupied by Ebina. "We can't have today's MVP not be on the photo."

"Resistance is futile, Hikitani-san," that sweet voice rang from his rear where Airi was already in position to stop him.

Cornered, Hikigaya raised both of his hands in surrender.

"I understand. Do as you like."

With that, the rest of the circle's members surrounded Hikigaya as they made their poses with smiles that showcased all their pearly-whites. The boy in question however simply settled on a modest smile which just gave a glimpse of his teeth while his right hand made a V-sign.

As everyone settled in, Mai adjusted the angle of her phone such that it was in the ideal position that captured all seven of them.

"Say cheese!"

"Cheese!"

From then on, Hikigaya's first ever visit to Comiket was immortalized in the form of a jpg file.

In the near future, he will eventually be asked by Komachi why he was holding on to a BL doujinshi for some reason but that is a story for another time.

---

Author's Note:

I got completely sidetracked and for that I could only apologize.

While I was more than halfway through writing this chapter, this random internet comment planted a seed on my head and I could only write it down so that I can return my focus on this one.

Thus, an Oregairu X FGO Crossover named Humanity's Last Counsellor was born.

If you haven't already checked that out, please give it a read though you would probably appreciate it more the more aware you are of Fate Lore in general (yes, including Prisma Illya).

Now while I originally wrote that one because it was distracting me too much...

It ended up doing well.

If I'm not mistaken, it's giving the best numbers out of all my stories so far.

As such, I might have to dedicate some of my time for writing chapters on that side as well.

Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'll abandon this, it just means that the updates will become even more infrequent than they already are unfortunately.

I will probably end up alternating these two.

As for LxF, well there's no sense of urgency for that one so I'll leave it like that for now. *nervous laughter*

At any rate, time for our usual guessing game.

This time, I want you to guess which character will I use in the title of the SS 2 (yes, there will be more than one).

Today's hint: This character has long hair. I'll be a little generous this update and be more specific. It's at least longer than Ebina's.

If you're interested in participating, feel free to include your answer in your review.

Now with that out of the way, time to get on to the reviews from the previous chapter.

Godzilla is the goat: Thank you for the positive words. It looks like you're a little late for your medication then. I hope you're not suffering from withdrawal symptoms while waiting. Just kidding. Hahahaha. What could possibly go wrong in a school festival? If I wanted to, then everything. Hahaha.

NNathann: Thank you very much for still tuning in. The actual festival will have to wait as we're still in the preparations phase at the moment. Hopefully, I can surprise you all in the end.

Coochies: You actually got it hahaha. Unfortunately, because of my lack of focus, I was unable to follow through with my promise of a slightly earlier upload time than scheduled. I saw your name as one of the followers of Last Counsellor already so I hope that story is enough to count as an apology.

Gid Lucione Deviluke: Unique guesses as usual but sadly did not cut it. I'm a bit disappointed though, I was expecting you to stick to our guns and say either Ebina or Shiromeguri regardless of the odds. Hahaha.

Sully266: To think that you consider this series to be your favorite, those words bring me nothing but joy. I won't say anything about what Hikigaya's class has planned for now. Everyone will know soon. The fact that I am the reason why you're liking those other heroines is quite flattering to say the least. If you're thirsting for a more focused romance on either one, there's plenty of titles on this site for you to choose from however if you fancy getting blue-balled more, then fasten up your seatbelts and come aboard, you're always welcome here.

LD1021: Thanks, it's good to be back, though I ended up getting sidetracked but that's beside the point. While you're on the right track, it seems you forgot that I was asking for the featured character on the SS and not the main story so you guessed wrong. Thanks for the positive feedback with the new SS format as well, I really appreciate it.

Thank you all for these reviews. Your input is very much appreciated.

To everyone else who takes the time to read this fic, a huge thank you to all of you as well.

That's it for this chapter.

I hope to see you all again in the next one.

Reviews, follows and faves are all very much appreciated.

May everyone's good wishes and realities intersect.

Morii Hikikko

References:

1 – Araragi Koyomi from the Monogatari series.