I swear sometimes you'll read an Oregairu fanfiction so good and true to the characters you'll wonder if it was written by Wataru Watari himself. There's incredible talent hiding on this site.

Apathetic Super Solider

Chapter 6: Set the Record Straight


[Disclaimer: These are works of purely speculative fanfiction. It is not intended to infringe on any rights by any of the companies and/or individuals involved in the production of any series mentioned here]


(Chiba)

Massaging her sore wrist due to excessive use, she resumed marking the last vestiges of assignments with her red pen, leaning her bare forearm upon a ruby gel wrist pad resting on her white desk. Early in the morning before sunlight made its arrival, a white LED desk lap was her light source for the sole house occupant.

Throughout her career her spare bedroom began the slow and eventual transformation to her at-home office, as her workload increased, she sunk further into her time-gluttonous work. She was happy too, or so she convinced herself. It was her proud career! Being a teacher was a popular and respected profession in Japan; consequently, there was an overabundance of qualified teachers vying for the highly selective role. You'd be hard-pressed to discover anyone with anything less than a bachelor's degree.

Why she herself earned her master's in Japanese Literature at Sophia University in the capital city of Tokyo.

Shizuka winced stung by the memory, fingers massaging the crease on her temple. Two painstaking years of full-time advanced studying. Managing to snatch a job as a part-time waitress for a steakhouse, to fund her campus living. Between school and work trying to maintain any lasting relationship was a lost cause. Believe her she tried, only to fall flat on her face. Rain calls for everyone! Parties, casual get-togethers, birthdays and dates…

It always came down to one thing. Career or social life? Shizuka joined hands with the cold former, waving behind to the latter with sadness. She made her choice.

Fresh off the momentary thrill of graduation, despite her impressive degree, the arduous road continued to another series of stressful exams organised by the prefectural board of education. Interviews, essays, proficiency tests and examinations on her pedagogical and subject area knowledge, including a pressure-numbing demonstration lesson in front of gruff middle-aged men. After the extensive list of sacrifices she made, she was ecstatic when it was revealed she passed at the top of the registration list.

Meaning she was the first pick of the litter. It was funny because teaching students was the easiest part of her career journey. Undergoing the one-year induction – supervised by a senior teacher - was smooth sailing after the turbulent waters that made her pick up the bad habits of smoking and drinking. Eager to learn, she was guided through classroom management, subject guidance and analysing classroom teaching.

Blinded by white light upon exiting the tunnel-visioned career pursuit, she had the alarming realisation that several years had gone by in a flash. From planning lessons, working with peers and counselling students. Shizuka lived for her career. As the years piled up, that was when the concerned questions came alive about her frigid relationship status. Every family and social event, it was the same darn thing!

She saw their looks. She heard their mutterings.

She came alone again.

Our cousin is married to her work.

She better be quick; no man wants a Christmas cake.

Maybe something's wrong with her, she is always drinking and smoking…

Work complete. Shizuka dashed her pen down with a growl of frustration and checked her phone to see if she received a reply to a few of the messages she sent to a potential candidate last night. Sad acceptance painted her angular face when silver eyes reflected off her screen.

Delivered.

"I don't need that wimpy bastard anyway! About too opinionated!" Snarling drove from her mouth, slamming her elbow on the table, to rest her chin on her palm with an embittered expression. Days off alone spent drinking, picking up any manga, Harlequin Quin books or watching classic anime reruns, a vain attempt to revitalise her youth. Let alone her sportscar, to her parents increasing worry; she had even purchased a motorcycle, so what if she wanted a little excitement in her monotonous life!

"A woman shouldn't be on such dastardly things!" she childishly mocked her mother's voice with a silly expression.

Since when did she morph into such a sad woman? She earned a decent living, had a promising career, and in her humble opinion, had a gorgeous face and the body of a bombshell, yet her private life lacked a worthy partner that matched her standards.

Meaningless one-night stands were definitely not her thing; so lengthy dry spells were an unfortunately common occurrence. The hopeless circumstances made it easy to stick her head in the sand whilst lost in her work. Except… embarrassment flooded her warm face when the shameful memory of her wet dream about her freaking student reared its head!

'Okay-okay, so what, it's not really a big deal if I sometimes dream about my defiant, sixteen-year-old student fucking my brains out in every debauch position imaginable and being the desirable, mouth-watering oasis to finally put an end to this horrible and depressing dry spell, besides he has to put all that… aggression somewhere right? Right?! He wouldn't exactly be agains-'

She cringed and squeezed her eyes shut, fingers curling in her ebony hair. Was she seriously that desperate? Had she fallen so low? To such an overwhelming degree she was forced to sexually fantasize about her favourite, not-so-little student. The rebellious Hikigaya Hachiman. Admittedly, he wasn't bad to look at as he sat slouched in his chair, diligently writing, sometimes during class his sharp gaze would meet hers at her desk.

Shizuka was guilty of being prone to send him – and only him - a cheeky wink and tender grin, without fail always finding the returning smirk oozing with absolute confidence incredibly… sexy.

"This is so not happening."

/~/

(Sobu High School)

Against all odds, she had survived last night. Palm shielding her mouth she expelled a tired yawn, she blinked lazily out of her sleep-deprived eyes. Of all times in the morning, now she had to placate a worried Hiratsuka-sensei who fussed and fretted over her at the school entrance. On occasion, drawing curious and judgemental attention to their position from the rows of early-arriving students. Great. Her sensei meant well but she'd rather without the weird rumours spilling on her name due to her injured state.

"Saki! What on earth happened to your hand and face?! Are you okay? If you think you need to go home, tell me now! Grrr! Did someone do thi-"

"Sensei! Not so loud," she hissed quietly glaring to the side, suddenly pulling her bemused teacher by the forearm and leading them further away beside a tall column of pagoda trees in the courtyard. "I don't care about them. But I'd rather not have the whole school know about it."

"Sorry, but I couldn't help overacting at the fact one of my favourite student's arrived at school sporting injuries!" she exclaimed, frowning with indignant defence. A startled Saki was touched by her concern and eased her scowl. Hiratsuka placed both hands on her shoulders in a gentle manner, her visage softening. "Saki," she began slowly, the girl in question gulped at the dangerous undertone in her flat voice. "Please tell me if someone did this to you?"

Confident silver eyes implored her to speak the truth.

"No!" Saki shook her head in denial with such vehemence; her pale blue hair danced in tandem. "No one did this to me," she lied, sight dropping to the floor, unable to fib to her sensei's earnest eyes. "I-I… err, had an accident yesterday after school." She reddened, ashamed to brand such a lie on her head. At least it was better than the alternative. "I fell off my bike."

"Are you sure that's what happened?"

"Yes."

"I want you to keep in mind that what you say to me is strictly confidential."

"I know that. And I am still telling you the truth."

"You said you fell off your bike, right? But the welt on your face doesn't look like-"

"Sensei, I'm not lying to you!" she blurted, angry, defensive, the falsehood on her tongue forced her nose to crinkle with distaste.

Playing with her wrist brace, she became nervous and twitched about as Hiratsuka-sensei's intelligent eyes studied her expression without a word. Until the tension collapsed when the older woman released an eventual sigh of acceptance.

"Okay… I believe you," she said gently. Uncaring of violating teacher-student protocol, dumbfounded embarrassment exploded on Saki's face when she was engulfed in a hug by the taller woman. Like one would a younger sister, she leaned the side of their heads together. A grin triggered Saki's lips; her sensei's raven hair bangs tickled her neck. "I'm just glad you're okay, gods, if anything ever happened to you…" The genuine worry in her emotional voice inches from her ear made guilt stain her features. "Sorry about causing a scene, it's just seeing you like that made me panic."

"I'm fine, sensei. You don't have to worry," she muttered back, her words wavering under the weight of dishonesty. Awkward as can be due to the exclusive tenderness, she encircled her teacher's back. After last night's traumatising disaster, and in fear of scrutiny, she had neglected to initiate any contact with her parents which resulted in her soaking in the comforting warmth her sensei exuded.

Shizuka grinned against her pale blue hair. "I know my young age may make you hesitant to come to me but never forget I'm always available to hear out any issues or misgivings you may have."

"It's kinda hard to forget when you've told me a million times." The incessant need to highlight her youth, led Saki to roll her amused violet eyes, the banter lightening the mood. "How old are yo-"

"Mmm! Your hair smells lovely, Saki," Hiratsuka hummed dramatically; the sudden interest was too enthusiastic. "New shampoo? Is that cherry I'm smelling?"

"…This is getting sad, sensei." Why couldn't she accept her age? Regardless of the elder woman's personal issues, she was right. "But, yes. It's cherry almond-scented."

Filed under tree shade, locked in an embrace, Saki exhaled a heavy pressure out of her body. Allowing herself a small moment of vulnerability as a rare smile morphed on her lips. Grateful for the needed support. In the innocence of the moment, both females were careless of the fact from an onlooker's perspective their familiar kinship – between student and teacher - would be disapproved for reasons better remained undisclosed.

Hiratsuka-sensei pulled back to flash a bright grin down at the flustered girl, avoiding her eye. "I find it rather strange you're here so early; homeroom doesn't start for another twenty minutes." She took a step back in her brown-heeled shoes and placed a hand on her flared hip, quirking a suspicious brow. "My warnings finally getting through to you?"

Plucking her school bag from the pavement, she flung it over her shoulder with a sly expression as she turned her side to the woman. "That might be the case. Who knows?" Her careless shrug made her teacher's eyebrows furrow with a tired visage of irritation whilst their feet carried them in the direction main entrance. They passed by the bike racks where multiple students were currently storing their bicycles.

"Ho! It must be his unlucky day!"

Saki glanced at the pleased woman in confusion, due to her random proclamation. She traced her sensei's silver eyes, only for her stunned features to scrunch into a vicious glare. It was him! She fought the racing of her heart. The twitching of her rattled nerves. The livid voices locked in her head compelling her shaking body to give him more than a piece of her enraged mind.

"Hikigaya!" Outside of the bike rack, Shizuka beckoned the tall boy over with a beaming grin, just as he finished locking his bike up. "Oi! Don't ignore me!" Even from the distance, they could see his broad shoulders sag and a scowl form on his stoic face. Obviously, displeased with being required for something. Hands stuffed in his pockets; schoolbag tight against his back shoulder he strolled up to the shorter females.

"What?" he said rudely, his apathetic expression flawless, curly raven hair rustled in the lukewarm morning breeze. Spring fashioning its announcement.

Saki's long nails stabbed into her fist when he didn't even deem it necessary to meet her glaring eyes. Not even a lazy glance in her direction. As if last night never truly happened. Predictably, Hiratsuka-sensei was less than pleased with his impudent greeting, Saki expected and hoped she could glean some satisfaction from him being reprimanded by the strict Hiratsuka-sensei. Verbal and physical. A tasty appetizer before she could deliver hers when the time came.

Unbeknownst to her, however, ever since his show of impressive physical prowess and rebellious nature. Shizuka had made the educated decision to often switch tactics when dealing with an uncooperative Hikigaya. She couldn't fight fire with fire; for his burned brighter. Instead, she used water, with drops of her infrequent feminine persuasion.

"And good morning to you too, Hikigaya…" Saki's eyes widened at the gentle tone she used to address him. "Could you please speak to me with a little more respect than that?" she asked, providing him with a kind, red-painted smile. "I only need a moment of your time."

Asked?! A 'request' with an option to deny. Not a demand or order like Saki eagerly anticipated. Why was she treating Hikigaya like this? With such tenderness. Almost like… her. She drew back to past conversations in dazing realisation. He was one too.

"Just between you and I, I like to play favourites."

"…One of my favourite students…"

The two females saw him battle his colossal pride in his aggravated countenance. "Sorry," Hachiman grunted out with difficulty, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "What do you need, sensei?"

"That's better. Now then, the reason I need you was because I was asked to speak with you about something that raised some concern." Shizuka grinned, abruptly looping her arm through a perplexed Saki's. "Alright, gang!" She pointed an exuberant finger forward. "Follow me through Snake Way!" she exclaimed loud enough to irritate her two listless favourite students as she led them forth.

"I'd rather jump into the yellow clouds," grumbled Hachiman, low enough to be unheard.

"Why am I being dragged into this?" asked an irritable Saki, she loved her sensei. But the longer she remained in his vicinity, the more the heat of anger burned her. Wanting nothing more than to drive her good fist into Hikigaya's stupid face. She couldn't stand to be near him right now. A smouldering glare loomed over her shoulder at him, trying to eviscerate the tall boy with vision alone. "It's got nothin' to do with me."

"Oh, don't worry this won't take long." Shizuka stole a glance behind, suspicious of the evident tension between her favoured pupils, hesitant to make the doubtful connection between Saki's bruises and Hikigaya. It wasn't a convincing theory as, to her knowledge, they had never interacted before, regardless that still begs the question of why he was on the receiving end of Saki's animosity. Something serious happened between them. "Plus, I still wanna talk to you after, hey now, don't tell me you've outgrown my company already?" She pouted like a spurned child far from adulthood.

"Fine." Saki's brow creased with an exhale of exasperation. "I'll come. So stop pouting like that; you're too old to be acting like a kid." With that said, best believe if Hikigaya did anything she didn't like; he was receiving the worst of her barbed tongue.

"Urk! Too o-old?!" A palm leapt up to clutch her shirt, the dramatic Shizuka gasped like a hot .50 Action Express round pierced her wounded heart. Dour thoughts cast a shadow over her blank face, head hung in despair. "Wh-what did I do to deserve t-this, Saki?" she sobbed, using the back sleeve of her white jacket to rub her wet eyes. "So, so cruel…" She began jolting their linked arms in harmony with her sobs.

"Sensei, stop." Fighting the northern twitch of her lips, Saki scowled and gave the eccentric woman hiding a smile a gentle whack with her school bag. "This ain't the time or place." Upholding the cold disposition for Hikigaya was a lost cause around this damnable woman.

"Ouch! Saki, that really hurt me."

"Eh? It barely hit you."

"I should give you detention for that."

"Seriously? I wouldn't even turn up."

"Ho! You think you can escape me, I'm a young, athletic woman capable of youthful feats of extreme speed! I ran track in high school, you know."

"That was ages ago though. You ain't faster than me now or back then." Saki considered herself very fast and had no shame asserting it.

"Ages ago?!"

Moseying toward the rear sector of the school, Hachiman sighed as he trailed behind the squabbling females, debating if he should make a break for it. Only to discard the errant thought; Hiratsuka was his homeroom teacher therefore it'd be pointless. Contesting against his kinder half, he ripped his concerned eye off Saki's injured hand. He kept his gaze skyward, ignoring the feisty girl that would no doubt attempt to clothesline him to the floor and pummel him if their sensei wasn't present.

/~/

"I must thank you again, Yukinoshita-san, it's rare for me to receive a worthy recommendation as good as this."

"Please, a simple recommendation is the least I could provide."

Yukino allowed a modest smile to grace her rosy lips, whilst on a path for homeroom, class 2-J, she permitted the surprise approach of her spectacled, auburn-haired classmate, halting her course to express gratitude. One of the higher achieving students attending this school; her gifted class was a nest to many like her. Females are dominant in number and scarce of the male kind. For better or worse, dependant on who you were asking.

Why preceding her introduction to a particular arrogant delinquent, she once was a peer-pressured supporter of the former.

Neutrality wasn't enough for her contemporaries. A shame as Yukino had rolled the appealing idea of somehow transferring the top student of their year to her class, a new neighbour to her desk, such proximity would ease her… surveillance. Hiratsuka-sensei's unsettling attachment may prove problematic to that idea. The club will have to suffice for now. Regaining her train of attention, she noticed with distant interest the girl's lips were moving, had she been talking the entire time?

"...The saddest moment for myself was the 'Rice Bowl Hill incident,' Nakata was very unfortunate. Don't you agree, Yukinoshita-san?"

What was she schmoozing about again? Oh yes. The book recommendation, is Kafta on the Shore, by Murakami Haruki. Although you were never meant to judge a book by its cover, Yukino was far from ashamed to admit she did the exact opposite with this novel. Whilst perusing the school library, it managed to allure her interest with the black cat displayed on the front.

"Yes." Yukino flicked her onyx tresses with the rear of her dainty palm in a grand fashion, aloof, intelligent eyes peered aside the glass window overlooking the courts. "Indeed, what befell Nakata was unfortunate. Losing one's mental faculties is a grave tragedy I must sympathise with." Keen cerulean zeroed in on a familiar nest of untamed hair, involuntary muscles in her lush lips heaved. "However, the special ability he gained that granted him the power to communicate with cats is extraordinary. How exciting that must be…"

"…Aha, r-right."

Disregarding the spectacled girl, her nervous laughter filtered through one ear and out the other. Yukino's reserved expression morphed into a fierce glare, skipping past Hiratsuka-sensei, instead, glued to the suspicious blue-haired female. In lieu of being cognisant of her irrationality, she remained uncomfortable with the close-at-hand vicinity this girl had with Hachiman. If her memory served correctly that recluse, delinquent girl was also a member of his class, perhaps Hiratsuka-sensei was lecturing them as you would expect for troublesome pupils, and her thoughts bubbled with optimism.

"Ah."

At the croon of empathetic disapproval, Yukino spared her auburn-haired classmate a blank glance to find she had tracked her displeased gaze outside.

Only she was off target.

And paid dearly for it.

"That must be the bane of Sobu High, I swear that disgusting boy is a stain on this renowned institute, it's a wonder how he managed to achieve such high grades with his ill-mannered behaviour. Have you heard the foul rumours? Be sure to steer clear of him, Yukinoshita-san. Better yet, I think this school should be rid of h-" Sudden was the change when the ability of speech absconded her. Shivers ran along her shaken spine; a bead of perspiration grew on her confused crinkled forehead, tongue frozen like an icicle under a witch's spell; she would speak no more.

The revered Ice Queen beauty of Sobu High regarded her with a harsh countenance of cataclysmic disdain, imperious cerulean rooted her in a constricting place like, cold, biting ice chains locked her limbs together. Predator before prey. Royal before peasant. Pursed pink lips parted to release a distant, yet serene voice, rippling with a heavy undertone of venom.

"I believe it's nigh time to head to class… correct?"

It was not a question.

With the failure of her voice, she could do nought but nod obediently before the, better-featured, more intelligent, superior girl, Yukinoshita Yukino. Before wooden steps carried her away, given enough distance she chanced a caustic look behind, resentment reeked off her form, humiliated. Already dismissed of importance as the seemingly matchless enchanter's sight hovered outside.

/~/

Hachiman suspected, not as if it required considerable deliberation, that his teacher would want to speak with him about the basketball rim once they travelled in the direction of the courts. Why else would she take him here, for seclusion? No. Not when there were closer and less exposed indoor alternatives.

Italian bergamot mixed with vanilla twitched his sensitive nose when his female sensei left a silent Saki's side and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and aimed a finger at the rim. Bent off its hinges the orange rim was bowled over southward against its preordained design; in no further use. No thanks to the thudding force he had slammed the basketball through the net with yesterday, tight screws had shirked loose under the impact.

"The next class that came to use the basketball court – not even ten minutes after - found it like this and everyone immediately pointed towards you, claiming it was intentional vandalism."

Hachiman rolled his eyes with a cold scoff. "Of course they did. Am I in trouble for this?"

Stood nearby, Saki frowned at their schoolfellows automatically throwing him under the bus. She may still be angry at him, but it still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Hey now, I had your back!" Shizuka squeezed his shoulder in support, earnest silver stared up to meet his stern eye. "There's no way you could've possibly known the rim would break; besides why and how would you vandalise something in front of so many witnesses, it doesn't make any sense!" she yelled with indignation coating her tone, displeased with the false accusation on his name. "You're in no trouble." She sent him a cheeky grin, patting her busty chest. "Thanks to me."

"You have my thanks, but…" Hachiman shook his head with disappointment, though gratitude shinned in his eyes. "Why are you acting smug for doing your job? I hope in your warped mind you don't think I owe you because of this."

"Urk!" A sheepish Hiratsuka-sensei whipped away, scratching her red cheek with a sharp index nail. "Hahaha! No, why I would never do something like that."

"Yes, you would," Saki interjected dryly, giving the peeved woman who glared at her a peeled look of judgement.

"It's not nice to lie, Saki." Shizuka's mouth curved upward in a mocking fashion before repeatedly elbowing the stocky body of an irritated Hachiman. "Seriously though, where were you hiding this crazy athletic ability, you dunked the ball so hard you broke the damn rim!" Saki frowned when her curious sensei began squeezing his biceps and prodding his shoulder. "I mean damn, Hikigaya! Looks like these hard muscles aren't just for show. What's you-"

"Sensei, stop," admonished a stony Saki, stepping forward her hand reached for her wrist, pulling the pestering woman away from an irked Hikigaya.

"But, Hikigaya hasn't told me his workout routine yet, Saki."

Withholding flashes of their suggestive closeness, Saki's cold gaze gave Hikigaya's built stature a curt once over before turning to her dissatisfied teacher. "How do you know his muscles or whatever aren't just for show? You weren't even there, sensei." Whilst she had her show last night.

"Oh yeah!" Realisation overcame her face as she produced her mobile from her flared work pants. "Turns out Tobe had some footage of the game recorded. I managed to convince him to send it to me for evidence against the false claims on Hikigaya. Plus the dunk looks awesome." She grinned; Hiratsuka-sensei gestured for them to gather around her horizontal device. "Saki, you're gonna love this."

Saki remained inexpressive. "I doubt it." Her delicate face twisted into a sinister scowl when her amethyst eyes finally encountered Hachiman's platinum as they crowded their sensei on either side.

"This is it!" Over the loud cheering for Hayato, right after Yukinoshita lobs the basketball above rim height, Saki's eyes marginally widened in shock as Hikigaya leapt an easy forty-five inches in the air and palmed the ball with one hand before slamming it through the hoop. The tomahawk slam produced a loud gunshot noise that echoed to the onlookers. "Pretty cool, right, Saki?" her sensei's voice teemed with eagerness.

The blue-haired girl schooled her features and delivered a lazy shrug. "Eh? It wasn't bad…" Bag over a shoulder, Saki spun away, waving a disinterested hand. "If you wanna talk, I'm waiting, sensei."

Shizuka narrowed her eyes at the extra curt girl in bewilderment. "What's up with you?" She shook her head and smiled at the silent Hachiman. "Anyway, I called you here to just warn you to be more careful next time, you know the other students have it out for you." She threw a playful double jab to his solid chest. "Your unforgiving attitude doesn't exactly inspire their confidence too."

Hachiman turned to his side sporting a mask of boredom, viewing the traffic of students and teachers circulating the campus. "As long as they don't trouble me then we'll have no problems. I can assure you that much."

Shizuka chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. "From you, that means a lot. Just don't use those muscles of yours for enacting violence or else you'll land yourself in big trouble with me. You got that?"

"Don't worry. They're better spent escaping shonen-obsessed female teachers who need better hobbies."

"What?! My hobbies are just fine! Do you want detention with me after school, smartass?"

Hachiman allowed a superior smirk to cross his face, his stung female teacher frowned, not at all pleased with the hurtful attack on her personal life by a person she held dear. An extremely sensitive topic that he was well aware of, but she needed to learn her authority was beneath him. Saki's shocked expression hardened when he approached the upset Hiratsuka and did the impossible, making her cheeks redden like a prissy schoolgirl when he patted her head without fear.

"If you want my company after school you don't have to use detention, Shizuka," he teased the flustered woman going through a mental malfunction at the ballsy use of her first name and flirtatious innuendo from her teenage student. "You need, but ask, and I'd be more than happy to accommodate your needs."

"W-what?!" Red paint splashed on Shizuka's stilted face; embarrassment flooded every fibre of her being at the sheer boldness of his inappropriate comments, unable to comprehend she had just been hit on by Hikigaya. "Y-you can't b-be…"

"Oi, what the heck do you think you're saying, idiot?" Saki growled, even she was left stunned at the school's worst delinquent living up to his title, incapable of stopping the jealous frown morphing on her face. That egotistical jerk was supposed to be remorseful for what he did and apologising to her, not recklessly flirting with older women, especially not Hiratsuka-sensei.

Hachiman enjoyed the reaction his implied comments garnered as his suspiciously pensive teacher remained speechless, comely features flushed; rattled silver eyes judged him for a prolonged moment wielding a mysterious emotion. Leading him and his aggravated female classmate to wonder why Shizuka had yet to have her more than justified predictable violent outburst of reproach.

Almost to the point Hachiman and Saki were beginning to suspect Shizuka was seriously considering his proposition. Alarmingly so for Saki.

A dark grin lined his face, taking a step back, adjusting his schoolbag on his back shoulder. "I joke, of course, I could never match your shonen anime needs. Too many episodes to watch together." Both women blinked in stupefied shock at their misconstrued thoughts. "If that is all, I'm out." Hachiman gave a quick two-finger salute and strolled off.

Saki spared the lackadaisical Hikigaya a swift look of annoyance before she sent a cautious frown to her strangely quiet sensei whose wistful gaze lingered on his departing back.

"Sensei."

The incensed girl was unheard; a grunt of frustration fled.

"Are you deaf?"

She received no response; irritation drove her feet forth to grab her by the arm and snagged her untoward attention off Hikigaya by way of a strong pull, a yelping Shizuka seemed to snap out of her trance and arrive to her senses, meeting Saki's glare with clouded confusion.

"W-what is it, Saki?"

Despite never considering it a realistic possibility to do this to her favoured teacher of all people, for the first time ever Saki scrutinised the guarded woman in front of her with a newfound awareness of her threatening status as a viable female. It wasn't a positive realisation.

"You wanted to talk, right?"

Shizuka narrowed her expression at the undeniable heat fanning her student's snappish question, instead of an angered rebuttal, she became concerned over Saki's increased level of testiness, deciding now was the time to grill her.

"Yes, I do…" she said pointedly, crossing her arms beneath her chest with a serious countenance. "I need some questions answered."

/~/

"As a result of the constant threat of war and pillage in this period, castles were built with much greater frequency than previously in towns, at mountain passes, along vital roads, and on larger estates…"

What he did was necessary, he told himself for the hundredth time.

A justified course of action to maintain the security of his private life. Yesterday was an unfortunate anomaly that forced him to reveal details he'd rather remain undisclosed, the smaller his social circle stayed the easier he could function with anonymity. That's what he believed, Izayoi claimed his decision was a lost cause. He heaved a light sigh as he shifted his head to the opposite cheek, his caustic platinum eyes latent.

She saw too much.

The extravagant car, the lavish clothes, his Vacheron Constantin Overseas watch, the fraternizing with his associates in the alley, and his closeness with the devious Izayoi. He remembered her intelligent violet eyes observing everything, down to her distrustful glower at the blond's yellow-gold Rolex Sky-Dweller. More could've been done to ward off and obstruct her notice, but for the life of him, call it arrogance, he honest to god didn't care for it. He wasn't the type of character to scramble and hide.

He'd rather shove you flat on your back and growl at you to back off. What threat was she to him? Unfortunately for Saki, she knew first-hand from experience now, she wouldn't dare or think to approach him again after his dismissive treatment. Disregarding their undeniable shared chemistry. He'd crushed her feelings and visible hopes of more into shattered fragments with vile ease, spurning a vacant visage of anguish from the angelic beauty.

Hachiman wrestled against the past vision, jailbreaking their prison, hijacking the centre stage of his conflicted mind, and liking how her feminine mannerisms would sometimes break through her tomboy disposition. How the beauty spot on her right cheek would crinkle cutely when she smiled. How her pale cheeks burned when she was embarrassed whilst her innocent violet eyes gleamed at him with a feisty zeal.

The visceral fire-inducing feel of her ample bosom melded against his heated body, recalling his eager hands exploring the swoops and curves of her mature physique, even her lascivious gasp and conflicted arousal sketched in her eyes was enough to drive him wild.

The magic allure of her valley of silken pale blue tresses that beguiled and begged for his hands to thread through… Damn it!

What he did was necessary. Fuck her! He was an overconfident, brash, materialistic, murdering-professional asshole that didn't need this crap on his already mercurial conscience. Remember he was the same man that preached only the negative aspects of capitalism to Yukino, one example such as the inequality of wealth accruing for a minuscule percentage of the population, yet he himself financially benefited from the very same economic system by way of privatised military companies.

Further proven by his substantial assets and joint business ventures with Izayoi. Cognisant of that reality, did he truly have no place or stance to criticize the pitfalls of capitalism when he reaped the profits of it?

When someone wins, someone loses. Was that simply the unforgiving way of life? Who's to say what is truly right or wrong, those with wealth? A religious figure? Or those with political power, or perhaps the common man who's a chosen activist by the people? Who really had the people's best interests at heart? Even he could admit Yukino's quintillion-ton heavy dream of attempting to change the world for a better place was far more courageous than what he was doing.

Easier to kill a man and destroy a system than to convince it to change its traditions and customs.

It was possible a part of his fucked up jaded mind envied her innocent, but precious optimism.

"I understand those without friends tend to overcompensate with video games or other… depraved forms of media late into the night, leading certain students to not provide themselves with an appropriate amount of rest, but during class I expect you to be awake and ready… Hikigaya-san!"

Breaking the dreary monotony of the fully housed classroom, snide snickers and mummers erupted from his classmates, due to his teacher's loud condescending admonishment. Relishing the rare opportunity to openly laugh at the school's most communally disliked attendant.

A disgruntled Hachiman scowled, raising his head from his desk to see all eyes of varying emotions – none too positive - zeroed in on him. Irritated by having the collective attention of thirty-plus people, god forbid he was cursed with social anxiety issues, this would've developed into a nightmare for him, triggering a mental breakdown.

Lazy as can be, he glanced toward the average-height, long-haired, middle-aged man, stubble surrounded the belittling smirk aligning his proud face. No doubt pleased by the laughter he earned from his reprimand implicating his lack of friends, continued on by insinuating he spent his whole night playing video games or possibly the more embarrassing one, watching pornographic content, which most people would make the educated guess you were masturbating too.

Nice. Provide more unpleasant material for a loner student to be teased for. Great teaching skills. Granted, few would dare do it to his face, nonetheless, the point remained standing. It seemed his history teacher – who hated Hachiman for his aloof nature - had more to say, as he rose a mocking hand in his direction like he was the class clown of the day.

"Since you seem to know it all and don't need to pay attention, maybe you can inform the class when and how the Sengoku Period ended, hmm?"

From the edges of his eyes, Hachiman's impassive gaze spun the silent class watching him with rapt attention like witnessing the live sentencing of a notorious felon on NHK World-Japan. He picked out a few characters in the audience. Saika gave him a confident smile and thumbs up. Beside a gleeful Yumiko who smirked at his misfortune, Yui sent him a nervous look of sympathy. Not far off, Hayato sported a narrowed expression marked with discrete suspicion. Of what exactly, he did not know.

Coming from the opposite side of the room, resting her chin on her good hand, paramount above all was the fierce visage distributed by the ever-serious Kawasaki Saki, observing him with stern appraisal as if she was evaluating his worth opportunistically. Once again, an unsettling feeling throttled in his unaccustomed heart. Yukino always stared at him the same way.

Was this what Izayoi was talking about? The issue is he wasn't familiar with this alleged, specific type of attention.

Infatuati-

Damn it all. He released a frustrated sigh and threw a lazy arm behind the backrest of his chair, boredom lodged in his eyes, and sight drifted to his smug teacher. Regardless of his stellar grades, it never halted people from testing his intelligence. Hachiman's deep voice was void of care or interest, causing nettled cracks to form on his teacher's face.

"No problem, the Warring States Era ended in 1615 at the Siege of Osaka, where the Tokugawa Shogunate - the current feudal military government of Japan - defeated the Toyotomi Clan - a faction that ruled Japan in the Edo period - in just two stages, a winter campaign and summer campaign. Lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment."

Awkward silence welcomed his answer.

His sensei sported a partial frown, while most of the class regarded Hachiman with sour astonishment. "…Yes, that is correct." His reluctance to admit such was obvious.

"Can I use the restroom?"

Taking the opportunity to be rid of the object of his embarrassment, Hachiman's request was not denied. Although accompanied by others; none were as intense as the violet eyes trailing his broad back.

/~/

Next time it'd be in his best interest to not challenge the child named after the Shinto, god of war, divination and culture. Hachiman! The tutelary god of warriors! That impudent mortal should prostrate and grovel before him for insulting the man who shares the name of the divine protector of Japan.

A sardonic grin split his face due to his bombastic thoughts. The historicity of his name notwithstanding, he just studied a considerable amount of history; it was one of his favoured subjects. Hands stuffed inside his pockets, he bopped down the empty hallway, using the restroom break as an excuse to burn time outside of that mind-numbingly boring classroom. He knew the entire curriculum of all subjects a thousand times over, a blessing and a curse of his enhanced brain activity.

The blessing was obvious because he never worried or panicked over being ill-prepared for exams and whatnot. However, for the maddening curse, it made school life – honestly most things - nauseatingly tiresome going over the same topics and subjects he already recognised and understood like the back of his hand. Which resulted in his attention span shrinking to the microscopic level, thereby earning people's ire at his negligent nature.

For convenience's sake, remaining on the topic of history, it was the equivalent of teaching, Takakazu Seki, a genius mathematician from the Edo period, basic addition for eight hours of the day, five times a week by force. Inevitable frustration and weariness are bound to arise. Tedium plaguing his psyche.

A surefire way to trebuchet a man into a hedonistic lifestyle.

Distracted, a frown sprouted on his curious face when a sharp whistle reached his acute ears, with the vision of an eagle his gaze zoomed outside the window over the athletic field. Where a female PE lesson was commencing a 100m race, from the distance he could hear the excited cheers from the second-year girls.

Recognisable midnight tresses harvested his attention like honey to a bee, lengthy locks wrapped in a messy bun whipped in the wind as swift elegant strides propelled her an impressive two metres ahead of the trailing pack before she eclipsed the finish line. Yukino basked in the adulation proudly as her classmates praised her performance.

Hachiman scowled as phantom heat seared the skin of his neck, recalling the daring girl having the cojones to sink her teeth there. Embittered by the shameful reminder. Just look at her, waltzing around with that unapproachable arrogance in her saintly expression like she was above debased behaviour.

The same posh beauty who took secret pleasure in testing his vaunted pride, his Achilles' heel. One of them at least.

Amid the concluding class, they performed a variety of stretches at the behest of their female teacher. With great interest, the engrossed boy observed Yukino bend her fit body at the waist to easily grasp the back of her ankles, head stationed between her shins in a display of great flexibility, her snug black shorts stretched along the eye-catching, contours of her curvy rear in the movement.

Damn! The arousing visual prompted fire to plume in the pit of his stomach.

She breathed out slowly as she rose in a smooth, graceful motion to stretch her hands to the sky similar to a ballerina. A rebellious inky lock escaped from its hold to swing down to her slender pale neck, followed by a droplet of sweat trailing along her neckline.

Nefarious scheming fuelled his sinister smirk.

/~/

"Are you sure you don't need our help, Yukinoshita-san? You don't have to do everything by yourself, right?"

"Yeaahh! Those bags look pretty heavy, why work harder when you don't have to?"

"I mean us three as friends always help each other out, it's much easier that way."

"You need not concern yourself with me. I am more than capable of completing this task by myself, thank you."

Yukino's smile was dim, but polite in appearance as she addressed the trio of popular girls offering their assistance. Why you may wonder; today was her turn for equipment duty. She plucked the two bags of cones and hurdles, utilised in the lesson earlier, off the ground with less difficulty than the girls before her were expecting. Exhibiting an impassive coldness, she spared a few seconds to watch them return to mingle amongst the chattering class before Yukino lugged the kit to the equipment building… alone.

"Oh my god, she's, like, soo snobby. Why does she always talk like a stuffy aristocrat?"

"Tell me about it! She's super weird, you can obviously tell she thinks she's better than us just because she's pretty, as if!"

"Oouu! Did you girls notice her body, isn't she getting kinda…umm, f-fat? She can barely fit in her shorts."

"H-hehehe! R-right!"

The youngest daughter of the Yukinoshita family grimaced with bitterness etched on her face, free from judgement she unceremoniously dumped the bags to the floor in the solitude of the dark equipment building. Sunlight filtered in the shadowy room from the open door, hearing the unintelligible distant prattling of her PE class thread in from outside.

'Two-faced fools. They don't have the nerve to speak their truth upfront to me because they know what I'll do…"

Her forlorn sigh was for her ears only as she began carrying out her task, restacking the items in the bag to the correct shelves. When she reached her hand in the bag the limited light was abruptly stolen from her vision, heart abuzz, she whipped around startled out of her composure only to be stunned by the odd appearance of Hachiman. "Eep!" The shadow obstructing her light, stood firm by the doorway.

Supporting her troubled balance with a hand on the shelf, red-faced, Yukino scowled when she saw Hachiman's lips morph into a wry smirk at her frightened reaction. She was hasty to recollect herself, removing the palm from her thumping heart and folding her arms with disapproval, stalking forward under the strength of refined confidence, although a sliver of excitement projected in her cerulean eyes.

"Hachiman-kun! What on earth are you doing outside of class? Can I not trust you to keep your repulsive delinquent urges under control? Need I remind you that you are a member of the esteemed Service Club and as such your misbehaviour will reflect badly upon me, your president. I will not tolerate truancy from my members, especially from the likes of you, return to class right this instant… and I may just overlook your disobedience."

Exchange Hachiman with perhaps another student and her biting reprimand would have the desired effect like she was accustomed to. Instead, all she received was an unconcerned eyeroll and lazy shrug which made the irritated girl scowl, and no she wasn't pouting.

"You run your mouth just as fast as your feet, I must say I was impressed by your performance out there, not bad at all."

"Oh, you saw that did you?" A very pleased smile curved on her lips as she pulled herself into a graceful twirl, positioning her nubile body to the side with her hands on her lithe waistline, one white sneaker shifting to the balls of her feet helped accentuate the sensual curvature of her ripe, ample posterior. With her head raised high and her eyes closed, she preened under his undivided attention. "Is it really a surprise? It is only natural that my incredible intelligence matches my athletic ability. Be grateful, Hachiman-kun, that an illustrious girl like me is your warden~"

She did not catch Hachiman's dark smirk.

Already the dignified Ice Queen, a puritan student, had forgotten her demands and was eager to model her statuesque physique for the school's felonious pariah, he wasn't complaining as his carnal urges momentarily usurped control of his greedy eyes. Outfitted in a white t-shirt and navy shorts, he was awarded the rare exposure of Yukino's delectable bare skin.

Underneath her perky apple bottom, cream shapely thighs - that looked like they belonged to an Olympic gymnast - flowed downward to smooth feminine calf muscles, his gaze devoured the expanse of soft skin along her slender arms, her snug top underlying the modest but no less appealing swell of her chest, all the way to her slim neck exposed for the predator to see, many thanks to the messy bun hairstyle.

Perfect.

He slammed the door shut, engulfing the couple in minimal darkness.

Suddenly, ejected out of her superior disposition, disillusioned, the air became thinner for the nervous Yukino as the predatory, oppressive aura of Hachiman coalesced the room. The walls shrank around the headstrong lioness; desperate thoughts of escape superseded her feminine pride. He narrowed his cold, bestial eyes along her five-foot-five frame, presenting an animalistic smirk that promised something which caused butterflies in her stomach and chills to run down her spine.

"I-I'll say this one more t-time, H-Hachiman-kun, return to class right now!" she stuttered aloud with internal curses at her shaky response, even though she could admit it was a futile attempt but what other option did she have?

In complete control of the encounter, he stepped forward at a casual pace, hands deposited in his pockets.

"You know, I didn't pay you back for what you did to me, did I?"

Yukino's anxious face cutely scrunched up in confusion. "W-what nonsense are you s-spouting about n-now?"

Hachiman fashioned a satisfied smirk as he watched the advanced gears begin to spool in her pretty little head, a result of her intelligence the subsequent reaction came quickly once alarmed realisation punctuated her eyes to expand with fear. A defensive glare twisted upon Yukino's uneasy face, scrambling back with haste. Sizing up the imposing five-foot-eleven boy who packed enough muscle to make a grown man green.

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Stay w-where you stand and d-don't come any closer! I must w-warn you I am very capable of defending m-myself!"

Though surprised, Hachiman scoffed when she slipped into a karate back stance with practised ease, bent legs spread in an orthodox position, left palm extended forth while her opposite palm rested at her chest. Decent form, presenting a balanced low centre of gravity.

"L-last warning, H-Hachiman-kun!"

Unfortunately ruined by the quivering of her limbs.

They say a cornered wild animal is when they are most dangerous. Not today. Forecasted by the frighteningly casual way Hachiman tilted his head aside her rushed jab, the subsequent kick flying high toward his skull was thwarted even easier than her first strike. Strong fingers snatched her slim ankle like one would a small child, Yukino's equilibrium experienced an abrupt invert, her world whirled and twirled like a helicopter propeller.

"A-ahh!"

It was too fast for her dazed mind to register, but both her feet had left the floor some time ago as Hachiman swept her last foot and executed a single-leg takedown that slammed her back into a pile of mats, knocking the wind out of her stomach.

"Ooft!"

Hachiman sank his eighty-kilogram frame on her curvy but lithe figure before cupping both her slender wrists in one hand above her head with insurmountable strength.

The discombobulated female's cerulean eyes zoned in and out and took painstaking efforts to re-establish her senses and new constricting position. For the first time ever in her frigid life, she felt the weight of a boy atop her and smelt his enticing fresh timber, forest-rich aroma. Heated blood coated Yukino's flustered face once she became aware of her inappropriate situation, conflicted by the unfamiliar sensations rioting over her hormonal body.

"S-stop t-this m-madness!" She squirmed and thrashed about wildly whilst straining her arms against him, her newfound strength was useless in comparison, akin to trying to pry her hands from concrete. "Hhn! H-Hachiman-kun!" His level of strength was ridiculous, to subdue her to such a degree with one hand was ludicrous. Rage bubbled and popped in her feisty glare, struggling any further only made her tire and aggravated her wrists. "Release me right now!"

"No. I think I like you in this position, it's an almost symbolic way for you to learn that you are beneath me." Hachiman brandished a mocking smirk at the blushing girl enflamed by fury. "Did you think I'd allow you to disrespect me without punishment?"

Under no compulsion to adhere to hollow social expectations around her dear Hachiman, Yukino surprised him as she sighed in reluctant acceptance before an imperious smile painted her self-assured countenance. "Since the fateful day, we were first introduced I knew this very moment would inevitably arise."

He frowned at her ambiguity, once more irritated by her haughtiness. "What are you talking about, woman?" he growled. Did she hit her head on the mat or something? He made sure to soften her landing.

"Isn't it obvious, Hachiman-kun?" she purred, Yukino's beautiful smile stretched further up at him, her blue eyes twinkling with an air of superiority. "It was only a matter of time until you ultimately succumbed and lost yourself to your beastly urges under the unbreakable spell of my bewitching beauty. Although… I must confess I did not anticipate you subjugating me during a lesson."

"You can't be serious?" Disbelief coloured his face and tone.

"I can only take solace from the fact that I am your only victim. I've already resigned myself to the tragic reality that my chastity would be stolen by the foul beast atop of me." Luscious lips curled with a self-righteous quality. "Do your worst, Hachiman-kun."

Hachiman rolled his exasperated eyes before furrowing his brows at the gorgeous girl allowing her real wicked traits to show. "I'm not so desperate and immoral I would force myself on you, Yukino."

"Your indecent actions do not give-"

"Shut up."

"W-why you-"

"Enough!" he snapped sharply, provoking a thwarted expression of indignant humiliation from the sneering female beneath him. "We both know if you truly believed what you're saying you'd be screaming your lungs out right now to alert the attention of other people, so no, your actions are the one that proves you otherwise."

"That's not necessarily true." Yukino shot him a teasing grin, twinged with underlying sparks of vindictive excitement. "For I have accepted my fate under your bondage, I won't disgrace myself by screaming and I do not possess the physical strength to deny you if you were to force yourself on me right now. So by all means go right ahead and partake in my untouched flesh, foul beast. I can take whatever you dish out."

Maybe it was a testament to his chivalrous, admirable character or most probably Yukino's intrinsic trust in the brutal, jaded boy with more blood on his hands than the Battle of Okinawa – hyperbole of course - that persuaded her to stake her chastity at his prerogative. Eye to eye, heart to heart, Yukino knew Hachiman wouldn't do the unforgivable.

How else could she be so comfortable playing this naughty game?

Honestly, Yukino's cunning, audacious personality was a curious thing, because it seemed to only escape its dungeon when he was present, as in the bulk of their interactions her true self was unveiled. She suddenly gained a love for being loquacious and saying things in such a soft-spoken voice that would leave onlookers horrified.

How did this seemingly prudish, high-born girl keep her penchant for suggestive dark humour under wraps? It didn't take a genius of human communications to discern the fact she enjoyed and instigated their heated back-and-forth barbs.

"Insult, taunts and arguing? That's just how insecure, hormonal teenage girls show their affection..."

Curse Izayoi's name! The braggadocious teen was right again, his frank advice once more assisting him in eradicating the webbed veil of denial glued to his cynical perception. How refreshing his heavy-handed decision became once he realised the feeling was entirely mutual.

In the sea of conformist social drones, he respected Yukino's rule of blunt character to not mince her words around him. Moreover, he… liked their youthful tension too.

"Let's put your words to the test then, shall we?"

Only he was a little more reckless…

"W-wait! P-perhaps you m-misunderstood, I was s-speaking in j-jest."

Yukino's gulped as her earlier bravado abandoned her without looking back, left in the chilling cave of Hachiman's might and wicked smirk, her nervous eyes froze on his lone hand descending towards her defenceless body at a snail's pace, her panicked struggling ensued like a caged feline. Nothing budged the muscled boulder subduing her. Attempting the same thing expecting a different result. Trying to escape was insanity.

An anxious change of tactics was nominated, a desperate plea to appeal to his equivocal conscience.

"H-Hachiman-kun, think v-very carefully about w-what you're a-about to- Ahhhh!"

Denied.

Relentless, unrestrained laughter erupted like a colosseum orchestra from Yukino's agape lips as she bellowed louder than ever before in the darkness of the equipment building. Hachiman's exuberant fingers the weapon of her torture scrambling across her exposed neck and stomach including her armpits, he smiled as she valiantly forced herself in vain to oppose the embarrassing reactions his ministrations reaped from her shaking body.

"Hahaha! Plea- Hehehe! Stop- Hahaha!"

A futile venture illustrated by her convulsing stomach, with a face redder than a ripe tomato, accompanied by liberated streaks of tears running from her clenched eyelids. Hachiman admired the angelic sound pearling from her mouth, even unhinged from order she still managed to remain elegant as his invasive fingers explored her slick female form emanating a sweet smell of pomegranate mixed with sweat.

Her delectable scent aroused his sensitive nose and made his wild blood spiral downward like a VA-111 Shkval torpedo where he forced himself to regain control of his desire.

Eventually, Hachiman's concern compelled him to exercise a rare showing of mercy - lest she was to die of suffocation – at the brink of depleting all her oxygen Yukino's body wheezed in every molecule of air like a greedy man starved. Perspiration glittered over the expanse of her pale skin, wet onyx hair clung to her forehead, fatigued face ripe red with blood. The poor girl's cheeks and abdominals muscles were sore from the extensive bout of uninhibited laughter.

In between laboured pants, Yukino's glazed-lidded eyes looked at the unsatisfied Hachiman seeking more.

"P-please… st-stop… Hachiman-kun…" her soft trembling voice pleaded in submission; bright cerulean wells glistened to help convey her request for forgiveness. Yukino was an intolerant, social hermit who was sorely unequipped and unused to physical roughhousing with a boy. A ridiculously strong delinquent one at that. She couldn't keep up. "No! H-Hachi! Don't y-you dare, ahh-! Mmmm~"

Yukino's flushed face exploded into a firework of flames as she expelled a rather loud, no, an extremely strident, yet licentious moan potent enough to make the enthralled Hachiman momentarily harden at the same time he sank his teeth into the tender flesh of her unblemished neck. Control almost eluded him when her warm, shapely body shuddered wildly when he sucked hard on her salty skin, she groaned all the while her wide hips bucked instinctively against his frustrated groin so close to glory.

'Down boy! You only want payback, not an advance.'

"Hn~ Ah! Ah!"

One minute is the exact time she had reached for his neck; he would do the same in turn. Amid the seconds dwindling Yukino took deep gasps with an expression that was explicit in nature. Her pain and arousal conflicted body spasmed to arch her reactive bosom into Hachiman's chest, overwhelmed gaze glued to the ceiling, his wet thrashing tongue coating her neck dilating her pupils. Steadfast teeth marked her like a tattoo in his image to brandish his claim.

"Yukinoshita-san!"

Energetic knocking commenced at the call of concern opposite the closed door. Overlooking his fun being curbed, Hachiman held enough decency to stop, leant over the motionless girl he sent a lazy glance to the door, meanwhile at the sound of her teacher's voice Yukino panicked into action with wide eyes to the point she didn't even notice Hachiman had relinquished his hold. She shoved the heavy boy off her wielding a frown, to scramble to her shaky feet.

Though the opportunity was available, he provided no resistance and followed, more curious to witness how she would resolve this puritan image dilemma.

"Go and hide quickly!" she hissed out in a harsh whisper, fixing her tousled clothes with anxious haste. "I will not get in trouble because I was associated with your reckless behaviour."

"Are you ashamed of me, Yukino? Say it isn't so. Why are you trying to hide our relationship?" he mocked in a tone dripping with dejection, adorning a feigned expression of hurt betrayal, palm gripping his heart. The act was ruined by the eventual amused smirk rising to paint his face. "I thought we had something special. Were you just using me all along?"

Overwhelmed by the substantial weight of her sporadic emotions whirlpooling beyond her limit, due to the machination of a bad boy who touched more of her teenage body than anyone ever has. Throughout all his mockery, unfair roughhousing, and humiliating tickle session before he bit… yet he persisted with his foolhardy games when they were at severe risk of being caught, this was too much for her turbulent feelings to withstand.

Yukino fired a fierce glare of flustered rage, the entirety of her usually stoic face was shaded a healthy red denoting her reaching her wit's end. Compounded by the warmed ache seared into the right side of her neck, blemishing her otherwise cream skin with an unavoidable scar of teeth marks, the exposed symbol of Hachiman's reign.

"I am sick of your juvenile games, you no good savage miscreant! I want my pound of flesh, Hachiman-kun! And I always get what I want!"

Ruled into motion by what she believed righteous anger, care for her image of perfection discarded at his corrupting influence, she pounced like a feline on a chuckling Hachiman. Prior combat form forgotten to rage; he caught her flailing limbs en route to strike his face by the wrists and rose them far above her head until her kicking feet dangled in the air.

For a moment she couldn't avoid marvelling at his effortless strength, holding her entire body aloft with no grunt or expression of exertion. Irritated at the immediate, decided loss of her two arms, she whipped her leg out to kick his midriff, her adversary was faster by a mile as he rotated her through the air and trapped her fighting legs against the wall with his own.

Yukino shuddered and squealed as the new intimate position resulted in their privates colliding, only a few articles of clothing shielded them from true contact, yet the unfamiliar waves of pleasure tingling along her fiery core were not false. Hachiman took advantage of her lost composure and claimed the same point in her neck again, teeth greedily piercing the matching ridges in her skin.

"Hachi- Ah! Ah!"

Producing more indecent moans from Yukino as her head craned upwards, blushing with her mouth parted in risqué fashion, Hachiman's untamed hair brushed her ruby cheek, his masculine scent invaded her nostrils, tightly corded muscles melded to her stimulated form while he feasted upon her neck.

"Yukinoshita-san?! Are you okay in there?"

He was getting his sixty seconds. Irrespective of the interruptions.

"That's it! I'm coming inside."

"H-Hachi! S-stop, s-she's… she's going to s-see us! Mmm~" Yukino's dainty voice panted beside his keen ear that stoked his carnal fire which had not been released in some time.

'Five more seconds, please.'

The handle to the door shifting worked in tandem with Yukino's frenetic nerves going berserk as her scandalised eyes fixated on the door, drawing it open to allow sunlight to leak inside. As more sunlight streamed in the more panicked her worst-case scenario thoughts clouded her overloaded mind and hammering heart.

Would she get her first detention breaking her unblemished record? Would she be expelled for indecent relations? What if they contacted her parents? Yukino dreaded to imagine the harsh castigation she would likely receive from her sorely disappointed mother. Don't let her begin on the endless teasing she'd be subjected to by her impish elder sister. She'd be forced to leave school over her stained reputation through no choice of her own. She'd never get a teacher as supportive as Hiratsuka-sensei who helped her found the Service Club.

It confounded her that the onus of fault and blame would be all his yet… what left her most depressed was the possibility that she'd never ever be able to see Hachi-

"Jeez! Just tell her the high jump stand dropped again and startled you, you'll be fine so stop worrying."

"Huh?"

Yukino blinked owlishly at the smirk brimming with cool confidence as Hachiman pressed a firm hand to the small of her back, guiding the rattled girl forth with speed. She stumbled forward toward the cone and hurdle bags, right in time for her confused female teacher to enter and survey the room with worry, only to sigh in relief that Yukino was alone and unharmed.

"Yukinoshita-san, I was calling you from outside when I heard you scream, is everything okay?"

Yukino inhaled and exhaled a deep breath in a valiant attempt to recollect her poise before rotating to face the slender woman garbed in a green tracksuit, sporting short brown hair with her hands placed on her hips.

A decorated smile of cute innocence blossomed on her comely features.

"My apologies, sensei, I mustn't have heard you. The high jump stand dropped and startled me."

To her amazement the woman nodded in understanding, expelling a sigh of frustration. "Yeah, that's been happening a lot lately since a certain group of troublesome students like to not take equipment duty seriously and never restack things in their proper place. Are you hurt at all?"

"No, sensei, I am completely fine, I was just finishing up."

"Hmm, alright, don't take too long now, the girls are heading to the showers. Okay?"

"Understood, sensei."

Once her teacher had departed, she revealed a heavy gasp of relief and placed a palm on her drumming heart with her eyes closed.

"Well done."

Like a starved cheetah to a gazelle, Yukino's head snapped to see him standing languid as ever by the ball cage. Vengeful cerulean zeroed in on the root cause of this rollercoaster debacle. She stormed up to the smiling boy and lashed her hand out to grip his cheek. Only for him to duck, and pivot aside in an adroit fashion, chuckling away. Why was he so fast?!

"Woah! Keep your hands to yourself, lady."

"Come here, Hachiman-kun…" she ordered in a voice void of any discernible emotion, while her stoic visage promised untold amounts of retribution. "You can't run or hide from me." Slow muted steps carried her toward the backpedalling boy. "Bare your neck to me. Allow me to return the favour." Ignoring the obvious fact, she was the first aggressor.

"Sorry, Yukino, as much as I love our secret passionate affairs, I need to get back to class."

"What?! Absolutely not, I'm not finished with you yet!"

"As a respected representative of the Service Club it is imperative, I uphold classroom attendance."

"Oh please spare me of your discourtesy!"

"I must disagree, madam, my president would stress and implore I return to class without more ado."

"Not after what you did to me! So after all that heedless bluster you're just going flee?!" Yukino bore a provoked scowl of epic proportions and stewed with belligerent indignation, stamping her foot like a stroppy child not getting her way with her fists balled at her sides. "Y-you're insufferable!"

"I love you too."

"Urk!"

Hachiman flashed a boyish grin and two-finger salute before fading outside as quiet as a ghost or in his case a wraith of terror.

Yukino almost suffered a heart attack as blood swooned to her dizzy head, clutching a hand to the right side of her scarred neck. She aimed a conflicted glare outside, barbed with begrudging delight. Did he just say… A parched feeling addled to her suddenly dry throat, she needed a glass of water immediately.

Hachiman made her thirsty.


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