"Crawl back to the hole from whence you came, you lower life form (Common Earthworm)."

I turn to the source of the sound, and I saw my brother lying on top of the many sofas in the café that our mother owns. I was at the counter, cleaning everything that needs to be cleaned before we can close the shop. Mom was at the bar upstairs, probably helping out her employees.

He's been like that for a while now, just lying there, talking to himself while playing on his PSVita…

Well, I can't really complain, since he already finished cleaning the area that Mom assigned to him. My brother may be lazy, but if he needs to do something, he'll do it "As quickly and efficiently as possible!"

I sighed and continued cleaning the shelves and making sure the top of the counter is clean to the point where I can see my own reflection. Looking around and comparing our place to the other cafes that I have been to, I can say that ours was pretty good.

It had a professional and formal feel to it, and it even made me feel out of place. I'm not an interior designer, but I can say that the theme here was, sleek and simplicity.

Everything, from the chairs and tables, to the ceiling and lights had that same theme. In short, it had a really modern feel to it. A lot of furniture here was custom designed, and now that I think about it, most of the equipment here was really expensive looking. Even the customers that I served earlier had a dignified and respectable air around them.

It's Sunday today, and the sun had already sunk below the horizon around two hours ago.

After I wrap this up, the three of us were supposed to eat outside, because all of us were exhausted at the end of the day.

I had to help out at the café with the orders at the cashier, as well as cleaning the tables after the customers. Mom's bar upstairs has customers at around 7pm, so she had plenty of free time to help me out at the café below.

My brother on the other hand, just came back from his Taekwando lessons. He was at work at the bookstore Monday to Saturday and his lessons start at Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Waaahhh, that must be exhausting…

Poor Onii-chan, Komachi will make you feel really good to relieve you of the stress!

Wait, that sounded too lewd…hehehe…

Anyway, his eyes were looking more dead than normal and I won't even call him dead-fish eyes anymore.

More like, Undead Champion, or Zombie Overlord.

Hmm, perhaps NEET Emperor…?

I took a peek at him and I saw him looking at me with a red glint in his eyes.

"…Oi, you were thinking something rude about me, weren't you?" he asked with a brow raised in suspicion.

I-Impossible! Onii-chan can read minds now?!

"N-No! Haha, what are you saying, O-Onii-chan?" I say while trying my best not to stutter. To lessen his suspicion, I absentmindedly began to clean more vigorously and inspected a smudge on the counter that wasn't really there.

But it looks like it only made his eyes narrow at me. He looked like he was going to say something, but a sound from his PSVita made him switch his attention.

Phew.

The sounds from his PSVita were getting more chaotic, forcing him to put all of his focus on it. His brows were relaxed, but his eyes had an intense look on them while his fingers pushed away on the gaming console.

"You dare get back up? Stay down on the ground where you belong, you lower life form (Maggot).

Onii-chan can get weird sometimes…

"Komachi~, are you done yet? Let's have dinner!" My Mother's voice came from the room behind me which had stairs that led to the bar.

"Ah, I'll be done in a minute!" I say as I began to do my work faster because my hunger was growing by the second.

After several moments, Mom came out of the room and went to the sofa where Onii-chan was lying on.

"Haa-chan, be careful or you might fall off." Mom chided as she began to inspect the area if it was clean enough. Dragging a finger on one of the table tops and checking it, she nodded to herself.

"Yes yes…" Onii-chan said in a low and exhausted tone.

With the last of the shelves wiped of any accumulated dust, and the countertop clean, I did a stretch and basked at my work.

"Mom, I'm done here." I announced proudly.

"Ok good, let's go have some dinner! Where do you want to eat?"

After Mom told her employees upstairs that she was going home ahead, we went outside began walking while trying to decide where we should eat.

And by "we", I meant just Mom and me. As usual, Onii-chan would just reply, "Anywhere is fine.", whenever we would ask him for suggestions. Waaahh, so cool yet so lame at the same time.

In the end we decided to eat at the local family restaurant, and after being led to our table, we went straight into choosing our food.

"Hmm, what to pick…" I say while observing their menu.

"Haa-chan have you decided yet?" I hear Mom's voice.

"I'll just get a ramen and gyoza."

Ramen and gyoza huh…Ah, I guess I'll just get that too…

"Me too!"

With my reply, Mom called the waiter over to get our orders. I took out my phone to pass the time. Onii-chan on the other hand, took out his Light Novel from his bag and began reading away.

"Oi, Komachi. Don't use your phone on the table, that's rude." Onii-chan's voice reprimanded me and I hit him with my right elbow.

"Well why don't you put down your trashy light novel?" I give him a trashy grin from the corner of my eye.

He narrowed his eyes at me and put down his book.

"Hmph, fair enough."

"Haa-chan, how's your work and karate lessons coming along?"

"It's going smoothly, and its taekwando, not karate."

"Ah, silly me haha."

I give Onii-chan a closer look, he doesn't look any different since he started three weeks ago. When he arrives home, he just collapses on the sofa and takes a nap. Even though he's also biking and jogging every morning, I don't really see any changes.

"Where's Dad anyway?" I decide to ask so we can keep the conversation going, seeing that Onii-chan has refused to open his mouth to speak.

"He's been busier at work lately and he's always traveling a lot, that's what he told me." Onii-chan mumbled his reply.

"Waahh…I hope he doesn't overexert himself again…" I hear Mom mutter in a worried tone.

"Ah, now that I remember," Mom says with a faraway look in her eyes and a voice full of nostalgia, "when Haa-chan was still in my belly, your father would always do overtime, and he told me that he would sleep under his desk at his office…"

Ah, so Dad would sometimes go overboard at work huh…

"Hmph, I'm sure Dad wouldn't sleep under his desk now." Onii-chan added as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You're right, he would definitely just fall asleep on his desk." Mom said, and we laughed at her reply.

From there, the conversation went smoothly and we talked about lots of stuff that made Onii-chan grow bored. But he would talk from time to time and add his opinion on the matter. Before long, our food arrived, and we heartily ate our dinner.

The food was surprisingly good, and I was the first one to finish eating.

"Ara, Komachi, you sure are hungry tonight, all the work that I gave you must drained you huh?" Mom said with a small smile.

Ah, but I was still hungry though…

Onii-chan has always been a slow eater, and I can see that he has a far-away look in his eyes while he's eating. Seizing my chance, I swiftly move my chopsticks to the vulnerable and enticing gyoza on his plate.

With a whoosh I take managed to take my target and successfully take a bite from it.

"Oi, don't steal my food…" He said with a more tired and empty voice than usual, he didn't even bother to turn his head and look at me, he's just looking at me from the corner of his eye.

Uwaahh...I should feel guilty about this…

But I don't! Hahaha!

"Too late, hehehe~." I finish the food that I stole from him and stuck my tongue out.

"Komachi, stop teasing your brother, he's probably more exhausted than you are." Mom said and called the waiter to get the receipts of our dinner.

"Haaiiii~!"

Sorry Mom, but teasing Onii-chan is fun!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day…

The cold morning air flowed through my face, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand straight. It's been around thirty minutes after sunrise, and the number of vehicles and pedestrians on the street are slowly increasing in number.

Since I started, I think I covered a distance of maybe a kilometer or two. I was supposed to jog around the neighborhood this morning, but I felt guilty since I started neglecting to use my trusty bike.

Don't worry bike-chan, you're still the one for me.

Lately, I've been spacing out a bit, more so than usual that even Komachi and Mom started to ask me about it.

Truthfully, it's because I've been contemplating my actions and the speed of the current developments. The things that my younger self would have never thought of doing.

Is changing myself good?

Why do I have to change?

Have I found a reason that would warrant an immediate need to change myself?

Currently, it feels like change is both good and bad, until you open the box to see what's inside, you can never get a proper answer.

Huh, it feels like I'm in a "Schrödinger's Cat" scenario…

Feeling that I'm about to reach the limit of my stamina, I bike towards the playground in our neighborhood to rest and go home.

As I turned at the corner of the street, I saw a girl wearing a white sweater and gray jogging pants with peach-colored hair walking her dog, I believe the breed was a Daschund. The little brown dog would sniff everything that it came across on the road.

A dog doing typical dog things.

How the girl walked struck me as strange, she's almost dragging her feet on the pavement with her shoulders and head low.

Ah, she must have been forced to walk the dog at the insistence of her parents…

I rode past them shortly, and I didn't bother looking back.

In fact, I think I saw the girl barely keeping her eyes open…

When I reached the playground, I parked my bike beside the bench and began to massage my legs to ease the pain. After that, I did upper body stretching exercises which made many of my joints pop in the process. Finally, I did squats and leg stretches to complete the morning ritual.

Ugh, my arms still hurt after my session at the Taekwondo studio with Shiromeguri-senpai yesterday afternoon…

Tatsumi-sensei was a pretty harsh teacher…

"Come on! Stop acting like little wimps!"

"Hit harder! You little sissy!"

"I expected better from my cousin's employees!"

"You! With the dead-eyes! Faster! Keep those legs up!"

"If I catch you that you're slacking off on the training program that I gave you, you're in a lot of trouble!"

Shiromeguri-senpai was terrified of sensei, and I would cower behind her in a very unmanly fashion when sensei is scolding us.

Damn, I think I even shed a tear or two now that I think about it.

*Hoh, you really are trying hard, aren't you Hikigaya? *

Leave me alone.

Just as I was about to finally take a break and sit down on one of the benches, I heard a dog's barking and I looked to the source of the sound.

The dog from earlier was running freely towards the playground.

But it's leash was free from the hand of its owner.

I watched the dog run around the playground, almost searching for something, and then it saw me and barked. The dog ran towards me with it's little tongue dangling out and its tail wagging.

"Sable!" A girly voice cried out.

I looked around and saw the girl from earlier trying to catch up to her pet.

The little dog reached me in no time and stood on its hind legs as it used my leg for balance.

Wow, this dog is a little bit too friendly. It would make for a terrible guard dog.

Its large eyes looked up to me, and I didn't have the heart to push it away. So, I reached out my hand and patted its head, which earned a pleasant sound from it.

It whimpered in joy when I scratched the area behind its ear.

That's so cute…

From the corner of my eye, I saw the girl's pace slow down as she neared me, a look of relief plastered on her face.

"I-I'm so sorry about that! Sable ran of on his own!" she said through labored breaths.

When I sat straight to look at her and meet her eyes, she flinched at me and unconsciously took a step back.

Oh, come on, you don't have to show your apprehension that much…

"It's nothing, he's a very good dog. A good dog reflects its owner's personality and how much you care for him. He is very lucky to have a caring owner such as yourself." I say as I shook my head to dismiss her apology.

Those words were the same words when a co-worker of Dad visited our house when I was a kid. She commented that Kamakura was a very well-behaved cat and is lucky to have a kind owner like me.

Needless to say, I let it go to my head and I got cocky.

She tilted her head to the side in thought, and then her eyes widened in realization.

"A-Ah! You give me too much credit!" she says while a blush covered her cheeks and waving her hands in front of her in an erratic manner.

The dog, I mean, Sable, got off from my leg and began to bark and circle around his owner. The girl was able to hold her dog, albeit clumsily, and finally lock the leach to his collar.

Now that I have a closer look at her, Peachy here doesn't look bad. She had soft features on her face, her eyes round and full of life, which must mean that she has a happy and outgoing personality. She was shorter that Kawasaki-san and had shoulder-length peach-colored hair.

I'll call her Peachy for now.

"But please, make sure to properly keep him under control next time. It might get him into an unfortunate accident in the future." I reprimanded Peachy in a slightly scolding tone, which caused her to bow and ask for my forgiveness.

After that, she stared at me, as if waiting to continue the conversation, and I began to see that she was beginning to feel awkward at the silence.

I activate my STAND, [108 LONER SKILLS], it has many abilities, one of which includes the quick dispersion of an awkward atmosphere with a lame, but effective excuse!

"You should get going, your do- I mean Sable, is getting restless." I say as I eyed the small dog.

"Ah, you're right!" With that Peachy gave me a small bow and began to turn around, but she stopped, her mouth opening slightly, as if wanting to say something.

I tilted my head in confusion and frustration.

If you want to say something, say it!

I'm not a psychic damnit! Do I look like I have a quirk or something?!

"G-Goodbye!" She raised her hand and gave me a small wave.

"Hmm." I raised mine and she turned and walked away from me. Her dog also giving my foot one last sniff before trotting away.

For the next several minutes, I was just spacing out and staring at nothing in particular.

I wonder what's for breakfast…

A notification alert came from my phone, and I slowly reached into my pocket to see what it is.

Probably just a scam message or a bill from my service provider…

I opened the device and I saw that it was a message from Mom.

Sender: Mom

Haa-chan! I forgot to tell you that your presence is required at school at Friday this week. I also forgot what it was about.

Sorry about that…hehe…

So be sure to go there, or else I'm taking away your PSVita!

Oh no, she's threatening Vita-chan! I have to take this seriously then…

Uwaah, what a drag…How tiresome…

I hope I'm not in trouble or anything…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Greetings everyone! Ivanov117 here!

Sorry for not updating in a while. I've been reading all the Overlord Light Novels, as well as No Game No Life and I just finished the Akame Ga Kill Manga. I've also decided to replay my Skyrim with a pure Nordic Magic Caster, and I've been having too much fun lol.

You might have noticed that this is a rather short chapter. Well, I decided to chop things up a bit because I don't want too much stuff happening in one chapter.

So, in the next chapter, Hachiman would go to Sobou High to see why he was called. Who knows who he might run into, and what things he may discover?

The next chapter would be most likely released before April ends…

Adios mi amigos!