Hikigaya Hachiman's Path To Reformation

He Reaches His Limits

"Hey Hayato, wanna hang out later? Me and the others are going to the arcade." One of my male classmates came to me together with some of his friends.

"Yeah, let's go, dude!"

"Ahaha, sorry, but as what Sensei announced earlier, along with an official announcement from the Student Council through the school's speakers, all first-year class reps have to go to a meeting after class," I told them as I sheepishly scratched my head.

"Aww come on, can't you just skip it just once?"

"There's an attendance so…" I reply once again while scratching my cheek, which caused them to make disappointed expressions. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you tomorrow." I hastily added without thinking.

Sigh There goes my free time tomorrow…

"Ok! See you tomorrow then! We'll be going on ahead!" I waved them goodbye as we parted ways in the hallway and then I began walking to the room where we were supposed to hold the meeting. Unfortunately, my female counterpart was absent today because she was feeling sick, so it's just me representing our class.

A few minutes later, I arrived but there was a line outside, they were probably class reps too. It didn't take long for the line to start moving and I soon caught the figure of who was taking the attendance at the front of the door.

"Ryuta Futaro."

"Tae Rin."

"Hakuro Tenzen."

The students all announced their names, and once it was confirmed by Hikigaya, he bid them go inside and take a seat. I could occasionally hear a greeting from one of the students directed to Hikigaya, to which he would politely return one of his own.

"Yo Hikigaya, working so hard I see." One boy said when it was his turn.

"Good Afternoon. Please go inside and take a seat, we will begin shortly." His replies were…very professional, yet cold at the same time. It was filled with politeness and courteousness, but I didn't sense any friendly vibes coming from him. Almost like how to store workers would be very polite to customers, but only because they had to since it was their job.

I noticed one of the girls gave him a bright and charming smile that would make most guy's hearts skip a beat, but he just nodded at her to go inside as his eyes returned to the checklist that he was holding. Ouch, that must have hurt. Girls are way more affected by being ignored than guys.

"Yo Hikigaya." I greeted him when it was finally my turn.

"Good Afternoon, Hayato-san. Please go inside and take a seat, we will begin shortly." He replied in a slightly cold, yet polite tone.

He looked different somehow, in a sense that he looks tired-looking. I also noticed that he looks paler compared to the last time I saw him. I didn't know that he could be paler than he already is. His eyes were half-lidded, but whenever they would focus on you, you would see the unmistakable sharpness of his wit from the glint of his eyes. Very calculating, as if a million things had been analyzed and examined from your image at the moment that he had seen you.

His eyes kind of remind me of Yukino-chan, though his were sharper, analytical and had a certain edge to it, compared to how her's were cold and scrutinizing. Well, that's to be expected from our year's top student, I guess. I can't believe he remained at the top since classes started.

I gave him a nod and went inside to see that some of the tables have already been occupied. Each table was occupied by a pair of class reps. I spotted one of a few tables behind from the front and made my way there. To my surprise, Yukino-chan was there, though the seat beside her had a bag on it that I'm sure wasn't hers. She was reading a book and the table that she had occupied was at the front to the right side of the teacher's table. I wasn't aware that she was elected as a Class Representative too.

I sat down alone in my area, a sigh escaped my lips as I finally had some time for myself. Not that I am annoyed by my usual group of friends or anything, it's just that everyone, even the most extroverted person you know, needs some alone time every now and then. Even I am not exempted from that.

There was some chatter here and there, but it wasn't loud enough to warrant Hikigaya coming inside and telling everyone to keep quiet. Some of the class reps were speaking to their partners, but most of them were quiet and keeping to themselves.

After around fifteen minutes, Hikigaya entered the room with a satisfied look on his face. When he stood in front, all noise instantly stopped and everyone focused their attention on him. I said earlier that his eyes were very tired-looking, but the way he walked and carried himself was the complete opposite. Chest out and in a good posture, he walked to the centre, unfazed by the eyes and attention that were on him.

"First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming today, and, I would like to apologize on behalf of the Student Council for giving this announcement on such short notice." He said and lightly bowed to us, much to our surprise.

"Don't worry Vice Prez! It's alright!" One of the guys said with a loud and encouraging voice.

"Yeah! Don't be too formal and uptight, Vice Prez! Loosen up a little!" A girl from the back said which earned a few laughs from the others.

"I see, that's good to hear." Hikigaya nodded. "The reason why you're all here is that the school is giving out forms to the first-years. An evaluation, as I would like to call it, on our stay here in Sobu High so far. Suggestions and reasonable complaints are welcome, as far as I know. As well as recommendations on areas needed for improvement. Also, you will be given a list of all the students in your respective class, and what you need to do is to write down all of them who are affiliated with any clubs in school, or those who have thoughts on joining or founding one." He nodded to Yukino and they began distributing the forms that he had mentioned. Is she his secretary or something?

"Once you have filled them out, please drop by the Student Council office so we can verify them and do some double-checking for any possible errors."

I took a good look at the forms that were given to us, very basic-looking and had a minimalist style, but had all the necessary things needed for us to fill out.

"The results of our recent exams will be released soon. As usual, it will be posted on the big general information board and bulletin boards around the school. The other week, a concerned student reported to me that one of the First Years were vandalizing the bulletin board. Apparently, he was pissed off about the results and put his frustration on school property. He was sent to the guidance counsellor and promised he won't do it again. To the class rep who is in the same class as him, please keep an eye on him." He added and patiently waited for everyone to calm down after they made a fuss about the exams and the latter. His eyes rested on one of the Class Representatives longer than needed, and he grunted to himself.

They had excited, anxious, mortified and hopeful faces about their results in the exams. Among them, only Yukino-chan and Hikigaya had a bored poker-face. Though I caught her momentarily leer at him and he returned a smirk in return when no one was looking. Huh, so they consider each other as rivals? The thought made me internally laugh. It's good to see that she's opening up to some people.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot," Hikigaya said to himself as he snapped his fingers as if he finally remembered something. He walked to where Yukino-chan was sitting and began rummaging inside the bag that was beside her.

"Damnit, where is that thing."

"It's here with me, you gave it to me earlier, remember?" Yukino-chan said to him and gave him a folder. With a word of thanks, he went back in front and began flipping through the pages, his eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Ah, here it is. As mandated by the school, we will be having an outdoor camping activity to foster "Friendship, Cooperation and Teamwork" for the First and Second Years a few weeks from now. Unfortunately, because of the sheer number of the students, it would be divide by two groups. The First Year group will be the first one to go, while the Second Years will depart on a later date. The Third Years are too busy to join us, so they will be sitting this one out it seems. Please wait for further details from either the teachers or from us."

The room immediately erupted in excited voices and cheers after he was done speaking, to his dismay which caused him to sigh in exasperation and hold his temple.

The noisiest girl, which was a table away from where I was sitting, made a move to get her phone. Most likely to inform her friends of the new-.

"Oi." Hikigaya's voice was as cold as General Winter, pierced through the noise of the room, instantly silencing everyone. A second later, the room was so silent, that you could drop a needle in the middle and everyone would be able to hear it.

It was as if time itself had stopped.

"Please refrain from telling anyone else about this. This topic will not exit the walls of this room." He said with an air of seriousness around him.

"If we ever find out about a slip of information, then everyone here will be sanctioned with punishments from yours truly, as instructed by our Adviser and the Head Principal himself. A sin of one is a sin of all, as I would like to say." He added.

The poor girl which had fallen under his gaze, faltered and was sweating bullets. With a slow and trembling nod, she put down her phone, as if it would explode from the slightest motion.

"Are we clear?" He said in a menacing voice with his usual poker-face on.

"Yes!" Everyone said in unison.

"Please don't hold this against me, I'm only doing what I'm told..." He said in an apologetic tone loud enough for everyone to hear. Many had looks of understanding when he said that. He wasn't an all-powerful entity in the school, he was only an ordinary student just like us, though he had more duties and responsibilities than your ordinary student. There are certain things you always have to keep in mind, an image to maintain along with the expectations placed on you when you're the top student after all.

He was only doing his job and what's expected of him.

His eyes softened after a moment. "I would now entertain your questions, should you have one."

A guy raised his hand and he nodded at him to stand up.

"Where are the other Student Council members anyway?" One asked him.

"Shiromeguri-senpai has a meeting with one of our partner schools. The others have cram school or are busy with one of their major subjects, especially the Third-Years. I was the only one with vacant time so yeah." He said as he partially sat down on the table and crossed his legs.

"Which school?" Another asked him.

"Hmm, I believe it was Kaihin Sougou High." He said as he scratched his chin and everyone started whispering to each other. I am quite familiar with that school. I have some friends and acquaintances over there

"Anything else?" He asked and everyone shook their heads.

"One last thing, a concerned parent came to us a few days ago. He said that his son was on a "School Trip" apparently, and it was a few days later that he went home. We found out that that was a fabrication on the student's part. The truth was that he was hanging out with his friends from middle school, skipping classes and whatnot. The local government of Chiba has informed the schools on the possible rise of delinquency on the youths. There will be a seminar conducted in a function hall downtown to address this concern and everyone is welcome to attend. We will start posting this on the bulletin boards after this meeting, and you can tell your friends and classmates about it. The official announcement will be tomorrow at 10:00 am on the school's speakers. The event itself will happen next Saturday."

"Ok, so that concludes our meeting for today. Please get the forms for your class tomorrow at the office since the forms that you have right now is just a sample. Please be careful on your way home." All of us stood up and began walking towards the door.

"Thank you for your hard work, Vice Prez!"

"Be careful on your way home too, Hikigaya-san."

He received those words as we began walking out the door and would give nods of acknowledgement. We did the same when our eyes met and he immediately turned his attention to the person behind me. I'm well aware that Yukino-chan is aware of me, but she's completely ignoring me, as expected. She didn't even breathe in my direction, much less look at me.

I looked behind me and saw that it was only Yukino-chan and him in the room, they were talking and the door closed before I could hear what they were talking about. She said something, which caused one of his eyebrows to cock upwards.

Huh, so she finally made a friend, or at least someone she's on cordial terms with...that's good. What I did back then, cannot be easily forgiven. Especially from a person with a personality like her.

Blink

Blink Blink

Huh...A white ceiling..?

Wait, this isn't my room. I don't have a big window and white curtains to my left. Not to mention my table with my nightstand and unfinished Light Novel. I look down and see white bedsheets that weren't mine. In other words, I do not recognize my surroundings.

I sat up and I realized that I was in my school uniform. A moment after that, the bell sounded, and I concluded that I was at the infirmary. With a glance at my watch, I saw that it was around 11:12 am and lunch should have started a few minutes ago. A headache suddenly assaulted me when I tried to move, which caused me to wince in pain. For some reason, I was also feeling cold, even with my feet covered in socks, they were still freezing. And for someone who doesn't feel cold that easily, this caused an alarm from within me. I instinctively put the covers over my body once more.

The only thing left for me is to snee-

ACHOO!

Sniff

Sniff

Cough

Sneeze…

Damnit, I'm sick? How did this happen?

*Well Hikigaya, you have been overworking your body recently. Too much time working and too little time resting, your body can only do so much before something like this happened.*

Seeing that I was too weak to move around, I managed to get my bag and took out my sketchpad. Being bedridden won't stop me from finishing my drawing to submit for our Arts and Culture class. Heh, that sounded really cool.

I then began thinking on what I should draw. Our teacher was very vague, and said, "Draw whatever comes to your mind on the moment you picked up your pencil!". Good grief, what a stereotypical thing for an Arts teacher to say. But he was right, I already had something on my mind when I picked held my pencil with my right hand. I moved a bit, trying to find a comfortable position for me to draw in. With that done, I began to draw the framework of my drawing.

The central lines for me to draw the body came first, then I began drawing the flesh that would cover the "skeleton". It took me a while, but I smoothed the exterior parts and edges and began drawing the fingers, legs, thighs and the chest part of my drawing.

Not too skinny, yes, just like that. Now for the legs. Long legs look nice, hmm, there we go. Hmm, I think these thighs are too THICC, it looks weird from this angle. Ah, very nice. The lower part of the body looks equally proportioned. An hourglass figure looks great, but I have to be careful not to make it too unrealistic. There, oh, yes, how could I forget the bellybutton? The arms were quite difficult, I had to physically do the pose for me to grasp it and put it on paper, same goes for the fingers. Hmm, now for the chest. What would be a good size, I wonder...?

I put down my pencil, and after sneezing, closed my eyes and put my arms around my chest as I began to use 100% of my mental power to come up with a satisfying conclusion. Definitely not an A-cup, no offense to those women who have this, of course. B is fine, but I think C is best.

With my predicament over, I began to draw on that area of my art piece, as expected, it was the easiest part so far to draw.

And now comes the hard part, drawing clothes has always been my nightmare. A frilly Gothic Lolita-style dress came to mind, but I wasn't quite skilled enough to make it happen. So a standard Japanese-style school uniform for females would do for now.

Before my pencil could make contact with the paper, however, a particularly strong sneeze racked my body to the bone.

"Bless you." A feminine voice said before moving aside the white curtains around me that gave me privacy. Of course, I knew who was my unannounced visitor from her voice alone.

"Thank you, Hiratsuka-sensei," I say as I wiped my nose with a nearby tissue.

"How are you feeling?" She asked with concern and took a seat beside me bed. I quickly closed my sketchbook, afraid that Sensei might see it and accuse me of being a Hentai Doujin Artist in-the-making.

"I'm feeling 100%," I say with my voice sounding funny from my clogged nose, not to mention that it sounded sore and dry at the end. My sarcasm did not amuse the older female in front of me, and her brows furrowed at my reply.

"Very funny. Now, hold still." She said with a serious tone, unaffected by my sarcastic reply, and leaned towards me.

Woah.

Woah.

WOAH.

Her soft slender hands held my face as her eyes assaulted me with an intense look. Our faces were VERY close and one accidental move would cause things to be very awkward. After several heartbeats, she used one of her fingers to the area under my eye and pulled down on it.

"Ow." She ignored me as she continued with her assessment, I mean harassment. Amirite? Ah, that joke was lame.

"Your eyes are bloody red, and strained. You haven't had a decent night's sleep recently, have you?"

"...yes…" I say truthfully as I have nothing to gain by lying to my beautiful teacher whose face is inches away from me. This is truly a difficult situation for a monk-like me to be in. Being in in such a close proximity with someone like her would cause my hormonal body to react.

She nodded to herself and placed her palm on my forehead to feel my temperature. Ah, yes, such a classic move, one that has withstood the test of time. Something straight out of a romantic shojou manga. Wait…

"Hmm, your temperature is higher than average." She announced as she finally put some distance between us. Whew, that was close. Anymore and I would have lost control of my body. Is she teasing me? She is isn't she? I think she's deliberately doing this to get a reaction from me. Then it's fine if I reciprocate, right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right?

*Hikigaya, calm down. You're thinking like a hentai protagonist.*

Cease your barking, mongrel. Have you no eyes? Or are you just an ingrate mongrel who cannot see my intended jape?

"Rest assured sensei, once I feel better, I will go back to class as soon as possible-" A particularly strong fit of coughs suddenly hit and reverberated throughout my body. I didn't know when it happened, but tears came from my eyes as I continued coughing violently. It eventually reached my mouth where I tasted the familiar salty liquid.

Sensei was alarmed and put a hand on my back in an attempt to help me feel better. Even though I don't like sudden physical contact like earlier, her gesture was welcome. "That's enough." she would whisper to me as my coughing continued.

"Thank you," I say as I wiped my tears away, lone streak managed to slip past my hand and dropped onto my sketchpad. Good grief, I must look so pathetic right now…

"Goodness, I'll get you some water," Hiratsuka-sensei said with a concerned tone and hurriedly left, her quick and loud footsteps echoing in the room. She came back shortly, and I drank everything, to her insistence.

"Thank you, my throat isn't as dry now," I say.

"I see, that's good." Hiratsuka-sensei's eyes lightened up when she heard that, but quickly returned to her worried-look when her eyes fell on me. She looked at the time and asked if I had lunch yet, to which I obviously replied in the negative.

"What do you want for lunch? My treat." Hiratsuka-sensei stood up and waited for my reply. I thought about refusing her offer, but I am quite hungry and in no shape to get up anytime soon.

"Anything would be fine, Sensei," I say.

"Ok, be back in a flash and don't move from there." She said and quickly walked out of the room.

While she didn't exactly come back in a flash, she did arrive earlier than expected carrying a tray of sandwiches and onigiri.

"Sorry, this was all that was left." She said in an apologetic tone and placed the tray on my lap. A tiny part of me wanted her to spoon-feed me, but I'm not the main character of a harem anime after all.

"Thank you very much, Hiratsuka-sen-" I felt the cough coming before it arrived, and I managed to move the tray before it can spill and make a mess all over me. Hiratsuka-sensei once again moved her hand to my back in an attempt to comfort me, and I noticed that she would wince every time I coughed.

"I'm very sorry about that," I say after getting a moment to breathe.

"Don't worry about it. Here," She picked up an onigiri and offered it to my free hand, "I picked this since it's one of my favourites in the cafeteria." I wordlessly accepted it and after taking a quick look at it, began smelling it.

"Do you always smell your food before eating…?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked with an amused look.

"I do actually. To fully enjoy a meal to the fullest, I believe one must use all of his senses. Visual appeal is important, as it is the first sense to bear witness to the food. Listening to the crunch of every bite, and analyzing it, you can tell how fresh it is. The scent of the food is key on igniting that spark of hunger within us, a too strong smell might be avoided by others, while a too light smell can be understood as bland and utterly tasteless. Feeling the texture of the food in your mouth, how tough or soft the food is, should not be underestimated. It is out of the ordinary will most likely be noticed by observant individuals." I say proudly with my chest out.

It's a miracle that I didn't have a sudden fit of cough while I was talking. The Tuna Onigiri was great, the small amount of mayonnaise inside paired nicely with it. Hiratsuka-sensei ate too, and inhaled an onigiri in one go. Her cheeks enlarged as she started chewing on the food. She turned to me while doing so and it reminded me of a hamster with food in it's cheek pouches. She looked cute, but still…

Good grief, how unladylike...

The school nurse arrived with meds and a small note. She informed us that she had called my Father an hour ago of my current condition. No one answered our phone at home, so she immediately contacted my Father.

Huh? An hour ago? Then how long was I resting here then? I completely forgot about that.

"What? My Father?" I asked.

"Yes, he said that he's on his way." The nurse said. I was confused, I thought Dad was in Hokkaido? Did something happen that made him cancel his trip? As for my Mother, she is in Saitama right now I believe, as she was invited as a speaker for a university there.

Two pairs of footsteps entered the room, and we heard them in the middle of a conversation.

"-id not know that your son was here in the infirmary. Had I known, I would have called you immediately." Hmm, that's the voice of our principal.

I soon caught sight of my Father and the Principal. My Father was wearing a pitch-black business suit, his hair neatly combed and his facial hair shaved. I saw the same eyes that I inherited from him when we made eye contact. He looks quite intimidating, to say the least. The Principal gave me an apologetic look for some reason.

"Dad."

"Hachiman, are you alright? What happened?" He asked, entirely ignoring the people around him. The nurse and Hiratsuka-sensei gave us some space as my Father loomed over me when he stood next to the bed.

I then began telling him everything that happened, from when what I did when I woke up this morning, to when I finally came to here in the infirmary. My Father gave me a hard look, and on his eyes reflected that same expression whenever I would observe someone to see if they're telling the truth.

"Mr. Hikigaya, as the school Nurse, I would recommend your son to go home for now, to rest and take his medicine." She added from the side and everyone turned to her.

"Indeed, you should go home for now Hikigaya-kun." The Principal said to me, which earned a nod and a thumbs-up from Hiratsuka-sensei behind him.

I sighed in resignation and gave them a quick nod, with me being outnumbered, I had no choice but to submit to the coalition formed against me. I slowly got up from the bed and picked up my bag. Each movement somehow causing my head to hurt in rhythm to the beating of my heart.

"Thank you for watching over my son Sensei." My Father bowed in thanks to Hiratsuka-sensei and Fujima-sensei. I secretly apologized to Fujima-sensei in my mind. I really have to start practicing on remembering people's names...

"Goodbye Hikigaya-kun, get some rest. I'll inform the other teachers and Shiromeguri so they'll at least know the reason of your absence." Hiratsuka-sensei said with a smile as I gave her and the school nurse my thanks and waved them goodbye. The Principal was tagging along with us, weird…

I had forgotten that the time was currently lunchtime, and so many students were loitering in the halls walking here and there. I have learned to ignore the stares directed at me, but most of their eyes were fixated on my Father. Hey, he's not scary y'know! And it's like the first time you've seen an adult inside the school that wasn't member of the faculty and staff! Damn normies.

The Principal was assured me that he would take care of things while I was away. I think him personally saying this was…redundant, since Hiratsuka-sensei already said the same thing earlier. We separated with him at the entrance and finally reached the parking lot of the school, where I saw my Father's car. It's been a while since I entered this vehicle since he always uses this to work and all, and I only see my Father a few days in a week. I opened the door and hopped right beside the driver seat, but not before coughing again for several seconds.

When he closed the door and went inside, the engine automatically came to life which startled me.

"Welcome, Hikigaya Joushirou-san." A feminine voice from the car's speakers said.

Woah.

I heard two beeping sounds, one came from the car's speakers and the other came from my Father's…phone?

"Connection established, voice commands have been activated. Current time is 11:53 am, location temperature is at 19 degrees Celsius and GPS systems have been initialized." The voice said again and I had to hide a childlike grin from forming on my mouth. My Father gave me an amused smirk and we drove outside the school gate and into the road.

"Please send message to all departments." He said, and a moment later a beep of acknowledgement came from the car.

"Please cancel my schedule for today and tomorrow, I have urgent family matters to attend to." Two beeps came again, and this time, it was followed up by the car's voice.

"Acknowledged…sending message…sending successfully."

My phone rang, and I got it out of my bag and saw that it was from my Mother. I pressed "receive a call" and put the phone next to my ear.

"HACHIMAN ARE YOU OK?! IS YOUR FATHER THERE?! HAVE YOU EATEN YET?!" My Mother's loud voice assaulted my eardrums, which instinctively caused me to cringe away from the phone. Ah, my ears are ringing, I must have accidentally turned on the loudspeaker. Even my Father had to wince at the volume.

"Goodness, even on the phone, Hitomi is loud as heck when she's stressed out…" I hear my Father laugh to himself with a small smile.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm with Dad right now. And I've eaten but I'm still a bit hungry." I say and this time, the phone was a few inches away from my ear to avoid permanent hearing damage.

"OKAY I'LL FIX UP SOMETHING NICE- AH! THE WATER!" With that, the phone went dead, and me and my Father laughed since what just transpired was something straight from a Western 90's comedy show.

Hey guys and welcome back!

Sorry for the late update, I haven't had a good inspiration in a while. I don't write when I don't have inspiration since the result is usually bad and shitty. And I absolutely REFUSE on writing something that I didn't put my whole heart and 100% into! Also, I have an idea for a new Oregairu fanfic. It's still in my head for now but all I can say that it's main elements are, serious romance and takes place during Hikigaya's third and final year in Sobu High. Nothing is set in stone as of now, it's just a raw idea that popped up in my head when I was taking a shower lol. But that doesn't mean that I'm abandoning this fic of course.

Oh and season 3 has been announced.

Thank you for staying and reading and I hope you have a nice day ahead!