"Hey, are you eating here again?"

It was an ordinary weekday at noon. I was eating my lunch on the rooftop, when I suddenly heard someone opened the door, the only way in and out of the building.

The owner of the voice, perhaps noticing my figure on the blind spot, came towards me without hesitation.

"I'm sorry. Don't be so cautious, I'm just here to eat." A girl with black-rimmed glasses sat down beside me.

'"Well, I'm done eating, so I'm going." I stood up in turn to match it.

I didn't want to eat with anyone, because I wouldn't know what they would say. Especially in my case.

About a week ago, I confessed my feelings to a girl in my class. I had been ridiculed before for saying things that lightly resembled a confession, such as petty names but this time I was serious and confessed to her with a head-on "I like you.".

The result was a disaster. It would have been fine if that was all, because it would have only added to my painful history. But it didn't turn out that way. Even if it was the same, it was traumatic enough.

The day after I confessed, girls in my class began to mock me to boys one from another. It seems that she told her friends that I confessed to her.

At first, the friends who were hanging out with the girl I confessed to were very sarcastic and spreading rumors about me that never happened.

I couldn't deal with it at all because it was a girl and I knew from my past experience that no one would take my side. I noticed that all of my classmates were giving me looks that told me to go away.

When even the relatively quiet boys and girls in my class started giving me these looks, I really wanted to throw everything away, but I knew my sister would be sad if I did, so I held back. We would only be together for another six months at the most anyway.

Anyway, I am being bullied by my classmates to the edge. The only thing that helps is that my sister Komachi hasn't been harmed, and only the guys in my class have visibly said anything to me.

I have never seen the girl's face in front of me, so it must be an underclassman or someone from another class. I'm not sure what grade she's actually in since I'm not looking directly at her, but it's a win-win relationship where I can quickly disappear from sight before she says anything and we don't have to feel bad for each other.

"So… are you coming back here tomorrow?" She timidly asked.

"I don't know."

Does this mean "I will eat here tomorrow and I don't want you to come here"? Well, I don't mind, because there are still several places in the school where I can relax by myself.

"If you like, can you have lunch with me?" The girl's proposal was the most unexpected of the unexpected.

"Actually, I'm being bullied too, Hikigaya-kun."

I met eyes with such a girl. Behind her glasses and in the depths of her gaze, there was a dark light. They were unmistakably the eyes of someone who was about to be excluded from the society of school or class.

They were the same eyes I see in the mirror every morning when I wash my face.

"I know you have a lot on your mind, but it's not so bad, is it? A loner can only be loners when two people are together. But I still think there is something to be gained just by having someone around. So, you know… we'll eat here together tomorrow, okay?"

Something inside me tilted at the girl's request that was akin to plea.

"Ah, that's fine."

I am not a person who can keep up with girls' conversation, so eating a meal with someone other than my sister - let alone a girl, is an anomaly. I rarely eat with my own parents.

Well, it's probably just a one or two day relationship anyway. Or maybe when the environment surrounding her changes. In any case, it won't be a long lasting relationship, so I agreed to the girl's request.

"Oh, I didn't tell you my name. My name is-"

At the time, I had no idea that this encounter would affect my life.

This was me, a loner.

And the girl who has become lonely.

It was an encounter with Ebina Hina.