Disclaimer: I do not own Oregairu or any brands mentioned.
Previously on Match Point: The Afghanistan mission comes to close, while in the present Hiratsuka and her student take a trip to the zoological park. Shizuka is scared for what the future might hold, but Hikigaya comforts her.
At around half past ten, Hikigaya and Hiratsuka left the zoo. He walked her back to her apartment and told the receptionist in her building that she got drunk and couldn't drive home. The lady at the desk was polite and took the teacher away from the assassin and into her apartment. He stayed outside for about thirty more minutes to see what the man who was following them would do. Eventually the man got into a black van and drove off. It's clear he was following Hiratsuka, and that he works for the mysterious person on the other end of the phone from the warehouse.
Wednesday – Sobu High School – Lunch Time
Yuigahama wanders down the hall holding her lunch box tightly to her chest. For whatever reason her homeroom teacher didn't show up to school today, so her class was given a substitute.
'I'm sure Hiratsuka-sensei is alright, sometimes people just get sick and can't get out of bed.'
The young girl reassures herself and continues to walk down the hall. Many students pass her, some in groups and some alone. She pays little attention to them however, as her mind is focused on one thing.
As she reaches her destination, Yuigahama opens the door to class 6-E. Inside, she sees Yukinoshita sitting by herself at a desk, in the middle of the almost empty room.
"Hey!" She says with a big smile on her face, waving her hand.
Yukino looks at her.
"You're here again?"
SHUT
Yui closes the door behind her and waddles up towards the dark-haired girl.
"Yep and look what I brought today!"
She extends her arms, putting the see-through Tupperware in Yukinoshitas view.
"Sushi."
The brown-haired girl frowns at her peers' emotionless response.
"Don't you like it?"
"I have my own lunch."
Her frown turns to a chuckle.
"You always say that!"
"It's always true."
Yuigahama places her lunchbox on the desk and pulls out a chair. She sits right next to Yukino.
For the past two weeks, every time it's lunch Yui will look for Yukinoshita in an attempt to eat with her. Almost always she finds the dark-haired girl sitting alone in this classroom. Yukino has tried to put an end to this multiple times, but Yuigahama is relentless in her attempts at friendship. For the last three days the wealthy girl has become less and less opposed, but still puts up a small fight every time.
"I don't understand why I have to eat your food, it seems preposterous."
"Its because we're friends now and when friends eat together, they share their food just like on TV!"
"I've already told you we are not friends, we are acquaintances."
"Just try some! My mom made it, so I know it's good."
Yukino sighs and gives into her acquaintances pleads.
"Fine…"
"Say, ahhhh." Yuigahama says as she opens her mouth indicating what she wants the girl to do.
"Absolutely not."
Back to square one, it seems.
2 Months Earlier
Hikigaya slowly opens the wooden door in front him, using his left hand to hold a dark black duffel bag. The door makes a little noise as it moves forward revealing what lies ahead.
"Mommy I want my colouring book!"
"I told you, we have to wait until the next stop!"
"Just give her the damn colouring book."
"You never take my side, what kind of example are you setting!?"
The assassin sighs, as he makes his way through the train carriage. The seats are filled with all kinds of people, and a lot of loud and obnoxious children. Out the window, a beautiful view of the Japanese countryside can be seen, along with the smoke coming out of the firebox in the large steam locomotive. Due to it's poor environmental impact, the train has been made the last of it's kind in this region. Ironically, this has caused even more people to use it, as they may not be able to much longer.
One of these people is famous Japanese voice actor Rie Takahashi. Known for her work on Re:Zero, Karakai Jouzo no Takagi-san and KonoSuba. Unfortunately for the seiyuu, her name has been put on Hachimans radar and not for her voice acting talents but rather for getting the attention of his current employer.
Hikigaya continues his walk through the train carriages eventually arriving at the last one. A small sign above the door indicates he's about to enter first-class. He looks down at the handle and sees another small sign, telling him to use his "First-class key". The assassin puts his finger against his ear, pressing a button on a skin coloured ear-piece.
"I'm here."
The voice on the other end responds immediately.
"Good. Reach into your blazers right pocket."
He does as he is told and pulls out a set of keys.
"Any other items inside these clothes you gave me that I should know about?"
"A few, but just get into position for now."
Hikigaya unlocks the door and walks in. He looks around a bit, then finds his assigned seat. Around this time, the train begins to move and the engine roars throughout the carriages.
"Tell me what I'm looking for." The assassin says into his earpiece as he sits down.
"Female. Age twenty. Dark-Brown-hair."
In the front of the carriage, an old man sits sleeping. In the middle-left is Hachiman by himself. To the right side are two men looking out the window and in the far back corner is Rie Takahashi.
"I've got one person matching the description."
"Excellent. Now see if she has a handbag on her."
"Affirmative… You know you could have put all this in a briefing?"
"We prefer to work this way. You'll get you the information you need, when you need it."
Hachiman accepts the answer and watches as Rie sips on some wine, looking out at the countryside passing her by.
"So, what do you want me to do?"
Present Day – Sobu Highschool – 15:45
Yukino walks down the steps, towards the school gates. She is currently looking down at her phone, scrolling through a webpage on Google Chrome. Suddenly she stops abruptly, and squeals from excitement.
The dark-haired girl blushes, and looks around, making sure nobody heard her. Once she is certain no one is around, she begins to walk forward again, however she only moves a few steps before hearing something and turning around once again.
She raises her eyebrow and stares intently at one of the beams holding up a small roof by the exit of the building. Around this time of day most students have cleared out, leaving only some faculty in the building and the outside areas mostly empty.
"Who's there?" She asks out loud, unsure whether or not she is alone.
No response.
Yukinoshita weighs up her options, before reaching into her skirt pocket and pulling out a small rod.
SLING
A thirty centimetre blade extends from the rod, as she flicks her thumb over a switch.
She places her schoolbag on the concrete, and positions the knife behind her wrist, meaning only someone standing behind her would be able to see it. The now armed girl slowly walks up to the pillar, not taking her eyes off of it. She clutches the handle of the knife harder, ready for whoever she may encounter.
'A predator? A stalker? A hitman?'
Thousands of different possibilities run wild through her mind as she gets closer. Once ready, Yukino throws herself around the beam and sticks out the knife.
"Reveal yourself, adversary!"
After those words there is silence for several seconds, before the "adversary" responds.
"Meow."
Yukino looks down, and sees a small cat lying on it's back, scratching at the beam with his belly in the air. She breathes a sigh of relief and kneels down to pet it. The cat purrs, indicating he enjoys the attention. Unfortunately, their time together is cut short when Yukinoshita hears stifled laughter from behind her. She instantly recognizes the sounds.
'Oh god...'
The dark-haired girl stands up and turns around, seeing Yuigahama standing behind the adjacent beam holding onto her mouth.
"Reveal yourself, adversary!" Yui repeats in a mocking manner, still giggling.
"I don't know what's funny. A young, desirable girl such as I never knows what lies behind each corner. It's reasonable that I'd want to strike first."
She speaks with confidence, but her face is red hot with embarrassment.
Yuigahama stops giggling and simply smiles at Yukino. A few seconds pass, and her eyes wander to the knife in her peers' hands.
"You're not allowed to bring weapons to school you know." She says, pointing at said weapon.
"My father cleared it with the principal."
The brown-haired girl accepts the answer at face value, and there is a long silence.
"Well, I'll be going now." Yukino sheathes blade, and puts it back into her pocket, then walks off towards the school gate.
Yuigahama runs up behind her yelling "Hey! Wait for me!"
She is ignored, and Yukino continues to walk, paying no attention to the girl following her.
"I saw you were on the website for the mall, I couldn't tell what you were looking at though..."
No response, as Yukino kneels down to grab her schoolbag.
"Well if you're going to the mall, can I come?"
Still no response.
Despite getting the silent treatment, Yuigahama stays cheerful while walking beside Yukino, as they head in the direction of the shopping centre.
2 Months Earlier
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"Check the bag."
The assassin does as he is told and discreetly unzips the duffel.
"I see some clothes, a brown handbag and a…" He chuckles to himself, "And a MAC-11 subcompact machine pistol."
"That's just there for emergencies, so ignore it for now and focus on the brown handbag. As you can see it's a replica of the handbag your target has on her. You'll need to swap them."
"I could just wait until we get to the next stop and eliminate her when she's alone, then just give you the bag."
"Your suggestion is noted, but this needs to be done as clean as possible."
"Well if I try to swap them I'll get made pretty quickly… Unless of course, you also planned for that?"
"Check your inside pocket."
He pulls out a very small glass bottle that's filled with a see-through liquid.
"Get that in one of her drinks and she'll be out cold for the rest of the trip."
"Okay, I'll get it done."
"You don't need anymore information?"
"Knock out my target and get the bag. I think I can manage."
"Good. Signing out for now."
Hikigaya puts his finger back to his ear and clicks the small button. Not long after a lady pushing a small table walks into the train carriage. The table houses a bucket of ice, several cups and glasses along with various drinks. She goes up to service the two men first.
"Hey can I get a coke please?" The one man says smiling at the pretty lady.
"Uh… Unfortunately, the regular cokes are out, but we do have the new low-calorie Coca-Cola with stevia extract."
She passes the can to the man and he examines it.
"What is this bullshit? Leaf-flavoured coke!? I paid extra for a first-class seat and you don't even have the real stuff? Get outta here lady..."
His friend also scoffs at the item.
"My apologies sir."
As she walks away she silently insults them under her breath. Hikigaya laughs to himself, finding the exchange funny.
Not a moment later the table rolls up to his seat, and the lady asks him what he'd like.
"Just some still water please."
She smiles respectfully and hands him a plastic bottle, filled with his desired beverage.
"Thanks… You know I heard that guy back there, and he was really rude to you."
The lady smiles again, this time not out of courtesy.
"Oh no it's okay. He's probably just really stressed or something you never know what's going on in someone's life. I wouldn't worry about it too much."
He nods at her understandingly, before speaking again.
"Well, I have to go to the bathroom, so if you'll excuse me?"
"Oh yes of course!" She says as she begins to push the table further down the aisle, however before she can get to the next seat, Hachiman slides his foot under the wheel causing the table to jerk and an open wine bottle to fall off.
He quickly grabs it before it hit's the ground, and in the confusion, he slips in some of the liquid to knock out his target.
"Oh god! I'm such a klutz sorry!" The lady says as she turns around.
"It's quite alright."
Hachiman hands her the bottle and smiles graciously.
"You're too kind really."
After a few more apologies the lady walks off to the next customer, pouring her a new cup of wine.
'Excellent.' He thinks to himself, watching his plan playout perfectly.
Present Day – Chiba Mall – 16:10
"And then I said: 'But mom, if you don't let me go, everyone will hate me!' and then she said that it doesn't matter who likes me and that my safety is more important. I was really mad at the time but in the end I'm happy I didn't go!"
Yukino stares deadpan ahead as her and Yuigahama walk through the shopping centre. For the past twenty-five minutes the brown-haired girl has not stopped speaking. All the way from the school to the mall she told Yukinoshita one personal anecdote after the other.
At some point the dark-haired girl gave in and indulged in the useless chatter, but only a little.
"That's a crazy story."
Her face contradicts her words.
"You don't have to lie… It's not THAT crazy, just a little. Anyway, the reason I'm happy I didn't go was because the next day I met Hikki…"
Yuigahama smiles at the memory. Recalling how he saved her dog then walked along with her to the mall.
"I don't know who that is." Yukino responds sternly.
"Yeah you do! Remember, you ran into Hiratsuka-sensei, Hikigaya and me."
She thinks back and remembers seeing Yuigahama with a boy the last time she was at this mall. She also remembers her driver almost hitting him with her car.
"I suppose I do recall it."
"I've tried to be friends with Hikki, but I never really see him except in class you know, and even when I do see him in class, him and Hiratsuka-sensei are always staring at each other."
Yukinoshita turns and looks at Yuigahama.
"What?"
"Yeah, they think no one notices, but I see it."
For reasons unknown to even Yukino, hearing about this puts her in a bad mood. She stops walking and faces Yui.
"Why do you insist on following me around?" She asks in an attempt to change the subject. "I have never been nice to you, and I offer only the bare minimum when it comes to conversations. Yet, when I spilled tea on myself, you gave me your shirt, and after that you would not leave me alone. You steal every free moment away from me at school, and now you are harassing me as I go about my regular day." Yukino raises her arm and points at the brown-haired girl, "Tell me, what are your ulterior motives?!"
Yuigahama stands awkwardly in the middle of the mall, as she is grilled by Yukino.
"Uhh… To be your friend… I guess."
Her cheerful nature regresses into an awkward one.
"Why?"
"B-Because you're smart, and pretty… And you say what's on your mind… And I want to be just like you…"
Yukino frowns, then looks around. She sees the store she came here for and walks away from Yui as she if she was never there.
Authors and notes: A new mission for Hikigaya and a new adventure for Yukino and Yui. What will the future hold? Find out in chapter 17 next week!
