Bzzt, bzzt.

Hikigaya Hachiman looked down at his phone lying on his desk, face down. He currently found himself two days after what he had labelled the "Café Incident", reading yet another light novel at his desk. Something about a girl getting transported to another world, but with the incredible twist that she's a spider instead of a person. Riveting stuff.

With a sigh Hachiman dropped the book onto his desk and moved to grab his phone. If it was Yuigahama with another message saying that the Service Club should get together for a "club meeting" at a karaoke bar, Hachiman might just toss the thing out his window. He wouldn't though, not necessarily just because phones were expensive, but because he was waiting for that.

A message from Asano Hikari.

Damn it, he felt like he was back in middle school, eagerly awaiting a return message from some girl he really should've realized did not, in fact go to sleep several hours early for the fourth night in a row, but actually just didn't like him. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20 and all.

With another sigh at the thought of his idiotic past self, Hachiman picked up the phone and flipped it over.

Message: Hikari (1)

Oh shit. This was actually happening.

He was almost tempted to run and show Komachi just to rub it in her face for every one of her comments that he could never talk to a woman and would be alone forever without her help. However, the thought of her meddling once she knew he had actually went and spoken to a girl – voluntarily! - and gotten her number was far more troublesome than any satisfaction he could possibly get from such an action.

Opening the message, Hachiman quickly read it.

Hikari: Hey Hachiman-san, its Asano Hikari from the other day! I was wondering if you'd be available to meet up tomorrow at 10:30 to help me study. If not, though, just let me know when you can!

Tomorrow, eh? Well, its not like he had much else to do.

You: Tomorrow is fine with me. Where do you want to meet?

Okay, he was doing this. Wow, this was a strange feeling. He, Hikigaya Hachiman, infamous cynical loner of Sobu High… was meeting up with a girl tomorrow like some kind of regular riajuu. The riajuu's that he was previously known to say could go die in a fire. Damn it, when did he become so hypocritical.

Bzzt, bzzt. Bzzt, bzzt.

Hikari: How about we just meet back up at the Daybreak Café? They've got these amazing crepes, if you don't mind having a late breakfast you should definitely give them a try.

Hikari: Or brunch, if you're into that sort of thing ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

You: Honestly I'm not even awake by 10:30 half of the time during the break so I won't complain.

Hikari: A man after my own heart, I see~

You: It's a talent

Hikari: Haha, well you'd better bring your A-game tomorrow, I planning on actually passing Japanese History

You: Not going to miss your weekly nap time once its over?

Hikari: Oh I will, but I'd also miss the yen I'd have to pay for tuition a second time

You: Fair point

Hikari: Anyways, I'm about to have class, I'll see you tomorrow Hachiman-san!

Hachiman put down his phone and leaned back in his desk chair, arms moving to fold behind his head. Wait, was he smiling? Damn it, he really was beginning to act like riajuu.


He made sure to wake up early enough to have plenty of time before he had to leave. While he pointed out to himself repeatedly the night before and all morning that was not, in fact, going on a date, he still couldn't help but feel it appropriate to wear something marginally nice-looking. He settled on a light blue button-down, sleeves rolled up, with a pair of dark jeans. Hachiman would be the first to admit that he didn't know much about fashion, nor did he care, but he knew enough to know that it probably wasn't proper form to wear shorts and a t-shirt to go meet up with a girl, even if it was summer.

Besides, if Komachi or, God forbid, Okaa-san, found out that he had done such a thing, he might find himself in an early grave.

As he finished getting his hair into a somewhat presentable condition, his eye caught sight of that small bottle of cologne Oto-san bought him a couple of years back. The one that he had never even so much as considered touching before.

Hell no, he wasn't that far gone yet.

Once he'd finished getting ready, Hachiman headed downstairs to spend the last few minutes doing a bit of cleaning. In his haste, and absolute foolishness, though, he made a miscalculation.

Komachi was sitting right there on the couch, and he didn't notice her until she had already spotted him.

"Morning, Komachi," Hachiman greeted, desperately trying to act casual.

"Moooooorning, onii-chan," Komachi said slowly, suspiciously.

Alright, change of plans. Beeline for the door. Hachiman could just walk around for a while before meeting Asano if he needed to kill some extra time.

"Soooo, are you going somewhere, onii-chan?"

Damn it.

"Oh! Yeah," Hachiman said as if it had just slipped his mind. He spun on his heel to look at her.

"Yeah, I was just headed out to the shopping district," he said truthfully. "Just thought I'd get outside."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Okay," she said after a moment. "Take me with you, then!"

Shit.

Okay Hachiman, think. How the hell am I going to get out of this one.

"Ah, I can't," he began.

Her eyes narrowed further.

"And why's that, onii-chan?" she asked dangerously. "Not planning to, I dunno… meet anyone, are you?"

Damn, she was good. Also, wasn't she the one always saying he was going to be lonely forever? Shouldn't she be happy if he was going to meet someone?!

"Oh, yeah, actually." Wait, why'd he actually admit it?! "I've got a…" he trailed off, trying to think of a plausible excuse.

"…date."

She crossed her arms and looked him up and down, clearly unimpressed.

"Really, onii-chan? It's not nice to lie to your sister, you know? I thought maybe you were going to meet Yukino-chan or Yui-chan, but I guess you're just going to do something lame like buy more light novels, right?"

"Er, yeah…"

While it definitely hurt a little to know that his sister, his own flesh and blood, had so little faith in him that she immediately assumed he was lying about having a date, he was at least glad for the out. Besides, she was technically right, he supposed. It really wasn't a date, but whatever. Her lack of faith was kind of justified now that he thought about it. Hmmm.

Damn his middle school self to hell.

"Anyways," he said, opening the door and leaving, "I'm out."

"Okay, onii-chan. Don't buy anything too weird or I'll tell Okaa-san! I love you, bye!"

The door slammed in his face. Well, at least that was over. Hachiman checked the time, seeing that he had more than enough to get to the café. He figured he might as well just walk slow to eat up time. For some reason, as he walked, his thoughts kept drifting towards short black ponytails, green eyes, and glasses. He didn't mind.


Despite taking his time, he still ended up at the Daybreak Café early, so he just took a seat at a table for two and settled in to wait. It seemed about as good a time as any to ask himself why in the world he was sitting here. Previously, if someone like Yuigahama had asked him to go out of his way to help her study when he could be sitting at home relaxing, he would've responded with a resounding "no". So why did he accept this time? Well, the answer was pretty obvious, but Hachiman really just didn't want to admit it to himself.

Asano Hikari was something like an anomalous entity that he just seemed to run into out of the blue. He would admit that he was a straight man, and as such found her obviously attractive, but Hachiman was never one to base his impressions of people off looks alone.

Or at least, not since middle school.

If he was, he'd probably have been smitten with Yukinoshita the moment he laid eyes on her. No, he knew better than to be so foolish. Both she and Yuigahama were fairly attractive, but the sheer number of unresolved issues he had with the two of them made the idea of pursuing a relationship with either impossible in Hachiman's mind. Not to mention, the two of them often treated him like he was something particularly nasty stuck to the bottom of their shoe, so he refused to be degraded by submitting himself to someone like that.

Asano Hikari, though, gave a different impression to Hachiman. He considered himself to be quite a good judge of character, such as how he was able to see straight through Yukinoshita Haruno's façade from the moment they met, so he found it almost strange how he never felt like there was much lying underneath the surface when he spoke to Asano. Sure, just about everyone will put their best foot forward when they meet a new person and will hide the bad parts of their personality to some degree, but that's just to be expected. Most people that spoke to him, though were usually hiding behind a whole façade of friendliness or neutrality. Most people, especially at school, had underlying disgust and contempt for him, whether that be because of his reputation, his looks, his attitude, or his social status. Usually if someone spoke to him it was because they had to, not because they wanted to.

He felt no such thing from Asano. Was it because he met her outside of school, and so she had no preexisting impression of who he was or what he was like? Could it really be so simple? No, surely not. He had met other people outside of his school who were just as unpleasant as the rest. What was different about Asano then? If he was being completely honest, she just seemed… like a pleasant, straightforward girl. Strangely enough, he just seemed to click with her in conversation. Huh.

Had that ever happened before?

Maybe back in middle school during his chuuni phase, he might've clicked with Zaimokuza in a similar way, but that was such a horrifying thought, Hachiman immediately purged it from his mind. Really, though, why was that such a rare occurrence? Was it a symptom of the pack-mentality that encouraged people to act as others did and cast him out? And really, what was so despicable about him that would warrant such treatment? Sure, he was aware that his eyes were like those of a "dead fish", as he'd been told repeatedly. He also enjoyed the company his self, which was to say he was a proud loner. And yes, he was a staunch cynic and probably was considered a killjoy. From an objective point of view, though, he didn't feel like that was enough to warrant social exile. This led him to a simple answer.

People are shallow.

They don't need much of a reason to do what they do. Even the two people at Sobu whom Hachiman considered himself closest to, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, really didn't make much of an effort to get to know him. Oh, they tolerated him, though in Yukinoshita's case, it was likely more out of necessity than genuine desire. Yuigahama maybe did actually want to get to know him, but she was still too much of a coward to go directly against the status quo, and risk contempt from her friend group. Maybe it was somewhat unfair of him to expect such a thing from someone like Yuigahama, but Hachiman honestly didn't know if he could fully respect her until she was willing to do so.

Hachiman sighed.

That was just it, wasn't it? There was always something going on behind the scenes when he talked to people at school or otherwise. Maybe that's what had him so fixated on that one simple conversation a couple days ago. He had let his guard down. There was nothing behind the scenes, no complicated layers that gave extra meaning to his words. He was able to just be… genuine.

"-iman-san!"

Hachiman jerked out of his thoughts and looked up to see Asano standing just feet away, waving at him happily. She wore a loose blue bouse with white floral patterns, and a short pair of jean shorts, showing long expanses of toned pale legs.

Hachiman's gaze snapped back to her eyes immediately.

Her smiled widened noticeably. Damn it.

"Yo," he greeted, hoping she wouldn't make a comment.

She dropped her bag next to the table and took a seat across from him.

"How long were you waiting?" she asked.

"Eh, a little while. Didn't have much better to do so I left the house a little early," he replied. Not entirely untrue, he just decided not to mention that he mainly wanted to avoid his sister's interrogation.

"Ah, well I'm glad you were able to fit me into your busy schedule, then," she said with a wink. "Have you ordered anything yet?"

"No, I thought I might as well wait."

"Aw, for little ol' me?" she said with a giggle. "Let the wait be over then."

With a nod, Hachiman followed her up to the counter where they both ordered the specialty strawberry-banana crepes, and a coffee. Once they got settled back at the table with their drinks, Asano sighed and pulled the review packet from the other day out of her bag. She dropped it on the table and stared at it blankly for a moment. After a beat, a smirk formed on her face, and she looked up at him.

"How about we play a game?"

"A game?" he asked dubiously. "Aren't you trying to study?"

She rolled her eyes. "It'll be a studying game, to make it a little less boring."

Hachiman shrugged. "Sure."

"Alright, here's how it'll go. You take the study sheet and ask me a question. If I get it right, I get to ask you a question, and if I get it wrong, you get to ask me a question."

Hachiman tilted his head in confusion. "What kind of question?"

She shrugged with a smile. "Anything, doesn't matter."

So this was one of those "get to know you" type games like what was often played at the start of a new school year. He honestly always hated those, because he had no real desire to know about the people in his classes, and they certainly didn't want to know anything about him. In addition, no one ever answered very honestly in the first place. Any answers they would give were always curated to be very socially neutral so that no one would find them weird or too "different". Right now, however, he didn't find that he minded too much.

"Alright, sure," he said, shrugging.

Wait. What was the motive here, though? She would have no reason to have him take part in something like this unless she actually… wanted to. Huh. What a strange feeling.

"Great!" she said, pushing the packet across the table. "Whenever you're ready, then."

He nodded and picked up the sheet, asking the first question on the list. It was a simple one, common knowledge even. In other words, an easy win for her.

"Mm, correct," he said when she gave her answer.

She smirked and leaned forward, resting her chin on her palm.

"So, are you in any clubs?" she asked.

Hachiman suppressed a smile.

"Yes."

Too easy.

"What kind?"

"Isn't that another question?" he replied mockingly.

Her eyes narrowed into a mock-glare, but a smile still played on her lips.

"Fine, next question."

He asked the next question on the review sheet. She got it right.

"So, what kind of clubs?"

"Just one club," he replied. "The Service Club."

She raised an eyebrow.

"…aaaand what is that?"

He smirked at her in answer, prompting an eye roll.

"Fine, fine, next question."

She got it wrong.

Hachiman hummed I thought as he considered what to ask. Oh well, he might as well copy hers.

"You in any clubs?" he asked.

"Not at school, no," she replied, "but I am in one outside of it."

"What- "

He caught himself as her smile grew. Looks like he was getting a taste of his own medicine. That was fair, he supposed. With a grumble he asked the next question on the sheet. She got it right.

"So what's the Service Club?" she asked, leaning forward again. "In detail, if you would," she added with a smirk.

Hachiman sighed in mock exasperation and began, "Well, its this club I was forced to join by my teacher. Essentially, we take requests from people and try to help them with their problems. The girl who founded it has a massive ego and an even larger savior complex, as you could probably imagine. Most of the time its more trouble than its worth, and no one ever seems to like the solutions I offer. Sometimes I really despise it, but… well, I guess its not all bad. In some sense we are genuinely helping the people that come to us. Maybe just not the way they wanted, sometimes. I don't know… its complicated, I guess."

"Huh," said Asano, looking genuinely surprised. "I've never heard of anything like that. It does sound interesting, but yeah, probably a massive hassle, right?"

He nodded tiredly.

"Like you wouldn't believe."

His eyes turned back to the review sheet, and he asked the next question. She got it wrong and let out a little growl of frustration. Hachiman by no means found it profoundly cute. Not at all.

"So what's your club, then?"

She smiled and put her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest.

"The Paragon Fencing Academy!"

Hachiman's eyes widened in surprise. "Fencing?"

"Yep!" she replied happily. "It's a lot of work, but a ton of fun. The great thing about a place like Paragon is that you don't need to spend thousands of dollars on the gear to play, you can just use theirs. Of course, pretty much everyone has their own foil, but it's the armor that's so expensive."

"Huh, that's really cool. I didn't even know there were any fencing schools around here," Hachiman said honesty.

"Oh yeah, its not even that far from here. Just about a twenty minutes' walk."

"Huh. How long have you been going there?"

Her eyes looked up to the ceiling as she hummed in thought.

"Maybe two years? I usually try to go once or twice a week. My parents actually foot the bill of the monthly cost, but I try to still make sure I put the money to good use."

"Oh, is it expensive?"

"Surprisingly not very much! Compared to other martial arts schools, its somewhat on the cheaper side, which was a bit of a surprise to me."

"Oh, nice."

"Yeah, actually I- "

She paused, eyes narrowing.

"Wait, that was like… a lot of questions! Argh, you sly cheating devil…" she accused with a playful pout.

Hachiman looked away and tried to suppress his smile. He didn't try too hard.

Hachiman noticed a waiter approach with their plates and set them down. He and Asano agreed to eat first, then pick the game back up afterwards.

"So," Asano said, swallowing a bite of crepe, "Sobu's semester is already over, right?"

"Mmm," he hummed, nodding. "It ended just last week."

"Ah, nice! This week is it for me. Actually, my history final will be the last thing I need to do, and it's in a couple days."

"You not have a final today?"

"Nope! I've finished three of them already, then I have my Intro to Psychology final tomorrow, then Japanese History Friday. Intro to Psych is sooo easy though, trust me."

"Yeah, well, I was under the impression that Japanese History was also supposed to be stupid easy, but, well, here we are," Hachiman said with mirth, gesturing around them.

Another pouty glare was sent in his direction. If anything, it only had the opposite of its "intended" effect. He couldn't help smiling.

"Weeeell," she said, drawing the word out, "if you've got sooo much better to do on your busy schedule, then the door's right that way."

She lazily waved her fork in the door's general direction while staring him down with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered good-naturedly, taking another bite of crepe.

After a short while they finished eating and both pushed their plates aside to resume the game. Hachiman found his place on the sheet and asked her the next question. Her face scrunched up in concentration for a moment before she gave her answer. Correct again.

"Sooo… do you have any hobbies?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied with a smirk.

Instantly, her hand swept the fork back off her plate and pointed it between his eyes.

"I'm not afraid to resort to violence, Hachiman-san," she said sweetly, with a frightening smile.

"Fine, fine," he conceded, ignoring the giddy thrum in his chest. "I like to read light novels, I guess. Sometimes I play games or ride my bike around if it's nice outside. I don't know, though. Outside of the service club and class I feel like I just spend most of my time lazing around. It's not very exciting."

She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, before responding, "You know, I used to be the same, really. I still read a lot, but back in middle school and most of high school I never really had any desire to do much with myself. I never really liked parties or going out with friends, so I kind of considered myself a boring person."

Ayano hummed in thought and swept a strand of hair behind her ear.

"What I did eventually realize, though, was that I just didn't know what I liked to do. I hadn't yet found something that I was passionate about, so I was just sort of aimless, you know? When I first tried fencing, though, I was hooked immediately. I won't say it's my life's passion or anything so deep, but it did make me realize that there actually was more for me than just being a lazy bum."

Her eyes widened for a moment before she tacked on, "Which is not what I'm saying you are!" she laughed nervously for a moment. "I'm just saying there's no need to feel bad about it, Hachiman-san! You just need to find what interests you, that's all."

Hachiman mulled over her words for a moment. Find what interested him, huh? There was some wisdom in that, he supposed. Now that he was really thinking about it, his life was rather boring, wasn't it? When the most notable thing in his life was his involvement in the Service Club, which was just plain annoying to be part of on most days, it did paint a sad picture. Maybe he really should find a hobby, as cliché as the notion was.

"Yeah… I'll think about it," he agreed.

She gave him a winning smile, causing him to quickly look back down at the review sheet in embarrassment. Clearing his throat, he asked her the next question. Correct again. Damn it, wasn't the whole point of reviewing material that she was supposed to be able to get everything right? This "game" is rigged against him-

"Have you dated before?"

Hachiman flinched so hard his neck hurt from how fast he turned away from her.

"Uhh, no," he admitted awkwardly.

She looked oddly pleased by the answer, despite being obviously embarrassed by asking him that. A wobbly smile played on her lips, which sent another thrum through Hachiman's chest.

"Hehe, me neither…" she responded. "I've, uh, actually been asked out a few times in high school but was always too shy to actually say yes, so…"

She trailed off and looked away in embarrassment, then swept another strand of hair behind her ear. Silence hung between them for a moment before Hachiman cleared his throat again and awkwardly moved on to the next question in the packet.

The spell broken, she hummed in thought, leaning forward with her chin on her palm, then gave her answer. Wrong.

As he was still recovering from the previous question, Hachiman went with an easy one.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Nope, just me!" she responded cheerfully. "When I was growing up I always kind of wished I did, but I'll selfishly admit that I'm glad my parents are able to pay for me to have an apartment, go to fencing club, and have spending money because of it. I kind of have it easy, hehe."

And so on it went, both of them asking harmless questions as they worked through the review packet. Hachiman learned that her favorite color was forest green, she liked to go swimming when she could, her favorite literary genres were horror and sci-fi, she was good at math, could speak decent English, and some other such trivia. Hachiman ended up revealing that his favorite color was black –and no, he wasn't trying to be edgy-, he had a little sister named Komachi that he cared for more than anyone, his favorite genre was fantasy, he owned a lazy cat named Kamakura, he was good in history and humanities, his English was fairly atrocious, and so on. At last, they worked through the entire packet and reached the final question. She gave her answer after a beat. Correct.

"Hmmm," she hummed in consideration. "What career do you plan on going for?"

"Ah, good question," he responded. "Honestly, I don't really know. I've though about it, but never could really decide anything. People don't really like that answer, though, so I've had this long-standing joke of just saying I wanted to be a house husband. Unfortunately, I've said it for so long that people think it's the truth."

Asano grinned and giggled. "A house husband, really? Are you just waiting for some sugar momma' to come sweep you off your feet and take care of you, then?"

Hachiman felt a smile come on and played along.

"Yeah, that's the plan. I don't suppose you know any, do you?"

She hummed and pretended to think hard. "Not off the top of my head, no. I'll keep you updated, though."

They both shared a light-hearted laugh before Hachiman looked down at the finished packet. Well, it looks like they had finished what they came her for. He discreetly checked his watch and noticed with surprise that it was well past 1:00, meaning they had been here for coming on three hours. Wow, the time had really just slipped by, hadn't it? He had… he had enjoyed himself. A lot.

"Well, uh, Hachiman-san…" she seemed to realize what he had. "I appreciate you going out of the way to help me out today, even if you may not be all that busy anyways. I'm sure I'll do great now, no problem!" She flashed him a wink.

"Mmm, well, normally I charge 2000 yen an hour, but I'll give you a pass just this once. Call it a free trial," he said.

She giggled behind her hand. "Oh, thank you for your generosity."

Asano gazed at him for a moment with a content grin, before giving an exaggerated sigh.

"Well, I guess its about that time, then," she said. "I've got a few errands to run today before I head back home so I should probably get to it."

She rose to her feet and slipped on her bag, and Hachiman stood in turn. Though he was certain he had enough control to not show it on his face, Hachiman couldn't deny that he felt disappointed. He… enjoyed her company. It was refreshing. It was a stark contrast to every interaction he had in school around others his age. Today's conversations with Asano reaffirmed the impression he had from a few days prior. There just wasn't much… unnecessary complication when he spoke to her. She didn't pretend to be polite. She didn't put up a façade of friendliness. She didn't force out hollow platitudes. She was just honest, really. She had wit and her sense of humor complimented his. She…

He wanted to spend more time with her.

And so now that they were about to separate and go their own ways, Hachiman felt a trill of panic. He didn't want to lose this. This thing that he just now got a taste of. He wanted more of it. He wanted to keep it, maintain it. He needed to take action.

"Hey," Hachiman said, his brain working to form a solution. "Are you… free this weekend?" he finished, with a wince or embarrassment. "Maybe we could go celebrate you finishing finals. Something simple, like go get ramen. Or something."

He really felt like he was going to die. He swore he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. Why the hell did he think this was a good idea? Didn't he learn anything from that disaster with Orimoto in middle school? He probably just weirded her out. Of course she wouldn't want to go hang out with him for whatever stupid reason he just gave. Damn it all, he just ruined everythi-

"Y-yeah. I'd like that," she said quietly, looking off to the side with a wobbly smile. She seemed to collect herself after a beat and bounced on the balls of her feet, looking him back in the eye.

"So, see you later then, Hachiman-san!"

Before he could react, Asano surged forward and struck like a viper, wrapping her arms around him and pushing her head into his chest. Before he could even process what was happening, she was already speeding for the door. The bell above the door dinged as it was pushed open, then Asano turned at the last moment and gave him a cheeky grin.

"Hehe, call me!"

Then she was gone.

Hachiman blinked, and in his stupor not a thought crossed his mind. Slowly, he slid back down into his chair. He eventually realized why other patrons around him were sending him amused looks.

He was smiling like an idiot.