"Yo, dude, you up for the arcade later? Oroka invited us."

"'Course, man. Besides, I heard they have new prizes in stock."

Muramoto Osamu sighed, his hands finding themselves into a fair stretch as he bobbed his head up and down. It was now half past February, and his friend gave a smile while they pondered on what to do once dismissal struck.

The hallway they were in was bustling with a throng of their fellow classmates, all wearing the reputable Sobu High PE Uniform. This was Class 2F—home to the eminent Hayama Hayato, and his ever-so-popular group of friends.

"Alright, are you all ready?" the teacher called. "Form one line. Right now, there's no need to separate the boys and girls. Quicken up, people."

"Haiii~" came the collective response.

Once everyone was all lined up, Osamu and his friend found themselves placed near the middle—right behind Hayato and his friends.

"Yumiko~! I see your shorts were cut shorter!"

"Well, obviously. That's, like, totes the new trend right now, Yui."

"Hee-hee-hee . . . I wonder what would happen if Hayato and Hikita—"

"Mou, Hina~!"

"Hehe, sorry!"

The collective boys from around the section were having a difficult time to force their eyes to stray away from the set of protruding buttocks, and Osamu couldn't help but feel lucky that he found himself directly behind them. Right here were the three most famous girls in Class 2F: Yuigahama Yui, Ebina Hina, and Miura Yumiko.

"Alright, let's get moving, people."

At the sign of the teacher, the class began to walk in an orderly manner. The chatter grew ever-so more rambunctious, and the boisterous voices of happy high school students formed the atmosphere of the bunch.

Later on, as Class 2F was making their way to the gym, they passed by another section—also in a line.

And, at the sight of the most beautiful, most famed, and most frigid black-haired girl that graced their high school with her presence, the exuberant tittle-tattles from around the area came into an abrupt halt.

How could anyone not know this beauty?

Because, along with her famed class of International Liberal Arts: 2J, Yukinoshita Yukino—the Ice-Cold Princess of Sobu High—was here. And, she wore her unbelievably captivating PE Uniform.

"Ohhh~! Yukinon!"

"Y — Yuigahama-san! Please do not embrace me in public."

"Ehehehe!"

Thankfully, the PE Teacher also stopped, since he was currently conversing with another teacher from the other class. But, this simple scene . . . this glorious, heavenly scene of Yuigahama-san hugging the most popular girl . . . it was enough to shut down the brains of multiple boys.

"Yukinoshita-san," Hayato greeted.

"Hayama-kun," Yukinoshita-san nodded.

Hayato's group had a lovely chat with the princess. Tobe was happily grinning, Yamato and Ooka were nodding, and even Miura Yumiko—who was rumored to have bad blood with her—seemed to have been curious.

Even so, they all had to move back to their places further to the front of the line near me. Thus, the clique bid the black-haired beauty farewell.

The chatter resumed once more, and the students were back to high spirits. The conversation that Yukinoshita-san had with Hayato and his friends is merely evidence to point to the fact that she truly has melted over the school year, being way more approachable than ever. Now that this has been brought to light, it looks like most of the boys are now more cheerful. Are they willing to try out their luck and confess to her once more?

But, yet again, it seems that the world will have to stop.

"Good morning, Hikigaya-kun."

" . . . Yo."

A gruff, deep voice, reverberated around the area. And, the culprit belonged to one person; the infamous boy who was rejected by Ebina during the Kyoto Field Trip. This guy has been the talk of multiple people from all year round: the well-known creep who laughs randomly during classes. After all, he was also the person who made this school year's cultural festival chairman, Sagami Minami, cry. Even so . . . how does he know Yukinoshita-san? Are the rumors of him helping her true all along?! And, hey! Why the heck is she smiling so brightly?!

But, of course. This was the culprit of the new throbbing silence. No-one else dared talk, as everyone's eyes were pointed at the duo.

No way.

How is Yukinoshita Yukino, the prettiest and coldest girl in school, talking casually with the notorious loner from the opposite end of the caste?

But, then, her eyes immediately hardened. It zeroed in onto one nearly-inconspicuous aspect of Hikigaya Hachiman's PE shirt: his right sleeve, which appeared to be somewhat unkempt, much unlike the other side.

" . . . "

" . . . "

Yukinoshita-san's left wrist shivered. It appeared that she couldn't handle it anymore. An exasperated look suddenly donned her countenance, and she broke out of her class' line formation. Hastily, she approached the rapidly-blinking boy, her steps accompanied with grace and glamour. Her supple hands found their way to his article of clothing, and she began rectifying the offending piece.

"Honestly," she sighed. "Do you not know proper grooming? You're so hopeless."

" . . . you're one to say that. Did your perfectionist sense tingle again?"

She mock-shivered.

"I'm helping you, so please refrain from ogling me with such lecherous eyes. The police might take you away."

"No matter what I do, I'm sure you'd find a way to frame me for sexual harassment, anyway."

"My, is that you giving up so fast?"

"Since when was this a competition?"

"Can you remember the date you entered the clubroom?"

"So now you're assaulting my memory? How blind-sighted of you to target that."

"Oh? I don't recall anything of the sort. Is your goldfish memory span that bad?"

"You're totally trying to bait me! And for you to assess me with such a condition . . . are you some kind of marine life institute worker?"

"If I were, then I'd be a professional marine biologist. If you worked there, you'd be the typical janitor cleaner, mopping the floor I stepped on."

"Oi, I'll have you know, I'd be a proud janitor worker. And stop insulting minimum wage workers, they scrub the dirt you produce, after all."

"Are you insinuating that my shoes are filthy? And to be so receptive of becoming a janitor . . . perhaps you do want to be a corporate slave."

"Now, see here. As a responsible not-so member of society, it is only natural for me to aid it in any way whatsoever."

Yukinoshita-san let out a quick and angelic giggle, as she finished fixing his right sleeve. "Fufu . . . is that so? And here I thought you'd make some misanthropic college thesis about goldfishes being abused." Then, she looked up at him nonchalantly—and immediately froze at the few inches of distance that separated their faces.

" . . . "

" . . . "

. . .

Sileeeeence~

Then, at the same time, after 8 seconds of idle gaping, their brains finally caught up to their actions. Both of their faces took on a red hue, and they both yelped simultaneously, with Yukinoshita-san moving back to where she came from rather quickly.

Oi oi oi! What's with those abominably late reactions?! And what the heck is with all of this sexual tension?!

Only two specific thoughts crossed nearly everyone's brains at this specific moment. The first was: "They know each other?!", and, the second was: "What did I just witness?!"

Hikigaya-san's grunt broke everyone out of their musings, and brought everyone's attention back to him. His gaze was flicking rather briskly from across each tile of the floor and appeared to have been contemplating something. After scratching the back of his head, he seemed to have gathered enough confidence and stared back to meet the Ice-Cold Princess' blue eyes head-on with red cheeks.

"Yukinoshi—" "Hikigaya-ku—"

. . .

. . .

They both coughed into their closed fists.

" . . . Hey, so, uh . . . I — I was wondering . . ."

"Y-yes?"

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . A-are you a cat?"

Yukinoshita-san tilted her head in confusion. "No, why?"

" . . . Because you're looking quite purr-fect today."

. . .

. . .

. . .

EHHHHHHHHHH?!

Everyone's jaws slacked further. Yes, even the teachers. Because . . . What the hell?! Did Hikigaya Hachiman just tell her a pick-up line?! The nerve of trying to flirt with the coldest girl . . .

" . . . "

Eh? No way. No way no way no way. Is Yukinoshita Yukino actually blushing?!

A few seconds of attempting to comprehend that statement later, Yukinoshita-san's eyes started to stray. Her gaze instantly began to dart around their area, and a meltdown was beginning to occur.

First, she lost her ability of speech.

Then, she lost the porcelain color of her skin as it gradually glowed to red.

After that, she began to tremble.

And hey, is that steam blowing out of her ears?!

For the second time in the span of 3 minutes, she looked so much like a shy maiden. Yukinoshita Yukino—a shy maiden. Yes, her. And, in lieu of this, another thought circulated throughout the brains of almost every male student around. What the hell is this?!

Then, a choked sound caught everyone's ears. Looking back at Hayato's clique, they were all also at a loss of words. Even Yuigahama Yui, whose hands were trembling, had her eyes wide as saucers.

" . . . Is t-that so . . . "

Yukinoshita-san's stuttered response immediately dragged the crowd's eyes back to the duo. After the deafening silence that spanned a whole minute, it looked like the Ice-Cold Princess was beginning to finally retain her bearings.

"Y-yes," Hikigaya-san responded awkwardly.

" . . . "

" . . . "

"Hikigaya-kun."

"Mm?"

"Why do you say so?"

Hikigaya-san's cheeks flushed. He opened his mouth to explain himself, but closed it again. Nothing but empty air exited his dry throat.

"Speechless, hm?" Yukinoshita Yukino, whose cheeks were still faintly reddish in color, began to adorn a mischievous smirk. "I suppose you now know of how I felt when I first saw you."

. . .

. . .

. . .

HAHHHHHH?!

'What the fuck?!'

'Did she just flirt back?!'

'No way!'

'My dreams . . . all brought to ruin!'

These were the thoughts of multiple male students as Hikigaya-san choked on his own saliva. He began coughing violently and his rose-colored cheeks merely burned in intensity.

"I-is that supposed to be an insult?!" he managed to retort.

But, all he got in return was a flirtatiously cute wink as Class 2J's PE Instructor called her squealing class onwards, walking away almost immediately right after.

. . .

Damn, what the hell . . .

Once she was out of sight, almost every boy—including Osamu's—pointed their menacing glares at this lucky bastard.

"Oi! What was that about?!" came the collective question.


[UPDATE 6/26/22]: Minor update to improve the literacy flow. Glad to see that a multitude of individuals enjoyed this.