It wasn't as if I wanted to go that badly, I was just acting on an impulse, one that could've led to me to put an end on all the madness. All the ones I know, regardless of how close they're to me, It could be that I may have had lost the chance to meet them all again since the beginning.

"It doesn't really matter now. Hiratsuka is here for me, isn't she?" I muttered to myself as I walked passed through many stalls of the Cultural Festival, experiencing all the possible sensations one could get from that kind of event.

"Hmm? Did you say something, Hikigaya-kun?" said Hanasaki, who was walking alongside me this whole time, to which I had already forgot about the fact as I was so immersed in making out all those sensations. The aroma of frying takoyaki and dashi stock soups, the sound of people cheering for their friends in a carnival game, and the crowdedness in front of some stalls – it had been almost a year since I experienced anything like that. I had been having the same thoughts for a while, and having all the commotion going on around me didn't really distract me from it, but rather reinforced those thoughts as I retreated from reality while still maintaining my senses.

"It's nothing" I said, peaking left and right to find anything that may have been interesting from the stalls.

Hanasaki ran ahead slightly, then looked back and a said while walking backwards with both hands behind her back "Or could it be, that you couldn't get yourself to stop thinking about Hiratsuka-san?"

Just the mere mention of the name caused my eyes to stop peeking to the sides to be directed toward her. When I realized the sudden shift of attention, Hanasaki grinning playfully was the first thing that came to vision. It was probably too late to try to feign ignorance, but I gave it a go anyway.

"Nope. Haven't had a single thought about her" I lied. Hanasaki let out a slight giggle.

"Not even after the fact that she was there for you in your most critical situation?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hanasaki"

"You don't know about the fact that you embraced her for a pretty long while?"

My eyelids were raised far from their bases, and my mouth were left wide open after hearing the statement that in no way was subtle about the message that was being sent across.

"You.. saw?!" I said.

"Maybe" she said, giggling harder.

As I stopped walking to recollect my thoughts, I let out a big sigh and said to her "Yeah, you're right, I guess I really couldn't get that stuff off my mind", to which after her pace also came to a complete stop.

"Let me try to guess what exactly you're thinking, Hikigaya-kun" Hanasaki said, "you're trying your best to reason against the possibility – 'Hugging each other is what friends do all the time – she probably doesn't have anything like that for me', or something along those lines"

As much as I wanted to argue with her, she was right about my thoughts. I knew that, probably, since she asked me to do something like this, Hiratsuka probably did have a thing for me. Plus, earlier in the afternoon during club, I couldn't get myself to talk to her properly – it felt as if she was gazing at me whenever she could. The atmosphere around her was so awkward, I couldn't even walk around with her, hence why I was with Hanasaki in the first place.

Thing is, though, asking to be embraced doesn't always have to have that meaning. As for the club thing, she could've just looked at my general direction, not at me. These sort of thoughts, It's all safety precautions to prevent myself from repeating the same mistake from Middle School with Orimoto.

"But it's a legit concern, you know? If I do anything rash, I won't be able to fix anything" I said.

"Does that mean you're opening up a chance for Katakana-kun? Before her current Oden stall shift, all she talked about was him" Hanasaki said.

"That's her choice" I murmured, but loud enough to be heard by her.

"I see, not everyone is so confident of themselves" she said, "but I guess it's not entirely false if I'd also say 'hardheadedness stays'"

The statement did put me through a certain degree of surprise – not often have Hanasaki been so direct when it comes to flaws of other people. Nevertheless, I didn't bother retorting anymore, knowing that if I say anything wrong, Hanasaki would have been able to surprise me even more. The silence that I intentionally created was broken by Hanasaki when she threw a request-like statement my way. "Hikigaya-kun, it's almost the end of Hiratsuka-san's shift, how about we go to your class's stall to get her?"

I was reluctant to reply at first as I knew what she was trying to allude. Komachi have tried the same thing before, where she tried to set me up on going to a festival with Yuigahama – I was lucky that the phone call allowed me to interrupt her unabruptly.

It's very unlikely that I would've gotten anymore chance like that, though.

"Alright. Then let's go" I said.

As much as I didn't want to play by her game, denying it would've meant that I admitted to have thought of Hiratsuka non-stop, and that I was too shy of the fact to face her.

The dream I had several days ago – it was one of the best I've ever had. To be honest, though, I wished that it could've lasted longer; I was not done with him, not even close, not after having to wait three months straight in order to have experienced something like that. Sure, every now and then I have dreams about him going back in time and meet some other people, but those are nowhere close to what that dream was. It's nothing like a Lucid dream that Yukinon told me about, not only was I in control, but I felt like everything was so real and tangible.

"Oh, Yuigahama, so you're here too" said someone from my left.

"Ah, good afternoon, Hiratsuka-sensei" I said as I turned myself toward her direction. By that time, she had already grabbed a chair and sat across me.

For whatever reason, I decided to come visit Service Club after a very long while. The club room looked pretty much the same, save for some of the furnitures that are covered in dusts due to it not being used for so long. Not surprisingly, though, Yukinon didn't come.

"What brought you here, sensei?"

"Well, ever since you girls stopped coming, I sort of end up here every afternoon.. you know.. after that" she said, facing the other direction.

"Ahh.. I see"

Her last statement left the atmosphere in the room very awkward with both of us remained silent, looking left and right, trying to cope with it. There were times when I feel kind of weird after trying to say something to Hikki, but he didn't get it. This was a lot worse. It was as if Hiratsuka-sensei and I didn't know each other at all. But then, suddenly..

"Ah, man, I can't believe it!" Hiratsuka-sensei said loudly, "I can't believe that Hanasaki was already engaged to her boyfriend!"

It was sudden and out of nowhere, but somehow it didn't feel out of place compared to what she said earlier. At least, it destroyed that awkward feeling I had, I thought.

"Hanasaki-sensei?! Really?!" I quickly replied, trying to continue with what she started.

"Yes, her. I was sent an invitation letter just this morning" she said. She let out a big sigh then said "I should just get myself a boyfriend already"

"But Sensei, didn't you had one?"

"Hmm? Who might you be talking about?"

"I'm obviously talking about that guy we met at Cultural Festival!"

"Wh- what are you talking about?!"

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could've sworn her cheeks turned bright red the moment I finished the sentence. The reason why I didn't expect it was probably that it doesn't really fit her character; she always tries to portray herself as this middle aged lady who is really strict and cruel when it comes to academics. I've not seen this side of her for years.

"Sensei.. don't tell me you forgot about it" I pouted.

"No, no! That's not what I mean" she quickly corrected herself, "I still remember it – I was the one who invited you after finishing with your homework. I meant that he wasn't really a boyfriend"

"But really, though" she added, "do you remember the first time he saw you?"

"Ah, of course, I can't forget something that weird!" I replied. To this day, I still don't know what his name is, let alone where he went after High school, but I had very fond memories of when we spent time with each other. One of those memories is when he met me for the first time. He was in such a shock that I actually thought he was having ideas that the world was coming to an end.

"Hiratsuka, who is this girl?" I stuttered from having a panic attack. I knew it had to happen some day, but I've never thought that it would be at a place like that.

"Oh, she's my student, Yui-chan. Her mother decided to hire me to tutor her after I helped her with Japanese homework" Hiratsuka said, "Come on, Yui-chan, introduce yourself"

The little girl, who I wished wasn't the person I think she was, stayed behind Hiratsuka, gripping onto her tutor's skirt loosely.

"Don't worry, Yui-chan," Hiratsuka said reassuringly as she padded her head, "I know he looks like some kind of a bad guy, but he's actually nice. Usually.."

With that, the little girl slowly emerged from behind and eventually, she was standing right beside her tutor. "Hi", she said softly, in a manner that was the opposite of her older counterpart, "my name is Yui – Yuigahama Yui"

I've always seen Yuigahama as this energetic girl, occasionally emotional, but never once this timid. Every single day we had club, she would slide the door open and enthusiastically greet all the tenants of the room. Not once had I come close to even think that this side of her ever existed, it's just too far of from how she usually presents herself. Although I haven't completely pulled myself away from cynicism, if at all, but my attitude toward people wasn't even at the same level as her younger self.

"Hey, Y- Yui-chan", I said, having trouble addressing the girl as I was more used to saying her longer last name.

"I'm Hikigaya, Hikigaya Hachiman."

"Hikigaya.. Hachiman" she repeated, and retreated to the back of Hiratsuka.

"Oh right, Hikigaya-kun" Hiratsuka said, "Did you come across Fujimiya-san by any chance?"

"Nope, not that I have" I said, "Why, though?"

"It's supposed to be her shift right now" she said.

"I haven't seen her since morning. Though, she has this weird condition where her memories about her friends last only one week [0], doesn't she? So I don't blame her" I said.

"If that's the case.. Then I guess I'll have to stay for another shift, since everybody else seems to be out there having fun" she said with a slightly disappointed tone in her voice.

"Then, why don't you also stay with her, Hikigaya-kun?" said Hanasaki, who I already had forgotten about.

"Alright", I said. This time especially, I couldn't reject it, since it would come across to Hiratsuka that I had not feel comfortable being around her for some time now. To think positively about the whole situation, at least Yuigahama was there too, even though I would still be awkward if I had to stay with her by myself.

"What about you?" I asked Hanasaki.

She lowered herself down a bit, facing up to me.

"I'm supposed to be in a shift right now, actually. So, I have go now" she said and then turned around, but before she could walk away, she looked back at me.

"Have a great time, you two" Hanasaki said and then winked, after which she finally set off to her class's food stall. The statement left a weird feeling on me, and I'm sure that it was the same for Hiratsuka. It didn't take a genius to figure out from her face that she was really uncomfortable. With those kinds of expressions from her, I know that the shift was going to be a long one.

[0] – Reference to Isshukan Friends