It had only been about five minutes into the shift, but to me it felt like I had been standing there since the beginning of Meiji era. The mood that Hanasaki left both of us in was a lot more intense than I had anticipated. Even if we were about a meter away from each other, which was enough distance for a person to consider himself alone, I could still feel the aura that Hiratsuka was emitting. At that point in time, I still haven't thought of what she was to me – even with Yukinoshita who I've known for longer, I'm still reluctant to consider her anything other than a relatively close club mate.

"Hikigaya, can I have hanpen, daikon, and eggs?" a student ordered suddenly, startling both Hiratsuka and I. The guy buying was my classmate whose name and face I've forgotten almost a long time ago. To his right stood a girl who I assumed was also my classmate.

"I'll have the same, except for daikon" the girl said.

The only reason I was able to recognize them as being in the same class is only one thing: they knew my name.

"Alright, in a sec" I replied, trying to get a hold of the ladle in order to scoop up the stock soup. As the tip of my finger was in reach, it went into contact with someone else's finger instead. I recognized whose it was right away without even having to look down. As if there was AC current running through one of our bodies, both Hiratsuka and I immediately pulled our arms away from each other.

"S- sorry!" Hiratsuka exclaimed at a high pitch, indicating that she was startled.

"N- no.. don't worry about it" I replied, not even having enough courage to make eye contact.

'Please, don't get embarrassed' I thought repeatedly as her cheeks heated up. It wasn't something that the younger Yuigahama should ever see. Luckily, though, there wasn't any notable reaction from her.

I was able to recollect myself and finally picked up the ladle, scooped up the stock soups and other components into the foam cup which I was holding in the other hand.

"Here, that'll be a hundred" I said to the guy, to which he took out a bill of the exact amount and exchanged it with the Oden. I was hoping that those guys didn't notice what we were going through, it was just too embarrassing to admit that you're actually a part of some stupid romance comedy. If everything were to go well, then they would've just left without saying anything other than "thank you".

As if responding to my thoughts, those two began whispering to each other. What made it bad was the fact that they were giggling, contributing to the paranoia I was having.

"Hey, I heard from the others that this is your second shift" the guy said, "how about you guys leave the stall to us and enjoy the festival?" the guy said. Well, at least it wasn't something that sound rash.

"It's fine. It's not like I mind staying here" Hiratsuka said.

"He's right, Hiratsuka. You should take some rest" I said, still not making any proper eye contact, though. It was true, she was doing more work than she was assigned to. It sort of vaguely reminded me of when Yukinoshita volunteered to be the vice chairman of the same event.

"I'm talking about you too, Hikigaya" the guy said playfully, fidgeting the spoon on the foam cup.

"No, I wasn't actually assigned any shift, so it's alright" I said.

"The more reason for you to not be here" he said as both of them make their way behind the stall. The guy grabbed me by the shoulder and handed me a thousand yen bank note with his other hand.

"Here, have this, Hikigaya," whispered the guy "Go on and have fun, and most importantly, don't forget to win prizes for her!"

"Thanks" I said, grabbing the money "but it's not what you-"

"Don't be shy" he said abruptly, grabbing my other shoulder and then pushed me out of the stall. He then went on to grab Hiratsuka's shoulders, "you too" he said.

"Kisaishi-kun, wait!" Hiratsuka resisted, looking toward the younger Yuigahama, "I brought my student with me today"

"Don't worry about it, Hiratsuka-san" said the other girl as she walked toward Hiratsuka, "we'll take good care of her"

"Now then" the girl said, grabbing her shoulder, "you should get going too"

"No.. not you too, Shichiyome-san" Hiratsuka cried.

"Don't worry about some little details, Hiratsuka-san" said the girl, pushing her away from the stall and toward me while holding up a mysterious grin, "Have fun, you two!"

With that, Hiratsuka and I started walking away, deeper into the festival grounds. It wasn't a very pleasant strolling, we were trying our best to keep our eyes from meeting each other through various means, including pretending to look around ourselves, as if trying to look for something interesting from within the stalls we were passing. If one of us were to not be there at that moment, then that may have been the actual purpose of our actions.

As we passed by the shooting range, I stopped to take a look for no apparent reason, probably making bad decisions due to panic. "H- hey" I said, "how about we stop here for a bit"

"Ah, shooting range" Hiratsuka said.

"Yeah" I said, ending the short but nonetheless awkward conversation. I'm not usually the type of person who would be able to take a particular topic and expand it into an actual conversation, and what happened then just proved the point that I'm trying to make. There are exceptions, of course – in the past few months I had been able to deal with fair amount of dialogue between classmates, especially with Hiratsuka. But because of the romantic-comedy nonsense going on, she somehow managed to become the person that I was least comfortable talking with within a very short period of time.

"Sir, would you like to give it a shot?" said the stall clerk. As I looked at the person I knew immediately that I messed up badly, because the one doing the shift was Hanasaki.

"Ha.. Hanasaki-san?!" Hiratsuka said, equally surprised.

"Hmm, what's wrong? Or is it that you're too scared of giving it a shot, sir?" Hanasaki said with a slight smirk on her face.

I reached out to the thousand yen bank that was given to me by the guy whose name I couldn't remember and pulled it off my pocket.

"Why not?" I said, trying to hand her the money. But instead of getting the money, she just stood there with her extended arm, smiling lightly. Suddenly, an arm was reached out from my left and grabbed the money. Before I was able to get a hold of myself, a person pulled the bank note off my hand and tackled me. The figure used the confusion to their advantage and ran away.

"Hi.. Hikigaya-kun, are you alright?!" Hiratsuka said as she lowered herself took hold of me.

"Hey!" I yelled at the escaping thief, then broke myself of Hiratsuka and chased after him.

"Hikigaya-kun!" she said, trying to run after me.

It was hard for me to make my way through because the place was crowded, and I had to push other people to the side. Luckily, I was able to maintain my sights on him all the way through, although I lost him because of the crowd a couple of times. Both the person and I made our way out of the festival area into the nearby woods. As we reached an open area, he dropped the money and continued running away. Which begs the question, if he was going to give up on the money anyway, then why did he stole it in the first place?

"Hikigaya-kun!" Hiratsuka called out, panting, finally catching up with me, "I thought I was going to have a heart attack. You ran so fast"

"The guy dropped the money he stole" I said as I picked up the bank note.

"What an idiot" Hiratsuka giggled when she finally caught up with her breath, after which an awkward silence ensued. Having trouble finding a better course of action, I decided to do something that was at least sensible. I turned around and started walking back the way I came, "Hiratsuka, let's go ba-"

"Hikigaya-kun!" she called out, stopping my pace as well as the speech I was trying my best to finish.

"What is it?" I questioned, my back still facing toward her.

"You know, I.. " Hiratsuka started with something. Don't get me wrong, I knew exactly what was going to happen. The setting was just way too convenient for any sensible person to not notice.

"I.. Hikigaya-kun no koto.. I-" [0]

"Stop right there" I interrupted her. These people must have had been playing a sick joke with me. The reason I chased after that guy wasn't because I was so desperate to not lose a thousand yen – right now I have all the money I'll ever need, even more so, in fact. Chasing after the guy allowed me to escape the atmosphere that those guys put two of us in, and after going through all that effort, I wasn't going to allow anything to make things worse.

"But.. but why?" she asked.

"Because it's not worth it" I said, "don't try to do anything stupid anymore"

"But Hikigaya-kun, I-"

"I told you to stop, didn't I?" I said, raising my voice to the point where it startled her.

"You don't even.. know what I was trying to say" she said.

"I do – don't look down on me" I said, "Dropping the money you stole half way through? Who is going to believe something like that? Face it, you're just trying to go with the momentum those guys created."

"Hi- Hikigaya.."

"I'm not playing by their game, and you shouldn't be either, Hiratsuka"

The reason I went to that extent was so that I could be sure she wouldn't try something like this again. I made up my mind a long time ago, that from then on, I would be on the search of something genuine. Teenage romance would be an absolute distraction, and judging from the fact that Hiratsuka knew me for almost as long as the other two girls, I thought she knew where I was getting at.

"Why are you being so insensitive?!" she cried.

"I'm not" I said, turning toward her. "I'm just trying to make sure that you-"

Seeing her face put in me a big shock – I realized that I said something I wasn't supposed to. Tears were streaming from her eyes as her body trembled from having both her fists clenched too firmly.

"You're the worst!"

"No! Hiratsuka, that's not what I-"

But it was a bit too late; as I said so, she was already stomping her way into the deeper parts of the woods.

"You are not going after her?" someone said from the distance. I recognized the owner of the voice right away, having learned my lesson from earlier.

"I don't have to" I replied, all the while poking holes on the ground with the tip of my foot.

"Don't you think you're being a bit cruel to her, Hikigaya-kun?" the person said, inching closer.

"You guys are the ones who set this whole thing up," I said, turning back to look at Hanasaki, "Am I the guilty one here?"

"Seeing through other people's game doesn't make you guilty, but Hiratsuka-san is oblivious to this whole thing," she said, putting on her serious look, "and you know it. You just wanted to pretend otherwise in order to protect a certain resolve of yours"

"Then, knowing all that," I said, slowly losing my temper, "what do you expect me to do?!"

"Respect her feelings, as well as your own" she said.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You made some kind of promise with someone, but before you could fulfill it, something major happened and it pulled you away from those people. This is what I know."

I did say that I wanted something "genuine", but it wasn't a promise – I wasn't going to fulfill it for anyone. If anything, it was more of a declaration, one that acted as a buffer to prevent those two from clashing any further. Had I break my own words, and then indulge myself in such a thing as teenage romance, wouldn't I become a hypocrite? What happened a few days prior, I remembered it bit by bit: the feelings of having Yuigahama so close to me, of having my nickname name being called after so long, and her lips. All of that created a burning sensation in my heart, and it made me feel conflicted in every possible way.

"It would be unfair for those people, ones that you said I made promises to," I murmured with my trembled voice, "I just didn't know what I should do"

"Whether you like it or not, those people I spoke of aren't in your reach, not anymore. Likewise, you aren't in theirs either. The only person then who cared enough to do that, is none but Hiratsuka-san – what you're essentially doing is throwing all her hard work off the window. You know from the bottom of your heart that you have a room for her down there, it's just that you're too afraid to move forward"

Even now, I hate to admit it, but what she said was right on spot. Because I was lost and blinded, and probably stupid too, that I decided to attempt at taking a leap of faith. The one person who stopped me from doing that was Hiratsuka, whether or not that's what she intended to do in the first place.

"I'm sorry" I did my best at apologizing, even knowing that it wouldn't solve anything unless I take any real actions.

"Hmm? What for?"

"For being so stupid"

"I'm not the one who you should be apologizing to, Hikigaya-kun" she said playfully, with the tone of voice opposite to what she was using earlier, "that person has already gone far into the woods. I hope she's still safe"

I turned around to the direction that Hiratsuka ran off to.

"Thanks, Hanasaki" I said, and ran off into the woods.

'It hurts' was what I thought when he shot me down so violently. I still have not figured out which hurt more, the fact that he was trying to accuse me of something I didn't even know about, or that he didn't even listen to what I had to say.

I kept running forward, no matter if it were rocks, or trees that were blocking my way. For every step I ran, I would get scratches somewhere, either on my body or on my clothes, but that was not I was thinking about. I had nothing on my mind, as if it was just my body that was telling me to keep running forward. I didn't know why, I felt like I just had to.

"Hikigaya-kun, you idiot!" I blurted out as I made my way through the woods.

Because of the tears that were running down from my eyes, the world around me appeared blurry. It doesn't help for the that it was during night time, and that there was very little light shining through the woods, most of them coming from the stalls of the cultural festival.

My degraded vision finally had me paid for when I stepped on the leveled ground that I couldn't see, making me fall down. The momentum that I gained when I ran caused me to roll on my sides for a certain distance, to which I finally stopped when my body made an impact with a tree.

I stood up slowly, trying to get on my foot. I rested myself toward the tree as I got up, resting so that I would have enough strength to move forward – I didn't sprain my ankle, luckily.

But before I could've moved on, my named was called out from afar, "Hiratsuka!"

Knowing the who the owner of the voice was, it made me somewhat happy, but the anger was definitely still there, so much so I didn't want to make a reply.

"Hiratsuka!" the voice grew closer and closer, "Where are you?!"

"Hiratsuka!" he said once more, but this time the volume did not change.

I took a peek carefully, and there he was, standing back against the tree I was hiding behind.

I stopped running in the middle of nowhere, but the calling of her name didn't stop.

"Hiratsuka!" I called out, panting heavily.

"I know that I'm the worst – I always get that from other people, but this time I really overdid it, letting my selfishness take over." I said.

I laid against a tree, trying to balance myself after all the voice projections I went through.

"I know it's weird that I'm talking this much, and that you might not want to listen to anything that comes out of my mouth, but if you could hear me out It'd be great, even if you may not be here at all" I said, "I had a dream a few days back, and it made me realize that I might not be able to meet the ones I care about again. But if there was one thing that I didn't realize, it's that you were there stopping me from doing something stupid – In fact, you were always there. I'm sorry, I really am"

"Hiratsuka, I'm sorry!" I gathered all my strength and projected my voice once more, hoping that she was somewhere my voice could have reached.

"Hi- no.. Shizuka!.. I'm sorry for being such an ungrateful jerk!"

After a short while, a forehead rested on my back suddenly.

"Do you really mean it?" said someone from behind that needed no introduction. I was initially startled (as with anyone who would have others appearing behind them unannounced), but I ended up reassured nonetheless.

"Yeah, I mean it. I'm sorry, Hiratsuka"

"Repeat that, but this time call me Shizuka instead", she said, grabbing my right hand, and crossing the fingers.

"I'm sorry, Shizuka"

"Good boy"

Releasing my hands and parting her forehead, she said "Now turn around", which was what I did.

The atmosphere was similar to that of when we were together at the stall – the excitement was there, but without the repulsiveness.

"Would you allow me to finish this time?" she asked rhetorically.

"Go ahead" I said, giving her the heads up, without which she would have said what she wanted to anyway.

"I love you, Hikigaya-kun"

It wasn't right of me to have prejudged her intentions in the first place.

"Me too, Shizuka"

I might have had gave in to the illusion of youth, but I really did not care. Since the beginning, my stance on typical romantic relationship have not changed; I still think those who practice such a thing are the people who care too much of their status among their peers. However, not all relationships have to be convenient tickets for better social perception, and I didn't intend to start one as such.

To a normal person, that may not be counted as a proper relationship – it's just wrong.

But hey, My Teenage Love Comedy is Wrong as Expected.

A/N: Thank you everyone for sticking by with the story! I apologize if the last chapter was a bit confusing for some, which was why I tried my best to fill it all up in this chapter. I would also like to apologize if things were a bit cringe worthy, and that it seemed a bit out of character for 8man to do the things he did - I felt like it was appropriate since I already established the settings in the last chapter. With all that said, I hope you enjoy a little footnote! :)

[0] - no koto roughly translates to "the thing about" or just "about", which is why in a confession scene in some Anime, the subtitle will say something weird like "I.. about you..". I'm not clear on the details (so are the native speakers), but in this context it doesn't do anything other than to prevent confusion between the one who likes and the one who got liked.