I guess it was the closest thing one could get to being "corporate-independent", but I still found my career as a teacher unfit for who I consider myself to be. One of the most important job as a typical educator is to prepare their pupils to deal with the real world, and that in itself isn't an issue for me since I've had considerable amount of experiences – what I was skeptical about is to whether or not the parents would've agreed with the method I'd be teaching the kids.

"Hikigaya-kun, what have you been teaching the kids?" the principal said.

"I've been teaching them Japanese" I replied with confidence, "I believe that is what my BA in Japanese is for, Shiromeguri-sensei"

"No.. not that" she said, "I heard from the parents that a teacher has been teaching their children some.. well, how do I put it.."

"'Questionable life lessons', I'm guessing, would be the closest to how they had described it" I said.

"Exactly – I heard that you told a boy who asked you for love advice to stop going for his crush because 'youthful romance is a lie', and that 'the whole thing is just an illusion'" she said, inherently summarizing the foundations of my social beliefs.

"I say it's better to prevent one from being deluded, and let them stay on tasks at hand" I said.

"I say.. you should tone things down a bit – I know you have good intentions, Hikigaya-kun, but I want you to understand that the parents don't see it that way, and it certainly would be the same for the school board if things get through to them" she said.

"It's just an association of teachers, Shiromeguri-sensei.. even if they don't approve of me, I still don't believe they have the power to strip me off my teaching rights" I said.

"Not by themselves, that's for sure, but I don't see why they wouldn't team up with the parents to bring it to the prefectural office to get you fired" she replied, "By that point, even I couldn't help you.."

Of course, that was the case like it had always been: people usually take things I do at face value, and they usually do it in different light than I do. That said, it's worth mentioning that it's not like I've been given consent to be teaching my personal values.

"When you pulled that off during Cultural Festival, not many people knew what you were trying to do.. that's why the entire school hated you.." she said

Ah, yes, that.. train wreck of an event, one that wouldn't have gone wrong if the chairman wasn't an attention hungry drama queen.

"Try not to pull that off again, alright?" she said, giving me a smile.

"I understand, Sensei – Now if you'll excuse me" I said, bowing and then turned toward the door.

"Oh.. and one more thing" she said, stopping my first step.

"Yes, what is it, Sensei?" I said.

"Say Hi to your wife for me, Hikigaya-kun – after I left high school, I haven't had a chance to meet her at all, so as soon as I heard that you two are married, I couldn't help but want to give my regards to her" she said, "I've never thanked her properly for her efforts back then"

I turned back to Shiromeguri-sensei, who was making a worried expression. Rightly so, if I may say so myself..

"Don't worry about it – I'll make sure the word gets through to her"

I'll be honest, It's hard even for me to imagine that I managed to get a women to say "yes" with all the the things I look for in a girl (although she has none of it). I wouldn't describe my relationship with her as shallow, but at the same time, the meaning behind it isn't that deep either.

"Ah, if it isn't my boy, Hikigaya.." said someone as I exited the school gate.

"Ah, if it isn't the police officer who suffers from superiority complex, Hanasaki" I replied, "now, if you'll excuse me"

"As uptight as ever, I see" he said, to which I stopped in front of him.

"You gotta loosen up man!"

That guy is Hanasaki Kazunari, a police officer who was stationed at a newly built koban near Sobu High, and also my colleague at university. He was also doing a BA in language studies, so why he decided to become a police officer is beyond me.

"So, what up?" he asked, "I saw a group of angry parents this morning – I'm guessing that was your doing?"

"Who knows? Someone probably took what I said the wrong way.. even if they did, it's not like the parents know how I look" I said.

"But man.. you gotta tone things down a notch.. Do know how much trouble you've put me through this morning?" He asked rhetorically, "It almost turned into a riot!"

"That'd actually not be bad.. I would be able to get a day off" I said.

"Man.. work-hating as always, I see" he said, "Anyway, I'll have to get back to guard duty.. and oh, don't forget about this Saturday"

"Of course, not – if the job's done, none of us has to be slaves for the rest of our lives" I replied, to which he said nothing else, and just smiled at me before leaving for his post.

The job we were referring to was the one that The Eastern Railway Company was recruiting for. Although none of the posters they put up to advertise around Chiba had any specific job description on them, as far as I know, the only qualifications they required is a high school diploma or the equivalent. Well, the part that Hanasaki and I cared about the most was, of course, the payment. After the job was done, the company promised a large sum of money for those participated.

"I still can't get over the fact that it sounds like a scam, Hikki"

"It's a railway company, I don't think they'll make go through a space-time portal"

..was what I said in reply, but it goes without saying that, while I'll take on the offer, I'm still doubtful about what they'll make me do.

"That aside, Yuigahama, you're 28, and you're still comfortable addressing me like that?" I asked as we walked along the path to the train station.

"What? Do you have a problem with that?" she said, staring straight into my eyes.

"No.. not really.. Whatever fancies you.." I said, averting the eyesight.

Then she started skipping, trying to be slightly ahead of me with every step I made. And yes, it was embarrassing walking alongside a woman in her twenties skipping along the sidewalk.

"So.. how is she?" Yuigahama asked.

"Well.. I guess she's alright" I said.

"You always say that" she said, now walking normally, "are you hiding something from me?"

"Heck no!" I said, "it's just that there's really nothing worth mentioning.. it'd be redundant if I have to talk about her daily routines all over again"

"Only you'd say something like that" she said, looking down on the ground, smiling. As if she was already satisfied, she changed the topic a little, "What about Yukie-chan?"

I have to applaud her for that; she may not be intelligent, but it's her social skills I've alway find intriguing. That's probably how she managed to stay with different groups of people with varying personality.

"She's doing better with her life than I did, I guess that's all I am able to say" I said.

"Hmph!" she said, pinching my right cheek "how about you be more specific?"

"How am I supposed to be even remotely specific?! The question you asked was itself very broad" I said.

"I see.. I guess you haven't really grown up after all, Hikki" she said, pouting, then quickly changing it to a smile "But I guess that's alright, it means you're still the same Hikki that I've always known.. hehe"

"Hmm.. whatever you say" I said, to which, I swear at that moment my entire face went red.

As a married man (no matter how stupid that may sound coming from me), I am tasked with working to provide for the family. No one ever said I am not to be swayed by a woman's beauty – I am a human after all, and all that may just very well have just been a series of chemical reactions.. Yes, that had to be it..

"Ah, my way home is on the right" Yuigahama said as I was about to make my first step across an intersection.

"Then I suggest we part our ways here" I said, but did not get an immediate reply as we stood there for a short while.

"If only things were different" she said suddenly, before I could've had a chance to break the silence.

At that very moment, I felt the atmosphere around us changing as Yuigahama looked at me straight in the eye. No more words were said, but I still was able to sense an overwhelming amount of feeling.. feeling of confidence coming from her. Her eyes were tender, yet filled with seriousness – it was a sight I have not seen in a long time.

I felt as if time had stopped moving.

"Yuiga-"

"Bye bye, Hikki.." she said, keeping the same expression from earlier, probably even after she had turned away. She walked away at a constant pace, not glancing back even after I called out her name.

All the time I spent on the train, I thought about the current aspects of my life, trying my best to distract myself from the last statement she made. All my efforts were all in vain, however, as the thought still remained in my mind as I was approaching my apartment building.

"Ah, you're home early, Hachiman"

"They thought I worked too hard, so Shiromeguri-sensei had Hayama substituted and sent me home.. And oh, before I forget, she wanted to me give her regards to you"

"I see.. "

As much as I would've liked to pretend I didn't know what Yuigahama was trying to get across, I couldn't have possibly done so..

"So.. anything happened today, Yukino?"

..and that's because, as I come home everyday, it would've been right in front of me. All of this that I have – it's not pleasant for her to think about it – I at least know this much.

"Yukie's fever has gone down, that's one" Yukino said as I entered the living room, "she's still sleeping in her room"

"Thanks, I'll go and check her out"

But then again, I have something far more important than a never ending feud that started in high school to take care of.

I went through the living room to doors on the opposite end of the entrance, one of them leads to I and Yukino's bedroom, and the other to Yukie's bedroom. I reached for the knob of the latter, gently turning it, and pulled it open slowly. Her bed was placed on the top left corner from the door – not a great distance, but there were still rooms for me to accidentally make a noise that would've awoken her. I then sneaked across the room, making sure that with each step I took, my foot won't run into a toy that happened to be lying around.

..and there she was, right in front of me, one of the only things I would not let the byproducts of my pessimism ever get their hands on.

My first instinct after hearing the news from Yukino was to check on her fever. Again, I made sure that I did so as gently as I could when I brushed her bangs to the side and placed my hand on her forehead. It was true after all, her temperature had gone down considerably, but it still wasn't at the point where I'd call it 'normal'.

"Nn.. nnn" the girl groaned. I quickly took my hands off, knowing what I had done.

"Otou-san?" she said as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Oh.. uhh.. Sorry for waking you up, Yukie" I said.

She sat up and said, smiling, "No, no.. I was having a bad dream.."

"What sort of dream did you have?" I said.

"Okaa-san was crying" she said, looking down to her laps, "it was because Otou-san did not come back home"

Even a small child had to go through the seeing of such a possibility – the world sure do not have any exception for anyone, I see.

"But I am right here, at home" I said, kneeling down to her match her height, and placed both my hands on her shoulder, "and you don't have to worry about Okaa-san – she's a very strong woman"

"Really?" she asked.

"Really" I replied, trying my best to persuade her to smile in a time such as this, "She wouldn't weep just because an insignificant individual disappeared"

"What does that mean, Otou-san?" she asked.

It was probably how I phrased it, or it's the fact that she didn't understand the vocabularies I used – either way, I purposely made it so that she wouldn't be able to make out the meaning. Had I done otherwise, she would have said something along the lines of "that's not true", but that's just would've just been her trying to being optimistic.

Yukino did not shed a single tear even when I finally returned back then, and that's why I was so sure..

"You don't have to worry about it, Yukie" I said, "You should go back to sleep"

"Alright", she said, putting herself back into the blanket, "Can you sit beside me until I fall asleep, Otou-san?"

"Why not?" I said, sitting on the edge of her bed.

She reached her hand out of the blanket to hold mine, then asked, "Otou-san, are you still going to go work at the train station?"

A straight-forward question that came out of nowhere, indeed.

"Yeah, Otou-san will get a lot of money with this job", I replied. Had I said that to anyone older than her, that statement would've sounded real bad..

"Are you going to be building to tracks?" she asked, "I learned in school that those kinds of jobs are dangerous"

"It's nothing dangerous, so you really have nothing to worry about" I said.

"If Otou-san says that, then I guess it's fine" she said.

I can't say that I don't find her naivete cute, but even if she knew more about the world than she did then, I still wouldn't be able to answer that question – I myself didn't know what the railway company had in stores for me. What I knew, was that if all goes well, then money wasn't going to be an issue for a long while.

But hey.. Who the heck am I kidding? The cat was already out of the bag as soon as I brought up the past..

We all know what's going to happen, are we?

I was really going to be sent through a time portal, then Hanasaki would've backstabbed me in order to get my portion of the payment, and after that, begins a new cycle: Yukie would grow up fatherless, and Hanasaki would try to execute his plan once again.

In order to prevent the other one of her father, then a high school student, from ever meeting Hanasaki Kazunari, she applied for the job.

The vicious cycles would go on endlessly – I knew that fact from none other than Yukie..

The other Hikigaya Hachiman would have to go through the same ordeals I've been through, Yukie told me that too.

I knew I would end up with one of them sooner or later, a decision that would leave the other scarred, but otherwise unprovoked – once again, I knew it from Yukie.

And yes, I was aware about the details of the job then. In fact, I was made aware well before that – about ten years prior, to be precise – by, you guessed it,

Yukie

"Did- did you just say 'Hikigaya'?" I asked the lady, still doubting the credibility of her statement, "Are you sure you're not mistaken?!"

"It's up to you whether or not you want to believe me, but that doesn't change who I am", she said, changing back to her usual ladylike demeanor.

"No, that's not the problem.." I said, "it's just that you are.."

"I know the circumstances around how I came to be doesn't stand well with your resolve, Hikigaya-kun" the lady, slowly made her way behind me, explained, "but do realize that I'm not even from here, and on top of that, no one has the right to force you to choose"

"But.."

"I've seen your proposal many times, Hikigaya-kun" she said, "no matter who was chosen, the other one would not hold a grudge against them"

But that's inconceivable, I thought.

"Oh.. and if two wasn't enough choices for you" she said, "It's not difficult for the young Hiratsuka to go back with you to where you came from".

"Like I said, that isn't the problem, lady" I said.

"Even after knowing who I really am, you're still calling me that?" she said.

That, coming from a woman who addresses her own father by his last name..

"Heh, no matter. And I do know what them problem is: it's that you couldn't believe the other ones of you could've done something that conflicted with their beliefs, am I correct?"

I could've done nothing but simply looked down to the ground, and grunted at how spotted on she was.

"I'll take silence as a 'yes', then" she said.

Relationships in general are superficial, and there was never any meaning in any of them. Through all the years I spent at university, I've seen all the purposes that are inherent to a partner: to be used in order to gain bragging rights, to be used as a sandbag in stressful times, and to be used.. for all sorts of other things.

Not a very romantic reality, but that in itself is a contraction: romance relies on the concept of mutual love, which is idealistic at best. Ergo, it cannot coexist with whatever the reality really presented to us.

My beliefs weren't going to be changed then, especially not by someone claiming to be related to me in such a bizarre way.

"Here's an advice for you, Hikigaya-kun" she said, "try not to get marriage and teenage relationship mixed up; the former has more to it than you ever gave credit for"

"There's no difference between the two. the words used are different, but the idea behind them is the same: it's just conveniency to both parties evolved" I said, "I can't believe the other one of me didn't teach you any of this.. "

"..and it's hard for me too, to imagine that you'd actually grow up to be a man like him" she said, "he's a lot more receptive than you are, I'd say that much"

"Still.." I said, still short of argument.

"Still, Hikigaya-kun. You'll eventually grow out of your current beliefs, and I'm the living proof of that" she said, "and I hope you realize that you have no right bashing relationships when you're in one yourself"

Wow, that really hurt, I thought.

"Now that I've revealed who I really am, I take it there's nothing else left to be done" she said,

"Wait.. but what about him!?" I said, pointing at Officer Hanasaki, who awas knocked out by the lady.

"There's really no difference whether or not I dispose of him; if he's come this far, then it'd be impossible for the others to not notice" she said, "the best I could do, is to relocate you and beat up the Officers when they find out where you are"

"What do you mean, 'there's no difference'?" I asked.

"The Officer couldn't have known about the 'time travel' by himself, let alone pull it off" she said, "he has to have an accomplice"

"That couldn't be.." I said in disbelief, if that's the case, then all of this would be meaningless, wouldn't it?

Then I felt someone resting their head on my back, and that person was, of course, the lady. She reached out for my hand and held it tightly.

"That's all I am able to do for you. Even if you were to leap once more, the result would still be the same" she said, "It seems like they've caught up with me"

"So, that means we're done for, correct?" I calmly asked her, already knowing what the reply would be.

"I'm sorry, Hikigaya-kun.." she said, her voice trembling, "I'm really sorry.. Hiki.. Otou-san"

"Yu.. kie.."

It had been ten years since I had that conversation.. ten years.. since I came back home, leaving the young Hiratsuka behind without a word, for better or for the worse.

As you can tell, I've somewhat grown out of the beliefs I had (some of them, at least), and that the chosen one is none other than the Yukinoshita Yukino then, but Hikigaya Yukino now. Of course, the reasoning behind it was as arbitrary as saying 'because of love', and you may already know what it was. Nonetheless, the three of us did not meet up together since.

I still can't tell, to this day, whether or not I regretted the decision, even if I led a somewhat regular lifestyle up until then.

If anything though, I'd say that I had made up my mind.

It was Saturday morning, the day where Officer Hanasaki and I reported ourselves to the local railway office.

Yes, I've decided then: I'm doing it.

After all the registration work was all done, the two of us, along with the other eleven who signed up were told to assemble outside in single file. A man in a teal colored uniform then came out and stood in front of us.

"Alright, greetings everybody, and welcome to the Eastern Railway Company" the man said, "My name is Kisaragi Touya, and I'll be your instructor for today"

The man held up a clipboard he had been holding and skimmed through all the documents, giving each page about a second on two.

"Alright, before we start with the briefing, I'd like to confirm with all of you the terms and conditions on today's mission, since I doubt anyone of you read them before signing the contract" he said, to which some of the people in line giggled lightly, "it's nothing unusual, really: it goes along the lines of 'the company takes no responsibility for any unforeseen accident that may occur to the applicant'– anyone have any objections?"

Most of the people shook their heads, while the others, including me, stayed still.

"Alright, then I won't delay this any further" he said, "let's begin with the briefing"

It took him about half an hour to make all the explanations regarding the job. To summarize, he told us that we were going to be testing a new VR system that the railway company developed to simulate train accidents, and its purpose was to give engineers the better basis for improving their trains' emergency system. He said something about safety precautions too, but that was all I remembered. Of course, all of it was a lie, and the instructor probably didn't even know that they were.

"There are four available VR sim stations here in Chiba, and you will be assigned in groups of three to each of the station" he said, "Hikigaya-san, Officer Hanasaki, you two will be going with me since your group is lacking one person"

We took the train down the station at the border between Tokyo and Chiba where we were told the security weren't as tight as the other stations. This makes the atmosphere around us not as tense as I thought it would be. But as we were about to board the station, the instructor stopped us in front of the entrance.

"Uhh.. Officer Hanasaki.." the instructor said, pointing at something Hanasaki hanged over his left shoulder, something I thought, too, should not have been there, "Why do you have a gun with you?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about it!" Hanasaki said, "I already have all the standard issued .38 rounds replace with the anti-riot rubber rounds"

"Well, if you say so, then I guess there's no problem" the instructor said, "although, I doubt you'll ever get the chance to use it"

"We can never really be sure, can't we?" Hanasaki said, " like they say 'better be safe than sorry'"

Of course, I already had an idea on what he'll be using the gun for, and it containing live bullet or not doesn't really matter, because the fact remains, the most likely candidate to be the victim of it..

Was none other than me…