I am extremely sorry for that long break where I didn't update. Exams got me bad and it's just that trying to start writing again after taking such a long break is pretty hard. Anyway, as I promised, Hayama's confrontation is in this chapter and of course, new conflicts!

Enjoy!

Chapter 5

Hachiman entered his class as seamlessly as he always did and walked over to his seat and sat down lazily. Unbeknownst to him, there was still a small smile on his face from this morning. He just couldn't get rid of the thoughts about Haruno – HIS GIRLFRIEND! – from his head. She had said that she loved him – he had a girlfriend… who actually loved him and wasn't just using him!

"Hikki…" called out a voice.

He turned to the owner of the unnaturally sad voice. "Good morning, Yuigahama. How may I help you on this fine morning?" he asked in a chipper voice. Yes, it was probably cruel but... well... Hachiman got a girlfriend, goddammit! The world could go crew itself for all he cared.

"Fine, my ass…" she muttered out low enough for only her to hear. "A-Are you… um… are you and Yukinoshita-san… uh… you know…" she said quietly, not meeting his eye.

Hachiman sighed and dropped the cheerful attitude. His eyes gained their usual steeliness and bore into Yui. "Tell me exactly what you want to know, Yui," Hachiman said in a no-nonsense voice.

Yui flinched slightly and seemed to waver before she made up her mind. She took a deep breath and looked Hachiman in the eyes. "Are... Are you and Yukinoshita-san dating?" she asked straight.

Hachiman blinked. "Well... shit… I didn't think you'd actually do it," murmured Hachiman. He sighed and began, "To answer your question, I don't know what you mean by dating, but I call her my girlfriend and she calls me her boyfriend. I love her, and she loves me. Does that clear it up for you?" Hachiman asked with a voice that wasn't exactly comforting but it was as close as he could get it to be.

Yui looked downtrodden and nodded meekly. "Thanks, Hikki," she said quietly before following it up with a "Good luck." Though he didn't know if it was just his imagination, or if she actually said, 'break a neck'.

Yui went back to her seat and Hachiman went back to browsing on his phone to look at prices for a new phone. Oneplus 6T, huh? No headphone jack though-

Again, he was interrupted by an unwanted visitor. "Morning, Hikitani-kun!"

Hmm, thought Hachiman without taking his eyes off his phone, to ignore or not to ignore the blonde dickass doggyknobber. That is the question.

"Hikitani-kun," continued Hayato, slightly put off by the ignorance. He had never been ignored before and therefore, didn't really have an idea about how to deal with this situation. Not only that, but the classroom had also slowly quieted down. Who the fuck dared ignored Hayama? "Can I talk to you for a sec?" Hachiman the fuck dared ignored Hayama.

Who the hell is Hikitani? Mu'fu'in Deadshit. Ignore it is!

Hayato's voice started straining now. "Hikita- Hikigaya-kun. May we please have a talk?"

Oh, now he uses my proper name… Guess I'll throw him a bone.

"Yo," Hachiman started as he looked around at all the people staring at him. "You all hear some wind blowing or some shit?" He asked out loud to the deathly quiet classroom. "On my life, some Supernatural spherical dumbass be talking to me." Murmurs of confusion spread through the class like a wave before someone finally gathered up enough courage to ask.

"Spherical dumbass?" asked a girl from the back.

Hachiman looked dead-straight at her and answered, "Cuz no matter which way to look at them from, they're still a dumbass." A few snickers were heard from around the class before Saki full on laughed out loud.

Ah, at least someone has a good sense of humour.

Another girl from the back spoke up. "Don't ignore Hayama-kun when he's talking to you!" Hachiman looked at her with a pitiful expression.

"Who?" asked Hachiman without missing a beat.

"Hayama-kun! He's standing right in front of you!" the girl said again. What was her name? Sagami, was it?

Hachiman looked deep into Hayato's eyes as if staring into the depths of his existence itself. Meanwhile, Hayama was giving him the death glare of the century with a smile that couldn't look more strained even if he tried. Hachiman finally looked back at the girl and gestured in front of him with his hands and said, "There's no one in front of me."

"I'm right here," Hayato said to Hachiman through clenched teeth.

"SEE!" Hachiman exclaimed. "I swear I heard it again. It said something like, 'I'm a tight whore' or something!"

By now, half the class was openly laughing at the scene. It was obvious that Hayato had probably never been ignored before in his life. He had absolutely no idea how to handle a situation like this, so he kept pressing on. Hayato lifted his hand and put it on Hachiman's shoulder and said, "That's not nice, Hikigaya."

Again, immediately Hachiman slapped Hayato's hand away and stumbled around on purpose, flailing and looking around everywhere but at Hayato. "AY!" he shouted to the air, "Don tuch me, BETCH!"

Once again, the class laughed harder than ever. A red-faced Hayato now approached Hachiman, Thankfully, the door was thrown open and in walked Shizuka. "Hikigaya! I heard that! Mind your language," she berated Hachiman.

"Sorry, sensei," Hachiman said with a pacifying smile. "There was actually a ghost talking to me and I think it was trying to cop a feel."

Shizuka looked around the class at the class and how it was divided between people laughing their guts to and people with eyes narrowed at Hachiman. Then, her eyes landed on an amused Hachiman and a red-faced Hayato and instantly everything became clear as day. She kept her face under control and ordered the class back to their seats, but no one missed the slight shaking of her shoulders or the twitch of her lips.

…

When the bell for lunch rang, Hachiman exited the classroom as quickly as possible as to not get stopped by Hayato again. He knew that if he was caught, things weren't going to be as calm as they were in the morning. Hachiman made his way up the stairs with his MAXX Coffee and his bento and entered the roof.

There was just something peaceful about the roof of Sobu High; especially at lunchtime. The wide expanse of the city put into perspective the value of human life. Every one of those houses sheltered and defended anywhere from one to five lives.

Every life was like a candle. A burning flame fueled by the oxygen in the air and the wax was its lifespan. Some candles were short, some long, some deformed, some unusually strong. On occasion, there were even Λ-shaped candles. Two different ones but joined at the top. When the flame of life vanishes for one, it also vanishes for the other. Haruno and he were like that, he supposed. Neither of them could think about life without the other; especially now that they had accepted each others' feelings. Hachiman's thoughts wandered back to the flames. Each of those flames filled with so many different memories and experiences. Each one cultivated and cared for through years or even decades. Each of those… little… individually worthless flames. If one was to vanish, another would take its place within a matter of seconds somewhere else in this world. If one flame was to vanish, the amount of light produced would not go through any significant change.

"Just gonna stand there, or are you going to eat lunch?" A confident voice floated through the air. Hachiman turned around to look at who else would be here and his eyes immediately caught onto light blue hair tied up in a long ponytail.

"Saki," Hachiman said, mildly surprised. "Didn't think I'd find you here."

"I'm here every day. Eating lunch in the classroom ruins the taste," Saki said with disgust in her voice.

Hachiman raised an eyebrow at how she didn't mind him calling her by her first name. Looks like he found another abnormal. At the rate that this week was going, he was sure that by Friday he would probably become world famous or something… Shit, I jinxed it.

"And why is that?" Hachiman asked as he sat down, leaning against the wall, and opened his lunch box.

"The amount of bullshit in that class makes it hard to breathe," Saki said as she too sad beside him and opened her bento. Hachiman snickered into his hand at the honest to god confession. She gazed at him from the side of her eyes, analyzing him for a minute. Then she finally passed her judgment. "You seem different, Hachiman."

Hachiman rose any eyebrow and looked towards her. "Hmm…" he hummed, copying Haruno's style. "Geez, Saki-chan," he said as he leaned in towards her with a sly smirk on his face, "I didn't think I'd have such a caring maiden watching over me," he teased as Saki choked on her food.

"W-W-What the h-hell?" she sputtered with a beautiful blush, "B-Baka! I wasn't w-watching over you." She hmph-ed and looked to the side, ignoring Hachiman calculating gaze.

"Pft- Hahahaha," Hachiman broke into laughter as Saki looked at him and realized he was teasing her. She couldn't help the smile that floated up on her face as she listened to his smooth deep laughter. For some reason, she found it oddly calming. Like putting on a warm heavy blanket on a cold winter day. Or realizing that you already finished all your homework for the whole vacation on the first day itself.

"Baka," Saki said trying to suppress a grin, though there was no real meaning put behind her insult. It was more of a friendly banter than anything else.

Hachiman finished laughing and straightened up as he went back to eating lunch, yet he still couldn't stop the occasional giggles that wormed their way out. "You're alright, Saki," he said finally, realizing that she was one of the few people that he wouldn't mind calling a 'friend'. The rest of the lunch was spent in each others' quiet company.

…

Hachiman wasn't lucky enough to slip away from Hayato when school ended. That's how he found himself cornered by the shit stain. As if that wasn't bad enough, a crowd was also gathering around them now.

"Hah…" Hachiman sighed and accepted his fate. He wanted to get home and cuddle with Haruno but NOOOOO. "Whaddya want now, ya fucknugget?" he asked the irritated blond and smiled as he heard quite a few snickers from the crowd that had gathered.

"Can't we just talk normally!?" Hayato asked, quickly losing his patience.

"Can we?" asked Hachiman and followed up with an answer too, "Yes. We definitely can! Do I want to?" Hachiman asked again. "Hell no," he replied, looking disgusted, his demeanour changing in an instant. The change seemed to catch Hayato off guard, seeing how he instinctively took a step back from the now icy cold eyes. "I have a very good idea of what this 'talk' is about, and I have no interest whatsoever in discussing my romantic life with you." Somewhere in the crowd, Hina flew into the air from a nosebleed. "Bruh…"

"It's not just your life!" Hayato said, bravely standing up to Hachiman, "I've known her for a long time, so I also worry about her."

"Oh?" said Hachiman amusedly. "You've known her for a long time, have you?" he took a step forward and looked at Hayato with his piercing gray orbs. "Tell me, Hayama… What does she do when nervous?"

Hayato opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. "She…" he started but trailed off as he realized that he actually didn't know.

"Have you ever even seen her nervous?" Hachiman asked in a humiliating tone of voice.

"She doesn't get nervous!" Hayato answered, trying to save himself in vain.

"So, you haven't," said Hachiman smugly, and Hayato's eyes narrowed even more. "You know why?" he asked, leaning in as if telling him a secret. "Because she only shows that part of her to people she trusts implicitly. And let me tell you right now: That list is very, very short." He finished.

"That's right," a feminine voice rang out from behind the crowd. The horde of students parted like the sea and make a walkway. At the end stood the one and only love of Hachiman's life. "So short, actually," she said as she started walking towards the two guys, "that the only people on it right now are Hachiman and Yukino-chan… in that order."

Hachiman smiled at hearing Haruno's statement. "Hey," he said, greeting her quietly. "Didn't know you were gonna come to get me after school."

"Well," Haruno began as she reached Hachiman, "It turns out that somehow Hayama-san – my father's business partner – found out about you and me and contacted my father. From there, things just went downhill and now my father wants to meet you."

"Goddamn, I don't think I'll make a good impression on him, but I'll try, styll," Hachiman said as he rubbed his temples to get rid of the migraine this shitshow just brought in.

"It won't matter anyway," Haruno said and was met with a questioning gaze from Hachiman. She grinned and leaned towards him. "Not even God can break us apart," she said and gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

Hayama stood there gaping like a fish, watching their interaction with burning jealousy and burgeoning rage. Ultimately, the kiss was what burst his patience. "What the hell!?" he said out loud. "Are you serious, Haruno!? You met him not even a year ago!"

"And yet he and I know more about each other than anyone else knows about us… Funny, isn't it?" Haruno said sarcastically. "But I read a quote that helped me ignore people like you. 'Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds'," she said.

"This… this is not right!" Hayato said, now grasping at straws. "Look at the age difference!"

Hachiman slid his arm around Haruno's waist and pulled her close to him, into a searing kiss. Their tongues and lips danced with each other. "Love doesn't care about age, Hayama," Hachiman replied, not mind the squeals of the girls in the crowd and the envious looks from the boys. Instead, he relished in Hayama's despairing expression. So… that's the kind of face a guy makes when he sees his love shoving her tongue down another guy's mouth, Hachiman thought sadistically. I like it.

"Wh… What about the business agreement between us?" Hayato asked, using his last resort. Hachiman raised an eyebrow. What?

Haruno narrowed her eyes at him. "You mean the arranged marriage between you and me?" she asked. Haruno felt Hachiman's arm tighten around her waist possessively and smiled reassuringly at her boyfriend. "To me, that thing is worth less than the dirt on the bottom of Hachiman's shoes. I don't give a shit, Hayato-kun. I don't need your business partnership for my own to grow."

"You'll have to pay $1.5 million USD to rescind the contract. There's no way your father would agree to that," Hayato said with a mad smile. "What will you do, Haruno?"

Haruno looked calm and collected but only Hachiman noticed the slight tensing of the back muscles from that statement. Haruno smiled even wider, "I'll manage!" she chirped happily and took Hachiman's hand in her own and walked away.

Hayama going crazy LOL! When I was writing the Hayama's mad smile scene, I was actually imagining Sasuke's laugh during the bridge scene in Naruto Shippuden. (Spoiler Alert) Y'know the one after the death of Danzo.

For this story:

- I'm sorry, there won't be a harem.
- I'm sorry my dumbass forgot about Stack Overflow. That will definitely be introduced.
- Yes, C takes more space but at least when looking at a C program, you can tell from just a glance, the basics of what it does. Python is so cluttered and messy that it like driving a Tesla on Auto-Pilot in an underdeveloped country (no offence to underdeveloped countries, just facts).
- By "Scorpion", I meant the TV series. Some of my recommendations: Scorpion, Sherlock, Numb3rs.

I have so many more things planned for this story, but it's just so hard to put it into order. Like it fits so perfectly in my brain but when it comes out, it's like... bleh.

Lastly, your reviews keep me going so, again, let me know how I can improve!

Oh! How do y'all feel about character deaths?