Looking at the outside from the window, an observer would be able to tell that spring is coming. Sakura flowers are blooming, some of them are carried away by the wayward wind of the new year. Amidst the fresh morning air, energetic cries can be heard from the lower courtyard, which eventually lead the eyes to the incoming wave of students entering the school through the portal from afar.
The energy can also be felt inside the school : clamoring and shouts puncture the air, accompagnied by the hurried steps of the few and the silent murmurs of others. Those things describe a landscape that is unchanging to his eyes, as his fate has been tied to the settings of a school for years now.
It is amusing how, despite the changes brought by time, a person's life can be given the illusion of an immovable cycle : people mood come and go at the whim of the seasons and there he stood, unmove by it all.
Perhaps I've become too old for my age.
Sometimes he envy them, the mindless mass that can trick themself to be happy-go-lucky through the tumultuous tide brought by life. Most of the time though, he feels a subtle feeling of superiority, as though he is looking at weak toddlers that have yet to face the upcoming trials necessary for the maturation of one's own soul.
Such is the naiveté of youth after all.
But today, oddly he feels nothing if not the subtle feeling of fatigue that grips his mind. The morning air though refreshes him, he stands there enjoying the view of the rising sun, gorgeous as it is as though blessed by the promises of a new year.
*ring* *ring*
As though prompted by the school's alarm, the people starts to pick up the pace, a sign that his pleasurable break is about to end soon.
Sigh, what do have we next again ? Oh yeah, maths. Maths of course, always maths. Oh my youth is indeed so very fun, maybe I should jump from the windows after all if I'm dead, I have no more troublesome work and if I have no more troublesome work, I can be as lazy as I want. How tempting !
Well it could have been tempting if not for the prospects of infinite pain that follow his fall. To discourage man from the fruit of temptation, God has implanted the seed of reason within us in an attempt to dissuade us but alas, Adam and Eve have failed him. Here we are, descendants of a pair of walking failures, torn between the calls of temptation and the temperance of reason.
My man Adam, you have needs I'm sure of it then you have to go all the way goddammit rather than leaving us hanging here.
Aaah to meditate upon my death and humanity's demise at the age of 18 just to avoid work. Joy. By the way, was that the actual myth of Genesis ?
...
Ah whatever, I'm gonna take a nap later.
But then someone approach me, the details of his face a mystery as profound as time itself cuz I couldn't have bothered to memorize. I'm gonna name him person A of the rest of the day.
"Hey Hachiman is it ? Hiratsuka-san wants to see you, she said that she must see you in the teacher's office" Person A said nonchalantly
She wanna see me, seriously ? Can I avoid this ?
As if person A anticipated his thoughts, he delivered the words that would seal his fate " She also added that, if you're not gonna be in the office in fifteen minutes, she's gonna make you work harder than usual this weekend"
... Sigh a price must be exacted for what fate bestow, isn't it ?
"Alright" Hachiman replied in a deadpan voice, maintaining a poker face but if one was to examine the man carefully, he would have had the impression that the latter is sweating profusely.
What the hell does she want this time ?...
"What the hell is this, Hikigaya ?"
As expected of a tigress in hea... Ahem in search of a companion. The result of a long dry period made her mood even worse than a woman in her period. I pities the suitors that she has chased away like a bunch of bunnies.
Perhaps I should spare some shred of sympathy for myself too.
"I don't understand Hiratsuka-san, I've just done my homework like you said to" I said in a calm manner while reigning in my beating heart. Think of what Komachi is making for dinner tonight, and transcend the mortal fear. It's gonna be just fine.
Miss Hiratsuka smirked, as though she has just seen something pathetic. She put down my paper on the desk half-heartedly, and pushed from the bottom of her heart a weary sigh that just seems to express the troubles that a teacher has to deal with when it comes to students.
Looks like I may as well come clean, a little bit.
"Well I admit that I may have gone a bit overboard in the wordings but at least the ideas are interesting right ?"
The moment my last words come out of my mouth, it feels as though her gaze starts oozing of disappointment, as if a lesson that she tries so hard to drill inside my head just slip out. I just feel like there's a bad omen coming.
"That would be something written by a psychopath from the point of view of others, my dear student"
She looks at me reluctantly, as though she just meditates on something that she has considered for a while and sits on it.
Heh as expected of society, the moment something just doesn't seem to conform to the norms, it just rejects it vehemently without considering the merits of it.
I refuse to be disappointed as that would show that I still have expectations from it.
After a few seconds of extended silence, she lets out a small sigh.
"Alright come with me Hikigaya. I'm going to introduce you to a club"
... Huh ? Did I hear that just right ? But what about-
"If you accept to enter this club, I'm gonna dispense you from my club."
Huh really... Well if she said that two years ago, I would have ascended to nirvana just from the amount of happiness alone.
"What kind of of club is it ?"
She flashes me a small smile
" Aren't you curious Hikigaya ?" She said, her expression barely concealing her relish of my upcoming fate.
Hmm... I sense a disturbance in the force.
Jokes aside though, I'm still quite curious. The kind of curiosity that would push a man jumping off a cliff, just to discover the darkness below. I hope that reality doesn't reflect my imagination.
However, the Hikigaya at the time didn't realize that... sometimes reality just exceeds the imagination just to fuck yourself all over.
And that the rom-com gods do exist too.
Author note : Here is another chapter folks, since the last chapter is quite short as you've all noticed I'm gonna add in an extra chapter for the week but I'm not gonna update it like this with the constraints that come with entering an engineering school. I'm gonna try to update it in the week-ends but don't expect me to keep up this rhythm to a T either.
Well with that, let us part in our ways.