Illusions and changes

by FelliTraydor

Hachiman just left the Aquarium Park after the Valentine's 'date' and is on his way to pick up his sister. His mind is filled with troubles. Yukinoshita's request, the survival of the Service Club, Komachi's entry exam and his desire to find something genuine. Illusions and changes will walk together with him through this snowy evening and his high school life in the days to come.

5. Can this even be called touching?

I stared at my clock in disbelief when I woke up from my slumber on this Saturday morning.
Did it stop working? The time it showed me was earlier than usual. I checked the correct time on my cellphone and was greeted by the same information. Conspiracy!

I fell back on my bed to continue my rest. That task quickly proved to be impossible as I heard activity in the kitchen.
Stimulated by the noise, my stomach started to chime together with it. My hunger brought me on my feet before the head had any say in the decision.

I tried my best to ignore the suspicious glances of my family for my early awakening.

After a short exchange of greetings I headed for the bath, before I could receive any requests to help.

I spent the time in the bathroom till the preparation of the breakfast was completed. When the sounds of colliding dishes stopped, I came out and joined my family.

Komachi was already sitting on a chair. From the corner of my eye I looked to my father and saw that he did the same to me. Our current locations put me on a slight advantage. I took it easy and slowly approached the empty chair next to my sister. Dad sped up to a middle fast pace, which therefore I matched.

I was already celebrating in my mind when he accelerated further. Pops, that was clearly overdoing it. He looked like an Oriental stork trying to win the Olympic 100 metre race with his big steps.

Enduring his victorious gaze and seated myself opposite to Komachi.
That wasn't much of an issue as my worry about my father's heavy breathing was slightly stronger than my concern about the loss. I wondered if all corporate slaves had such a bad condition as him.

As topping to his pitiful state, his daughter didn't hesitate to relocate herself next to me.

What did you do to end up on her bad side again pops? Sneaked into her room to wake her up?

His glare in my direction had no power at all. He seemed to be really exhausted from the small exercise. My mother sat down on the chair, which Komachi had occupied just moments ago, and we began to eat breakfast together.

"Do you have any plans today?" After a while my mother started with some small talk.

Even with three other people present at the table it was clear who was the targeted receiver.
Father was already glancing in the direction of his bed to recover from the draining week of work, while I wasn't even considered to have plans.
Thus it was no surprise when Komachi raised her voice, but what she said astonished my mother.

"I want to buy the promised dress today."

"Did he complete his lessons already?" My mother inquired suspiciously.

"No, but I'll need the dress to keep my motivated now. Oh! And an increase of the wage!"

My sister can get pretty shameless with her demands. Of course my mother knew that too and hardened her face like she was about to enter a negotiation with an international company.

"Why would that be?"

I wondered about that as well. I couldn't remember anything that would justify her demand.

"The reward is not enough to put up with him. Not after what he has done to me..."

I was pretty sure that her whining at the end was fake and that mom knew that as well.
However, my father instantly recharged his energy as if he had eaten a Senzu Bean.[1] If my mother had not pressed his shoulder down with one hand he would have attacked me with full force. His glare did so at least. I was glad that my mother showed hints of concern for me in such situations.
To dissolve the mood she agreed to Komachi's unduly request without inquiring about what I had done.

"I guess we can allow that. Will you go by train?"

After being defeated by mother, pops desire to go to bed grew so much that his legs already showed in its direction.

"Mhhh, I rather want to go with you all!"

Komachi pretended to think about the question before answering with a bright smile. She was really good at dealing with people. After her unreasonable demand she nonchalantly threw a bone of sugar to my parents. Father's attention was back to the table as he turned his whole body to face my sister. Pops, you really need to grow a backbone when it comes to Komachi.

"What do you think about this Onii-chan?"

I looked at my sister in puzzlement at this weird question.

"I won't mind an empty house for myself." My intonation nearly made a question out of this statement. This was the only answer one could have expected from me. Without doubt my sister knew that beforehand. Thus I started to wonder whether this was a trick question.

Komachi's smile crumbled to a frown.

"Onii-chan, you're coming with us."

"Oh, Okay!"

Did I finally become a full-fledged family member? I ignored my fathers unpleasant gaze which had an 'You're being manipulated way too easily' vibe to it. I don't want to hear that from you pops.

---

On our way to Lalaport Tokyo Bay I was in the back seat of our car. Komachi, who was next to me, tried to start a conversation, while I ignored father's intense look on my via the rear-view mirror. Please pay intention to the street ahead, I don't want to be involved in another accident.

"Why are you so happy today Onii-chan?"

That was a completely unexpected question directed at me.

"Come again?"

"Don't try to hide it. You agreed to come along without any refusal." She continued, unimpressed by my wide eyes.

"How could I refuse my sister if she asked me like she was cute or something?"

Komachi ignored my unemotional response and asked another question.

"Why did you hum then on your way to the bathroom?"

Was I really humming today?

"It's not like I never do that." Although I mostly only hum while riding my bike, it wasn't completely unprecedented for me to do that at home as well.
My sister was not convinced and proceeded with her investigation..

"You normally don't get out of bed before breakfast is ready."

"I probably woke up from the noise and then I got hungry." What was with all these questions?

"You normally just stay in bed because you don't want to help with preparing the breakfast, yet you stood up today."

"I didn't help today either though." The way I said it made it seem like it was an achievement.

We eyed each other suspiciously for several seconds.

"Your mood is definitely better than normal."

"Shouldn't I know if that was the case?"

With a grunt Komachi averted her displeased face to look out of the window. Did she know me better than I do?
There was no reason for me to act any different, was there?

I continued to watch my sister a little longer, as if that could reveal to me what she believed to have seen inside me. After a three minutes I just shrugged my shoulders and turned to do as she did. Through the window I could see the monstrosity of a mall getting closer.

Inside the mall there was not much for me and father to do. We mainly stood in some distance to the females of the Hikigaya household as they browsed through the clothes.

My father used this chance to ask me about what I had done to Komachi. Perhaps that was just him trying to stay awake. I started to feel some pity for him.
I simply answered that I had copied her too well and that she had not liked that. For my own safety I didn't reveal any details. He didn't ask for those either and looked like he was about to pass out from the lack of sleep.
Since he couldn't punish me for doing things that Komachi did as well and had to do something to stay awake, my father began to talk about another one of his stories.

This time he warned me about beautiful women advertising shady subscriptions.

He told me how he got scammed with two free DVD's as bait and how the woman assured him, that if he cancelled the subscription early enough, he wouldn't have to pay a single Yen.
To his question why she revealed such a procedure to him, she had answered that she found him cute and that she would get paid by the amount of subscriptions she collected, not by how those turned out.

Of course it didn't play out as simple as she had described. My father was lucky that this happened before he met my mother. She always was extremely angry when he got scammed and if a woman was the cause.

With all his warnings about women and Komachi's scary stories about the female society, it was only natural that I still had no girlfriend, unlike a certain aspiring author for light novels.

That thought made me remember what would happen on Monday. Yuigahama would return and I needed to get their agreement for the dating plan I came up with Haruno.

Since my father was apparently in a talkative mood, I had asked him something that had been on my mind for a while.

If he had so many bad experience with women, how was he able to get together with mom?

The answer could be useful to me, after all my own experience with women weren't that great either.

His response was quite the letdown. She was the only woman who did not try to fool him.

My father probably felt that his answer wasn't pleasing me and he added that he was unable to give up even in the face of a bitter life's hardships. If one gave up, victory belonged to the enslaving society completely. It was best to fight the futile battle at least till one acquired a small oasis of happiness.

I was still unsatisfied by the lack of something special about his view on my mother back then. Of course I didn't expect a romantic story from this man, though I still had hoped for something.

My last question to him on this matter was, whether he would have given up on mother if she had fooled him like everyone else did. In a dreamy voice, that I had not heard from him in a long time, he answered, that he would have given her as many chances as it needed to make her his wife.

We got home in the early afternoon and Komachi's wardrobe now contained one more dress.
I studied till it was time to go the grocery store.

---

Because we drove with the car to the mall, I had not realised how cold it was today. It was so cold that I checked the weather app on my cellphone for information. According to it, it was the coldest day of the season so far. Like a dying beast, winter demonstrated its full force one last time before the cold front would pass by completely. I was so glad when I reached the super market. Compared to outside this felt like a sauna, but for the sake of the food I knew it was a false impression.

I looked around for Miura, but unsurprisingly I didn't see her. Like with any other appointment I aimed to arrive a little earlier. Today I even got here faster than planned. My subconscious must have made me walk quicker to reach refuge here from the icy weather as fast as possible.

I went through my shopping list without hurry and still had some time to spare. My usual time of arrival was still a few minutes ahead. Thus I decided to wait at the fruit section. Miura spent most of her time there after all and the entrance wasn't that far away from it.

Why I was only late when it came to school? Well, whatever the reason was, the mere fact that it only applied to school had to be kept secret from Hiratsuka-sensei.

"Can I help you Sir?"

The unnoticed approach by one of the staff caught me off guard. I might have jumped a little too.

"N-no, I'm just waiting for someone." As to proof that I was a normal customer and not some creep, I showed her the food I had already picked up.

After the worker had left me alone, I checked with my cellphone how long I stood here already. Eight minutes, no wonder that she started to get suspicious at an unmoving customer. It didn't seem like she trusted my explanation as I felt her occasional glances on me.

Two minutes later, Miura had entered the grocery store.

Despite my long waiting time, she was within our usual time frame. I was glad that her difference to Isshiki showed even in that department.

Before the worker lost her patience with me and called the police, I decided to be approach Miura actively and greeted her.

"Hello."

She immediately noticed the many goods I carried around and prompted me a question.

"Did you wait long?"

"Hello." Instead of answering her I repeated my greeting.

The veil of confusion on her face lifted within two seconds as she realised what I was up to.

"Geez, hello."

In her typical manner she shook her head while making up her faux pas.

With that out of the way I could answer her properly.

"Don't mind it, I got here earlier than expected. That's all."

That wasn't really wrong, even if I left out a small detail.

Since I was already done with my shopping, and going back to waiting after paying the register a visit would just attract more suspicion, I accompanied Miura today.

She didn't seem to mind it, to my slight surprise. And even to the bigger surprise of the staff that still looked at me, this time with widened eyes. Didn't she have anything else to do?

I sent her an unpleasant glance with my proof walking next to me, which made her snap out of her shock. Suddenly she got really busy huh?

In regards to shopping here, Miura was like me. She worked through her list, that she had received, without questioning it. Thus she didn't ask me anything either, like which of the fish would be the best to pick.

So the Valentine event didn't trigger an urge within her to become an aspiring cook.

I was surprised that I knew the answer of how to check a fish's quality from the lessons with my sister already. It made me a bit sad, that I couldn't boast with my newly acquired knowledge.

Everything proceeded smoothly. There was just one thing off today. Miura's pace seemed much slower than usual.

I was about to ask her if something was wrong, but the question vanished from my mind as she picked up a package of miso peas.

Damn, I was so jealous.

"You like them?"

As if she had read my mind, she asked me. My glance might have been obvious, so in reality it was probably not hard to guess.

"Doesn't that apply to everyone from Chiba?"

If I could, I wanted to spare me the shame to admit that our household didn't buy them though.

"Why don't you never pick them up then?"

Of course she would press on the matter and I could only raise the white flag. How did she even knew that?

"We don't have many guests visiting us at home, so snacks are a rare sight on the shopping list."

"Oh, I see." Miura murmured in response which made me raise an eyebrow.

What did she see from that? Did she think that my whole family consisted of loners based on me as example? That seemed pretty rude, but since I didn't know whether I could really deny that thought, I let it slide. Komachi certainly had friends, even if she spend more time at home than other girls. As for my parents, I barely saw them to make an educated guess.

Since both were working a long time during the week, they mostly spent the weekends either with recovering or doting on Komachi.

This always repeating procedure gave birth to the system of two full days of weekly holidays in the Hikigaya household.
One could only be thankful for that. I was it at least.

Miura kept dragging her shopping on, but at some point we did reach the register and left the supermarket.

---

As soon as the door opened I was frozen into a statue. Because of the long time I had waited for Miura I completely forgot just how cold it was today. Thus I didn't even find it odd when I saw her wearing the usual attire. This woman was crazy to still walk with only a skirt on to cover her legs.

Unlike me, Miura wasn't rooted at her place for even a split of a second. Instead she accelerated quickly as if to make up for her slow pace inside the store.

"Oi, wait for me!"

Because of all those simultaneous impressions I accidentally let out my voice, before I jogged to her side again. Even with my normally quick pace I would have no chance to catch up if I just walked.

Along the way I realised that she wanted to warm up inside the grocery store, which was the reason for dragging things on.

At the red traffic light we came to a halt.

"That is your limit huh? I would have to question your humanity if it weren't the case though."

I gave into my sudden urge to tease her a bit.

She shot me a glare as if I was the one to be out of his mind.

"Ha? This much is nothing."

"You know, it would have been more convincing if your eyes didn't show that much hostility." A person who didn't care, wouldn't get so worked up after all.

Her mouth opened as she wanted to deny my claim further, but the words were stuck in her throat. The only thing that came out, was a loud 'achoo'.

After we had looked at each other with widened eyes for a few seconds, she turned around.

So she was as embarrassed as I was. I couldn't tell from the colour of her cheeks, because they had been red from the cold beforehand.
Why was I embarrassed though? I should have used that occasion for a good laugh. Did I feel that much empathy with Miura to replicated her emotions?

Since she didn't look at me to accept my handkerchief I had no choice but to push it directly into her hand. Her shoulders jumped a bit, but since this wasn't unusual by now, she accepted it quickly.

At this moment the traffic light switched and we safely proceeded to cross the street.

I waited till she had finished cleaning her nose and extended my hand to receive my handkerchief back. When she noticed my hand, Miura looked at me with a disgusted face.

Huh? Did I miss something? I remembered clearly to have washed my hands today. What's with this overreaction?
A lot of questions filled my mind but the first one to voice one was Miura.

"Gross. Are you some kind of creep after all? Gross."

Was it really necessary to say gross twice?

"What are you talking about? If I wanted to get sick to stay at home I would use a simpler method. Not that I want though. Staying home without being able to read or play is not worth the discomfort." I should know, I tried it when I couldn't bear middle school any longer.

Visibly surprised by my answer she only brought forth a small murmuring.

"That's not what I..."

Gross. Did she thought I wanted to preserve her body fluids? What's with that imagination? Gross.

"You won't be the one doing the laundry, right? Something inconspicuous as a foreign handkerchief would probably just get overlooked by an other person. Before it gets stored away and is lost, I'll just do it myself." And by myself I meant Komachi or my mother.

In my experience I never got the things back which I lent. Even inside my own family it became Komachi's property if I wasn't careful.

"If you insist."

Still a bit reluctant, she folded the handkerchief so that nothing wet was on the outside and handed it over to me. From the way she talked and acted, I couldn't deduce that I was actually doing her a favour by relieving her from the task of washing it. If that was the case, I'll never do her a favour ever again.

At that moment we reached the residential area and I noticed that her pace was much slower than before. Something I had never seen before and thought to be impossible was displaying right within my sight. Miura shivered from the cold. Gasp.

Since she had just one free hand, the attempt to warm herself with it looked rather pathetic.

She basically only had her arm covering the stomach while the hand rubbed the other arm quickly. The visible breath looked like an old communication method and probably was a cry for help. Even the previously red cheeks paled from the non-ending cold and coloured them pink.

Tears would freeze quickly and leave behind a trail of ice. If this were a play in a theatre I would have shouted 'Is there no one to save her?'. Hoping for such a damsel in distress to get happy end would be mere foolery. After abandoning all hope I would simply faint.

My imagination ran wild and except for the free arm, everything was an exaggeration on my part, but it still was sad enough to cramp my heart.

Since there was no one else here, not even to speak of a shining hero, I tossed away my earlier resolve to not help her anymore and tugged away her shopping bag.

It wasn't much that I could do. To offer my coat would be suicidal and not very helpful either. Her coat looked warmer than mine and really cuddly. But at least she now had two free arms to keep herself warm.

Surprised at my thievery she looked at me in wonder. I didn't know whether her free arm automatically started to move firrst or if she guessed my intent correctly, but she refrained from inquiring me about my action.

"Thanks." Instead she had thanked me.

What was that? It suddenly felt considerably warmer than before. A strange weather anomaly was taking place. Watching Miura's hands rubbing quicker than ever it seemed to only surround myself.

Her ways of warming herself were doomed to fail from the start. The problem wasn't her torso as it was covered by her coat, but her bare legs.

Undoubtedly she had realised that from the beginning. Her pride didn't allow to act upon it though. She was someone who intentionally wore a skirt regardless of the gruesome weather. The weather didn't care about her pride at all and after an especially chilly breeze, she capitulated. If people saw her now, they hardly would be able to feel pity for her homemade misery or just laugh evilly.

Since I knew her fairly well by now that didn't apply to me. I felt uncomfortable seeing her like this. Especially at the sight of her rubbing her thighs.

The anomaly that only affected me, increased in its potency by a thousand times.

No matter how much I tried, my eyes kept going back to watch. It was a miracle that I kept my thoughts long enough together to form an idea.

"Here, tie it around. It's not much but it should help a bit."

I took of my scarf and extended it with one hands towards her legs. Her green eyes looked at me as if I had demanded that she jumped off a cliff though.

"No way, that would look, like, totally mortifying. That's totally impossible."

Miss Totally was totally against the idea huh? Her argument was really weak. Not like her fiddling with the legs gave away a Queen-like aura anymore. All it caused was to make my heart skip a beat whenever hands partially vanished under the skirt and it moved upwards from it. That she managed to voice her refusal without stuttering despite her teeth chattering was really impressive though.

"There was no one here on normal days, I doubt we will encounter someone during this weather. Also it would take more than this to turn you into something unsightly. Heck, you even may set a new trend or something."

I wondered what was more convincing to her, my voice or the cold. Regardless of the reason she wrapped my scarf around her left leg and since it seemed to have an effect, she did the same thing with her own scarf for her right leg.

So she was even wearing a scarf today? I didn't even notice as it had the same colour as the oversized collar of the coat. She wore the snow-white coat today.

Thanks to this improvised treatment the control of my eyes was mine again. Not only that, but Miura felt comfortable enough to have a proper conversation now.

"Was Yui happy about your call?"

The announced continuation from yesterday?

"Who knows, if someone woke me up with a call I wouldn't be happy. Nonetheless she still thanked me for it."

As I tried to remember the phone call from Thursday, my right side got nudged by something pointy. Oh no, I'm getting attacked! Miura help me! Unfortunately I couldn't expect help from her as it turned out that she had been the perpetrator. Why would I even ask a girl for help in such a situation?

I rubbed my side that got hit by her elbow and looked at her face for a reason.

A smile greeted me and I couldn't find a single trace of an ill intention. Since I couldn't make out any major damage I decided to let it slide. But since when had physical contact been allowed?

"That means she was happy, silly!"

"Is that some kind of encoded girl language? Ah, so it's similar to '...Hmm, really?' which means agreement?" [2]

I couldn't help myself but to snicker at my remark, Miura's face revealed that she didn't understand. Well it was quite a while ago and very short phrase. I had looked already ahead, when my side screamed out in pain again. This time the blow was a bit sharper than the first one.

"That was just Yui being premature. I really had not made up my mind yet."

Somehow I couldn't believe her when the second half was spoken so quietly. Averting her face to hide the embarrassment didn't support her statement either.

"What else was said?"

That's Miura for you, she quickly recovered from the moment of weakness and changed back to the offensive.

"Mhhh, I apologised to her and her mother for taking that long to call."

Now her eyes blinked in surprise.

"Ha? So you can behave properly if you want to." I was a bit offended at the way she emphasised that word, but since it was only because of her pressuring me to do the call, that I did it at all, I had no right to talk back here.

"But why also to her mother?"

"She was the one who picked up the call. Quite the playful mother Yuigahama has. At least I had this impression when I had met her the first time. During this phone call it was on an entirely different level though. She even tried to fool me into coming over and asked embarrassing questions... Oh, you don't like her?"

I noticed how Miura's expression got very gloomy when I described the actions of Yuigahama's mother.

"Mhh? No, I really like her. She is, like, very caring and nice."

"Then what–"

"Anyway, can you help me tomorrow before we go shopping?"

I was cut off in the middle of my question and was prompted with a request. That came so suddenly that I forgot to immediately decline.

"Are you sure that you want to ask me?" Wasn't that something a certain good guy was there for?

"I asked Hayato, but he will have to run errands for his family. And I don't want to endanger Yui's return to school."

I guess she omitted a few persons. There was no way I was really the third person to ask.

"Or are you busy tomorrow?"

Since I was her last option and I could do my only duty directly after it, I had no reason to deny her plea.

"While I have a full schedule tomorrow, I'm flexible enough to squeeze it in."

"Oh, what are you doing?"

"Resting." I replied to her question with a straight face.

Something which Miura had not after hearing the answer. To be exact she looked like I said something really dumb.

"Ha?" If I were capable of the girl language that I would have heard something along the lines of 'Can you repeat that?'. Thus I did just that.

"Resting is a serious task at my home which fills up the whole weekend." Just when I was about to explain the two weekly holiday system of the Hikigaya household to her, she took the initiative once again.

"Then let's meet at three in front of PARCO."

So it was decided just like that, my confirmation wasn't even needed. Not that I cared about a particular time and I had agreed to the act of helping before.
The next thing Miura did was to unwrap my scarf from her thigh and gave it back to me.

Oh, we were already at our usual parting spot. Before I took it back I asked.

"You're going to be fine?"

"Yes, it's not far anymore. Thank you again."

I took the scarf back.

"See you tomorrow then,"

"Mhhm, Goodbye."

And with that I was on my way. I wrapped the scarf around my neck and my heart had stopped in an instant. Luckily my feet didn't, so she shouldn't have noticed anything. Her warmth was of course still attached to the scarf. I had not thought about that, but it was only logical.

When I was sure to be outside of her sight I pulled the scarf over my mouth. I really didn't it because of a perverted moment, it was just so comfortably warm on this cold day. My nose picked up a different kind of scent than that of her hair from it, and I lost the ability to think clearly. For no reason I even said it out loud.

"So warm."

At home I got another cooking lesson from Komachi. This time with mom overseeing us. Most likely she wanted to check if her investment was worth it. So my sister and I didn't fool around today. After that I could turn my attention back to the main duty, resting.

I was so busy with resting that I fell asleep at some point.

---

Yumiko PoV

My diary was still on the table, untouched. Ever since parting with Hikio I couldn't get my act together. When I noticed it, I just wanted to hide in a hole. If I only had thought of that before, I wouldn't have asked him to come along tomorrow. I just wanted someone to accompany me after all. Every time I thought about it my cheeks were completely red because of the embarrassing shame.

When I had removed my own scarf from the other leg and wrapped it around my neck, I felt it. My own body heat.

Hikio's scarf should have the same warmth conserved. How could I meet him with a straight face after this?

When I overcame the first shock, I had numerous feelings flooding me. Among those feelings, other than shame, I had also felt like I was tricked. But I couldn't blame him for long. It was just a self-protective reflex. It was ridiculous and unfair. Not only had he often proved not to have those intentions towards me, but also did everything just to help me. Three times, only counting today.

If someone was to blame it should be me. If I only weren't that stubborn when it came to pants, nothing weird would have happened today.

I took a deep breath and finally started to put my thoughts into my diary.

When I came to the talk about the phone call to Yui my mood turned sad again.

Yui's mother seemed to be fond of Hikio. They had met already. I have seen Hayato's mother just once, when his parents drove us to the summer camp. She had not socialised much with us and remained on a formal level. That was a very disheartening experience for me, but was also quite some time ago. Did he talk about me afterwards to her? If he did, does she like me now?

I was jealous of Hikio and I knew that this thought would stay with me the whole evening.

---

Hachiman PoV

I lazed around not doing a single thing on this Sunday morning. Everything was as it should be. I had not stood up till breakfast was prepared, filled my stomach and then spent time in the bathroom. The length of my time spend in this room was the only out of the ordinary thing of this morning. Because of my filled stomach I just wanted to rest on my bed. I wasn't even motivated to hold my cellphone to read an ebook. If it weren't for my shopping duty and the request by Miura, I doubted I would have lifted a single finger today.

I was convinced that the other people of the Hikigaya household were respecting the system of the two weekly holidays just as much as I did.

Thus time passed peacefully without any disturbance and I dozed off.

My cellphone woke me up. It made noises all of a sudden. I was sure that the phone was just as surprised and annoyed by that as me. I grabbed it and saw that the displayed time showed that it was half an hour before noon. Way too early to disturb me. That applied to any time actually. Next thing I checked was my inbox, to find out what was the cause for this unpleasant event. There was a new message from Hiratsuka-sensei. I wanted to place the phone back on my desk again, but then I remembered her behaviour in such cases. She would either spam me with messages or will send extremely long mails filled with a vibe of sadness because she had been ignored. I didn't want any of that to happen and prepared myself to give a short 'aha' reply.

I opened her mail and nearly dropped my cellphone.

'It's super bad! (´;ω;｀) Meet me at the bus rotary near the station in 30 minutes.'

My immediate reply with an inquiry of what was wrong was ignored.

I realized that I had some time left, before I had to head out to arrive at the mentioned time, and I finally calmed down. How serious should I take it and what could she have meant?

The calmer I got the less I wanted to go, but I had no choice anymore. In my earlier panic I had revealed that I received and read her message. I cursed myself for doing such a beginner mistake for a loner. Reluctantly I changed into outdoor clothes and washed away the tiredness from my face. I saw Komachi on the sofa and approached her.

"Can you give me the shopping list for later? I don't know if I can come back here before I have to go shopping."

My sister's expression of disbelief made way for a happy smile once she noticed that I changed my clothes.

"Oh, where are you going? Perhaps on a date?"

I'm sorry to continuously burst your bubbles about a good future for your onii-chan.

"No, I was just stupid enough to reply to a message that asked for my help."

Normally I wouldn't have a problem to tell her when Hiratsuka-sensei mailed me, but what if it had to do with Komachi's entry exam? I wanted to spare her any troubling thoughts.

The other most likely possibility was, that she wanted to talk about my supplementary lessons and the make-up tests. It would be rather unusual to do that on a Sunday though. That was why I feared it would be because of my sister.

Unsatisfied at the lack of development in my love life she quickly made a list for me and shoo'd me away with her hand, which collapsed back on the sofa three seconds later, like the rest of her body did beforehand.

I opened the door and was on my way to my destination. Luckily the weather wasn't as cold as yesterday. It was by no means warm, but the cold front really was gone. The weather app had not lied.

---

I quickly found Hiratsuka-sensei's outstanding car and knocked on the roof.

She motioned me to get in and so I did. I opened the door and noticed that the heater was working. That was probably the reason why she had not left the car. In order not to let the heat escape out of the car I quickly seated myself next to her and closed the door.

"Good morning Hikigaya!"

Her greeting was quite cheerful when I compared it to the message she had sent me earlier.

"Good day Hiratsuka-sensei."

I emphasised the day to remind her on the actual time of the day. She couldn't have been asleep just till before she sent that mail, could she? Although I really had no right to judge her if that was the case.

She ignored me wonderfully and the car started to move. While I eyed her rather simple attire I came to a realisation.

"If you were going to drive me around anyway, why didn't you pick me up directly from home? It's still quite cold outside and really bothersome to walk unnecessarily."

Upon my question her eyes were looking at the roof of the car and she let out a stammering laugh.

"Ha, Hahaha, ha."

Hey keep your eyes on the street! That's dangerous!

"Well, your parents are at home on a Sunday right?"

The conversation went into a weird direction.

"Don't you have to deal with parents regularly? Do you have something against mine?" I asked.

"No, that's not it. It would be just too embarrassing to ring the doorbell and ask the son of the household out to a romantic dinner." Her cheeks were blushing at her own wording.

"Aha."

Wait? What?!

---

I was glad that Hiratsuka-sensei didn't have bad news for Komachi. It didn't mean that she had good news either. The old geezers were the ones to look through the entry exams. They probably wanted to sort out all the troublesome students and give them the to the young teachers. Was that how I ended up with Hiratuska-sensei? She made it clear though that she wouldn't have told me even if she was involved in the process. She was not allowed to give this information, not even to brothers. No bad news, were good news. But that didn't mean I was comfortable with this current situation either.

Hiratsuka-sensei and I were lining up to enter a ramen shop. It was its opening day and only couples were allowed to enter. Originally it was an event planned for Valentine's day, but they had some troubles and had to delay the opening of the new shop. The owner must be a stubborn person to hold the event belated, as ramen shops weren't really the place to go for couples. Hiratsuka-sensei ranted about it on the way here.

As a free service I got another speech how it was unacceptable to wait till tomorrow, after I thoughtlessly had suggested that. People with obsessions were truly scary.

Looking at the line in which I stood, I had to agree with her. It wasn't really long and probably half of the people pretended just to be a couple. They were either overly acting to be lovey-dovey or not at all. According to their similar appearances and the displease expressions, especially on the girls' faces, I guessed that quite a few siblings were dragged here.

Despite the relatively short line, it took ages to do just one step forward.

Still, if Hiratsuka-sensei just waited long enough, she would probably get in without me. After all these fake couples were done with their meal.

I thought back to the reason I was even here and decided to ask Hiratsuka-sensei about it.

"Hir–"

A quick jab into my side made me swallow my words. She was really adamant about it, wasn't she?

"Sh-shizuka, was that message really necessary?" I just wanted to die out of embarrassment when I called my teacher with her first name.

"To get you out of the house Hachiman? I don't think any less would do." She was having way too much fun with teasing me.

"Like I said, I couldn't just ring your doorbell. I had planned to rely on your sister for help, but when I was about to send her a message I had a seriously bad premonition. It felt like I wouldn't see through this day without getting married. I mean, she already made me wear a wedding dress for you. That's just wrong before your graduation."

So it would be fine afterwards? Now I had a bad feeling of entering the wrong route. Also didn't she mix up a few details there? It was for a local magazin, remember?

"Komachi is very into that matchmaking stuff recently."

"It's good that you have someone who supports you in that way, otherwise you would be stuck forever in the way you are."

Certainly I couldn't deny my need for dependability on others in that area. I even consulted my father about it yesterday. My life was really off-track currently.

"It's all fun and cute till she comes to the part where I get kicked out of the house."

Hiratsuka-sensei made a wry smile when she heard that.

"Well, that's part of the deal with growing up."

"No business would agree to such a deal with that many drawbacks."

I had a hunch that working was included in the deal as well.

"Don't be like that Hachiman!" Her cheerful voice made me wonder why no one had married her yet. Seriously, was the cook an artist or a snail? I wanted to escape the awfully close teacher as quick as possible.

That wish wasn't granted of course. Thus Hiratsuka-sensei picked up a new topic.

"You helped Isshiki, didn't you?"

I had an urge to run towards home, but an arm wrapped itself around my neck. It might have looked sweet from the outside, but there was some pressure applied on me. If someone from school saw that, we would definitely be in trouble.

"I didn't do much though. Towards the end she was able to do most of it all by herself." That much was true. I merely kept her from getting to informal.

"Do you think you could fool me?"

"No, that's why admitted it."

She looked displeased with my answer. It didn't fit with what she wanted to say, thus after a short break, she simply ignored it.

"Of course I would recognise after all our time together."

Some people had turned around to look at us, but I couldn't expect any help from them. Some girls giggled just to turn back around. They completely misunderstood the situation.

"Hira–" More force was applied to my neck. "Sh-shizuka! Please let go of me, what if someone sees us?"

Hiratsuka-sensei became aware of how we would look for others. It was only we two who knew about the pressure on my neck. Even she knew that society wouldn't accept it if people at school learned about it.

"You're so shy Hachiman."

With a last tease, she let go of me.

"I don't really mind that you helped her. Especially if what you claim is true, that she was able to do it herself at the end. It just proves that you would make a good teacher."

Not that again.

"Just some advice. First, don't make it too good if you don't want to be caught."

"I knew that you would recognise my participation the instant I decided to help her. So I just focused on doing it well." Isshiki's request came at a good time after all. When being alone with Yukinoshita was still awkward.

Her aura got pitch-black with the next sentence.

"Second, why didn't you prevent those hearts?"

I gulped.

"I tried my best to do so, but she can be really stubborn about those things Shizuka-chan." I tilted my head for extra-cuteness, but it didn't save me from another embrace around my neck.

Did I just hear something snapping something in my body?

After we waited for a while longer and passed the couple-check without being looked at, Hiratsuka-sensei seemed to finally have lost her interest in pretending to be one.

I paid for the meal ticket from the ticket machine, despite Hiratsuka-sensei's insistence to treat me, and ordered my usual hari-gane while she had kona-otashi.[3]

She lined up all the toppings she needed and when the food was served, we both placed our hands together.

""Thank you for the food.""

I suddenly got stuck. A wave of nostalgia came over me as I remembered my first visit of a ramen shop with my teacher.

"What is it Hikigaya?"

Hiratsuka-sensei must have noticed my hesitation.

"I'm suddenly not sure what to add to it. I wonder if I should try salt or soy sauce ramen..."[4]

She looked at me in surprise first, but she caught on quickly.

"Just add what you like most. It's a new shop after all."

Since we both were hungry, we started to eat.

After a while she began to talk with me again.

"It's okay to start with what you're most comfortable with. If you're fine with the basics you can experiment later on."

Looked like she wanted to explain her earlier reasoning. However, it seemed like she wasn't talking about the food anymore. Thus I won't either.

"How do I know when to do the next step sensei?"

Her eyes had a hint of pity in them.

"Unfortunately, you can't think it through this time. You'll have to trust your own feelings for that. But you can still think to the point whether there is a step you want to take or not. When you come across the uneasiness again. So be sure to always remember that feeling."

"That's a lot harder than the last advise you gave me."

I hated it when I couldn't predict the outcome clearly and my mood got a bit gloomy.

"I'm sorry. With the way you have changed though, I'm certain that you can do it."

A weight was added on my head. I looked at Hiratsuka-sensei and her hand stroke though my hair. I had an urge to tell her what awaited me tomorrow and I gave into to.

"I won't deny the possibility of receiving the kindness of a girl anymore. I'll inform the club members tomorrow if Yuigahama returns to school."

Her hand had stopped as well as every other function of her body. I saw how that must have been a huge surprise for her. After all she was the one who knew me best outside of my family.

"That doesn't sound like you just thought it up."

"You're right. At first that development was forced onto me, but I had a talk with Haruno-san recently. Thanks to that I could shape it into something I can call my own way."

I could clearly see how that name rang an alarm inside her head and she gave me a dubious look.

"Haruno, huh?"

I told her everything from my last meeting with Haruno. As expected she got worked up quite a bit before I got to the part with the deadline. I even went as far to promise her truthfully, multiple times, that I would never become a gigolo myself. Thanks to the not so distant time limit she was able to accept my plan. Her mood did not recover to the cheerful teacher she was before entering the ramen shop though.

"Be sure to honour your promise. I won't forgive you if you start to play with their feelings."

"Of course, I have no intention to die from your wrath after all. Komachi will cry if that happens. Naturally I can't allow that."

After a long sigh of roughly ten seconds she had calmed down some more.

"How you reached your conclusion is not cute at all. Same goes for your plan as well. Nonetheless, it is still a big step forward for you. I'll watch you closely."

So I have a stalker now? I didn't mind if she was guiding me. Not counting Komachi, Hiratsuka-sensei was probably the person who looked after me the most. Kind of sad that she was even ahead of my parents.

"Please do so."

I waited a moment before I asked my next question.

"Assuming both would want to go out with me, there'll be someone who is hurt in the end, won't there?"

She flinched upon the question.

"I'm afraid everyone will be hurt. Even the person who will chose, especially if he is as kind as you."

"There is no way around that?"

"That's what it means to take responsibility."

As if her words weren't heavy enough, she placed her hand on my should for even more weight. I did not complain though. Her eyes were looking at something distant, and her mouth was formed into an upside down V. It most likely was an unwelcome memory triggered by the word 'gigolo'. Since I had spoken that word, there had been no smile on her face.

After I would have graduated I wanted to ask her about the gigolo-experience she went through.

At the moment I could only endure the sad state she was in, as she continued to eat with a sour expression. That was something I had to take responsibility for as well.

I hated to see her like this.

We had been silent since that moment and were currently on the way back to her car.

When it came into view I decided to break the silence. Otherwise she would remain like this for the whole day.

"I wonder how we passed as a couple concerning the age gap–"

Ouch! That hurt. When in a bad mood, she didn't hold back at all.

I had trouble to stay conscious. Heck, was there smoke coming from my stomach and her hand?

"Can't you read the mood?! Or did you become a masochist?" She growled at the kneeling me from above.

"Certainly not. But if it is that what it takes to pull out your energetic side, taking one or two bullets of yours is a small price to pay. I rather watch you like this than seeing you deeply saddened as before. The more so because I feel at fault here."

Hiratsuka-sensei raised an eyebrow and made a devilish grin. She came even closer to me and rubbed her smoking fist with her other hand.

"So you would take two for me? In that case I have one more shot to imprint on your body."

Crap, that's what you get for playing the nice guy.

Her fist passed my cheek so close that I could feel warmth on it. I needed a second to realise that the warmth came directly from her hand that held my cheek.

Hiratsuka-sensei squatted down in front of me and gave me a smile that could charm any man, while her thumb started to caress my cheek.

"I hope you can convey that kindness of yours properly to the other girls as well."

I knew she was beautiful. That so many in the ramen shop kept glancing at her despite being in a simple attire was not needed to confirm that. It only proved that a lot of their girlfriends were indeed fakes.

This smile of her was irresistible and I was so close to gladly enter the teacher-route.

I probably blushed a lot already while I looked for an emergency escape.

"You mean girls of my age?–AARGHHH?!"

She pinched my cheek without losing her smile. Thanks to that it wasn't as painful as I exclaimed.

"Sorry for ruining your meal." I said.

She patted the cheek softly that she just had pinched.

"Then we'll just have to go again some other time, Hachiman."

With a chuckle she stood up and headed for her car.

At least she was cheerful again, but she had too much fun teasing me.

After I had looked at my watch I denied her offer to drive me home. Since I had the shopping list from Komachi there was no need for that. I could just go to PARCO directly even if I arrived a bit too early. Thus we parted at the car park near the ramen shop.

---

I spent most of the hour I was early inside a bookstore. Then I looked for a good waiting spot not too close to the entrance. 14:45 said the digital clock on my cellphone. I leaned against the wall with my back and head, and looked at the clear sky. I breathed out and relaxed. Sometimes birds entered my vision, but most of the time there was nothing to look at, not even clouds. My mind got gradually as empty as the sky I watched. The noise of the busy people passing me faded into the background. It somewhat resembled the sound of the ocean. The sound in- and decreased like waves hitting the shore. I didn't notice how the time passed.

A particular strong wave ended this state of mine.

I set my gaze down from the sky on to a familiar face with piercing green eyes and its corners of the mouth were pointing towards the ground.

Did something happen to her to put her in such a bad mood?

"Oh, hello Miura."

"Geez finally. I've been calling your name a few times already."

Did my brain filtered out the unwanted nicknames on its own? I didn't know when I got this new skill.

"Sorry, I kind of spaced out."

"I started to think that you were ignoring me on purpose. Did you have to wait that long?"

Good question, I took out my cellphone and saw that it was 15:02. She was on time again, thus she knew that it wouldn't have been her fault.

"I got here too early thanks to... Hiratsuka-sensei." Good save! I nearly called my teacher by the first name again. I can't let that slip out.

"On a Sunday? Do you take private lessons with her?"

Hiratsuka-sensei taught Japanese. There was no way I needed extra lessons with her. But Miura probably didn't know that this was my forte. Every student got the results individually and in secret.

"No, she just wanted me to help her out."

Remembering the parting with my teacher triggered a phantom pain on my cheek to the point I had to caress it.

"Is something wrong?" Miura was as observant as ever and didn't miss my odd behaviour.

"Not really." Upon my empty reply her mood took another turn for the worse. She turned around to lead the way with a deeply annoyed expression.

"Thinking back on it reminded me how she pinched me there."

Miura spun around with wide eyes and an open mouth to ask me something, but I was quicker.

"What do you want me to help you with anyway?"

I walked by my pouting classmate towards the entrance to PARCO. A pouting Miura looked quite cute with her puffed cheeks. Teasing her was going to be a fun new game.

"I'm looking for some new clothes." Somehow she got that out through her pressed lips.

While she replied to my question, I knew as much as before. What she said didn't leave me with any task, did it?
Thus I had stopped to look at her dumbfounded. Seeing me thrown off-track she took the lead once more, not hiding her triumphant expression in the slightest.

She was not someone to be underestimated huh?

I still wondered what my help was going to include, when I followed her through PARCO to a fashion shop. Unable to figure it out, I decided to ask her.

"So the help you want from me is carrying your bags?"

"There is no way a normal high school student could afford that many clothes that this would be needed."

I still have not received my desired information and my desperation must have shown on my face that Miura took pity on me.

"Look, I'm just going to browse through the clothes. It's just no fun to do that alone, is it?"

"I'm not so sure about that. You like being laughed at?"

She raised an eyebrow, signalling that she didn't understand where I was coming from.

"What do you mean?"

"My parents have a hideous taste in clothing. So whenever they force me to wear something, it ends up with my sister laughing at me. I prefer the times my mother just picks up something without me, even if it will look crappy. So shopping alone, even without me is more fun than doing it with others."

I had expected that she would give me a shocked look or one of pity, but all there was one Miura's face was confusion.

"Don't you chose your clothes yourself?"

"Sometimes I'm allowed to. While I didn't inherited their bad taste, I'm not particular interested in fashion. I avoid the ridiculous stuff, but I mainly aim for functionality."

Standing around talking about my tragic fashion life, without getting to look at clothes, didn't seem like fun to her and she tried to end the topic.

"It's enough to give me your impressions."

I didn't mind that, but would that be helpful?

"You think I'm the right person for that? I'm sure there are many others who are more suited for that."

She let out a long sigh.

"Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be."

"Komachi is good at it. When she feels like I have suffered enough, she convinces my parents to buy something else for me."

Then her face lit up as she realised something.

"No wonder your look is so mismatched sometimes when you have so many different people choosing your clothes."

She examined me carefully.

"Some pieces are not bad. It doesn't go along with your trousers but the coat really fits your face. So your sister chose that?"

"Actually, the coat is something I picked myself."

I managed to surprise her with that. Was I supposed to feel bad or good about it?

Well, that I got praised felt good regardless of shocking that was to the other party.

"Oh, really? Let's see."

Miura came closer and started to fiddle with my coat while I was still wearing it.

Didn't she 'see' with her eyes? Did girls really have to touch clothes all the time to check them? Yukinoshita was no different than her in that regard.

Sensations ran though my body from wherever she touched the coat. Whether it was from her hands travelling across my chest to feel the material, when she gripped the shoulder to test the durability, or just when she plucked on the arm to remove a fluff.

When she straightened my collar and came into direct contact with my throat I couldn't endure it anymore. Miura was still the most beautiful girl at our school and I was just an inexperienced male.

While it felt like her touching lasted an eternity it was in fact just a few seconds. It wasn't too late for a comeback at her previous comment to make her stop.

"Are you really qualified to talk about matching something with pants?"

Her frown showed me that she knew that I referred to yesterday.

Miura tightened her grip on my collar so that I feared to not get enough fresh air into my lungs. The fear was unfounded though, it was only the fabric that felt her grip before she let go of me.

"Your coat passes, so let's go shopping already."

I followed her and tried to calm my heart down. With the sensation from her fingers gone, my nose registered suddenly the familiar perfume and made it an impossible task. It was just now that I realised how close she had been standing to me again.

The shopping session started out surprisingly simple. Miura held a piece of clothes in her hands and there wasn't much I could say just from that. The difficulty skyrocketed though when she exited the changing room with new clothes on and demanded my impressions.

"What do you think?"

Didn't she uncomfortable if a boy closely scrutinised a girl from top to bottom? I knew I felt that way. I could barely look at her and gave a lame, random but supportive opinion.

"It's not bad."

"You didn't even look!"

Obviously she wasn't pleased with that, but it really surpassed my capabilities.

"Even if you say that, it's quite embarrassing to do."

Miura crossed her arms and tapped with her foot. One of her characteristics when she got impatient and was in a bad mood.

"Isn't that a bit rich coming from you? You have no problems watching me in the classroom after all."

Oh crap! Couldn't I just die on the spot? She knew? Well, I knew by now that she was more observant than I initially thought when I first met her. There was nothing I could do against that trump card. I had no other option but to wave the white flag and surrender. I turned my red head towards her and took a look as she demanded.

I had seen her in better outfits already, but it still looked good enough to draw the attention of people passing by.

It was a simple black skirt, although dangerously short, and a sleeveless white top which revealed a lot of the skin around the throat, but it covered the breasts completely. Frills camouflaged the outline of her bosoms. While it showed a lot skin to tease the eye, there was nothing slutty about it.

"It doesn't really fit the season, but for summer it looks okay." She might have looked more for the kind of answer I had formulated in my thoughts, but I didn't dare to say it out loud. Talking about the breasts of the girl to the same person they belonged to was impossible for me.

She let it pass, but I could feel that her mood took a hit again. This continued a few times and I gave similar comments. Nothing was particular outstanding nor bad.

Compared to me, Miura was an expert on fashion and knew herself the best. I felt a bit out of place from the beginning, but now that changed into a feeling of being completely useless. I had not much fun and neither did she.

I was already at a point where I formulated my impression before she even came out, just to be dumbfounded by her.

The skirt didn't surprise me as she had always wore one so far. It was a bit longer than the rest though and it was a new colour. Yellow.

She wore a plain, long-sleeved white shirt with a sleeveless green one on top of it. I called the green one a shirt, but that wasn't really fitting. Apart from the sides it was a complete fishnet pattern. On the head she wore on of those french berets. It looked...

...totally stupid.

"Heh? What's with that abomination? Although if you're looking to enter a clown university it might be a blast." It was a blast for me to, like my stomach was about to burst from laughter. I couldn't surppress it completely and let out a snicker.

Miura stood with her hands on her hips and made a frown.

"What's with you? That is the latest fad. Someone as clueless like you shouldn't speak up, like, at all!"

She was entirely correct about my lack of knowledge in that department, but fashion was something subjective to me. Thus my opinion should count and I continued to voice it.

"Sure, if you want to look like a fool, be part of the trend. Is that even a piece of cloth you're wearing? With that net you won't even be able to catch cicidas, let alone a single boy. That outfit might let you become the girlfriend of the white-bellied green pigeon though. I'll cheer you on for that one."

Miura stormed off into the changing room and I was glad for that.

Even if she was angry now I needed some time alone to wipe the grin off my face.

However, Miura was far from angry when she came back out. Her mood was actually at its peak today. Did she just use the same trick on me that I did on Isshiki, when I had helped her out with the graduation ceremony farewell speech?

"If you're so knowledgeable about fashion, why don't you pick something for me?"

The grin that I had wiped off my face previously had made its way on hers.

That was going to be the hardest task of the day. It was also a golden opportunity to see some pants on her.

Like she had guessed my thoughts she ruined that plan of mine.

"No trousers though."

"You don't like them that much?"

"Aren't they just boring?"

That was her reason to be so stubborn about it that she would risk to get sick in winter? There was probably more to it, at least I hoped so.

"Then I'll will only pick something for the torso."

"Mhhm, that's okay."

I went to the section which had more to offer for this season. Not much time had passed when I presented her the piece I chose and saw her off to the changing room.

Although I only picked a pullover, it took her longer to get out of the changing room compared to the previous outfits.

She probably judged it by using the mirror inside.

"How could you pick this? Do you want to make me look like a grandmother?"

The only thing that came out from the changing room was her voice.

That confused me. What did her grandmother wear? According to my memory I picked a not too thick, black pullover. Only the hems on the waist and wrists were thicker, and so was the collar. The hems had discreet, golden coloured ornaments of soft lines on them. Except for the hems at the waist and wrists, everything was plain black including the collar. The fabric was soft. There was nothing grandmother-like about it. Thus I felt a little bit offended when I answered.

"What are you saying? Isn't cuddly and warm? Especially when you pull it over your hands. You often hold your head in your hands in the classroom, so isn't it fitting? The rest of the pullover is thinner so that you won't get sweaty indoors. The pattern reminded me of your hair when it spread on your black coat. So if it looks like a something an old woman would wear, you already do that yourself."

When I finished my piece she came finally out with an unsure expression on her face. The pullover didn't quite match the skirt, but it wouldn't look bad if one found a fitting one. The contrast of a short skirt to the long-sleeved pullover was surprisingly tempting. Like with her coat, her hair formed a natural ornament at the collar and on the shoulders. Rather than the inapproachable beauty at school, this look supported more the motherly aspects of her personality.

I didn't know if others could see that though, when they didn't know of that side of her. I did know. And when I saw her like that, my desire to be taken care of increased dramatically.

I watched her in a dreaming daze.

Since I haven't actually said a word after she came out of the locker room and just kept staring at her, she became nervous to the point that her cheeks got a faint pink colour. I had no mirror to confirm the state of my own, but they felt slightly warmer than usual.

When she turned around and my eyes lost sight of what they had been looking at I snapped out of the daze.

"Ha? Do you like the older type that much?"

The back of her head asked me that question. Just how intensively had I been watching her? I had no recollection. I mentally apologised for that.

"I don't see how that makes you look old at all."

I dodged the question that I heard a few times already, because I still had no answer for that.

Miura changed into her normal clothes and we were about to leave PARCO without buying something. She was the type of customers that shopkeepers must hate the most. Although I couldn't sit on the high horse myself, as I sometimes did the same inside a bookstore. Like earlier today.

"Did you have fun shopping with someone this time?"

Her question referred to our earlier conversation, before we started the actual shopping.

She still maintained her good mood she had from after getting out of that horrible outfit. I wouldn't need to ask whether she had fun or not. Her face had a beaming smile that said everything. It looked to be the right time to do that.

"Ha? Hhm, it was, like, not that bad. So, a-shi don't really mind it. But that one outfit was gross. Like, totally. Gross."

Miura's big eyes blinked in surprise at my unusual way to reply. Then her expression changed into another form of confusion with the eyebrows closed in together and a half-open mouth. Before it finally switched into realisation.

"Ha?! A-shi totally don't talk like that!"[5]

You just did though.

Miura noticed it herself and covered her mouth with both hands.

The practice in front of the bathroom mirror the last two days was really worth it. I couldn't stop myself from grinning from ear to ear when I watched her priceless reactions. Complete victory.

Noticing that I was greatly satisfied by the play, Miura started to hit my arm with both fists.

"Geez, don't ever do that again!"

Since when did my arm become a drum? I wasn't too bothered by it though. The hits were really light and she returned to her beaming smile from before. Unlike then though, she was now blushing greatly. The new 'teasing Miura', was really a funny game.

She did stand a bit too close though as my nose picked up her perfume again.

Suddenly I shuddered. I felt a hostile glare directed at me. I turned around to look for the source, but it vanished before I could figure out who did it. There were many people around us in the entrance area of PARCO. It seemed like it was rush hour currently. I couldn't spot anyone who looked familiar and the people who glanced at us did it either in a friendly or bored way.

"What's wrong?"

Miura noticed how I my restless gaze moved around.

"I thought someone was staring at me."

"Isn't that like normal though? People look at me all the time."

That was to be expected, even I was guilty of that.

"Normally no one notices me, so it's a bit surprising when that happens."

"Mhh you did mention that before. But if you stop to look around every time that happens, we'll never make it to the supermarket. So let's go."

Since it seemed to be impossible to find the perpetrator I gave up and we both exited the area for good.

"When did I talk about that?"

On the way to the supermarket, Miura mentioned the horror story I told at the summer camp. She remembered that? Her bad memory must only apply when it came to memorising things word by word. For everything else, she seemed pretty good at it.

---

The way to the supermarket and the shopping itself was uneventful. The only thing that bothered me was a certain female worker that had become overly aware of me. It looked like I became a fully recognised regular to the grocery shop.

Shortly before our usual parting spot, Miura asked me something surprising.

"Do you want to eat lunch with us tomorrow? You barely eat in the classroom and if you do, you're alone. Or do you eat with someone else when you go outside?"

'Us' probably referred to Miura's and Hayama's whole group. That thought wasn't very appealing. The group was big and I would just be the eighth wheel. I wasn't to keen on spending time with Hayama either. Thus I declined.

"No, I like eating by myself. You guys are pretty noisy too."

"Ha? You say that like it's a bad thing."

So there would be no deliberation on her part about to tone it down a bit.

"Yui would probably like it if you joined." She added.

"Won't I see her often enough in the clubroom when she comes to school again?"

If people were constantly together, they are bound to get bored of each other, didn't they?

"Also it's a break, and breaks are for resting. Resting is something which is best done alone anyway."

She looked like she wanted to say more and persuade me, but I better block that attempt in a nice way.

"Still, thank you for the offer. Maybe I'm ready for that at an other time."

"Mhhm, Okay."

Pushing things into an undated future wasn't exactly fair of me, but it didn't feel completely like a fake reason. Maybe the day, I would be ready for such a thing, would really come.

After all, my life would change a lot tomorrow.

We stopped at the usual spot and parted like always.

"Goodbye Hikio."

"See you tomorrow then."

I lazed around at home. It had been quite the draining Sunday. I had been out before noon and returned in the late afternoon. That was way too long for a Sunday. I gathered my last bit of energy for Komachi's cooking lesson, which was supervised by Mom again. She didn't trust me at all, did she?

Afterwards I went to bed. Tomorrow was the big day. Yuigahama would return to school and I was going to suggest my plan to the both of them. I was going to need every bit of rest I could get.

---

Yumiko PoV

I filled my diary with today's events. It was always a lot quicker when I had fun at that time. And today was a lot of fun. I didn't have high expectations beforehand, thus I was pleasantly surprised how it turned out to be. Although it didn't look like that in the beginning. Hikio's lukewarm comments were no different from anybody else. Luckily that changed after I had pulled that stunt. Unlike others he did pay attention ad spoke his true opinion. Would Hayato do the same? I wished to think that, but I couldn't say I didn't have slight doubts. Not that I ever dared to do the same in front of him. I was set on to always show him my best side in order to win him over.

When Hikio chose the pullover for me I had been sceptical at first. It looked rather plain and seemed like it was something only boring adults would wear. So I thought he just went for a safe choice. Actually the thought that it was another one of his teasings did cross my mind in the changing room as well. He was quite cheeky today, wasn't he? It's a good thing that he became more lively. I preferred it when he was more proactive.

When I teased his reasoning for choosing this pullover out of him, I was convinced that he had put some personal thoughts into it. After I came out of the changing room I was even moved by his dreamy look. It seemed like he was really enthralled by the outfit. The honesty that his gaze contained embarrassed me mildly. For someone like me, who was constantly watched by others all the time, that was unusual.

When he waited for me in front of PARCO he had a different type of dreamy look. I found it rather sad how he stood there all alone, as if his existence was detached from everyone else. The feeling of worriedness had vanished into thin air, when I started to think that he ignored me on purpose though. It wasn't till our parting that I remembered again that I wanted to include him more into the class. But he declined, even if he wouldn't have to be alone anymore. Was he worried that he wouldn't be accepted? I was sure that I could bring everyone of the group to agree with that. Yui should be happy about it too if she really liked him.

Ah! I didn't get to ask him whether he liked her today. I'll definitely won't forget that tomorrow.

Anyway, when I looked into the mirror again before I disrobed the pullover, I could see its charming points as well. It fitted me strangely well. I was ashamed that I couldn't see it earlier and just disregarded it to be for old people. Did Hikio see that before? Or did he just follow his own taste?

Was he really into the older type like I teased him with?

Just how was his relationship with Hiratsuka-sensei? He said that they had met today. Very unusual. And she abused him physically again as well. Should I be worried for Yui's sake?

I let out a long sigh when I closed my diary.

Tomorrow I would finally see Hayato again. Hikio wouldn't dare to imitate me in front of Hayato, would he? Just thinking of it made my face blush again. He really was a weird one.

---

Hachiman PoV

My big day started with a big yawn. Yuigahama's return would end the status quo inside the clubroom. It was an odd feeling to know that your life was going to change soon. All the way to school I wondered how I would remember this 24th February in the future. Was it the beginning of my genuine thing or would it ruin my social environment? The small one that I had at least. It wasn't going to be easy if both agreed as at the end of the road just one would be chosen. If both rejected me outright I doubted that my heart could ever recover from that. Even in the event of just one accepting my proposal, it wasn't guaranteed that it would lead into a genuine relationship that lasted a long time.

I was sure that these thoughts would circle in my head all the time till club activities started.

When I entered the classroom there were only a few people who I had no connection with at all. I barely knew their names and Kawasomething-san wasn't even around.

Since I had no on to talk to I'll just rest till the lessons start. Somehow that thought was funnier than I expected and I had to snicker because of it. It grabbed the attention of a boy from the otaku faction. But he didn't look like he remembered my name to ask me what was going on. Pew, I got lucky with that, I needed to be more careful.

More and more people came, but it wasn't till Miura and Hayama came in that it got noticeably louder. Yuigahama and the rest were with them. The group looked cheerful as ever.

When Yuigahama separated from Miura to place her stuff at her own table another commotion followed. The people who weren't part of Miura's group took the chance to welcome her back after her cold. She was on good terms with most of the class, so it wasn't surprising. Unlike Miura, Yuigahama did socialise with the others. Even if it looked just superficial to me. With her being in the centre of attention I decided to keep a low profile.

After the voices had calmed down to a normal level I was poked by a slender finger and a female voice reached my ears.

"Hey Hikki."

It was Yuigahama who was on her way to Miura's group.

"I'm back"

That much was obvious, or I wouldn't have been poked.

"Huh? You were gone?"

I only wanted to tease her a bit but she looked more shocked than I anticipated. She even took a step back as if something had hit her.

"I was! And you know that! You even gave me a call!"

It had been a week without her around that I forgot how easily she got worked up.

"Did I? I only recall that someone wished for me not to hear anything, so I didn't."

Now that I had started to tease her I had to pull through. Not that I had no fun doing that.

"Th-that was only in regards to my mother... but please remember that we talked!"

I only shrugged my shoulder.

Deeply annoyed Yuigahama was about to head of to Miura.

"Welcome back." I said to her back.

She spun around to grin at me, waved her small hands in front of her chest and walked over to Miura.

Miura looked in our direction and had a slight smile on her face. She was probably so happy at Yuigahama's long awaited return to school.

---

Yukinoshita and I waited in the clubroom for the last member. Yuigahama was surely held up by her classmates because she had been absent for so long. She normally was the last member to arrive thus it wasn't unexpected. It had been longer than usual though.

I could barely read my book because I got more nervous with each minute. Today's big moment wasn't far-off anymore.

The door to the clubroom was pushed wide open.

"Yahallo Yukinon!"

"Hello."

Yukinoshita's greeting seemed warmer than usual. She must have been missing her quite a bit.

After she sat down next to Yukinoshita I stood up and stood on the other side of the table. Just like I did when I had come with a request. This rare act of mine got me their attention, but they had no surprised expressions on their faces. They had expected something from my side I guessed.

I heard someone gulping before I opened my mouth. Most likely that someone was none other than me.

"I want to go on dates."

I deemed it best to say it straight to the point. Being wishy-washy wouldn't help me.

They kept silent, but their eyes were widened.

Without interruptions I went on.

"I don't know how to get something... genuine.. because I lack experience." I made breaks around that special term to let them think back to the last time I stood on this spot. Even Gahama-san should be able to connect the dots.

"Therefore I want to gather experience through dating."

"That sounds like it contradicts itself. If you don't know where to get, you won't be able to know how to get there either."

That was Yukinoshita for you, she caught on quickly.

"That's true. That's why I want to go in every direction, at least for a bit."

"Wouldn't that be just two-timing? I knew you were twisted, but this is overstepping it."

Yuigahama seemed to have trouble understanding us and kept changing her eyes between Yukinoshita and me.

"Really? So something like a ha..hare..?"

The word she looked for seemed to be harem, but I had no time to tell her that as Yukinoshita grew quite angry. She was a righteous person after all, so that idea would bug her.

"That's why I set rules together with your sister."

"With Nee-san? When did you.."

I stepped on another landmine here. I doubted that there would be a customer today, so I would take all the time it needed to clear up everything.

"Meeting her was the price I had to pay to make her come to the park at the last time we were all together."

"Then what are the rules?" As usual Yuigahama knew how to keep the mood from drifting into an unwanted direction.

"First is, I will go on dates with everyone who wants." I realised that my proposal was unfair and selfish of me. It basically put all the pressure on the girl to speak out first. By declaring to accept everyone, I hoped to get rid of most of this pressure by removing the possibility of rejection.

"You think there would be that many who are willing to go on a date with you?" Yukinoshita's words were harsh, but her tone conveyed that this was just her usual banter. I was glad that she could calm down that fast.

"Well, j-just maybe Totsuka might want to do that. I'm not giving up hope so easily!"

Crap, I needed to control myself better, I always get so easily carried away.

"Just how much do you like him?!"

"Your sister will be worried again if she heard that. Which other rules have you come up with?"

Yuigahama's and Yukinoshita's reactions were mean. Couldn't they let a maiden just dream for a while longer?

"The second rule is a time limit. I don't want to play around with a girl's feelings endlessly like one of these riajuus." I gritted my teeth when I thought of a certain blond guy. Yuigahama made a wry smile as she was a friend of the guy in question.

"There must be a catch in it. You didn't specify the time limit yet."

"It's after two weeks into the next school year." I replied to Yukinoshita's concern.

"That is surprisingly reasonable. I was sure you would say something like a year."

"Haha right, like I would do that. Stop underestimating me." I let out a dry laugh. Scary. How did she know that? I started to feel indebted to Haruno this moment. That was the last thing I needed.

"So you will go out with anyone without exception? You won't turn someone down?" Yuigahama, who had been left out of the conversation for a while, tried to butt in by confirming the meaning of the rule.

"Yes, that's right."

She nodded at my words and turned to Yukinoshita with a serious expression.

"Yukinon, let's switch every day." I heard something horrible.

"Why do you think I would agree to his irresponsible logic Yuigahama-san?" I was hit by a mental arrow.

"You don't want? Then I'll take every day." Could you stop with this every day talk?

"Well, it technically count as a request from a club member. I won't have much of a choice but to help him gather experience." Was it so hard for you to be honest with your feelings? Or did I need to dress up in a cat costume for that to happen again?

"So it will be fine if I take him today, and Yukinon tomorrow?"

"St-stop it already!" I was at my limit when I saw all my free time being ripped from me.

"There is another rule!" One I just made up. "I'll only go on a date every three days."

"What's your reason for that?" Yuigahama looked very displeased. A reason? I just made it up right now so I had none. I had to come up with something on the spot.

"Well, you see, it's about me gaining experience. I'll need at least a day to prepare before and a day to deliberate on it after the date. If I have no time for that I won't learn anything. The quality wouldn't be very high either if I can't come up with a dating plan.."

Cold sweat ran down my back after saying all that.

"As much as I hate to admit, there is merit to his words." Yukinoshita had her hand on her chin as she thought about my words.

"We can't switch in that case though. It would be unfair for the person who won't have the weekends." It was surprising that Gahama-san remembered her school duties. There was something else I had to add though.

"Also don't reserve everything up to the deadline yet. Totsuka needs to get a chance as well."

I received a cold stare from both of them before they ignored me once more.

"How about we split it by weeks?"

"Wouldn't that be too unfair if someone got such a headstart though Yukinon?"

"Hey, listen to me! Even in the rare event Totsuka doesn't want, think of Komachi too."

It should be totally fine in chiba for siblings to go on dates, despite the distorted faces they made at me.

"There goes the siscon again." Yukinoshita needed to hold back another headache with her hand on her temple. She might should visit a doctor, this happens way too often.

"This has nothing to do with being a siscon. I really meant it when I said 'think of Komachi too'. She would die if she couldn't spend time with her brother anymore."

"Haha, I wonder who would die first though." I wondered that too.

"That doesn't matter. In the case of my death it would put an end to the dates too."

Yuigahama took a step back while still sitting on a chair. An amazing feat.

"He didn't even deny!"

At this time the door of the clubroom was pushed open so strongly that it made a huge noise.

The service club members were all startled by the sudden interruption.

"Senpai it's bad! The speech has been returned and I need you! Come, quick! Quick!"

Before anyone could recover from the shock, Isshiki had pulled me out of the room.

"It won't take long, I promise!" She said to the baffled Yukinoshita and Yuigahama and closed the door. That probably translated into 'don't follow us' in girl language.

---

In the room of the student council I looked through the returned graduation ceremony farewell speech and then turned my head at Isshiki in confusion.

"There isn't anything that needs to be corrected. All Hiratsuka-sensei demanded was to remove the hearts you drew at the end. You'll just have to rewrite the last page without those." An image came up on my mind how my teacher's mood dropped with every heart she had to see. Wasn't this a bit childish though? It was not like the audience would ever see the paper. Someone needs to marry her soon.

"It's just so boring to do that alone. It won't take long, so why don't you just stay here. Please!" When she asked me with her watery puppy eyes looking up to me, I had it not in me to refuse.

"Well, it really shouldn't take that long, so I guess it's fine." That would give Yuigahama and Yukinoshita time to talk with each other in private as well to reach a solution.

Isshiki made a happy face and started to copy the page with the hearts on it.

After the first two sentence in silence, she started a conversation.

"You guys seemed to be quite busy there. Did I walk in on something important? If so I'm sorry." She said so in a small voice. Did she feel guilty?

"I just had something to say to them. They'll have now time to think about, so you don't have to worry about it. Actually your timing was quite good."

I tried my best to assure her that everything was fine.

"You're quite close to them, aren't you? To be a special person to someone... that must feel nice." Her smile looked so sad when she said this, that I tried to cheer her up. She continued before I could do that though.

"Why can't I be special to someone too?" Isshiki buried her face in her arms and started to sob and her small body shook.

"Don't say that, you're a special person to me too." I couldn't endure to see her like that and I spoke out before thinking.

"Really? How am I special to you? Making me the president doesn't count."

That her sobs stopped instantly should have been a warning to me, but I wasn't able to think clearly yet. I was busy enough to come up with a reason.

"We did spend a lot of time together, didn't we? To the point I already saw you crying once. You're special enough to me that I'll be there to prevent that from happening again. I can't endure it to see you sad like this." Just what was I saying? A crying girl made me do weird things. Komachi had trained her brother well. Maybe too well.

She got her face up to look at me in surprise. Why did your eyes look like there had been no tears at all? This should have been the second warning. However this thought was interrupted when a noise shattered the silence. Her pen had rolled off the table. How could it cause such a ruckus?

"Well, you have been my first date after all. Even if it was a practice date for Hayama."

It had been my first time. I only went shopping with Yukinoshita when we bought presents for Yuigahama's birthday. And the firework festival with Yuigahama was just a shopping tour for Komachi as thank you for looking after her dog. I accompanied Hayama to a date once, but it wasn't mine. I wasn't invited by the girls after all.

Isshiki looked down to the floor and placed one hand on my knee.

"Indeed, that was fun, we should repeat that."

"I don't think I want to do another date for Hayama's sake." Quick refusal.

"Then it will be a real one. I don't mind if it's with you." The last sentence sounded quite seducing on its own. Still, if refusal failed I still had one more method to decline.

"Ah, sure. Someday that would be nice." Pushing it into a far away, unspecified future.

"Let's go Wednesday then." I thought I didn't hear well.

"What?"

"You'll need some time to prepare yourself. I don't want it to be something shabby after all."

That sounded like it was decided already. I became uneasy and my eyes darted towards the door. Yukinoshita and Yuigahama would get mad if I decided that without them.

That didn't escape Isshiki's attention.

"You won't need a permission if a special person asks you out. Or do you want to refuse me after saying all those sly things?"

Who was sly here, pretending to be crying?

She had a point though. I wasn't allowed to refuse. If I broke my rule this early, I would just be scum. Untrustworthy to Yukinoshita and Yuigahama. In the worst case I would really end up as another Hayama.

"O-okay. Wednesday then." I'll just squeeze in one of those two before Isshiki to make them less mad. Wait a moment. Even if I went on a date as early as tomorrow and prepared for it today, I would break the three days rule. Did she eavesdrop behind the door again?

Isshiki stood up from her chair and placed her hands on my shoulder leaning in to me. Her face got really close. If she tripped on the pen, which was still on the floor, there was a high chance our lips would meet. Nothing happened though. This wasn't a light novel. Her face stopped ten centimetres before mine. Her glossy lips formed a seductive smile that I had to look away from them. With her face so close though I had not much else to look at thus my eyes came to a stop when I had met hers.

"I'm looking forward to it senpai. So don't even think about back-paddling."

My head nodded on its own. I would have agreed to anything in this moment.

These kouhais today sure grow up fast.

After this incident, the writing quickly came to an end and I was released to go back to the clubroom. I opened the door and it looked like they had awaited my arrival. How should I explain to them what happened?

"You look like you have been robbed." Yukinoshita remarked upon my entry.

My whole body language must have given that away.

Yuigahama's face already made an upside down V.

"I think I can already guess what happened."

That made it easier for me.

"Wednesday." Was the only word I could mutter.

The upside down V turned into a pout and Yukinoshita got another headache incoming. Seriously, go see a doctor, that wasn't normal anymore.

---

Inside the supermarket I stood in front of the fish, lost in my thoughts.

In the end Yuigahama got Saturday while Yukinoshita got the Wednesday next week. While a date on the weekend was longer, it didn't fill the whole day to keep things fair in the beginning. I was just glad that somehow everything turned out to be fine. Even with Isshiki's trickery.
Komachi had noticed that something was up, but I was able to delay it to later this evening.

A hand on my shoulders snapped me out of these thoughts.

Was it that worker bothering me again? Did she forget me already? I would actually prefer that instead of those badly hidden glances.

I turned around, but instead of the middle-aged woman in the store's uniform, it was Miura who stood now in front of me.

"Oh, Hello."

"If this is a new act of yours, just stop it."

I tilted my head in confusion.

"I thought you wanted to be greeted that way?"

She shook her head sideways and sighed.

"Not that. I mean, I greeted you four times already. That's worse than yesterday."

"I'm sorry." But then a thought crossed my mind. "Wait a moment. You claim that you have been greeting me, there is no proof for that. Maybe this is your way to get around it. I clearly remember that it was you who took the longest to do a proper greeting after all."

"Ha? It's totally on you if you don't pay attention to your surroundings. Don't try to blame me for it."

A sudden feeling of stubbornness came over me. Was it the after-effect of this day?

"I'm not moving from this spot till I hear it."

Miura put her nose up and made a few steps away. I was unreasonably here and I knew it. This escalation, I didn't want it, so I made a step in her direction to give chase.

My food was in midair the moment she turned around again and I was petrified.

She had an annoyed expression of defeat on her face in that moment, but it turned into a chuckle when she saw me like this.

I was so close to winning, urgh.

To save the situation I pretended that nothing has happened.

"Oh, hello."

She closed in and gave me a slight nudge against my shoulder. Since I still stood on only one leg I nearly lost my balance.

"Hello Hikio. You're strange as ever I see."

That worked out well, at least partially. I got my proper greeting that was missing yesterday. Somewhere behind me I heard another chuckle, that of a middle-aged woman I guess. Doesn't she have anything to do?

We were walking outside together when Miura started a new topic. It had been just the moment the door behind was closed. It seemed like she had waited for this opportunity.

"You looked good together."

"Who did?"

I needed more information to board her train of thoughts.

"Yui and you in the classroom today."

Oh, there was something like that. I also remembered Miura smiling at that time.

"You picked her originally because of her looks. My face is not bad either. Of course that wouldn't make anyone of us look bad."

She made a faint grimace.

"How you say it is really annoying but.." Miura stared at my face. She came closer without continuing her sentence.

"What is it?" I got uncomfortable with that inspection of my facial features. Miura then took a step back to gain some distance.

"..it's as you said. However, I didn't mean the outer appearance of you two. The fact of you being together was appealing."

She agreed? Well it was true, but being able to say it so clearly was surprising. Yukinoshita agreed to it as well, but she always made fun of my eyes afterwards. Therefore this wasn't quite the same.

What did she mean with being together though? Like in friendship? Or as in–

A slightly stronger nudge than that of inside the grocery store hit my shoulder again and disrupted my thinking.

"Hey, are you listening?"

She said something? Ever since I left the school today, I couldn't concentrate anymore.

"Sorry, I had a hard day. Would you repeat what you said?"

Her face was now on of worry.

"Did something happen today?"

It certainly did, but should I tell her? We had been getting along rather well and I even delayed my talk to Komachi so I wouldn't miss our daily meeting here. If I had her number though I would have asked to meet her later. Komachi should always come first.

It could be helpful to include her, similar to Haruno. Heck, I even had asked my father indirectly for help. An expert like Miura should have come before him.

"Yes, I decided to allow dates."

"Ehhh?! You mean you have denied that before?"

For someone like her that must have been something out of this world. Thus I tried to make her understand it.

"You know that I had a bad experience with forming a relationship, right? The story with the music CD wasn't the only one. There were others too. For example–"

"Wait."

I felt Miura's hand on my arm as if she wanted to prevent me from going to a far away place. Most likely she just wanted me to stop from dwelling in my memories, but it also made my legs stop.

"I'll listen to these stories later, I promise. But this is, like, kind of important. So why didn't you allow dates before?"

There was no need to promise me that, it's not like I wanted to relive my past traumas. I just get caught by the mood sometimes that I tell them. And there wasn't exactly much else I could talk about from my past.

Forming my life into a short statement that Miura would understand was a difficult task, but not impossible for me. Being the third ranked in Japanese wasn't just for show and analysing myself was not much different than analysing others. It was even easier as I had much more information about myself. There was just one problem with it. It was embarrassing.

"I couldn't trust people anymore when they were nice to me."

My head hung low when I said that and I closed my eyes.

To someone who didn't knew much about me it must sound like I was only stuck in a phase. A childish tantrum, shutting out the world because I couldn't deal with a few hardships. Except for Komachi there was no one who knew about all my experiences, those in school or at home. My fear to end up being hurt again was justified as culmination of all experiences. That was what I believed.

While I was trapped in my thoughts, something warm was placed on my left cheek and it slowly raised my head. I opened my eyes at this sensation and I saw that Miura's arm was extended to me. It must have been her hand on my cheek, and it raised my head higher, till my eyes met hers.

"It's okay, I think I understand."

I didn't believe for a second that she truly understood, and from her words it was implied that she didn't think so either. But these big emerald eyes were filled with a determination that overshadowed these doubts. She looked as serious as at the time she replied to me back in the clubroom during the career plan request.

This gaze affected my heart and I accepted this goodwill of her.

It caused my left eye to shed a tear. This tear ran down towards the hand that seemed to provide warmth to my whole body. It felt good to be understood, it was something I longed for without being aware of it. Even if she didn't understand me fully, this comforting did not feel hollow at all. Thanks to these eyes of hers.

"Sorry." I apologised for nothing. It was simply a signal.

Even if I didn't want to, I moved my face away from the hand before the tear reached it, to dry it with my handkerchief.
As anticipated my body got colder when this moment ended. When her hand didn't touch me anymore. But it was fine. I had made a good memory and it couldn't be tainted as it had ended already. The tear wouldn't connect with the hand and cause her to say something like 'gross' before retracting her hand in disgust.

I didn't really believe that the Miura in front of me would do such a thing anymore, but I didn't want to take the slightest risk.

She remained silent while I was occupied with removing the tear. I dragged the moment a bit to calm myself down.

When we began to walk again she continued the conversation.

Her tone didn't sound as if she was actually interested in it, but her glances blew up that cover.

"So, you'll go on a date with Yui?"

"Yes I will. This Saturday. Isshiki on Wednesday and Yukinoshita a week later."

I confirmed just as nonchalantly as her question.

"Ha?!"

What I received though was an outburst of emotions.

The warmth I had felt before was gone now. Definitely. Her frown sucked it all out.

I hectically waved my arms in front of my chest. The only line of defence I had.

"I won't be doing this for long though! Only until the beginning of the new school year."

Faced with her anger I better started with this part. Thinking back, I should have done the same with Hiratsuka-sensei.

Miura tapped with her finger on her crossed arms and with a foot. At least she was going to hear me out and it wouldn't be an instant-kill. To a pure maiden's heart like hers this was something outrageous, so I felt glad for the chance to explain it.

"You see, dating usually leads into a relationship right? I have no experience with that though, but I want the relationship to be a good one, without regrets. I don't want to mindlessly start one, than fail at it and start the next one. I don't want to be hurt and I don't want to hurt them either. So I have to get experience to prevent that."

She listened to me quietly. Even after I had finished she remained silent and thought about my words. Without a word she started to walk again, apparently she finished thinking it through.

"Do you like Yui?"

Miura didn't look at me when she asked. If her question was the result of her thought process then it probably meant something like 'Can't you just listen to your heart?'.

If only I could do that.

"I don't want to fall into this trap for the third time. So just to be sure, what do you mean with that?"

It might have been just my imagination but it appeared like Miura shrank at my counter question.

"L-like, do you l-love her?"

Miura's head still looked at something ahead and didn't move. The one cheek I could see though was coloured pink. Pink definitely was the best colour.

"You're going all the way? How shameless."

I couldn't resist to tease her. Even when I received the anticipated hit on my arm, it was still worth it.

"Geez, just say it already, will you?"

"I don't hate her or anything."

At my words Miura rolled her eyes in disappointment, but while her mouth was open to say something, she didn't complain about my answer.

"There are many things I like about her, if I knew whether this is enough for love to last, I wouldn't need to go through all these dates."

I continued and gave her a proper answery. I considered it somewhat as a payment for letting me tease her.
And the surprised expression she showed me was a nice bonus. I didn't get tired to see it.

Not far from the parting spot Miura had another question for me.

"Why Isshiki though?"

"I was wondering that too. After all she likes Haya–"

A black hole opened next to me, I was getting swallowed by a bad vibe!

"Most likely it was just a 'since everyone does it, I might as well' thing for her. I doubt she is serious about it."

I didn't know that black holes could be closed, but this one did. Something gloomy remained though.

"Why do you go then?"

"It's part of the rules that I won't decline anyone. No one would have to deal with unnecessary things."

Miura nodded in agreement. If it weren't for these unnecessary things, she would have confessed to Hayama a long time ago. That was probably why she understood it so quickly.

"What are the other rules?" She continued to ask.

"The deadline and a condition that it won't fill up my whole schedule. I'll need time to prepare for a date and to think after it."

It was the place to part and we did, like usual. There was a slight difference though. Today she waved slightly at me, and thus I returned the gesture.

---

Komachi awaited me at home.

"Welcome home Onii-chan!" Who couldn't feel happy upon such a greeting. It wasn't one without an ulterior motive though. I returned the greeting nonetheless.

"I'm home."

"So, spill the beans Onii-chan." She sat down on the sofa and patted on the empty spot next to her. I sat down like I was motioned to do and feigned ignorance.

"What do you mean?"

It wasn't my intention to hide something, not from my sister, but I wanted to know how she figured it out. Did she talk with Yuigahama or Yukinoshita?

"No need to play around, I saw it in your eyes. One look was all I needed as your sister. That was just high in my book!"

I ignored her remark and inquired as it took me by surprise.

"My eyes?" My hand moved automatically up to touch that area. Without a mirror I couldn't confirm anything though.

Komachi nodded her head vigorously at me.

"They got a bit... friendlier."

"I didn't notice anything like that." Doubt began to rise in me.

"They really did. You only see yourself in the morning, that's why you didn't notice. But I look at them all the time! The Komachi points keep piling up today!"

There was some truth to her words, I wanted to check it right away, but I doubted that she would let me leave another time. I had to do it after the talk.

And thus I started.

"I'll be going on dates soon." I wanted to go on, but it didn't look like Komachi would be able to hear anything at this moment. She became a deactivated persocom. Did I have to reboot her? The switch couldn't be located at..[6]

As if she was aware of danger, she came back to her senses.

"Really?"

"Really."

After I had confirmed her unnecessary question she threw herself at me for a rare hug. Mostly we expressed our affection only through words, this would probably surprise Yuigahama and Yukinoshita.

"With whom do you go?"

"Yuigahama, Yukinoshita and Isshiki."

I received three pinches into my cheek, they actually hurt a lot. She wasn't playing around.

She frowned at me like she demanded her hug back.

"I'm serious. Let me explain."

Before I could do so, she interrupted me with another question, with a face like she had just realised something.

"Who is Isshiki? The classmate you met at the grocery store?"

Huh, She forgot? Well my sister was an idiot and they haven't even met in person.[7]

"No, it's the underclassman I made into the student council president. Remember?"

"Aaahhh"

Since that was clarified I explained her the rules, who wanted to do it and when it will happen.

When I was done she told me to wait on the sofa. Komachi herself stormed off towards the room of our parents. I heard some noise of opened drawers. Just what was she doing there?

With a proud smile on her face like she had conquered China, she came back.

"Here, this might help you."

Komachi gave me a photo. It didn't look old, but it was from a time that had long passed.

"This is a photo from us as kids. But it looks so new."

"Hehe, I thought it would be useful one day. After our Christmas shopping with Yui-sand and Yukino-san I made a copy of it."

Komachi had mentioned back then that there were pictures of me, when I was young, without rotten eyes. This must be one of those. I was really young in this picture. It was taken in front of our house and showed me and a very small Komachi. Just how old was I? I didn't remember. I looked so innocent in it.

"What do you mean with useful?"

"You can give it to the one you love. It is bound to raise your points with her."

"Like I would part from it when my sister is so cute in it."

Silence followed.

Komachii deactivated again.[8] Her daze looked so cute that I had to avert my face.

"Ahh, I got fooled again." Why did I feel like being the fooled one then?

"Don't worry about that Onii-chan. It's just a copy. The original stays inside the family photo album."

The quality was surprisingly good.

"To live in such an advanced Chiba, we sure are lucky."

"That's nothing exclusive to Chiba though." Komachi said with a dry laugh.

Be quiet! Chiba was the best.

"Onii-chan?"

I looked over to her.

"What is it?"

"You did well coming this far. For that I will give you a reward."

A reward? I sure got a lot from her this evening already. A hug, a cute childhood photo. What else could there be? It must be that!

"Do I have to close my eyes to get it?" I asked shyly.

"Hee? What do you imagine gomii-chan? I speak of advice. Advice you hear me? What a trashy brother."

I heard her clearly. Any louder and I would have never heard anything again.

"Tone down and say it."

Komachi looked into my eyes with a stern look.

"When you get complimented or praised by a girl, accept it. Don't give her your 'but I didn't do anything' crap."

"That's it? What a weird thing to say. I never turned down a single of your compliments."

I puffed out my chest.

"Silly onii-chan, I'm saying you should accept it with your heart and when it means something."

"Are you saying your compliments have no meaning? That was so low in points."

I chuckled. Of course I knew what she meant and I was grateful for it.
But even when she saw me just playing around, she still sulked. Thus I added some more.

"Everything else this evening was so very high in points though. Thank you"

We had a lot of fun in the following cooking lesson. Without mother overseeing us it wasn't that difficult though.

I tried to confirm her claim about my eyes, but honestly I didn't see much of a difference.

A lot did happen today. A lot of good things. I was allowed by three girls to follow my path to something genuine. I had a good time with my sister. And there was also some warmth on my left cheek. The 24th February was a day worthy to remember.

---

Yumiko PoV

I felt happy when I got home. Like truly happy. I thought I would have no issues filling my diary today, but I got stuck.

The last words I wrote screamed back at me. 'Yui will go on a date!' was written there. It had not bothered me when I wrote those words. But now I realised.

I knew something important about Yui which she had not told me yet. Would she do that tomorrow? Will she ask me for advice? Or would it be all very different?

My mood became gloomy when I looked at these words. Would I have to ask her to make her talk? Would she even talk if I did ask?

Hikio had set the bar very high for Yui. He told me easily that he liked a lot of things about Yui. Considering his past it was as good as a confession. He did so despite the short time we have spent together. The time I spent so far with Yui was much longer and she had not called me about it yet. She didn't even sent a text. Would she have the trust in me to inform me tomorrow? What would it mean if she won't do it?

It worried me deeply. I considered her to be my best friend after all.

How long could I pretend not to know? The situation with dating three girls was messy, it could serve as an excuse to not talk about it immediately. But not the whole time. It will trouble Yui along the way and who would she talk about her troubles to if not to her best friend?

I tried to push these thoughts back and left some lines empty before I continued to write.

There was another moment I wanted to write inside my diary.

'It's okay, I understand' That was what I said to him, but I didn't to it. There were so many different sides to him that it was impossible to connect all the dots. Nonetheless I said that.

I said it because there was one thing I felt clearly when his head hung low.

His past pained him a lot. It caused him to seek distance whenever someone got too close. That was why he didn't embrace me when I cried grabbing his coat. That was why he couldn't endure my hand on his face. Yui was probably held back by that seeking of distance too. If only she talked about it, I could surely help her. She might be able to cure his heart. Perhaps she did so already all this time inside the Service Club. I didn't know. Hikio didn't seem to have issues with short periods of physical contact. At least he didn't look bothered by it when I hit him after his teasings.

Understanding this much was enough. It was enough to feel his pain. It was enough to feel the hidden happiness that expressed itself only in a single tear.

I could now fill the empty lines. 'He seems to like her a lot. I'm so happy for her!'

Regardless of whether Yui tells me tomorrow or the day after. I knew that this is the feeling I have for her inside my heart. I understood this much.

I was in my bed, unable to sleep yet. Often I had asked myself what Yui did see in Hikio. When I watched him from afar he didn't look very appealing. His posture was so crooked, his smiles looked nearly evil, his eyes were passive. Today I saw nothing of that, despite looking very closely. Even my recent memory didn't support the opinion I had of his looks. Did Yui change him that much already, or was I simply mistaken before?

Was it because of Hayato looking perfect, that I couldn't see Hikio for what he was during the times he was practically unknown to me?

Whatever the reason was, it didn't change the fact that I saw a handsome face today. It wasn't even near the quality of Hayato. No one's face was. But... Yui chose well.

---

[1] Magical beans from Dragon Ball which instantly heal all wounds and provide energy

[2] Miura said it in V 6.75, and Yuigahama interpreted it.

[3] These are terms on how hard the noodles should be. These are the same ones they used in the LN.

[4] Shizuka used those examples in a metapher about growing up during the first time they ate ramen together.

[5] Miura's 'I' in japanese is a-shi, instead of the normal watashi. The a is long since there are 2 of them in watashi. I used it here to put more elements of her normal speech pattern into this imitation act.

[6] Persocoms are PCs in the form of humans of the manga Chobits. The main heroine had her switch between her legs.

[7] Iroha forgot that Hachiman had a little sister, despite him telling her that before. I wanted to add a similarity as Iroha is usually described as an 'uncute Komachi'

[8] The main heroine from Chobits is called Chii, thus the double 'i' here.

---

Author's Note

The chapter is too long. However, I didn't want to separate these days as they are the transition from the beginning to the middle of my story.

Since it hasn't been brought up in the reviews of the last chapter, I'll have to ask something. Was it noticeable that Yumiko didn't say his name when she was mad at him in chapter 4? I wonder if such an element is too subtle to have an effect for when she named him again for the first time.

I mostly have talked about Miura in the past A/Ns. This time I want to add something important to Hachiman's character. Since Komachi knows him the best I go by her opinion most of the time. Here is what she said in the Christmas special: "The thing about onii-chan is that while you're extremely cynical, you also like to dream a lot."

Hachiman's father got some spot light, like I said in an earlier chapter I would like to not make him speak directly, since he didn't do so in the LN. Here are Hachiman's true thoughts on his father from V.5. "The Hikigaya family wasn't on bad terms at all. Pops was, well, quite the scumbag, but that really only applied to how he spoke and his thought process; everything else wasn't an issue." He influenced Hachiman's personality a lot it through his warning stories on women. He appears to be a copy of Hachiman's bad side. Since the good side wasn't mentioned though I'll treat him not as an exact copy in total. For me he lacks in the dreaming part that Hachiman has plenty of. Perhaps these are the main reasons why Komachi often shows her father the cold shoulder.

Now for the reviews. Thank you everyone for them, like last time I will address those with issues or questions.

fluffpenguin Many people treat the mutual hate of Hachiman and Hayama for a joke because it was said so nonchalant, but it is real. I will explain it in a later chapter. Because of this he doesn't want to say good things about him and he has two reasons not to mention the bad stuff either. Miura likes Hayama and like always Hachiman won't say something bad about people who aren't present.
In V11 Iroha admitted that Miura's personality wasn't that bad. It is unclear yet if Yumiko's opinion of Iroha has changed too, but Yumiko was nice to Iroha 2 times without it having much of an effect in treatment after Iroha felt better. No media mentioned any response of Yumiko to Iroha being nice to Hachiman so far. In my story it will depend on how much she sees her as a threat to her Hayato or Yui's Hachiman.

hikigaya If you're referring to wanting to get closer as in a romantic way, that is too early. She is head over heels for Hayama. That won't be changed easily. After all she declared that he had nothing else besides him.

DiceWW Most people just have watched the anime, and that one cut off like 80% of Hachiman's thoughts (if not more). Yumiko basically happens only in his thoughts and thus her character got reduced a lot. Even when reading the LN it is not easy to spot his true thoughts on things, as they are often rather short compared to his jokes. For example his true thoughts on his father is just what I wrote in this A/N. His complains about him are like 20 times longer. To figure out his true thoughts I mostly go by people's opinion inside the story who either know him well or are good at analysing. Haruno is one of these people, and like I said in the last chapter, she views him as open person with some conditions. Komachi is another source I trust and her thoughts are in this A/N. With my explanations I try to reduce the OCC feeling as much as possible. I' don't mind it if people have a different opinion and won't agree with me. I can only say that I try to stick to the characters as close as possible with the impressions I got from the LN.

Sixth Day of Division I'm not expecting this ship to play a major role in the real LN's future. Yumiko is bound to Hayama and Hachiman is bound by his Club. However, if not shackled by these bonds, they would do make a great pair together. And that is why I take it so serious here. I'll continue this below for everyone.

The story behind the creation of this fanfic and slight summery of the development that has taken place:
Before I started gathering material for this FanFic I viewed it as something unlikely.
I only had 2 clues. My feeling how Hachiman often looked at Yumiko was one. I had discussions about it why that was the case. The most likely reason was just physical attraction because of her beauty. My second clue was that he seemed rather protective of her and often thought about her good sides.
The initial idea was to show how every girl was at the moment of this long LN break in a position to develop an happy end with Hachiman. I picked Yumiko because it seemed to be the most unlikely one.
It wasn't till I looked for information with concrete searches that I understood how similar these two characters are. Especially in their bipolarity. I was really surprised though how much one missed by simply reading the LN.
An example: The nickname Hikio is obviously designed to be funny. So when it appears, it marks comedy. And it is treated like that by the characters inside the story like that. When I read Tobe's reaction to it, I didn't thought anything beyond 'oh it's funny'. It was just another small joke in a sea of jokes stretched over 11 and more Volumes (when counted the specials). When I searched for 'Hikio' though to count how often it was said, I realised just how much time has passed from the first usage till the moment with Tobe. (Summer= Winter). That triggered further questions, why it took so long, what does her group think of her, how did school think of her?
One always sees the joke 'Miura is scary'. We don't question it anymore. But what does it mean for Yumiko? It's like a running gag that became mobbing, unnoticed by the users of the jokes. Tobe revealed his thoughts in the summer camp about her, Yumiko gave us Ebina's thoughts how she viewed their relationship, in an extra Yui used Yumiko's name to scare away a flirting boy, Sagami's subtitles, the lack of cheering her on during the tennis match, Hayama's thoughts on Yumiko (indirectly through Tobe and Hachiman). At some point one has to step back from the joke and have to accept how reality is for Yumiko. All that culminated in chapter 4 in Hachiman's answer. I stripped off all that was not Yumiko related to see the clear picture. One I couldn't see before, even having read the LN.
She is physically part in her group, in school. But emotionally she is rather detached. Not by her own will though. But not as much as Hachiman was at the start of the LN, but more than one would think. I also mentioned last time that Hachiman knows that Yumiko trusts him by V10. Something she did not in V7, Hachiman stated it here. Miura started to become a role model for him when he lost his believe 'if the club can't take this much, there wasn't much of a relationship to begin with'. He learned from her how to overstep boundaries for example. While he learned that from her by pushing her so far for her true answer, her inner desire to come out of her mouth, she found the determination to stop being so passive about Hayama. Her desire to have deep bonds is similar to Hachiman's, and he uncovered that for her. Bonds were both sides share everything with each other. We only have Hachiman's thoughts on this, but for that he admires Yumiko at the end of V10.
We have a lot of development for these two, they just didn't spent much time together though. All of this was mentioned at some point already. Either in the story or in the A/N.
More on theirr bipolarity I mentioned.
Yumiko is the strong willed, unapproachable beauty and a pure maiden. Hachiman is the cynical, distance seeker while also being the pure dreamer. The one side pushes them away from each other, while the other draws them together.
If they were forced to spend time together they would overcome that first effect sooner or later. If they weren't bound by others it might be enough for more.
That's was the only thing I did so far in the story. I created an environment based on LN reasons that made them spent time together. I even had Hachiman retreat from her at first, till it wasn't possible anymore for him to do so. And I temporary removed the outer bonds. Yui's cold to pause the development from the club, Hayama being busy. Everything else just went on as normal. Now they understand each other enough that removing the outer bonds isn't necessary anymore. Thus this marks the end of the beginning and the start of the middle part.

If there is something you want to ask about just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 6 again.