Chapter 3: Reveal

"Well?" he asked as he broke the kiss a second later.

"That went way too far. Stop that act immediately." Yukino hissed.

Yui silenced her with a gesture. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She bit her lip and angrily wiped her arm over her face.

"And now?" she just asked Hachiman tonelessly.

"Now what?" Hachiman asked back.

"I don't know," she mumbled, "you need to unbutton my shirt, or something..."

Hachiman looked straight into her eyes. "I am not joking."

Fresh tears were glistering in those eyes, but she stood her ground and looked back at him. "No," she just said, "not joking."

They stared at each other in silence.

"Give it up, Hikigaya," Yukino finally broke the stalemate. "It's obvious that you can't win this anymore."

"Why did you do that?" Yui asked, still fighting her tears. "I was already on my way out."

He broke eye contact with her and turned away. "I'll be going."

"You aren't going anywhere!" Yui shouted.

Yukino had a feeling of déjà-vu. And then suddenly an epiphany.

"It's not as if you can stop me," Hachiman just replied.

Yui collapsed back into her seat. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I'm angry, Hikki, much more than you can imagine," she mumbled.

"I understand." he just replied as he went for the door.

"But I don't hate you," Yui continued, raising her voice. "I love you, you hear? I thought I'd never have the courage to say it. But now, every time I say it, it becomes easier to say. Just run away, I'll tell you again on Monday in class then. I'm not gonna let you have what you want. I won't hate you. Neither will Yukinon, I'm sure about it."

Hachiman stopped and slowly turned around.

"Why are you so bent on destroying the club," Yukino mumbled. It wasn't clear if she meant Yui, Hachiman, or both.

Yui shook her head. "I don't want to destroy anything. Just change it. I just want you to be happy. Because I love you too, Yukinon." She sounded desperate.

"I'd really appreciate it if you stopped throwing around the word 'love' so nonchalantly." Yukino retorted.

Yui dropped her head onto her knees, falling silent.

Yukino looked at Hachiman. "And you? Why you? And before you answer: Do not even dare to think we haven't looked through your maneuver. Stop acting. Just tell me the reason."

"You gave me a request."

Yukino was perplexed. "I did what?"

"… most important to me...," he reminded her. "… salvage at almost any cost..."

Yukino remembered. "That's it? I make a side remark and you immediately send your public face on a suicide mission again?"

"We're not exactly in public."

"No, it's worse," Yui spoke up, her face hidden behind her knees. "I'd never have believed you'd try and pull this against Yukinon and me. With others, yes. But not among the three of us."

Yukino sighed. "Hikigaya, the club is important to me. Yuigahama is important because she's part of this club. And you are part of this club. Is that too difficult to understand?"

"The club is dying on us," was his brutal reply. "Didn't you say you felt like being pushed off a cliff? Truth is, we're all in free fall by now and heading for a crash. I just offered you a way to cut your losses before that happens."

There was a long silence.

"Hikki, I have been dreaming about having my first kiss with you," Yui said. "That wouldn't surprise you, I guess?"

"I am sorry," he monotoned.

"But not like that." She stood up. "Can I finally go now?"

"Yuigahama. Don't. Just stop that act. This is not like you. Explain yourself. Please," Yukino pleaded.

Yui went for the door. "Fix what you've done to her," she ordered Hachiman.

"Hikigaya. Stop her."

"How..."

"Stop her."

Hachiman drew a breath and bowed formally. "Yuigahama, please listen to Yukinoshita. I wanted..."

"I know what you wanted."

"What do you want me to do then?"

"I told you already. Fix that. You owe her a kiss now, I'd say? That's a goal you could work on. Starting today."

"Stop that," Yukino snapped. "Yuigahama, I assure you: If any of you walks through that door now, there cannot be a club anymore. And no you and me. No me and him. Do you understand that? Do you want that?" She sighed. "Please don't do that to me."

Yui gave her a sad look. "But me and him?"

"Pardon?" Yukino was confused.

"No you and me. No you and him. But me and him?"

"Can we talk about that another time?"

Yui turned to Hachiman and approached him. Only centimeters away from him, she stopped.

"Do you want to hit me, Yuigahama? Would that help?"

"I want you to fix my first kiss. do it and I stay."

His eyes widened as he understood. He turned his head away. "That's not happening."

"It just happened."

"That's not the same."

"Why not?" "Yuigahama."

He turned his face back to her again. "Don't play stupid."

"Hikki," she answered softly. "If Yukinon doesn't want her relationship fixed then fix my first kiss. You can't undo it. So fix it."

He noticed her scent. Her shampoo or perfume perhaps? Probably a combination of both and her natural body scent. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, just the scent he had learned to associate with Yuigahama over time. They had been physically close often enough. That sensation didn't make it any easier for him to give her his answer.

"I'm not in love with you. I can't give you what you want. I am sorry." He gave Yukino a pleading look.

"Yuigahama," Yukino said with a stern voice. "I don't like you to pressure him like that. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Yui slowly retracted from Hachiman. "Maybe." She sat down again.

"You're doing this just to make me jealous? I guessed it. How manipulative can you be?"

Yui shook her head "Would you like to kiss Hikki?"

"Excuse me?"

"It would only be fair, I guess? Do anything! At least talk to me!"

"Yui, I talked to you. I said that I'm not in love with Hikigaya..."

"You said 'It's not that simple'..."

"... and he rejected me when he thought I had written him a love letter. What is it you don't understand about it? When will these facts finally find their way into your head? You're getting more erratic and desperate by the second. Come to your senses and face what you did."

"What is not simple, Yukinon?" Yui insisted.

"Yuigahama,"Hachiman interrupted calmly. "Stop it. I'm not in love with Yukinoshita."

"Yukinon is smart, Hikki. She's so beautiful."

Yukino winced. "Yuigahama, just..."

"Yes," Hachiman answered quietly. Just that word, stopping Yukino in mid-sentence. "Still."

"Is it somebody else you like then? Something one-sided you keep hiding?"

"There is nobody else," Hachiman insisted.

"Hikki, then why? Don't tell me you don't care about Yukinon, that would be a lie! Is it your pride?"

He sat down again and looked at his hands. "Yuigahama, I... I care about Yukinoshita. Which doesn't mean I don't care about you..."

"Hikki, you see, if you choose Yukinon, it's fine. Really. I know I can't have everything. But I will remain both of your friend, if that's what you are afraid of. It's a promise. But I will not allow you to pretend there is nothing between the three of us."

"Are we talking to a wall?" he asked. "Why do you insist to drag things on the table but then don't accept our answers? What do you want from me? 'Choose this girl, choose that girl, or is there someone else you choose instead?' You don't choose to be in love with someone." He looked at Yukino. "I am sorry. When you're in love with a girl, you're in love with her. You don't weigh options and then pick. That's how you know that it's…"

"... that it's real? You finally understood what you meant back then?" Yukino asked quietly.

Hachiman looked at her, surprised and confused. "I… Maybe. That's probably what I meant." he mumbled. He looked at Yui again. "Yuigahama, I was content with what we finally had achieved in the club. And what we not had. Have I made myself clear now? Can we move on from that point?"

"But you were looking for something real."

"So maybe I won't find it in the club. What did I tell you about the real thing?"

"Then maybe... if you don't weigh your options, Hikki?"

"I wasn't! I just told you so! You were the one insisting on it! You're not making sense at all!"

Yui just smiled a sad smile.

"Yui, I was content with what we had in the club, too," Yukino tried. "Can't we just forget about today and go back to being friends?"

"That's not true. You weren't. I could tell. And when was the time we three were just friends?"

"Well..." Hachiman said. "At least the two of you were friends."

"My relationship with Yuigahama isn't that simple either, I'm afraid." Yukino muttered.

Yui gave her a quick side glance Hachiman couldn't quite interpret. Was it fear?

"Yukinon, you still haven't told us what's so complicated. With Hikki, I mean. With Hikki."

"I told you everything that matters here."

"Yukinon, just give me some truth. Something I can believe. Not just 'I don't love him.' and 'It's not simple.' Then I will shut up about it. I promise."

"I have feelings for Hikigaya," Yukino finally said. She looked up and faced him. "I have feelings for you. You know it." She turned to Yui. "Could you just accept that? Sometimes things really aren't that simple. Will you just stay my friend and stop asking?"

Yui put an arm around her. "I don't understand you. And I can see you're not happy. I will always be your friend, as long as you want me to. I promised it before. I love you." "

Yuigahama, please stop throwing that word around so lightly. And indiscriminately. Just stop."

A long silence.

"No," Yui finally just said. She stood up.

Yukino just looked up to her, questioning.

Yui placed her knees on the couch, left and right of Yukino, and her hands on Yukino's shoulders.

"You're too close," Yukino protested.

Yui looked her straight into the eyes. "Yes," she whispered.

Then she kissed Yukino.

The kiss was short and chaste. The message, however, was clear.

"I'm not throwing the word 'love' around lightly," Yui said when she broke the kiss, still staring into Yukino widened eyes. "I'm not." She returned to her place on the couch, facing away from Yukino.

"But I will always be your friend, as long as you want me to," she repeated.

Yukino slowly rose from her seat. "Excuse me for a second." She left for the door, mumbling something that sounded like "toilet".

Hachiman looked very tired. "Yuigahama, could you just… find a role model other than me?"

"Do... do you think she's okay?"

"You are asking me?"

"I'll better go look for her..."

"You will not."

Yui froze.

Hachiman sighed. "I'll go."

o o o

"Yukinoshita?"

No answer from behind the bathroom door.

"I will wait here."

For a few seconds there was no reaction, but then Hachiman heard the door being unlocked.

"There is no need, Hikigaya." Yukino said.

She saw him studying her face.

"I'm not crying."

"Do you want..."

"Just leave me alone for ten minutes. In ten minutes I'll be back, is that acceptable?"

He nodded.

Yukino closed and locked the door again.

o o o

"Is she okay?" Yui asked back in the living room.

"She said she'll be back in ten minutes." He looked sternly at Yui. "When she's back I'd prefer if you excused yourself and left."

"Hikki..."

"You leave. I will see if she's okay. That's what you wanted anyway, right?"

New tears welled up. "Thank you, Hikki."

"But you will promise her to be in the club on Monday. Then we'll talk things through again. We will both promise her that."

They waited in silence for Yukino's return.

Author's Notes

Just when you think you've understood something...

Of course, the yuri flag hasn't been risen just for the heck of it. Where could this go?

It might be one-sided. In that case we should expect it to become a major plot point, at the very least, or we wouldn't have opened this can of worms. But you were already promised no girly tears or yandere actions at the end.

It might be mutual. Let's not kid ourselves. If that's the case the threesome option becomes an important contender for the ending. Sex optional. But fun things are fun (sayeth one Yui or the other) and you were also promised a somewhat dark ending. Maybe they're gonna have very bad sex? What a twist...

Or maybe we're gonna close the two H/Y routes? 8Man is already turning girls down left and right and needs to be very careful now. Maybe we'll get an ending with manly tears then?

And of course it might be "no-sided". Meaning we don't fully understand Yui's agenda and she's just pretending.