Chapter 9: Offer

Yui and Hachiman were eating snacks and chatting when Yukino returned from the bath...

"... she laughed so hard, she spit her tea all over the table. The part that didn't come foaming from her nose, that is," Yui recounted.

"This table? Our Yukino?"

"Really."

… and were sharing less than flattering stories about her. At the very least, for the first time on this evening, an ordinary scene...

"You know Hikki, When Yukino laughs, she looks the most beautiful. Even with tea coming from her nose."

... almost. But maybe they were getting there.

Yui's head went up. "Yukinon, we were waiting for you." She hold up a deck of cards. "Do you want to play Old Geezer with us?"

Yukino's deck of cards, of course. Yui knew where she was storing them and had apparently just taken them out without asking. Oh well. She agreed.

"Did she finally stop trying to hook us up?" Yukino asked Hachiman.

"She made no more self-sacrificial moves."

"Good." Some peace. A quiet ending to the evening. Enough stability and harmony to delay solving the remaining problems until Monday.

Yui was humming a tune while looking at the cards until she finally took one out and put on the table, face down.

"Say, Yui," Yukino asked puzzled, "isn't it the point of this variant of Old Maid that nobody knows the card that is the joker?"

"The fun is," Yui answered, "to look at my face and try find out which card it is. And the next round somebody else will know the card."

She shuffled the deck and dealt the cards.

Yukino looked at hers and took out matching pairs. The two red aces, the two black fives...

The game started. Cards changed their owners, and sometimes were paired up and left the game.

"Hikki, you haven't forgotten to call Komachi? It's getting late, you can just sleep on the couch here," Yukino offered.

"Wait Yukinon, Hikki will stay over? Then where are I supposed to sleep? I mean, you won't send me home or something?" Yui begged.

Yukino was surprised. "Where you've always been sleeping. In my bed."

"But, you know," Yui gave to think, "that was then. And this is now."

Yukino sighed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Hikki could take one couch and I take the other..." Yui offered.

"No, Yui."

"Well," Hachiman intervened, "you both could take the couches and I'll take the bed..."

"Certainly not."

Hachiman became serious again. "To answer your question: I've called my sister. I told her Yui would be staying over, too."

"Which means what?"

Hachiman raised two fingers. "At least twice the teasing. Less than half the actual suspicions, though."

"That sounds like a beneficial trade-off."

"I've also called my parents already, to be honest," Yui confessed. "I didn't tell them about Hikki, of course."

"Well, it's certainly easier between two girls," Hachiman stated.

"But Hikki, I'm such a nice girl,"Yui replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, we could probably have a sleepover at my place. And my mom would say 'Hachiman is your friend, Yui. You can't let him sleep on the floor. You can share a bed.'"

Hachiman smiled the faintest of smiles. "That's what she would say? You think so?"

Yui nodded. "Because my mom knows I'm a proper girl."

Yukino looked back and forth between the two.

"You mean, I would have nothing to fear?"

"Well, Hikki, I might be hiding a dark side. I might try to exploit your, eh, innocent naïveté." She started twirling an imaginary mustache.

"I might scream, then."

"Nobody might hear you."

"Stop that," Yukino demanded.

"Yes, it might be time for Princess Yukino to arrive on her white horse to protect my honor," Hachiman deadpanned, giving her an inviting look.

"She might be on my side. Then you'd really be in trouble," Yui went on. "Or," she further gave to think, "this might all be a ploy. We capture Princess Yukino and drag her to our dungeon."

"To do unspeakable things to her? She might have an opinion about that..." Again an inviting look. This time more on the begging side.

"Hikigaya Hachiman," Yukino hissed, "you want to take a bath. Now."

"Whatever you want to say, can't you do that in my presence? And then we all talk about it?" he asked. "This game has become ridiculous a while ago. And the water might be cold by now."

"Shower," she just snapped.

"Also, don't understand this as a personal affront but the scent of your body shampoo might not be fitting for..."

"Cupboard. Right hand side. Drawer at the top. Soap."

Hachiman looked at Yui who just nodded.

He stood up. "You know what we've agreed on, Yui."

She looked a bit annoyed. "Of course, Hikki."

"And don't expect me to take an hour to find the bath. You have 20 minutes until I'm back. At max."

o o o

"What are you trying to achieve here?"

"Oh Yukinon, we were just bantering. You always do that too."

"Certainly not that way. Also... your clothing."

"What's about it?"

"You could at least wear a bra."

"Why? Yukinon, I'm wearing what I'm always wearing after a bath here. More or less."

To be exact, it was definitely less, and not more. But that didn't need to concern Yukino, Yui had decided.

"Yui. Don't play stupid. I'm asking you again: What are you trying to achieve here?"

"We should try to minimize the pain, right? That's what you said. Even I am smart enough to see the solution, the obvious solution. We could..."

"Oh, Yui..."

"… have everything, you know?"

Yukino slowly shook her head. "Yui, that would never work out."

"I think Hikki would like it."

"Oh, color me surprised. Say, Yui, are we playing a power game here?"

"I don't understand, Yukinon. Could you just say what you mean?"

"I thought I did. Are you and Hikki trying to blackmail me into something? It's either three or two plus one with the one being me?"

Yui was shocked. "What's up with you? Hikki was also like 'We won't try to put pressure on her. Or blackmail her.' What are you thinking? I love you. I would never do that. Why are you still so, so…"

"Yui, I think you're an angel."

Yui blushed. "Yukinon..."

"If only by the standards other people in the club are setting."

"Hm."

"So I can just say 'no' then." Yukino stated.

"Hikki said we're gonna leave the decision to you."

"Leave it, hm. Hikki is really nice, isn't he."

"If you say no," Yui began to explain, "we're gonna stay until you call it a night. Hikki will escort me home and then go home by himself."

"And then?"

"Monday, we three will meet in the club. And we will be doing it your way. The rules, right. We will be best friends forever. And we'll have all the fun stuff, we were talking about. The park today, I'm so sorry, we have to do that again. And then I won't be ill, I promise. Or karaoke. Shopping. The aquarium again,..."

"Yui, are those your words?"

She squirmed a bit. "As I said, Hikki was concerned that you might understand it wrong."

"I see. And that's it?"

"Well, every now and then I will remind you, that there is a better way. Every now and then. In time though, I might just forget about it." She looked sad. "Maybe I will forget about it very quickly."

"And..."

"And if you don't want to make a decision immediately," Yui hurried to continue, "then we'll do the same for now. But on Monday, I want an answer from you. Or Tuesday, or Wednesday. Just don't expect me to wait forever."

"And if I let you two stay over tonight?"

"Then..."

"Stop!" Yukino demanded. "One question: Are the following your words?"

"Those are my words," Yui insisted.

"I'm sorry. Go on."

"Then we'll still meet in the club on Monday. But we won't be just friends. Nothing much will change at first. Well, there are some words I want to hear from you, in plain Japanese, for once. And not only once. And, the kisses, I'm very clumsy, you know, so we might never get them right. There might always be the need to fix them. That wouldn't be so easy, I know. People tend to come to the club without knocking."

"That's..."

"And we would do the fun things too, of course, the karaoke and what not."

"That's a really nice dream of a puppy love romance, Yui, a somewhat unusual one, granted. But we aren't grade schoolers anymore."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I said 'at first'. Well, it's not that I have discussed this with Hikki already, but of course… We would do all the fun things. But you know, sooner or later, maybe sooner, I would also want to do, you know: The. Fun. Things." She put on an innocent smile. "Fun things are fun."

Yukino smiled back. "You know Yui, you're not so..."

"Shhhhh..." Yui put a finger to Yukino's mouth. "I don't know what you wanted to say but I bet you didn't say it in the Himalayas."

"But I told you that there are things you want to do in reality and there a things you only want to dream about."

"There are things you don't want to do and there are things you don't dare to do," Yui retorted. Then softer: "Yukinon, just think about it. Tell us when you want us to go home. You don't have to decide this now."

Yukino contemplated, then sighed. "I fought hard for my freedom, Yui. I don't want to be captured again so soon."

Yui looked very sad. "I understand. Then, please don't be angry now. I will never do this again. Or say this again." She then kissed Yukino. Yukino didn't resist.

"I love you, Yukinon," Yui whispered, as if somebody might overhear.

She then leaned back in her seat and stayed silent.

Author's Notes

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo….

If you want to read the final chapter then send me one million euros in bit coins. Or just wait for about 24 hours.