Quick AN. Basically, just the conclusion to the date. I have to be careful with the script at this point because Hayama's clique are all Yui's friends and I have to keep everything consistent with chapter one.
TRIGGER WARNING: Tomoko has an anxiety attack in this one. You have been warned.
(Tomoko)
Is that Hikigaya?
Chansu! This might be my only ticket out of here! Thank you, Hikigaya. I knew I could count on you to save me.
Ah, Isshiki is with him. Did she ask him out already? Good for her, I guess. Sorry, Isshiki but Hikigaya needs to get me out of here right now so you should just hang out with Hayama or something.
"Ah, guys, it's Hikitani-kun and Irohasu!" Seaweed hair announces, as if he were the only one to spot them.
Could you be more obnoxious if you tried? Also, 'Hikitani-kun', Really bro?
"Yahallo!" Isshiki has a rather bubbly greeting.
"Yo." And Hikigaya is...well, himself I guess.
Hayama extends his greetings first, "Hi guys." He offers in his usual friendly tone.
Hikigaya's face somehow goes stiff. I think he's trying not to scowl.
"Hayama-senpai! And everyone else! Yahallo!"
...This fucking girl.
Okay, first of all, you already said 'yahallo', dipshit. Secondly, what's with this blatant favoritsm of Hayama?
"Oi! There are more of us besides Hayato here, you know?" Miura scoffs.
I agree, Miura. I think I'm starting to like your attitude.
"Well, duh! That's why I said 'everyone else'!" Isshiki retorts.
This fucking girl I swear.
Miura grumbles. Hayama breaks the tension. "Now now, you two. So, Iroha-chan, Hikitani-kun, what are you guys doing?"
Okay, Seaweed is probably just that dumb but I'm sure you're doing it on purpose Hayama. There's no way in hell you don't know his name.
Isshiki perks up at the question, and closes the distance between them. I take the opportunity to approach Hikigaya, who is still standing a short distance from the group.
He does the look. The look where he's not quite smiling, but I can clearly tell he's amused. I think I'll call it 'the Hikigaya face'. Bastard, what's so funny?
I lower my voice in a half-hearted attempt to keep our conversation private. "Hikigaya, you have to help me." I plead. Isshiki and Seaweed are making a lot of noise, so I doubt it mattersif we're quiet or not.
He lowers his voice to match mine anyway. "Help with what? Seems like you're living the riajuu lifestyle."
"No, that's the problem. Hayama's little gang is dragging me around, and I can't find a chance to bail."
He knits his eyebrows. "So, why don't you just roll with it? I thought you wanted a more fulfilling social life." He says accusingly.
"First of all, I never said that. Second, I feel like the odd one out here. I mean, look at them and look at me." As I say this, he throws a quick glance at the group, and then returns his attention to me.
"Right." Is all he says in response.
"Also, they want to take me to fucking karaoke, dude!" I'm trying not to raise my voice, but I can't withhold the sense of urgency in my tone.
On the other hand, Hikigaya doesn't take the situation seriously at all. He grins. "Karaoke? You?"
Is my plight funny to you, asshole?
"Shut up!" I nearly spit through clenched teeth. "Are you going to help me or not?"
"Why didn't you just leave?" He says in an only slightly serious tone.
"I keep trying. They won't let me break off."
"What are you, a prisoner? Just tell them you want to leave."
"It's not that simple, okay? I can't oppose them."
He doesn't seem to get it. "Not sure I follow. What exactly is the problem here?"
"I just...can't go against them, okay?" I realize my excuse is lame and nonsensical, but I can't really explain it any better than that.
"You probably already have, knowing you Kuroki."
"Fuck you." I smirk a little, despite myself.
"Thanks. Anyway, why do you care what they think?"
"Ugh!" I roll my eyes. "You don't get it. I'm just not as brave as you, okay? Look, I don't wanna talk about this here."
"Fine. So what's the plan?"
Umm...I was hoping you'd come up with one. "I don't know. Any ideas?"
"Well, I'd like to go home too, but it's important to Isshiki that I stick around today, so I'm not sure I can help much."
Hearing this, my mood changes just a little. I try to emulate the Hikigaya face. "Oh? Who's the one who told me not to care what people think?"
"I don't care what they think. I'm only here to help Isshiki." He defends himself. Suspicious.
"Hey, what's the deal with you two anyway?" I can't help but ask.
"Actually we were on a date, until we spotted Hayama's clique." He says. He doesn't sound irritated, but in a situation like that, how could he not be?
I suddenly feel bad for prodding. Isshiki was all over Hayama from the moment she approached him. Hikigaya must feel jilted. "Aw, man. I'm sorry, dude."
His face becomes curious for a second, as if unsure what I was implying. "Eh? Ah, it's probably not what you're thinking."
"...Is that so?" I can't quell my suspicions, but he doesn't seem to be too bothered by his date throwing him under the bus, so I drop the issue for now.
"Anyway, how are you gonna get me out of here?" I return to the problem at hand.
"Didn't you hear me? I can't. It's important to Isshiki that I tag along just this once."
"Why? She basically dropped you for Hayama, man. Let's just get out of here." I try to coerce him into taking me away.
He gives me that shit-eating grin again. "Actually, I kind of wanna see your attempts to sing in front of a crowd."
No way. Is he betraying me? "You can't be serious. You're just going to watch me go down in flames?"
"Well, if I have to suffer this, at least I get to see something funny."
"This isn't funny, Hikigaya! I think I'm gonna freak out!" Then I realize something. "Wait. What if you have to sing?"
His grin fades. "Won't happen. Unlike you, I know how to say no."
For some reason, his lethargy calms me down a little. "Well if I have to suffer this, at least I get to see something funny."
He gives me the Hikigaya face. "Fat chance."
"I bet you sing like a chain smoker." I remark.
"I bet you sing like a dying cat." He rebukes. We share a laugh.
And then his mirth immediately disappears when he looks back at the group. I turn to see what he saw, and everyone is staring at us.
Somehow, I feel embarrassed.
"...What?" I ask dumbly.
"Eeeeh, it's just like you said, Hayato-kun." Hina remarks.
What is she talking about?
"You're right!" Seaweed exclaims. "I've like, never seen that side of Hikitani-kun before!"
"Senpai!" Isshiki whines. "How come she gets special treatment?"
Excuse me?
Hikigaya frowns. "What are you talking about? You're the only one who gets spoiled, Isshiki."
"You were totally flirting with her!" Isshiki exclaims.
Hikigaya and I exchange a look. He looks just as confused as I do. His eyebrows furrow in confusion, and I mirror the look.
"You're seriously overthinking it Isshiki."
She makes a frustrated face like a petulant child. "Aagh whatever! You're still coming with us, right?"
"Do I still have to?"
"Yes!" Isshiki exclaims. "You have to. Spirit of the request, remember?"
"I bet you don't even know what that means." Hikigaya remarks. I bet nobody knows, smartass.
"Who cares! Lets go to karaoke already, right guys?"
The boys, sans Hayama, go """Osu!""" in unision.
I shoot another look at Hikigaya. He shrugs at me. Looks like I'm doomed after all.
We arrive. I get skittish before we walk in the door. Once inside, Hayama books us a room for nine minors for two hours. If I weren't freaking out, I might have been more impressed at how he casually forked out such a hefty amount of money as if it were pocket change.
"Well, lets go, shall we?" He asks us all.
Let's not. Seriously.
The group moves down the hall. I follow at the back, but I'm intentionally lagging behind. It almost seems like I could just drop out of the back and run away. Unfortunately, Hina turns around and spots me.
"Ah! Kuroki-chan is getting away!"
The group turns around and makes a ruckus. Hikigaya makes a smug face and I feel like throwing something at him.
Hina runs back and grabs my arm. "C'mon Kuroki-chan. Time to face the music."
"Literally." Miura quips. Tacky, Miura.
So I'm dragged into the karaoke box, and everyone takes a seat. I'm unable to choose the corner seat because Hina is still holding my hand when she sits in the middle of one of the couches. Hikigaya is sitting on the other side of Hina, at the end of the couch. Isshiki seems to have taken a seat directly next to Hayama. She leans on him in a totally inappropriate way.
I seriously don't like this girl. I hate how she leads Hikigaya on, then skips off to flirt with Hayama right in front of him.
Miura takes the seat on the other side of Hayama, with a scowl on her face.
"Oi, have some respect for personal space." She says. Pretty sure she's referring to Isshiki, and I agree.
"Hayama-senpai doesn't mind, right?" She beams onboxiously, almost aggressively.
Hayama just laughs politely in response. Don't be such a wuss, dude.
When we're settled in, the service lady shows up and politely asks us if we wanna buy some overpriced food and drinks. You're damn right we do, especially when Hayama's paying.
Finally, the group begins discussing the order of performance. My stomach tightens. It feels like when we had to write speeches in middle school but I never wrote anything because I played games all week, except worse because the entire point of this exercise is to laugh at me.
It's decided that Seaweed is first, then Hina, then me, then the rest. Hayama thought it would be good for me to not go first or last as to alleviate pressure. Good looking out Hayama.
Wait, actually, you're the reason I'm here in the first place. Fuck you Hayama.
Seaweed gets up in front of everyone, and decides to sing a teen love song. As expected, he makes a complete buffoon of himself. I suspect he was intentionally clowning in order to amuse everyone, but it works anyway. Everyone laughs at him. Well, everyone except me and Hikigaya. I'm far too nervous to enjoy myself, and Hikigaya just doesn't seem to find it funny. Seaweed's final score is pitiful, which only exacerbates my anxiety because I'm afraid of doing even worse.
Seaweed takes a seat, and Hina takes the stage. Oh god, 3 minutes and It'll be my turn. My heart is racing. I'm afraid. My anxiety has turned into dread, and I almost feel sick. My body starts to feel weak.
Hina picks an anime song. I recognize the song but right now I don't even care.
The entire song, I can't focus on anything except the horrifying experience that awaits me. I think I'm trembling.
Hikigaya, at some point, scooted over to me. Leaning close, he whispers in my ear, "Don't worry. I have a plan."
Seriously? Thank you Hikigaya! Thank you so much!
"Do you really?" I ask him, trying to hide my relief.
"Yeah," he says. He grins, "and you're gonna like this one."
"What is it?"
"When yo-"
Hina's song finishes, and the eruption of cheers drowns out his voice. What's the plan!?
"Kuroki-chan, your turn!" Hina beams at me. Shit.
I turn to Hikigaya, desperate.
"No time to explain. Just pick a male-female duet. I'll get up with you."
Wait, that's the plan? I mean I appreciate it, it'll certainly make me less nervous, but I'd much much much rather not sing altogether.
"That's it? I thought you were gonna get me out of here." I whisper, my voice filled with panic.
"Just trust me, okay?" Is all he says in response.
And so I do.
"You wanna pick your own song, Kuroki-chan?" Hina asks.
I just nod quietly. I don't trust my own voice enough to speak right now. And they expect me to sing.
I look through the list, and find only one song listed as a male-female duet. I've never heard of the song. I've never even heard of the artist.
"Quit stalling, Kuroki-chan!" Seaweed yells. Not helping, asshole.
In resignation, I choose the damned song.
"A duet? Who are you gonna sing with?" Isshiki asks. Shut up.
I just look at Hikigaya. He wordlessly gets out of his seat and walks to the front of the room.
"Senpai!? Are you serious? You'd never sing with me!" Isshiki whines.
"How do you know? you've never asked." Hikigaya retorts.
"Then, are you gonna sing with me next?"
"One song is enough for me. Sing with Hayama." His reply is monotonous.
"Uwah! No fair Senpai!"
You know, even when I'm drowning in anxiety, I still get mad at this bitch. She's getting jealous over Hikigaya while she's hanging off another guy.
Hikigaya doesn't reply to her, but instead grabs a second microphone. He beckons me onto the stage.
"Um...I..." I try to say something. Anything.
"I don't really...know this song..." I mutter pathetically.
"It'll be fine, Kuroki-chan! The lyrics are on the screen!" Hina tells me.
"Yeah it'll be fine unless Kuroki-chan can't read!" One of the boys quips. I really feel the pressure right now.
I feel like fainting. Hikigaya grabs my attention.
"Oi." He passes me a microphone. "Follow my lead."
I just swallow my pooling saliva, and nod my head.
The music starts. I feel butterflies.
Hikigaya calls me once again.
"Kuroki." I look at him. "Follow. My lead. Okay?"
Is there some sort of message hidden in there? Wait, does he actually have a plan?
The words begin to fly on screen. The male's verse is first.
Hikigaya takes a deep breath in...
And then drops the microphone, running to the door. He quickly grabs the knob and throws the door open, bolting out.
I'm momentarily stunned. I certainly wasn't expecting that. I don't think anybody was.
"Senpai!?" Isshiki shrieks in surprise.
Then I realize what he meant. "Follow my lead."
I drop my own microphone and run out the now open door.
"Kuroki-chan!" Hina calls out to me
"Wait, Kuroki-chan!" I hear Seaweed yelling from beyond the wall.
I see Hikigaya running ahead of me. He seems to slow his pace, as if waiting for me. I catch up to him quickly.
As we run though the lobby, the receptionist yells at us. "Hey! Stop!" He probably thinks we committed some sort of crime in the karaoke box.
Doesn't matter. No time to explain now.
We run out the door, and we're out on the street.
"This way!" He huffs quickly and runs to the right. I just follow.
When he stops, so do I. It's only then that I realize I'm out of breath.
As I'm huffing, I start to laugh at the ridiculousness of what we just did.
I have no idea why he did something so insane.
He laughs a little too, though not as much as me.
I try to ask him why he did that, but between panting and laughing, I can't catch my breath long enough to speak.
After a while, we manage to calm down.
"Hikigaya, why did you do that?"
"So you wouldn't have to sing." He says, as if it were obvious.
...
Wow. He really did have a plan the whole time.
"How did you know I'd follow you?"
"Simple," He begins, "you couldn't leave because you were too tense to confront them. All I had to do was break that tension. And it worked."
This guy really is something else. I sigh. "They probably think we're both wierdos now." I say humorously.
He gives me a blank look in response. "Who cares what people think of you?"
If only it were that easy for me, Hikigaya. How do you do it?
"...Anyway, was it necessary to just run out like a spastic?"
"Well, the alternative was that I pick a fight, and that would have just made life harder for both of us later."
I raise an eyebrow to that. "And what we did wouldn't?"
"Nah," he says casually, "from their perspective, you were just caught up in the moment. You'll see what I mean next time you see them."
He really did think of everything.
"Ah- but it makes you look bad, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. Don't care." He says offhandedly.
"Thank you, Hikigaya."
He breaks eye contact. "Don't mention it. You were having a bit of a freakout in there, I had to do something."
I stare at the ground and smile somberly. "Yeah, social anxiety, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember. I saw it when we met Haruno, too."
Ergh. I was trying to forget about that encounter.
"Yeah." I say softly.
A comfortable silence comes over us. Then I realize something.
"Hey, didn't you say you had to stick with Isshiki?"
"Ah, yeah. Well, there was a reason I had to, but it's fine. You needed help more than she did."
Huh. Kind of sounds like their date went bad.
"You sure it's okay like this?" I ask, more out of concern for him than anything.
"It's a little complicated, but the simplified version is that she needed me there for assurance."
"Assurance?" I don't understand that explanation in the slightest. I can't put it into any sort of context.
"Internal struggles."
"Oh." I still don't get it. "Does it have something to do with the fact that she was all over Hayama?"
"Sort of." He replies ambiguously. I feel like it's inappropriate to prod any further, so I don't say anything.
A comfortable silence passes over us, and we just relax for a bit.
Eventually, I realize we're loitering.
"Hey. What do we do now?"
"Well, looks like we're free to go home."
Yeah. We're free, thanks to him.
"looks like we are." I smile at him.
We start walking. We don't say much of anything after that, but I don't mind.
Eventually, our paths split. By now, the sun has gone down and there doesn't seem to be anyone around. At some point, the street lights came on.
"You don't need me to walk you home?" He offers.
"Nah, I'm only two blocks that way." I politely decline.
"Alright. See you tomorrow, I guess." He casually offers a farewell.
"Yeah. Hey, Hikigaya..."
"Don't mention it." He interjects before I can say anything. Seems like he knew I was gonna say thanks again.
This guy really is something else.
I giggle just a little. "Okay then. Good night Hikigaya."
"Yeah." And with that, we split off.
When I get home, I take a shower. After that, I get some instant noodles out of the cupboard. While they cook, I turn on my TV and console. When my 'dinner' is ready. I grab it and jump into my futon, and start my game. I heave a deep sigh, I can finally unwind.
I can't immerse myself in my game. I'm constantly distracted by the events of this afternoon. I was seriously freaking out. If Hikigaya didn't save my ass, I probably would have choked in front of everyone, and humiliated myself yet again.
Surprisingly, Hikigaya was pretty cool today.
With that thought, I curl up tighter into my futon.
Uh-oh, did I just give that ship permission to take off? Come back HachiTomo, you're not cleared to leave the dock yet! I think I accidentally bombed the Hachiroha ship too. I didn't mean to, it just sort of happened that way. Also consider that it's told from Tomoko's POV, who does not particularly like Kouhai-chan. So it might make her seem worse than she really is. Seems like Kouhai-chan doesn't like Tomoko that much either. Well, 8man doesn't mind, he knows Kouhai well enough to understand.
You might think Hikigaya breaking into a run is OOC. Well, maybe. But he did exhaust himself to solve Miura's request in V10, and he didn't even think twice about doing it either. Tomoko was having an anxiety attack and he cares about her more than Miura.
After this is the service club's weekend date, which we will see more of the old Hachiman and sort of emphasize how the people around him affect his personality. He's always done this, even in canon you'll notice every character gets a slightly different flavor of 8man. After that, I'll skim through the second week so we can catch up to chapter one.
Just a brief note about the direction of the story. So far, Yukino and Yui have basically been playing the same role. After the events of chapter one, this will start to change, and their characters will deviate a little more.
I haven't been doing much pop culture references lately, that's just due to me pumping through the story, I really want to get past the point of chapter 1 because then I have more freedom in my ideas and scripts. Tip for other amatuer writers, never start the first chapter of your first story with a flashforward.
...I've never been to karaoke either. Dead-end town and whatnot. I'm just making this shit up as I go.
If you're still into this story, could you drop a review? I read every single one and they make me want to write more. CnC is good for me, because I still have very limited experience in this. Even just a short one. Some tips or even ideas for future scenarios are much appreciated. Hey weewah, give me a good enough prompt and I might just write that IroHachi one. What do you say?
Even the lame reviews like 'pls update' or 'continues soon'. Thx bro.