The wind was tapping against the window. The sound attracted my attention as I reflexively looked through it.

Mingled in the noise of the wind were several voices, but I ignored them.

I only paid attention to the wind as if it would tell me something. It entrusted me with something to do, yet I couldn't hear it. Day after day, I tried to understand.

Eventually, this situation called every day would get packaged and be sent to the depths of my memories and I undoubtedly would try to justify calling it a memory.

It was just a matter of time before I would do so.

Time was medicine to everything or so they say, but that was wrong. Time was nothing but slow inducing poison. It was something meant to end things and get you to give up on things, slowly eroding the things of the past.

And above all else...

The things I took for granted, I no longer have them.

It became completely dark out as I was reading my book.

It was Saturday evening and I was at a coffee shop to kill some time. After watching a movie I decided to stop here for some coffee and to relax before going home.

However, as always my peace is disrupted by someone.

This unexpected meeting had caused my body to stiffen up.

"Yahallo Hikigaya-kun!" spoke up the nuisance when she approached me.

Seriously, just how does she find me every time?

"Yo."

Seeming unsatisfied with my greeting she said:

"Ehh? Is that how you greet your older sister? I expected more from you Hikigaya-kun... also I'm going to sit here as well!"

"Ah sure. Do what you want."

"Oh? Then you wouldn't mind if I sit 'next' to you?"

Even if I refused you would sit here anyway, wouldn't you?

"Like I said, do what you want."

She sat down and ordered coffee.

Still even though we are separated by just a few inches, I became fully aware of how Yukinoshita Haruno, objectively, was an existence that attracted attention.

"So? What are you doing here?"

That was the only thing that left my mouth.

When she got her coffee she poured in milk and sugar and used her spoon to mix it. And then she made an incredibly amused, wicked smile.

Ugh, your face looked a lot blacker than the coffee.

"Just here to check out how my little brother in law is doing at school recently. As the older sister, of course I need to know, right?"

"Again, I'm not your little brother in law..."

Surely, by saying that she needs to 'know', she has probably heard something.

"Hikigaya-kun."

"Hm?"

"Are you into blonde girls?"

The smile she made earlier wasn't the same smile she made now. It was much more frightening and sly.

"W-Well I certainly don't hate them." I replied but not without stuttering a bit.

Why the hell am I getting nervous?

But now, her smile grew even wider. Then her next question confirmed my suspicions.

"Well I'm sure you wouldn't hate them. After all, there was one who made you lunch yesterday, wasn't there?"

"Aren't you awfully well informed?"

"Don't mind the small details Hikigaya-kuuun... Now, what do you think about her?"

She gets even closer to my face while tilting her head slightly. I could now smell the scent of her perfume even more now.

"I don't know why I would need to answer that."

"You're no fun..." she said with a disappointed expression.

"Don't you have someone else to bother?"

"That's right and the only person who really ever gives me the time is just Hikigaya-kun you see..."

She purposely pretended to break into tears. Whoaaa, she's so bothersome.

After that we sat in silence drinking the remaining coffee from our cups.

I finished my coffee first and decided to stand up.

"I'm going home now."

Haruno however, seemed to be thinking about something, so before I left she asked me this:

"What about Service club?"

"You didn't hear anything about that?" I replied with my back turned.

"No, Yukino-chan doesn't say anything about it."

Well that is surprising. I thought that for sure she knew about it. Well I guess she at least deserves to know this much.

"I was asked to leave the club."

"Oh? By who?"

"By myself" I lied through my teeth and left.

Was there any meaning in trying to prolong something that was bound to end?

Eventually, you'll lose everything. This was an absolute truth.

But still, one day, sure enough, you'll look back on things you had lost as if they were treasures you had come to adore.

In that moment I could recognize the feeling.

And so, the person who was the most responsible for that loss...

...was me.

The street lamps illuminated the path I walked on. Cars emitted the tail lights as they sped along the road.

Moon was hidden behind the clouds and I was not able to see any stars.

Beyond that, it was just an all-encompassing darkness.

Then my phone vibrated once in my pocket.

I fished out my phone and looked at the text I got.

Yumiko : 'Can we talk, like now?'

Ah, it was Miura. I forgot that I gave her my number.

As expected of the queen, demanding to immediately talk instead of saying 'please' at the end. Totally not cute.

Me: 'What do you want?'

Yumiko : 'Tomorrow, station at 10 AM. We need to talk about something important.'

Really now? I thought about declining but I was rather curious about the 'something important' part.

Me: 'Alright, but if it's something bothersome I am directly going back home.'

The reply came in about 5 seconds. How fast are your fingers? Texting suddenly became a scary thing for me. I definitely can't keep up with that.

Yumiko : 'Jeez, just how much you hate working? Don't worry, you just have to listen and give me your opinion on something. Also, dress nicely.'

Well at least it's not anything unreasonable but that last bit was really unnecessary!

Just how troublesome is my life going to get?

And with that thought in mind, I continued my journey home.

Again, thank you for reading this story.

In this chapter I did not reveal much but we could see how Hikigaya blames himself for something he did. More will be revealed about the Service club in the next chapter when he meets Miura.

Next chapter will probably be longer than the usual 1k words ones so at least expect that.