A/N: Disclaimer: I do NOT own Oregairu or any of the characters. Their rightful owner is Wataru Watari. Highly recommend checking the light novel. Anyways I come with Chapter 5! Once again, I appreciate all reviews and those who critique my shit work! I'd like to present the option again: Do you want to see scenes of Hikigaya being abused by his family or not? I'd like to see you guys' thoughts on that. Okay let's get started already.

Chapter 5 – Idiotic Clique Troubles.

It's been a week since the tennis game where I sweeped the popular king and queen duo. The rumor has, since then, grown to an actual fact. The two probably thought they could get back at me by making them all hate on me for beating them. I'm not sure about Hayama but that sounds like something Miura would do.

But, it backfired. Most people revere me as a god at tennis now. Being able to sweep them apparently made more people know of my existence. That, is a good thing. Why? Because they know of my existence, but they don't know who I am. So, they don't immediately recognize me for a legend. I can still be alone! Stealth Hikki doesn't work though…

Now, you might wonder where I am at. Well, I am in the staff room, in front of Hiratsuka-sensei, she's checking a paper…. Is it just me or is the vague sense of Déjà vu surrounding this atmosphere?

"Hikigaya…. Why did you leave your workplace survey a blank?"

"I'm not sure if I will last long enough to work. And if the rare occasion happens where I have not ended things already, I wouldn't be so sure about my future career. Plus, I don't think It's easy for me to work anywhere without me getting insulted and turned away. Yukinoshita is the source on that one."

"Hikigaya, you can do it! Of course, Yukinoshita may seem annoying at first, but the more you get to know her, the more she'll open up to you. It just takes time, Hikigaya."

"They say Time heals all wounds, mine haven't healed yet..."

Hiratsuka-sensei looked slightly annoyed at my pessimism, but it might change at some point. I'll stay slightly optimistic in hopes of that soon. I've tried staying happy, it just gets hard, a burden if you will. Too heavy of a burden to carry to show that you are all okay when really, you aren't at all.

"Well, whatever. Make sure you write something in this time. Whatever you think would be enjoyable for you."

"Okaaaay..."

She stopped me from getting up from my seat though.

"One last thing I have to say."

"Go on."

"The workplace visit will be in groups of 3. You need to decide who you want in your group."

"That's going to be the hardest thing to decide of all if I'm gonna be completely honest."

"Eh, I don't think so. Considering what you said earlier I think that might be the easier part of the 2 parts of this workplace visit thing."

"I doubt that, but whatever you say Hiratsuka-sensei."

I get up and leave the room, walking in the hallway to the special building. I reach the clubroom, I open the door to find….. no one there? Huh, this is a surprise. Their bags are both there but the owners are absent. I might as well wait.

I wait for a few minutes, both of them don't show up. I get slightly impatient and walk out of the room, not giving a damn if they come back the moment I leave to find them. I'll traverse the whole school dammit! Where even are they!

I walk around the entire school and start checking the back of the school, to my pleasant surprise, I see a scene of 4 boys waiting for someone it looks like. And to my fears, they seem to be having…. Sharp knives. What. Who are they even gonna assassinate?!

My face turns from fear to horror as I see Yukinoshita walk up to them, through her expression I can see that she was asked to come here, her face not surprised on seeing the 4. Though, no doubt, she has not seen their weapons yet.

I had to use one of my 258 Skills that would allow me to hear what they were talking about.

"Hey. It seems you showed up. Good to know."

"I do not need to exchange pleasantries, now where is Hikigaya-kun."

Why did I come into this conversation? Wait a second…

They all start to laugh, much to Yukinoshita's annoyance.

"That boy? Hikigaya, right? We don't know where he is. We never knew."

"If all you wanted was just to waste my precious time searching for him then I must leave."

"Woah woah woah, where do you think you're going?"

One of them grabs onto her arm, then the rest of them surround her.

I get worried, very worried.

Why am I feeling worried anyway? She's just a clubmate Hachiman. She's just a clubmate. Though, I would never forgive myself if I left her here and let whatever is going to happen, happen. I won't allow it. I won't allow them.

But I didn't need to be worried as much as I really was.

"So you think the 4 of you are enough to just beat me? You think I will submit to you? You're living a lie, I tell you."

She says some words that I think should be in a quote book.

Before she roundhouse kicks 2 of them.

She managed to get out of their hold at this point. She was holding her own. It seems like she didn't need my help.

That is, until the 2 she had kicked to the ground instantly got up.

One of them had sweeped her off her feet, she didn't fall but she was off balance. The other 3 took this as a chance to restrain her properly this time.

At this point, my blood was boiling. I could not take any more of this.

I walked as fast as I could but as light as I could so they couldn't hear me. They were taunting Yukinoshita since they got her arms and legs, rendering her immobile. They hadn't noticed me at all…

Yukinoshita was crying for some reason not all that much but I was close enough to notice, she seemed to be whispering something but I couldn't quite catch it.

Enough is enough.

I take 2 of their heads and slam them onto each other. The other 2 rush at me after leaving Yukinoshita unrestrained. She didn't want to move. That was fine with me. She seemed relieved. That was all I needed to see.

I kick one of the guy's head hard, to this he stumbles back. The other one is much more…. Weighted. I can't think of any other word other than that. He was in the position to tackle me. I sidestep his poor attempt and elbow strike his back. He fell to the floor.

Four knocked out. No casualties or bleeding. I was proud of how well I held myself back.

I reel back from the adrenaline rush I just had and focus on something else.

Yukinoshita was having a relieved expression while her face was wet with some tears. Didn't know she would cry over that. Maybe Hiratsuka-sensei is right after all in what she said…

I walk over to her and offer her my hand. She looks at it for a bit, surprised.

"Hey, can you get up Yukinoshita?"

"I-I can get up just fine Hikigaya-kun"

"Oh okay then."

I take my hand back, but suddenly I feel something grasping my hand. It seems like she took my hand after all.

She got up and dusted off her skirt, her hand still holding mine, somewhat getting tighter while she dusts off her uniform.

I blush a little at this, I didn't think I'd see this for a view in my entire life. I should die now right God of Romcoms? I will die with no regrets!

"A-Arigato, Hikigaya-kun. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there."

"I was there for some time, I wondered what they were up to. Then you showed up. It seems they underestimated the both of us."

"Hm? Whatever do you mean, Hikigaya-kun?"

"Ah, you didn't notice. They had sharp knives on them."

"Ah! You mean…"

"Yeah, if I didn't intervene and you still struggled against them, they would have used those knives."

She shudders beside me. I tell Yukinoshita to call the teachers and that they were trying to fight and that they had knives on them.

After that, we walked side-by-side back to the clubroom. Yukinoshita was not happy however.

"Hikigaya-kun, where even were you? I had searched for you around the entire campus along with Yuigahama-san and we never found you!"

"That would be because Hiratsuka-sensei pulled me into the Teacher's office for a while to just scold me and tell me to reconsider my workplace visit survey."

"When I finished that, I went to the clubroom and found no one there. I waited for a few minutes, no one showed up. I started searching for you guys at that point."

She breathed an immense sigh of relief, very loud sigh. I wonder why. Maybe because she can't afford to do all of that walking?

Yukinoshita contacts Yuigahama to tell her that she found me, it was a silent agreement between us that we would not mention this incident to her. We would only mention this to Hiratsuka-sensei, who would deal with it from there.

….

It has been a week since that incident with Yukinoshita and those 4 guys. I've seen them around the school, they seem to notice me and just make way.

It seems me and Yukinoshita switch places often, as now I talk with her sometimes if she's okay after that. Though she gets mad about it, huffs, turns away and says she's fine with a light blush.

I just shrug whenever she does so and go to my chair in the center of the room.

It was a normal day in comforting silence, Me, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama were doing our own thing. Ever since a week ago, I exchanged numbers with Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, so they can call me if they ever need to find me.

We hear someone knocking on the door. Yukinoshita, as usual, responds first.

"Come in."

The door slides open to reveal….

"Ah! Hello! This is the Service club, right?"

"You were informed correctly, Hayama-kun."

Hayama Hayato. The one of 2 people I trashed in tennis 2 weeks ago.

I wasn't happy to see him, he wasn't happy to see me.

He was hiding his innate slight of face when he noticed me, which I was fine with.

"Ahaah… Hiratsuka-sensei told me to come here, man I had a hard time getting excused from my clu-."

"We do not want to hear the stories, Hayama-kun. What may your request be?"

"Well, It's about this…"

Hayama pulls out his phone, turns the phone on, and shows some kind of message.

"Oh, it's that weird text…"

It seems Yuigahama knows about this "text" too.

"Tobe is a delinquent…Yamato is a three timer….Ooka uses unfair tactics to crush enemy teams…. It's a chain letter."

It very much seemed like Yukinoshita had experience with one. I wouldn't be surprised. She went to the window next to her seat. As if, reminiscing.

"A chain letter. Without giving out the user's name or face, they slander the other person relentlessly."

Yeah, she had real experience in this.

"Yeah, the atmosphere in the classroom has been bad ever since this started popping up last weekend."

Hayama looked as if he realized what Yukinoshita was gonna do.

"I-I don't necessarily want to find the person in charge of this though, I just want to make it stop."

"But there is only one way to make this stop, and that is to find the culprit and eliminate them, I'm the source on that."

Slightly shocked by that word,

"You've had this happen to you?" Yuigahama said.

"You eliminated them?" I responded to the word "eliminate". There are different ways to use the word eliminate, but the only way she used it was with a cold tone. Telling me that if I messed up like that, I would get sent to jail. Now I'm considering it…..

"Regardless, any such human who commits such an act deserves to die. This is how I do things."

She turns back to us, Hayama and Yuigahama still standing, me sitting down. You know, I might just do that. It would be efficient, in ways only few know.

Everyone turns to me, silent, as if speechless.

Wait a second…..

"Did I say that out loud? My baaad."

Yuigahama seems worried but slightly relieved at my comical choice of tone. Yukinoshita however knows better. We never told Yuigahama about my situation and don't think it's best to tell her now. Hayama ignores it, as I expected.

"Anyway, Ignoring Hikigaya-kun here. When did this chain letter start circulating?"

"Around last weekend, right?" Hayama looks to Yuigahama while saying so.

"Yes, last weekend!" Yuigahama responds with an exclamation.

"Did anything of significance happen for this chain letter to start circulating?"

"Ah… I don't think so."

"Me neither… sorry Yukinon."

"Its okay Yuigahama-san. Hikigaya-kun."

"Mm?"

"Did anything happen last weekend?"

"Not much I remember… oh wait."

"Hm?"

A flashback puts itself at the front of my mind at the right time.

"Workplace Visit?"

"Ah that… It's because we have to form groups…"

…

"I think I know who did it!"

"Care to explain, Yuigahama-san?"

"These group events tend to change relationships between people, some people are really sensitive about that."

"The workplace visit is 3 to one group, meaning that one of the four would be left out. Someone would want to get one of the others knocked out."

"So, you say that one of them is the culprit? You have no doubts?"

"I have none."

I say fast so that I cut off Hayama to have him feel annoyed.

"W-Wait a second here, I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet, the text is talking about all three of them, it cant possibly be one of them… right?"

"Normally, the person who is getting accused of doing the chain letter is the one who uses that excuse."

Hayama turns to me, annoyed. I feel happy just to see his annoyed face. Heh, I really am a sadist, aren't I?

"Ara, Hikigaya-kun, wonderful insight, however that begs the question. Have you experienced events like this before?"

"Not exactly. During middle school, one chain letter was made about a girl in a class, stuff like, she bullied some girls, she cheated for her exams… and that she was a rude person who would beat others. I didn't know stuff like that existed until that moment."

"That seems awfully similar to my chain letter that I had in my middle school…"

I shrug at what she said. I didn't really care anyways. I continued with that story.

"I got involved in it, not by taking the blame, but defending the girl who was slandered in the chain letter. Most people hated me after that but that was fine."

"…"

Yukinoshita had her eyes wide as if she realized something huge. I don't know why but I just brush it off for now.

"Anyway, back to the actual topic. What do you suppose we do about this thing?"

"I need to ask first, Hayama-kun, can you describe them for me?"

She pulls out a notepad and pen, the pen tapping on the notepad, ready to write something at the speed of light.

"Tobe looks like a bad guy, but he's more like a cheerful leader, he takes a proactive role whenever we hang out, he's a great guy."

"Easily excited… Knows how to make a ruckus… Is that all?"

Yuigahama and Hayama look at her, surprised that THAT's what she came up with when Hayama gave a wholesome description. Meanwhile, I'm not that surprised.

"What's wrong? Go on."

"A-ah, Yamato is a good listener, he's pretty chill and marches to the beat of his own drum, He gives you this sense of security, he's a great guy.

"He's slow to respond and indecisive…"

Yuigahama's eyes look as if the room was so dark she had to widen them so much so that she could see a little bit.

"Ooka is great with people, I always see him helping someone out, He's got a nice personality, he's a great g—."

"An opportunist who watches others for the right moment to strike."

Everyone isn't surprised by her last description. Hayama is slightly tensed over Yukinoshita casually dissing his friends.

"Any of them could be the culprit. Hayama-kun's descriptions aren't of much help. I even think of Hikigaya-kun in higher regard than this. What do you two think of them?"

Hey! Kinda rude using ME as a comparison Yukinoshita!

"I don't know what to think…."

"Who are they again?"

Yukinoshita slowly face palms and releases a sigh in exasperation.

"Yuigahama-san, could you investigate them for me?"

"I don't know about that…"

"I'm sorry, this is not as glamorous as a mystery novel."

"Fine, I'll deal with it."

They all look at me, Yukinoshita pleading for an explanation while the others look in surprise. Kind of offending not gonna lie.

"I'll just sit back and observe. Finding faults within friend groups is one of my 258 Skills."

"Arigato Hikigaya-kun. May I trust in you that you can investigate them?"

"You can trust me for this. It will be efficient too."

If Hayama wasn't happy with my idea and wanted to punch me in the face, he was hiding it but I was observant, I could see it in a blink of an eye.

"So, we let Hikigaya-kun investigate first, and then if he fails which if what he says is true, is highly unlikely, then Yuigahama-san can investigate."

"Yukinon! Can I do it first please?"

Yuigahama goes way into Yukinoshita's personal space, so she backs up while looking away from Yuigahama, blushing slightly.

"I see."

Yuigahama tries to jump on her at this point, but in the blink of an eye, I stand right next to Yukinoshita, hold her hand and yank her away from Yuigahama's grasp. Though I may have made Yukinoshita dizzy while spinning her around to my left. Yuigahama missed thanks to that. She looks at me and pouts.

"Mou, Hikki! You're such a creep!"

She tries to punch me lightly. I could tell, she wouldn't actually punch me in the face for real. But by instinct I dodge her punches. Only one thought courses through my mind as Yuigahama tries to attack me.

Maybe I need to tone down on my reflexes a bit, I just don't want to get hit at school though. I already get hit there so why here too?

After successfully tiring out Yuigahama, she and Yukinoshita talk with each other for a bit.

Me and Hayama just stand back and watch as they talk.

"You guys get along well. You get along with them too, Hikitani-kun."

"Shut up. Don't even try mispronouncing my name like that on purpose when you already know my actual name."

Hayama doesn't respond. I think about the possibility of a 4th member named Hikitani-kun, that would be funny.

…

I'm in our class, 2-F. Just idling by, glancing at Hayama's clique while yawning.

Yuigahama comes up to me discreetly.

"You don't need to do anything for now!"

"That's good news for me, so what are you going to do exactly?"

"I'll ask the girls what they think. Girls would definitely know more about relationships in class. And if you talk about someone you both hate, you can get carried away and say a lot of things!"

"Girl talk sounds scary…."

"Anyway, I'll do it! So, don't worry!"

"Well, if I even bothered to try asking around, they would just say "Who're you?" It's all yours."

She gives a huff of confidence and goes back to her friends. She says a lot of controversial stuff, then the brown haired girl with glasses starts going out of control, making a scene. I just sighed and went to sleep, I needed rest…

…

"Sorry! I couldn't find out anything about them!"

"Well, it's my turn now. I'll deal with this."

"Okay, Hikigaya-kun. Let's hope that you don't tarnish your so called popularity."

"Haha. I won't. You don't need to worry about that. Actually that should be the least of your worries."

"I can't help but worry either way when it's you Hikigaya-kun."

"Fair enough."

…

One of my 258 Skills, Human Observation. Only 30% of Human communication is done through speech, the remaining 70% is done through eye movements and small gestures. With this, I find faults in people and cliques. A versatile and useful skill.

I observe and hear them talking. They are on first-name basis. That is evidence that they are friends. They talk as if they enjoy their youth. I don't envy them. Hayama notices my stare after some time, he excuses himself from them and walks towards me.

"Have you found anything about them yet?"

"Eh, not really."

I look behind Hayama, and see his clique all not talking with eachother, doing other things and using their phones.

This piques my interest. I think I may have found out the reason and cause…

Identify the cause and reason and use whatever you have to eliminate the problem. I have the prerequisites. I am fully prepared to take action now.

"I figured something out."

"Hm? Really? What is it?"

He looks at me as if he didn't expect me to actually find a problem in his clique. He underestimates me I see.

"Let's go back to the clubroom."

…

"So, Hikigaya-kun, did you figure it out?"

"I don't know who did it, but at this point it's negligible. I realized something crucial. Something that can end these Idiotic clique troubles. Those 3 are "Hayama's" clique. Simply put, it only exists because of Hayama."

"I wouldn't say that…"

"Tell me something, Hayama. Have you seen how they act when you leave them alone?"

"No, I haven't."

"When you leave them to their devices, they don't talk that much. To each of them, you're a friend. But to each other, they're friends of a friend."

"If what you said is true Hikigaya-kun, it still reinforces the fact that the culprit is among them. I still believe we need to determine the culprit to solve the problem itself."

"You see, Yukinoshita. I have a better method."

"Please explain then Hikigaya-kun."

"With this method, we won't need to find the culprit, they may even become friends."

"Hayama, want to know how?"

I look back and give a sick grin. Yuigahama and Hayama seem to distrust me, but Yukinoshita seems to analyze my grin, squints her eyes for a few seconds and then nods in approval.

It seems she figured it out. I'm impressed.

…

It seems they're talking like friends now. It seems my machinations have worked. I have successfully completed the request. I feel relieved. Was I tensed? No, its something else.. But what is it? Only time may tell.

Really, I did nothing. I just dragged Hayama into the way of the loner. If the reason they were fighting amongst each other was because of him. Then just remove him from the picture and all is well.

"I appreciate what you did, Hikigaya. Your methods actually worked, I'm surprised."

"That's weird that you didn't have any confidence in me to begin with but that's fine. Not like I needed confidence from you of all people anyway."

He chuckles lightly.

"Hey, Hikigaya, you want to join my group for the workplace visit?"

"Sure, I don't have a group. And that's one less thing for Hiratsuka-sensei to nag at me about. So, yeah, sure."

Totsuka complained to me about the fact that I was joining a group and he wanted to join too. So we 3 were a group now. We wrote our group and members on the board at the back of the class, but then everyone else wanted to be in Hayama's group too so I got kinda left out. Oh well, That's fine with me. I go back to the clubroom which is filled with the atmosphere of nice, comforting silence. I go back to the place I could call home easier than the house I live in.

A/N: Ughhhhh, I wrote this over the span of 2 days because school was starting to put me on a frickin tight time table. Can't wait for June already man. As you can tell, I rushed to get this fic out, so I left more of the finer details I could have added and just took the dialogue from the anime and put it in here. Some would say I'm cutting corners, but I need to relax here. I opened this word doc and started working on it for 2 days with every single distraction in the world near me and i still managed to finish this. I might need a break for a day. I'll make progress on chapter 6 on Thursday, but on Friday I need to chill for a bit. I wont get burnt out that easily though! I once again appreciate all the reviews I have gotten so far and all the criticism I have got! It helps me out a ton to make the chapters better and better later on. So, this is Isuckatnaming leaving because I need to relax for a bit and sleep. Cya guys on Saturday hopefully.