A/N: Slightly AU.

First Encounter

Slow, steady, electronic beeps rang though his ears seemingly matching the rate of his heart and that of his own slow, steady, breathing. Although numb of mind, the boy finds the strength to open his eyes only to find himself encompassed by bright lights, a sea of white, and a hint of yellow. He found himself laying in a hospital bed with his upper half propped up so his eyes can face the adjacent wall rather than the ceiling above. He blinked for an instant with only mild surprise registering in his mind.

Perhaps the drugs still had an influence.

At that very moment, the boy came to realize something – something he had failed to notice the very moment he opened his eyes – the boy can't feel his legs.

His eyes rapidly scanned the lower half of the bed and a wave of relief gushed over when he found that he still had both his legs. His right leg looked mostly intact, just some cuts and bruises here and there. However, his left leg was encased in plaster and propped up at an angle.

It turns out that the drugs really did have an influence. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him. At least he is thankful he still has his legs.

"Onii-chan, you're finally awake!" The excited voice of a young girl cut through his clouded consciousness. She had been sitting by the left side of the bed waiting for him to wake up.

"Uhh...urr…Ko...Ko...Komachi? What..What ha-happened? Why...Why am I here?" The boy struggled to find the right words to say. Drug-induced lethargy impeded him in both mind and body. In his current situation, his motor skills were not up to par.

"You got hit by a car earlier this morning saving a girl's dog. You'll be here for a while." His younger sister Komachi began. "You're such an idiot, Onii-chan! You really shouldn't have done something so stupid! Komachi was super worried you know!" Komachi scolded her elder brother for his idiocy. He felt a small pang of guilt for worrying his younger sister so greatly.

"S...S...Sorry..." A simple apology was all that he could manage to say.

"At least you're all right. Komachi is happy." Komachi gave a bright, thankful smile and pulled her brother into a tight hug. "By the way Onii-chan, the girl whose dog you saved earlier today is waiting outside. She was waiting by your side when I was finally able to visit. She even skipped her first day of high school just to be with you! Pretty cute huh?"

"O-Oh?"

"Yeah." Komachi opened the room's door and stuck her head and half her body out the entryway gesturing to someone. "Yui-san, please come inside!"

A young girl roughly his age entered the room. She had medium length, dark brown hair and sported no makeup. Her attire consisted of pink bear patterned pajamas pants, a grey hoodie, and black flip flops. She was beautiful in a plain sort of way.

Komachi pointed at the girl standing next to her, "Onii-chan, this is Yuigahama Yui. She is the owner of the dog you saved. She goes to the same school as you do!" Komachi then gestured at her elder brother, "Yui-san, this is Hikigaya Hachiman, my one and only Onii-chan!"

"H-Hello...H-Hi...Hiki-Hikigaya-kun..." Yui began, nervousness laced in her voice. "Thank you for saving my dog Sable earlier today. I can't thank you enough." She finished with a bow of deference, displaying her gratitude for the boy.

"Uhh...no...no...problem..."

Seeing as Komachi had left the room, Yui took Komachi's seat by Hachiman's bedside and sat down. She hardly made any sort of eye contact with him. She couldn't help but feel somewhat intimidated by the sour expression on his face. Was he like that because he was in pain? Or was he like that because he was pissed off at her? It was understandable if he was angry with her. Still, she was hoping it was not the latter. She didn't want him to hate her.

However, Yuigahama Yui did not know that it was simply his default expression forged by his own issues and personal experiences over the years.

An uncomfortable heaviness filled the atmosphere and there was silence between the two. Tightly gripping the fabric of her pajama pants with both her hands, Yui nervously began, "So you are going to Sobu too, Hikigaya-kun?" She didn't take her eyes off her lap.

"...Yeah."

"What class?" She asked.

"First year...1-F..."

Hearing those words perked Yui up a bit. "Hey! We're in the same year! How cool!" She beamed with newfound enthusiasm.

"Oh..." He weakly replied. It was all Hachiman could really manage.

"Ehehe...I-I guess it's really hard to speak right now huh? I can imagine...I'm so sorry Hikki..." Yui laughed nervously and fidgeted as she spoke. She was genuinely apologetic and she hoped he understood that.

'Hikki?' He raised a brow at that. It was the first time in his life that anyone decided to call him by an affectionate nickname.

"...H-Hikki?" He said out loud.

"Oh sorry!" Yui frantically waved both her hands in an apologetically defensive fashion. "Do you prefer to be called Hikigaya-kun?"

"Mmm..." Hachiman merely grunted. His eyes were getting heavy and he could hardly maintain focus.

She didn't know what to make of that response but she knew she was starting to overstay her welcome. She rose off her chair and gently put her right hand on Hachiman's left shoulder. "I should let you rest. Hopefully I'll see you at school soon. It was nice to meet you. Take care, Hikki!"

"...Mmm..."

Hachiman's eyes slowly trailed on the girl who is now making her way out of the infirmary. He heard Yui speak her goodbyes in a muffled dialogue to his younger sister who waited outside the room.

'...What a nice girl...' he thought callously to himself before drifting into a peaceful slumber.

He didn't have the strength, the heart, and the capacity to tell Yuigahama Yui that he hated nice girls.

It had been a few days since the accident and Hachiman remained trapped in his hospital bed. In his current condition, the doctors were not ready to discharge him. He would have to remain in his bed for the next couple weeks. Unable to leave, Komachi supplied him with his light novel and PS Vita collection to pass the time.

It was unfortunate that he had missed making his high school debut. It was an opportunity to finally discard his loner lifestyle and make some friends. Of course, fate had other plans for Hikigaya Hachiman. He was destined to enter high school alone. He remained somewhat bitter to that.

He was bitter for being a careless idiot risking his life to save some stranger's dog.

He was bitter at Yuigahama Yui for being a careless idiot for not having proper control of her dog.

He was bitter at the anonymous driver for sending him to the hospital.

As Hachiman bitterly reflected on the bitter circumstances that made him quite bitter, one source of his bitterness, Yuigahama Yui, enthusiastically entered his hospital room with a manila folder in hand.

"Yahallo Hikki!" Yui flashed Hachiman a radiant smile as she entered. Hachiman, however, wasn't quite as enthused.

"Who the hell are you?" He snapped.

Yuigahama's expression turned to one of anger before quickly realizing she was somewhat unrecognizable with her now pink-dyed hair and makeup. "Oh...Ehehe...I guess you don't recognize me huh? Um...Uhh...I'm Yuigahama Yui. You saved my dog a couple days ago. Remember?"

"Oh." A monotone reply.

"Y-You're...You're not too happy to see me, are you?" Yui mumbled rather dejectedly. Her shoulders slumped as she took a seat by his bedside.

"Well, seeing as you are the reason why I'm trapped in this bed, I'm not particularly happy to see you. I was supposed to have my high school debut!" He exclaimed.

"...Sorry..." A weak reply from Yuigahama.

Afterwards, the two avoided making eye contact with each other. Hachiman's eyes were firmly planted on his book while Yui was busy texting away on her smartphone.

"Hey...How are you holding up?" Yui began as she continued texting away. She didn't take her eyes away from her smartphone.

"I'm fine." Hachiman replied as he continued to read his book.

"Oh...That's good…How long are you gonna stay here?"

"Roughly three weeks. The doctors aren't ready to discharge me yet."

"That sucks..."

"Damn straight."

Hachiman took his eyes off his book at gazed at the "new" Yuigahama Yui. By his own standards, he found her to be quite cute – beautiful even. Though far from world-class, Yuigahama definitely didn't disappoint in the looks department. Her makeup accentuated her best features and her now peach-pink dyed hair matched her cheerfully rosy disposition. She was common beauty in his eyes.

He found it quite odd that she was willing to associate herself with him. Other than that one act of dashing heroics, he thought Yuigahama had no reason to stay. She already apologized. Although he didn't hate himself, he believed that he had absolutely no redeeming qualities in the eyes of others.. People always saw him as a piece of trash – garbage to be discarded and thrown away. Girls always found him to be repulsive and disgusting and he found them to be bitches and whores.

In a way, she was like a yin to his yang. While he considers himself to be aloof, cold, and bitter, Yuigahama is outgoing, warm, and expressive. He is the tired jaded cynic. She is the energetic wide-eyed idealist.

As such, he couldn't fathom why she wanted to stay by his side as she currently is doing.

'Yuigahama Yui truly is a nice girl.' He thought.

And that made him quite bitter.

"Hikki..." Yui muttered weakly. Hachiman blinked rapidly for a moment, pulling himself back to reality. He realized a blushing Yuigahama was avoiding eye contact with him. "...You're staring at me.."

"Oh sorry..." Hachiman tore his eyes away from Yuigahama and scratched the back of his head nervously. His own cheeks were now flushed. "My bad."

"It's okay."

Turning back to Yuigahama, Hachiman's eyes fell to the manila folder that lay planted on her lap. A curious sight. Yuigahama was clutching onto the folder with a tight grip – as if she didn't want to let it go.

"Yuigahama."

Having garnered Hachiman's attention, Yuigahama turned to face him. "What's up Hikki?"

"What is in that folder you're holding?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot!" She put her phone inside her bag and opened the manila folder so he can see its contents. "It's your assignments for the week, Hikki. Since you're unable to come to school, I volunteered to bring these to you. I'll be doing this every week until you're finally ready to come back to school."

"Mmm...Thanks Yuigahama..."

"No problem! It's the least I could do for you! You risked your life to save Sable! I can't thank you enough!"

Yuigahama laid the manila folder on the nightstand by his bedside. From the inside of her bag, the quiet vibration of her can be heard whirring through the air.

"It must be my mom." She said as she rummaged through her bag. "I asked her to pick me up at the hospital."

Yuigahama answered her phone. "Hi Mama! I'll be down in a moment…Uh huh...Uh huh...Uh...HUH?! Mama! N-No! I-It's not like that! Geez..." She hung up her phone and turned to Hachiman with cheeks flushed. "Ehehe...How embarrassing...I have to go now Hikki. Bye Bye!"

"Later."

Yuigahama briskly exited Hachiman's hospital room. His eyes fell on the manila folder that she had left on his nightstand that contained his make-up work. It was awfully generous of her to set aside some of her precious free time to come visit him at the hospital.

'Yuigahama is such a nice girl' He thought to himself. He had to remind himself that he hated nice girls. It was the only thing he could believe in with complete confidence. Still, despite his held opinion that he hates nice girls, with regards to Yuigahama Yui, a sweet girl who hasn't treated him with genuine disdain right from the get-go, he thought that maybe…

Maybe…

Maybe he could make an exception.

A/N: It's refreshing not having to adhere to the first-person. I feel a little more in my element in the third-person. At times, it is hard trying to capture Hachiman's mindset. Honestly, I'm jelly at how spot-on other authors are able to capture the dynamics and the personalities of Hachi and his peers. Truly, you all have my admiration and respect. :D