[Nanashi]

Sometimes, the past is just best left forgotten.

Not everyone can be said as possessing the same kind of emotional strength needed in order to confront the demons that continue to haunt us until this very day. Not everyone can be said as possessing the same number of people ready to help them at a moment's notice.

It is because of even the smallest of these discrepancies that every individual has his or her own way of dealing with the troubles brought by unfortunates events prior to the present. Some cope up through meaningful talks with people involved with the problem or are at least knowledgeable of it, others may just choose to face their troubles head on and accept the world as it is. Rare are the kind who belong to the latter, because not everyone sees the world as it is, and because there exist more people who like to lie to themselves than believe the truth.

Despite having come to terms with reality, I can't really say I've developed any kind of foolproof way to get through the horrors (exaggeration alert!) of my past. Granted, there have been times I chose to run away because I was a spineless idiot—however, a lot has changed, and perhaps I am more grateful now more than ever that I changed for the better, including the methods I employ to confront my demons.

But as I've said, there are just some things worth forgetting. Things that don't need to be remembered, not because they teach nothing, but because the mistake done just ended up becoming a full-blown catastrophe that shreds the very fabric of existence. However, since the rom-com gods like to mess with the males of the Hikigaya name, forgetting is such a futile effort in and of itself.

Long story short: for someone like me, the very act of forgetting? In the end, it doesn't even matter. [1]

Why doesn't it matter? Because my past continues to hound me to the present.

"How have you been?"

Ladies and gentlemen of the court, I present Exhibit A.

Her smile is disarming, her eyes twinkling with mirth. Even as I tried to put my guards up, I can't help but relax around her sincerity. After all, she still seems like as she has always been to me—an open book.

I sighed. There wasn't really any use running away or trying to detest her—who was I kidding? Yuigahama was a Nice Girl for the sake of being genuinely nice, and that was something I could get behind on.

Hikari-tan, please don't kill me.

"As well as I could be." She takes a moment to assess my looks, perhaps trying to see if I was being truthful about my health. A nod confirms her agreement to my rather curt answer.

"Fufu. Seems that you are. You never did like lying to me, Hikki!" I can't help but smile a bit at her smug expression.

"Of course I'm fine. Hikari's been taking care of me after all."

"… So she has."

The temperature felt… a little colder. This was bad—I now had one foot into the minefield. I have to tread lightly in the conversation. Obviously, Hikari was still a sore spot for her after all these years, and I can't help but feel guilty all over again for having rejected the feelings she had.

Safe question, safe question… Ah!

"H-How's your daughter, by the way?"

Yuigahama brightens up from the question. Score! That was so totally high in Nanashi points! "Yui-chan's been a lively ball of fluff! Well, she might not be the brightest bulb in the store, but she's definitely got spirit! And sass! Fufu!"

… Yuigahama-san, I may not be the perfect basis for saying what good parenting is, but casually insulting your child like that isn't great you know? Even if you follow up with her redeeming qualities, it still comes off as something done in bad taste, you know?

But then again, this is a great opportunity for… "Oh? So you're saying she's just like her mother?"

Yuigahama tilted her head in confusion, and soon enough pouts in protest to what I was insinuating. "Geez~! We Yuigahamas more than make up for brains with our looks, you know?!"

I totally understand, Yuigahama-san. It seems that what you lost in IQ was more than made up for by… other parts of your… ahem, anatomy.

Wait, did this mean her daughter was just as stacked as she is?! Or her mother, for that instance?! How about her sister, if she had one?!

… Urgh, bad Nanashi. I really, really shouldn't go there.

"… Hikki, you haven't changed at all. Your sense of humor's still twisted, and the way you're staring at me is still as gross as back in college. Did your eyes get worse or something?"

"Well, I'm sorry! We Hikigayas more than make up for our bad habits with our dastardly good looks!" Apologize to my ancestors, right now, Yuigahama-san. We have endured our suffering under the rom-com gods for far too long now, so no need to add insult to injury! And stop laughing!

With the atmosphere this relaxed, her giggling became infectious and finally both of us found ourselves laughing. Perhaps… it was quite unfair of me to just judge her as part of my unsavory past all because she had become part of something I would rather not keep remembering.

And because I knew that she, too, had her own set of rough circumstances, I had to cut her some slack from her troubles and still try to be a good fr—acquaintance, even if some things about us have changed.

Whether it was for better or for worse, I wouldn't know for sure.

"Are you still taking care of your daughter alone?" The light in her eyes dimmed for moment, and so did the bright exterior she normally exuded.

Guh, strike two for another bad question. Landmine triggered. Doom imminent.

"You don't have to answ—"

"I'm getting by. Well, even if I'm alone, at least she has all the love she can get, right? Besides, if that man were still around… if it wasn't for Hikki helping out… I…"

The thought of her ex-husband always left something boiling deep within me.

At first, when I'd heard that she got married with a well-off man, and was genuinely in a romantic relationship, I was extremely relieved—not because I had one less crazy ex-girlfriend to worry about, but because she finally had someone better than me who could give her a chance in happiness. Though we've never been able to get that chance for closure, I was satisfied with the fact that she'd been able to move on.

And then life threw her a curve ball.

Her former husband, turning out to be one of the employees in the company I worked in, had turned out to be involved in an embezzlement issue in the financial department. He was in a position where he had an advantageous placement in the office, but what had eventually given him away was that he got sloppier and sloppier in keeping his tracks hidden. Pride was really a downfall.

Once I had discovered his identity and pulled out all—and I do mean all—existing records pertaining to him, the devil overcame me and I relentlessly poured all of my efforts into getting rid of the damn bug.

The bug loved to drink and gamble.

The bug had a history of similar crimes to three separate companies, with which he had expertly avoided.

I quashed the pest by getting him to prison, and had gotten him a long prison sentence stemming from multiple violations of law, along with all of his history; hell, I even got him setup as the cellmate for all the other people I had sent to prison for getting involved with him.

Even all those thugs involved with him were just collateral. What mattered was that I had completely and utterly destroyed him. If he were still alive by the time his release was due, he had absolutely no life to return to, nor rebuild. I took the liberty of providing him the courtesy.

I had no right interfering with Yuigahama-san's family, but even if we had parted on not-so-good terms, I admit that some things just don't change. Perhaps Hikigaya men were protective like that.

Even if she never got to know who had gotten rid of a potential time-bomb waiting to destroy the family she's built, I would be safe in the fact that she at least had a good head on her shoulders, and the will to continue on for the people she loves.

Well, in the end, she did find out that I had been the one to get rid of the wolf living with her and her daughter, and without so much as a second to spend needing to hear her gratitude, I again left her to fend for herself, standing only to pick up the broken pieces of a dream—a dream to have a family to love and care for, for the rest of her life.

Just like when I left her to pick up the pieces of a love she thought so true, one that I had shattered because of my… actions.

But, as it turns out, she never saw it that way. All she saw, again, was the man who she had fallen for being the man she really thought he was.

That incident was the last I thought I would ever see her again.

Since then, three years have passed.

And here we were.

"… Now that I think about, I never really got to thank Hikki for it."

The moment I saw her, I knew it would somehow come to this. Perhaps I was just dodging the issue, but being thanked was just an uncomfortable experience for me altogether.

Sigh.

"You have nothing to thank me for. I was just cleaning up the company closet, is all. Coincidence was all that it was when we discovered he was your husband… well, at the time."

"Ara, modesty is not you, you know?"

Her mood was now better—all smiles, and all Yuigahama-y once more. Clearly, she was one of those women who simply looked better smiling, and bounced back from bad situations with twice as much vigor.

"Ufu, you flatter me Hikki!"

Geh. Did I say that aloud?!

"You did, silly!"

Geh. Habits.

"… Ah, that's enough of that. Well, we still have our own groceries to finish, so I guess this where we part ways?" That's right idiot—run. Run while you can. Run while Hikari-tan can't smell the blood.

"Oh, that's right. And I have to make lots for dinner too—Yui-chan has a guest this afternoon, and I'd almost forgotten about it!"

Talk about airheaded—oh, wait. It's Yuigahama we're talking about. As if it wasn't obvious.

"… Hikki definitely has no filter on his mouth as usual, huh."

Geh! Mouth, stop! Cooperate with me, please!

"Oh, that reminds me, Hikki! Phone number~!" She holds out her smartphone, clearly asking for my contact.

I shrugged. Well, why the hell not? What's an exchange of contact between two ol' acquaintances? I took my phone out of my pocket, and quickly gave her my number.

… But why was I getting a bad feeling about this?

"Fufu, Hikki's phone number, get! You've always been paranoid about who you got your contact number."

That's because I didn't really like the fact that people I don't care about obtained some means to reach me for some menial undertaking I had no reason to be part of.

"Hikki."

Before I knew it, Yuigahama-san had closed the distance between us and gave me a peck on the cheek. And thus I had done a perfect impression of a tomato: red to the core, and brainless as most plants are wont to be.

"Thank you for looking out for me, even after all this time."

Her smile then was wistful, and there was a pained longing in her eyes that I couldn't hope to look at for long. It was obvious, far too obvious, that I was wrong in thinking that she had already moved forward when it came to me.

I said nothing in reply, because there was nothing I could say back without making the situation a whole lot worse—well, for me that is.

"Just know that if your wife messes up…"

The expression she made then sapped me of strength and struck fear into my heart—it was that of an unholy beast, hidden behind the facade of gentle beauty and caring eyes. It was a serpent poised to strike at a moment's notice when the other predator would show weakness, and then come out victorious in obtaining the mutual prey.

And none could miss the venom that came when she'd said "your wife"—I certainly didn't.

"I'll be taking you all for myself, okay~? Bye bye!"

As she walked away, seemingly with a skip to her step and newfound vigor, I was left rooted to the spot, holding a crop of carrot as if it were some holy artifact to keep me protected.

This—this was the reminder I needed to assure my thoughts that it was not such a good idea to be around her when she had tendencies like this.

The last time I saw Yuigahama Yuno make that face was back in college, three months after our breakup when I was then dating Yukinoshita Yukari.

The "Frigid Bitch," as Yuigahama liked to call her. Just remembering it made me feel 10 degrees colder.

Thus, once done with the groceries, I beat a hasty retreat to my lair, lest the rom-com gods rain down upon me divine misfortune once more.

[Hachiman]

"That's it for today. I hope you all do your best for the upcoming tests!"

Cram school was a small hub of socialization, despite being primarily a place to obtain power-ups for your Intelligence stat. It was a place where students of varying schools gathered for an academic reason, and served to remind these adolescents that other schools were not just some figment of their imagination, nor some poorly concocted fairy tale. Of course, though interactions are limited, there are a select few who do make an effort to socialize.

Of course, my riajuu detectors had been off the charts ever since I went to the academic center, but the ones with the actual balls to just march up and practically demand friendship from random strangers were just triggering me in the wrong ways.

It didn't help that these were girls of the Homo orimoto classification.

It didn't help that females consisted about 80% of our block.

It didn't help that they kept coming back to the same blonde bastard seated right in front of me.

And it really didn't help that the bastard just reeked of riajuu, as if the practice of being one was ingrained into the very strands of DNA! Just thinking about it made me want to hurl. If I were Zaimokuza (who I'm very much glad I'm not), at this point I might actually run up to the bastard reveal him for who he was:

Mine sworn enemy! How Fate must wish to toy with you so, for here you are brought to me, your most feared rival! Muhahahahaha! Cower and tremble before my might! Let my perfect mien, my regal countenance, and my glorious power be all that you remember in death!

For I! Am! Hachiman!

Fun fact: there was no way in hell that I would be caught dead spouting such nonsense. Ever.

It's only been my third day attending cram school, well away from the toxic community of my middle school. Perhaps the revelation of Orimoto's and my classmates' true colors was the kick I needed to bring me to the harsh reality that I was seen as only someone beneath them, and that my existence served only to fertilize their meager ones.

Well, too bad—this fertilizer was about to turn particularly venomous.

Before, I would've stubbornly kept with the principle that "to work is to lose." The mantra was supposed to be something I alluded to the corporate slavery rampant in today's era, yet it somehow wormed into my own habits that I had gradually forgone even the slightest of studying habitually, especially in the sciences.

Now that I was beginning to see the light, I had to agree with my father on yet another thing—it would simply not do.

True, perhaps even if my substandard performance in other areas barring humanities were balanced by stellar grades in the latter, that was simply a loser's way of honing one skill for life, and being a one-trick pony did not serve well to grant any sort of fallback once the dreaded future of adulthood comes knocking on your door.

Aside from that, I had to accept the fact that even if I possessed a mature wisdom not fitting of my age coupled with the quintessential common sense, it was not enough to get me through the harsh reality that I now acknowledge.

In short, I had persuaded myself that the merits of a more meaningful academic track would serve to be practical and significant in an investment for the future. Sure, my dad skimped on topics that greatly disinterested him, but the marks he got were (unbelievably) still above the threshold for above average.

Plus, it was dawning on me that the best kind revenge on those pathetic parasites who wasted the space in my classroom would be show them that I was no mere weed—that even if I was alone, I alone possessed more potential than any of them.

Far more potential.

Have the riajuu bastards feel what it's like to be beneath.

Dad said that it was the underlying principle in the way he worked: undermine their preconceived notions, bluff them into reacting, harshly peel their eyes open to the truth, and subject them to the feeling of being weaker than the one they assumed to be weak. Let them stew in the irony and mistake that was their own doing.

The method was relentless. Socially unacceptable. Despicable to its very core. Foul and bitter-tasting. And yet, in the number of years dad stuck with it, it was frighteningly effective in allowing him to see past the deceit of the pretentious and accepting only the most capable of people worth working and interacting with to be in the same space as him.

As such, a plan had begun to take shape in my mind on how to search for the one thing left for me to ever desire.

Leave their eyes with the visage of an ideal that would warp their view with a deluded image of a teenager who was as bleak as the white walls of a classroom.

Fade into the background, and watch them deceive each other—watch for weaknesses, remember cracks in their masks.

Work behind the scenes, and undermine the social structure from which they think they stand so high on.

Then show them the monster spawned forth through logic, through principle, through reality. Only then would those with the needed understanding eventually see through all the fakes, and then face the monster—

Face the monster, and then understand it—because only they would be able to see that all this time, only the monster had remained to be a monster, true to himself and true to those who are the same as he.

And then the tables would turn, and the fakes would become monsters of their own doing—far worse than the monster of logic.

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

It's basically one of those sayings attributed to the importance of preparation in tasks one would undertake—in essence, you doom yourself by being unable to plan ahead for whatever was to happen.

However, it is important to note that plans must be made to suit the situation and must also to take into consideration the multitudes of unknown factors to be faced once the execution has come. Another tidbit of information to take to mind was that no plan essentially survived first contact, and thus contingencies always had to be kept.

In any case, the task I had given myself for the foreseeable future needed some sort of test run for me check the plausibility of even executing it. I wasn't my father, so whatever machinations I would expect from myself would be middling work compared to his.

If I wanted some sort of base case just to see if people really aren't as fake as I thought they were, I practically needed a normalfag as a test subject. If such a person's interactions with someone like me lasted long enough so I can bring them to see the idiocy of the riajuu religion and all that follows after it, then perhaps that which I desire may not seem as difficult to reach as before.

But if it goes badly… Well, that doesn't necessitate I fold, but would serve to remind me that everything else from here on out was going be far more treacherous.

Worse case scenario, I'd have to be genuine all my life with Zaimokuza.

… Barf.

Anyways, while on the hunt for my next guinea pig, I had actually struck gold and found a somewhat suitable candidate that would make the genesis of this crusade against the fakes all that easier.

Though, the candidate being a female would make the genesis of this crusade all that harder.

I had nothing against women at this point, but the fact that Nice Girls existed and that I've been seeing a lot more of the lesser known Homo orimoto variety had me on edge. It was bordering on unhealthy paranoia, but there are some things you just can't forget—trauma and all that, you know.

Anyway, perhaps it was fortuitous that my quest in finding a much-needed experimental acquaintance was answered while I was on the mere sidequest to obtain the nectar of the gods: MAXX Coffee.

I had only just purchased my drink and sat down by near bench, only to have the peace ruined by the sounds of argument near the drink machine I bought from. A blonde girl and a peach-haired girl, from the looks of it, were having quite the heated discussion about the blonde bastard seated in front of me during cram sessions.

"You were looking at him, weren't you?!"

How did I know it was bastard? Duh, I know his name of course. Though, to be honest, something about his name just made me feel this… strong dislike of him, as if it were only natural to do so.

"B-But I told you, I wasn't!"

"Then why did you keep sneaking glances over his direction, Yui? And don't deny it! I saw you, alright! So fess up!"

Who did that blonde think she was, anyway? Was she the trashy vassal that came with the bastard riajuu protagonist? Was she his keeper?

Obviously, blonde Gurren Lagann had it bad for the pretty boy seated in front of me. She wasn't subtle about it, anyway—she was always there to scare away the other slu—girls and then cart off to who-knew-where with the bastard for lunch. And for going home. This was just a whole knew level of subtle.

Before I knew it, the peach-haired one had been left alone standing upset and in apparent distress over by the machine. Yes, that's it. Let the hate flow through you. [2] I know you're looking to be friends with her, but with her assuming you have a thing for the riajuu bastard? Your shallow acquaintanceship looked ready to sink from just a single iceberg crash. [3]

Eventually, she had noticed my staring, looked startled, looked disgusted, feigned ignorance, got uncomfortable, then left—all in that exact order. Really now, don't be so judgmental!

Now, all that was needed was to draw the little fish in once more, then lure her to the bait.

A sneer graced my lips. I knew exactly how to handle this one. If my deductions are correct, she'll becoming back soon enough.

I can't wait!

[1] Linkin Park. I tried so hard, and got so faaaaaaaar~

[2] Star Wars. The Sith is recruiting. They have pizza!

[3] Titanic. You know what happened, right? I hope you do. Or else.

Wow, I actually managed a longer chapter. Look at that.

So now that I'm getting the hang of things, updates are looking to be more of a 3k-5k word range, although there may be times I might exceed the word count on some chapters. But now that I'm getting the hang of this moreso than earlier, I guess it's just a matter of experience. :D

The chapter would've been released earlier, but weather complications here have turned the house into a sopping mess thanks to roof leaks (uuuugghhh). So, yeah. Priorities. RL sucks balls when it's out to get you.

Also, a shoutout to Hslippery for that review. Perhaps the reason why the philosophical aspects I'm integrating and discussing in the fic speaks like so to you guys is that I am, in fact, a loner to a certain degree. :D

Well, perhaps the best way to say that is that I'm quite the ambivalent person in real life—I know the ways a loner's mind works because I've been there (and am still there) and have experienced various circumstances stemming from what loner-ism entailed. Being ostracized, abandoned, becoming the center of unwanted attention; in real life, whether in OreGaIru or in real life, it's just not sunshine and daisies. Then again, another half of me is a flat-out riajuu bastard, so I've got the bases covered out for that as well. LOL

In summary, I'm a loner whose Noble Phantasm is making use of riajuu tactics to turn riajuu bastards away from me.

Oh, and because BentShuriken was curious:

[Ages for during the canon timeline of OreGaIru in Schrödinger-verse]

Hikigaya Nanashi: 39

Hikigaya Hikari: 38 (8dad went kouhai route, FTW)

Yuigahama Yuno: 39

Hiratsuka Shizuka: 27

Note that it says for "during the canon timeline." This is a list of the ages by the time high school comes around for the main cast. Hehehehe.

As usual, thanks for the feedback guys. You rock. :D

Sorashita Charyubi: 8mom is fire and ice. She burns like an inferno, and freezes like the Antarctic. Very, very dangerous indeed.

Hslippery: Nanashi will be a very important factor later on when the high school arc finally kicks in. :D

ArmantusCumPinnae: It's a very scary idea to have… 8mom and 8dad, secretly Yukino and Hachiman from the future—traveling back in time and having Komachi and 8man as their kids! This actually might be worth writing a fanfic about…

Guest: Many thanks, dear sir or madam!

Paodan17: Thanks! I couldn't agree more!

tH1s: Don't worry, as far as the future arcs are, I've got them lined up in neat ideas constantly being expounded and elaborated into more details. And thanks a lot for the feedback and the advice! I appreciate being given directions to the right way, being a newbie writer and all. :D

Animeloverq8: And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

TheLaughingStalk Lenny-kun: This was one of my milder ideas—trust me. What I dropped in this chapter about his other ex-girlfriend and just what his ex-girlfriends are capable of… that's a whole new level of scary. LOL

BentShuriken: I know, right?! I totally get you! Although, to be honest, I only realized that after reading your review, and it really does look that way! And kudos to getting Yukinoshita as ex-girlfriend #2. That's gonna be elaborated a little more later.

Nignug: Here's another update for you. ;)

Risuna23: Oh, don't worry. 8Dad ain't about to die yet. :)

jemuel23eueul: Definitely FTW :D Wait till the other ex-girlfriend appears! *insert maniacal laughter*

Leave a review, drop a line—I'll see you guys next chapter!