"So, what should the slogan be? Do you guys have any ideas?" The Committee Chairwoman, Sagami Minami, asked. "It's hard to like, think of a good one!"
Various overused slogans like "The power of friendship", "Let's all have fun together", "Friendship, effort, victory." And more were written.
'Those are way too cliché to be used.' Thought the observing teen. When he saw what was written next, he already knew who thought of it. 'Of one mind? That quote surely came from Yukinoshita.'
When the phrase "One for All" was written, the blond prince of Sobu commented. "I like this one." He said before continuing to explain. "It's simple enough, but I think it can work."
The fish eyed teen, couldn't help but reply to the blond's words. "That simple of a slogan would make this festival too generic. Any blander and the festival will be similar to your hair color."
"We thought about this last one." The redheaded chairwoman then stands up and writes on the whiteboard.
"Friendship: Helping one another: a cultural festival"
The girl, observing the reaction of others, saw the fish eyed loner looking somewhere else. "Excuse me." The redhead calls out to Hachiman. "Are you listening?"
"Yes, I am listening." The teen nonchalantly replied. Seeing his reaction, the redhead grits her teeth lightly and speaks once more.
"Do you have any comments about this slogan?"
"Not really."
"If you don't have any comments, then I think you might have a better idea of your own. Would you mind sharing it?" The girl inwardly celebrates for putting the fish eyed teen on the spot. 'Let's see you work your way out this one.'
Hachiman then proceeds to write his idea on a paper. After doing so, he shows what he wrote and explains it. "Man, look closely and one of them's slacking off: a cultural festival." His words hit the nail in the head, as most of the students present became tense.
Until Haruno Yukinoshita laughed. "That was funny!" The woman managed to say in between fits of laughter. "I think it's a great idea."
Hiratsuka then tells the teen to explain. "People always said that the character for "man" is a n ideogram of people supporting each other?" He asked. "But we can clearly see one leaning on top of the other." He answers his own question. "The character itself includes the assumption that one will always be a sacrifice. A perfect fit for the cultural festival, especially the committee."
"What do you mean with "Sacrifice?" Hiratsuka asked the teen.
"It's my observation." The teen answers. "And you can see, those in the paperwork division clearly suffered, especially me. People even shove their own work to me. Is that the idea behind "helping one another?" because I'm sure as hell I never received any. I even helped those who struggle with their work." Once again, the room became tense.
This time, it was Yukinoshita Yukino who broke off the tension by hiding her face while giggling. Once she was calm enough, the raven-haired vice chair faces the dead eyed teen. "Hikigaya-kun, your proposal is rejected." She says lightly smiling. "Sagami-san, let's end the meeting here." The girl remarks. "It would be foolish to spend our time arguing today, especially when most of us are tired. We can talk about the slogan tomorrow."
Seeing the logic in her statement, Sagami dismisses the meeting. "Alright everyone, that would be all for today. We'll meet again tomorrow. Thank you for today!"
As the students rushed to the doors, the fish eyed teen heard a comment about how he wanted to slack off himself.
"What's with him?" Said a guy.
"He just wants to slack off himself."
"I don't want to hear that from a person who haven't finished his work yet. I even did some of your work, you ungrateful bastard." Of course, the fish eyed teen won't let it slide. "If you've got a problem, say it straight on my face. Don't babble like a child hoping I would hear your words."
The two could only grit their teeth in frustration. "Tch."
Being the last person to exit the room, Hachiman was greeted by a waiting Yukino. "Your words would create misunderstanding."
"If it would, I don't really care." The teen then bids farewell from the ravenette. "Tell your mother I said hi. See you tomorrow."
"I will." The ravenette hesitantly puts her hand up to wave him goodbye. "See you tomorrow."
With the fish eyed teen free of his duties, he walks to the school rooftop to watch the sunset. What he didn't expect though, was a person waiting for him.
"Hikio!" The blonde fire queen, Miura Yumiko, exclaimed. "I've been waiting for you."
"Miura." His words made the blonde glare at him.
"Hah?! Didn't we agree to call me like you used to?" The blonde punches the fish eyed teen's chest playfully. "Jerk." Miura remarks as she pouts.
'Cute.' Thought the teen. "Alright, alright, just don't punch me Yumi." The blonde smiles as she hears her name. "So, why are you waiting for me?"
"We haven't had the time to hang out you know?" The blonde answered. "How's the council work? I heard from Hayato that you guys are behind schedule."
"It's alright now." Hachiman responds. "If we work efficiently starting tomorrow, then we will be making up for the lost time." The teen then sits down in one of the benches.
"You're not overworking yourself, right?" The blonde worriedly asks. "You don't want to be sick like Yukinoshita now do you?" The girl then sists beside the dead eyed teen.
"Did Hayama tell you that too?"
"I heard it from Yui." Yumiko replied. "She visited Yukinoshita with you right?"
"You don't have to worry about me." The teen reassures her. "I'm not overworking like Yukinoshita." Hachiman then asks about their class play. "How about the play?"
"Well the practice is going well." The blonde explains. "Other than the occasional interruptions due to Ebina's antics. Honestly, why does she love BL so much?"
"Most girls do." Hachiman remarks. "Everyone has their preferences, much like how you love to read shoujo mangas."
"H-how did you know?!" The blonde's cheeks turned red as she questioned the teen.
"I've seen your collection." Was the teen's simple answer.
The blonde then received a message on her phone. Checking it, Yumiko's face turned to a somber one. "Looks like I gotta go. Yui said we're going to a karaoke bar." She asks the teen. "Do you want to come with me?"
"You know I'm not good with crowds, right?"
The blonde's shoulders slumped. "I know." Yumiko stands up and says goodbye to the dead eyed teen. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Hikio."
Once the blonde was gone, Hachiman then hears a voice once again. "Ara, Hachiman! What are you doing here?"
'Great.' Thought the teen. 'Of all people to encounter here, it has to be her.' He then looks at the approaching figure of Haruno Yukinoshita. "What do you want?"
"You gave them a common enemy to unite against. Are you sure that's a good idea?" Haruno questioned.
"It is, it will make them work harder just to prove me I'm wrong." The teen responds. "Besides, try as they might, but they won't beat my production. I've never been behind the deadline." The teen then asks the woman once again. "What are you doing here?"
"Mou…" The woman said with a hurt voice. "Why are you cold to me? You don't have to be so cold to me, you know?" Haruno then sits beside the teen, making him even more uncomfortable.
"Can't you sit somewhere far? I don't appreciate you intruding my personal space."
"Would you rather have Yukino-chan sit beside you like this?" The raven-haired woman clings to the teen. Which infuriated her even more.
"Please don't act like we're close." The teen warns. "Especially with the stunt you pulled back then."
Cue awkward silence.
Fuyume's daughter, became bored. "Are you talking about what happened at the mansion?" She asked.
"Yes I am." Hachiman answers. "It would've been a pleasant evening if you didn't put me in the spot like that." He explains.
"I just wanted to see your reactions." Haruno admits. "Your actions towards various situations have been amusing to me. I just couldn't resist."
"I'm not your lab rat, Yukinoshita-san." Hachiman argues. "If you think messing with me is entertaining, for me, it isn't. So if you plan to do such things to me just for your entertainment, I would advise you to find someone else."
Once again, the awkward silence returned.
"I'm sorry Hachiman." The ravenette spoke, which surprised the teen. "I only do things like that to those I am interested in."
"I told you that I'm not your entertainment."
"I am genuinely interested in you, Hachiman." Haruno face turned serious, which the teen could not read. "I'm sorry for messing with you at times." The serious face then turns to a smiling one. "I want to know more about you."
"As long as you don't mess with me again." The teen looks away, unable to take the intense stare of the woman. "And please, if there's anything you want to know about me, you can just ask."
Her response is to just cling even more to the teen.
"So you have chosen him over me." The blonde prince of Sobu, Hayama Hayato, stated. He was holding in his arms a fainted Totsuka. "But it is well, I'll see you again soon." The blonde then clutches the boy in his arms. "Because when I drew the muzzle for the sheep…" Hayama then gains a somber expression, looking up and stating his final line. "I did not draw the leather strap."
With the play ending, every girl in attendance were screaming.
Hachiman notices Ebina lying in her pool of blood, mostly due to her nosebleed. "Ebina. You okay?" He asked as he gave the bleeding girl a tissue, which she gladly accepted.
"Thanks Hikitani-kun." The girl then sits up and proceeded to wipe her nose. "I'm okay."
"Good." Hachiman offers his hand to the girl, who accepts it as she stands up. "Good job on the script, even if some of the original scenes turned into BL."
Laughing at the teen's remark, Ebina responded with "All it needed was a little spice of BL! BL is life!"
"People were already lobbying for a second screening." One of their classmates approached the BL lover.
"Looks like they've enjoyed my masterpiece!" She bragged. "But we don't have enough time to do so, they're just gonna have to settle watching it on the internet."
"You recorded the whole thing?" The fish eyed teen asked. "And you plan to upload it?"
"Yes to both! Every girl will love this!" Ebina exclaims as she walks toward their other classmates.
All the teen did was sigh. "What did I even expect?' Hachiman mutters to himself.
"Hikitani-kun!" Another one of his classmates approached him. "Can you man the entrance please? I'm just going to take my lunch."
"Alright." The teen responds. "Just don't take too long." Hachiman then walks outside to assume his classmate's role. He overheard some of the students gossiping about the committee chairwoman.
"Did you see the Committee chair earlier?" The girl who was walking asked to her friend. "She looked incompetent, Shiromeguri-senpai came in to save her!"
'So it begins.' The teen thought. His musings were stopped as a plastic bag lands on his desk. "Oh, Yuigahama-san."
"Nice work." The pink haired girl smiled. "How's the play?"
"It was good. People loved it, especially girls." The teen replied. "I wasn't really watching that much, as I had to run around because of my committee work."
"The committee's really busy huh?" Yui remarks.
"Oi, Let us in already!" The two were interrupted by people from the adjacent classroom, who is getting crowded and rowdy. "How long do you plan to keep us waiting here?!"
"That looks bad." Yui comments.
Hachiman, being a committee member, decided to intervene. "What seems to be the problem?" He stated as he walked to the commotion.
"They're not letting us in." One of the guys answered.
"Yeah! Let us in already!"
Hachiman turns his attention to the ones stuck in guard duty. "Are the seats full?" The guy he asked meekly nodded his head. "There's no vacancy yet, and you being unruly will lead to nothing. Please form two lines in an orderly manner if you wish to get in." The teen then glares at everyone to enforce them to comply, to which they did. Once the ordeal was settled, Hachiman walked back to the pink haired clubmate of his.
"Hikki, that was so cool!" Yui sings him praises. "You really took care of that situation!"
Hachiman then sits down once again.
"Ne Hikki, you haven't eaten lunch yet right?" The pinkette then opens the plastic bag she brought. "I've brought some Honey toast!" She grabs a handful and tastes it herself. "This is yummy!" She said with delight.
The dead eyed teen then gets a piece for himself and tastes it. 'It's not bad.' Thought the teen. 'The honey hasn't soaked the bread and the bread itself is hard, but you won't have a problem eating this when you're hungry.' "This is good."
"Right?!" Yui smiled at him. "I asked Mama to help me bake it. She said that I could become a wife with how good it looked!" She motions for the teen to get more. "Get more Hikki!"
The two ate the bread happily.
"Sagami's missing?" Hachiman hears Hiratsuka ask as he enters the backstage.
"She isn't answering her phone either." The student council president, Shiromeguri replied.
"This isn't good. We can't hold the closing ceremony without her." Yukino remarks.
Shiromeguri suggests an idea. "Can't someone else substitute for her?"
"That'll be difficult." The ravenette clubmate of Hachiman answers. "We could improvise the closing address and the voting tally, but only Sagami-san knows the overall winner and the recipient of the regional award."
"Why not announce the awards tomorrow?" Hachiman questions.
"The regional awards need to be announced today." Yukino counters.
"Is there a problem?" The quartet who is discussing turns their attention to Hayama Hayato, who just finished performing on the stage with the Class 2F band. "Looks like there's something we can do."
"Sagami-san is missing." Shiromeguri explains to the blond. "We can proxy her, but only she knows the overall winner and the recipient of the regional award."
"We need time to find her, but the last group is currently performing." Yukino added.
"How about we perform once more?" Hayama suggests.
"You're not too exhausted to play?"
"Everyone's still pumped, we can manage." The blond then turns to Yumiko, who looks like she's going to pass out. "Yumiko, you can still play right?"
"Eh?!" The blonde then waves her hands to disagree. "Again? I don't think so! I'm like, totally bushed!"
"Please?"
"Yumi, if you play once again, it would be a great help." Hachiman chimes in to convince Yumiko.
"Alright fine! I'll play because Hikio told me to." Yumiko says as she gathers their group to come up on stage.
"I've sent a mass text." Hayama informs Yukino. "If someone sees her, they'll call."
"Thank you."
"We can only buy you 10 minutes at most."
"I can help find Sagamin!" The pinkette exclaims as she volunteers herself to find the missing chairwoman.
"But if you don't know where to find her, you'll waste your time looking." Hachiman states. "Even if we have fifteen minutes, you'll only be able to scour one school building at best."
"Hikigaya-kun, if we buy you another ten minutes, do you think you can find her?" The raven-haired girl asked.
"I can't make any promises." The fish eyed teen responds.
"That's good enough." Yukino then pulls out her phone and dials a number. "Nee-san, I need your help."
"I'm going." Hachiman then walks toward the exit of the hall. "The sooner I start looking for her the sooner I can find her."
"Do your best, Hikki!"
As the fish eyed teen walked to the middle of the school grounds, he tried to deduce some possible locations. 'If she bailed on us, which is unlikely, she would be home by now. Sagami probably wanted someone to validate her efforts and tell her that she's doing great. She wants someone to find her and convince her to come down.' Hachiman once again scans the school grounds. 'If I wanted to be found, where would I be? In most of the animes I've watched, those that hid from others were found at the roof. If she's in there, then I am lucky.' With his destination set, the dead eyed teen makes a break for it and runs toward the rooftops.
When he opened the door, he saw the missing redhead.
'Why does she look mad?' The teen questions mentally. "Sagami-san, the closing ceremony is starting. Please come down."
"Hasn't it already started?" The redhead replied with annoyance in her voice.
The fish eyed teen walks closer to the girl and informs her of what's currently happening. "Under normal circumstances, it would've. But they're buying time for you so you can come down and announce the results."
"Eh? Who's doing that?"
"Yukinoshita and Miura."
"Then why not have Yukinoshita do it?!" The redhead erupts in anger. "She can do anything right?"
"That's not the problem here." Hachiman says as he can feel a headache coming. "You need to present the vote tally and the awards."
"Then take the results and do it yourself!" Sagami shouted at the teen.
'She really just wants someone to validate her efforts.' The teen notes as he observes her hand clench the papers. 'I can say the words she wanted to hear, but that would invalidate the nature of the request she asked for. I need to make her come down to the hall.'
Before the dead eyed teen could speak, the door opened and in came three people: Hayama and Minami's friends, Chisa and Yuuko.
"We asked around and people saw you go upstairs so …" Hayama extends his hand toward the redhead. "We came to get you. Everyone's waiting for you."
"I can't face everyone right now."
'Here it is.' The fish eyed teen observes as the red head's body language does not support her words. 'She just wanted Hayama to come and get her. I think her friends already knew she's here and is playing along with her.'
"Yes you can!" One of her friends said.
"But I made a mess for everyone. What am I supposed to say?"
The blond teen, ever assuring, spoke once more. "You'll figure something out. Everyone's working hard for your sake too. So please, come down."
"I'm horrible…" The red head mutters.
'This is going nowhere.' Hachiman thought. 'If I don't do something about it, she would just stay here and fish for compliments to convince her to come.' "Yeah, you are." His words pierce the already tensed air, surprising the other four. "In the end, you just doing this for attention."
"What are you-"
"You wanted to be in the spotlight, but you realized that the responsibilities it has were too much for you. That's why you offshored your work to Yukinoshita, even giving her your stamp so she can do it all. You wanted her to do the hard work and you to collect all the praises. What an attention seeker. We're the same, we both feed at the bottom of the social ladder."
"That's not true at all!" Sagami vehemently denied. "Don't lump me in with you!"
"Is that your "personal growth?" To boss around others and make you feel superior? The fish eyed teen pauses. "Look at me, I don't give a rat's ass about you, yet I found you first. Logically, that means no one's really looking for you, were they?"
"Hikigaya! Stop!" Hayama shouted as his hands found Hachiman's collar. He tried to push the dead eyed teen to the wall, but failed to do so. "Shut up." The blond then motions the three to go with him. "Let's go back."
"That was mean!" The Chisa mouthed. "Mumbling like he's the man."
The fish eyed teen was left on the rooftop.
"Are you alright?" Yuuko asked as the crying Minami continued to cry.
"You would've been fine if he never said a word!" Chisa exclaimed as the three stormed off outside the hall.
Hachiman overheard all the conversations regarding him as he was fixing the chairs.
"Hikitani-kun's totally mean, ya know?" Tobe tells to his friends. "He did the same during the summer break!"
"Make sure that when you gossip, the one you're talking about is not in the same room." The dead eyed teen states as he looks at Tobe, effectively silencing him. Eventually, it was just Hachiman and Hiratsuka remaining, as all those present made their way to the exits.
"Why do you villainize yourself?" The teacher inquires. "You can do amazing things, yet you choose to do things in ways that would harm yourself."
"She didn't want to cooperate." The teen argued. "If I never said the words I said, we would be stuck there with her looking for validation."
"But saving others is not an excuse to hurt yourself." Hiratsuka counters as she places her hand in Hachiman's cheek.
"That's just how life is." The teen holds onto the teacher's hand. "Sometimes, you get dealt with a bad hand. You just have to make do with what you have. I still have a long way to go before I can say that I'm better, and this one proves it."
"But there are people around you that gets hurt when they see you hurt yourself."
"Thank you for your concern, Sensei." Hachiman turns around and proceeds to organize more chairs.
"Take care, Hikigaya."
It was a rainy night.
Rainy nights are perfect time to take it slow, relax, and get your mind off stress.
Yukinoshita Yamato forgot all three.
Yamato is now driving down the streets of Chiba like a man possessed. Swerving, speeding, and sometimes even beating the red light on stops. So, what caused the prim, proper, and dignified man to drive like a maniac?
"She knows."
It was a text that the man received through his subordinate. The sender have heard about it when one of his wife's personal aide, ranted about the increase of work due to the woman's emotional status.
'How did she know about it?!' His mind ran as fast as the car he's driving did. 'It was supposed to be a secret! Now how will I explain it to her?' Swerve, get faster, swerve again. The man drove like he's driving an F1 car.
'She probably won't hear my explanation.'
Everyone knows that driving fast in the rain will lead to accidents. It was luck that the man never encountered any accidents thus far.
And his luck just run out.
One busy intersection, the man thought that since the stoplight just turned red, he can speed up and pass by without any difficulties.
The last thing Yukinoshita Yamato saw was white, and then it turned black.
Guess who's back?
Anyway, many have asked about the previous chapter's first part. Was it the future? Was it something else? Was it just filler that DSeized included because wanted to make the writing look long?
Well I asked him about it before I took over the account once again. He said that it was meant to be the fish eyed teen's nightmare, and that if it made you uncomfortable, then it did its job well. He said he could've used a better explanation to highlight how it was a nightmare. So I took the liberty and edited the part where the teen reflects about it.
What would happen to Yamato?
This kinda officially wraps up the Season 1 (I'm skipping the Sports Festival, but it's still referenced somehow.) Yay!
And as a returnee bonus, 2 for 1 eggroll special, I mean chapters!
Thank you for all the support so far! Follow and Fave if you like the story, leave review if you have something to say, and as always, thank you for reading!
-Jasserru is back and going dark