I punched in the number from memory, not even bothering to open the contacts list, my muscle memory so much faster. The phone rang four times before she picked up, there was a slight intake of breath. "Ai, how are you?" I greeted her, not just with an offered platitude but instead with a genuine curiosity to know how she was.

"I'm doing alright. The real question, Hachiman, is how are you? I'm not the one who almost died." Her tone was warm, legitimately happy to hear from me. This was why I had fallen for her the first time. She was more genuine than Orimoto, but once more I misinterpreted the signals. She was the kind of girl that you made laugh once and suddenly you wanted to ask out.

I focused again, "Hayasaka, I need a favor. I want to convince my sister that she should attend Shuuchin. She knows the value of their education but isn't sold on the students. I was hoping that you would come and convince her. She's willing to meet at the school festival." I asked, hopeful.

"Ara, there are less complicated ways of asking a girl out, Hachiman. It is somewhat-" Her voice teased me, the mocking thick.

"Relax Ai, I'm not trying to ask you out. I'm over that, you've said no, it is what it is. So favor yes or no?" I interrupted her. She was a dear friend but the way that she made fun of my confession still stung. I understood that she wasn't interested, despite my stalker-esque appearance I understood that no meant no.

"No, I won't." Her deadpanned voice was flat. At least on the bright side, she'd stopped mocking my crush on her.

"Alright, see you later. It was good to hear your voice." I said; preparing to hang up and ask someone else, she had been my first choice but was far from my only option.

"WAIT, you didn't let me finish!" Her voice blasted out of my phone's speaker as I pulled it about a foot away from my ear. "I'm not going to because it would be bad for Komachi. She's a bright girl but unversed in some of the subject matter considered basic, she'll struggle and she'll hate it. She's also not from the upper crust of society and entering in high school the only people ever who weren't were you and Shirogane. They'll look down on her and she won't have the skills to climb the food chain. Don't force her into something that's bad for her."

I reflected on my own experiences, mine was most certainly not going to be hers. The teachers were deferential to me in most things since they understood I sometimes needed to leave the classroom to field calls or finish documents. Many students were almost scared of me because their families had told them to be unerringly polite in my presence. She probably wouldn't become a two-time Vice President or even a member of the student council. My story was an anomalous tale, not the norm. My life would have a Z-score of ten if we were using statistics.

"You might be right, thanks Ai." I murmured, caught up in how my mistakes as a caretaker could've caused her unhappiness.

"Later, Hachiman." She hung up; but not before adding. "Don't let it get to you too much, you're still a great brother."

I smiled, grateful for the conversation. I turned back to my computer and finished the code on the website. I was by no means an expert but had read a book or two on basic Java and JavaScript. The lines were neat, the site looked good and we even had nonintrusive ads running on the site generating us income along with a few affiliate links, and a merchandise store.

I concluded my work for the evening and rolled my shoulders; relishing the cracks and pops of my joints. My parents were finally out of the house for the most part, now with only Sundays seeing them home for a significant portion of time.

I still didn't love it but the current arrangement was acceptable. I lumbered down the hall my legs slightly asleep after having been sitting down for the last two hours. My doctor had said that light exercise was acceptable but even moderately paced walking for half an hour left a stitch in my side.

Thus I had been working rather than exercising. I knocked on Komachi's door and instead of the usual 'come in.' I heard a 'just a moment', some scrambling, the movement of papers, and finally her doorknob unlocked. A slightly flushed, sweaty, and disheveled Komachi slipped outside through a crack in the door and then closed it again. Positioning herself between me and the entrance.

"Sorry that took so long I was just … I was just …" She looked around like the answer might have been scrawled on the floor between us. "I was napping … and I get very sweaty when I nap. That's why I'm like this." She gestured to herself.

"Komachi, I want to talk about Shuuchin. If you don't want to go I won't make you. I want you to be happy and if that means Soubu, I will definitely support you. Also, know that no matter where you go it will not affect your relationship with your education fund. And before you ask, it's a fund that I set up for you a couple of years ago. It contained a five-hundred-million yen endowment set away for you to pursue whatever kind of education that you want in the future. I split that into ten pots and gave each to various active and passive fu-" She cut me off by jumping into my arms and hugging me. I held her just long enough to break her momentum before setting her down carefully.

"Sorry I forgot about your ribs. But, thank you, thank you, I love you so much big brother" She was excited but now mindful of my injuries. Even breaking the momentum now had me screaming internally. "And yes, I want to go to Sobu and be with you, big brother."

She preened as I patted her on the head. I smiled and turned away, ambling down the hall. Just before she could re-enter her room, I piped up. "Don't worry the rooms are soundproofed; just be sure to use Adblocker on any funny sites. And if the computer asks, don't disable the firewall." Her face was now steaming red. "By the way, whatever you purchase with the credit card I gave you is blended together as a single monthly expense so that I won't know what you spent it on. Just a random thought that struck me." I tread back into my room, amused as she said nothing, and darted back in.

It was perfectly natural at that age, though her reaction when she realized that I knew what she was doing was pretty hilarious. And once again soundproofing the house seemed to be the best money that I'd ever spent

~/~

It was almost unfair how easy he made it look, scratch that it was unfair. But as his right-hand woman, I had to do whatever it took to support him, unfortunately, I had no idea what he even needed. He didn't need graphics to describe information when he could compile it mentally.

He could thumb through people's work and point out all their mistakes. For all intents and purposes, he was the sole oversight because it was simply more efficient. What took me the better part of ten minutes took him maybe thirty seconds on his slowest days. He would occasionally be reading two documents at the same time if one was relatively error-free. If he felt it was necessary he sometimes even wrote simultaneously with both hands.

Though I was his second in command and among the students the second highest in rank, it felt like I had the least to do. Yui, who was theoretically not even the leader of the student affairs subcommittee, had his ear for a few minutes after the meeting ended.

I just wanted to be useful, to show that my life was worth the pain he had gone through, but I was failing. I directed a few students over to another committee to find the data they needed rather than bother Hikigaya with something so trivial.

~/~

It was almost unfair how easy they made my life. As the festival committee chairman, I expected to be neck-deep in interpersonal squabbles and irrelevant requests. But Yui and Yukinoshita allowed me to do what I did best.

Yukinoshita dealt with the technical issues that students presented with, which occupied most of her time. They would've bogged down my ability to administrate with useless drabble like how to record the depreciation expense on equipment. Luckily, Yukinoshita had read the books I recommended to her about the basics of administrative work, one of which was about accounting. She had studied them fervently just going to show how dedicated she was.

Whereas Yui handled the messy, interpersonal aspects. She reported the complaints she'd heard and allowed me to make covert adjustments before the public discontent began. She was my unofficial director of Human Resources and had beamed when I told her so.

Without those two I would've been out of my depth and constantly irritated dealing with people's asinine (in my opinion) issues.

That's why time flew, festival planning was easy. Both Yukinoshita and Yuigahama seemed happy if a little bit awkward after the whole almost dying thing.

So sooner than I thought, I found myself on stage declaring the festival open to the roar of the crowd. The speech had been easy, a quick blurb to hype up the crowd, and then basking in the applause. Anyone who had even put basic effort into preparation was going to do just fine on this speech.

The festival was open, things were good, and there was no way that this was going to go wrong.

(A/N): festivals open! This is a much shorter chapter because I just didn't feel like I could effectively blend the parents' POV with the festival prep. Wouldn't it be ironic if everything at this festival went perfectly? Maybe I should do a chapter that's the complete opposite of what I've written. Where everything's awesome, Hikigaya is only happier because of his gifts, all the girls are into him, he has a huge dong, and suddenly girls who had no interest in him like Shiromeguri and Haruno want to be part of his harem. Ironically that kinda describes some of the Oregairu fanfics that I've read. Some big cringe stories. I got kind of caught up reading "A Young Woman's Political Record" by jacobk. Fantastic Youjo Senki fic with a delve into states craft and what it means to lead.

For Oregairu I read 'Consequent Coincidence' by Arbitrary Escape. It's a beautifully heartbreaking Hikigaya x Haruno story, which features a realistic arc of romance between them, from their first meeting forth. It's brutal at times but worth the read. I can't say that it made me cry, but when I worked out I couldn't stop thinking about it.

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