A/N: Hello. I planned on updating this sooner but got busy. Whoops. Anyway, I didn't know if anyone read this. I kind of just think of stuff for this story to pass time at work so hopefully I can meet your expectations. For Hachiman's background I sorta mashed some parts of his second year at sobu with his first. Also I feel like some parts of this chapter drag on. Sorry about that. I reread the last chapter and this one a lot and kept feeling like the last chapter was too short but ended up feeling like this one was too long and kept going back and adding, removing, and correcting stuff... hah. Anyway hope you enjoy the read, sorry for any errors, and I'll try to peek at any feedback.

03/12/20XX

I've been awake for a couple hours staring at whatever was on the tv after I had a talk with the nurse about my injuries and recovery. Seems like I'll be here until the 19th. Apparently the bike protected me better than expected. But at what cost? I'm not a big fan of lectures but attending school would probably be a better use of my time than this. I had to shelf the reading idea because... well I had no books here. Only things on the tv was something about a teenage detective making a joke about what they had for breakfast or news about recent accidents. The sound of the door swinging open grabs my attention. Red hair, a bow, and glasses. "Who're you again?"

"Right, Yoshizawa...s?" I wasn't sure how to address them when they're both here. "Yoshizawas? Like plural?" Kasumi asks looking confused. Calling them by their first names this soon would probably make it look like I consider them friends or something. But if I call them both 'Yoshizawa' then there's gonna be some confusion. "I'm not sure how to call you two when you're together." Hopefully that clears that up. Kasumi hits her palm with her fist while making an 'oh!' sound. "You could just call us by our first names..." Sumire responds looking off to the side. If suggesting me doing that makes you embarrassed then why would I actually do that? "J-just to avoid confusion!" She blurts out. Not like there's another option here. "Ok, Kasumi and Sumire then." Kasumi smiles and Sumire nods.

"Why are you here?" And what's with the bag? "We decided to visit everyday but we had some family matters to attend to yesterday." Kasumi says while taking a glance at her sister before turning back to me. "Sorry about that. But, we're here today!" They were serious about that? "And we brought you something."

Kasumi fished a book out of the bag and handed it to me. 'Trapped in a dating sim'? What's with this title? Wait it's a light novel. Gimme. "Thanks. I'll cherish it." I literally have nothing to do here but watch this cringey detective or sleep. Kasumi seems pleased with herself. "Oh good! I didn't know what kind of books you would like and Mr. Sakura didn't know either but said he saw you had some books like this so I didn't know if you'd like it." Did the stuff I packed arrive? Wait, did he go through my stuff?!

Sumire started fidgeting while holding the bag. "Um... I heard hospital food doesn't taste too good so I uh, tried to make a bento." Well the food here is supposed to be bland but she's not wrong. She hastily takes out a simple black box and offers it. Opening it I spot a sliced tomato sitting on top of everything. With how expectantly she's eyeing me I kind of have to eat it. And she put effort into making this so...

Why did it have to be a tomato? I mentally prepare myself, throw it in my mouth, and start chewing it fast. ...Where's the usually gag reaction, the choking, the...anything? "Why do you look surprised?" How could I not be surprised?! "This tastes nothing like a tomato." I slowed down and started actually tasting it but it tastes sort of like... curry? "I hate these but I'd probably try more of these ones" I finish up the rest while she explains. "Sorry, I didn't know you hated those... I was messing with different spices and was aiming for a curry flavor since Mr. Sakura said you were going to be eating it a lot." You did that with spice?! After trying the rest of the contents it all tastes like curry. "It's fine. Felt like I was eating curry anyway, that is an amazing skill." Wish I could make stuff taste like MAX... I have doubts dumping MAX on food would change the taste in a good way.

After sometime talking, mostly just listening to them, it turns out they're both pretty good gymnasts, a phone starts ringing and Kasumi pulls it out of her pocket. "Oh it's our father. I need to take this." She walks out of the room. "..." Just Sumire and I left huh. How do I stop this from getting awkward? "So Sumi-" "Hey Hiki-" Nice. She turns to look at the wall so I facepalm while shaking my head. "What's up Sumire?" I keep my head in my hand while looking down. "Um..." she doesn't sound too confident. "Why did you save us the other day?"

That's... not really something I think about 'why' I did. I'd probably do it again without thinking to be honest. "Huh?" Her confused voice makes me look up and see her looking at me with wide eyes. "What?" Did I do something...? Oh. "Said it out loud huh?" Her continued stare just confirms it. Ugh that's gonna get annoying. Not that it isn't already. Stupid habits. Well, now what? "Look, I don't really have an answer as to why I did that." Most of that scene returned to me after sleeping but I feel like it's not all there. I'd need to think back on it more. "What happened to lead up to that anyway?" She stopped staring but now she looks uncomfortable.

"Well... I-I" "Sorry! Sumire we have to go." Sumire was starting her explanation when Kasumi rushed through the door. "We have practice today. I wasn't paying attention to the time but we really need to go. Sorry Hikigaya-kun!" Kasumi bows and darts out while Sumire stands up but pauses at the door. She looked back like she wanted to say something but decided against it. I hear Kasumi yelling they'd try to visit again tomorrow and I'm left with my thoughts. I was going to ask Sumire how they found Sojiro but then she asked that and that happened. I wanted to start this book but my mind drifted back to that accident...

03/08/20XX

"Yes... ok... I will." Komachi's concern for her Onii-chan is nice and all but it can feel a little overbearing at times. "Komachi, I'm almost at my stop. I'll call you back when I get there." Standing on a train and talking is one thing but I'm not about to try biking and using a phone, especially if there's a crowd. The train comes to a stop and the doors open. This is why I stayed near the exit. I uncover my bike and exit the train before the crowd started flooding.

What to do while waiting at a stoplight? Well, wait. Obviously. Doesn't necessarily mean its boring though. You can watch the different cars going by. Think about places you might wanna stop by before going home. Maybe check your phone...? The heck is this app? Pretty much just take your time. Speaking of time...

Everything seemed to be slowing to a standstill. Or at least everything around me, I seem fine. Not freaky at all. I was looking around until a blue butterfly flew by. I turned around but it was gone. Instead there was some weird looking blue fire across the street. It looks like there's a figure in the flames... it sprouts a single wing and I can vaguely make out a face. Looking deep at the head I suddenly see myself there smiling like a maniac. What is happening?

It's all over when I blink, everything seems to be normal. People are walking around like nothing happened. I stood there and missed the crossing signal while I tried to process that. What was that? Was it this app? ...Do I always look like that when I smile? I stare down at this red icon. "Nope, Getting rid of that" I uninstall the app. "Jeezus what the f-uff!" Something rams into my side. I look up to see a red head running passed me. ...Wait it's not safe to cross yet! Aw man not again. "Hey! You shouldn't-" "SUMIRE!" What the?! Two?! And ones already in the street not paying attention to the car coming. Instinct kicked in and I hopped on my bike to reach them. I yanked the pony tail one back while hitting the clueless one with my bike to push her out of the way. There. No one got hurt.

'No one important at least', I thought as I heard the car tires screeching before feeling the impact. The rest is just black... "What the?! How'd you get here?!" Who is that...? "Help me bring him to the master!" "Of course." Ugh forget it. It's hard to stay awake...

03/12/20XX

Right... what will I tell Komachi? "Yo Komachi, Onii-Chan got hit by a car. Again. Oops Teehee!" Yeah right. And they told me Sumire "fell" into the street but it looks like she ran into it. What was she thinking? ...That could have been really bad. I'll need to ask Sumire about that next I time I see her. Maybe Kasumi will know something too but... well no use thinking about it now. I open the cover of the book and start reading to take my mind off that. Bratty sister blackmails her brother into completing what is essentially a visual novel gacha game until it kills him. Komachi, please never make your brother do something like that. I'm already dreading the punishment that awaits me for not telling her any of this. It's already dark now and I used too much energy earlier so I'll save the actual reading session for another time. I collapsed back on the bed.

03/13/20XX

This book was a good pick by Kasumi. The protagonist is reincarnated into a five year old named 'Leon Fou Bartfort'. In that world women hold most of the power over men and after an explanation of their situation from his brother he realizes he's in the games world and almost gets sold off to an obese old lady. "H-hello." I look up from the book and spot Sumire. "Yo." Gah I hate folding the pages but the lack of a bookmark requires it. I set the book down as Sumire takes a sit. "Just you today?" Its sort of strange seeing one without the other. "Y-yes!" Her sudden outburst startled me. "We had practice today but I wanted to take a break and Kasumi said I could if I dropped by." So that's what's going on.

"Ok, Sumire" I might as pop the question before there's any other interruptions, "What had you distracted enough to run into the street the other day?" I feel like I get to know since I'm involved. She started looking around before exhaling and looking straight at me. "Have you ever felt like no one sees you?" 'All right guys! Pair up!' Everyone already had partners. 'I'd be deadweight for my partner anyway.' "Like no matter what you do it doesn't measure up to others?" 'Hayato! Woo!' 'You won but still get totally ignored? That's, like, totally sad.' "Like you just... didn't matter?" 'By H, do you mean me?' 'What the hell? That's sick. Please don't ever say that again.' The image of the chock board drawing following that comes to mind. I let out a long breath. "Thanks for helping me remember all that." I meet her gaze and match her previous stare. "I experienced all of that. Still do in fact. It's a bit depressing but I just learned to work with what I got." I finished with what I thought was a smirk before that other me's smile came to mind and I cringed back. I got tired of trying to make friends and becoming the joke. "If everyone else kept leaving me behind then why should I keep chasing after them?"

Sumire just sat there for a bit so I thought she broke. It looked like she was in awe but why? "It doesn't bother you?" It can get awkward at times, for other people, but it doesn't bother me anymore. "I know what my weaknesses are, and I accept them." I guess at some point I got used to being on my own. She startled me again when she suddenly bolted up and grabbed me by the shoulders. "Please teach me how to be like you!" Whoa whoa whoa! "Hey calm down! Still injured here!" Lemme go already! "Oh I'm so sorry!" She jumps back and bows. "Those questions were why I ended up in the street." She looked at the floor and I couldn't see her eyes through her hair. "I hated feeling compared to my sister. She's so much better than me in everything I do. And it feels like I can never catch up to her..." Her hands start trembling. "I-I wanted to run away from it all." She looks back at me and I really wish she hadn't. "But when I finally did, I even messed that up!" She takes a step towards me. "I just wanted these feelings to go away... and I almost got hit by a car!" Another step. "My sister tried to help but she would've...!" She doesn't finish that sentence but I think I got the idea. "And..." she stops at my bed. "I'm sorry for all this. This shouldn't have happened to you." She's looks at my cast. "But thank you." She wipes her face. "I don't know what I would have done if Kasumi..." she takes a deep breath before facing me. "Please teach me how to handle this..."

"..." What am I supposed to say to that? I scratch my head. This is pretty serious but I feel like I'm not the one she should be having this conversation with. "If my past experiences can help you with... this..." I gesture around her with my free hand, "then I'll give it a shot." Guess I can consider this a request, heh. "Thank you!" Her cheerful mood is quickly replaced with a concerned one. "But then I'm the only one benefiting from this..." I feel like there's a bigger issue here. "How about this. You help me get a handle on my um, issue. And I teach you how to cook?" The forbidden knowledge? "Sound good?" "Absolutely." This will be a must have for my dream. ...why am I thinking about death right now?

"I'm sorry for causing a scene Hikigaya-kun." Sumire bows after calming down. "I would appreciate it if you kept this between us though." I nod at her. That was a given but sure. "What kind of secret are you two keeping?" A wild Kasumi appeared. "Yo." "A-a-ah, Kasumi! Uh, h-how did practice go?" Kasumi's sudden arrival threw both of us off. I just have nothing to hide. "It was productive but I feel like it would've gone better with you there." I do have something to help hide though. "So what were you guys talking about?" Kasumi sets down her bag and takes a seat. Sumire's flustered state reminds of Komachi when she almost got caught staying up late. "She was telling me about how awful your cooking is." "Hey! I'm still improving!" Kasumi jumps out of her seat pouting. There, crisis averted. Time for phase two. "By the way, when did you guys meet Sojiro?"

Man I wasn't expecting that today. After talking about random things, found out they're gonna be my underclassman, the pair left. Sumire has some bigger issues than I first thought. Kasumi also seems to be aware of this but doesn't say anything. I figured it was just social awkwardness but it turns out Sumire might have an inferiority complex against her sister. One that led to almost ending her life. I don't think she hates Kasumi but rather hates how everyone else views the two. After dumping that story on me I feel like I have to do something about it. Or at least mitigate it. We made something like a deal after all. And I got this weird card out of it. Twirling it around I caught it facing me. Death. Even has a silhouette of someone on it. Did she give this to me? Hm. I put the card inside the isekai book so I don't have to fold the page. I close my eyes and lay back. That's enough thinking for today.

"So you came back, huh?" What?"Master, the Intruder has returned."