Hachiman was all over the place. Specifically, his mind was all over the place. Why? Well, yesterday, a blonde nuisance decided to mess with him. Specifically, his heart.

He held his head in his hands as he thought about her words last night.

"Hey, doesn't the moon look pretty tonight?"

Did she know what those words meant or was he just overthinking? No, the kiss she gave him afterward had to mean she knew what she was doing, right? Not to mention the month being February and them approaching Valentine's Day which only fueled the idea that she was, in fact, in love with him.

He found himself more bothered by her words than the kiss itself.

Hachiman was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of Hiratsuka's lesson, and figured listening for once would be a good distraction.

"The phrase, 'The moon is beautiful, isn't it?', refers to the translation of the English phrase, 'I love you'. In Japanese, the phrase is a confession of love, but in English, it indicates someone speaking about the moon. Ever since this phrase was coined by Souseki Natsume, it became a popular way for people to express their affection." Shizuka explained, writing the phrases on the chalkboard as some in class giggled.

The universe had to be toying with him.

He looked over to where Yumiko sat, watching her toy with her nails, paying little attention to the lesson.

'Pay attention, woman! I'm stressed out because you decided to be vague and impulsive last night!' Hachiman was worried he might be overthinking, but in his situation, he couldn't help but assume what could be true.

Their friendship was beginning to grow complicated, and not in a good way. And worse, he didn't know who's fault it was. Still, there was some part of him that wondered what would happen if Yumiko was in love with him. Was it bizarre? Sure. But he'd be lying if he said it hadn't crossed his mind before.

Hiratsuka's class eventually ended, but unfortunately Hachiman's stress had not done the same. His head was down once again, not bothering to interact with anyone else as they had a break between classes. Though, due to his 108 skills, he didn't fail to notice the looks Yui gave him every so often. It was unusual, she'd been staring in his direction a lot more as of late.

"Hikio." He heard Yumiko address him and looked up to see her standing next to his desk. Weird, he hadn't noticed her walking up to his desk. Maybe she'd spent too much time around him and learned 'Stealth Hikki'. Or rather in her case, 'Stealth Yumi'.

"Huh? What do you want?" His mind began to fill with the possibility of her being in love with him as they spoke.

"Where are we meeting for the study session? I don't exactly like failing." Unbeknownst to her, Hachiman had completely forgotten that he agreed to tutor her for their upcoming history test, and was getting ready to say the first place that appeared in his head.

"How about the library? We can use it after school." He suggested, sighing internally as he forfeited the rest of his day.

Yumiko nodded, not adding a snide comment this time which Hachiman noticed. Now that he thought about it, Yumiko had been very amenable recently. Maybe she'd been spending too much time around him, because she certainly wasn't like that before their friendship. "Library it is, don't be late." She added with a soft smile. This only set off red flags in his mind.

He didn't have much time to get to those red flags, however, as Tobe of all people seemed to overhear their conversation, yet somehow still misunderstand it.

"Woah, Hikitani-kun is arranging a study session for us! Nice going, Yumiko-chan!" It was here that Hachiman realized that in some cases, Tobe could be more of an airhead than Yui.

"T-That's not-" Yumiko tried to explain but was interrupted this time.

"E-Eh, study?" Yui joined in, not understanding the situation.

"Is that true, Yumiko?" Hayama came over and asked, flashing his typical smile.

Yumiko found herself overwhelmed, and the words she wanted to say found themselves stuck in her throat, while the words she didn't mean forced themselves out instead.

"Yeah, totally! I figured some of us might need it, right?" Yumiko did her best to return a smile.

"I know I do, especially after staying up so late reading those BL mang-"

"Just come anytime after school, I'll be there." Hachiman said. He had thoughts of interrupting and correcting their misunderstandings but he wasn't sure if that was what Yumiko wanted. She briefly looked back at him with grateful eyes, while Hachiman just looked annoyed.

This couldn't end well.

Hachiman found it weird that time seemingly flew by when he didn't want it to, but refused to do so when he did want it to. His mind had reached this conclusion mainly because class had just ended.

Meaning they'd have to go to the library for him to tutor them.

Not just him and Yumiko.

No, "they", as in her entire clique.

He walked down the hallway with his usual stoic, unbothered expression, not having anywhere else to go after school so he just made his way to the library immediately after class.

Yuigahama seemed to be in the same situation since she caught up with him and fell into step alongside him.

"Wow, Hikki, I wouldn't have expected you to agree to tutor us! I-It's really thoughtful of you..." She trailed off, not having much else to say. Yuigahama liked to consider herself sociable and able to have a conversation with almost anyone. But in a rare case, she found herself freezing up or thinking before she spoke whenever she was around him.

Perhaps it was her feelings for him. She wasn't ashamed or embarrassed to think about it anymore, as she'd come to terms with the way she felt a while ago. The only problem she had was how exactly she'd get her feelings through to him. Not only was she not sure that a confession would go well with him, she didn't have the courage to do that.

"I do nice things too, sometimes." He added after a pause.

Yuigahama gave a nervous but genuine laugh in response. "I find that hard to believe..." She teased with a smile on her face. Their first interaction and in a way their friendship was built upon such an act of kindness, which was why she still had her dog.

"Be careful with your words, I might just reclaim my title as the emotionless Monster Of Logic." He had to admit, he liked the moniker.

"And go back to being creepy? No thanks!" She stuck her tongue out at him playfully

"So you admit that I've changed since our first year?"

"Well, sorta..." Yuigahama admitted, contradicting herself in true fashion. Their conversations weren't usually full of fancy words and elaborate analogies like he and Yukino, but they were still quite enjoyable.

The two reached the library not long afterward, with Hachiman sliding the door open to reveal Yumiko already sitting down at a table coupled with multiple chairs large enough for a study session, having just opened a history book.

"Huh? You're here already, Miura?" Hachiman asked in surprised with Yui standing next to him, equally as surprised.

"Well, I was the one who asked you to tutor us, so why wouldn't I be here first?" She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

If Yumiko was being truthful, she'd hoped to meet Hachiman before anyone else came so she could apologize for dragging him into this mess, so she couldn't help but be a bit disappointed seeing him arrive with Yui.

The two joined Yumiko, with Yuigahama sitting in front of Hachiman and Hachiman sitting next to Miura which didn't go unnoticed by Yui.

'They seem to be closer than before, I wonder if something happened...' Yuigahama thought. First there was that request from Yumiko where she'd only accept Hachiman's help, not to mention the fact that they were secretive about going somewhere the day before.

She began to wonder if she should be worried about Yumiko more than Yukino.

"You have a point. When is everyone else coming? I don't have all day." As if his words triggered a flag, the rest of the Hayama clique showed up, chatting happily with each other, albeit a bit louder than the usual library would allow. It was empty though, so there was no one to mind it.

"But what if Ooka was the donut?! That'd be an even better pairing!" Ebina spoke to herself while Tobe, Yamato, and Ooka looked used to her rantings by now.

"Thanks again for doing this, Hikitani-kun." Hayama smiled, sitting in front of Yui, while Tobe sat down next to her.

"Yeah, thanks! I knew you were a true bro!" Hachiman cringed at Tobe's words. Ebina sat down in front of Yumiko, while Ooka and Yamato sat across from one another at the edge.

"N-No problem. So, how should we start?"

"How about with what we went over yesterday?" Hachiman nodded, grabbing the history book from Yumiko and opening it as he explained.

Surprisingly, their study session wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Sure, there were some annoying times where Tobe or Ebina would blurt out random nonsense, but everyone seemed to do their best to at least listen to what he was saying.

Though, the amount of stupid questions he had to answer was starting to make his head hurt. About halfway through, they all agreed on a break.

"Phew, Romanji is so not my thing." Yumiko gave a sigh of relief as Hachiman closed the book, his eye twitching in the process.

"Well maybe if someone didn't focus on their nails during the lesson you'd have picked something up." He crossed his arms, still a bit irritated that her being distracted lead to him being unable to find out whether or not she had feelings for him.

"Y-You saw that?" Yumiko had the decency to be embarrassed, her cheeks warming a bit. "Wait, doesn't that mean you were distracted too?"

Even though they were only studying, Yumiko found herself having fun, and she knew that the primary source of that fun was due to Hachiman. It also helped that they were seated next to one another. She found his presence to be reassuring.

This had become a trend recently, with her enjoying their time when she went to his house for help, Saizeriya, and when they volunteered. Yumiko wasn't entirely sure why, but Hachiman seemed to fill a hole in her heart she didn't know how to. Maybe it was a sign of her maturing, now that she was finally starting to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.

"Who wouldn't be? As much as I like Hiratsuka-sensei, Japanese is so boring!" Yamato joined in, with Tobe and Ooka agreeing and starting their own conversation. Hachiman's near inaudible muttering caught her attention, only hearing it because she was sitting next to him.

"Who wouldn't be distracted after what you told me yesterday..." He muttered irritatedly. Yumiko raised an eyebrow at what she overheard, her brain replaying yesterday to find out what he meant.

Yumiko thought for minutes before giving up, not being able to think of anything significant that she told him yesterday. She didn't know how to respond, or if she even should respond. So, instead, she sat at the table quietly as the others conversed.

Hachiman seemed to do a pretty good job at teaching them and helping them study, as she never found herself confused or needing further help whenever he taught her. It seemed to her that this impromptu study session would end without a hitch.

Until they went over their final question of the day.

"The phrase, 'The moon is beautiful, isn't it?', translates to which phrase in English?" Hachiman asked, not having to wait long before getting an answer.

"Oh, I know this one! It's, 'I love you', right?" Tobe answered excitedly.

Initially, Yumiko went to write it down in her notes, as she didn't know the answer to Hachiman's question.

Though as she wrote it, a switch suddenly clicked in her head. She finally understood what Hachiman was muttering about, and what she'd said the previous night. The sudden thought caused her to break the led in her pencil, shocked at what she'd insinuated. Hachiman noticed this.

"You alright?" He asked, one of his eyebrows raised as everyone else talked amongst themselves and took notes. He figured that she'd just realized the meaning of the phrase she used the night before.

"Y-Yeah..." Yumiko responded, looking down at her notebook with her eyes wide and a blush sporting her face.

Hachiman shrugged at her response before talking to the group as a whole. "That's all for today. You should be good for the history test if you actually listened today." He internally cringed at sounding a bit like a teacher.

'This is definitely the last time I'm doing this.' He told himself.

"Thanks, Hikitani-kun!" Hayama said, flashing his 'nice guy' smile as he and the rest of clique packed their things and got up from their seats, getting ready to leave.

Hachiman nodded at Hayama and the rest of his clique thanking him and stayed seated at the table. Yuigahama also thanked him and began to walk away, before realizing Yumiko hadn't stood up to follow them.

"A-Are you coming, Yumiko-chan?"

She was broken out of her thoughts by Yui's question, her head shooting up and not realizing everyone had already left aside from Hachiman, Yuigahama, and herself.

"Y-Yeah...I'll catch up with you." Hachiman raised an eyebrow at Yumiko's response, wondering what she had to say to him.

Yuigahama reluctantly nodded, a bit uneasy at the idea of leaving the two of them alone. She felt as if she was losing ground, as if Yumiko was making more progress with Hachiman than she was. Yui found herself wondering how a bond between opposites change so quickly?

Soon enough, the only people left were Hachiman and Yumiko. The two sat next to one another, neither saying a word until Yumiko eventually broke the silence.

"I didn't mean it that way..." Yumiko sighed, her blush having gone down a bit.

"Is that so?" Hachiman replied, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Yeah..." She trailed off, nodding with her hands in her lap.

"Good, I would hope not." Hachiman said before standing up. He was internally relieved that she didn't know what that phrase meant when she said it, because it'd cause more harm that good had she actually meant it.

"Where are you going?" Yumiko asked, knowing he was going home but being too used to spending most of the day with him.

"Home, I still have stuff to do." He replied in his usual tone, though they both knew he was lying. Just as he reached the door, Yumiko spoke out again, causing Hachiman to turn around.

"What if I did mean what I said that night?" She was curious. Hachiman had known what that phrase meant as soon as she said it, which meant he had to have thought about the possibility of her being in love with him. Yumiko looked him in the eye, looking bolder than before.

Hachiman looked to the ceiling as he thought about it, before looking back to her and speaking. "I don't like making girls cry." Was all he said before walking out of the door, leaving Yumiko to her thoughts.

Yumiko couldn't get Hachiman out of his head.

She'd gotten home two hours ago and all she could think about were things the two could've done together by now. She had a lot of fun eating out with him and playing video games with him, it was the most fun she'd had in recent memory, even though they'd only done basic things.

Sighing, she fell back onto her bed and clutched her chest, feeling the rapid heartbeats. She then closed her eyes and gave a soft smile.

"This isn't good."

A/N: Apologies for the really late update this time around, I understand that it probably gets annoying waiting for so long, just know that this story won't be abandoned. You can view my progress on each chapter in the bio of my profile. Also, please review if you liked the story! It gives me motivation to continue!