04: A Friend In Need

"Yahallo!"

If someone told him that Yuigahama Yui was voted as the number one nicest girl in the entire planet, Tadano Hitohito would believe that statement in a heartbeat. In the short time that he had come to know her in the capacity of a fellow classmate, he had never seen her sad or upset. Always cheerful, always happy, and armed with an outgoing personality, it can be considered that she was easy to approach and talk to and was on friendly terms with practically everyone in class.

"You want me to go with Komi-san?" Yuigahama-san asked after Tadano had explained the whole situation to her. Komi-san just nodded her head a couple of times when it seemed appropriate.

For a moment Tadano thought everything was going according to plan, and Komi-san thought the cat was in the bag, but then Yuigahama hit them with a surprise attack.

"Why can't Tadano go with you?"

It was almost a near fatal attack. Komi-san was in critical condition. And Tadano also took some really heavy damage. For some reason, he had severely underestimated Yuigahama-san's ability to use logic and reason. It was a huge mistake to consider her the typical good looking, dumb high school girl. She wasn't a stereotype.

"Um, actually, I wanted to go. But," Tadano decided to lie. "Um, I remembered I had to run some errands. There's a sale going on at the supermarket." He rubbed the back of his head, let out an awkward laugh and looked apologetic. "I have to go buy some eggs."

For a second, he thought she didn't buy it, but a look of understanding seemed to cross through her red eyes and the girl with the pink hair, which she wore in a loose side bun, gave in to the request made by her fellow classmate.

"If that's that case, then of course, I will go with Komi-san!" Yuigahama-san replied with a touch of excitement.

Tadano couldn't help but wonder – had Yuigahama-san seen through his lie? If she did, then she must be really intuitive and possess some crazy social skills which lets her be highly aware of other people, being able to read the mood and adapt accordingly to the situation. And here he thought, he was the only one with the skill to read the atmosphere.

"Yui? What are you doing here?"

And just like that, Tadano sensed a disturbance in the force.

He recognized the voice and from what he could tell, Yuigahama-san was familiar with the tone. It belonged to Miura Yumiko and she was unhappy and annoyed about something. If he had to guess, it had something to do with Yuigahama-san talking with him and not spending more time hanging around with her friends.

"Ah, Yumiko! I was just talking to Tadano. Hiratsuka-sensei is being totally unfair. She asked Komi-san-"

Miura-san cut her off. "Komi-san?"

Not good. This was definitely not good at all. Miura Yumiko, the blonde gyaru from their class was really popular and had started to cement her place at the top of the social hierarchy and it didn't come as a surprise that she saw Komi-san as the competition. Of course, she was one of those people who hadn't figured out that Komi-san suffered from a communication disorder and had crippling anxiety which prevented her from talking to people. She just labeled her as a cold and standoffish person, who only became popular because of her beauty. It also didn't help that the first time Miura-san tried to talk to Komi-san, the latter had almost unnerved her with her scary stare. It was too intimidating for a fifteen year old. As such, the blonde had resorted to doing the next best thing, which was to enjoy her high school life to the fullest, make a ton of friends and try her level best to ignore Komi-san's existence.

This time too, Miura Yumiko did her level best to ignore the scary stare of Komi Shouko. Instead, she transferred all her ire on her good natured friend, Yuigahama Yui.

"Yui! I told you to grab a drink from the vending machine. You know we will get dehydrated if we didn't have something to drink while we watch the soccer club practice."

Tadano wasn't sure how that worked. Shouldn't the boys playing soccer worry about staying hydrated? But he wasn't about to question the blonde. She was way too scary for the likes of him. And he belonged at the bottom of the social hierarchy, so Miura-san didn't really care about his existence.

But the same wasn't true about Komi-san.

"Yui, did you tell Komi-san about her notebook?" Miura-san asked.

"Oh! I forgot all about it." Yuigahama-san faced Komi-san and the latter almost flinched and took a step back. But there was something wrong with the pink haired girl's expression. Her excitement and happy energy had dissipated. In fact, she almost looked uncomfortable to talk about whatever she wanted to talk about now. "Komi-san, I found your notebook in the dustbin. Is there any chance that you dropped it there by accident?"

Komi-san's eyes widened. They became huge. But it didn't take her even a minute to respond. And it didn't come as a surprise to anyone that, Komi-san shook her head in the negative.

Tadano didn't know what to think. He knew Komi-san's notebook had gone missing today, but back in the chemistry lab, she had told him that Hiratsuka-sensei had found it somewhere and returned it to her. He had breathed a sigh of relief. Without her notebook, Komi-san couldn't communicate with anyone. Not even him. When he found out about the missing notebook, he thought she had misplaced it. It seemed normal. Komi-san wasn't forgetful by nature, and she always kept her notebook with the rest of her belongings, but it was an easy mistake to make. But now, hearing about how Yuigahama-san found her notebook in the dustbin, made Tadano think of another possibility, behind her notebook going missing. And he didn't like it at all.

Thankfully, Yuigahama-san was able to read the tension in the atmosphere and tried her level best to make things normal again. Unfortunately for her, she went about it in the wrong way.

"Yumiko, I know I promised to hang out with you today, but Komi-san has this really important thing that she has to do. And Tadano can't help her, because he has errands to run." Yuigahama-san made a strong start. "You know the guy who hasn't been coming to class since the semester started? Well, Hiratsuka-sensei asked Komi-san to go to his house and give him the class printouts. But you know, that's totally not okay. Komi-san is a girl. And he is some guy. What if he turns out to be a weirdo? And Komi-san can't -" At this moment, Yuigahama-san saw the look in Miura-san's eyes. And before long, her voice failed her completely. "Komi-san can't…"

"Komi-san! Komi-san! Komi-san!" Miura-san repeated heatedly, slowly losing all her patience and growing angrier by the second. "Can someone tell me why anyone cares about Komi-san? I mean sure, she's pretty! But that's just about it. She has no personality. She doesn't talk to people. And she glares at me for no reason at all. Listen up Yui!" Miura-san glowered at her friend. "You have to decide. Are you gonna be my friend or Komi-san's?"

Yuigahama-san almost looked on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Tadano didn't know what to do in this situation. He didn't have the guts to face off against the likes of Miura Yumiko. But he knew what was happening was very, very wrong. Now that he thought about it, he should have escaped with Komi-san when Miura-san showed up in the first place. Things would have gone down much easier, if Yuigahama-san was alone with Miura-san, but with Komi-san and him being there together, things had definitely gone out of hand. Finally, when he thought it was hopeless and they had lost, Tadano heard the most calming sound in existence – the scratch of pencil on paper.

Before he could realize what the hell was going on, Tadano witnessed the unthinkable and stood by as a passive spectator as Komi-san marched up to Miura-san, tapped her on the shoulder just once and when Miura turned around with a glare and a retort on her lip, she showed her what she had written in her notebook.

'Why can't Yuigahama-san be friends with the both of us?'

As you would expect, Miura-san had no immediate response. She was completely stumped. And what she came up with at the end left a bad taste in the mouth. "I don't know why you don't talk like a normal person. You are neither deaf nor mute. Are you doing this to get more attention? You think you are something special, huh? Well, newsflash Komi, you are not!"

That crossed a line.

"Miura-san, that's -!" Tadano wanted to say something, but Komi-san stopped him with a look over her shoulder and a small shake of her head. He understood what she was trying to do. Sometimes in life, there are some battles you have to fight alone and all by yourself.

It took a lot of courage to write the next sentence.

'I have a communication disorder.'

Komi-san didn't know what to expect. Would Miura-san make fun of her? Would Miura-san spread awful rumours about her around school? She had no idea. All she knew was that she was taking a chance, a big risk and trusting one of her classmates with something she considered really private and maybe, just maybe, asking for her to show some level of understanding.

"Oh." Miura-san said after a long moment. "Now some of the stuff you do makes sense." But if Komi-san was hoping Miura-san would show her some genuine concern and sympathy, she was sadly mistaken. "But don't you think you are being kinda unfair to Yui? You are asking her to come with you to a boy's house. But have you considered her feelings? Maybe she is really uncomfortable and doesn't want to go to some random guy's house."

Komi-san turned and faced Yuigahama-san, who found herself in a tough spot. She fumbled, trying to come up with a response which was both true and didn't end up hurting anyone's feelings. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm uncomfortable. It's just that I have never met this guy before and you know…" She let out a small, nervous chuckle. But one look at Komi-san and her sad little kitten face made Yuigahama-san reconsider immediately. "But this guy can't be a weirdo, can he? I mean, he got into Shuchiin Academy. Plus, there will be two of us and one of him, so, you know, strength in numbers and what not – Eh? Komi-san? What's wrong?"

Komi-san was having a small nervous breakdown. Yuigahama-san had managed to make her very, very afraid. Now she was mentally berating herself for not agreeing with Tadano-san and letting him come with her to Hikigaya-san's house. It would have solved all her problems. But it's not like she could take back what she said and ask him to come with her. Or could she? With some hope in her eyes, Komi-san turned back to Tadano. But it was already too late.

"What can't you go with her again?" Miura-san asked Tadano.

"I have to go to the supermarket and buy some milk." Tadano fumbled.

"Milk? I thought you said eggs?" Yuigahama-san said.

Tadano tried to get a handle on all these lies he was spinning. It shouldn't be too difficult. "I have to buy both milk and eggs."

"You are going to have milk for dinner?" Miura-san asked with a hint of suspicion in her tone.

Tadano almost broke. "It's for breakfast tomorrow."

For some reason, Miura found the guy really suspicious. He sat next to Komi-san in class and from the looks of it, he was her friend, but he couldn't go along with her to visit some random guy's house. What the hell kinda friend is he? Didn't he hear the old saying – a friend in need is a friend indeed. Apparently not. Well, it was not any of her business who Komi-san called a friend. If she had played her cards right, Komi-san could have been her friend and then Miura would have accompanied her to this guy's house. But that wasn't going to happen now.

"So Yui, what's it's gonna be?" Miura asked abruptly, reminding everyone of the matter at hand and stopping them from getting sidetracked. The blonde was also trying her best to look cool and keep the note of uncertainty out of her own voice.

Of course Yui was free to make her own decision, but Miura had nothing to worry about. Yui was her friend first. Anyone with a brain would know what's gonna happen next, right? Right?

A/N: I know, I know, Hikigaya hasn't shown up yet. But on the plus side this chapter had Miura and Yuigahama, so I don't think it's all that bad. You know, I was gonna make Miura real mean, like she was gonna say stuff like 'Komi-san, you have communication disorder? Pfftt. That's not a real thing.' But I thought, I'm gonna save it for the villain of this arc.

Okay – Now it's time for some polls-

Poll#1: Who Visits Hikigaya?

Option 1: Komi-san, Yuigahama and Miura.

Option 2: Komi-san and Tadano.

Option 3: Komi-san and Tohru Honda.

Option 4: Komi-san and Aizawa Tomo.

Option 5: Komi-san and Shikimori Micchon.

Poll#2: Who Is Bullying Komi-san?

Option 1: Sagami Minami.

Option 2: Hayase Nagatoro.

Option 3: Suggest A Female Bully Character.

Now,

I asked people for suggestions on possible characters that you want to see as Hikigaya's classmates and 'gontheone' sent me an entire list.

Here it is -

Number 1: Kiyotaka.

Number 2: Bakugo.

Number 3: Sasuke Uchiha.

Number 4: Lelouch.

Number 5: Light Yagami.

Number 6: Peter Parker.

Number 7: Sakura Haruno.

Number 8: Shikamaru.

Number 9: Kaguya Shinomiya.

Number 10: Yumeko Jamabi.

Number 11: Ayame Himuro.

Number 12: Shinya Yukimura.

Number 13: Kamijou Touma.

Number 14: Mikasa Ackerman.

Now keep in mind that this is gonna be the ultimate high school fic. So none of these characters will have any powers or supernatural abilities. They will just be normal teenagers. I might even tweak the backstory of a few characters or nerf them. So yeah, if you like the sound of that, please feel free to pick a few characters from this list.

And if you want to suggest a few characters of your own, let me know in the reviews or PM me. You can also send me an entire list like 'gontheone' did. That would really help me out.

Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Leave lots and lots of reviews, follow and fave.

Won't betray your dreams.