Chapter 1- The Troubled Senpai

"Why did it have to be so hot…?" Hachiman grunted as he sat under the shade of a tree. The hot smoldering sun making it extremely hot.

It was another Service Club meeting and it had to be on a Saturday. God knows how he doesn't like anyone intruding on his weekend.

"Maybe I shouldn't come so early…" Remembering the recent call where Yui said she was gonna be late and Yukinoshita was trying to escape her older sister after dragging her to who knows where. Looking ahead, he wiped sweat from his forehead before setting his eyes on a vacant vending machine. His eyes lit up before he forced himself to stand and walk under the heat.

Inserting a coin and pushing a button. A soft clank was heard from the dispenser before he knelt and picked up a can of cold Max Coffee. He immediately felt the relaxing coolness of the GODLY beverage in his hands.

Sitting on the bench beside the vending machine, he quickly opened his can before drinking the content. With a satisfied sigh, he smiled as he felt the beverage easing up the heat.

"Thank all that is holy for creating this stuff" Hachiman muttered as he continued to sip from his can.

As Hachiman was enjoying his drink however, his attention was caught when a moderately fast walking person suddenly came from his right. It didn't take long for the person to sit on the other edge of the bench where he was sitting at.

"…"

He froze when he could audibly hear a sob erupting from the person. Clearly, the latter didn't seem to notice Hachiman at all and continued to cry. The feminine sound of soft crying was immediately making its way to the poor awkward male who had no idea what to do.

Hachiman looked at his surroundings and became awfully aware that he was the only close person in the general vicinity. He groaned internally from the awkwardness and knew that he couldn't just leave without making his presence known to the other person.

'Great' The loner thought grumbly and peered unnoticeably to look at the person.

The person was a girl that had her hands covering her face, which the loner knew was barely keeping her composure to bawl. Her long raven hair was sprawled in a slight mess, but it was nonetheless well kept by the light orange ribbon into a ponytail. And Hachiman had a feeling that the girl didn't come from a failed date judging from how the person wore too casual clothes not exactly for that occasion.

'Well, I could be wrong' He deadpanned. Knowing that he couldn't really say much when it comes to what to wear when dating anyhow.

Not that he included the mishaps that a certain fox would call as "practice dates". Clearly, he couldn't get much of a break, can he?

Steeling himself on what to say. Hachiman sighed slightly before deciding to finally break the ice.

'That bastard… Why did he have to meddle in our lives!" The girl wiped the tears in her eyes. Doing her absolute best to not show weakness and be vulnerable.

Why couldn't Mom understand!? They don't need him! That good for nothing man left them to fend for themselves and now, ten years later, he wants them to live with him!? Why couldn't he just leave them the hell alone and die for all she cared!

The gall of that selfish, disgusting, pathetic excuse of a fathe-!

"Here" Her internal thoughts were interrupted when a sudden voice reached her ears. Blinking, she came face to face to a… handkerchief. Confused, she lifted her head up and her gaze came across a black haired youth sporting a blank face.

In all honesty though, Hachiman was barely keeping his expression in place, seeing the trail of tears coming from those pair of dark violet orbs. While he could clearly tell that the girl was quite beautiful now that he can partially see her face, he cringed internally from that thought and kept his face blank.

'This is embarrassing. What was I supposed to do!? I couldn't just give her a can of Max Coffee and be done with it! That could have worked on me but…' His thoughts trailed off and cursed his awkward move. As he noticed the startled expression on the girl's face, he quickly found his mouth and decided not to embarrass himself any further.

"Here, wipe your face with this. You're lucky that this part of the park has fewer people than normal. It wouldn't be too good if someone saw you like this and say something about it" Cringing from his snarky choice of words, he held out his handkerchief and tried his best to keep eye contact.

'And this is where I get slapped…' He averted his eyes and prepared for pain when the girl didn't respond. He kept silent and was about to lose it when he felt soft hands make brief contact with his own and felt his handkerchief being taken.

"…"

Not really knowing what to do, Hachiman decided to sit down. Taking note of the space between him and the girl whilst trying to distract himself with his can of Max.

"T-Thanks" He heard the girl utter lowly from his right. Nodding stiffly, he didn't make eye contact as he was surprised of the unexpected outcome… at least for him.

"Y-You're welcome"

The two sat silently with a bit of awkward air between them. Not really knowing who should talk after that. The girl still sniffling but had become audibly lesser as she wiped the tears from her cheeks with the given handkerchief.

"S-Sorry you had to see that" The girl finally managed to utter out, visibly better from her crying.

"It's... Don't worry about it" Hachiman scratched the back of his head as he finally found his voice, at least glad the girl didn't mind his meddling.

"…"

"…"

"Uh, I'll just go. Don't worry, I won't say anything about this" Having enough with the uncomfortable silence, Hachiman just decided to leave. Better leave before he messed things up. The loner stood up while facing his back to the girl. "You can keep the handkerchief by the way. You can just throw it later or something" He finished awkwardly and was about to walk away when-

"Akeno. Akeno Himejima. That's my name" The girl now known as Akeno Himejima introduced herself. He stood rooted and unsurely inclined his head to look at the girl. "Uh, what's yours?" She asked now looking at him with teary eyes and a hint of a small smile.

That was a cute smile. And now that he could take a good look at it. Those were way bigger than Yui-

Focus Hachiman. Focus.

"Huh? Oh. Hachiman. Hikigaya Hachiman" The loner bowed slightly in return before sitting down on the bench. Looking ahead and desperately trying to keep a bored look.

"Hikigaya-kun then?" Akeno muttered softly before looking at him. "Thanks for the handkerchief Hikigaya-kun. Sorry again for what you saw, I'm not really like this at all" Her lips made a small bitter grin.

"It's fine. It's fine" Hachiman waved off. "Sometimes the world just loves to screw someone as an overcharged rental fee" The loner cursed himself with those words, not really the one to offer the right words when the situation calls for it.

Hey! For the record, even he knew he sucked at speeches. His usual theme is not exactly for most of the… general audience. Source: His essays.

"If it was another situation, I could've thought you were making a pass at me" Akeno giggled and teased showing a better complexion. Hachiman immediately swerved his head towards the amused girl, startled.

"N-NO! I did not!" Hachiman suddenly reasoned, his expression paling considerably.

If Yukinoshita ever heard that kind of sentence directed at him, he just knew it would not end good at all.

"Then you're saying you won't flirt?" Akeno pouted.

"What?" What?

"Why? Am I that ugly to you?" Akeno showed a mock frown. Sitting upright, her hands landing on her thighs.

"You-" Hachiman helplessly uttered out, immediately feeling an uncomfortable yet familiar vibe from the woman. Why was he in this mess!? So troublesome. He sulked, muttering from his seat as Akeno chuckled.

"Still, that was really sweet of you~" The loner blushed a bit but didn't say anything to rise up to the bait. The girl noticed that and smiled. "Aww~ You're no fun Hikigaya-kun. You don't want to continue flirting with me? We were just going to the good bits" She teased mischievously. Hachiman felt tingles in his spine from that tone.

No. Not today.

"I'm leaving" Screw this!

"Hahaha! Wait!" Akeno proceeded to close the gap and tried to grab his arm but failed as the loner deftly dodged her. Pouting, she looked up at him "Stay for a bit, you can't just leave a girl after doing something like that"

Hachiman was beginning to see that this was not one of his best ideas.

"I can though" He retorted with no hesitation slightly backing up.

"Mou~ You know, any boy would make a move if he comforted a girl" Akeno grinned.

Hachiman deadpanned.

"You're delusional" The loner pointed out with no remorse.

"I don't think you're aware what you got here Hikigaya-kun" Akeno supplied impishly. "Are you not getting excited? I'm quite the catch don't you think?" The girl winked flirtatiously.

"Sorry, my eyes are too rotten for me to become a slobbering mess" Hachiman sighed self-deprecatingly. It was embarrassing the first time, but now listening to the girl get a rise out of him was becoming rather redundant.

"Hmm~ That's not exactly true" Akeno admitted with amusement. "Your eyes are-"

"Disgusting, revolting to look at, menacing and a premium ticket from a one-way call to the police" Hachiman indifferently finished with more or less an automatic response. "Say something I haven't heard yet why don't you?"

He sarcastically added as he stood up, trying to finish his drink.

"Your eyes are kind" He stopped briefly, standing in place, startled.

Hachiman then shook his head lightly as he threw the now empty can in a nearby trash bin. The loner then looked at the girl and prepared to saunter off, gathering his words, he spoke.

"Well, Himejima-san, I think I should get going now. Sorry for suddenly approaching you out of the blue" The loner stated as he got his phone and looked at the screen while darkly muttering, "At least I didn't get slapped or something…" He sighed as his two fellow club members didn't have any updates.

Where were those girls anyway?

"No, no. It's… fine" Akeno blinked from the youth's constant self-belittling. Managing to barely hear Hachiman's mutters. She thought that it was just some kind of dark humor but that didn't clearly seem to be the case.

Nonetheless, Akeno can't help but feel disappointed, wanting to prolong the conversation. The loner was quite enjoyable to talk with and he was thoughtful enough to not pry about the issue from earlier. In addition, this let take her mind off from her problem somewhat. And he was quite a fun kouhai to tease, or where they even the same age? Speaking off which…

"Tell me, Hikigaya-kun. Which school do you go to? What year are you in?" She asked him curiously. Hachiman raised an eyebrow from the question before grunting.

"I don't think I'm comfortable disclosing my personal information to some stranger I don't know" He spoke with bluntly.

Akeno pouted.

"Hey! You saw me cry and I think we're past that" Hachiman cringed.

"Please word that better" He palmed his face before sighing. "It's Sobu High. Second Year" He answered briefly as Akeno nodded happily, satisfied.

"Well, it seems that I'm your senpai, Hikigaya-kouhai" Akeno smiled as she stood up and faced him.

"So, you're a third year" Hachiman begrudgingly acknowledged. "That's… technically true then" He admitted.

"Fufu~ You can call me Himejima-senpai then. Since a kouhai should call her senpai with respect after all~"

'And there it was' Hachiman deadpanned before simply nodding as Akeno smiled brightly before patting his head. Not that her palms reached his head when he quickly moved out of the way.

"Muu~ I see you're not a fan of physical contact then"

Hachiman ignored that. It wasn't the case really. He can take physical contact just fine. He just didn't want to get flustered. He's got the feeling that this senpai is just messing with him.

"What about it Hikigaya-kun? Want me to change that~?"

Hachiman couldn't definitely ignore that. He blushed as he decided that maybe talking with his senpai was dangerous.

"Well, I really have to go Himejima-senpai. You can keep the handkerchief. You can do whatever you want with it" Hachiman winced from his misleading words. And judging from Akeno's growing smile, she thought of it too.

"Oh, I definitely will" Akeno laughed but decided that it was enough for today. She got the reactions she wanted.

But she can't help it though; his reactions were just so cute. Even though he is trying hard to hide it.

Her hand lightly gripped the handkerchief before sighing. "Fine, let's stop for today. I'll wash it. Then maybe, I can give it to you when we meet again" There was a mysterious glint in her eyes that made Hachiman wary.

"It is soaked after all" Hachiman groaned.

"I'll be going Himejima-senpai"

"Fufu. Farewell, my kouhai. Thank you again for earlier, I wouldn't mind a next time"

Sheesh.

Without wasting any more time, Hachiman turned around and walked in a moderate pace. Not once looking back, afraid that the older girl would see his flushed face.

Akeno Himejima smiled softly as she looked at the back of Hachiman getting and further and further.

Maybe moving to Chiba with her mother to live with that man wasn't the worst thing after all. She still has her best friend who was thinking of transferring with her to Sobu.

And of course, the amusement of meeting a slightly sullen yet still wonderful kouhai to tease if given the chance…

…which would be a lot sooner.