Hikigaya Komachi was grumpy.

After being stressed out by her first two weeks as a third-year middle school student, she had hoped to make a breakthrough in her studies so that she could rest with ease.

After hitting several walls in her progress, Komachi got increasingly anxious, which ended up eating into her sleep schedule. At first, it was only seven hours. Then six, five, and last night she had only had four hours of sleep.

Disregarding whatever hardcore students claim, human brain function degrades the moment they start sleeping less than an average of eight hours. According to research, humans can maintain an indefinite seven-hour sleep schedule but with reduced brain capabilities.

Any less than that, and your mind will begin to suffer. You may not even realize it; sleeping six hours a day for ten days will leave you about as lucid as people who haven't slept for two days straight!

This can be seen in none other than Shirogane Miyuki himself. The moment he gets seven-hours of sleep, he is literally reborn anew! Caffeine? That's for peasants!

Komachi, at the very least, strived to maintain that level. And so, she needed to make a breakthrough. Desperate, Komachi turned to her best friend and unofficial little sister, Shirogane Kei.

Shirogane Kei was a young genius that could effortlessly enter the Shuchiin scholarship program, something Miyuki had earned through sheer luck and Hachiman had to earn by isolating himself like a hermit.

That wasn't to say Shirogane Kei wasn't a hard worker, but she was never pushed to study to the brink of collapse! It could be said that in terms of subject level, Kei could easily handle work from the third year school curriculum.

Komachi really needed her! And indeed, she was so close to a breakthrough!

However, her plan today to focus on studying had been derailed twice. First, it was the ever-smiling Fujiwara Moeha. The girl was supposedly Kei's best friend at Shuchiin Middle, so Komachi was forced to tolerate her presence. Not that Komachi hated her per se, but she wanted to focus on studying rather than socializing at the moment.

And then there was the jerk.

Minister Fujiwara Daichi was a magnanimous man who, despite his friendly appearance and calm demeanor, was more than willing to throw his weight around and flex his power. It was clear that this man had a very specific vendetta with her older brother, Hachiman. A sentiment that Hachiman gladly paid back in kind.

Still, Hachiman, for better or worse, put logic above emotion. Rather than separating Kei and Moeha and creating a needless rift, Komachi might as well continue her studying uninterrupted.

Besides, Komachi was also curious about the beef between Hachiman and the Fujiwara Patriarch.

"The dinner today is a French course!" Moeha happily announced.

"Eh? French dinner?" Kei raised one eyebrow, "Ugh."

"Why? Don't you like french food?" Moeha asked curiously.

"The food is good, but the preparation and table manners are too complicated for a poor girl like me." Kei grit her teeth.

"It's fine, it's fine." Moeha waved her hand, "Besides, watching you being clumsy at it is half the fun."

It was a half-whisper, so Kei probably didn't catch it. But Komachi did. She wondered if she was starting to hallucinate from lack of sleep.

She decided to pop a coffee candy into her mouth just to make sure. It shouldn't be potent enough to interrupt her sleep, but she couldn't let her concentration waver just yet.

"What about you Komachi-nee?"

"I'm literally incapable of that level of table manners." Komachi said, "I'll just skip eating altogether."

Komachi wasn't joking. At all. Even if she skipped dinner, she had a lot of energy bars on her as a fallback. The worst part of everything? French dinner wasted a lot of time.

Komachi didn't have that luxury. She was halfway there and about to collapse any moment.

If the Fujiwara family had even a shred of humility, they would adjust their dinner plans for their guests. If they didn't, then it meant that they didn't consider Komachi a guest. Was it selfish? No, it wasn't. That was just common sense.

Despite his skill at cooking, one of the big problems with Hachiman was that he more often than not cooked for his own preferences, even in the presence of a guest. To most people, that would be considered overbearing and unwelcoming.

Today's lunch was different. it was crystal clear that Hachiman had cooked everything in Komachi's favor and he made the menu as diverse as possible.

"Please don't say that, Komachi-nee." Moeha dismissively told her.

Lacking sleep, Komachi's mind was even more twisted than her brother's. It literally took all of Komachi's willpower to keep smiling. Maybe Komachi had begun to realize why Hachiman was always sour and cynical, even in the best of times. He needed to sleep more!

However, there was an extra surprise, when it wasn't just Chika who came to greet them before dinner.

"Kaguya-san?" Komachi rubbed her tired eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"Ah, Hikigaya-san, good evening." Kaguya greeted her politely, "Shirogane-san too."

"Hey, hey, Kaguya-san where's my greeting?" Moeha demanded.

Kaguya squirmed. It was clear that she didn't want to deal with the youngest Fujiwara, no matter the cost.

Interesting.

"I didn't know you were going to come." Chika hurriedly glomped both Komachi and Kei.

"W-well your father invited us on short notice," Kei whined, "Komachi-nee got dragged here despite visiting her brother."

"What can I say, weak people go along with the flow." Komachi shrugged.

"Whoa? You look really terrible, Komachi-chan." Chika finally got a good look at the younger Hikigaya, "Having a problem sleeping?"

"The stress from studying, yes." Komachi said as she lifted her bag, "Can I study before dinner?"

"Sure, let's go!" Chika dragged her happily.

For a moment, Kaguya realized just how much of a resemblance there was between Komachi and the girl's older brother. All the more apparent with those eyes on her face.

"Excuse me, young miss." An old chef approached them, "What would you like for dinner today?"

"Ah? Father didn't tell you?" Chika asked.

"He's going to come late," Moeha said, "He said he wanted to talk with Hik-ga!"

"Huh? You mean Hikki-san?" Chika asked.

"Yes, Hikki-san." Moeha corrected herself, "I don't know the details, but it seems that MLIT was involved."

Wow, Moeha is unexpectedly forgetful. Komachi remembered the details a little more: MLIT had their network compromised and Hachiman had acted as a physical courier for them.

Or maybe Moeha simply didn't care. That was likely the better explanation.

"Either way, I'd like to ask if you have anything you want. And also if you have certain allergies or food intolerances. Please let me know."

None of the girls had specific allergies, so none of them said anything.

"Kei-chan, Komachi-chan, anything you want to eat?" Chika asked them.

"Anything is fine, except a multi-course dinner," Komachi said, completely resigned to her shame.

"Umm, I agree with Komachi-nee." Kei nodded furiously.

"But is there anything you want in particular? Come on, don't be shy." Moeha coaxed them, "Please?"

"Umm, seafood," Kei said, somewhat embarrassed. "I like oysters in particular."

Kaguya mentally remarked to herself how similar her taste was to her brother. President Shirogane also loved oysters and clams, and that was often what he picked whenever they traded a bit of their lunches.

No, it's not lunch sharing! There is a difference!

"Fish is good for the brain." Komachi said, "Seafood it is."

"Kaguya-san?"

"I have no particular preference either way," Kaguya said, cool as a cucumber. "Seafood is fine."

So it was settled that dinner today would be a seafood themed dinner. Thankfully, Kei and Komachi could avoid the gigantic hassle of a formal dinner and the needed etiquette now.

But before dinner, studying!

...

Kaguya watched intensely as Komachi began her work once again, while occasionally asking Kei for explanations or clues. Her face didn't slip off once, the serious mask she was wearing was on tight.

Slowly but surely, Kaguya did, in fact, see the image of President Shirogane superimposing over her.

Ah. So this is what he meant by being a kindred spirit.

Someone average or below average in textbook intelligence, yet trying to pursue great academic accomplishment. When it came to this, then the only way to do it was through peerless hard work. Every second spent focused, because they all mattered.

President Shirogane and Hikigaya Komachi were both similar in that regard.

But unlike President Shirogane, Hikigaya Komachi had no personal pride or pointless stubbornness. She would shamelessly show her weaknesses, bare them for all to see. And it showed how much it made a difference, judging from her rapid improvement.

Sometimes, beggars can't be choosers. Hikigaya Komachi knew that, and Kaguya couldn't hate her for it.

In contrast, Moeha...

"Hey hey, listen!"

Kei was not quite as intense as Komachi, but even she stayed mostly on topic. It seemed that, compared to Komachi, Kei definitely represented a typical Shuchiin natural genius such as Kaguya herself, in that she had great base potential, and even moderate hard work would give immense payoffs.

Moeha being there was simply a nuisance!

"Moeha-chan, please work seriously." Chika chastised her, "If you want to play, just play with us instead!"

Chika and Kaguya were playing cards while watching over the younger girls having their study group. To be honest, Kaguya really, really wanted to join, but she was very hesitant.

But in the end, she steeled herself and offered her assistance. "Is there anything I can help with?" Kaguya asked.

"Uhh, actually..." Kei hesitated, "Can you please help Komachi-nee? I actually found these notes difficult to understand.

"Please," Komachi said, then pointed to a problem that she couldn't understand.

Kei looked at Kaguya as she began taking over herself and helped Komachi to catch up with the increasingly more difficult subjects.

Unfortunately, it was a rough patch as Kaguya had predicted, and she regretted it tremendously. Her inner dark side really, really wanted to berate Komachi for being so lacking.

Yet...

If she did that, wouldn't Kei have a bad impression of her as a result?

"This isn't good, is it?" Komachi forced herself to smile.

It could be said that to make a genius suffer, it is to make them teach the underachievers.

A genius learned at a pace that other people simply couldn't keep up with, understanding problems at an intuitive level and finding a solution that normal people simply couldn't comprehend.

Underachievers like Komachi were the opposite. They learned everything at a glacial pace, repetition was required just to remember problem-solving methods, connecting one new discovery to another was hard and analyzing the shared foundations of two different questions was even harder.

If Hikigaya Komachi struggleed in spite of all the help she had... how could President Shirogane do it alone? Kaguya simply couldn't imagine the horror of being caught in a state of ignorance, surrounded by the darkness, all alone.

It might even be soul-crushing.

No, it wasn't just a matter of Komachi being an ordinary student. The level of these subjects was in fact, something that Moeha wouldn't be able to deal with. And even someone as intelligent as Kei would be hesitant to call this level of work easy.

It made far too much sense, really. It was like watching a baby desperately running when she was just barely able to walk upright on her two legs.

Komachi was simply not ready for this, not without a great amount of assistance.

Looking at the struggling Komachi, Kaguya began to show a newfound respect for a person named Shirogane Miyuki.

Ah.

So that is it.

It was like this too, what happened a year ago... before the finals, Shirogane Miyuki brazenly announced in public that he'd get higher grades than Shinomiya Kaguya in the final exam.

And he did, somehow, through his own efforts. His face and body were visibly deteriorated from the hard studying he did, and yet all the people could see was someone who managed to challenge the gods and make the impossible possible.

Could it be that Hikigaya Komachi was also inspired to challenge the gods? It made sense really. Her blatant crush on him said it all.

Loving someone so hard that you could put your body on the line just so you could be with that person. It was a privilege that a Shinomiya simply couldn't afford.

The image of the serious, dedicated, and physically strained Miyuki was what burned in the depths of Kaguya's mind. More than everything else, it was the image of his sleep-deprived eyes.

The object of her lust. It wasn't true love. It was all physical attraction. Kaguya began to understand and settle with that feeling.

But some part of Kaguya refused to believe it... and even rationally speaking, physical attraction alone couldn't explain it.

In the end, Kaguya actually took over Kei's duties and taught Komachi every point in the textbook and notes she was reading.

"Young miss, dinner is ready."

"Thank you!" Chika stood up, "Let's have dinner, everyone."

やはり, 彼らが望む告白は間違っている.
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong

Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: ZeroXSEED, Co-Writer/Editor: GoukaRyuu

Chapter 22 - Komachi wants to fall asleep...

After the dinner, Komachi immediately returned to studying. However, this time around she simply reviewed everything she had learned so far. As such, she insisted that she didn't need any help.

Kaguya decided that she needed a breath of fresh air and stood on the balcony outside the Fujiwara house.

"Shinomiya-san." Kei also walked out, "Aren't you a bit cold?"

"Good evening, Shirogane-san." Kaguya greeted her, "After dinner, it always feels a bit hot, so I like the air outside."

That was a lie.

"I see," Kei said as she leaned on the balcony railing. "Anyway, thank you for helping Komachi-nee."

"It's fine. It's not like I have anything important to do," Kaguya told her. Not like it was a lie. It was probably better than dealing with Chika's weird, non-consequential boardgames.

"But still, I wonder if Komachi-nee is alright." Kei looked seriously concerned.

Kaguya wanted to say she would be fine, but she objectively could not. Kaguya only managed to hammer the basics into Komachi's head. It was up to Komachi herself whether she could build up her knowledge from there.

"How are you these days, Shirogane-san?" Kaguya asked her, finally finding the right time to talk with her casually.

"Well, father decided to stay in the countryside and take over the farm from his parents." Kei said happily, "It's a bit sad, but I'm happy that he can work seriously again."

"Eh? Does that mean you're living with just your brother now?"

"Yes."

Kaguya would have thought that just the two of them alone would make things more hectic, but apparently, it was the opposite.

"I guess that explains the President."

"What about Miyuki-nii?"

"Well, he doesn't drink coffee as often now, and it seems that he gets more sleep than before. I did hear that he's cutting back on part-time work and focusing more on his studies. And resting too." Kaguya said, "He's also generally more lively, and has also gotten pretty popular recently."

"Well, now that father's taken over the farm, I guess you can say our family will be financially stable." Kei sighed, slightly embarrassed.

Though being a farmer in Japan was unlikely to put you in a prosperous state, still, barring natural disasters like drought, plague, and pests, as well as outside factors like international trade or an economic slump... the income of a farmer, should be very stable.

"I'm glad that is the case." Kaguya closed her eyes in relief, "Sometimes watching President Shirogane working so hard can be disconcerting."

"It's embarrassing, right?" Kei asked, "He doesn't need to be such a stubborn tryhard."

"No, that's not what I mean." Kaguya said, "I think the fact that President puts his best effort into everything he does is..."

Ah!

Kaguya ran her mouth unconsciously enough that it sounded like an expression of love!

"...the President that people admire so much." Kaguya seamlessly switched to a perfectly fake smile. "But don't you think it's worrisome that he might have pushed himself too hard?"

Kei grimaced, only just now did she realize that she sounded like a spoiled and heartless little sister in front of Kaguya. And to be honest, she probably was one.

At some point, Kei willfully turned a blind eye to the extremely problematic situation of the Shirogane family. The way her father kept floating endlessly as a freeter, and how Miyuki pushed his body to the absolute limit.

It took Hachiman's intervention for things to move forward once again. Her father now had a stable job and her brother had become less self-destructive.

Unlike Komachi, who actually put an effort into making everyone happy, Kei never did anything like that.

So that's why. That's why Hachi-nii will never look at me that way... because I'm still a child.

Unknowingly, Kei began to shed tears.

"Eh?" Kaguya asked in a panic, "W-what happened?!"

Did I say something wrong?

"I just remembered something." Kei hurriedly wiped her eyes and smiled, "I didn't do anything at all. That's the most embarrassing thing."

"You didn't?" Kaguya asked as she offered her handkerchief, and Kei hesitantly accepted.

"Yeah." Kei sniffed, "Father and Miyuki-nii have always been the only ones who put effort into everything while I watch helplessly from the sidelines."

It happened before too when her mother was sick of her father and left with her in tow.

Ah. So that was it.

Kaguya, for a moment at least, saw herself in Kei too.

"...I've never done anything worthy of note to my family either." Kaguya said as her face darkened and her expression grew stone cold. "For them, whether I exist or not doesn't matter. As long as I don't make any trouble."

"But Shinomiya-san is so famous and talented?! How could that be?!"

"Because being famous and talented is something within the expectations set for me, that's why." Kaguya told her, "Sometimes, you have to accept the fact that as the youngest child, you're powerless."

"Even so..."

"Grab my hand!" Miyuki's voice echoed within Kaguya's perfectly clear memory of the event that had transpired last year.

"Just because you're powerless doesn't mean there's nothing you can do. Remember, it's always the smallest things that count." Kaguya gently patted her head, "Because you're a Shirogane."

A person's action is like a pebble falling in a calm pond. The more action they take, the bigger the ripples. Shirogane Miyuki was a person who was willing to challenge the turbulent seas themselves so that his existence will be acknowledged.

Kaguya believed, that Kei could do it too.

Even as Kei stopped crying, she ended up blushing hard instead. How could Kaguya turn so quickly from someone who looked so cold and distant into someone so warm and caring. It was a mystery!

"Kei."

"Huh?"

"My name is Kei." Kei said, "I don't want you to mix me up with Miyuki-nii."

"Shirogane Kei."

"Kei."

"Little sister-"

"Just Kei."

"Kei-san." Kaguya tried before deciding to give up.

Kaguya wasn't accustomed to calling the people around her by their first names. Even someone as close as a sister like Hayasaka Ai or someone she considered a close friend like Fujiwara Chika. Part of it was also her upbringing as a Shinomiya, but it was still something that stuck with her even today, making things awkward.

So Kei was the first person outside her family that she called by their first name. Kaguya had mixed feelings about this...

"Then call me Kaguya." She pointed to herself, hesitantly.

...

Meanwhile, Komachi...

"I see." She muttered, "Hmm, so it's like this."

Being surrounded by Shuchiin geniuses, it felt like their intelligence was leaking into their surroundings and, thus, had allowed Komachi to absorb it!

"Thank you, God! I've managed to do it!" Komachi made a dramatic supplication pose, even though she wasn't exceptionally religious. One can just imagine the presence of divine light shine upon her grateful self!

"Congrats!" Chika clapped her hands happily, "Want to take a little break, Komachi-chan?"

"I'd like to recoup my losses of sleep but..." Komachi looked at the clock, "Maybe an hour is fine!"

"Wanna play some games then?" Chika asked, "We don't have video games here, but there's a lot of board games to choose from."

"Sure." Komachi grinned, "Let's play a classic. Monopoly."

"Hmm, are you sure? I'm pretty good at Monopoly you know." Chika smiled widely. Then she saw Kaguya and Kei enter the room. "Ah, Kaguya-san, Kei-chan, want to join us in a game of Monopoly?"

Kaguya raised her hand, "I'll pass thanks."

"Me too," Kei said.

"Hmm, you're no fun."

Only clueless people would call monopoly a fun game! Both Kaguya and Kei thought synchronously.

Chika wasn't normally the type to shy away from unfair play, however, she didn't want to make a bad impression. So, for tonight at least, she'd go all out earnestly against Komachi.

That was a lie!

The only reason Chika wanted to play normally was that she was trying to fish for information!

"Komachi-chan studied really hard." Chika said, "There's no way I could follow that kind of pace."

"This amount of studying is normal for a non-genius." Komachi humbly laughed.

There was no way that level of studying could be considered normal, but no one wanted to say that aloud. Besides which, they didn't know how unusually advanced the level of material Komachi was dealing with was at the moment.

"Was Soubu that difficult to enter?" Moeha nonchalantly asked, "Actually, I found those materials difficult myself."

"Come to think of it those textbooks were rather familiar." Chika finally realized the truth, "Those are from third-year Shuchiin Middle, right?"

"Yes." Komachi raised one book, "I've asked Onii-chan to get these for me."

"No wonder I didn't understand a thing." Moeha finally realized why even Kei had problems following the content, let alone tutoring Komachi on it.

The truth was that Komachi obtained copies of the third-year Shuchiin Middle School textbook and school notes thanks to Hachiman's efforts. Because, up until recently, Komachi never tried to understand how hard it was to stay afloat in Shuchiin, let alone obtaining a high rank like her brother had.

And now, she understood the massive gap that Hachiman had traveled to reach his current level. And to think Miyuki had surpassed him by far...

It was almost soul-crushing.

"Is Komachi-chan interested in going to Shuchiin after all?" Chika asked excitedly.

"No, I'm not thinking that far ahead yet." Komachi shook her head, "However, if Komachi can understand even a fraction of those books, it would surely help for entering any other school just fine."

It was a great leap of logic, but one that was also understandable. Aim high and strike in the middle. At the very least, Komachi already understood the underlying foundations, and thus knew where to go.

"Speaking of which, Komachi-chan, has there been anything strange going on with Hikki-san recently?"

"Strange? Why?"

"Well, recently there's been a girl who's wanted to get closer to him you see." Chika said, "Her name is Hayasaka Ai-san, our new General Affairs Manager."

"Hmm." Komachi muttered, "Never heard that name before."

Kaguya noticed how Kei looked absolutely, positively terrified. Oh right, she had a crush on Hachiman. It was only now that Kaguya remembered.

"Sounds like someone who likes to use the fast approach." Moeha commented, "If someone had that kind of courage to go after someone openly they won't at all be afraid to go behind your back."

Kei looked like she was about to cry again, and Kaguya was about to panic too.

"Well, it has nothing to do with me anyway." Chika scoffed, "This might just be the start of Hikki-san's popular period."

Komachi looked down and smirked.

"Well," Komachi said as she moved her token, " I think that explains why Mother looked so happy recently. She was probably worried that Onii-chan would spend his high school days alone."

Chika froze and dropped the dice she was shaking. Kei and Kaguya's collective jaws dropped in response to Komachi's outrageous statement.

Hayasaka went THAT far?!

"That's a 2, pay the rent," Komachi said with a smile as she held out a hand demanding payment from Chika as her dropped dice were counted as a roll, which would force her to stop on Komachi's property.

"Umm, your mother?!" Chika began to flopsweat as she haphazardly counted out her payment to Komachi.

"I'm not entirely sure, but that seems to be the case at least." Komachi nodded, "Onii-chan didn't say anything about it to me though, so she might have misunderstood something."

Kei looked like she was about to pass out from the shock, but thankfully recovered. Kaguya was only slightly better than her.

She really, really didn't want to imagine Hayasaka and Hachiman being together. The image was too horrifying for her.

Indeed, it was a mistake for Chika to look down on Komachi. Even putting aside the brief mental shakedown, Komachi could simply outplay pretty much both of them, dominating the game.

"Komachi-nee really is powerful." Moeha remarked, "No one's pressed us this far in monopoly before."

Komachi continued to play without even saying a word.

20 minutes later...

"Bankrupt!" Chika whined, Moeha had already been taken out earlier.

Kaguya squinted her eyes in disbelief. Definitely NEVER play a game of Monopoly with Hikigaya Komachi, she added to her mental notes.

"I'm going to the toilet." Chika cried before rushing from the room.

"Me too," Kei said.

"Kei-chan's cute, isn't she? All the boys in our class think so. But even girls really like her." Moeha remarked, "She works really hard. And she can be prideful, but she hates to see people doing the wrong thing."

"That sounds like Kei-chan alright." Komachi took a sip of her cold tea, a leftover from during the earlier study session.

Sounds like President Shirogane. Kaguya thought. They were indeed too similar.

"Haha, yes, it's like she's pure or something," Moeha said with a bright, innocent smile. "So pure she makes me want to corrupt her."

Oh, here we go again. Kaguya squirmed. This girl always says the scariest things.

"Oh?" Komachi asked, her eyes shrunk. Kaguya was very much reminded of the girl's brother in that moment. "What do you mean with 'corrupt her', exactly?"

"Like locking her in the dungeon and torturing her for the rest of her life."

Moeha's expression didn't change in the slightest, even in spite of what she just said.

Komachi, on the other hand...

Komachi slapped one hand over Moeha's mouth and then began whispering something in her ear. Because Kaguya only saw her back, she couldn't use her top-level lip-reading skills in the slightest.

But Kaguya saw how Moeka's raised eyebrows slowly lowered, just like the blood also drained from her face, and she began to sweat profusely.

Komachi let her go with a smile, and then pulled out a pair of... something from a pocket. Kaguya was sure it was called a nail engraver? A small battery-powered drill used by girls to engrave their nails with patterns and decorations.

Komachi put the engravers together and turned them both on, releasing small sparkles from the tip and a high pitched screeching noise.

Moeha instantly passed out from terror.

"Oho looks like Moeha-chan was already tired, we should also get to bed." Komachi put the nail engravers away with an innocent, serene smile. "Good night, Kaguya-san."

Kaguya wasn't sure what Komachi had said, but she fully approved of her this time with a thumbs up, her face completely smug and satisfied. Fujiwara Moeha was definitely in dire need of a restraining order.

...

The result of today's battle: Fujiwara sisters' loss