Yo. Hope you guys are doing good.
It feels good to write again. I was able to finish up this chapter easily and once again, it felt good to write.
To the reviews from the first chapter. First of all, thank you very much, Rezonan and Hachiman fan, for checking my work out! I really appreciate it! And those of you who favorited and followed my story, thank you very much for supporting me as well!
I had written a draft of this around the same time the OG version was released. I had two different ideas to move forward with at the time. I just searched through my files and pulled this up. I had to edit A LOT to make it something worthwhile imo. Otherwise, it would make not only me, but most likely the readers cringe as well.
Hina will play a big role in this rewrite. When I wrote the OG version of this story, I wanted to write with characters that aren't really explored much in other fics. So from the OG version, that is still remaining the same. And yes, thank you for pointing out my dialogues. I know my dialogues aren't the best. Sometimes, I feel like the conversations I type are...unnatural. But I try my best to get better at it. So thank you for pointing it out.
Tobe is most likely going to be a teammate of Hachiman in this version as well. And if you still want to make suggestions for characters from other works to be Hachiman's teammates, please go ahead. For other characters though, the only way I would be able to include them is if I am familiar with them.
I think I've been yapping too much. Without further ado, please enjoy!
I do not own My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected. It is the property of Wataru Watari. The only thing I own in this story is my OC.
The birds happily chirped in the early shining sun enveloped everyone that happened to be outdoors under its bright glow as of the moment. Among those was Hachiman, who was currently riding his bicycle to Sobu High School. It was a little early for him to get to class but ever since the passing of Makoto, he had started getting up earlier. Makoto used to be a very precise man and would always wake up early in the morning. Hachiman had decided to pick up this good habit of the dead man. This was a way Hachiman could remember his dear and only ever friend.
Hachiman knew Makoto believed in him and other genuine people to get along but fate was against it. He had prepared himself for a new start at Sobu High School where he would follow the advice of Makoto. However, everything went to shit on his way to classes on the first day of school. In the process of saving a pet dog that suddenly got on the road, Hachiman was run over by a black limousine. He was out for a month and had to recuperate in a suffocating room at the hospital. After learning about the incident, Komachi was livid and wanted her parents to file a lawsuit against the ones responsible for this.
His parents were in agreement and were going to follow that plan until some 'hush money' from the owner of the limousine was offered to the Hikigaya family in order to keep everything under the table. The amount of money on the table was no small amount and as expected, his parents' plans to continue forward with the suit suddenly had a little bit of hesitation. Ultimately, his parents gave him the choice on what to do. Hachiman just told them to take the money and forget about the lawsuit. His sister was against this at first but Hachiman explained to her that it would bring a lot of headache taking this entire matter to court. Plus, considering how much money was being offered to them, the defendant is guaranteed to have connections and good lawyers on their side. Begrudgingly, his younger sister accepted his decision and talks of lawsuits were over.
During his stay at the hospital, he never got a visit from the owner of the limousine nor the owner of the dog he saved while getting injured himself. After getting out of hospital, Hachiman had to wear a cast and use crutches for two more weeks. At school, some students would sometimes help him move along when he needed to go somewhere. Otherwise, he would mostly stay inside the classroom and eat lunch there too. A few of his classmates threw him curious glances on his first day of high school, which was a month later than usual. After that, everyone moved along and Hachiman was left to his own devices. Due to his circumstances, the teen failed to make any friends and utilize the fresh start he got ready for on his first day of school, mostly due to how everyone had already formed groups of friends.
This was the reason why he loathed himself nowadays more than he used to. He had lost faith in humanity and in the world. Despite the trust and belief Makoto had, Hachiman's current life would only manage to disappoint the late young man, at least according to his own thoughts. The fact that he would probably disappoint his friend if he were alive made him hate himself even more. He was a failure of a human being. And fate thought so too since it always tried to make life for him as difficult as it could. First, it took his best friend away from him and second, all of the preparation he had for a fresh new start bore no fruit due to the accident.
As these thoughts bounced around the head of Hachiman, he finally arrived at the back of the parking lot of Sobu High School. He rode near where the bicycle racks were placed. Along with many other bicycles, Hachiman got off of his own one and pulled it towards an empty loop. As he secured his bicycle, Hachiman observed the teachers that were entering the school building. Some teachers usually arrive a little earlier than the majority of the students, just like him. While finishing locking up his bicycle, Hachiman eyed one student that had similarly arrived a little early like him. It was arguably the most popular student in his school. Despite being a First Year student, Hayato Hayama was all most of the students could talk about, especially the girls.
Just like 'nice girls', Hachiman despised people with fake personalities. Hayato Hayama, from what he had observed so far, turns out to be an example of that. He always seems like 'the man of the people' type of person. From what he had seen so far, Hayama is someone that wouldn't take any sides whenever two opposing powers collided, for any reason. He made sure to keep a perfect image of himself to show no weakness to others within the school's premise. This non authentic behavior of the popular teen tugged Hachiman the wrong way. He sighed and stopped thinking about unimportant people before making steps toward his designated classroom.
"Since the absolute value of the expression 2x-4 is less than or equal to the number 8, then x has two different solutions," Shiromeguri calmly explained as she kept the tip of her pencil on a piece of paper that had many different math questions. Hachiman, who was sitting to her left at one of the tables in the Student Council's office, offered a small nod of understanding.
The two had encountered each other in the gym around two weeks earlier. Shiromeguri had gotten Hachiman to 'hang out' with her the day after their first meeting. In the beginning, the younger teen vehemently declined her offers and tried to shoo her away. However, the Second Year Student was very persistent in her advances. After a lot of pestering from Shiromeguri, Hachiman had gotten annoyed to the point where he had uncharacteristically shouted at her. This resulted in the older girl sporting a look of betrayal and sadness. This scene had brought a sense of self-loathing and guilt within Hachiman. Then as a form of apology, he had agreed to go with her. Her mood did a 180 at his decision and they have been meeting up since then. During their meetups, which took place at the office of the Student Council, Shiromeguri usually helped him with his homework. Somehow, she suspiciously knew what his weaknesses were in his academics, which were Math and Science. Today, she was helping him with his Algebra homework.
"It's because 8 is the absolute value of two numbers. It's positive 8 and negative 8," The young woman beamed at Hachiman's words.
"Right! Now you just need to solve for x when you make the expression equal both 8 and negative 8," instructed the older girl. Hachiman hummed for a solid minute as he looked at the written problem in his notebook.
"It's negative 2 and 6," Hachiman stated in a blank tone. His senpai nodded at him as if she was proud.
"I knew you were smart! But you do have to remember that the original problem had a less than or equal sign, not just an equal sign," Shiromeguri smiled as she reminded the teen. He hummed yet again as he tried to think of the correct answer to his specific question. This time, it took him a bit longer than earlier, but he was successful in coming up with an answer.
"Negative 2 is less than or equal to x but x is less than or equal to 6," was the answer Hachiman ultimately deduced.
"You got it! Now let's see the next question…" The student council president began looking at his paper but Hachiman shook his head.
"No need, senpai. I already got the hang of this after you showed me how to solve a couple of these questions. Thank you for your help, although you didn't really need to do such a thing for someone like me," The Second Year student's eyes narrowed slightly at the last part of Hachiman's sentence.
"What do you mean, 'someone like me'?" demanded Shiromeguri with a pout. Hachiman would've made a comment on how cute she looked with that expression on her, but the key word was, 'would've'. Nowadays, nothing really excites the First Year Student anymore.
"Please forget what I said," sighed Hachiman. Shiromeguri just shook her head at his request.
"Never! Please don't value yourself with such low worth!" There were even tiny teardrops around the corners of the girl's eyes. Hachiman inwardly groaned but replied to her in agreement nonetheless.
"I won't. Sorry about that," and as if a switch was turned on, a massive smile was plastered upon the face of his senpai.
A week had passed since the time Shiromeguri helped him with his Algebra homework. The two hadn't met up since then due to how busy Shiromeguri was with her Student Council tasks. Hachiman told her not to worry about this whole 'meetup' thing anymore and waste her time on him, but she had gotten angry yet again at the fact that he was making himself sound worthless, which he truly believed he was. Sighing, he entered the teacher's lobby and walked around a bit until he found his desired destination.
"Hikigaya! Good thing you are here. Take a seat," ordered a woman sitting behind a table. Her lab coat was put around the chair she was sitting on. The smoky smell of ash was very noticeable to Hachiman. This was the woman who helped him catch up with his missing assignments, his Japanese literature teacher, and his Guidance Counselor, Shizuka Hiratsuka. Although she acted like a kid sometimes, at least according to him, she had a good heart and good intentions.
'Too bad she is wasting her valuable time on someone like me,' thought Hachiman as he did as she told him to and took a seat in front of her.
"So how is everything going?" Shizuka asked without looking up from the piece of paper she was making notes on.
"Normal," Hachiman's short and unenthusiastic reply caused her to actually look up from her paper.
"Can you explain normal?" The teacher added on.
"Whatever you wish to believe is normal. Different people have different types of normal," Shizuka's eyes twitched at Hachiman's cryptic reply.
"Don't try to be a smartass," The Japanese Literature teacher snarkily fired back before letting out a sigh.
"Seriously, Hikigaya. How is everything going?" Shizuka's tone held a tinge of worry this time as she asked him yet again.
"Fine," Hachiman said with a plain face.
"Fine?" repeated Shizuka, to which Hachiman nodded.
"Fine," confirmed the teen. Shizuka groaned as she heard Hachiman just repeating his previous answer.
"You know, I can still report you for your missing tie and nails. You are technically violating dress policy in school, after all," She pointed towards his painted black nails and where his tie, a part of his school uniform, was supposed to be.
"Please do. Who is stopping you? And I am certain that smoking is not allowed within the school building. Not even for teachers," Hachiman's nonchalant words caused his teacher to snort.
"You do know that I was just playing around, right?" she asked but didn't hear any reply. She then looked at Hachiman to see that he was just blankly staring at her.
"Oi! I was just kidding!" She voiced in a tone of panic.
"I know. You just said that a few seconds ago," confirmed Hachiman. Shizuka sighed but threw Hachiman a stink eye.
"What am I gonna do with you? Oh yeah. The reason I called you here is to ask why The Student Council President was asking for your academic reports," The teacher spoke with a hint of curiosity.
"And I wondered how she knew what I got bad grades in. She has been helping me with my homework. Out of her own free will, of course," Shizuka's eyes grew a little wide at Hachiman's explanation.
"Shiromeguri is helping you? That's good. It's good to see you making friends," smiled the older woman.
"She is the only one who believes that," corrected Hachiman and an expression of disapproval took over the woman's face.
"Seriously, you need to change your rotten personality," stated Shizuka. Hachiman just looked at her for a few seconds before responding.
"Would that be all? Am I free to go?" Hachiman had gotten up from his chair and was ready to go but Shizuka stopped him.
"Wait! I was gonna offer to let you join me for some ramen! My treat!" Hachiman was going to decline her offer but surprisingly, for some reason, it warmed his reserved heart to see a teacher going out of their way for his well being. No other teacher had really taken their time to do such a thing in his life so far. Plus, he was being offered free food, which he really shouldn't deny.
"Sure," Hachiman agreed and Shizuka noticed that a tiny bit of life appeared in his usually chilly and dead-fish eyes. This brought a smile onto her face as she snatched the keys of her Aston Martin, which was placed next to the empty coffee mug on her table.
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Commanded Shizuka as she started walking out with Hachiman following her.
Shizuka had basically sped her way through the roads and broke a lot of traffic laws on her way to a good ramen place she knew of, with Hachiman in the passenger side. In between stops, she made sure to glance at the teen beside her, who had no reaction on his face to her semi-reckless driving. Shrugging it off, she had pulled into the side of the road to park her vehicle. She believed that Hachiman might've been in a car with a driver who was even more reckless than her. She never realized how she hit the bullseye with her theory..
While Shizuka kept driving to the ramen place she talked about, Hachiman couldn't help but think of the time Makoto had gotten his license once he was old enough and was allowed to drive his dad's car. Hachiman was one of the first passengers Makoto had given a ride to as a new driver. He was scared at first due to the fact that Makoto was a rookie driver, but didn't let it stop him from getting a ride with his best friend/older brother figure behind the wheel. His fears came true at first since Makoto was driving extremely fast. He had screamed but later on, laughed along with the driver as the two had fun.
While the First Year student reminisced about the good times, he never realized that Shizuka had already parked the car and was knocking on the window. Hachiman suddenly jumped out of his stupor and saw that his teacher had opened the door on his side and was staring at him in concern.
"Hikigaya, everything alright? I've been tapping on the window for a while but you were daydreaming," the woman spoke as she kept her eyes on him.
"Sorry, Hiratsuka-sensei. I was thinking," Hachiman confessed.
"Thinking about what?" Shizuka asked as Hachiman got out of her car and she was able to lock it after closing the door. She then began walking towards the ramen spot she had been talking about as her student followed her.
"The time my friend had gotten his license and gave me a ride as a new driver," Hachiman knew this would tug on Hiratsuka's sense of curiosity and he would end talks of this topic right after she asks him some specific questions.
"Friend? And here you were giving me hints that you wanted to be a loner for your whole life," smirked Shizuka. When Hachiman didn't say anything in return, she began questioning once more.
"Who is this friend of yours?" Hachiman knew that she fell for the bait and he would end this entire conversation in seconds.
"Dead," Shizuka was confused why someone would be named 'Dead' of all things.
"Dead? That is a weird name," commented the Japanese Literature teacher.
"No. My friend is dead," Shizuka stopped in her tracks as the size of her eyes grew slightly. Hachiman was also forced to stop since his teacher was the one that was leading them on their way. Shizuka then turned around and looked at Hachiman with a look of guilt.
"I am sorry if I brought up bad memories. I was asking too many questions," Hachiman had around a 90% expectation that this is where the conversation would end up and had planned for such a thing already.
"Where is the ramen spot you were talking about? I am feeling a little hungry," responded the teen. Shizuka had a look of confusion for a split second but then a look of realization and understanding, which was noticed by the younger man right by her.
"R-Right! Follow me," stated the woman as they both began walking again. It only took them around a minute before they entered a Ramen shop. The rest of the walk on their way here was silent. Shizuka led her student to a spot where two seats were empty and the duo sat down on the stools. While waiting for someone to take their order, Hachiman looked around and noted that the place was buzzing with people seated around everywhere, enjoying the food and chatting around with their companions. The aroma that was wafting around indicated that the ramen here must be good.
"Welcome back, Hiratsuka-san! Oh, I see you brought a new customer to my shop as well! What can I get you today?" Hachiman was distracted from his observation of the shop by the voice of the newcomer. He looked ahead to see that it was a middle aged woman, who had a chef's uniform on her. She was most likely the owner of this business.
"You know, the usual," Shizuka said with a smile. The woman nodded and wrote it down on her notepad before looking at Hachiman.
"And what can I get you, young man?" she asked. Hachiman didn't take too long to make his order.
"I'll take a bowl of Shoyu Ramen," he requested. The owner gave him a big smile in return.
"Great choice! Please give me a couple of minutes before your orders are ready," the woman told the two customers before walking away and tending to more customers.
"Shoyu Ramen, huh? Not bad," commented Shizuka before she went on her phone, expecting Hachiman not to make a remark in response. Her assumption ended up being accurate as Hachiman just stayed quiet.
The two didn't have to wait for too long for their food to arrive in front of them. Hachiman took a glance toward Shizuka's direction and saw that she was having a bowl of Miso Ramen.
"Itadakimasu," The older woman stated before she began consuming her food. Hachiman followed suit and did the same as her. After tasting the broth and swallowing a little bit of the ramen noodles, Hachiman realized that Shizuka knew her spots well. This wasn't the absolute best, but one of the best tasting ramen he has had in the town nonetheless.
The teacher and student duo didn't speak much as they took comfort in their silent consumption of their ramen. Shizuka was almost finished with her food while Hachiman decided to eat it slowly. It seemed like Shizuka must've skipped lunch due to how fast she was eating but that was not the case for him. He had brought a couple of melon pans from home and purchased a MAXX Coffee from one of the vending machines at the school. He wasn't super hungry like his teacher but still enjoyed the meal nonetheless. After finishing their meals, Shizuka dropped Hachiman off at the school before the both of them went their own separate ways.
It had been a couple of weeks since Shizuka had gotten Hachiman ramen at one of her favorite spots. Nothing much had changed in the life of the First Year Student since then with an exception. The exception was his slightly better grade in Biology and a much better grade in Algebra after the exams. Shiromeguri's efforts came in clutch as they helped Hachiman overall become a much better student. He was already ranked 4th in Japanese Literature and top 10 in both English and History. He had jumped forward about 10 rankings in Algebra and 6 spots in Biology. The only people ahead of him in his strongest subject was someone named Hina Ebina at third, the pretty boy Hayama at 2nd, and a student named Yukino Yukinoshita at first. The latter's name sounded familiar to the young man for a little bit but he couldn't put together any reason why.
Aside from his grades increasing a bit, everything was going with the flow in Hachiman's life. That included using the gym for some time after the boys basketball team ends their practice. That is what Hachiman was doing as of the moment in the afternoon. Instead of the usual white tank top, Hachiman wore a tight black shirt underneath and even brought a pair of gray sweatpants to use during his shoot around. He was free styling with different moves and putting the ball on the basket when the sound of the doors opening made its way to his ears. Ceasing his activities, a slightly sweating and huffing Hachiman moved his head to the doors' direction to see what was the cause of them being opened. He was greeted with the smiling face of one of the most popular people in the school.
"Hello there," Hayato Hayama plastered a robotic smile on his face as Hachiman eyed him blankly. Receiving no reply from the teen, the blond-haired young man continued.
"I heard some noises in here and I have a good friend who is on the basketball team. From him, I know that their practice ended around 40 minutes ago. So I was just curious and checked in to see what was going on," Hayama explained. Hachiman looked at him with no expression for a minute.
"Is that so? Well, now you know the source of the noises," responded Hachiman.
"I am Hayato Hayama. A pleasure to meet you. And you are Hachiman Hikitani, the fourth ranked student in Japanese Literature among the First Year students, correct?" For the first time in this interaction, a visible reaction appeared on Hachiman's face. He wasn't surprised about the Japanese Literature ranking but the fact that the blonde male knew his name and made the connection, although completely butchering his last name.
"How do you know who I am?" a chuckle was heard from Hayama before he spoke once more.
"Hiratsuka-sensei had forms of admitted students on her desks a couple of months back. And when I went to meet her for some help in an assignment, I noticed your form with the attachment of your photo," Hachiman was confused why Hayama would lie. First of all, there was no reason Hiratsuka would have any admission forms on her desk. It made no sense for a teacher to have such things according to his own thought process. And second, considering Hayama was only behind one person in the rankings of Japanese Literature among the First Year students, there was a very small chance that he of all people would need help in that subject, but it wasn't completely impossible. Ignoring that he was 80% confident Hayama had just lied to him about how he discovered his name, Hachiman started dribbling around and continued his previous routine. He did a between the legs dribble move and then stepped back before shooting a shot from the mid range area, which hit the backboard and went in. He then turned around and eyed the teen that was smiling at him.
"It's HIkigaya, for your information," was all Hachiman said before he focused on shooting around again. After he ended the play on a reverse lay up, he turned around to see Hayama had gotten himself right behind the three point line, a smile formed on his face.
"Would you please accept a one on one challenge from me?" Hachiman stopped once more and raised his eyebrows at the blonde. He didn't want to at first but figured that it would be a good way to test his own skills. Shrugging, he decided to give Hayama what he wished for. Plus, actually going up against somebody will be pretty useful for him, assuming Hayama was also good at basketball like he was in other sports.
"First to 7 points wins the game. Shots inside the three point line are worth one point and outside of it are two. If the ball goes out of bounds on you, it's the other player's possession," explained Hachiman as he stood in front of Hayama, ready to defend. He rolled the ball he had on his hands over to his upcoming opponent, who crouched down to pick it up.
"Understood. I am assuming I will get the ball first?" After receiving a short nod of confirmation from Hachiman, Hayama began dribbling the ball.
Right from the start, the black-haired teen was sure that Hayama was an amateur basketball player. The way he dribbled with his right hand while the right side of his body lowered down a lot was enough to indicate such a thing to the experienced teen on the court. It also didn't help that Hayama was looking down at the ground often as well. Plus, he had shifted his body to the right, putting his left arm and shoulder between Hachiman and the ball. Noticing this, Hachiman sighed and backed up a little. His adversary's reaction did not escape the eyes of Hayama. Seeing that he had been offered a wide open shot, Hayama took one strong dribble forward as he shifted his body back again before holding the ball with both of his hands and letting a shot fly. Right after releasing his shot, Hayama ran forward to the basket to grab a rebound.
Hachiman never expected the blonde to go after his own rebound and failed to stop him as he grabbed his own miss and put up a shot. Funnily enough, Hayama overshot the putback layup and it went flying past the basket and rolled out of bounds. Hachiman watched the entire scene in disbelief and didn't know how to react. One of the most popular people in his school, who was known for his athletic abilities, had just airballed a wide open lay up. He did note the reddening of Hayama's face due to the embarrassment of messing up such an easy opportunity to score. He had a feeling Hayama wasn't that good, but he didn't expect him to airball a layup of all things. Hachiman had a feeling that Makoto would've been trying his best to reel in his laughter had he seen this display. He watched as Hayama turned around to look at him with a look of fluster.
"I apologize if I am disappointing you. Basketball is one of the sports that I don't really play, although I know the basics" confessed the ashamed teen.
"It's fine," replied Hachiman as he walked over to where the ball is and grabbed it before jogging up to the three point, where Hayama was waiting for him.
Hachiman checked the ball and held it in a triple threat position with his left foot being used as the pivot foot. Hayama didn't waste much time getting closer, making sure to give Hachiman as little space as possible. Sighing, Hachiman took a hard jab to his right. Expectedly, Hayama shifted his feet along to keep up. To Hayama's surprise, Hachiman switched direction and started dribbling to the left from his original position. Hayama ran behind him but couldn't stop him from scoring the easy left-handed layup in the open lane. Hachiman ran back to stand behind the three point line with the ball in his hands. Hayama followed suit and stood in front of him to guard him yet again.
"Do you want the possession?" Offered Hachiman mostly out of pity. Hayama seemed to understand and chuckled while shaking his head.
"No. It's alright. I am actually having fun, believe it or not. Please don't go easy on me," as those words left the blonde's mouth, a menacing glint appeared in the eyes of the gloomy teen.
"As you wish," said Hachiman before checking the ball. This time, he noticed that Hayama had chosen to give him a bit of space.
Hachiman faked a jump shot from the three point line to see if Hayama would take the bait but surprisingly, he didn't fall for it. He did it again and immediately after, took a jab step to the right, like last time. To Hayama's surprise, his opponent began dribbling in the same direction in an instant, right after the jab step. Hayama was able to keep up with Hachiman as he kept driving to the rim. After getting a bit closer to the basket, Hachiman took a side step from his drive and attempted a shot, triggering Hayama to jump up to block the shot. However, it turned out to be a fake and Hayama went flying past his opponent and Hachiman made a wide open short mid-range shot from the baseline, which rolled around the rim before it fell in.
Just like last time, both of the teens went back to around the three point line to start the next possession. After checking the ball, Hachiman wasted no time to start posting up the blonde. He felt some good resistance as he kept posting up and pushing his opponent back using the left side of his body. After a considerable amount of time spent in the post, Hachiman did a shimmy and spun to his right side to take a fadeaway jump shot. Hayama followed suit and yet again, he fell for the fake. The First Year student then leaned into the direction of the basket and was able to float in an easy shot to give him a lead of 3 points.
After checking the ball again for a new possession, Hachiman just shot the ball over the late contest from Hayama, who didn't expect such a thing. This prompted him to get closer to the rim ahead of his opponent to grab the rebound if the shot didn't go in. To the inexperienced player's relief, the shot hit the side of the rim and fell down right to his hand. Hayama then put up a one handed shot with no defense in front of him and this time, was successful in making it. Hachiman didn't even try to chase down his adversary and looked at him once he turned back around with the ball in his hands.
"That doesn't count," Hachiman said plainly. A frown of confusion took over the other student's face as he stood still in his position.
"But I made it," he challenged.
"Yes, but you have to take the ball past the three point line once you grab a rebound. If my shot hadn't touched the rim at all, it would've been fine. But it hit the rim and you put up a shot right after," a look of understanding appeared in Hayama's face after he heard the quick rundown of rules from Hachiman.
"So what happens now?" Hayama was left unanswered for a few seconds before he received one.
"You can get the point, but it will be my possession. Or your point won't count, but you can get the possession. I'll leave it up to you," Hayama thought about the choices for a bit before smiling and looking at the black-haired teen.
"I'll just start over. Thank you for teaching me the rules, Hikitani-kun," a look of displeasure was painted over the addressed young man's face at the butchering of his name.
"Once again, it's Hikigaya," grumbled Hachiman as he got ready to clamp up the blonde First Year student.
After checking the ball, Hayama tried to dribble around Hachiman. To the surprise of no one, he failed by losing the control of the ball. Hachiman took advantage of the situation and stole it with ease. As Hayama got ready to defend Hachiman, he faced a between the leg dribble and a follow up quick crossover move. He couldn't stay in front of his opponent due to it and watched as Hachiman breezed past him after the crossover for an easy right-handed finish. Hayama never moved from his position as Hachiman pulled up in front of him to check the ball once more.
This time, Hachiman just kept driving to the rim with force while the blond-haired teen was pushing him back as much as possible. Hayama tried his best to keep the black-haired teen from reaching near the basket but he failed. Hachiman bullied his way to the basket and once he was near enough, he faked a layup three times until he was able to make the shot over Hayama's contest, his longer wingspan helping him in the process. The two went back to the starting spot again for the next possession. Hachiman appeared to be fine except for the sweat from before he started playing against Hayato. The blonde also looked fine aside from being slightly sweaty. No words were exchanged as Hachiman checked the ball and started doing between the legs. This made Hayama get closer to him while defending.
Hachiman started sizing up as he began dribbling lower and started combining crossovers, between the leg moves, and behind the back dribbles here and there. Hayama, despite facing the unpredictable player, didn't lose his determination and tried his best to keep his opponent from scoring. Hachiman appeared to be dribbling to the right in Hayama's head but then the teen did a double behind the back from right to left and then left to right before he started driving to the right again. Hayama also moved along in the same direction but then got stunned with a Shammgod crossover, where Hachiman tossed the ball in front of him with his right hand that was being used to dribble and instantly pulled it back to the left with his left hand. Right after the Shammgod move, Hachiman did a step back to behind the three point line and shot it from the right wing, banking it in. Hayama was too stunned to do anything and just stared at him before finally letting out a smile.
"Thank you for playing against me and not holding back. At least I hope you didn't. It was fun," spoke the blonde.
"Never expected you to be this trash," Hachiman's brash response managed to bring out a chuckle out of Hayama.
"Right. But still, it makes me feel good to get completely annihilated like this in something competitive. Being seen as this 'perfectionist' by almost everyone here can get very tiring. So for that, thank you very much. I appreciate it for you to give me such an…exhilarating experience. I hope you won't mind playing again with me sometime in the future," smiled Hayama.
It was the first time he actually played basketball with someone else since the death of his friend Makoto. Hachiman didn't know why, but he also had a little fun while thrashing the other boy around during their one on one game. If asked again, he was sure in his heart that he would accept Hayama's offer for a rematch next time. That didn't mean that he still didn't dislike Hayama, but the magnitude of his disdain towards the blonde had slightly lowered after their game.
Good? Bad? Mid? I hope you guys were satisfied with this update.
Hachiman didn't remember the surname of the people responsible for his accident, which is why he couldn't recognize Yukinoshita's name in the ranking board.
I included some scenes with Meguri and Shizuka to show how he forms connections with them.
And yes, Hayama just got cooked by 8Man in a one on one.
If you want to visualize the way Hachiman plays, think of how prime James Harden used to get around his defenders back in his Houston Rockets days. His size up dribbling package is a lot similar to Harden's. His jumpshot form is similar to Jimmy Butler's. He has jab/triple threat moves similar to Kawhi and Kobe (RIP 🙏).
That's it for today. I'll try to make another update soon. If you notice any plot holes or grammatical errors, please feel free to point them out.
Otherwise, have a good one!