Chapter 1

Just Another Day

"Hikigaya…hey, Hikigaya!"

He was woken up by the combination of someone calling him out repeatedly while also shaking him forcefully by the shoulder.

His eyes fluttered open, a slight glare aimed at the person responsible for waking him up like that.

And in response, Kawasaki Saki simply glared back without missing a beat.

"You were supposed to prepare everything before I got here, not take a nap." She was clearly not amused by his decision to fall asleep while waiting for her. In his defense though, the library was a great place to do so with how quiet it usually was.

"And everything is here." He pointed to the collection of books he had gathered with one hand while he passed his other one through his face in an attempt to take out the drowsiness he was still feeling. "I just felt like taking a breather."

"You've been doing that a lot lately." She commented as she sat on the opposite end of the table, her eyes sweeping through everything he had brought before landing on him again.

"I'm pretty sure being tired is part of the norm here." Not everyone could be like her who somehow didn't even have bags under her eyes after all the all-nighters he knew she was also pulling.

"Sure." Her absentminded response, as she started taking out stuff from her bag, sounded as if she wasn't really believing him at all. "But you're sure that's it?"

"Hmm?" His tired gaze grew sharper as he heard her, with him raising an eyebrow in question just in time for Kawasaki to throw him a narrowed gaze.

"C'mon dude, don't think I haven't noticed your grades heve been slipping."

"I have better grades than you-"

"You used to have them." She shut him up real quick with that one, "But not anymore and it's been getting worse every month now."

"And since when did you care about my grades?" Maybe he was getting a bit defensive here, but it wasn't like they were so horrible for anyone to have to worry about. So what if it was a bit worse than usual?

"I would feel better knowing that my partner for this project is actually going to work properly." She snarked back with fire, now both of their gazes set into glares. "I also would like to not have to worry about said partner dropping out just because he couldn't keep up with his grades."

"My scholarship is hardly in danger just for a dip in my grades, Kawasaki." He deadpanned, truly thinking she was making a big deal out of nothing. It wasn't even the first time they had worked together, she should have known by now he wasn't going to slack off. "I've just been a bit busy lately, that's all…"

Suffice it to say, he could not tell her the why.

"Are you sure there's nothing else going on?" But that didn't stop her from asking though, to which he could only sigh quietly.

"Again, since when did you care this much?" He did not expect to be interrogated about this today of all days, especially by Kawasaki no less.

"Well…" She adverted her gaze this time, now finding the side of the table awfully interesting. "Your sister told me to keep an eye on you so I'm just doing her the favour."

Right, he sometimes forgot Komachi was surprisingly close with Kawasaki.

A consequence of her dating Kawasaki's bug of a brother.

"You can tell her everything is fine then." He clarified, for the last thing he needed right now was Komachi worrying about him too. She might start asking questions, after all, and hiding the truth from her was far, far harder than from Kawasaki. "Now c'mon, you're the one that was complaining about slacking off."

He could tell she wasn't satisfied by how dismissive he was being, but the seemingly defeated sigh she left right after was enough for him to know she was dropping the subject.

At least for now, as something told him this was not going to be the last time she was bringing this up.

"C'moooooon!"

"…"

"Just a bit, It won't kill you!"

"…"

"You might actually get tips if you do it."

He sighed at that last one as he didn't need to be reminded that she earned far more than him just out of tips alone.

"Don't you have like, cups to clean or something?" He asked, hoping for a miracle that would make time pass faster so he could finally leave.

"I wish." And in response, Ebina Hina sighed herself, deflating like a balloon. "But you had to go and do all of that already."

Not his fault that there were barely any customers today, which meant they were both standing like idiots behind the counter doing pretty much nothing.

And sure, getting paid by doing nothing sounded awesome, but boy was it boring.

Especially since that meant Ebina was bored too and had to use him as a distraction.

"I mean it though." She started, a small smile on her face. "You would get more tips if you at least tried to smile a bit."

"I'd rather not scare away the people trying to get their coffee." He drawled out, for Ebina obviously didn't understand the advantage she had in this field.

Besides, it wasn't like he needed the tips to survive. This place paid well enough without that anyway, courtesy of it being a pretty high-end shop, he supposed.

"Hey, who knows? You might charm one of the old rich ladies that likes to hang around and then you'll be set for life." She grinned at him as she adjusted her glasses. "Or maybe even one of those celebrities we see in the magazines!"

He shuddered at that thought.

No, thank you.

He had enough with one of those celebrities as it was.

It was with the sunset shining behind him that he finally reached his apartment complex at the end of his day, his shoulders sagged as he walked up the stairs.

He wasn't even there and he could already taste the sweetness that was his bed.

But before he could arrive at his door, he stopped right in front of the apartment next to his own, his gaze zeroing in on the door just as he moved his right hand through his hair.

They… probably weren't there right now, were they?

As far as he knew, she had a rehearsal today, which meant she was most likely still practicing.

That also meant the kids were most likely being watched over by Saito.

And even though he knew that for a fact, he still brought his knuckle to the door, tapping it every so slightly.

When no answer came, a sigh left his lips.

Seems he was by himself today then.

He supposed he would be able to relax for once.

"I'm home…" Or at the very least, that's what he had assumed as he entered his apartment with a soft whisper.

"Ruby dear, pass me salt now!"

"Yes, mama!"

But that idea was thrown out of the window the moment such yells were heard from inside his apartment, with him blinking owlishly as he slowly walked inside.

"Welcome home, Hachiman."

Just to then be immediately greeted by none other than Aqua, with his gaze meeting Aqua's as soon as he reached the living room of the apartment.

"… Yo." He greeted back, nodding slowly as his attention moved from Aqua, who was sitting on the couch with a book on his lap, to the kitchen entrance, from where the sounds of mayhem were still coming out strong.

"I tried to stop them, but…" His gaze went back to meet Aqua's however, whose usual stoic expression was now actually marred with regret. "You know how they can be…"

Boy did he…

"It's fine, I'll just…" He started while shaking his head, his next words dying on his lips as he finally realized the kind of book Aqua had on his lap. "… Is that my ethics book?"

You know, the kind of books that someone as young as Aqua shouldn't be able to even read, let alone comprehend?

"… Maybe?" And as entertaining as it was seeing him unable to look him in the eyes, he could still only mutter another sigh.

One weird Hoshino thing at the time, he told himself.

And right now, saving his kitchen took priority over Aqua being, well, Aqua.

So he made a beeline to the kitchen, already bracing himself for the mess he was about to witness.

And to their defense, it could have been worse.

Like, it was still horrible and just thinking of cleaning this mess was already giving him a headache and he was sure there was something sticky on his ceiling.

But at least nothing was on fire, so that was always good.

"Hachiman!"

The first one to notice him was Ruby, her face lighting up in a way that reminded him a lot of Komachi when they were younger, with her eyes sparkling all the way until she pretty much glomped him on the leg.

Which would have been cuter if she had not been sporting what he could only assume was half his pantry, as the mere contact of her touching his pants was enough for him to know the thing was going to need quite the washing to no be purple and red anymore.

He didn't even remember having any food with those colors.

"Hey there, Ruby." But still, no reason to take it out on the child, so he simply put a hand on her head, knowing she enjoyed it far too much sometimes.

Her laughter was proof enough of that.

Besides, why get angry at the kid when he had the mother standing right in front of him, you know, the supposedly actually responsible adult.

"Welcome home, Hachi!" She grinned at him, acting as if it didn't look like a tornado had gone through his kitchen.

And just like that, he was reminded of how much of a menace Hoshino Ai could be.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" He asked immediately as Ruby removed herself from his leg. He wasn't even going to ask what she, or rather they, were doing here rather than in her apartment.

That was on him for giving her a key.

"Tomoyo-chan got sick so we had to finish early." She answered with a wink while still smiling at him. "And we decided we wanted to surprise you!"

He doubted Aqua had been part of that decision-making, but it would not be the first time the boy got tag-teamed by his mom and twin.

Poor kid.

"Hmmm? Yes, dear?" His gaze followed Ai as she knelt, a result of Ruby coming to her side with the obvious intention of telling her something. "Hmm yes yes, I see…"

And what was Ruby whispering into Ai's ear, he did not know, but something told him he was going to find out about it soon enough if the way her expression turning from curious to obviously amused, with her half-lidded stare focused on him, was anything to go by.

"Don't worry dear, I'll distract him for you." Then it was Ai's turn to whisper back, although she was clearly doing so high enough so he could hear her.

Not that Ruby really cared for that though, as she suddenly ran as fast as someone so short could, going past him, with his eyes trailing on her until she disappeared in the pathway to his room.

When he turned his attention towards Ai once more though…

"Hi!"

She was now standing far closer to him than before, to the point he had to crank his neck to look down at her. They weren't touching or anything like that, but she was only one step away from that.

"Why?" He asked in resignation, his gaze sweeping through the kitchen before landing on her eyes again.

"I told you, we wanted to surprise you!" Yes, but repeating the same answer did not make it any better. "So? Were you surprised? You were, weren't you?"

"… Extremely." He decided against telling her if the surprise was good or not. Would save him minutes of her pouting like a child.

"How was your day?" She shifted the conversation just as he tried to look past her to see if whatever she had been trying to make was salvageable enough.

"Just… normal, I guess." It's not like his life was particularly exciting, at least not compared to hers.

"Hmmmm…!"

"What?" Why was she looking at him so intently while somehow pushing her face even closer to his?

"Did you try smiling like I told you to? You would get more tips if you do." Oh god, not her too. Some people needed to realize grinning like that was not his thing "Just like this!"

And her putting her fingers at the corner of her mouth while grinning was not going to make him change his mind.

"Let me help-"

"Oi…!"

He was forced to catch her by the wrists just a moment later, as she tried to touch his face with her hands in an apparent attempt at getting him to grin like her.

"I will kick you out if I have to, don't think I won't." He threatened with a glare, only making her pout as a result.

"You wouldn't kick out a poor mother and her two babies, now would you?" With the way her eyes got watery and her bottom lip trembled, he knew anyone else would have been fooled by her little act.

He was too used to it to care at this point.

"You're right." He stated, making her expression morph into a triumphant one just a second later. "I'll let the kids stay. Good luck out there."

Only for her expression to change once again, her gaze now narrowed as she tried to… honestly, he didn't know what she was trying to accomplish by glaring at him, as if she was going to scare him or something.

"Hachiman, here!" But their starring match was broken by a returning Ruby, who wore an excited grin on her lips and was holding a plate in her hands. "I made them for you!"

What was on top of the plate presented in front of him? Cookies.

Or at least, he guessed that's what they were supposed to be as the… shape wasn't exactly, well, cookie-looking.

It also looked undercooked as heck to the point he had to wonder if she wasn't giving him the cookie dough straight up.

"She's been having fun with that toy oven thing that Miyako gave her last week." In response to his unasked question, Ai whispered softly into his ear with an apologetic glint in her eyes.

It seemed he wasn't the only that had realized they were probably not going to taste good at all.

The fact that her words were followed by Aqua popping his head into the kitchen, looking at what was happening just to then grimace also told him he was not the first person Ruby had offered cookies to.

"… Thank you, Ruby." He still took the plate from her hands however, his gaze going from the obviously expectant Ruby, to the apologetic Ai to his side, to the look of pity he was receiving from Aqua as well.

Well, he supposed the times he had eaten Yuigahama's shitty cookies were going to come in handy now.

"They're… good." They were most definitely not, and just as he had figured, they were both severely undercooked and way too sweet as well.

"Really?!" Fortunately, his true feelings were not reflected on his face, as Ruby's face blossomed into a wide grin, right before she outright blew a raspberry at her brother. "Told you he would like them!"

"… He sure did." Aqua's more than obvious sarcasm seemed to fly right over Ruby's head, although he stopped paying attention to their bickering as he was too busy trying to not spit the sugary dough he was still putting in his mouth.

"Thank you." Next to him though, was Ai once again whispering into his ear, her words dripping with so much gratitude that he just didn't have it in him to be upset anymore. "Don't worry, I'll make you something good to balance it out, how about that?"

He gave her a glance, the sweetness in his mouth somehow being less than the one displayed on her expression, right before he looked behind her at his kitchen with a raised eyebrow.

"Your food is on fire."

"Fufufu, you haven't even tried it yet, Hachi. Flattery will get you nowhere-"

"No no, I mean it literally, something's burning over there." He pointed out with his chin, making her bemused expression quickly turn into a panicked one just as she turned, both of their gazes now being filled by quite the black smoke curtain.

"Nooooooooo!"

And as such he could only sigh as she went right in with a cry of despair in a vain attempt at saving whatever she had been trying to make.

This is why he was the one who usually did the cooking here.

But since the kitchen was clearly off-limits now…

"Who wants pizza?"

"Me!"

"Noooooooooo!

Ruby's excited declaration was mirrored by Ai's wail of defeat, and just to be sure he gave one look at Aqua, who simply shrugged in response.

He would take that as a yes then, which means it was three against one.

Nothing better than democracy.

Just a small bit into what is supposed to be Hachiman's daily life.

Seems that you guys are liking the idea so let's see how it goes.

Thank you for having read this far! Thank you for favs, follows, and reviews!

Next Chapter: Not a Fan.