Making up for lost time
- Chapter 2 -
~The First Request~

2-4
- The conclusion to their worries -

It was shortly past noon as I reached the station. The doors in front of me opened with joyous beeps, a distinct feature of Japanese trains meant to brighten a commuter's day. I was lamenting over missing out on a perfectly good weekend, so hearing those happy jingles was like rubbing salt into my wounds. I trudged onwards however, committed to finishing what we started. As I boarded the train for Kaihin Makuhari Station, I sent a message to Akiyama.

On my way to the station.

Sitting down with my single strap backpack over my shoulder, I moved it to the side so it wouldn't bother me. There was a package inside the bag that I bought earlier, a little something for later. It was a part of my new plan which I had to coordinate with Akiyama about after school. I met with him yesterday and we exchanged contact information—which shouldn't have been a problem—but it was.

My phone buzzed. I instinctively looked to see what it was—a habit formed recently because of Yukino. However, it wasn't her.

Cool, see you there!

This kid is just as excitable as the train... It wasn't annoying as his previous messages, but I'm getting this feeling to suplex both him and the train for being so damn happy!

It reminded me that today was Saturday, the day which I would be missing out on watching my anime shows. Instead, I'm on my way to participate in a "double date." I doubt it will be anything spectacular like the stories I've heard. The participants being myself (socially inept), Yukino (socially inept), Fujiwara (socially inept), and Akiyama (socially inept?), it was destined to be awkward as hell.

The doors will be closing soon. Please keep away as they close, thank you.

It was a rare treat to be on such an empty train, so I took advantage and drifted off into a nap. Today was no doubt going to be hectic, any rest I could get now would be great. My nap would be short-lived, however—as a random person decided to sit on my left. What the hell!? Who just sits right next to someone on an empty-ass train!? Now I'm gonna have to awkwardly get up and move to another seat!

"Good afternoon, Hachiman."

Yet the stranger talked to me as soon as I opened my eyes, and even used my first name. The suddenness of it kept me seated, and the train began moving along the tracks towards its destination. Moving my sight to her face, I got a feeling I didn't need to move after all. Looks like I'll be trapped in this metal box with this girl for the rest of the trip.

"...Oh, afternoon."

"You look surprised."

"Of course I do, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Well, I was doing errands this morning in the area. Guess I got lucky with my timing." She giggled, smiling softly.

My eyes were drawn to her face. Of course, I recognize her now, but at first I was thinking, why is this beautiful girl talking to me? She wore her hair in a ponytail rather than her usual trademark style, and a red ribbon held her hair tightly together. Looking at the rest of her, she wore a pink blouse I have never seen, a black skirt covered her bare legs, and she had black slip-on shoes with a cat on each heel. ...I was going to burn this image in my head for the rest of my life.

"Y-You look nice today, Yukino." I ended up stumbling over my words like an idiot.

"Thank you, you don't look too bad either."

It was clearly a compliment, but the way she said it sounded like she was half-joking.

"Can't you say that in a better way? I look pretty good alright?"

I picked out my clothes for today and even went and got them Komachi approved. At the very least, I tried to not look like I was going out to a comiket, so I was quite confident in my style.

"My, isn't it high praise though? Compared to how you've dressed before, this is slightly better."

"Tch. If you know so much about a guy's fashion then why don't you just help me buy clothes then?"

"Hm, that's not a bad idea."

"I wasn't serious you know..."

"But I am. Don't you think it would be a good idea to let me pick some clothes for you? You don't have any nice dress clothes for example."

"What? Don't you remember that last time?"

"You mean the time you looked like a yakuza?"

"I was perfectly fine! And Komachi helped me back then, so you're saying she did a bad job?!"

"It's not her fault you looked scary; she did the best with what she had. But you could look much better if you left it to me."

Of course she's confident... Yukino often visits high-class parties with her family. I was aware of this through my interactions with Kawasaki and that night we visited her in that bar. Haruno wasn't shy about it either. It doesn't really bother me, but it explains why she has a certain... lack of relatability with teenage girls. This was also the same girl that didn't know how to operate a soda fountain or how to download apps onto her smartphone.

But I guess I could let her help me find some clothes later. Knowing what looks best would come in handy, I wouldn't want to look stupid at those classy parties. N-Not like I plan to go, it's just in case.

"W-Whatever. Do what you want."

She giggled once again, but I won't admit that it made me a little happy.

~ Intermission ~

Ah, there's Hachiman...

I wasn't expecting to actually meet up with him before getting to Kaihin Makuhari, but it seems I made the right choice to go on a detour this morning. The train doors were getting ready to close, so I hurried onto the train. Noticing that he had his eyes closed, I quickly made sure my hair looked alright in the reflection of the glass window—I didn't exactly have time to pull out my mirror...

Once I was ready I walked over and sat by his side. I figured it would be a nice surprise, so I decided to wait until he was awake. Apparently though he wasn't too far into his slumber, he opened his eyes and began to move. Quickly, I greeted him.

"Good afternoon, Hachiman."

~ x ~

I didn't think that his clothes were that bland necessarily, I just wanted to tease him a little. Doing so at his expense always brought me some joy, but to be honest, he was rather good-looking today. His hair was trimmed much shorter than before, making him look clean rather than an unkempt shut-in. The clean look was also in part because his eyes were not that rotten today, maybe a result from my recent efforts? I suppose I found him to be cute for putting effort into his appearance despite being against it in the beginning. It was another reason that I liked him so much.

When we first met, Hiratsuka-sensei tasked me with rehabilitating Hachiman. Although initially, I didn't think we'd get this far, nor did I think I'd ever want to get close to him like this. But we're here now in this kind of relationship, and seeing his current style and the way he smiled let me know he was changing—even if it was slightly.

Not only was he opening up to others, but I began to open myself as well. I suppose this was sensei's goal all along. Though I would have refused it before, I don't deny that I needed a form of rehabilitation as well. Both of us kept true to ourselves, but that didn't mean we had to keep rejecting others. We aren't alone anymore, and it's okay to lean on someone once in a while.

Despite my—issues—I think we're getting to that point I've dreamt of. Deciding that I could be selfish, I rest my head on his shoulder, and wished that this moment would last for as long as possible.

~ x ~

Yukino leaned onto my shoulder and exhaled. Taking my chances, I followed suit and rested against the top of her head. Her hair was soft and smelled like cinnamon, which quickly made me hungry, which in turn also made me think about the date.

"Hey, Yukino."

"Yes?"

"What do you think about today? You think it'll go smoothly?"

I was already skeptical about today, but I wanted to know her thoughts. There was also the issue of how she acted in the club room yesterday...

"Considering all things, it won't be that bad. I think."

"You're going with the flow, huh?"

"Whenever we do requests like this, it's better to just take things as they come. We can't plan for everything; I believe we'll have to make sure it goes in the right direction. It should be easy, given the places we chose."

"Reducing the amount of stress that Fujiwara could be put into, avoiding attractions that could give her that anxiety, you really thought about it when rejecting Komachi's ideas."

"I appreciate her enthusiasm, but I don't think places like Karaoke would help. Of course, you and I have gone before, but Fujiwara would..." She trailed off, but it's not like she needed to finish that sentence. "Akiyama-kun seems like he can handle himself. I don't think we need to worry about him."

"Yeah, but what about you?"

"..."

"I understand your competitiveness, but yesterday... when you grabbed my jacket..."

She was uneasy—The cool and collected Yukino was struggling, though not in the same way I was. For me, it was just a hassle and I'd rather just go on a date with only the two of us. For Yukino, it was something else, yet I didn't know what.

"That was... Do I really have to say it?"

Yukinoshita Yukino doesn't like to lie. But for this one moment she would rather just omit the details, as if not saying them would be for the best. But I want nothing to be left unsaid, and for us to understand one another.

"I want to know what's bothering you." And so, I said it. It wasn't cool at all, and I sounded pretty pathetic.

"Then, I guess I have to be honest. I was thinking..." She lightly gripped the hem of her skirt, her eyes darted around skittishly. The sight of her was making me tense. "...that your presence was an ideal counterweight—to my worries, that is. That maybe if you were with me, I would have the confidence to act like your girlfriend in front of others."

She took her time delivering it, but she eventually got it out. All the while my heart was beating after her every word. It was beating so hard in fact, I put my hand over it so it would stay right where it should.

Yukino was definitely cute, a fact I've said many times. Her face was flushed and so was mine. Her hands squirmed around until she realized what she was doing, then covered her face. Any more adorableness from her and I think I'll be in trouble...

"Yukino... You really put that much faith in my presence...?"

I didn't think until it escaped my lips, but I probably shouldn't have asked that. She went ahead and dealt the final blow to my young heart.

"Of course, you have that kind of effect on me after all."

"W-What kind of—what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're the one I rely on. So you should take responsibility and stay by my side, Hachiman."

"Yukino, you should be careful when you say stuff like that..."

Yukino apparently was feeling more like herself now, she returned to teasing me with that smug smile of hers.

"Looks like my plan really is working out."

"You trying to send me to an early grave?"

"Even though you've already got those eyes?"

"You like saying that, don't you?"

The rest of the trip was spent in moderate silence. A small conversation here or there, but the entire time was spent enjoying each other's company. That's all that mattered.

Afterword:

Good morning, and Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a long time, but here is a "new" chapter for you. I hope you enjoy it. I don't want to ramble on too much, so I'll keep it short. I didn't like the direction I was going in when writing this scene two years ago. Things were getting stale, and I was getting burned out from all the negativity over Shin from reddit, etc. I also ran into a bit of my own growing pains with interpersonal relationships so I was constantly doubting everything and feeling like what I was writing was uninteresting or too cliche. I realized I was writing about something I had little experience in, and something that caused me a lot of hurt. So I decided to start from scratch and go at it from a different angle. Over time I learned a lot, experienced a lot, and now I think it's better to charge head first without worrying about what embarrassing things might happen. I hope the reboot does the job of capturing this feeling.

About this chapter specifically, it's a soft ending to the original story I was writing. I can't tell you much after this because a good portion of it is still in the reboot and I don't want to spoil it, but this scene will not be in the new one, so I can at least share a bit of "what if". At the end of this chapter Yui and the rest of the gang(Iroha, Komachi, etc.) end up running into each other. After a scene or two of happenings, Yui confronts Yukino about her feelings for Hachiman. This is after Iroha keeps teasing her about pursuing Hachiman further, she tells Yukino she can't get over it. This is a serious confrontation between the two, ultimately ending in Yui stating that she can't hang around the two anymore. There were various versions of this scene, so it's up to you which one you like better. Yukino slaps Yui after saying something really dumb, or the entire conversation is relatively calm. Either way Yukino pities her and they agree to go their separate ways, stating they'll one day be friends again when she's moved on. I really wanted to write Yui out of the story, and this was how I planned it. However, I think now I'm going to keep Yui in the story and reject the idea that was eerily mirroring Shin (Even though I was planning this even before Shin was released). After going back and watching the old visual novels, I liked how supportive Yui was of Yukino, and wanted Yui to be like this in the story, so that's the direction I will be going in. (Yui in this story would have returned at "Volume 4", but this scene is still happening, just in a new context. So I can't tell you what happens!) I'm having a lot of fun writing the new stuff, so I hope you enjoy it too.

Since we're here I want to address some reviews I read and wanted to give my perspective. About the original characters: These characters are integral to the story at large, so having a lot of read time for them is necessary. Of course only having two volumes worth of story so far, taking up three whole chapters dedicated to them seems like a lot. I assure you, in the bigger picture it will make sense. Anyway, you can treat this like a volume 15. Introducing "original characters" here is like a new season with new characters and new adventures. Either way, in the reboot Ayame, Akio, and Yuzuki will be different from how they are here, and will be a bit more realistic. Yuzuki especially had her character changed massively. Still, there are more characters that have yet to be introduced, and I hope you watch over them as they grow and clash with each other as the story progresses.

About the update: I'm going to try my best, but I'd like to at least do something before the end of the year. Partly that's why I'm posting this extra chapter now ahead of my deadline. The new story will replace this one and the old one will be labeled as "legacy," which is what you're reading right now. This version includes changes to the text so another read through might be slightly noticeable. The legacy version can be accessed later on my blog, and at some point, on Wattpad.

Honestly, sometimes I wish I were already good at drawing because I would have turned this into a doujin manga and been over with it a long time ago. But, we're just going to have to be stuck with text for now. Thanks for reading, and have a blessed day.

- Amethyst Ninja