Annoyance. It's less of a feeling, and more a state of being. One can feel annoyed, sure, I won't deny that. You're annoyed because this one kid keeps talking and talking. You're annoyed when someone coughs without covering their mouth. You're annoyed when someone that owes you money keeps saying they'll get the money by next week.

Scratch that last one, that just makes it sound like you're a yakuza.

Case in point, humans are prone to annoyance. Feeling it is as human as breathing, and anyone who tries to not feel annoyed is an inhuman monster.

But there's an art to annoyance, a certain finesse that comes with experiencing it day in and day out. It's like developing a palate for fine wine, except this wine tastes like the bitter dregs of human interaction. You start to categorize annoyances, rank them in order of their ability to disrupt your peace. There's the mild annoyance, akin to a mosquito buzzing in your ear - a mere distraction. Then there's the moderate annoyance, like someone chewing with their mouth open, a sound that grates on your nerves.

And let's not forget the ultimate annoyance, the kind that boils your blood and makes you wish for the sweet release of solitude. That's when someone invades your personal space, physically or metaphorically, and sets up camp there.

The pinnacle of annoyance, however, isn't just about the invasion of personal space. It's about the relentless persistence of these annoyances. They're like a bad sitcom rerun that you can't turn off, constantly playing in the background of your life, reminding you of the inescapable reality of human incompetence and insensitivity.

Hachiman, Hachiman.

Hm? What?

Are you annoyed right now?

Why would you ask that, Hachiman? Of fucking course I'm annoyed.

"Hikigaya, where did you want this?" Felt had a box in her hands, one that I knew held a fair number of my tools. I felt my eye twitch, an action that I thought was only something that was produced in anime and manga.

Until now, that is.

"I never said to move it."

"Oh." The blonde blinked, "Right. I'll just put it back…where-"

"Just put it down here, I'll take care of it later." I pinched the bridge of my nose. The headache had become a migraine, and this shit certainly wasn't helping.

A crash from outside. I groaned.

"Careful with that!" The effeminate voice of Argyle called from outside, "If anything is broken, it'll be coming out your pay!"

There was a chorus of apologies and affirmatives as soon as he stopped talking. Honestly, I couldn't be bothered to listen, especially since my whole damn shop was currently packed with Karsten's soldiers milling about!

Seriously, I never asked for help for a damn good reason!

When I accepted the deal to help with the Whale, I knew what I was getting into. I would likely be providing some sort of support role, transporting whatever is needed to and from the battlefield. Making portals to match the Whale in the sky. A lot of things that could've been easy to do.

Along with that, I would be providing Karsten's little army with the weapons that they needed.

No big deal, at the end of the day. If everything turned to shit, I could always make a portal and get myself out of there. Moreover, the very idea that I could get access to Mathers' hidden library, or something along those lines, was enough to at least make me try.

Selfish, I know. I never claimed I was otherwise.

The amount of knowledge that I had learned from the Forbidden Library maybe wasn't the most advanced that I could have gotten. It made sense, if you thought about it for a moment.

If I were to ask a random passerby who had the best library in the kingdom, they would most definitely point to Mathers. Even I wasn't immune to this. It was just the best assumption that the Court Mage, who doubled as the strongest, pure magic user in the entire kingdom, would have access to the best books.

The library was more or less public knowledge at this point.

Along with all the negatives that it brought with it. Nobles attempting to sway Mathers into giving access to it. Thieving attempts from foolhardy morons.

It would make sense for him to not put all his eggs in one basket. While the mansion was likely layered with defenses that I didn't know about, he had likely pulled everything of real importance out of reach. In this way, the Forbidden Library that everyone knew about was nothing more than another layer of defense for the real 'forbidden knowledge' that he had.

And now, here I was, caught in the middle of what felt like a circus, all because I agreed to lend a hand for what seemed like a worthy cause. The idea of getting access to Mathers' hidden library was enticing, a carrot dangled before a donkey. But as it turned out, that carrot came with a whole farm's worth of trouble.

Was it worth it? Who knows. I'll only find out once everything has been settled. For now, all I could do was hope that I wasn't going to get fucked over.

Pfft.

As if that'll ever happen.

No, the best I could hope for was that I wasn't going to get fucked over that badly.

"Felt." I called out to the rather short blonde. Seriously, if I didn't know her, I would've thought she was ten or something. I didn't bother calling Rom, he wouldn't be able to hear me through the throng of people.

The red-eyed girl walked up to me, and I could clearly see the fake smile she had plastered on.

It disgusted me.

I've seen fake smiles, so much so that I could spot them from a mile away. Each and every time, these smiles are nothing more than thin veneers of placidity. Of stagnation. Of thoughts that would never see the light of day, no matter how much of a bitch they are behind your back.

For Felt? That wasn't the case.

I knew that. I've already seen what was behind that smile. I knew her to be someone that didn't bother hiding her feelings. And I appreciated that. Felt was definitely not a nice girl. She would berate, insult and irritate you to the highest degree. She was a thief, and a damn good one at that. Given the chance, she'd do a Robin Hood and steal everything from the nobles around her.

Whether she'd give it to the poor was another matter entirely.

At the end of the day, she was still a good person, making the best out of the shitty situation that she'd found herself in. Same with Rom, really.

All that to say, I knew that behind that smile, she was just scared.

For all the bravado she displayed, for all that her Divine Blessing could do, Felt was still just a kid. Around the same age as Komachi, really.

And to put the idea that an Archbishop of Sin had the very real possibility of coming here and slaughtering all of them into her head? No wonder she was terrified.

I knew that she would act this way, when I had come from Mathers' domain right into the shop. I knew that she'd be scared once I finished explaining, and yet, I don't regret it one bit.

Nor do I think she hates me for that. Sure, the common, rational consensus among the stereotypical adults of the world is that kids shouldn't be dealing with shit like this. That the adults in the situation should keep it to themselves, then solve it on their own. The kids would never need to know just how dangerous things were.

Thing was, Felt wasn't just a kid.

She'd grown up in this piss-infested world, scraping by on the edges of society where the law was more of a suggestion than a rule. She knew the dark corners of the capital better than anyone, knew the faces of desperation, greed, and betrayal. In a world that had given her nothing but hard knocks, Felt had learned to throw her own punches. So, I told her everything.

Not because I enjoyed scaring her, but because I respected her too much to lie.

"How goes the packing?"

"I've already packed everything I need. I'm just waiting on Old Man Rom now." She continued to give that fragile smile, and I couldn't help but ball my hands up at the sight of it.

I nodded, trying to relax just slightly, "After you're done, you'll be staying with Astrea till I get back."

"Wait, what?" In a flash, Felt was blinking in confusion, then glaring at me in anger, "No way in hell am I staying with that pretty boy knight!"

"Good. Cause you're not staying with him." I held back a smirk as Felt breathed a sigh of relief, "Both you and Rom are. The moment you're done here, I'm sending you over there."

"What the hell, Hikigaya!" She whisper-shouted at me. She grabbed at my shirt, trying (and failing) to pull me down to her level, "I don't need a babysitter! I can take care of myself!"

I looked down at her, unimpressed. "I know you can. But this isn't about taking care of yourself. It's about making sure you're out of harm's way while I deal with this mess. Astrea's place is the safest option we have right now."

I stared at her, her eyes wide in anger. Or rather, to the common outsider, it would look like anger. Her trembling arms, the slightest bit of moisture in her eyes, they told me otherwise.

Sighing, I gently pried her hands from myself. Acting almost on instinct, I put my hand on her head.

Felt immediately tensed under my touch, the anger in her eyes giving way to surprise, then something that resembled vulnerability. It wasn't often that I showed any form of physical comfort, but right now, it felt necessary.

"Listen," I started, keeping my voice steady, "I know you're not used to relying on others, and frankly, neither am I. But this? This is bigger than us. It's not just about being able to fight or steal your way out. We're dealing with forces that don't care about how tough or clever we are."

I could feel her resistance waning, her rigid posture softening slightly. "Astrea's place isn't just a safehouse. It's a statement. A statement that you're under the protection of one of the most respected families in this kingdom. Even an Archbishop would think twice before messing with that."

"Then why the hell are you going?" Felt snapped back, a well of frustration coming to the surface, "You're strong, sure. Against the damn White Whale? That's suicide, and I know you're not about that! What could that damn clown have that you would risk this?!"

"I can't tell you." No, it's not that I can't. It's that I don't want to. I trust Felt, as shocking as that may sound shocking to everyone I know, but I really do.

Felt looked up at me, the stubbornness still there, but now mixed with a begrudging understanding. "Fine," she muttered, "But only because you're asking. And only until you come back. Got it?"

I nodded, removing my hand from her head. "Got it. And Felt," I paused, making sure I had her attention, "Thanks."

…

The more time I spent in this world, the more I hated it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, until the very idea is core to who I am.

My world was already in all kinds of fucked up. It still had nothing on the type of bullshit that this world kept throwing at me.

And yet, I couldn't help but feel relieved at one thing. That, at the end of the day, humans were still human. They had the same wants, likes and needs as the humans that I had spent the majority of my life with.

In that same vein, I was relieved to see that I hadn't lost my own humanity in the process.

I've seen it happen, be it in fiction or real life. When power becomes too much for one individual, they either break, or go on a massive power trip. Or, in some very rare cases, they still retain who they were before all that power came to be.

I like to think that I was part of those rare cases.

Felt probably didn't understand what I thanked her for.

To put it simply, I thanked her exactly because she deserved it. Deserved it for showing me that I was still human.

That, for everything I've done, the compromises this world forced me to make, I was still the Hikigaya Hachiman that first arrived here. The Hachiman that helped Isshiki with her student council duties. The Hachiman that drank tea while listening to Yukinoshita and Yuigahama. The Hachiman that would joke with Hiratsuka-sensei about her single status.

The Hachiman who couldn't help but see the mirror of Komachi in Felt. The same fear, the same helplessness, when I first saw Komachi after she had gone home to an empty house.

The same trust when I promised my sister I would be there for her when she needed me.

I hate this world. I hate that this world brought me here. And most of all, I hate that it made me break that promise to Komachi.

This time, though I didn't make an explicit promise, I was going to keep my word.

No matter what.

A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

Thanks to my newest patron: Jack Edward.

And a special thanks to: FireRogueWolf25, brutalcrab and Tassimo.