"Can we stay like this forever?"

"…Huh?"

Hoshino's question made Hachiman flinch, made him clench his muscles in spite of the seemingly innocent tone she used. Reminding him of a kid, rather than a young woman, but the way she'd calmed down and stayed perfectly still for a moment before speaking… It felt wrong, for some reason.

"Sorry." Hoshino released him, wiping her face with her hands with enough pressure to pull her skin a little. She struggled to breathe for a moment; Hachiman could hear her wheeze before she got her bearings. And moved her nose while inhaling loudly, all of this in the span of a couple of seconds. "That's probably a strange thing to say."

Like one of those toys that become undone by pressing a button beneath their base, kept together by strings, and that come back when the button stops being pressed. Like that, she pulled herself back together like that.

Hachiman stared dumbly at her for a moment, mind frozen for a bit before he could figure out what to do or say.

Trying to be brave was good and all that, but it didn't sit well with Hachiman how she hadn't looked ready. How it felt like she was pushing herself too much.

"Are you okay?" He couldn't help asking, because he didn't know her enough to make an educated guess about her state. Maybe she was indeed just that resilient and he was just overthinking it, or maybe she didn't want to show weakness in front of him. He'd understand, but he wanted to think that he could catch the hint of either if he asked.

"Yeah… Yeah!" Hoshino offered him her trademark smile, stretching her arms to either side. "You're really good at hugging! Thanks."

"Umm… Sure." Hachiman didn't buy it, not fully. But not because her mask had any faults. Instead, it simply read to him like she had avoided the question altogether. "If… If you want, I can…"

Hoshino blinked a couple of times, waiting for him to finish talking.

He couldn't. It felt wrong if he put it into words, felt like he shouldn't be offering it or that it was pointless to do so. Either way, Hoshino had gone back to her façade already. He wouldn't be able to do anything, he didn't have the right to intervene.

Her words resonated in his mind all the same. That moment of weakness, however awkward, had been real. And Hachiman had to give it the proper importance, show Hoshino that he had heard her. That he cared.

He lifted his arms again, looking away while he waited for her to take the hint. It felt utterly humiliating, like he was a little kid asking for his mom's attention. And each second that ticked down felt like Hachiman would die of embarrassment even harder. Tempting him to abandon his endeavor.

He flinched when Hoshino's arms curled around him, but he managed to get a grip and lower his hands around the girl's shoulders when she rested the left side of her face against his chest.

The smile didn't disappear, but the way she clung to him felt… Warm. Like being hugged by his little sister, being relied on by someone that trusted him… Or maybe he was just projecting. Maybe he just wanted to think that Hoshino's need for reassurance meant more than it actually did.

He was still a little stunned when she lifted her gaze, staring like she was waiting for something. Bidding her time.

Hachiman only realized what was happening when their foreheads bumped, making him turn his neck and place his cheek on her forehead. Cutting off the eye contact and making her chuckle.

"You're not giving up, are you?" He murmured while Hoshino rested her face on his chest again.

"Never."

Hachiman released a pained sigh.

"It's not worth it."

"Liar."

The accusation annoyed him a bit, so he did the most reasonable thing he could come up with and squished the idol with his arms by pulling them suddenly toward him.

"Eek!" The small protest satisfied him. It really felt like hugging Komachi, like fooling around with his little sister after patching up a disagreement. It felt… Right.

"Alright, let's go back." Hachiman scratched the back of her head with his index finger. Running it down a couple of times to follow the way her hair naturally grew. "People will grow curious, and that spells a pain in the ass."

"Agreed." Hoshino sighed, surprisingly Hachiman a little; because he didn't expect her to say it like it was something obvious.

He thought he'd defend her idol-mates, even if only a bit.

"Then… Release me." Hachiman deadpanned all the same. Because her actions still did not follow her words.

"Call me a good girl."

"Excuse me?" Huh?!

"Nothing, nothing." Hoshino released him. Smiling at him like she hadn't said something outrageous. "I'll go wash my face, go ahead."

"…" He narrowed his eyes, analyzing her expression and the way she seemingly looked innocent. Like she didn't have anything to hide.

Lies, lies, lies… Hachiman didn't know what to think. But he was growing used to the feeling, for better or worse.

"…Fine." In the end, Hoshino looked like that was as far as she'd let him go. She wouldn't give any more terrain, and trying to force her would only make things worse. And it'd waste time too. Time that he didn't have, as he knew Komachi would eventually grow suspicious and would go out to look for him. And what if she found him with Hoshino?

And not even doing anything weird like… Like…

…

Okay, Hachiman. Could you please get your mind out of the gutter?

"Okay~ see you in a moment." Hoshino's steps were light enough, which made Hachiman have to stare. Try to see when she started walking normally, slower. But that didn't happen before she had to take a corner.

He sighed. Knowing that the attention he gave Hoshino made him look worse, made him look a little too interested. But he couldn't help it, this girl was really good at hiding herself behind her expression. And it'd drive him insane if he didn't learn to tell her hints quickly enough.

He just knew that the suspicion would eat him away sooner rather than later, make him wonder about every single one of her movements… It'd quickly devolve into an obsession, an illness.

He pushed himself to enter the room again, feeling more tired than before in spite of doing nothing but walk around. Making him less willing to engage with everyone, now that Hoshino had given him another look at her damaged inner self.

"Oh, took you long enough." Komachi greeted him by turning her head around but not facing him completely. "Did you get stuck or something?"

"It's very rude to judge how long people take to go to the toilet." Hachiman clicked his tongue, hiding his hands in his pockets as he approached the group of people that had finally merged into a single circle.

"Oh, you're back." The green-haired idol gave Hachiman a side glance while she held out her phone, like she was taking a vertical picture of the group. But Hachiman could see movement on the screen, so they were probably watching something. "You didn't see Ai-chan around?"

"On the way to the toilet?" Hachiman scoffed.

"Oh, right. If you did, don't say anything." The girl returned her gaze to the screen.

"We do have 'idol meetings' from time to time." Kyun added, standing between Saika and her fellow idol, also looking at the screen. "Don't let Ari bother you about it."

"Do you mind?" The brunette idol glared at Kyun before huffing. "Have some shame at least in front of people!"

"I didn't know idols had robot parts instead of bladders." Miura scoffed.

"It's statistically proven that talking about the restroom and stuff can really ruin the fans' perception of us, actually." The brunette stated while looking away.

Miura frowned and turned her gaze to the girl.

"Really?"

"The idol business is pretty brutal." The girl shrugged.

Huh…

"Does that have anything to do with what you're watching?" Hachiman chimed in, ready to move on from the toilet talk.

"We're watching one of their shows." Komachi explained with a huff.

"Why?"

Saika smiled awkwardly at him.

Hachiman looked at the cutest angel alive, then at the cutest little sister in the entire world. Then, he looked at Miura.

"Did Miura start a competition of some kind?"

"Hah?! Why do you think this is on me?!" The blonde snapped her face toward Hachiman, already entirely red.

"Hahaha!" The brunette idol's cackle made the others take a step away from her, pushed by how loud she'd been. "Your friends know you really well, sports girl!"

"She did." Saika chuckled awkwardly.

"I didn't!"

"Look. All we're saying is that we can probably outperform you any day, any time." Kyun shrugged with so much smugness that it almost felt like she had somehow become a little telepathic girl for a moment. "We're national idols, our routines require a lot of effort."

"Umm, I think they're different…" Saika tried to chime in, but Miura didn't listen.

"That can't be true. Let's test it out."

"How? We can only dance, and it'd be incredibly easy to floor you." The green-haired girl gave Miura a sidewise smirk. A lot tamer, but still smug enough that Komachi took a step back while Saika put himself between the idols and Miura.

"Let them be. It's not like they can hurt anyone but themselves." Hachiman jumped in, dragging the poor soul away from those meddlesome women. Lest they could hurt him or worse, use him in their petty discussion and then hurt him.

"Our oshis gloating their superiority is a treat not many can enjoy anyway…" Zaimokuza murmured, making Hachiman slowly turn to look at the guy. He had his focus on his phone, moving his fingers so quickly that Hachiman doubted the guy was actually typing something meaningful.

He was only half right, however. Ebina's chat was filled with half-formed thoughts and a whole lot of fangirling while Zaimokuza tried to explain what was happening here, while the girl he was talking to spammed stickers and more half-made ideas. With the only indication that Zaimokuza was half as excited being that his hands trembled a little.

"…" Hachiman's eye twitched, but when he noticed that Zaimokuza was staring back at him. He put up the best smile he could, read: a very awkward one, and placed his hand on the fan's shoulder. "You're doing great."

Know what? As long as he remained put, that was fine. Hachiman would pretend not to see. He'd let the guy have his fun.

"Thank you, Hachiman-sama. It's taking all my willpower not to gush all over these girls." Zaimokuza whispered like he was doing some sort of great physical effort.

Hachiman's smile broke even more.

"Never again say those words in that order in front of me."

"…Sorry." To his credit, Zaimokuza looked genuinely embarrassed. "Talking to Hina-dono does that."

Uh-huh, okay. Great, fantastic. Yet another thing that Hachiman didn't need to know.

He returned his gaze to the group of people, who had moved on from the video and were talking about Saika's development in sports now. Which was great, absolutely brilliant. Hachiman hoped to jump into that conversation, as nothing wrong would ever come out of talking about Saika's good points.

The green-haired idol was looking at Hachiman and Zaimokuza.

"I, huh…" Damn it! Did she hear? Why couldn't he just talk about Saika with everyone else?! "Sorry about him."

"It's normal, really." The girl shrugged, genuinely looking unbothered. "Comes with the territory."

Hachiman and Zaimokuza exchanged a glance. The glasses-wearing guy started shaking a little harder.

"Right…"

"He's been the nicest person in this place, save for the cutey over here." The meddlesome cat pointed at Saika with her chin.

"I'll destroy you." Hachiman glared at her.

"Huh…?" The idol looked at him like he had grown a third eye.

"Sorry, force of habit." Hachiman looked away, remembering that idols weren't supposed to enter relationships.

"Habit of what…? Never mind, I probably don't want to know." The girl huffed, frowning at nothing while crossing her arms. "Ah… Before I forget, sorry about Ai-chan and your friend back there."

"Hmm?"

"Management will make us apologize anyway, so I might as well put that out right now." The green-haired idol lowered her head a little, regarding Hachiman completely before continuing to talk. "So… Sorry about that."

"I'd rather have… Ai-san apologize to Yui-san herself." Hachiman narrowed his eyes. "You guys didn't do anything."

The idol lifted her face, confusion spreading through it.

"'Ai-san'?"

"What?"

"No, nothing. It's just…"

"It doesn't roll off the tongue that well." The idol that had been friendlier to everyone, Kyun, added while taking her eyes off of the group's angelic Saika for a moment. "I thought you'd be closer."

"We don't really know each other." Hachiman shrugged a little. It'd be a lie to say he understood, or really knew, what Hoshino was all about. So, although he was probably dodging the main topic, he still wasn't lying.

"Is that how it is…?"

"Do I look like a people person?" Hachiman retorted.

Miura shook her head.

"Don't give them ammo to make fun of you for free, dude."

"And you're the one saying that it's ammo to tease me." Hachiman growled.

"Sometimes I do think onii-chan has a thing for being talked down on…" Komachi interjected. "So please, help me dispel that idea. My opinion on you might depend on it."

"Komachi-chan? Why is my cute little sister mad at me now?" Hachiman frowned at the young girl looking at him in disappointment.

"I'm not mad."

"You are." Hachiman insisted.

Komachi looked away.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well…" His words died in his mouth when the door opened behind them, revealing the director leaving the door open for Hiratsuka to enter.

"Ah, there you are." The woman looked kind of amused, which made Hachiman a little nervous. A little guilty. "We saw 'the girl' back there, I thought you'd be with her."

Hachiman felt the stares on his back as his former teacher damned him with those words.

"I went to the restroom."

"So what? There's plenty of excuses to sneak out." The director didn't look as amused, but there was a hint of a teasing tone there all the same. "In this age filled with technology and information, is it too difficult to come up with something to go behind adults' backs? Kids these days…"

Hachiman covered Komachi's ears without a second thought.

"Please don't impart weird knowledge to my little sister."

"I'm already an adult, though." The younger Hikigaya shook her brother's hands off.

"Of course you are." Hachiman put his hand on the girl's head, ruffling her hair a bit before regarding the teacher and the director again.

"Hmm~ I see, I see." The director turned his gaze to Hiratsuka while jabbing a thumb in Hachiman's direction. "He's completely helpless, huh."

"What can I say?" Hiratsuka shrugged. "There's a reason why they've stuck with me."

"Please don't talk like you're our mom." Miura frowned while looking away. "It's embarrassing."

"And improper." Hachiman coughed on his hand. "You'll give these people the wrong impression. Especially about me."

"Nah, I think I'm getting the right picture." The director did that thing where someone makes a square with their fingers and fits the people in front of them within, like they were setting some sort of camera on them. "Pretty colorful group, I wonder if there's a story in here."

Hachiman exchanged looks with his little sister, then realized that everyone was looking at each other. As much a confession of guilt as having said it out loud.

"No." Hachiman stated.

"Bah! You're no fun." The director scoffed. "C'mon, what's the problem? I won't tell anyone if you tell me something embarrassing."

"The fact that you'd feel the need to say that out loud fills me with more dread." Hachiman retorted.

"It's obvious, but sometimes you gotta start there. Make everyone be on the same page." The director approached the remaining pastries on the table, taking one that had already been bitten and getting a piece in his mouth thoughtlessly. "You never know what idiot will get the wrong idea from omitting it."

Hachiman clicked his tongue, looking toward his former teacher. She looked rather amused, but didn't say or make any indication of wanting to make fun of him. So he used her as a crutch to move on from the topic.

"You shouldn't be smoking that often."

"Oh, please. Get off my case, Hikigaya. I know what I'm doing." Hiratsuka rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you were quitting? Sorry about that." The director looked a bit surprised.

"I'm controlling how much I smoke. Totally different." Hiratsuka smiled cheekily.

"I give her five years tops." Miura murmured.

"Make it ten." Hachiman replied.

"You people really are assholes, huh." The brunette idol chimed in.

"Is that really something that should be coming out of an idol's mouth?" Hachiman retorted.

"I'm on a break day, sue me."

"Okay, okay." The director clapped his hands a couple of times, making everyone stand to attention. "Let's move on, make things easier for the Saitous. Who's interested in cinema?"

Hachiman eyed everyone else, wondering why the question had even come up.

"…Seriously?" The director's shoulders dropped a bit as everyone was as confused as Hachiman.

"I explicitly came here for a modeling gig." Komachi lifted her hand a bit.

"I don't really know…" Saika of course had to consider his options super well, because his talent couldn't be wasted with some two-bit movie director.

"The camera can't handle me." Zaimokuza smirked, but then his energy was drained all of a sudden. "And… And, well, it's kind of embarrassing so…"

"You're very shady." Miura stated.

The director pointed at Hachiman with an arched brow.

…?

"We've known each other for a while." Miura replied.

Seriously, what?

"Oh, I don't like that attitude either." Komachi growled, her idiot hair standing to attention like a cat's hair would bristle when disturbed.

"Okay, okay. I'd still like to scout for surprise talents, so… B-Komachi girls?"

"Eh?" The green-haired idol blinked. "Wait, for real?"

"Are you calling your boss a liar?" The director tilted his head.

"Yeah." The idol replied.

"Ouch. But, well, it wasn't a lie." The director looked a bit amused by the reaction. "So why not give it a spin?"

"I don't know, I can't act." Kyun looked to the other two idols, a little too close to Saika's field of wholesomeness for Hachiman's comfort.

"That's fine, I don't expect you to be pros at it." The director put his back on his shoulder, trying to relax a bit while he explained. "The idea is to gauge how well we can work together, do a couple of very basic exercises. See if we can do something for you. It's a completely different business from idol work, so it's not a big deal as long as you do your best."

"Did Ai-chan get this sort of treatment too?" The brunette idol asked, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"Eh? No. She sucks at acting." The director waved her off.

"O-Oh…"

"I thought you said it was 'alright'?" Hiratsuka chimed in.

"That might as well be the most damning thing someone can say." The director sighed. "Bad actors are one thing, but plain ones? Good enough to work but not to warrant the time and effort put? That's always hell, y'know. It might be different from idols or models, but being midway is the worst possible place to be given that that's where the majority of people are."

Damn, he didn't have to talk shit about Hoshino like that behind her back…

"So if we're bad, that's an instant disqualification. And if we're not good enough, it's the same thing?" Miura pursed her lips, looking at the director like he was stupid.

"For a beginner, it shouldn't be that much of a concern." The director didn't seem to mind. "As long as we can find a way for you guys to put in the effort, to like it, the result should be evident in time."

"But what if we're not cut for it?" Saika asked with a hand close to his heart, making Hachiman forget about the whole point of being here for a moment.

The director clicked his tongue.

"That's why I am here. Don't give up before starting the race, I'll see what we can do."

The guy blinked a couple of times, considering.

"…I'd like to try."

"Really?" Miura turned to him; eyes wide open.

"Yeah. Sounds fun."

"It will be." The director nodded. "Anyone else?"

The room's mood had changed a bit.

"Okay." Kyun nodded.

"If it's trying out new stuff…" The brunette, Watanabe, nodded to herself softly.

"Cool. Tell me if anyone changes their mind. Let's borrow another room…" The director stared at Hachiman, pointing at the door with his thumb. "Hikigaya siblings?"

"Yeah?" Komachi replied first.

"To Ichigo-san's office."

Hachiman let his chin down, almost touching his collarbone with it.

Of course.