Chapter 13: The Snow Still Falls, and-

Hikigaya POV, Yukinoshita residence, Day before Graduation Festival

The scene of Yukinoshita crying in front of her apartment kept invading my mind, replaying in the multiple forms from conscious thought to recurrent dreams. Last night was by far the worst it's been….I'll let it explain itself.

"-Hikigaya-kun!"

I was looking through that cursed car window at the cold night, Yukinoshita off in the distance. Haruno watched from the front seat, showing no emotion whatsoever. Yuigahama and Isshiki still clung to each other, frozen in their spots. I clenched my teeth, frustrated by my own inaction.

My hand pulled on the handle, followed by my body shouldering the door open. I stumbled out of the car, cold wind throwing off my balance. Yet in a matter of seconds I was dashing forward, towards the girl with raven black hair. I passed Isshiki and Yuigahama in an instant, closing the distance to the entrance of the apartment building. Of course I was already out of breath, damn this cold weather; I could already feel myself slowing down. Come on, Hachiman, you're not too far from the entrance anyway, just a couple more seconds…

But in the moments of time that passed as I closed the distance between us, her movements slowed as she became quieter. When I was only a few feet away, she stopped moving, still in a kneeling position. Her head slumped forward, but before it collided with the ground I brought my hand in between and caught her. Bringing her back up, I could immediately tell things were horribly wrong; her already fair skin was pale and cold, her arms and legs motionless.

"Yukinoshita…." I spoke, trying to wake her up. "Yukinoshita!"

Unfortunately, it was of no use, as she remained unresponsive.

My fingers wrapped around her wrist to check for a pulse. Nothing.

Then again by the side of her neck. Nothing.

Desperately, I lower my head and rest it on her chest, closing my eyes and focusing on any sound.

Silence.

As I opened my eyes, the world had lost color and had grown darker, to the point where anything beyond the light of the closest streetlamp was no longer visible. In a trance, I blink several times, yet each successive time became increasingly hazier, blurring my other senses.

In an instant, clarity was restored and I could sense everything again, except when I looked down I realized I was the only one there; no sign of Yukinoshita anywhere.

A splitting headache almost knocked me to the ground as I recoiled from the pain; nothing physical had impacted my head, but it felt real. In all the confusion, I started losing grasp of my memory….like where I was at that specific moment, or when.

Obviously I was still outside, but the streets and buildings no longer held any significance. There were two people I had seen before in the distance, but I...don't remember who they were. I….can't even remember exactly what brought me here, but it must have been extremely important.

But I was waiting for….Yukinoshita. The raven black-haired ice queen beauty….I was waiting for her, but she wasn't there. But I can wait for her here and she'll show up. That makes no logical sense, but logic left the scene as soon as I opened the car door….strange I remember that but not the car I came from.

I blinked again and everything had vanished, leaving a void behind. There was nothing, yet I was still waiting for her. For….what's her name….Yu….

Yukinoshita. Almost forgot her name, Yu...Yukinoshita.

Yukinoshita. Yukino Yukinoshita. I need to remember her name.

"Yukinoshita."

"Yukinoshita!"

"Yukino-"

"..." I bolted upright, sweat leaving a chilling sensation across my forehead. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness and my breathing returned to normal, I realized I was back in the guest bedroom, the bedsheets cold to the touch even though they were probably warm in reality.

This time around, I remembered all the details of that dream sequence, or more like a nightmare sequence. As cringe-worthy as my dumbass self was for trying to remember Yukinoshita's name, the thought of her conveying those sentiments still brought a bit of warm to my face. Kinda-

Hachiman, you absolute degenerate, given all the context and psychological harm this must have caused Yukinoshita you're still getting flustered over the damn confession.

That thought sent chills down my already shaken frame, causing something to move in my peripheral. Turning my head, I lock onto a figure resting along the edge of the bed, with shoulder-length dark hair spread along the sheets. Only her head was visible, which looked like she fell asleep with the rest of her body sitting on the floor with her head plopped on the mattress.

"...nn…" the figure stirred, appearing to wake up. "Hikigaya-kun, you woke me up."

"Well you usually sleep in your room for starters," I deadpanned. "Why were you here to begin with?"

She thought for a second. "I was going back to my room when I passed by, seeing you having trouble sleeping. Tossing and turning and such, so much so I couldn't just leave my future brother-in-law like that." She giggled-giggled?-a bit before continuing. "It seems that patting your head works like magic, just like Yukino-chan when she was younger."

Now that this conversation has become straight-up harassment, I felt a great urge to just go back to sleep. "Alright alright, I'm going back to sleep."

"If you say so, I'll close the door behind me to keep your voice calling out for Yukino-chan private."

I was not surprised at this point anymore that my thoughts can easily become spoken words even in sleep, but that doesn't prevent the overwhelming feeling of humiliation I can see last until morning. Perhaps beyond.

"Tch," was all I could respond, receding into the comfort of the bed, in hopes of salvaging what's left of the night for some sort of sleep. The door closes, and I assume all was well before starting to drift off to sleep.

Unfortunately, a muffled crash welcomed me back to reality, the noise seemingly coming from downstairs. I eventually shuffled out of bed and made my way to the door. After opening it, I adjusted myself to the light and started walking down the hall towards the first floor. The sound seemed to be coming from the kitchen, so once I reached the bottom step I turned towards the kitchen at the end of the other hallway. Almost immediately, I hear a set of giggles and a pair of legs sticking out from the kitchen.

"For real…." I sighed, picking up my pace and meeting Haruno sprawled on the floor, about a foot away from a glass of wine I presume she was previously holding.

"Ah, Hikigaya-kun, I -hic- spilled a bit of wine, -hic- sorry," she slurred, making no attempt to hide the fact she was quite drunk. I quickly cleaned up the spilled drink and placed the glass in the sink, where I eyed an empty bottle of wine, as well as one that was half-empty.

"Did you spill these as well?" I asked.

"Nope," she replied.

"I thought so," I sighed again, now helping her back onto her feet. After some stumbling around, we both made it to the living room and I got her to sit down on the couch; the combination of my lack of stamina and the fact that it was still too damn early in the morning, I felt compelled to sit down myself.

Exhaling, I try to review the trainwreck that's unfolded over the past few weeks. Starting with Yuigahama, she's returned to the gung-ho character she's kept; some would say it's a facade, that after all that's happened it's how she displays herself on the outside. These people are probably the type who feel like they could be the protagonist of some light-novel and be her support, to mend the nice girl who's broken.

Yeah, she wouldn't like those types of boys. The world has enough Hayamas.

Her upbeat attitude is her strength.

Then there's Isshiki, the fox caught in a blizzard hitting too close to home. She's no arctic fox, but from what I've seen she seems to have rebound for the festival preparations. Hard to tell since her reactions with Yukinoshita are limited outside the meetings at Kaihin.

Then for Yukinoshita….she-

"Hikigaya-kuuun," a voice assaulted my inner thoughts. I look over to see the elder sister Yukinoshita appear only a foot away from where I was sitting.

"Thinking of Yukino-chan-" Enough of this.

"Actually, I was only thinking about Yuigahama and Isshiki at this point, before…." I look over to her, now with an unsettling blank stare.

Was she going to pass-out? Honestly that is not out of the question with the amount this woman consumed in a relatively short period of time. But she stayed conscious, unwavering from her gaze.

"Liar."

"How would you know?"

"..."

"If you're not going to explain, then that's fi-"

"You still haven't understood this whole thing," she replied. "The point of dragging you across two prefectures, of watching the people you know have mental breakdowns because you supposedly disappeared off the face of the planet." Her voice only grew louder as I could only stare at her in confusion.

"I can tell your confusion is stemming from what you're thinking about; you think that this entire trip was a mistake, that because of all this your friends are being hurt because you're not present. Because they care about you….right?"

"Because….if that's what you're thinking right now, then you haven't realized anything at all."

"Hikigaya-kun!"

"Yukinoshita!"

Crap, not again….

It was slightly after noon when I got back down to the living room. I plopped down on the couch, the place where I had successfully pissed off Haruno and in her drunken tirade flamed me in a matter of seconds.

What irked me was the fact that she wasn't wrong. What was the point of this entire "experiment"? Trauma? Yes, I've observed the pain of two clubmates, a kouhai, a sister, and assumably many more people. And yes….I genuinely feel bad about this.

I got up again to grab a can of MAX coffee from the kitchen. Getting back, I noticed the tablet she left on the table last night. She's still sleeping upstairs, so in my lack of anything to do I took the tablet and opened the camera. Around now they should be preparing for the graduation festival, maybe they've taken a break for lunch.

Once the feed started running, the latter of my hypotheses was confirmed. They were eating at a cafe, the conversation going from how the progress of the festival preparations were, to their own plans for the end of the year, sentimental stuff and the like. Yukinoshita seemed to be spacing out, which was supported by the fact that she was starting to spill her drink on the table.

Once the drink really started spilling, Yuigahama noticed.

Yuigahama will intervene in 3...2...1…

"Yukinon, you're spilling your drink!" I wonder what Yukinoshita was even thinking about to make her space out this much. Other than this short scene of activity, it was mostly uneventful.

That was a lie. Her spilling her drink on the surface level amounted to nothing special, but it wasn't like the weeks before with her clumsiness.

I needed to go back to see the morning activities.

I tapped a few buttons on the screen and the feed started going in reverse. I stopped at a point where it appeared she was in the school's infirmary.

""Y-You're the greatest friend like ever….and I'm….I'm nowhere as helpful….I'm…."

Crap, Yuigahama with her emotions….but there wasn't anything I could tell about Yukinoshita from this moment.

Moving back….it seemed Yukinoshita was injured from a fall while setting up the banner, which badly cut her left knee. Before that, she arrived at the school from a longer than usual walk from her apartment, through the park and by a tree that had blossomed early. I rewind further and she's in her apartment, getting ready to leave.

Everything seemed ordinary, with her tidiness showing as usual around the place. Clothes are folded, furniture cleaned, and one could probably smell the hint of tea in the air. Nothing was out of the ordinary….maybe my first suspicion of Yukinoshita acting weird was nothing more than a suspicion. I could likely blame the lack of clarity on my part for jumping the gun….it's been a rough time.

Pathetic. You know there's something wrong. Stop making up excuses, Hachiman, and actually look at the damn screen!

Not even my own mind can form any agreement. But, erring to the side of caution, I continued observing the screen, going over the bedroom furniture, to the bed, to the chair, to the desk, to the things on the desk.

There was her clock, which she checked before leaving the apartment.

Pause. The alarm is off.

She always turns on the alarm before she leaves in the morning, even if she doesn't need the alarm the next day. It was a quirk I noticed around the second week.

Her journal is also left on the desk, instead of being tucked into the bookshelf. Upon closer inspection, the last few pages from the journal were removed from it.

Letting the video play some more, I stop at the bed, where I zoom in towards the pillows. A small piece of paper, matching the texture of the journal, was left there.

Turning the tablet off, I realized my other hand was gripping the can of MAX coffee way too tightly, causing some of it to overflow.

Without thinking, I got up from the couch, put down the can and started moving upstairs, the tablet still in my other hand. Turning the corner, I arrived at Haruno's room, which was slightly ajar. Seems like she may have been starting to wake up but instead went back to her bed, so the reasonable thing to do would be to first knock on the door and ask-

"Haruno-" I said, realizing I had already opened the door and walked a couple feet in. Real smooth.

"Mmm?" she stirred.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet here. "Look, I'm going to sound like a complete idiot-"

"Nothing new, but continue," she interjected.

"Or completely insane-"

"Also nothing new-"

"Ok both, but we should head back to Chiba. Yukinoshita's in trouble."

She looked at me for a couple of seconds. "You're saying that she wasn't in trouble before? Of course that's not what you mean, but your speech isn't lining up with that isn't it...what would Shizuka-chan think of this…."

"Well looks like you're in a better mood if you're back to bantering, but enough of that," I sighed. "I looked at the cam, and I have more than enough reason to think that she's in danger….that if we do not go back and try and stop her, that she'll….she'll hurt herself and everyone who cares about her."

Haruno kept looking at me without any hesitation. "And that means?"

"She's-suicidal. The more I think about it….the more this seems to be the only conclusion."

Her eyes seemed to flicker for just a second before returning to their steady gaze. "Hmm….so you've come to the conclusion that my sister's going to end her life on the basis of her not setting her alarm clock and a note on her bed?"

I blinked. "So you also watched. Yes, I noticed these things, but it goes beyond just these two points being red flags. For the past weeks, we've watched her go throughout the days, struggling, crying, suffering. None of it was acting-the days where she was trying to be cheerful, sure she was putting on a mask. But today-" I paused.

"Today, she's putting on a mask of confusion, and later on I assume of enjoyment for the festival. Like there isn't a tomorrow." God I really sound like a cringeworthy idiot right now.

Haruno shifted a bit, before replying. "Okay, let's go with that train of thought, and I'm not going to criticize your logic about this." Her gaze started darkening. "Wouldn't it be much easier to alert someone like your senpai or sensei, who already know about this whole debacle, and have them handle it? This is very rich coming from you, a man who prefers the path of least resistance, to take a four-hour trip back to Chiba, evade obstacles left and right, just to get to her."

I froze, knowing that her argument was sound. Logically, it would be more efficient to contact people in Chiba to keep an eye on her. But, that didn't seem to be right. No, it didn't feel right.

"While that is true, I-I know…." I faltered, ruling out that argument I had in mind. "You know if I say that it won't be enough if someone else went to stop her, that it is just a bullshit excuse for me wanting to do it myself. And that if I want to do it myself, it's just me being selfish or self-righteous, trying to fix something that I've caused to happen." I realized my voice was rising, up with a wave of emotion that I didn't notice until now.

"In fact, it may seem so out-of-character for me to go through all this trouble head-on, without thinking of a plan first, that I can't be thinking straight at the moment. I don't have an argument against that. It's that…." I chuckled for a moment. "I don't care if what I want to do is ridiculously selfish. I don't care if it entails these risks and consequences. I don't even care if this isn't what the Hachiman of the past would genuinely want to do. What I do care about…."

"I care about her." I stopped, taking a moment to collect my thoughts. "And that's what I'm going to tell her once I find her in Chiba."

Instantly, a wave of embarrassment threatened to knock me off my feet, but I couldn't falter, not yet.

"Hikigaya-kun, you may have looked like a complete idiot just now," she sighed, revealing a barely noticeable smile. "But your decision is far from being crazy, quite the opposite I'd say." She moved to the end of the bed, picking up her phone and holding it up to her face. "Yes, could you get the car ready? We'll be leaving for Sobu High."

"We're about ten minutes out from the city," the driver noted. I looked up from my slight daze and out the window, the familiar skyline approaching from distance. The tablet showed them having fun at the festival. But in half an hour, I'm not sure what is going to happen, or even where to start-only to get a chance to speak to her.

"Hikigaya-kun," Haruno started, stretching her legs a bit after what seemed to be another nap. "The nerves are definitely getting to you."

"I would say the same about everyone involved in this, including you though you choose not to show it," I replied.

"Well, it is my little sister we're talking about," she retorted. "Hikigaya-kun…." I sensed a pressure on my shoulder, and I determined that it was indeed her head resting there. "This whole thing was flawed from the start. Looking back, to think this is what it would come to, I must be one of the worst older sisters there is," she confessed.

I exhaled. "That's in the past. Sure, you've been an asshole of a sister for two months, but you'll have a long time to make it up if this goes right." She didn't say anything for a few moments, probably reeling from how unusually optimistic the words I just spoke were.

"So you're saying I'll have time to make it up to my sister, and perhaps my future brother-in-l-"

"Don't push it," I snapped, resulting in her giggling-once again-which put my mind a bit at ease now that things were being figured out. All was well for a couple of minutes, before the car braked pretty hard, as I noticed a line of vehicles stopped ahead.

"What's going on?" I interjected, as Haruno instinctively grabbed onto the closet thing, which was my arm. It's great she's acting more like half her age at this moment, seriously.

The driver checked the map on the dash before replying. "Looks like there is a lot of traffic heading in this direction, but it's being diverted at the end of the block. In fact, most of the roads around a two-block radius have been closed around Sobu High."

I suddenly remembered the meeting between the high schools and city officials about the fireworks. Due to this size of the fireworks display, the city would close roads in a two-block radius of the school for safety.

"Hikigaya-kun, look here," Haruno pointed at the tablet, showing Yukinoshita facing a distressed Yuigahama.

"I'll...go into the school and relax a bit. It's fine, just need a little time to think. You guys can stay here and have fun."

"But, Yukinon…."

"It's okay, Yui." Yukinoshita was already facing the building, as the doors started moving closer and closer. She entered the building, letting the door close behind her as she kept walking.

"Haruno, I…." I kept watching the screen, but before I could finish the sentence I heard the click of the doors unlocking "-I'm going."

"I know," she replied, lifting her finger from her side of the door, which I assumed was the cause of the doors to unlock. "Go, and take this with you so you know where she is," handing me the tablet. "The police may recognize you, so you'll have to hurry."

I grabbed the door handle and opened it. Instead of the cold, snowy night, it was a warmer, near sunset afternoon. I turned back to Haruno. "Thank you."

"Save it till after…." she stopped, deciding to keep the rest to herself. I closed the door, and started running ahead. I slowed down a bit near the end of the intersection, where officers were directing traffic either way.

As I crossed the street, I made sure not to face the officers, as I'm sure they are familiar with what I look like from all the missing profiles.

"Hey…." one of the officers grumbled, but not towards me. Must be to one of the other officers. "Looks like that kid's trying to catch the fireworks."

"Yeah, makes sense, that's a Sobu uniform," another officer replied. "Teenagers, huh."

First time my uniform saved my ass, great. I ran a bit faster, as a sound started booming from ahead, as a female voice started echoing.

Attention all students, faculty, and guests. Thank you for coming today to the graduation festival, and I hope you are excited for the fireworks display, which will begin in five minutes. At that time, the lights will be dimmed, so I would like to ask everyone to remain where you are once the fireworks begin. Thank you.

Five minutes until the fireworks, I see. I looked down at the tablet, which had a view of the infirmary. This view didn't change for a while, so whatever Yukinoshita was thinking about at the moment is at least buying me some time to get there.

Another block down, and I could see the school and the festival. The crowd around the festival stands was coming into view, and before long I could make out individual faces. Which wasn't good, since now people could see my face, and the closest entrance was conveniently behind the main crowd. Yukinoshita started moving again, this time towards the stairs.

She started going up the stairs, even though the infirmary was on the upper floor. Yukinoshita….

At this point, I had to start sprinting. The next entrance was near the gym, further away from the stalls as well as the crowd. Once I crossed the final street before the school grounds, I made a right and headed in that direction. My breathing was already irregular; the last time I had run this far was during the sports festival. But there was still a distance to go. It was inevitable I would have to go through a group of students, but it looked like they were seniors from Kaihin Sougou, so most wouldn't recognize me. Just a strange Sobu High student running towards the school.

Eventually I made it to the door, unnoticed by the students preoccupied with the upcoming fireworks. These doors were also unlocked, and I entered and immediately started going up the stairs. It wasn't going to work for long, since these stairs stopped at the top floor and didn't lead to the roof.

The fireworks are going to start any moment now, I thought, seeing through the windows of a classroom that the sun was already at the horizon.

Running at full speed around the corner, I saw the infirmary in the distance and tried to change direction, but instead caused my foot to slide as I hit the ground.

Crap, that hurt. But there wasn't time….I glanced at the screen of the tablet, giving a view of the front of the school, then turning around and moving to the back.

Getting back up, I found the staircase to the roof, furiously taking the steps up. It wasn't the end, Yukinoshita, just let me tell you - slam.

The door wouldn't open. I grabbed the door handle, which wouldn't turn. She….she must have locked the door from the roof.

"Yukinoshita!" I shouted, banging on the door, but she wouldn't answer it.

"Yukinoshita!"

"It's okay, Hikigaya-kun," her voice rang. I looked down at the tablet, where her voice was coming from.

"You don't have to help me anymore….You're free…."

Tears were welling up, my hands gripping the screen.

Was it over….because of my selfishness, that Yukinoshita is gone….

"Damn it!" I threw the tablet at the ground, its screen shattering. Glass scattered down the steps. I slammed my body against the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"Yukinoshita, damn it all…." I yelled, clutching my chest. "This…."

This….is goodbye….it can't be….

You failed….didn't you?

Yukinoshita is dead. Or in a few moments she will be.

You're free now….she said that.

But you don't want to be free, because….yo …..

….Care.

The door's locked….and yet you're still clutching your chest pocket.

There's something there. Open it.

I felt an object lodged inside the pocket, which I grabbed and took out. Without thinking, I jammed the key into the door, turning it to the left.

This isn't my key…. But who….

I opened the door, bursting out into the rooftop.

Yukinoshita had a key, but it was probably from the student council. There was also that rumor of valedictorians having a master key….Hiratsuka-sensei said something of the like in the past.

Haruno….was a valedictorian. That woman.

I turned to the back, but was met with a blinding light and a thundering clap. The first firework exploded. I still ran, knowing she was along this general direction. She was there, on the ledge, looking up at the firework.

My vision, still blurry, centered her figure as I shifted my direction.

Yukinoshita, the dark-haired raven beauty….the girl I saved years ago.

Clubmate. Acquaintance.

Never publicly proclaimed as a friend, or anything more. Up to this point, we kept change at a minimum.

Her actions would solidify this steadiness. This consistency.

My actions, from this point on, were to change this relationship.

To change her trajectory.

Her feet were no longer touching the roof, as I came within feet of catching her. I had no options left. Time slowed down at this moment. She was still looking up, with all the peace in the world. My feet left the rooftop and my arms extended out. My body arched down as my head cleared the ledge, then my chest, then waist, and finally my legs and knees.

All I saw was her and the ground below. All I heard was the wind starting to whistle against my ears, and the echoes of the previous fireworks. My feet at this point cleared the ledge.

With my body position, I was now gaining speed faster than she was and was able to close the distance.

Her wrist. My fingers grasped them and brought her closer….now the hard part….my legs were now close enough to the side of the building…..and…..

Push.

We had horizontal motion now….away from….the concrete ground….towards….hopefully….

I grabbed her body, and with the last amount of energy I had, started rotating.

We must be close to the ground now. Gambling everything now was definitely something I wouldn't have done before.

But looking at Yukinoshita….she's the reason I-

...changed...

Unknown POV, Sobu High

"Medic-01 arriving, dispatches dispersing the crowd for medics," the radio screeched. There was an emergency call made seven minutes ago, apparently two students fell off the roof of the school. Status unknown.

"Graduation festival," my co-worker mumbled next to me.

"Yup," I replied, "alright let's go."

We got out of the ambulance, signalling the others in the back to get out the stretchers. We made our way past crowds of students and teachers, towards the two of them. Once close enough, I got a better view of what might have happened. Falling from the roof, the two of them first had impact with the sloped ground, noted by the impacted dirt. They then ended about ten meters down here, covered in dirt.

The female had impacts to her head, chest, and several extremities.

The male had impacts to his head, chest, and several extremities, and his condition was definitely worse than hers.

Both were unconscious when we were approaching and during our checks. But just as we checked for pulses, there was movement.

She moved, just a subtle change in her facial expression. Her pulse confirmed it.

Seconds later, another movement. This time-

"This is Medic-01, we have two patients incoming to Chiba General - both patients are in critical condition. Sustained significant injuries-"

"Earlier this evening, two students from Sobu High were reported to have fallen from the rooftop of the high school during the planned graduation festival. Their identities will not be disclosed at this time, and they are currently in critical…."

"...but stable condition. Doctors are optimistic in their recovery."

A/N: Hello, after almost a year in hiatus. I did not expect almost a whole year to pass (I apologize). I just ran out of ideas and the chapter that I kept writing was not something I felt matched the story. I hope this chapter connects with a story that has been 3 years in the making now. With some extra time, I think that I can reach a conclusion that will satisfy but myself and you, the readers. Those who are new to the story, hope you enjoy, and those who stuck from day 1, I really appreciate your support. I also hope everyone stays safe and calm during this pretty scary time with the pandemic. A lot of people will be at home (including myself), so I hope that my writing will help let time pass by.

Very excited for Season 3 of Oregairu to come Spring 2020! Definitely will be watching this season - which means more activity in the Fanfic world. Of course, always open to comments, as well as what story I should start to think of once this tale reaches a resolution. Well, I already have one in mind, so stay tuned. See you soon!