Chapter 1 – The Moment That Changed Everything

Christmas time was, to put it mildly, miserable for us loners.

The cold air of the late afternoon pressed against my skin as I made my way through the local department store, hands buried in my pockets. The fluorescent lights buzzed softly above, casting a dull glow over the aisles stacked with colorful festive packaging.

I wasn't here for anything important—just killing time before heading home. My dear little sister had invited some of her friends over for a playdate meaning that I had just been kicked out of the house to avoid embarrassing her. Wandering aimlessly through the store, I found myself in the stationery section. While not exactly my cup of tea, it still was better than getting strange stares from a bunch of grade schoolers.

My heart might collapse if I heard another "Komachi, who's that weirdo that keeps watching over us?"

It's called babysitting you brats!

Sighing in exasperation, I find myself staring at the assortments of holiday-patterned scarves and jackets. In hindsight getting kicked out of the house might have been a good thing if it meant I could get a Christmas present for Komachi.

Truly Chiba siblings were unmatched in pure wholesome love!

While contemplating whether or not a Santa hat would look good on my adorable sister, my brain suddenly froze as I saw her.

A girl standing in front of a small display, her eyes fixated on a set of decorative hair pins that looked far too expensive if the price tags were anything to go by.

Wearing a gray hoodie over her pristine uniform, she seemed like any other middle schooler. Pink luscious hair cascaded down her back in gentle rolls, complementing a face that was almost otherworldly in beauty.

While certainly a sight for sore eyes, I wasn't some shady creep who would sneak glances at pretty girls for the sake of it. No- it was her expression- a mixture of hesitation, frustration, and guilt that caught my eyes.

Watching in silence as her fingers continued to oscillate between hovering over the hairpin set and clenching the empty air a bitter realization came to me.

This girl seriously can't be trying to steal, can she?

Yet despite my reservations, it seemed to be the case as the girl started to glance around haphazardly, her gaze darting from side to side, checking to see if anyone was watching.

She really was going to shoplift…

Finding myself heaving a sigh involuntarily, I watch in annoyance as the girl's eyes snap toward me, her expression a strange mixture of guilt and desperation.

Seriously, what was this rom-com development? I was supposed to be getting Christmas presents for my adorable little sis not acting as moral guidance for some desperate teen.

For a brief moment, the store seems to fall silent. The girl now fully facing me, stiffens rigidly looking like a deer caught in headlights.

Finding the tension to be unbearable, I gather all the courage a friendless middle school boy can muster and speak.

"Don't."

Instantly the girl recoils, her azure eyes flashing in panic as she takes a step away from the small display.

"I—I wasn't…" Her voice trails off, clearly unsure of what to say.

Trembling ever so slightly and her eyes beginning to turn glassy with unshed tears, I felt a little bad for confronting her. For what it was worth it did truly seem like the decision wasn't something she decided on a frivolous whim.

Damn it! Me and my self-righteous satisfaction.

Cursing myself silently, I take a couple of steps forward, grabbing a set of hairpins from the display rack and walking toward the register.

She blinks in confusion.

"W-Wait, what are you doing?"

"Buying it."

"…Huh?"

Ignoring her incredulous stare, I place the hairpins onto the counter and pull out my wallet. Wincing as the cashier rings up the total before bagging the item, I hand over a wad of bills, my wallet feeling noticeably lighter with the transaction.

Me and my big mouth. That's probably 3 months of allowance money gone in an instant…

Grumbling under my breath, I thank the cashier before turning back to the girl, bag in hand.

Standing silently like some mannequin, her expression as expected is stunned. It made sense, after all, a stranger suddenly gifting you something worth over 20,000 yen was certainly unusual.

I hold the bag out toward her.

"Take it."

"But… why?"

"You're bad at stealing."

Her face flushed crimson as she waved her arms in a flustered panic

"I—I wasn't really going to steal it! I was just—"

"Yeah, sure."

Finding myself increasingly out of element dealing with such a pretty girl, I push out the bag again, this more forcefully.

Please just take it. I need to rush home and scream under the bed sheet covers.

Seriously, this might go down in my notebook of unspoken history: Trying to look cool in front of a girl and spending 20,000 yen on her!

Perhaps sensing my internal conflict, the girl hesitates, her hands mere centimeters away from grabbing the bag they suddenly jerk away.

"I-I can't. I'm sorry."

"Just take it."

At this point, I was beginning to get desperate. As embarrassing as it was to give a stranger some expensive gift on a whim it was even worse to have said stranger reject your generosity. I could hear the whispers at school if anyone found out.

Hey did you hear, Hikigaya tried to look cool and buy some girl an expensive hairpin?

What! No way that creep has enough self-confidence to do that?

Yeah, but you know what's the funny part- the girl completely rejected his gift. What a total loser!

Clenching her fist tightly, the girl seems to seriously consider the offer before huffing out a meek sigh.

"It's too much." She shakes her head slowly, "Even if we go to the same middle school I don't even know you."

Now that she mentioned it, she was wearing our school uniform…

"Look," I muttered, shoving down the bitter realization that we were schoolmates, "I already bought it. It's done. Consider this an act of personal satisfaction and take it. It's almost Christmas anyways."

Surprisingly the girl chuckles at my explanation before flashing a bitter smile. Within seconds slowly but surely her dainty hands reach out and grab the bag, our fingers gently brushing against each other.

"…Thanks."

Her voice was soft, carrying an unmistakable gentleness as if she had descended from the heavens itself.

I only shrugged in response. At this point, I was relieved that the entire situation had been resolved and hadn't escalated into anything too troublesome.

"Whatever. Just don't do something that dumb again. There was a security camera right around the corner so it's probably for the best that you didn't go through with it."

She stares at me for a moment, then smiles—her radiant expression nearly causing me to lower my composure.

"I'm Honami. Honami Ichinose. Class 3-B"

"Hikigaya Hachiman. Class 3-D "

"I owe you one, Hikigaya-kun."

I highly doubted that. Going by personal experience, I would bet the rest of my wallet on Ichinose ignoring my existence the second we would meet again at school. We would not acknowledge each other much less talk again.

"You don't owe me anything."

"Nope! I definitely do!"

By now Ichinose was grinning, her cheerful expression a far cry from what it was a few minutes ago. Watching her smile directed at me, I felt as if I was melting away, my loner identity being scorched to death by rays of sheer optimism.

This girl was seriously dangerous.

Finding the jubilant mood to be too much, I quickly gather my wits and prepare for a clean exit.

"A-ahem. I really have to be going now. My little sister needs someone to watch over her at home."

Technically speaking it was true. I had just left out the convenient fact that it was her demand that I be kicked out of the house to not creep out her friends.

Oh, Komachi! How can you be so cruel to your older brother?

Thankfully Ichinose seems to be satisfied with my excuse, her eyes gleaming at the mention of "little sister". While pondering the reason a seemingly popular and stand-up girl like her would resort to petty theft my hands suddenly feel the soft warmness of human skin.

"Thank you Hikigaya-Kun. I'll make sure to repay you tomorrow at school." she whispers excitedly before running off to who knows where.

What a troublesome girl … wait- did she just say she'll see me tomorrow?

Confounded by this revelation I could only snort derisively.

"You really aren't pulling your punches rom-com gods."

Regardless of whatever supernatural nonsense had decided to toy with my life, there was no way a loner like me would fall into some clichéd fantasy. This was reality. Ichinose, with all her good intentions, would probably approach me out of gratitude, and do her best to be friendly. But eventually, our personalities would clash and she'd give up. Whatever fleeting connection we had would quickly fade away, and we'd return to our rightful places reverting to our default status as complete strangers.

The scenario wasn't anything too unlikely, for someone like me it was best to keep expectations low after all.

Strange. For all my cynicism, I couldn't help but feel a faint warmth at the thought of tomorrow.

A/N: And we're done. Truthfully speaking I've been wanting to work on this story concept for a long time now with Ichinose being one of my favorite people to pair with Hikigaya. Thankfully with the winter quarter of college finished I have a brief reprieve before school starts again. Hopefully, this time can be a productive one in terms of writing.

Moving onwards to the story, the premise is simple: what if Hikigaya and Ichinose went to the same middle school, and before Ichinose started shoplifting Hikigaya intervened? The question I feel is simple but one I personally love, especially since most of the Hikigaya X Ichinose stories I've seen (Pixiv) stem from the two being placed in Class B within ANHS. What I aim to do for this fic is rather focus on the setting itself or other characters, and place an emphasis on Hikigaya's and Ichinose's relationship and their growth as they encounter new challenges and realizations.

Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed Chapter 1. I do hope to try and get my stories (Government Institutionalized Meritocracy is Harsh as Expected and My Childhood Annoyance is Explosive as I Expected) updated as soon as possible but no promises. As always, reviews and feedback are always appreciated.