Things going as expected didn't fill Hachiman with much happiness, a strangely nostalgic feeling all things considered. But one that left him silently waiting for things to turn out worse, compared to just yearning for a time that was long past.
He'd never been a nostalgic person, not really. Seldom did he have things to look back fondly to, and he had grown used to the occurrence that, the deeper he looked into the past, the easier it was for him to find things he regretted or had been scarred by. Be it from when he was just an awkward guy unable to understand why people couldn't seem to give him a break, to the point where he gave up and tried to fight back, to even the brightest points of his high school career. When his decision had been fine, but not perfect.
It was at times like these, when he was surrounded by the negativity allowed to fester and expand, that he truly appreciated the depth of his failures as a person… But that defeatist part of him wasn't fully what had him in such a sour mood.
Hoshino's group-mate would be fired. Saitou had hoped to delay her graduation concert for reasons that were only apparent to a couple of people, Hachiman not included, but now there was no possible chance to shield Nino from repercussions. She'd be fired, no graduation concert or any sort of cushioning. The official statement would probably paint the picture of a girl with deep problems, but Saitou looked unwilling to do anything but humanize the idol a bit.
The schadenfreude was positively delicious, but it didn't make Hachiman feel better about the situation. Shijo had still gone through the horror of seeing Nino be set off, Hoshino still had to deal with yet another creep being involved in her life, and they weren't anywhere closer to finding her ex-boyfriend than they were when all of this happened.
Hachiman wasn't the kind of person that got impatient, but there were things in life that would end with a funeral and life-long regrets from everyone involved. He would probably heal from a wound to the heart, even if it took literal years. But, again, he'd never be able to move on from having to bury someone because he wasn't smart, fast, or decisive enough.
That the vibe the idols of B-Komachi held matched his own wasn't a coincidence. There was doubt in their eyes, confusion. They had obviously known each other for some time, but they had done so superficially. Not dwelling deep enough to really say anything as Saitou offered them his support, if they had seen Nino be weird to them out of his sight.
They couldn't say anything against Nino, but neither could they something to defend her. And that was so telling that Hachiman actually started getting mad halfway through, until he noticed Hoshino's prolonged silence.
As far as she'd been made aware, all of this was her fault. Not the obsession people had with her, of course. But this… Limbo-like state. Where no one had actually made meaningful ties with one another, but neither had they hated each other strongly enough to act out.
"Nino-chan's been with us since the beginning." The long-haired brunette, Takamine, had lamented while clasping her hands over her heart. Still only saying vague things about Nino's personality, even though she was the first -and only- girl that tried to add anything to the conversation.
This group, Hachiman bitterly reminded himself, had been on its death bed for a while. The thought had crossed his mind as he got to know about Hoshino a little bit through text messages. The few things she could say about them, the way she couldn't point out at anything meaningful other that vague snapshots of memory that might not have happened as she remembered…
This group was held aloft by money, plain and simple. Because Hoshino couldn't even tell if her group-mates were in it for the fame either. Soe Hachiman had no idea if they were held by that too.
"Is this going to be a reoccurring thing?" The brunette with wavy pigtails… Uh, whose name Hachiman couldn't remember, asked after a small pause. Looking more concerned where she'd looked angry before. "I mean, we've dealt with creeps before. But to have them in our ranks is…"
"What? Do you want to hold a trial to find another weirdo among your ranks?" Saitou Miyako interjected, sounding less annoyed than her expression suggested. "I'd have thought you'd want to screen the newbie first."
"Like Takamine said, we've known Nino since the beginning. It's baffling that her weirdness ran unseen for this long." The brunette clicked her tongue.
"To be fair, there's only you and Takamine from the original core group." Saitou Miyako pointed out. "So are you going to suspect Takamine now?"
"Why can't Ai be the problem? Oh, wait. I know why." The girl looked angrier now, but still kept her voice relatively civil. Cold, undoubtedly. But civil.
"So are you going to blame the girl to whom things are happening?" Hachiman glared at her, free to speak out now that the official meeting had evidently finished.
"That's called victim blaming." Komachi added, scowl on her face and refusing to meet Hoshino's gaze.
"I thought you two weren't getting along that well." The idol retorted, still not moving from her spot.
"Oh, don't worry. She's got plenty of things to disapprove of." Komachi scoffed and rolled her eyes in such an unfriendly fashion that Hachiman would've thought that he was done one doing it. "But this isn't one of them."
"Stop playing both sides, girl. It looks terrible on you."
"It's called being fair, hot stuff." Komachi cut the conversation short, looking at Hoshino before regarding Saitou Ichigo directly. "I guess all there is to say now is 'we told you so'."
"…I'm sorry for dragging you into my mess once again." The man with the sunglasses had no choice but to lower his head.
"There's a lot of apologizing between us, huh." Hachiman murmured, looking at Isshiki for a moment. Seeing her take everything in in silence.
His junior smiled at him, amused by the way he let her know that he noticed the irony.
"There is a lot of thanking too." Saitou trailed off, looking at Hoshino for a moment before snapping his attention back to the whole room. "But if we were to list off every point one by one, we'd be all day. I owe you, all of you, more than I can give in return. So all I can do is letting you know how much it means to me that you're all here."
"I'd also like to say thanks for, y'know, not fleeing immediately and stuff." Hoshino sounded positive enough, but she didn't use her usual expression to add to the impression. She just spoke demurely, calmly. Not slowly per se, but still clearly speaking from a spot that she didn't usually. "I know that takes courage."
"Or masochism." Isshiki spoke up with a sardonic smile.
"…Yeah." Hoshino seemed to be unable to ignore her, being the only one to speak back to her, but it was evident that she either had wanted to or didn't know how to reply to the comment.
"Aren't you at least going to ask for our reasons?" The girl with wavy pigtails asked.
Ai gave her a curious look.
"Did they change from the time we almost got murdered?"
The idol that had been standing on just one of her feet seemed to have a sudden realization.
"I… I guess not…"
Hoshino smiled sadly at her. It wasn't overtly obvious, but Hachiman was getting better at seeing her sadness leaking through her expression.
"Thank you, Watanabe-chan." Hoshino's right cheek twitched, like it got hard to continue smiling for a moment. "I mean it."
Hachiman couldn't help noticing that the other idols were reacting like… Hoshino was switching the blame onto them or something. Like they were facing the consequences of their own actions, instead of just giving the benefit of doubt to someone that didn't deserve it.
"Why are you thanking her?" He spoke up, raising an eyebrow at Hoshino in a clearly contrarian attitude. Forcing the idols to stop whatever they were feeling by cutting through the moment with enough force to get them annoyed.
"Uh, for being understanding?" Hoshino took his question in stride. Because she didn't seem to think that Hachiman would try to blame her for the things that were happening. He wouldn't, of course, but it was hard to miss the fact that she'd been trying not to show how Watanabe's words affected her. While Hachiman's were taken as almost completely innocent. "For still giving me her trust."
He understood that Hoshino wanted to trust him. But it still sat badly with him, that only someone like Hachiman could be counted as being on her side. It was a sad, lonely existence for sure.
"Oh, no, no, no! Ai-chan. It's not that we don't trust you!" Kyun spoke up before Takamine could. She actually breached the invisible barrier between Hoshino and the rest, standing up and clasping at her hands while trying to sound reassuring.
"Then?" Hoshino tilted her head, staring at her group-mate's eyes while letting her intertwine their fingers with some fondness.
Hachiman had the feeling that he wasn't supposed to be seeing this.
"We should probably head out." Hachiman leaned toward his sister and murmured. The girl looked a little surprised, but quickly looked around the room to assess the situation.
With one of them clearly folding, the other idols began their own process of figuring themselves out. Of course, they wouldn't group up and hug Hoshino collectively to try and cheer her up, it was probably beyond the limits of their bond to do so. But, at least, they seemed to have a good enough head on their shoulders to really think things through.
When it came down to shocking situations, difficult moments, and problems that surpassed one's ability to contain their emotions, it was normal to look for culprits and discharge some of the bottled-up feelings onto them. It would be easier to just point fingers and demand an apology, or to try and have the perceived offender feel bad about it. Hell, it would be easier to just let Hoshino take the blame for everything. Let the girls unload their fear and anxiety onto her. Hoshino could take it.
But so what? Why did Hoshino have to? When it was all said and done, Hachiman couldn't understand why she'd have to carry that burden on top of the ones already on her shoulders.
She didn't deserve it. Not even when her own inability to communicate properly made it the path of least resistance, not even when she made herself to be the bad guy unwittingly. Giving people reasons to actually get pissed off at her.
"You should catch up to Yui-san." Komachi murmured back, looking at Isshiki on Hachiman's other side and nodded briefly before standing up.
"I'll have to stay behind." The ginger sighed with faux-sadness. "Saitou-san didn't cover it, but given that I am here…"
"Yes." Saitou Miyako had slowly walked up to them, and sat on the armrest of the couch while regarding the three young adults sitting on it. "We're going to have to fill Nino's spot with you."
"At least sound happy about it." Isshiki scoffed.
"You don't look too thrilled yourself." Saitou Miyako replied, although she probably understood why.
"I'll look at the contract first, I suppose. Then I… Won't be too happy about it either." Isshiki scratched her chin, trying to keep a cool head. "I really, really wanted to stay out of this."
"You should be allowed to." Hachiman looked at Hoshino's mother with seriousness. Not quite glaring, but still unable to cover all of his disappointment correctly.
"I mean, it's a… What? Two? Three years gig?"
Isshiki's question made Saitou Miyako frown a little.
"How old are you?"
"You can't ask a girl that!" Isshiki made a point of looked thoroughly scandalized.
The woman that should've dealt with countless petty celebrities still found it annoying enough to roll her eyes.
"I'm 21." Isshiki added after a moment of taking in the reaction she got.
"Yeah, probably four if you do well. But…"
"Expiration dates." Isshiki scoffed. "And a tight leash to go with the clout, promotional pieces, guest events…"
"A pretty big breakthrough." Saitou Miyako nodded, speaking the same language that Isshiki did. Understanding what the girl wanted better than Hachiman could've guessed.
He looked away, unable to continue seeing yet another person that he once knew continue on a path that Hachiman had nothing to do with. Away, into the dark.
"It's idol work, though…" Isshiki sounded either bored or annoyed by it.
"It's honest work." Saitou Miyako pointed out.
"It really, really isn't." Isshiki seemed to no longer care if she was being contrarian. So she stopped injecting her voice with fake politeness.
"Here we go again…" Komachi rolled her eyes.
Isshiki looked a little annoyed by the interruption, but was smart enough to take a moment to consider her options. As she was still being pitched after one of the idols in the group had turned out to be a complete creep.
"I… Will consider it." The ginger spoke neutrally. "Right now, I'm really worried about Yui-san. And can't really concentrate on work first."
Saitou nodded slowly. Clearly unhappy with the blatant cop out, but aware enough not to push the topic anymore. As she'd probably have better chances anyway.
Isshiki coiled her arm around Hachiman's own.
"Let's go."
Hachiman turned around but Komachi stood up, blocking his vision of Hoshino.
"C'mon, onii-chan. I already know what I'll order with your money."
Hachiman sighed, letting himself be pulled to a standing position.
"I thought I should be treating Yui-san?"
"Uh, duh. But I'm your little sister." Komachi spoke like it was the most obvious reason in the world.
Hachiman nodded.
"Right, that's a good point." It really was. Everything for the cutest little sister in the world. Hachiman had standards after all. It was (not) his obligation.
Yui wasn't in a state of complete despair like Hachiman had expected to find her. Instead, she was just moderately upset. With Miura scaring off some worker that had been trying to use the opportunity to hit on the nicest of the two. Admittedly something that Hachiman shouldn't be commenting on while surrounded by four…
Four girls?
"I thought there'd be, like, a private meeting for the group now?" Hachiman regarded the two idols that tagged along without his notice, being too busy thinking about what he'd say to Yui to realize.
Shijo and Kamei, Ari and Meimei, had this odd vibe of quiet… Politeness, he supposed. Their smiles were both demure but distant. Like they didn't want to stand out or be directly talked to, arms locked to one another while following Isshiki and Komachi into getting close to Yui while Hachiman hung back. Waiting.
Shijo was the one that stood midway between the girls and Hachiman, turning around to let her expression fall into a disheartened frown.
"What?"
"What?"
Both of them spoke at the same time, trying to glare at the other when the questions overlapped. Probably thinking something similar too, although Shijo's mood had nothing to do with the annoyance of sharing a braincell with a random guy trying to cheer a friend up.
"I asked you a question."
"Oh, right." Shijo looked to Yui and the other girls, locking eyes with Komachi for a moment before regarding Hachiman again. "What was it?"
Hachiman sighed.
"It's not really important." He crossed the distance and gave the girl a knowing look. "If you're not in the right headspace, it's probably better if you kick back and relax for a bit."
"Are you going to treat me to something too?" Shijo asked innocently enough that Hachiman recognized it as a small joke.
He clicked his tongue in return.
"You girls should probably ask for a raise if all you do is ask for money and food."
"Oh, no. We're paid…" Shijo's words died in her mouth for a moment, and she awkwardly scratched behind her ear. "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Hachiman parroted her, incredulous.
"I mean, I do. But I'm not sure if it's a living wage."
Hachiman closed his eyes for a moment, keeping calm at the strange dissonance between the girl's mood and her social status.
Hoshino lived off of her salary, so…
"It should be." He returned his attention to Yui, being patted on the shoulder by Kamei.
The short-haired idol had droopy eyes. Kind of like female character in anime like would go "ara-ara" or particularly good-looking moms that may or may not serve as heroine material… Anyway, it looked a bit odd in a slim and short girl. Especially because her tone wasn't gentle, faux or not. But simply… Polite, like Hachiman had felt before.
She talked in a small voice and pointed Yui at Hachiman's presence, making the girl flinch and quickly sweep her face with her hands. Even though she wasn't crying.
"Ah! Hikki…"
"Hey." He really didn't know what to say, how to apologize. It felt like he'd be admitting to doing something bad, to willfully betraying her trust. And that didn't sit well with him. "Saitou's busy with all of this stuff… He probably won't notice if a couple of his workers go missing for an hour or so, so…"
Still, he couldn't do nothing. He needed to clearly show that this whole thing was a problem that just so happened to come up around Hachiman. Without his -knowing- intervention.
He licked his lips for a brief moment, not fully recognizing the taste that came to mind with the motion. But still feeling a tenderness there that only another person could convey.
"See? Told ya." Miura elbowed Yui before walking up to Shijo, crossing her arms and almost bumping shoulder with her. "Didn't I tell her?"
"You totally did." Shijo nodded groggily, still going along with the blonde's antics.
"I…" Yui tried to focus her gaze, blinking a couple of times as if lost. "What?"
"Let's go grab a bite, manehama-san." Kamei turned to Hachiman for a moment. "We can tag along, right?"
Hachiman frowned at her.
"Are you sure you want to be seen around a guy right now?"
"Kyun often orders her food and gets it delivered here, so we don't have to leave the office." Kamei smiled sweetly at him. But it was evident that she was telling Hachiman to take their orders and go buy the food.
"Ah… Hehe…" Yui seemed to remember something about that. "I shouldn't impose. Much less during work hours!"
Hachiman took a mental note of asking about that later.
"It'll be fine." Kamei reassured her. "We can ask Ai to browbeat Ichigo-san into letting it slide later."
"Uh…"
"We just came from talking with him." Hachiman interjected. "There's no problem with you taking a bit of time off."
Yui smiled awkwardly at him.
"Are you sure you want to babysit everyone here?"
The question took Hachiman by surprise, and he took a better look at the group. Realizing that, barring Komachi, he wouldn't actually want to have to deal with all of them at once.
He had seen the girls of B-Komachi argue with his friends. And, while Yui's mood was the most important thing here, Hachiman couldn't guarantee that they'd get off the rails once the mood settled.
"You're right." Hachiman nodded. "But I still owe you an apology. So why don't you tell me if you want something, and I'll go get it."
"Stingy Senpai." Isshiki murmured, having hung back thus far to let things keep their course.
"Stingy Senpai-san." Kamei parroted, nailing the bratty tone so much that Hachiman actually had to confirm that it had been that idol the one that talked.
"What am I? A walking wallet?" Hachiman glared without much anger behind his expression.
Shijo nodded silently at the sentiment.
"I was worried about you too." Isshiki looked away, puffing her cheeks in annoyance.
Kamei didn't mimic this action. And it actually made Hachiman consider that, while Isshiki knew more than Yui, it still looked badly on his side.
"Well…"
"Don't let that cheeky brat fool you, Hikio." Miura spoke up before Hachiman could fold. "You know what she is about!"
"I really was worried!"
"It sounds like you got over it already, so cope. Yui gets the treats today."
"I-I'm not a dog…" Yui chimed in, actually looking offended by Miura's words.
The Hikigaya siblings sighed at the same time.
"How is it that you so easily get nowhere so fast?" Komachi asked in annoyance. "And here I thought I had a fool-proof plan."
Yui chuckled at the younger girl's comment.
"Thanks, Komachi-chan." Then, Yui turned to Hachiman. "And thanks for trying to follow her advice, Hikki. I know you care."
"Y-Yeah…" Hachiman looked away, feeling guilt for messing around with Hoshino now. Instead of trying to be nicer to one of his closest friends, like he should have.
A couple of Yui's coworkers walked by, eyeing the situation. Hachiman had remained close to Komachi, unwilling to get too close to the cluster of girls surrounding Yui. It… Probably didn't look too bad, if Saitou commented on his relationship with Komachi. But now…
"I should get back to work." Yui stretched her back, taking a lungful of air and putting up a look of concentration. Tapping her cheeks before releasing the air she was holding. "I don't want you girls to get into weird rumors because of me."
"Don't mind it." Kamei smiled at her. "Komachi-chan's friends are our friends."
"I don't much care at the moment." Shijo commented, looking back at the people walking by.
"But you will, eventually." Kamei put a finger on Shijo's collarbone, playfully making circles over the green-haired idol's clothes. Only to turn around and keep her polite smile while talking to Hachiman. "We'll let something slide so your presence isn't too weird, Senpai-san. Don't worry about it."
"That wouldn't be enough." Hachiman pointed out.
"It's no secret that Ichigo-san plays favorites. Just let us borrow her a few times and you'll see." Kamei's tone sounded a little playful again, but Hachiman could find no ill-will in her words. "She'll just have to talk about you a little"
"I can talk about onii-chan as much as needed." Komachi cut through the conversation with a raised hand.
"R-Right…" Kamei sounded oddly amused. Not like she found it funny, but like she found it agreeable in a sense that Hachiman couldn't quite picture. "Well, that. Never mind short term, though. That's basically impossible to cover."
Hachiman opened his mouth but said nothing while giving his friends a sidewise glance.
"…I'll be in your care, then."
"Not a problem!" Kamei closed the distance, placing a hand on Hachiman's hip while place the other on Komachi's own. "I'm just repaying kindness with kindness, okay?"
Hachiman took an instinctive step back. Kamei didn't restrain him or anything.
"R-Right…" Komachi's stutter made her brother feel justified in his reaction, even though he didn't fully understand it himself.
"We should head back." Shijo spoke up, sounding livelier now. But pointedly annoyed. Glaring at her group-mate while she kept her demure expression.
"Yes… Ah, your money." Kamei clapped her hands together before making a finger gun at Hachiman.
"It's okay, you can give it back later." He really didn't want to stay much longer, and Kamei didn't have purse on her. So that meant that he'd have to wait for her to go back to fetch her stuff. And he had already stretched things far enough. Besides… "I should try to catch whatever classes I have."
"That's right!" Yui almost jumped in place when she realized a very obvious fact. "You should be at school!"
"This was more important." He left out the fact that he had been with Hoshino before, as it was still technically the truth without mentioning it.
"Sure is." Komachi didn't sound too happy about it still.
"Heh…" Isshiki looked at him with a lot of suspicion, but said nothing else.
It was starting to feel threatening the fact that Isshiki of all people was standing back, letting things happen. Waiting. Like an ambush predator.
"Well, then maybe I'll give Komachi-chan a call later?" Kamei proposed. "We should totes do something together, hang out or something."
Hachiman wasn't sure he loved the idea of his little sister mingling any more with the idols, but…
"Sure." Komachi nodded after thinking about it for a moment.
…These were his sister's relationships. And Hachiman sort of trusted Shijo and Kamei. He couldn't not trust them, now. Seeing how close they were and how obviously they cared for one another even in a pinch.
"Hachiman." Shijo spoke up after a moment of silence, when Hachiman had taken it as his cue to say his piece and bid his friends farewell.
"Yeah?"
"Sorry for being a bother." Shijo looked at the floor, looking even more mentally beaten up than physically.
Hachiman hated the way that made him feel.
"You're not at fault of anything, Arisa." Hachiman stated clearly, even with another worker walking by. This was something that needed to be said, that needed to be clear. "Sorry I can't do more for you."
Shijo smiled for a moment, before her mood won out and made the expression fade away.
"Your friends would totally kill me." Shijo looked at the girls that didn't belong to B-Komachi. Not with resentment or anything. But more… Longingly. "Where did you get so many 10 out of 10s?"
The question weirded out Miura and Isshiki, while Yui sort of ignored it in favor of being tense about the time she was spending doing nothing.
Hachiman scoffed.
"Chiba's just cool like that."
Shijo scoffed. It felt good cheering someone up, even a little bit.
Hopefully, these girls would do that for Hoshino when Hachiman couldn't. Trapped in his own ties, for now.