- Location
- Argentina
You know? I think Hachiman revenge to the one who stabbed his dad is gonna be quite interesting.
The confession they want is wrong as expected - Season 2 (Kaguya-sama/Oregairu)
- Thread starter ZeroXSEED
- Start date
- Crossover
I just somehow doubt we're suddenly getting a revenge arc in the romcom xover out of this development. Assuming ai's alive then every culprit in this incident will get caught.
TriGayatri
Butter Cookies Villainess
- Location
- Indonesia
- Pronouns
- She
Yeah, zero said it was a let down. Most likely on the drama crowd.
TheEchoOfReality
The Spectre Who Speaks
- Location
- The Universe
- Pronouns
- He
It's understandable that Shuuchiin-Hachiman would still be guarded about nice girls. I recall in one of the early chapters that he mentioned that it wasn't just one incident that jaded him, but he had a series of crushes that all ended in rejection culminating in the Orimoto incident which saw all his schoolmates ostracize him.
It takes a lot of time to unlearn that. Opening himself up and allowing himself to be vulnerable to any girl would be - and is currently- a huge work in process. However that begs the question: Aside from the main cast who all have their hangups pursuant to any relationship with the guy, has anyone else tried to romance him? I ask because it has been established that Hachiman is very popular with the student body as a mediator and leader. So much that background characters have been vocal about their affection for him among… typical schoolgirl fantasies. "I wish he'd scold me in private" comes to mind.
Surely he's gotten a confession or two? Surely in the few years he's been at Shuuchiin there's been girls who haven't had any hangups about love shoot their shot as it were? How has that panned out? Or have any attempts to woo him been quickly taken aside by an unimpressed Momo or shut down with the sudden arrival of Agent Chaos?
Hachiman might still be jaded in this timeline, but he's surely more aware than how he was in his Sobu iteration, no? And if he's received some genuine romantic interest, how has that affected his stated outlook?
It takes a lot of time to unlearn that. Opening himself up and allowing himself to be vulnerable to any girl would be - and is currently- a huge work in process. However that begs the question: Aside from the main cast who all have their hangups pursuant to any relationship with the guy, has anyone else tried to romance him? I ask because it has been established that Hachiman is very popular with the student body as a mediator and leader. So much that background characters have been vocal about their affection for him among… typical schoolgirl fantasies. "I wish he'd scold me in private" comes to mind.
Surely he's gotten a confession or two? Surely in the few years he's been at Shuuchiin there's been girls who haven't had any hangups about love shoot their shot as it were? How has that panned out? Or have any attempts to woo him been quickly taken aside by an unimpressed Momo or shut down with the sudden arrival of Agent Chaos?
Hachiman might still be jaded in this timeline, but he's surely more aware than how he was in his Sobu iteration, no? And if he's received some genuine romantic interest, how has that affected his stated outlook?
I thought it was Hayasaka, because she first appeared in the first chapter of the story, as part of the crowd to entice Miyuki to get a smartphone?
*New guy here, was following this in fanfiction.net, but I wanted to interact, so here I am*
Me though, I followed the trail from Tv tropes to fanfiction to here.
ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
- Location
- In the name of orange!
- Pronouns
- He
Welcome. Here's where spoilers are being spilled and enjoy the stay.
That is actually the focus of next arc.
I think it's safe to say we are entering endgame. Ideally I can finish it in one go, instead of entering hiatus.
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It's odd, but Hayasaka wears a mask, so I'm not sure if Hayasaka herself knows if she wants Hikigaya as romantic partner for the long-term (she lies as easily as she breathes). It seems to me Chika is in the lead, but she's stopped by her family's No-Dating-Rule. Momo is...Momo? Yukino is "divorced" with Hikigaya due to them failing to properly process the definition of their relationship before they took the summer(?) break.
The Irony: Momo and Yukinoshita are voiced by the same seiyuu: Saori Hayami. Whatever universe Hachiman (the crossover with Idolmaster, Kaguya-sama, etc) lands in, he cannot escape the Hayamin. XD
The Irony: Momo and Yukinoshita are voiced by the same seiyuu: Saori Hayami. Whatever universe Hachiman (the crossover with Idolmaster, Kaguya-sama, etc) lands in, he cannot escape the Hayamin. XD
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- Location
- Argentina
I think Hachiman has rejected fangirls because they are fan girls, they probably scare him.
At least this time he doesn't have a drunker 30 something woman who is his teacher leaving scary messages in his answering machine.
At least this time he doesn't have a drunker 30 something woman who is his teacher leaving scary messages in his answering machine.
GoukaRyuu
Shadow Cabal Made Man
- Location
- New Jersey
Here is chapter 31:
Si vis pacem, para bellum.
If you wish for peace, prepare for war. A Latin phrase commonly known and often cited in fiction. Often in a negative way, highlighting fragile peace or forcing good people to commit atrocities.
What these stories never care about is the peace after the war. The treaty, the reparation, and everything painful that must be done to rebuild everything that broke.
In this case, the social rifts that were opened have to be mended too.
It was called a peace treaty, but it was more like Kaguya joining the losing party for reasons that weren't obvious to the hateful idiots. The Mass Media Club girls, who were supporters of Kaguya and friends of Yukino, painted this in the best light possible.
Even today, Kaguya happily enjoyed an open tea time with the members of the Public Service Club.
"In the end, it all ends well." Karen remarked. "And we can enjoy this sight from the sidelines."
"I know, right?" Erika nodded. "I always knew that Kaguya-sama was big-hearted."
"Pfft." Hachiman scoffed.
Hachiman's reaction invited weird stares from all the girls. Contemptuously, he said: "She's only remained magnanimous because she won. You think she would accept her defeat with grace?"
Hachiman had known Kaguya for more than nine months. He knew how much of a cheating, sore loser she could be. Had Kaguya lost, the meeting afterward would be nowhere near as amicable.
"Of course she would." Erika protested. "Hikigaya-san should not say that, even if you are part of the student council!"
"That's right!" Karen nodded and huffed. "I can't believe what I'm hearing right now."
"Hikigaya-san, are you sure you didn't say that because you got mad about Yukinoshita-san losing?" Hayasaka teased him. "Could it be that you're nowhere near as neutral as you like to present yourself as?"
"Let's talk about bias." Hachiman rummaged through his pocket and playfully tossed up and caught a gacha capsule. "If you know what I mean."
Karen and Erika were unaware of what he meant, but Hayasaka was all to conscious of his meaning. Hachiman knew the contest gacha machine had been tampered with, and he had replaced it right before the contest began.
He was threatening Hayasaka, knowing that she was the prime suspect of potential sabotage. And if Hachiman was being spiteful, he could easily crush whatever schemes were running in Hayasaka's mind right now.
Still, Hayasaka didn't know Hachiman had that grudge at the time. No wonder he purposely goaded her into betting on the contest result. Kaguya's warning about Hachiman now sounded even more threatening.
"Please don't get mad." Hayasaka grinned. "To be honest, you know I am a little jealous."
Hachiman shuddered and left. "I'm going to the toilet. BRB."
"What's with Hikigaya-san? I have never seen him that cranky." Karen huffed. "Even though he has always been snippy."
"Are you two close with him?" Hayasaka suddenly asked. "It's rare for him to talk with girls outside the student council. I mean, aside from Ryuju-san, since they're super close!"
"We were in the same elective." Erika explained. "So it isn't like we're strangers, but... it's complicated."
"Is it?" Hayasaka grinned in excitement. "That means you're friends with him."
"Yeah, we weren't exactly close friends or classmates, but I guess you can call us his friends."
"But the Hikigaya-san we know has always been fair with everyone." Erika chided. "I hate to admit it, but maybe we WERE being unreasonable."
"How so?"
"He always said what he wanted, damn the consequences." Karen sighed. "Hayasaka-san likes him, so I assume you know this much? But he's a largely honest person in spite of his poor attitude. So it hurts me to admit, maybe he's onto something."
Hikigaya Hachiman wasn't just "onto something"...
As a matter of fact, he was 100% dead on the correct conclusion. Hayasaka, as the esteemed personal valet of Shinomiya Kaguya, knew this more than anyone else!
However, Hayasaka was obligated to defend her Mistress publicly, so she could not confirm it.
"Of course I do." Hayasaka laughed lightly. "After all, that's what makes him charming."
"I feel bad about doubting Kaguya-sama for even a second." Erika dramatically feigned a cry, hands up as if it were a stage drama. Heavenly light draped on her, Hayasaka could suddenly see the seemingly plain and modest girl shine!
"But really, I could not imagine Kaguya-sama being that petty." Erika gritted her teeth.
"True." Karen nodded furiously. "Even if Kaguya-sama was angry, she might not openly show her contempt."
"Well, you two are Kaguya-sama fanatics, after all. How could you be reasonable about those feelings?" Hayasaka remarked inwardly. "Hojo Karen did guess it correctly, though."
Had Kaguya lost, she would not show her contempt in public. She'd throw temper tantrums in private, most likely under Hayasaka's watch. And how much would Hayasaka suffer from that? A lot. A whole lot!
"Really?" Hayasaka feigned innocence. "I mean, we're classmates, but we were not close. I can't say I know Shinomiya-san well."
"You're so lucky!" The two fangirls whined. "I wish I was in the same class as her!"
"Well, I wish I'm in the same class as Hikigaya-san!" Hayasaka cheekily stuck her tongue out and winked.
"That would be a problem." Hachiman suddenly came back with two girls in tow. "Your friends came."
"Ah."
"But Hikigaya-san... do you really think Kaguya-sama would have been resentful if she had lost?" Karen decided to confront him.
"You two are close friends with Shijo Maki." Hachiman bluntly responded. "You know the answer to that question."
Erika and Karen grimaced, suddenly slapped with reality. It wasn't as if they were oblivious. In fact, they knew about it more than anything. After all, they WERE close friends with Shijo Maki.
And the relationship between Kaguya and Maki was exceedingly hostile.
They knew each other and hung out since they were in Shuchiin Middle. They were blinded by their devotion to Kaguya and selectively ignored the contradiction in their hearts.
"In fairness, it can be attributed to the hostilities between the two families." Hayasaka's face darkened, but her mischievous smile remained. "Maybe they were forced to act like that out of family pride."
"That is true." Karen blinked. "Still, as of now, they've been very civil."
"Resentment doesn't last unless nurtured." Hachiman sat down again across the table from where the group gathered. "Shinomiya is petty, but it's not like she would hate Yukinoshita forever, unless there were other circumstances."
"You may not know this, but the relationship between Miyuki and Shinomiya was terrible early on." Hachiman told them. "After all, Miyuki's rise in exam rank changed the whole social dynamic of our alumni. Of course, Shinomiya Kaguya would be effected."
"Oh."
That actually made sense.
"But they're good partners now," Hachiman smirked. "Don't you think the same thing would happen with Yukinoshita?"
"True!" Karen and Erika nodded in agreement. "I knew we could trust you, Hikigaya-san."
"You girls only hear what you want, so let me say this. Shinomiya Kaguya is arrogant, proud, and petty. But she respects people based on their merit and not their gender, wealth, or social status. If you made a fool of yourself by seeking her attention, you're nothing more than a weed to her, but if you prove your worth, she will acknowledge you."
As he said this, everyone noticed how his face softened considerably. This was something of a rarity, or better yet, it never happened publicly and was only even known about because of the spread of rumors.
But the way he smiled was unusually gentle and handsome. Even Karen and Erika felt their hearts race a bit.
Is this what people call gap moe?! Hayasaka closed her eyes, trying to compose herself.
"Ah, I forgot. I was about to go to the toilet." Hachiman grimaced and ran away. "See you in the Council, Hayasaka."
"Whoa, that smile is quite a dangerous one." Erika blushed and rubbed her head. "Come on, that's just unfair."
"Hikigaya-san can really smile like that." Karen closed her mouth. "Don't tell me he had feelings for Kagu-"
"He didn't." Hayasaka slipped a bit, which caused the girls to look at her strangely.
The girls squinted their eyes at her with suspicion. Although she was telling the truth, the timing caused her to look like she was jealous of Kaguya instead!
But she would use that misunderstanding to her advantage.
"Their relationship wasn't that good with each other, but Hikigaya-san was honest, and Shinomiya-san respected him for his abilities." Hayasaka frantically waved her hand, her face flushed and sweaty. "Naturally, they worked together well."
That was a lie! Hayasaka knew that Hachiman and Kaguya rarely were on the same page on anything. It got to the point where whenever they agreed on something, Miyuki actually felt jealous.
"Ai-chan, you should not be too deeply infatuated. If he chased you away, you'd be heartbroken." Suruga Subaru patted Hayasaka's shoulder.
"Still, girls who fall in love really become prettier." Hinokuchi Mirin remarked. "I thought that was a myth."
"Really? Is that so?" Hayasaka laughed. "Please don't be mean!"
"We're being real with you, Ai-chan!" Mirin hugged her, rubbing her cheek against Hayasaka's.
Hinokuchi Mirin was the daughter of the President of a famous advertising company. She had neck-long dark blue hair tied into a ponytail with long bangs drooping to the sides of her cheeks.
Suruga Subaru was the daughter of the President of a big IT company in Japan. She had thick, silky black hair that extended just under her shoulders. Her front bang was braided to the left side of her temple, a unique take on the otherwise generic style.
To the outsiders, they would appear to be Hayasaka's close friends. They also happened to be Kaguya's classmates.
"Don't worry, I know my boundaries." Hayasaka suddenly turned calm, and everyone noticed the shift in her expression. Gone was the image of a cheerful gal girl the moment she did that.
"Right now, Hikigaya-san isn't ready to go out with anyone. It is not like I'm desperate to date him. Just spending time with him is already fun enough."
"You should value yourself more. No one deserves to get friend-zoned." Subaru shook her head.
Hayasaka Ai lied as naturally as she breathed.
All this time, it was no secret that she showed affection toward Hachiman. She did this from the beginning when she decided to try and successfully join the Student Council. Even Kaguya sometimes thought Hayasaka was being genuine about it, but it was all a facade.
Nevertheless, her efforts had been rewarded. Almost everyone in school thought Hayasaka has a one-sided attraction toward Hachiman, reinforced by his responses to her teasing.
However, because Hayasaka had always been a low-key student, her gossip with Hachiman hadn't been as popular as Chika's or Momo's. That was why Hachiman's actions during the contest day shocked many.
Even when teasing a close female friend, Hachiman would never appear seductive like that. It had been known that Hachiman was allergic to physical intimacy, too. How he suddenly put his arm around Hayasaka's back and shoulder was almost uncharacteristic.
Maybe it wasn't as hopelessly one-sided as it appears! Those people thought. And that was how Hayasaka got her own spotlight.
...
However, contrary to the merry atmosphere of the girls, the situation with the boys couldn't be more grim. It was why Hachiman still had a foul mood.
Finding Shirogane Miyuki sulking on his desk, only to leave as soon as he was done, was jarring.
Before, he always did it slowly while chatting with Kaguya. It was their best excuse to spend time together under the pretense of work. Hachiman never cared about this since he always finished his share quickly.
Hikigaya Hachiman loathed paperwork, which is why he was relieved when Hayasaka took his old job as the General Affairs Manager, effectively splitting his workload between them.
"Oh, for fuck's sake." Momo groaned when she didn't find Miyuki. "Is he gone, Hachiman?"
"Yep." Hachiman nodded. "As soon as he finished."
"Sheesh." Momo sighed. "Looking it this way, this might be my fault."
"Is it really?" Hachiman rhetorically asked. "I'm glad you learned some conscience, but this time I think it would be rather misplaced to blame yourself like this."
Momo squirmed. She was glad that Hachiman was no longer mad at her, especially after she honestly apologized. But now she realized how fair Hachiman treated his friends and how he held onto that principle as if his life depended on it.
Hachiman never showed an ounce of a grudge after they reconciled. Even though people still gossiped about him and Yukino, and he was still working with the VIPs to deal with the fallout.
It made her even more embarrassed than before.
As for how it all began, it started last year.
"Oh dear." The President remarked at a gloomy Shirogane Miyuki. "What's the matter, General Affairs Manager Shirogane Miyuki? That's quite a dark expression you have there."
"Listen to this, Prez." Ryuju Momo carelessly put her feet on the edge of the table. If she raised them any higher, her panties would be for everyone to see. However, she paid no attention to this because no one in the school actually thought of her as a girl. "Apparently, he's been getting the cold shoulder from that Shinomiya girl and got depressed. Stupid shit, I tell ya."
"What do you mean by that?" Shirogane Miyuki asked in disbelief. Of course, he was depressed!
"It's all over when you let people look down on ya." Momo pointed at his face. "The same goes for boys and girls! Once she looks down on ya, it's game over!"
"Yer a student council member, yer smart and don't look half bad. But yer a goddamn pushover, and look at where it's got ya?"
"Come to think of it. Was my accent ever that thick?" Momo asked as she recalled it again
"Early on, I think." Hachiman said as he tossed her a jar of kvass. Ryuju Momo had considerably softened since they got to know each other. Even her Yakuza accent had disappeared!
"I said to him...." Momo continued.
"If ya act like the type a guy women fall for, no one will look down on ya. Ya'll never get a girl without bluffing a bit."
Taking this to heart, Shirogane Miyuki confronted Kaguya and openly challenged her. At first, Kaguya had brushed him off coldly, until Miyuki said the forbidden words.
"Are you afraid of losing?" Miyuki glared at her. His gaze was only heightened by the thick, darkened bags under his eyes. Kaguya was so shocked that Miyuki could never forget her being that taken aback.
"You're quite a clown." Kaguya frowned. "State your name."
The bluff worked, again, and again, and again.
Until it didn't.
Because Kaguya had found someone else.
"A bluff is a bluff. A lie doesn't become true just because you start to believe it." Miyuki had dejectedly told Momo today.
"If it wasn't for my stunt, this would never have happened." Momo sighed. "Shinomiya will never become interested in Yukinoshita."
"...Are you dumb or what?" Hachiman asked. "Shinomiya was interested in Yukinoshita because she was jealous that people started to gossip about Yukinoshita and Miyuki."
"That's true, but it doesn't matter anymore."
"It does." Hachiman said. "It's because those two retards are unwilling to admit their feelings and because of that they are unable to believe that the other shares the same feelings."
"Then what we should do?"
Like it or not, Momo considered Miyuki a close friend. Now that she had started to sort her emotions out properly, she felt the need to help him in a way that wouldn't worsen the situation. And she was afraid that she would make another mistake.
"Nothing." Hachiman said. "Other than distracting him, nothing. This is Miyuki's ordeal to overcome."
If he couldn't overcome this, their relationship would fall apart.
"As long as he harbors that deep insecurity, they will never go anywhere." Hachiman snorted. "And you made Shinomiya happy, did you not?"
"Huh? All I did was find her a new distraction." Momo furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"You think so? But Shinomiya needed Yukinoshita more than anything." Hachiman laughed as he opened his own jar of kvass. "Those idiots, I swear to God."
Even though Kaguya was the one who felt jealous and insecure, Miyuki was the one who ended up feeling cuckolded.
Ironic.
"Still, is there nothing we can do?"
"Sure there is." Hachiman told her. "I'm saving that trump card for later, though."
やはり, 彼らが望む告白は間違っている. S2
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong S2
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: @ZeroXSEED, Co-written by: @GoukaRyuu
Fortunately, Kaguya was nowhere near that dense. Not when she was in her best emotional state, anyhow.
Kaguya felt it was weird that Miyuki looked so listless and stressed out over the last few days, to the point where his fake eye bags became real. Her inner desire considered this a good thing, but it wasn't like she had no heart.
She wondered what was plaguing the President.
It made her concerned. Worried, even.
"What if his health has gotten worse?"
"President, are you alright?" Kaguya offered him a cup of coffee. "You don't look good these days. Are you tired? Perhaps you're sick? You shouldn't push yourself too much."
"No." Miyuki frantically smiled. "I'm alright. Just a lot of things on my mind, that's all."
"..."
Kaguya had never seen him this flustered. Miyuki was a master of bluffing. Kaguya used to be annoyed that she couldn't catch him off guard.
Miyuki always skillfully escaped her traps, even without Hachiman's intervention. Although Kaguya blamed Hachiman, Miyuki was by no means helpless.
She had never seen him this weak and vulnerable. Not since their first meeting last year.
Come to think of it, the old Kaguya would have never noticed. No, the old Kaguya would not have cared that Miyuki was in distress.
"Are you sure?" Kaguya asked. "If there's anything I could do to help..."
"It's fine." Miyuki blurted out in response. "I just need to find a way to sleep better."
That was a lie.
In all honestly, part of Miyuki wanted to talk this through with Kaguya. He wanted to ask her to spend more time in the council. For them to spend time together.
But he couldn't.
If he did, that meant he had lost the War of Love.
All of those times he had spent building up his image would have been for nothing. So, instead he steeled up his resolve to never show any hint of weakness to Kaguya.
It didn't matter that Kaguya had been so spoiled and selfish recently. He had to be the strong one. He had to be the bigger person.
Otherwise, she too would-
"Please tell me honestly. Even if it's something I can do a little-" Kaguya insisted.
"It is fine, Shinomiya." Miyuki raised his voice slightly.
It was very subtle, but as someone who paid attention to him whenever they spent time together, Kaguya was very sensitive to the changes in the President's behavior.
Miyuki had never raised his voice to Kaguya like that before. Not unless he was trying to bluff his way out of something.
"...I see." Kaguya nodded. "I'm sorry for being intrusive."
And just like that, she left.
Shirogane Miyuki had inadvertently driven her away.
"I am the absolute worst." Miyuki thought to himself.
...
On the other side of the door, Kaguya took a deep breath and sighed. Then she decided to go home.
Where did things go wrong?
Kaguya thought that she could show at least this much concern. She thought she could, in some way, cheer him up. But it looked like it wouldn't be easy.
"What should I do, Hayasaka?" She asked her trusted valet. "Is this karma because I ignored him back then?"
When Kaguya was so heartbroken and jealous about Yukinoshita stealing her exam ranking and getting closer to Miyuki, Kaguya ignored Miyuki's attempts to cheer her up. Even Hayasaka called it a wasted opportunity and called Kaguya a terrible woman for it.
It wasn't like she didn't feel a shred of guilt. It was her selfish side burying it. Because all ends well for Kaguya.
Not only was the whole misunderstanding resolved, but Kaguya finally found someone, the person she had yearned for all these years. Even if that person turned out to be someone completely different...
"That's true." Hayasaka bluntly told Kaguya. "If only you weren't so self-centered."
"I am the absolute worst." Kaguya bit her lip. "I have never felt this stupid."
"Well..."
Hayasaka was about to open her mouth but decided not to. Hachiman had told Hayasaka to never directly interfere with the affairs between Miyuki and Kaguya.
Especially leaking the fact that they liked each other romantically.
"I think it would be best to stay around more often." Hayasaka told Kaguya. "President did try his best to cheer you up. It would be unfair for you to give up after a single failure."
"I guess you're right. But what should I do?"
"Just be there. Act like nothing has happened. The more you pressure the President, the harder he will reject you." Hayasaka cheekily explained. "Over time, things will go back to normal. As long as you stay."
Hayasaka wondered if it was the right thing to say. She was sick of the status quo. But this matter had to be handled delicately. She was sure that Hachiman felt the same way.
"I see." Kaguya nodded.
Hayasaka turned out to be correct. At first, Miyuki was weirded out. "You didn't go for tea time?"
"They're handling a case right now, so my presence would be intrusive." Kaguya smiled.
That was a lie.
While it was not like the Public Service Club was never short of jobs, they still put some time in to rest and discuss things. That's when Kaguya usually hung out with them.
Just for today, it is alright. Kaguya thought to herself.
One day, two days, three days.
After three days, Miyuki recovered. His fake eyebags returned, entirely made of makeup, making him more handsome than ever. His skin was lustrous, and his expression invigorated.
Just as Hayasaka said, things went back to normal.
And this left Kaguya unsettled.
Shirogane Miyuki was a weird man.
Part of Kaguya felt immense pride, knowing that just her presence alone could bring Miyuki out of his funk. But part of her still clung to that question.
Why?
Obviously, because he likes me.
To Kaguya, that was the only rational answer. Otherwise, would he be so distressed about her lack of presence?
The old Kaguya would be overjoyed with this realization, knowing that she was only one step away from undeniable victory. Yet part of her became more and more uneasy.
What if she was wrong, and it was something else?
What if... her presence had no special meaning?
Such a feeling of dread began to haunt Kaguya. The more she thought Miyuki might like her, the more she feared it was not the case.
"So it was like this..."
"Oh, that... right."
"Shinomiya, are you alright?" Miyuki asked.
"I'm fine." Kaguya grinned. "What was that again?"
Naturally, Miyuki noticed this. And interpreted it in the worst way possible. As long as they clung to their mutual insecurities, it was just a time bomb waiting to explode.
And so Hikigaya Hachiman jumped in through the window again.
"Hikigaya-san, do you REALLY have to do that?" Kaguya shouted at him.
"Oh, Shinomiya. Fancy seeing you here." Hachiman sarcastically replied. "Didn't have tea with Yukinoshita today?"
"Everyone keeps asking the same question. Are you under the impression that I'm a woman who always bothers others as much as I want to?"
I mean, that isn't exactly wrong. Hayasaka thought to herself as she listened intently behind the door to the council room.
"Are you not? Glad that's the case." Hachiman chuckled. "I'd thought you'd grown bored of us."
"That would never happen." Kaguya was so mad that she shouted at Hachiman and slammed the table. She was so nervous and surprised that she could not hide her temper.
It actually made Miyuki go agape.
"I see." Hachiman scoffed.
"Because this place is important to me." Kaguya suddenly blushed. "...Of course, I'm the Vice-President, after all."
"It was all out of obligation?"
"Not at all."
"I'm glad that is the case." Hachiman shrugged. "We were kind of worried ourselves."
"...."
Did Hachiman really think Kaguya would leave them for the Public Service Club?
"I guess you misunderstood." Kaguya sighed. "While hanging with Yukinoshita-san is pleasant, it's different than being here with everyone."
"Whoa, I'm late." Chika burst out of the door. "I'm sorry for that!"
"Oh, come on, at least Ishigami had an excuse," Hachiman remarked. "He's patrolling with the Disciplinary Committee, don't you know?"
"Whoa? Voluntarily?" Chika asked in disbelief. Ishigami was so lazy that sometimes it was hard to get him to do something he was not obliged to do. But he volunteered to patrol?
"He learned from the best." Hachiman smugly said.
"Whoa, now that you have a direct junior, you've really grown cocky!" Chika seethed hard. "Meanwhile, Miko-chan's grown increasingly less respectful of me! This is unfair!"
"I can't see why that is my problem. Maybe look in a mirror, Fujiwara-san." Hachiman responded.
"You guys, why are you fighting over the smallest thing!" Miyuki reflexively tried to mediate. "And Hachiman, don't provoke her for no reason."
"I do whatever I want to do, Miyuki." Hachiman grinned. "Can't you do the same?"
Miyuki was about to open his mouth. But he decided not to. Hachiman was right. He'd been holding back and feeling helpless just because he felt jealous.
Unlike Hachiman, Miyuki had no courage. No, it was because Hachiman decided he had nothing to lose by being himself. Miyuki felt the opposite, he had everything to lose.
Hachiman called him out in front of everyone because Miyuki was too stubborn to admit it.
But not just that. Hachiman also provoked Kaguya so she could get her true feelings across. Otherwise, Kaguya would keep her guard up.
He was never more thankful for having such a good friend. Without Hachiman being a blunt asshole, their misunderstandings would keep piling up.
But still, a small part of Miyuki wondered...
How long would he have to rely on Hachiman? Did Kaguya think the same?
"Hi-ki-ga-ya-san~!"
"Not again." Hachiman scowled.
That was when Hayasaka burst in, throwing even more chaos into the room by being clingy to Hachiman, causing Chika to get jealous. Then Miko and Ishigami returned, dropping the things in their hand out of shock and disgust.
As indescribably chaotic shenanigans unfolded in the background, Miyuki couldn't help but shake his head.
"You deserved it, bastard." Miyuki snorted. "Do you prefer it this way, Shinomiya? Unlike the Public Service Club, we're far from the most refined people."
Kaguya smiled.
"If things were different just because I left for a few days, I'd be saddened," Kaguya told him. "At the end of the day, this is where I belong."
"True. I'm happy that you think of us that way." Miyuki nodded. "Welcome back."
Chika was quiet for a second and let Hachiman go. Although she was never the most sensitive girl, she was not blind enough to miss the change in the mood. Miyuki's mood had been bad recently, and Kaguya had been distant.
She thought she would say something but decided there was no need to do that. She smiled and returned to trying to yank Hachiman out of Hayasaka's grip with all her strength.
Hachiman disappeared like a ninja, leaving his gakuran in the two girls' grip. Then he pulled out a pair of slippers and smacked them both flying.
"Hikigaya-senpai! Don't be violent toward girls." Miko chastised him.
"They deserved it." Hachiman huffed. "Right, Ishigami!"
"LASER DEATH BEAM!" Ishigami screamed in rage and made an Ultraman pose. Hachiman blinked in confusion, not realizing that Ishigami was jealous of the attention Hachiman got from the girls.
It was as if things were heading back to normalcy.
...For a while.
"We have a transfer student today." The Homeroom teacher said. "Please come in, Shijou Mikado-kun."
If you wish for peace, prepare for war. A Latin phrase commonly known and often cited in fiction. Often in a negative way, highlighting fragile peace or forcing good people to commit atrocities.
What these stories never care about is the peace after the war. The treaty, the reparation, and everything painful that must be done to rebuild everything that broke.
In this case, the social rifts that were opened have to be mended too.
It was called a peace treaty, but it was more like Kaguya joining the losing party for reasons that weren't obvious to the hateful idiots. The Mass Media Club girls, who were supporters of Kaguya and friends of Yukino, painted this in the best light possible.
Even today, Kaguya happily enjoyed an open tea time with the members of the Public Service Club.
"In the end, it all ends well." Karen remarked. "And we can enjoy this sight from the sidelines."
"I know, right?" Erika nodded. "I always knew that Kaguya-sama was big-hearted."
"Pfft." Hachiman scoffed.
Hachiman's reaction invited weird stares from all the girls. Contemptuously, he said: "She's only remained magnanimous because she won. You think she would accept her defeat with grace?"
Hachiman had known Kaguya for more than nine months. He knew how much of a cheating, sore loser she could be. Had Kaguya lost, the meeting afterward would be nowhere near as amicable.
"Of course she would." Erika protested. "Hikigaya-san should not say that, even if you are part of the student council!"
"That's right!" Karen nodded and huffed. "I can't believe what I'm hearing right now."
"Hikigaya-san, are you sure you didn't say that because you got mad about Yukinoshita-san losing?" Hayasaka teased him. "Could it be that you're nowhere near as neutral as you like to present yourself as?"
"Let's talk about bias." Hachiman rummaged through his pocket and playfully tossed up and caught a gacha capsule. "If you know what I mean."
Karen and Erika were unaware of what he meant, but Hayasaka was all to conscious of his meaning. Hachiman knew the contest gacha machine had been tampered with, and he had replaced it right before the contest began.
He was threatening Hayasaka, knowing that she was the prime suspect of potential sabotage. And if Hachiman was being spiteful, he could easily crush whatever schemes were running in Hayasaka's mind right now.
Still, Hayasaka didn't know Hachiman had that grudge at the time. No wonder he purposely goaded her into betting on the contest result. Kaguya's warning about Hachiman now sounded even more threatening.
"Please don't get mad." Hayasaka grinned. "To be honest, you know I am a little jealous."
Hachiman shuddered and left. "I'm going to the toilet. BRB."
"What's with Hikigaya-san? I have never seen him that cranky." Karen huffed. "Even though he has always been snippy."
"Are you two close with him?" Hayasaka suddenly asked. "It's rare for him to talk with girls outside the student council. I mean, aside from Ryuju-san, since they're super close!"
"We were in the same elective." Erika explained. "So it isn't like we're strangers, but... it's complicated."
"Is it?" Hayasaka grinned in excitement. "That means you're friends with him."
"Yeah, we weren't exactly close friends or classmates, but I guess you can call us his friends."
"But the Hikigaya-san we know has always been fair with everyone." Erika chided. "I hate to admit it, but maybe we WERE being unreasonable."
"How so?"
"He always said what he wanted, damn the consequences." Karen sighed. "Hayasaka-san likes him, so I assume you know this much? But he's a largely honest person in spite of his poor attitude. So it hurts me to admit, maybe he's onto something."
Hikigaya Hachiman wasn't just "onto something"...
As a matter of fact, he was 100% dead on the correct conclusion. Hayasaka, as the esteemed personal valet of Shinomiya Kaguya, knew this more than anyone else!
However, Hayasaka was obligated to defend her Mistress publicly, so she could not confirm it.
"Of course I do." Hayasaka laughed lightly. "After all, that's what makes him charming."
"I feel bad about doubting Kaguya-sama for even a second." Erika dramatically feigned a cry, hands up as if it were a stage drama. Heavenly light draped on her, Hayasaka could suddenly see the seemingly plain and modest girl shine!
"But really, I could not imagine Kaguya-sama being that petty." Erika gritted her teeth.
"True." Karen nodded furiously. "Even if Kaguya-sama was angry, she might not openly show her contempt."
"Well, you two are Kaguya-sama fanatics, after all. How could you be reasonable about those feelings?" Hayasaka remarked inwardly. "Hojo Karen did guess it correctly, though."
Had Kaguya lost, she would not show her contempt in public. She'd throw temper tantrums in private, most likely under Hayasaka's watch. And how much would Hayasaka suffer from that? A lot. A whole lot!
"Really?" Hayasaka feigned innocence. "I mean, we're classmates, but we were not close. I can't say I know Shinomiya-san well."
"You're so lucky!" The two fangirls whined. "I wish I was in the same class as her!"
"Well, I wish I'm in the same class as Hikigaya-san!" Hayasaka cheekily stuck her tongue out and winked.
"That would be a problem." Hachiman suddenly came back with two girls in tow. "Your friends came."
"Ah."
"But Hikigaya-san... do you really think Kaguya-sama would have been resentful if she had lost?" Karen decided to confront him.
"You two are close friends with Shijo Maki." Hachiman bluntly responded. "You know the answer to that question."
Erika and Karen grimaced, suddenly slapped with reality. It wasn't as if they were oblivious. In fact, they knew about it more than anything. After all, they WERE close friends with Shijo Maki.
And the relationship between Kaguya and Maki was exceedingly hostile.
They knew each other and hung out since they were in Shuchiin Middle. They were blinded by their devotion to Kaguya and selectively ignored the contradiction in their hearts.
"In fairness, it can be attributed to the hostilities between the two families." Hayasaka's face darkened, but her mischievous smile remained. "Maybe they were forced to act like that out of family pride."
"That is true." Karen blinked. "Still, as of now, they've been very civil."
"Resentment doesn't last unless nurtured." Hachiman sat down again across the table from where the group gathered. "Shinomiya is petty, but it's not like she would hate Yukinoshita forever, unless there were other circumstances."
"You may not know this, but the relationship between Miyuki and Shinomiya was terrible early on." Hachiman told them. "After all, Miyuki's rise in exam rank changed the whole social dynamic of our alumni. Of course, Shinomiya Kaguya would be effected."
"Oh."
That actually made sense.
"But they're good partners now," Hachiman smirked. "Don't you think the same thing would happen with Yukinoshita?"
"True!" Karen and Erika nodded in agreement. "I knew we could trust you, Hikigaya-san."
"You girls only hear what you want, so let me say this. Shinomiya Kaguya is arrogant, proud, and petty. But she respects people based on their merit and not their gender, wealth, or social status. If you made a fool of yourself by seeking her attention, you're nothing more than a weed to her, but if you prove your worth, she will acknowledge you."
As he said this, everyone noticed how his face softened considerably. This was something of a rarity, or better yet, it never happened publicly and was only even known about because of the spread of rumors.
But the way he smiled was unusually gentle and handsome. Even Karen and Erika felt their hearts race a bit.
Is this what people call gap moe?! Hayasaka closed her eyes, trying to compose herself.
"Ah, I forgot. I was about to go to the toilet." Hachiman grimaced and ran away. "See you in the Council, Hayasaka."
"Whoa, that smile is quite a dangerous one." Erika blushed and rubbed her head. "Come on, that's just unfair."
"Hikigaya-san can really smile like that." Karen closed her mouth. "Don't tell me he had feelings for Kagu-"
"He didn't." Hayasaka slipped a bit, which caused the girls to look at her strangely.
The girls squinted their eyes at her with suspicion. Although she was telling the truth, the timing caused her to look like she was jealous of Kaguya instead!
But she would use that misunderstanding to her advantage.
"Their relationship wasn't that good with each other, but Hikigaya-san was honest, and Shinomiya-san respected him for his abilities." Hayasaka frantically waved her hand, her face flushed and sweaty. "Naturally, they worked together well."
That was a lie! Hayasaka knew that Hachiman and Kaguya rarely were on the same page on anything. It got to the point where whenever they agreed on something, Miyuki actually felt jealous.
"Ai-chan, you should not be too deeply infatuated. If he chased you away, you'd be heartbroken." Suruga Subaru patted Hayasaka's shoulder.
"Still, girls who fall in love really become prettier." Hinokuchi Mirin remarked. "I thought that was a myth."
"Really? Is that so?" Hayasaka laughed. "Please don't be mean!"
"We're being real with you, Ai-chan!" Mirin hugged her, rubbing her cheek against Hayasaka's.
Hinokuchi Mirin was the daughter of the President of a famous advertising company. She had neck-long dark blue hair tied into a ponytail with long bangs drooping to the sides of her cheeks.
Suruga Subaru was the daughter of the President of a big IT company in Japan. She had thick, silky black hair that extended just under her shoulders. Her front bang was braided to the left side of her temple, a unique take on the otherwise generic style.
To the outsiders, they would appear to be Hayasaka's close friends. They also happened to be Kaguya's classmates.
"Don't worry, I know my boundaries." Hayasaka suddenly turned calm, and everyone noticed the shift in her expression. Gone was the image of a cheerful gal girl the moment she did that.
"Right now, Hikigaya-san isn't ready to go out with anyone. It is not like I'm desperate to date him. Just spending time with him is already fun enough."
"You should value yourself more. No one deserves to get friend-zoned." Subaru shook her head.
Hayasaka Ai lied as naturally as she breathed.
All this time, it was no secret that she showed affection toward Hachiman. She did this from the beginning when she decided to try and successfully join the Student Council. Even Kaguya sometimes thought Hayasaka was being genuine about it, but it was all a facade.
Nevertheless, her efforts had been rewarded. Almost everyone in school thought Hayasaka has a one-sided attraction toward Hachiman, reinforced by his responses to her teasing.
However, because Hayasaka had always been a low-key student, her gossip with Hachiman hadn't been as popular as Chika's or Momo's. That was why Hachiman's actions during the contest day shocked many.
Even when teasing a close female friend, Hachiman would never appear seductive like that. It had been known that Hachiman was allergic to physical intimacy, too. How he suddenly put his arm around Hayasaka's back and shoulder was almost uncharacteristic.
Maybe it wasn't as hopelessly one-sided as it appears! Those people thought. And that was how Hayasaka got her own spotlight.
...
However, contrary to the merry atmosphere of the girls, the situation with the boys couldn't be more grim. It was why Hachiman still had a foul mood.
Finding Shirogane Miyuki sulking on his desk, only to leave as soon as he was done, was jarring.
Before, he always did it slowly while chatting with Kaguya. It was their best excuse to spend time together under the pretense of work. Hachiman never cared about this since he always finished his share quickly.
Hikigaya Hachiman loathed paperwork, which is why he was relieved when Hayasaka took his old job as the General Affairs Manager, effectively splitting his workload between them.
"Oh, for fuck's sake." Momo groaned when she didn't find Miyuki. "Is he gone, Hachiman?"
"Yep." Hachiman nodded. "As soon as he finished."
"Sheesh." Momo sighed. "Looking it this way, this might be my fault."
"Is it really?" Hachiman rhetorically asked. "I'm glad you learned some conscience, but this time I think it would be rather misplaced to blame yourself like this."
Momo squirmed. She was glad that Hachiman was no longer mad at her, especially after she honestly apologized. But now she realized how fair Hachiman treated his friends and how he held onto that principle as if his life depended on it.
Hachiman never showed an ounce of a grudge after they reconciled. Even though people still gossiped about him and Yukino, and he was still working with the VIPs to deal with the fallout.
It made her even more embarrassed than before.
As for how it all began, it started last year.
"Oh dear." The President remarked at a gloomy Shirogane Miyuki. "What's the matter, General Affairs Manager Shirogane Miyuki? That's quite a dark expression you have there."
"Listen to this, Prez." Ryuju Momo carelessly put her feet on the edge of the table. If she raised them any higher, her panties would be for everyone to see. However, she paid no attention to this because no one in the school actually thought of her as a girl. "Apparently, he's been getting the cold shoulder from that Shinomiya girl and got depressed. Stupid shit, I tell ya."
"What do you mean by that?" Shirogane Miyuki asked in disbelief. Of course, he was depressed!
"It's all over when you let people look down on ya." Momo pointed at his face. "The same goes for boys and girls! Once she looks down on ya, it's game over!"
"Yer a student council member, yer smart and don't look half bad. But yer a goddamn pushover, and look at where it's got ya?"
"Come to think of it. Was my accent ever that thick?" Momo asked as she recalled it again
"Early on, I think." Hachiman said as he tossed her a jar of kvass. Ryuju Momo had considerably softened since they got to know each other. Even her Yakuza accent had disappeared!
"I said to him...." Momo continued.
"If ya act like the type a guy women fall for, no one will look down on ya. Ya'll never get a girl without bluffing a bit."
Taking this to heart, Shirogane Miyuki confronted Kaguya and openly challenged her. At first, Kaguya had brushed him off coldly, until Miyuki said the forbidden words.
"Are you afraid of losing?" Miyuki glared at her. His gaze was only heightened by the thick, darkened bags under his eyes. Kaguya was so shocked that Miyuki could never forget her being that taken aback.
"You're quite a clown." Kaguya frowned. "State your name."
The bluff worked, again, and again, and again.
Until it didn't.
Because Kaguya had found someone else.
"A bluff is a bluff. A lie doesn't become true just because you start to believe it." Miyuki had dejectedly told Momo today.
"If it wasn't for my stunt, this would never have happened." Momo sighed. "Shinomiya will never become interested in Yukinoshita."
"...Are you dumb or what?" Hachiman asked. "Shinomiya was interested in Yukinoshita because she was jealous that people started to gossip about Yukinoshita and Miyuki."
"That's true, but it doesn't matter anymore."
"It does." Hachiman said. "It's because those two retards are unwilling to admit their feelings and because of that they are unable to believe that the other shares the same feelings."
"Then what we should do?"
Like it or not, Momo considered Miyuki a close friend. Now that she had started to sort her emotions out properly, she felt the need to help him in a way that wouldn't worsen the situation. And she was afraid that she would make another mistake.
"Nothing." Hachiman said. "Other than distracting him, nothing. This is Miyuki's ordeal to overcome."
If he couldn't overcome this, their relationship would fall apart.
"As long as he harbors that deep insecurity, they will never go anywhere." Hachiman snorted. "And you made Shinomiya happy, did you not?"
"Huh? All I did was find her a new distraction." Momo furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"You think so? But Shinomiya needed Yukinoshita more than anything." Hachiman laughed as he opened his own jar of kvass. "Those idiots, I swear to God."
Even though Kaguya was the one who felt jealous and insecure, Miyuki was the one who ended up feeling cuckolded.
Ironic.
"Still, is there nothing we can do?"
"Sure there is." Hachiman told her. "I'm saving that trump card for later, though."
やはり, 彼らが望む告白は間違っている. S2
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong S2
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: @ZeroXSEED, Co-written by: @GoukaRyuu
Fortunately, Kaguya was nowhere near that dense. Not when she was in her best emotional state, anyhow.
Kaguya felt it was weird that Miyuki looked so listless and stressed out over the last few days, to the point where his fake eye bags became real. Her inner desire considered this a good thing, but it wasn't like she had no heart.
She wondered what was plaguing the President.
It made her concerned. Worried, even.
"What if his health has gotten worse?"
"President, are you alright?" Kaguya offered him a cup of coffee. "You don't look good these days. Are you tired? Perhaps you're sick? You shouldn't push yourself too much."
"No." Miyuki frantically smiled. "I'm alright. Just a lot of things on my mind, that's all."
"..."
Kaguya had never seen him this flustered. Miyuki was a master of bluffing. Kaguya used to be annoyed that she couldn't catch him off guard.
Miyuki always skillfully escaped her traps, even without Hachiman's intervention. Although Kaguya blamed Hachiman, Miyuki was by no means helpless.
She had never seen him this weak and vulnerable. Not since their first meeting last year.
Come to think of it, the old Kaguya would have never noticed. No, the old Kaguya would not have cared that Miyuki was in distress.
"Are you sure?" Kaguya asked. "If there's anything I could do to help..."
"It's fine." Miyuki blurted out in response. "I just need to find a way to sleep better."
That was a lie.
In all honestly, part of Miyuki wanted to talk this through with Kaguya. He wanted to ask her to spend more time in the council. For them to spend time together.
But he couldn't.
If he did, that meant he had lost the War of Love.
All of those times he had spent building up his image would have been for nothing. So, instead he steeled up his resolve to never show any hint of weakness to Kaguya.
It didn't matter that Kaguya had been so spoiled and selfish recently. He had to be the strong one. He had to be the bigger person.
Otherwise, she too would-
"Please tell me honestly. Even if it's something I can do a little-" Kaguya insisted.
"It is fine, Shinomiya." Miyuki raised his voice slightly.
It was very subtle, but as someone who paid attention to him whenever they spent time together, Kaguya was very sensitive to the changes in the President's behavior.
Miyuki had never raised his voice to Kaguya like that before. Not unless he was trying to bluff his way out of something.
"...I see." Kaguya nodded. "I'm sorry for being intrusive."
And just like that, she left.
Shirogane Miyuki had inadvertently driven her away.
"I am the absolute worst." Miyuki thought to himself.
...
On the other side of the door, Kaguya took a deep breath and sighed. Then she decided to go home.
Where did things go wrong?
Kaguya thought that she could show at least this much concern. She thought she could, in some way, cheer him up. But it looked like it wouldn't be easy.
"What should I do, Hayasaka?" She asked her trusted valet. "Is this karma because I ignored him back then?"
When Kaguya was so heartbroken and jealous about Yukinoshita stealing her exam ranking and getting closer to Miyuki, Kaguya ignored Miyuki's attempts to cheer her up. Even Hayasaka called it a wasted opportunity and called Kaguya a terrible woman for it.
It wasn't like she didn't feel a shred of guilt. It was her selfish side burying it. Because all ends well for Kaguya.
Not only was the whole misunderstanding resolved, but Kaguya finally found someone, the person she had yearned for all these years. Even if that person turned out to be someone completely different...
"That's true." Hayasaka bluntly told Kaguya. "If only you weren't so self-centered."
"I am the absolute worst." Kaguya bit her lip. "I have never felt this stupid."
"Well..."
Hayasaka was about to open her mouth but decided not to. Hachiman had told Hayasaka to never directly interfere with the affairs between Miyuki and Kaguya.
Especially leaking the fact that they liked each other romantically.
"I think it would be best to stay around more often." Hayasaka told Kaguya. "President did try his best to cheer you up. It would be unfair for you to give up after a single failure."
"I guess you're right. But what should I do?"
"Just be there. Act like nothing has happened. The more you pressure the President, the harder he will reject you." Hayasaka cheekily explained. "Over time, things will go back to normal. As long as you stay."
Hayasaka wondered if it was the right thing to say. She was sick of the status quo. But this matter had to be handled delicately. She was sure that Hachiman felt the same way.
"I see." Kaguya nodded.
Hayasaka turned out to be correct. At first, Miyuki was weirded out. "You didn't go for tea time?"
"They're handling a case right now, so my presence would be intrusive." Kaguya smiled.
That was a lie.
While it was not like the Public Service Club was never short of jobs, they still put some time in to rest and discuss things. That's when Kaguya usually hung out with them.
Just for today, it is alright. Kaguya thought to herself.
One day, two days, three days.
After three days, Miyuki recovered. His fake eyebags returned, entirely made of makeup, making him more handsome than ever. His skin was lustrous, and his expression invigorated.
Just as Hayasaka said, things went back to normal.
And this left Kaguya unsettled.
Shirogane Miyuki was a weird man.
Part of Kaguya felt immense pride, knowing that just her presence alone could bring Miyuki out of his funk. But part of her still clung to that question.
Why?
Obviously, because he likes me.
To Kaguya, that was the only rational answer. Otherwise, would he be so distressed about her lack of presence?
The old Kaguya would be overjoyed with this realization, knowing that she was only one step away from undeniable victory. Yet part of her became more and more uneasy.
What if she was wrong, and it was something else?
What if... her presence had no special meaning?
Such a feeling of dread began to haunt Kaguya. The more she thought Miyuki might like her, the more she feared it was not the case.
"So it was like this..."
"Oh, that... right."
"Shinomiya, are you alright?" Miyuki asked.
"I'm fine." Kaguya grinned. "What was that again?"
Naturally, Miyuki noticed this. And interpreted it in the worst way possible. As long as they clung to their mutual insecurities, it was just a time bomb waiting to explode.
And so Hikigaya Hachiman jumped in through the window again.
"Hikigaya-san, do you REALLY have to do that?" Kaguya shouted at him.
"Oh, Shinomiya. Fancy seeing you here." Hachiman sarcastically replied. "Didn't have tea with Yukinoshita today?"
"Everyone keeps asking the same question. Are you under the impression that I'm a woman who always bothers others as much as I want to?"
I mean, that isn't exactly wrong. Hayasaka thought to herself as she listened intently behind the door to the council room.
"Are you not? Glad that's the case." Hachiman chuckled. "I'd thought you'd grown bored of us."
"That would never happen." Kaguya was so mad that she shouted at Hachiman and slammed the table. She was so nervous and surprised that she could not hide her temper.
It actually made Miyuki go agape.
"I see." Hachiman scoffed.
"Because this place is important to me." Kaguya suddenly blushed. "...Of course, I'm the Vice-President, after all."
"It was all out of obligation?"
"Not at all."
"I'm glad that is the case." Hachiman shrugged. "We were kind of worried ourselves."
"...."
Did Hachiman really think Kaguya would leave them for the Public Service Club?
"I guess you misunderstood." Kaguya sighed. "While hanging with Yukinoshita-san is pleasant, it's different than being here with everyone."
"Whoa, I'm late." Chika burst out of the door. "I'm sorry for that!"
"Oh, come on, at least Ishigami had an excuse," Hachiman remarked. "He's patrolling with the Disciplinary Committee, don't you know?"
"Whoa? Voluntarily?" Chika asked in disbelief. Ishigami was so lazy that sometimes it was hard to get him to do something he was not obliged to do. But he volunteered to patrol?
"He learned from the best." Hachiman smugly said.
"Whoa, now that you have a direct junior, you've really grown cocky!" Chika seethed hard. "Meanwhile, Miko-chan's grown increasingly less respectful of me! This is unfair!"
"I can't see why that is my problem. Maybe look in a mirror, Fujiwara-san." Hachiman responded.
"You guys, why are you fighting over the smallest thing!" Miyuki reflexively tried to mediate. "And Hachiman, don't provoke her for no reason."
"I do whatever I want to do, Miyuki." Hachiman grinned. "Can't you do the same?"
Miyuki was about to open his mouth. But he decided not to. Hachiman was right. He'd been holding back and feeling helpless just because he felt jealous.
Unlike Hachiman, Miyuki had no courage. No, it was because Hachiman decided he had nothing to lose by being himself. Miyuki felt the opposite, he had everything to lose.
Hachiman called him out in front of everyone because Miyuki was too stubborn to admit it.
But not just that. Hachiman also provoked Kaguya so she could get her true feelings across. Otherwise, Kaguya would keep her guard up.
He was never more thankful for having such a good friend. Without Hachiman being a blunt asshole, their misunderstandings would keep piling up.
But still, a small part of Miyuki wondered...
How long would he have to rely on Hachiman? Did Kaguya think the same?
"Hi-ki-ga-ya-san~!"
"Not again." Hachiman scowled.
That was when Hayasaka burst in, throwing even more chaos into the room by being clingy to Hachiman, causing Chika to get jealous. Then Miko and Ishigami returned, dropping the things in their hand out of shock and disgust.
As indescribably chaotic shenanigans unfolded in the background, Miyuki couldn't help but shake his head.
"You deserved it, bastard." Miyuki snorted. "Do you prefer it this way, Shinomiya? Unlike the Public Service Club, we're far from the most refined people."
Kaguya smiled.
"If things were different just because I left for a few days, I'd be saddened," Kaguya told him. "At the end of the day, this is where I belong."
"True. I'm happy that you think of us that way." Miyuki nodded. "Welcome back."
Chika was quiet for a second and let Hachiman go. Although she was never the most sensitive girl, she was not blind enough to miss the change in the mood. Miyuki's mood had been bad recently, and Kaguya had been distant.
She thought she would say something but decided there was no need to do that. She smiled and returned to trying to yank Hachiman out of Hayasaka's grip with all her strength.
Hachiman disappeared like a ninja, leaving his gakuran in the two girls' grip. Then he pulled out a pair of slippers and smacked them both flying.
"Hikigaya-senpai! Don't be violent toward girls." Miko chastised him.
"They deserved it." Hachiman huffed. "Right, Ishigami!"
"LASER DEATH BEAM!" Ishigami screamed in rage and made an Ultraman pose. Hachiman blinked in confusion, not realizing that Ishigami was jealous of the attention Hachiman got from the girls.
It was as if things were heading back to normalcy.
...For a while.
"We have a transfer student today." The Homeroom teacher said. "Please come in, Shijou Mikado-kun."
ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
- Location
- In the name of orange!
- Pronouns
- He
thank you!
TriGayatri
Butter Cookies Villainess
- Location
- Indonesia
- Pronouns
- She
Hayasaka first need to leave the Shinomiya. Then the real fight began.
Miyuki is praying to the Gods for Hachiman sake bc he loves him as a brother but not even him is going to stand in the middle of that. The girls in Ishigami 'harem' is tame in comparison to those high specs girls.
Isn't that material that hasn't been animated yet? That's gonna take a long time, then
TriGayatri
Butter Cookies Villainess
- Location
- Indonesia
- Pronouns
- She
Everything in this fic has been accelerated. From Miko's participation, Ishigami's redemption, Mikado coming, and even just the progress between Miyuki and Kaguya.
All because Oregairu characters meddled with the timeline.
The fanfic basically did 1 year of plot in 4 months
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ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
- Location
- In the name of orange!
- Pronouns
- He
TBH I kinda wanted some [after story] kind of ordeal.
Basically, after I finished the main story, I'll tell people that they're free to either keep reading or stop at their discretion. Because a lot of it would be severely out of focus when it comes to Hachiman's presence (though we all know his influence is omnipresent), wrapping up all the loose end.
Basically, after I finished the main story, I'll tell people that they're free to either keep reading or stop at their discretion. Because a lot of it would be severely out of focus when it comes to Hachiman's presence (though we all know his influence is omnipresent), wrapping up all the loose end.
Does this mean we get more Chika-centric sidestories? Kinda want to see her family members' individual reactions to Chika romantically falling for 8man; besides the three chapters we already have
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ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
- Location
- In the name of orange!
- Pronouns
- He
TBH, Chika is the one hardest to write (on this point, I can sorta sympathize with Akasaka). So a big maybe. I will definitely finish that sidestory though.
GoukaRyuu
Shadow Cabal Made Man
- Location
- New Jersey
And here is the next chapter, 32:
Shijo Mikado!
This handsome yet modest-looking red-haired young man was beyond simple eye candy. In addition to being the sole heir to the Shojo group, a conglomerate group rivaling that of the Shinomiyas, Mikado Shijo had also placed first in the mock National Exams last year, beating Shirogane Miyuki.
If one were to look inside Miyuki's wretched hive of a half-bedroom, you would find a single piece of paper with letters written on it: "Beat Shijo Mikado!"
Fear, anger, jealousy. The turbulent feelings of Shirogane Miyuki had turned into that of an obsession. Obsession to beat Mikado so he could at last achieve academic perfection.
Only that way, then... Miyuki could...
Yet, in a twist of fate, he ended up in Shuchiin High. He transferred after leading his non-name school soccer team to the National Championship of the Prince Takamado Cup.
Family status, athleticism, and academics. This seemingly unrivaled figure could be said to deserve the nickname Emperor.
Why?
Why had he come here?
"I never expected him to come here. Mid-semester even." Someone commented. "Was it because of his defeat in the Prince Takamado Cup?"
Defeat? Shijo Mikado had been defeated?! Who had defeated him? Who dared?!
"What do you mean he was defeated?" Miyuki asked.
"You see? His team was the prime dark horse of the championship." The student explained. "A no-name private school, not worth talking about. His team rose so fast it was like a miracle had happened."
"All because of his drive and leadership, he brought his team to the national stage." The boy gritted his teeth. "He lost in the semifinals to the Soubu High Soccer Team. Soubu won the cup shortly after."
"What? Soubu Municipal High in Chiba?" Miyuki grimaced.
"Huh, President is aware of it?"
"We didn't expect you to know about it."
"Of course I do." Miyuki explained. "Hachiman's little sister plans to enroll there."
"Whoa, the little sister of PR Manager Hikigaya?"
"But I never knew they had such a strong team." Miyuki rubbed his chin. "They're also a college preparatory school like us."
Soubu Municipal High was hardly comparable to Shuchiin Private Elite Academy. However, it was still a top college preparation school in Japan. It was considered the best High School in Chiba Prefecture.
Indeed, Hachiman had actually made it his second choice after Shuchiin.
"They've always had a strong team." Shindo from the Soccer Club suddenly chimed in. "Still... Shijo Mikado's team was considered unstoppable... he was considered a genius who would stop at nothing until he got the ball inside the goal."
"Until that guy appeared. Their newly appointed Captain, the Demon Prince of Soubu... thinking about him makes me shiver with fear."
What a scary guy. Shindou was hardly weak as a player himself. And he was known to be fearless.
But not only did he fear Mikado, but that mysterious person who beat him...
Miyuki wondered what kind of person could crush Mikado's momentum like that. All this time, in his mind, the image of Mikado was perfect. Miyuki almost felt his belief shatter, especially when he saw Mikado talking with Kaguya.
Danger!
No matter what, this person is a danger!
They were distant relatives, with the Shijo being a foreign offshoot of the Shinomiya clan. However, the relationship between the two clans was exceedingly hostile.
All of these changes could be attributed to the person known as Yukinoshita Yukino. The hidden ice queen of Shuchiin!
After their contest day, Kaguya seemed to grow closer to the hostile Shijo Maki. This was because Shijo Maki was one of Yukino's closest friends, and Kaguya wanted to get closer to Yukino. Naturally, Kaguya had to suck it up, discard her pride, and cope with Maki's presence.
Usually, Maki would try to throw a barb in Kaguya's direction. However, Yukino always snarked back her direction with the finest counterattacks known to humankind, defending Kaguya. Therefore, Maki was forced to be less abusive. At least when the three were together.
Her sense of fairness had earned her a reputation in Shuchiin in a way that mirrored Hachiman's rise to power.
Miyuki could only feel mild relief when Kaguya openly beelined to approach him. "Good afternoon, President."
"Right, Shinomiya." Miyuki grimaced. "He just transferred into my class. Do you two know each other?"
"I supposed you could say that, since we met as children." Kaguya flicked her hair. "Though if you ask if we're close..."
That answer wasn't helping at all. If anything, that mischievous expression was grating. It was clear that Kaguya had said it to provoke him. Miyuki could not show her even a hint of weakness. Otherwise...
"Oh, are you jealous that we have known each other for a long time?" Kaguya made a mocking expression. "How cute."
Miyuki would never let that happen!
"I see." Miyuki coldly huffed as he turned his back toward her and left with his lunchbox. "See you later."
He had let his jealousy and emotional dependence get the best of him last week. These feelings were nothing but the weakness of his mind. Never let your weakness be shown in front of Kaguya.
Otherwise, she will look down on you!
All this time, Miyuki had truly believed it. And for the most part, he was not wrong to think that way. Kaguya, in the past, was ruthless and antisocial.
Never again.
Unfortunately, Kaguya couldn't be more misunderstood than today.
As Miyuki's broad and athletic shoulders became more and more distant, Kaguya could not help but break apart inside. She was only teasing him a little, but for him to give her the cold shoulder...
Kaguya thought she had made a grave mistake!
She planned to find a suitable opportunit so they could have lunch together, though, of course, she was still too prideful to ask him outright. In her usual form, Kaguya would try to abuse opportunities and use other people to achieve her goal.
"Ehh? Miyuki isn't coming with us?" Chika asked.
"That seems to be the case." Kaguya tried her best to hide her disappointment and anxiety.
"Mmm, strange," Chika mumbled. "Hayasaka-san, do you want to have lunch with us?"
"Nah, I'm having lunch in the cafeteria," Hayasaka said as she waved her hand, with Mirin and Subaru in tow. "See you later in the Council."
Most people saw that Hayasaka looked awfully cheerful, but Kaguya knew just how done Hayasaka was with her antics. Kaguya had learned nothing from the last week and the week before. This was the end of June. If she maintained this pace, their Summer would be wasted for nothing.
"You've already done enough. Don't yield." The cold and rational Kaguya told her panicked, lovestruck side.
The rational part of Kaguya thought it was too hasty and reckless to give up now. After all, she still had her pride to maintain. And if Miyuki could get mad at such simple teasing, was he worth it?
Objectively, Kaguya had done nothing wrong. This belief was immutable and could never be revised.
Shinomiya Kaguya was a complicated person. She was all too aware of her unpleasant personality, but she could not reject it. She needed that personality to survive the hellhole of the Shinomiya household.
Kaguya was slightly eased when Hayasaka whispered to her. "It's not entirely your fault. Just leave him be."
?
Kaguya widened her eyes at Hayasaka, but she wordlessly smiled and left.
It was not entirely Kaguya's fault? This meant Hayasaka didn't fully blame her. Still, after the grueling June, from the exams to the tense aftermath, Hayasaka almost always chastised Kaguya for something.
This time, Hayasaka was specific about it not being her fault. Not entirely, anyway. It was still a weakness on Miyuki's part that caused him to get mad.
While the cold side of Kaguya smugly acknowledged it, part of her was even more concerned.
Just leave him be.
Right.
Kaguya decided to do just that.
Chapter 32 - The boys wanted to be loved, part 1
What Kaguya had gotten wrong was Miyuki wasn't mad at her. In any other circumstance involving other people, Miyuki would never feel so shaken. Kaguya had few classmates or other students she was close with, and fewer than half were men. In fact, Miyuki knew at least one.
That would be Hikigaya Hachiman.
A few months ago, Miyuki would even express his jealousy toward Hachiman. Until he understood very well that the chances of romance blooming between Hachiman and Kaguya was next to zero.
Although they understood and cared about each other enough to be considered friends, they couldn't stand each other's presence for long stretches of time.
However, Shijo Mikado was an outlier. Shijo Mikado was nominally Kaguya's childhood friend. Although the relationships between the Shinomiyas and Shijos was awful, the family feud didn't bleed into the relatively younger children.
In other words, the risk of Shijo Mikado becoming a suitor for Kaguya was not zero. Worse, because this compunded the fact that Miyuki already considered him a rival in academics.
Miyuki was being crushed under the weight of his own insecurity and sighed.
Only to be shocked when he found a guy crying his heart out.
"Wha..."
Miyuki vaguely recalled this guy from his class, though his memories were jumbled. He remembered this guy looking different than he was now.
"Is that you, Tanuma?" Miyuki asked.
Tanuma Tsubasa, early in March and before they became second years, came to consult with Shirogane Miyuki. Tsubasa had a girl he liked. That girl was also a classmate of Miyuki: Kashiwagi Nagisa.
Back then, Tsubasa looked meek and weedy. Tsubasa right now had dyed his hair, cutting it in a more aggressive, spiky way and was at least as fit as the average high school student should be. He even left his white shirt unbuttoned.
Yet, he was crying soundly.
"What happened?"
"I was rejected." Tsubasa bawled. "Kashiwagi-san rejected me."
"Ah..."
Miyuki was expecting a worst-case scenario. It turned out to be THE worst scenario.
"She rejected you?" Miyuki winced.
"I tried my best to change myself to become her ideal man. I found out that her type isn't the soft kind. She prefers someone brave, carefree, and perhaps even a bit rebellious. The past me was far from that. I was not ready to confess."
"I tried my best." Tsubasa continued. "I really tried my best, and now that I gathered the courage to confess, I was rejected."
This was Shirogane Miyuki's fault.
Miyuki and Hachiman had had a heated debate about how to solve it. Hachiman thought that Tsubasa had to give up and seek someone else. Miyuki insisted that Tsubasa needed to change himself and appeal to her.
"Why did you get rejected?" Miyuki's face darkened. "Did she at least give a reason?"
If it was because Tsubasa wasn't good enough... then... Miyuki was not sure how he would be able to face him anymore.
"She said she had someone else she liked." Tsubasa wiped his tears, finally able to calm down. "They met during Golden Week, and she was smitten with him ever since. Although, at that time, they weren't close enough for her to be serious, he was supposed to transfer to Shuchiin."
"Wait." Miyuki tried to do his math. "Was that person Shijo Mikado?!"
"..."
Tsubasa's eyes were bloodshot.
"I mean, think about it. That guy transferred to our class so suddenly. Everyone had been talking about him." Miyuki pointed out.
"Right." Tsubasa rubbed his eyes again and huffed. "The timing makes so much sense."
"AAAAAGH!"
They heard a scream from behind and noticed a panicked Mikado screaming his lungs out. "There's no way that's what happened!"
Miyuki and Tsubasa were collectively agape from shock and almost stumbled off the pavement they sat on.
"Ah, I'm sorry for surprising you." Mikado winced in realization and politely bowed. "I just noticed the two of you while searching for someone else. We're classmates, right? Besides, I've also known Tsubasa-kun for a long time."
"Right. I didn't think we were that close, Mikado-san." Tsubasa suspiciously responded. Although he was shaken and intimidated.
"Ah, actually, my sister..." Mikado was about to say something but felt a spike of murderous intent and changed his wording. "I mean. You've been my twin sister's friend since you were both kids."
"Ah, that is true." Tsubasa said, now that he was less guarded. "After all, you're Maki-san's twin brother."
"Is that the case?" Miyuki questioned.
"Yeah, I'm not that close with her, but I also knew Kashiwagi Nagisa for quite a long while, so it's not like we just met." Mikado hurriedly explained. "Nagisa-san said she met him during Golden Week, right? So that guy can't be me!"
"Right." Miyuki realized. "So it was a different guy? Is he transferring, too?"
"Yes. I know this guy to some degree." Mikado elaborated. "That was also the person who crushed my dream to win the National Championship."
Miyuki twitched.
"The Captain of the Soubu High Soccer Club?" Miyuki barked in disbelief. "Are you serious?!"
"I can't think of anyone else." Mikado shrugged. "The timing of it is very particular. It is also possible that Nagisa-san had seen him for a long while because of the Prince Takamado Cup and fell in love that way."
The world sure is small. Hearing this, Tsubasa was about to cry again!
"To be honest? I was trying to find him, but he's nowhere to be seen." Mikado explained further as he sat down beside Tsubasa. "But I'm glad I stumbled on you two somehow."
That was not a lie!
Since his arrival to Shuchiin this morning, his heart had been uneasy. Although he was so close to what could be considered a perfect male entity, all it caused was people to feel intimidated. Boys envied him, while the girls only saw him from afar.
It was hard to forget when Miyuki glared at him in class, full of hate and disdain. That's why Mikado tried to give up finding a friend in class and tried to seek out other transfer students.
"My name is Shijo Mikado." He offered his hand. "Please take care of me."
"We already know each other, but let's make it formal." Tsubasa grasped his outstretched hand. "Tanuma Tsubasa."
"Shirogane Miyuki, President of the Shuchiin High Student Council." Miyuki cautiously exchanged a handshake as well.
"You're THE Shirogane Miyuki?!"
What the fuck is that reaction?
"What?"
"The one who always scores first place in the National Mock Exam!" Mikado excitedly explained. "I always feel amazed every time they'd show the scores, and you always placed first without fail."
"Hold on a second." Miyuki defensively help up his hand to stop the other boy. "Weren't you the one who beat me last year? I always found it suspicious that your name never came up again! Why are you trying to be humble now?"
"No, you misunderstand!" Mikado flailed. "That one time I placed first, I was studying to near death so that my parents would let me do as I wanted in high school. In this case, I wanted to focus on soccer."
"And if I want to focus on soccer, I couldn't give my all in the Mock Exam. That's why I never joined again."
Huh?
"Compared to that, someone like you who always participated, winning first place every time. That's amazing!"
Mikado suddenly turned gloomy and lowered his head. "...Saying that... my team's spirit was completely crushed in the match against Soubu High. As it is, they have no chance to win the Nationals now."
Mikado was forced to give up because his team could not keep up anymore.
"That guy and I... we're both equally good, I think." Mikado sadly smiled. "But if we're talking average player skill, Soubu left us outmatched."
Huh.
Now that Miyuki heard it, it made so much sense. If there was someone anywhere close in skill to Mikado, then it meant the rest of the team needed to carry their own weight.
But Mikado's team was too weak to stand on their own. And they collapsed under pressure from the superior soccer team.
A team was only as strong as the weakest member. Hachiman always said this., which was why he hated sports based on teamwork.
"So... how did that guy come here anyway?" Tsubasa raised his hand, confused. "Can't be because... he also likes Kashiwagi-san?"
"Nah. It was because of me." Mikado suddenly blushed. "I was distraught when my team lost their will to fight, and I showed him my worst side. So he said he would take responsibility for me."
If the girls heard this, their imaginations would soar sky-high into the stratosphere. Unfortunately, Tsubasa and Miyuki weren't impressed.
It was like they were looking at living garbage!
"Hey, I didn't ask him to come!" Mikado clarified. "But to be honest, I am relieved that he did. Besides, he also knows someone else here... I mean..."
Mikado coughed and flustered. Miyuki found his behavior weird, but if he was being honest, Mikado sounded like an awkward but well-meaning guy. Perhaps Miyuki was being too harsh on him.
"Well, I am sorry to hear about your loss." Miyuki smiled.
Tsubasa patted Mikado's shoulder. "There are times when, no matter how hard you try... Lady Luck fails you."
"...I'm sorry about your rejection." Mikado clenched his fist and patted Tsubasa's back with his free hand. "Stay strong, Tsubasa-kun."
To be honest, Miyuki understood that. Even so... he felt he couldn't accept it.
"In the end, Hachiman turned out to be right." Miyuki looked at the cloudy sky. "No, he is always correct in his judgment. That's why everyone trusts him."
"I'm sorry that it ended like this, Tanuma." Miyuki earnestly smiled at Tsubasa, but he could not hide his pain. "It was my fault that you missed your chance."
"That's not... it was my choice to..."
Tsubasa tried to deny it, but it would not change the fact that Tsubasa decided to follow Miyuki's suggestion to change himself. Hachiman also warned Tsubasa that Nagisa's kindness and care toward Tsubasa was not romantic.
A nice girl is always kind to everyone. To Hikigaya Hachiman, this was the immutable truth.
It was always Miyuki Shirogane's fault.
...
"At the end of the day, romance is all about timing." Yukino firmly said. "Once you miss that timing, it is hard to grasp another chance."
As she said this, she was hiding somewhere close by with none other than Shijo Maki, watching the guys wallowing in collective despair. Kaguya and Hayasaka were standing behind them.
The girls could not hear what the boys were talking about, but they could vaguely guess that Miyuki and Mikado were trying to console the heartbroken Tsubasa.
Yukino was talking about Tsubasa's rejection by Nagisa. However, everyone there knew the subtext about her fling with Hachiman last year. How they grew close over the inital three months of their first year, only to then grew distant over a single Summer.
And since then, their paths had separated, only meeting once or twice a month, both proverbially and literally. The love story that could have bloomed between the two of them had died just as it had started budding, never to fully grow and blossom.
"I don't want to say this, but objectively speaking, this is the best time for you to confess to him, Shijou-san." Hayasaka told the red-haired girl. "Tanuma-kun right now is at his weakest, so the chances of him accepting are high."
Of course, rely on Hayasaka to scheme even in the direst of circumstances.
"There's no way I would do that." Maki contemptuously seethed. "I am not some evil woman who'll exploit a man's weakness and insecurity to get what I want!"
Although Maki didn't say this about anyone in particular, Kaguya felt like she had gotten stabbed through her heart. After all, she always tried her best to exploit Shirogane Miyuki's weaknesses.
"...I will try to confess right now." Maki manically grinned. "So I can heal his wounds, just like he healed my heart back then!"
Give it back! My precious conscience! Kaguya screamed inside.
Yukino sighed. Sometimes, she thought Maki had a very bipolar attitude. It worried her a lot.
"You're not going to stop her, Yukinoshita-san?" Kaguya asked. "I'm not even sure what to say."
"No. Maki-san might be foolish at times. And even do some insane things occasionally, but, I think she is doing the right thing here." Yukino told Kaguya. "Who's to say Tanuma-kun won't fall for someone else once his wounds have healed? Maki-san should not miss this opportunity and end up regretting it twice."
"What do you think the possibility of her succeeding is?" Kaguya nodded and rubbed her chin, thoughtfully.
"Tanuma-kun has been oblivious to her feelings all these years. He might never see Maki-san as girlfriend material... but..."
Yukino hesitated to continue, so after a moment Hayasaka helpfully took over.
"As long as she makes him aware of her feelings, now that Kashiwagi-san's place in his heart has began to crumble... the possibility is not insignificant." Hayasaka raised her hands. "Human relationships change all the time, no?"
"That way, Tanuma-kun will think about Shijo-san. And perhaps reconsider their relationship based on his newfound insight. Besides, he just got rejected. What does he have to lose by accepting? His mental fortitude was hardly the best." Hayasaka cheerfully pointed out. "Just my opinion, the chances of Shijo-san being accepted are quite high."
"That actually makes a lot of sense." Both Yukino and Kaguya said at the same time.
Those two shared the exact same brain cell. A particularly prodigious cell, granted.
"But really, the girls around me have such bad taste in men." Yukino dejectedly said. "Nagisa-san fell for that guy and Maki-san for Tanuma-kun... heavens."
"In my opinion, your taste wasn't much better." Kaguya bluntly commented. Just thinking about falling in love with Hachiman made Kaguya feel ill.
Yukino cringed hard. "I'm afraid it is hard to refute that. My taste might be even more rotten."
"You got over him, did you not?" Kaguya tried her best to cheer Yukino up. "I'm sure there will be a better guy somewhere. Someone that fits you well."
"All I can assure you is that person would not be President Shirogane Miyuki." Yukino scoffed and left. "You don't have to be so worried, Shinomiya-san."
Kaguya's jaw dropped. Not just that, it was like she was about to lose bowel control at any second.
Yukino KNEW?!
"I'm not sure what you're trying to imply, Yukinoshita-san." Kaguya coughed, still in denial. "Is President Shirogane not good enough for you?"
"I admire his spirit in his strive to be a model student. But beyond that, I have no particular fondness for Shirogane Miyuki."
"I... I see."
At that moment, Hayasaka understood that Yukino and Hachiman's growing relationship back then wasn't a coincidence. And for some reason, it bothered her a lot.
Looking back, she saw Maki, had just bluntly confessed to Tsubasa in front of a shocked Miyuki and Mikado.
Even today, the atmosphere of Shuchiin High was changing yet again.
"I wonder what Hikigaya-san is doing right now." Hayasaka looked at her phone. Specifically, the clock.
And so, the lunch break came to a close.
This handsome yet modest-looking red-haired young man was beyond simple eye candy. In addition to being the sole heir to the Shojo group, a conglomerate group rivaling that of the Shinomiyas, Mikado Shijo had also placed first in the mock National Exams last year, beating Shirogane Miyuki.
If one were to look inside Miyuki's wretched hive of a half-bedroom, you would find a single piece of paper with letters written on it: "Beat Shijo Mikado!"
Fear, anger, jealousy. The turbulent feelings of Shirogane Miyuki had turned into that of an obsession. Obsession to beat Mikado so he could at last achieve academic perfection.
Only that way, then... Miyuki could...
Yet, in a twist of fate, he ended up in Shuchiin High. He transferred after leading his non-name school soccer team to the National Championship of the Prince Takamado Cup.
Family status, athleticism, and academics. This seemingly unrivaled figure could be said to deserve the nickname Emperor.
Why?
Why had he come here?
"I never expected him to come here. Mid-semester even." Someone commented. "Was it because of his defeat in the Prince Takamado Cup?"
Defeat? Shijo Mikado had been defeated?! Who had defeated him? Who dared?!
"What do you mean he was defeated?" Miyuki asked.
"You see? His team was the prime dark horse of the championship." The student explained. "A no-name private school, not worth talking about. His team rose so fast it was like a miracle had happened."
"All because of his drive and leadership, he brought his team to the national stage." The boy gritted his teeth. "He lost in the semifinals to the Soubu High Soccer Team. Soubu won the cup shortly after."
"What? Soubu Municipal High in Chiba?" Miyuki grimaced.
"Huh, President is aware of it?"
"We didn't expect you to know about it."
"Of course I do." Miyuki explained. "Hachiman's little sister plans to enroll there."
"Whoa, the little sister of PR Manager Hikigaya?"
"But I never knew they had such a strong team." Miyuki rubbed his chin. "They're also a college preparatory school like us."
Soubu Municipal High was hardly comparable to Shuchiin Private Elite Academy. However, it was still a top college preparation school in Japan. It was considered the best High School in Chiba Prefecture.
Indeed, Hachiman had actually made it his second choice after Shuchiin.
"They've always had a strong team." Shindo from the Soccer Club suddenly chimed in. "Still... Shijo Mikado's team was considered unstoppable... he was considered a genius who would stop at nothing until he got the ball inside the goal."
"Until that guy appeared. Their newly appointed Captain, the Demon Prince of Soubu... thinking about him makes me shiver with fear."
What a scary guy. Shindou was hardly weak as a player himself. And he was known to be fearless.
But not only did he fear Mikado, but that mysterious person who beat him...
Miyuki wondered what kind of person could crush Mikado's momentum like that. All this time, in his mind, the image of Mikado was perfect. Miyuki almost felt his belief shatter, especially when he saw Mikado talking with Kaguya.
Danger!
No matter what, this person is a danger!
They were distant relatives, with the Shijo being a foreign offshoot of the Shinomiya clan. However, the relationship between the two clans was exceedingly hostile.
All of these changes could be attributed to the person known as Yukinoshita Yukino. The hidden ice queen of Shuchiin!
After their contest day, Kaguya seemed to grow closer to the hostile Shijo Maki. This was because Shijo Maki was one of Yukino's closest friends, and Kaguya wanted to get closer to Yukino. Naturally, Kaguya had to suck it up, discard her pride, and cope with Maki's presence.
Usually, Maki would try to throw a barb in Kaguya's direction. However, Yukino always snarked back her direction with the finest counterattacks known to humankind, defending Kaguya. Therefore, Maki was forced to be less abusive. At least when the three were together.
Her sense of fairness had earned her a reputation in Shuchiin in a way that mirrored Hachiman's rise to power.
Miyuki could only feel mild relief when Kaguya openly beelined to approach him. "Good afternoon, President."
"Right, Shinomiya." Miyuki grimaced. "He just transferred into my class. Do you two know each other?"
"I supposed you could say that, since we met as children." Kaguya flicked her hair. "Though if you ask if we're close..."
That answer wasn't helping at all. If anything, that mischievous expression was grating. It was clear that Kaguya had said it to provoke him. Miyuki could not show her even a hint of weakness. Otherwise...
"Oh, are you jealous that we have known each other for a long time?" Kaguya made a mocking expression. "How cute."
Miyuki would never let that happen!
"I see." Miyuki coldly huffed as he turned his back toward her and left with his lunchbox. "See you later."
He had let his jealousy and emotional dependence get the best of him last week. These feelings were nothing but the weakness of his mind. Never let your weakness be shown in front of Kaguya.
Otherwise, she will look down on you!
All this time, Miyuki had truly believed it. And for the most part, he was not wrong to think that way. Kaguya, in the past, was ruthless and antisocial.
Never again.
Unfortunately, Kaguya couldn't be more misunderstood than today.
As Miyuki's broad and athletic shoulders became more and more distant, Kaguya could not help but break apart inside. She was only teasing him a little, but for him to give her the cold shoulder...
Kaguya thought she had made a grave mistake!
She planned to find a suitable opportunit so they could have lunch together, though, of course, she was still too prideful to ask him outright. In her usual form, Kaguya would try to abuse opportunities and use other people to achieve her goal.
"Ehh? Miyuki isn't coming with us?" Chika asked.
"That seems to be the case." Kaguya tried her best to hide her disappointment and anxiety.
"Mmm, strange," Chika mumbled. "Hayasaka-san, do you want to have lunch with us?"
"Nah, I'm having lunch in the cafeteria," Hayasaka said as she waved her hand, with Mirin and Subaru in tow. "See you later in the Council."
Most people saw that Hayasaka looked awfully cheerful, but Kaguya knew just how done Hayasaka was with her antics. Kaguya had learned nothing from the last week and the week before. This was the end of June. If she maintained this pace, their Summer would be wasted for nothing.
"You've already done enough. Don't yield." The cold and rational Kaguya told her panicked, lovestruck side.
The rational part of Kaguya thought it was too hasty and reckless to give up now. After all, she still had her pride to maintain. And if Miyuki could get mad at such simple teasing, was he worth it?
Objectively, Kaguya had done nothing wrong. This belief was immutable and could never be revised.
Shinomiya Kaguya was a complicated person. She was all too aware of her unpleasant personality, but she could not reject it. She needed that personality to survive the hellhole of the Shinomiya household.
Kaguya was slightly eased when Hayasaka whispered to her. "It's not entirely your fault. Just leave him be."
?
Kaguya widened her eyes at Hayasaka, but she wordlessly smiled and left.
It was not entirely Kaguya's fault? This meant Hayasaka didn't fully blame her. Still, after the grueling June, from the exams to the tense aftermath, Hayasaka almost always chastised Kaguya for something.
This time, Hayasaka was specific about it not being her fault. Not entirely, anyway. It was still a weakness on Miyuki's part that caused him to get mad.
While the cold side of Kaguya smugly acknowledged it, part of her was even more concerned.
Just leave him be.
Right.
Kaguya decided to do just that.
やはり, 彼らが望む告白は間違っている. S2
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong S2
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: @ZeroXSEED, Co-written by: @GoukaRyuu
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong S2
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: @ZeroXSEED, Co-written by: @GoukaRyuu
Chapter 32 - The boys wanted to be loved, part 1
What Kaguya had gotten wrong was Miyuki wasn't mad at her. In any other circumstance involving other people, Miyuki would never feel so shaken. Kaguya had few classmates or other students she was close with, and fewer than half were men. In fact, Miyuki knew at least one.
That would be Hikigaya Hachiman.
A few months ago, Miyuki would even express his jealousy toward Hachiman. Until he understood very well that the chances of romance blooming between Hachiman and Kaguya was next to zero.
Although they understood and cared about each other enough to be considered friends, they couldn't stand each other's presence for long stretches of time.
However, Shijo Mikado was an outlier. Shijo Mikado was nominally Kaguya's childhood friend. Although the relationships between the Shinomiyas and Shijos was awful, the family feud didn't bleed into the relatively younger children.
In other words, the risk of Shijo Mikado becoming a suitor for Kaguya was not zero. Worse, because this compunded the fact that Miyuki already considered him a rival in academics.
Miyuki was being crushed under the weight of his own insecurity and sighed.
Only to be shocked when he found a guy crying his heart out.
"Wha..."
Miyuki vaguely recalled this guy from his class, though his memories were jumbled. He remembered this guy looking different than he was now.
"Is that you, Tanuma?" Miyuki asked.
Tanuma Tsubasa, early in March and before they became second years, came to consult with Shirogane Miyuki. Tsubasa had a girl he liked. That girl was also a classmate of Miyuki: Kashiwagi Nagisa.
Back then, Tsubasa looked meek and weedy. Tsubasa right now had dyed his hair, cutting it in a more aggressive, spiky way and was at least as fit as the average high school student should be. He even left his white shirt unbuttoned.
Yet, he was crying soundly.
"What happened?"
"I was rejected." Tsubasa bawled. "Kashiwagi-san rejected me."
"Ah..."
Miyuki was expecting a worst-case scenario. It turned out to be THE worst scenario.
"She rejected you?" Miyuki winced.
"I tried my best to change myself to become her ideal man. I found out that her type isn't the soft kind. She prefers someone brave, carefree, and perhaps even a bit rebellious. The past me was far from that. I was not ready to confess."
"I tried my best." Tsubasa continued. "I really tried my best, and now that I gathered the courage to confess, I was rejected."
This was Shirogane Miyuki's fault.
Miyuki and Hachiman had had a heated debate about how to solve it. Hachiman thought that Tsubasa had to give up and seek someone else. Miyuki insisted that Tsubasa needed to change himself and appeal to her.
"Why did you get rejected?" Miyuki's face darkened. "Did she at least give a reason?"
If it was because Tsubasa wasn't good enough... then... Miyuki was not sure how he would be able to face him anymore.
"She said she had someone else she liked." Tsubasa wiped his tears, finally able to calm down. "They met during Golden Week, and she was smitten with him ever since. Although, at that time, they weren't close enough for her to be serious, he was supposed to transfer to Shuchiin."
"Wait." Miyuki tried to do his math. "Was that person Shijo Mikado?!"
"..."
Tsubasa's eyes were bloodshot.
"I mean, think about it. That guy transferred to our class so suddenly. Everyone had been talking about him." Miyuki pointed out.
"Right." Tsubasa rubbed his eyes again and huffed. "The timing makes so much sense."
"AAAAAGH!"
They heard a scream from behind and noticed a panicked Mikado screaming his lungs out. "There's no way that's what happened!"
Miyuki and Tsubasa were collectively agape from shock and almost stumbled off the pavement they sat on.
"Ah, I'm sorry for surprising you." Mikado winced in realization and politely bowed. "I just noticed the two of you while searching for someone else. We're classmates, right? Besides, I've also known Tsubasa-kun for a long time."
"Right. I didn't think we were that close, Mikado-san." Tsubasa suspiciously responded. Although he was shaken and intimidated.
"Ah, actually, my sister..." Mikado was about to say something but felt a spike of murderous intent and changed his wording. "I mean. You've been my twin sister's friend since you were both kids."
"Ah, that is true." Tsubasa said, now that he was less guarded. "After all, you're Maki-san's twin brother."
"Is that the case?" Miyuki questioned.
"Yeah, I'm not that close with her, but I also knew Kashiwagi Nagisa for quite a long while, so it's not like we just met." Mikado hurriedly explained. "Nagisa-san said she met him during Golden Week, right? So that guy can't be me!"
"Right." Miyuki realized. "So it was a different guy? Is he transferring, too?"
"Yes. I know this guy to some degree." Mikado elaborated. "That was also the person who crushed my dream to win the National Championship."
Miyuki twitched.
"The Captain of the Soubu High Soccer Club?" Miyuki barked in disbelief. "Are you serious?!"
"I can't think of anyone else." Mikado shrugged. "The timing of it is very particular. It is also possible that Nagisa-san had seen him for a long while because of the Prince Takamado Cup and fell in love that way."
The world sure is small. Hearing this, Tsubasa was about to cry again!
"To be honest? I was trying to find him, but he's nowhere to be seen." Mikado explained further as he sat down beside Tsubasa. "But I'm glad I stumbled on you two somehow."
That was not a lie!
Since his arrival to Shuchiin this morning, his heart had been uneasy. Although he was so close to what could be considered a perfect male entity, all it caused was people to feel intimidated. Boys envied him, while the girls only saw him from afar.
It was hard to forget when Miyuki glared at him in class, full of hate and disdain. That's why Mikado tried to give up finding a friend in class and tried to seek out other transfer students.
"My name is Shijo Mikado." He offered his hand. "Please take care of me."
"We already know each other, but let's make it formal." Tsubasa grasped his outstretched hand. "Tanuma Tsubasa."
"Shirogane Miyuki, President of the Shuchiin High Student Council." Miyuki cautiously exchanged a handshake as well.
"You're THE Shirogane Miyuki?!"
What the fuck is that reaction?
"What?"
"The one who always scores first place in the National Mock Exam!" Mikado excitedly explained. "I always feel amazed every time they'd show the scores, and you always placed first without fail."
"Hold on a second." Miyuki defensively help up his hand to stop the other boy. "Weren't you the one who beat me last year? I always found it suspicious that your name never came up again! Why are you trying to be humble now?"
"No, you misunderstand!" Mikado flailed. "That one time I placed first, I was studying to near death so that my parents would let me do as I wanted in high school. In this case, I wanted to focus on soccer."
"And if I want to focus on soccer, I couldn't give my all in the Mock Exam. That's why I never joined again."
Huh?
"Compared to that, someone like you who always participated, winning first place every time. That's amazing!"
Mikado suddenly turned gloomy and lowered his head. "...Saying that... my team's spirit was completely crushed in the match against Soubu High. As it is, they have no chance to win the Nationals now."
Mikado was forced to give up because his team could not keep up anymore.
"That guy and I... we're both equally good, I think." Mikado sadly smiled. "But if we're talking average player skill, Soubu left us outmatched."
Huh.
Now that Miyuki heard it, it made so much sense. If there was someone anywhere close in skill to Mikado, then it meant the rest of the team needed to carry their own weight.
But Mikado's team was too weak to stand on their own. And they collapsed under pressure from the superior soccer team.
A team was only as strong as the weakest member. Hachiman always said this., which was why he hated sports based on teamwork.
"So... how did that guy come here anyway?" Tsubasa raised his hand, confused. "Can't be because... he also likes Kashiwagi-san?"
"Nah. It was because of me." Mikado suddenly blushed. "I was distraught when my team lost their will to fight, and I showed him my worst side. So he said he would take responsibility for me."
If the girls heard this, their imaginations would soar sky-high into the stratosphere. Unfortunately, Tsubasa and Miyuki weren't impressed.
It was like they were looking at living garbage!
"Hey, I didn't ask him to come!" Mikado clarified. "But to be honest, I am relieved that he did. Besides, he also knows someone else here... I mean..."
Mikado coughed and flustered. Miyuki found his behavior weird, but if he was being honest, Mikado sounded like an awkward but well-meaning guy. Perhaps Miyuki was being too harsh on him.
"Well, I am sorry to hear about your loss." Miyuki smiled.
Tsubasa patted Mikado's shoulder. "There are times when, no matter how hard you try... Lady Luck fails you."
"...I'm sorry about your rejection." Mikado clenched his fist and patted Tsubasa's back with his free hand. "Stay strong, Tsubasa-kun."
To be honest, Miyuki understood that. Even so... he felt he couldn't accept it.
"In the end, Hachiman turned out to be right." Miyuki looked at the cloudy sky. "No, he is always correct in his judgment. That's why everyone trusts him."
"I'm sorry that it ended like this, Tanuma." Miyuki earnestly smiled at Tsubasa, but he could not hide his pain. "It was my fault that you missed your chance."
"That's not... it was my choice to..."
Tsubasa tried to deny it, but it would not change the fact that Tsubasa decided to follow Miyuki's suggestion to change himself. Hachiman also warned Tsubasa that Nagisa's kindness and care toward Tsubasa was not romantic.
A nice girl is always kind to everyone. To Hikigaya Hachiman, this was the immutable truth.
It was always Miyuki Shirogane's fault.
...
"At the end of the day, romance is all about timing." Yukino firmly said. "Once you miss that timing, it is hard to grasp another chance."
As she said this, she was hiding somewhere close by with none other than Shijo Maki, watching the guys wallowing in collective despair. Kaguya and Hayasaka were standing behind them.
The girls could not hear what the boys were talking about, but they could vaguely guess that Miyuki and Mikado were trying to console the heartbroken Tsubasa.
Yukino was talking about Tsubasa's rejection by Nagisa. However, everyone there knew the subtext about her fling with Hachiman last year. How they grew close over the inital three months of their first year, only to then grew distant over a single Summer.
And since then, their paths had separated, only meeting once or twice a month, both proverbially and literally. The love story that could have bloomed between the two of them had died just as it had started budding, never to fully grow and blossom.
"I don't want to say this, but objectively speaking, this is the best time for you to confess to him, Shijou-san." Hayasaka told the red-haired girl. "Tanuma-kun right now is at his weakest, so the chances of him accepting are high."
Of course, rely on Hayasaka to scheme even in the direst of circumstances.
"There's no way I would do that." Maki contemptuously seethed. "I am not some evil woman who'll exploit a man's weakness and insecurity to get what I want!"
Although Maki didn't say this about anyone in particular, Kaguya felt like she had gotten stabbed through her heart. After all, she always tried her best to exploit Shirogane Miyuki's weaknesses.
"...I will try to confess right now." Maki manically grinned. "So I can heal his wounds, just like he healed my heart back then!"
Give it back! My precious conscience! Kaguya screamed inside.
Yukino sighed. Sometimes, she thought Maki had a very bipolar attitude. It worried her a lot.
"You're not going to stop her, Yukinoshita-san?" Kaguya asked. "I'm not even sure what to say."
"No. Maki-san might be foolish at times. And even do some insane things occasionally, but, I think she is doing the right thing here." Yukino told Kaguya. "Who's to say Tanuma-kun won't fall for someone else once his wounds have healed? Maki-san should not miss this opportunity and end up regretting it twice."
"What do you think the possibility of her succeeding is?" Kaguya nodded and rubbed her chin, thoughtfully.
"Tanuma-kun has been oblivious to her feelings all these years. He might never see Maki-san as girlfriend material... but..."
Yukino hesitated to continue, so after a moment Hayasaka helpfully took over.
"As long as she makes him aware of her feelings, now that Kashiwagi-san's place in his heart has began to crumble... the possibility is not insignificant." Hayasaka raised her hands. "Human relationships change all the time, no?"
"That way, Tanuma-kun will think about Shijo-san. And perhaps reconsider their relationship based on his newfound insight. Besides, he just got rejected. What does he have to lose by accepting? His mental fortitude was hardly the best." Hayasaka cheerfully pointed out. "Just my opinion, the chances of Shijo-san being accepted are quite high."
"That actually makes a lot of sense." Both Yukino and Kaguya said at the same time.
Those two shared the exact same brain cell. A particularly prodigious cell, granted.
"But really, the girls around me have such bad taste in men." Yukino dejectedly said. "Nagisa-san fell for that guy and Maki-san for Tanuma-kun... heavens."
"In my opinion, your taste wasn't much better." Kaguya bluntly commented. Just thinking about falling in love with Hachiman made Kaguya feel ill.
Yukino cringed hard. "I'm afraid it is hard to refute that. My taste might be even more rotten."
"You got over him, did you not?" Kaguya tried her best to cheer Yukino up. "I'm sure there will be a better guy somewhere. Someone that fits you well."
"All I can assure you is that person would not be President Shirogane Miyuki." Yukino scoffed and left. "You don't have to be so worried, Shinomiya-san."
Kaguya's jaw dropped. Not just that, it was like she was about to lose bowel control at any second.
Yukino KNEW?!
"I'm not sure what you're trying to imply, Yukinoshita-san." Kaguya coughed, still in denial. "Is President Shirogane not good enough for you?"
"I admire his spirit in his strive to be a model student. But beyond that, I have no particular fondness for Shirogane Miyuki."
"I... I see."
At that moment, Hayasaka understood that Yukino and Hachiman's growing relationship back then wasn't a coincidence. And for some reason, it bothered her a lot.
Looking back, she saw Maki, had just bluntly confessed to Tsubasa in front of a shocked Miyuki and Mikado.
Even today, the atmosphere of Shuchiin High was changing yet again.
"I wonder what Hikigaya-san is doing right now." Hayasaka looked at her phone. Specifically, the clock.
And so, the lunch break came to a close.
ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
- Location
- In the name of orange!
- Pronouns
- He
Domo
I don't remember if I have fixed 31 here but sure I haven't with FF.net. Thanks for the work. I'll paste both just in case.
EDIT: The deed is done
Last edited:
GoukaRyuu
Shadow Cabal Made Man
- Location
- New Jersey
And here is chapter 33:
"I always hate nice girls."
"Just greetings with them will get them on your mind."
"Start texting each other, and your heart will be set a flutter."
"If they call you, you're pretty much done for. Enjoy staring at your log, grinning like a fool. However, don't be fooled. That's what they call kindness. If you're nice to me, you're also nice to everyone else."
"End up with that kind of expectation, and you'll always end up with that misunderstanding."
"To a nice girl, you're not special. You're just like everyone else."
Ishigami Yuu thought Hachiman was being edgy. It was so bad that Miyuki still made fun of Hachiman occasionally. Of course, Miyuki would get punished with a barrage of snark that destroyed his self-esteem, but that was beside the point.
Yuu always wondered if this was why Hachiman could be so carefree, even though he was surrounded by girls that each had varying degrees of romantic interest toward him.
Hayasaka-senpai was the most obvious and vocal about her interest in him. The cheerful gal girl was not shy. Quite the opposite, she was very outgoing. However, Hachiman refused to treat her seriously. He would vehemently reject her advances at every opportunity.
Though, in fairness, Yuu thought Hayasaka wasn't serious and committed enough. If he was in Hachiman's position, he, too, would doubt the authenticity of Hayasaka Ai's feelings.
The second girl was Fujiwara Chika. Yuu didn't have an outstanding opinion of her as a senior figure because she was clumsy and self-centered, lied constantly, and always got other involved with her problems. However, Chika was generally kind and never treated Yuu poorly unless he snarked at her, so he didn't hate her as a person.
Chika often flirted with Hachiman in varying degrees of intimacy. Sometimes even physically. But, she treated it casually, insisting that she and Hachiman were close friends, nothing more.
Outside the Student Council, there was also the former treasurer, Ryuju Momo. Of the three, she was the closest emotionally to Hachiman. They were practically glued to the hip, like actual siblings.
Recently, however, their relationship had become turbulent. They had been fighting on and off. Everyone also noticed that not only did Momo become more feminine, but also generally gentler as a person. There was a strange tension and awkwardness between her and Hachiman that had been not been there before.
The three girls were ambiguous and suspicious in their own way. Looking at it from an outsider's perspective like this, Yuu couldn't blame Hachiman for denying that he had a harem of some sort.
"Are you, perhaps, retarded?" Those were Hachiman's words to someone voicing that idea out loud to him.
But, looking at the weird scene before him, Yuu was convinced Hachiman had a point.
"As it turns out, Hachiman was not wrong. Not in the slightest." Miyuki ominously clasped his hands together in front of his face. "Not only did Kashiwagi not see you as a love interest, but Shijo Maki had been in love with you for a long time."
"Mikado-san, are you sure you only knew about this recently?" Tsubasa anxiously asked the red-haired guy who was sitting around the same table with them.
"I did have my suspicions, but I'm as surprised as you are." Mikado explained. "I've always thought she had gotten a childhood crush on someone, but I never thought she would have kept those embers alive for so long. And soo passionately at that."
"So, how do you plan to respond, Tanuma?" Miyuki asked.
"To be honest, I feel a bit touched." Tsubasa wryly said with a flushed face. "But I feel that if I just accept it thoughtlessly, I'd be trash."
"Somehow, I honestly doubt she feels that way." Mikado expressed a horrified face. "After all, she confessed to you the moment she knew you'd been rejected."
Miyuki's tense face was full of calculation, and he nodded. "I believe she did this because she wanted to rewrite Kashiwagi-san's presence in your heart."
Tsubasa slammed his face into the table. "I don't know what to think or feel anymore."
"Clever girl." Miyuki and Mikado simultaneously remarked.
By confessing to Tsubasa in his weakest state, Maki could slip inside the cracks in his heart and offer him a brief sense of relief. However, it was much harder for him to brush her confession aside.
Wicked, but, all is fair in love and war. It would have been kind and considerate for Maki to wait until Tsubasa had sorted out his feelings. But, it would have also been stupid on her part. Sometimes, you need to be selfish to win.
"Ara? So many boys here. What a surprise. Why are you here instead of in the main office?"
Chika was surprised to see new faces on the Student Council's lower floor. The building's first floor was generally unused. There was barely anything except the simplest form of furniture there.
"We figured it was a bit impolite to use the office for gossip." Mikado politely replied. "Ah, by the way, have we not been acquainted? I'm sure we're in the same class."
"My name is Fujiwara Chika!" Chika offered a brief handshake. "Nice to know you, Shijo-san. You're Shijo Maki-san's twin brother, right?"
"Yes. And I presume you're the daughter of Minister Fujiwara Daichi."
"That is correct." Chika nodded. "What are you gossiping about, anyway?"
"So, anyway..." Miyuki hesitated to drag her in, fearing the potential chaos. "Tanuma, do you mind sharing? It's fine to keep it between the boys."
"Ehh? Why am I always been the one excluded? Kaguya-san disappeared after we got our lunch yesterday!" Chika whined.
Yuu could not say he was envious. He preferred not to get dragged into things. So he decided to leave.
Only for Chika to yank his collar and force him to sit down. "No. You stay, too."
This is why he didn't respect her as his senior. Chika was way too spontaneous and self-centered.
"To be honest, I'm fine," Tsubasa told Chika. "So anyway, Maki-san confessed to me yesterday."
"Woah! Really? Congratulations!"
"Hold on. Tanuma hasn't really decided what to do about it." Miyuki stopped her, thinking she misunderstood. But she flicked his forehead instead.
"Tsk. Miyuki-kun, you sure has no sense of romance in your mind." Chika chided. "No matter the response, a confession is a precious gift to accept."
"Right. I agree with that." Miyuki calmed down. "That's why we're thinking about it seriously now."
"Is that the case? Then let me help with it." Chika said. "Let's all move to the second floor. There's way too little privacy here. And we can have some tea while we're at it!"
Yuu was surprised to see Chika being so considerate... until he saw her disgustingly perverted face. Clearly, she was thirsty for gossip, and would, therefore, make herself comfortable listening.
"Women." He thought.
Well, Ishigami Yuu just wanted to play games in peace. So going upstairs would be helpful. And so, after getting settled in the office, the boys began to tell Chika the story from the beginning, which took a while.
Yuu, already knowing the story, played his portable console on mute.
"I see." Chika nodded as she wore her favorite detective hat and cape (Miyuki didn't know where she stored the things). "Objectively speaking, Hikigaya-san was dead-on about his analysis. As expected of him."
"Right?" Miyuki said sorrowfully. "If only I hadn't been so overconfident."
It was rare for Miyuki to openly show a moment of weakness like this. Even Chika was taken aback. He must have felt super guilty about it.
"Well, I can safely say overconfidence has bit me in the backside many times, so I can relate." Chika winced. "But here is the thing, do you think love is ever rational?"
"Hmmm..." The boys scrunched up their faces. They were seriously thinking.
"Is it not normal for someone to fall in love with another because of something?" Miyuki argued with a rhetorical question. "Physical appeal, wealth, power, personality."
"There is always a logical reason for someone to fall in love." Mikado spoke up in agreement.
"Right. After all, I fell in love with Kashiwagi-san because she's kind and cute. Was it wrong for me to feel that way?" Tsubasa asked.
"Of course, it wasn't." Chika crossed her wrists. "There's no such thing as the wrong kind of love. So, let us flip the scenario: what if someone had something you disliked more than what you liked about them? Could you confidently say you wouldn't fall for them? And if you fell for them, would it be rational?"
"Uhhh..."
The boys were a bit hesitant.
Yuu could arrogantly say he would fall out of love quickly. But he had never fallen in love, so he could never be sure. But he knew love changed how a person would see and perceive things.
"The answer is you can't." Chika slammed the table. "Love is a feeling of attraction that transcends rationality and transactionality. This is not something a monster of logic like Hikigaya-san can understand."
"No. I say Hikigaya-san understands this but is unwilling to admit it." Chika corrected herself. "You've heard how he talks about Yukinoshita-san," here she looked directly at Miyuki and Yuu, "but how does he act around her?"
"Hachiman isn't someone who lies often, so he always says what he thinks. He talks a lot of shit about Yukinoshita, believe me." Miyuki rubbed his chin in understanding. "But for someone who seems to loath her so much, he sure is comfortable being around her."
Chika smugly grinned. "That's what love is. To like someone no matter how many things you dislike about a person."
Yuu did not miss the slight pain in Chika's face. It was just a split-second moment, but he noticed.
"Love and friendship goes hand in hand. The point is, you can't really predict love based on mathematics." Chika concluded. "Just because you know that liking someone will be painful doesn't mean you can stop liking them."
"You're right." Tsubasa sighed. "Even right now, even after being rejected and knowing she likes someone else, I still like Kashiwagi-san."
"But can you say honestly you could reject Maki-san right away?"
"No." Tsubasa shook his head and was about to cry. "I'm the worst."
"Hardly. You're just being too considerate of others, Tanuma-kun." Chika patted his arm. "To be a man who can stand proudly, you need to be more selfish."
"So, here is my suggestion on how to respond to Maki-san." Chika proposed. "First, you tell her to give you some time to move on and think about her feelings. Maki-san has liked you for so many years. Her feelings won't fade easily. She can and will wait for your answer."
"Second, once you are ready, you start dating her with a condition, if you find that you can't move on and start liking her you should quickly break things off." Chika said.
"How can you say that?" Tsubasa asked in disbelief.
"Many might call you a jerk for it, but Maki-san openly offered herself as a rebound. She, too, will accept it."
Miyuki noticed the shift in Mikado's mood. No matter how distant they were, would Mikado accept it? Miyuki felt unsettled that Chika, of all people, could propose such a cruel idea.
But it wasn't like what Chika said was wrong. In fact, many people did just that. Relationships form and break within a two or three-week period. 'Normal' people all do it that way.
This group of dateless virgins weren't the 'normal' ones.
"It all comes down to your intentions." Chika said. "No lies, no pretense. If you truly care about Maki-san's feelings, answer them honestly. Even if it hurts either of you, no one will be betrayed."
"That's right." Mikado suddenly lost his smile. "I believe you can treat her well, Tsubasa-kun. I don't mind if you accept her like this, even if I preferred you to think about it more first."
"Mikado-san..." Tsubasa was touched. "Thank you."
"But if you do nasty things with her before you feel settled properly, I will have you castrated and deported." Mikado grinned.
"...." Everyone was deathly silent.
"Isn't that a bit much?" Miyuki winced and tried to mediate. "Surely someone as kind as Tanuma would not..."
Besides, he's spineless. What would he do? Force her?
"You don't understand. It is my sister that I don't trust." Mikado was panicking. "A baby trap is absolutely on the table here. Besides, do you know this guy's family's history?"
"What?" Tsubasa blinked.
"Your grandfather had your father at seventeen. Your father had you at seventeen." Mikado pointed out. "The third time is the charm, so I WILL have you warned in advance."
Tsubasa was quiet as he tried to process everything.
"...You're right." Tsubasa looked so dead inside. "I... I will do my best to resist."
Mikado shivered. "My sister is a bit weird, so think about how you'll answer her feelings."
"Noted."
"Just in case, anyway, get as much protection as possible." Miyuki handed Tsubasa a box.
"..." Tsubasa froze.
"IS THAT A BOX OF CONDOMS?!" Ishigami jolted.
"AHH!" Chika, Mikado, and Tsubasa all freaked out. "WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE FROM?!"
"Please calm down, they're not mine. Ryuju left them here for whatever reason. Not sure where she got them or why, but I'm too embarrassed to dispose of them or take them out of the office." Miyuki scratched his head. "So I've had them hidden in the cupboard."
"Ish, Momo-san sure can be unpredictable." Chika was so disgusted she kept poking the box with her trusty paper fan. "I didn't know they came in boxes this big."
"Well, they're usually sold in smaller retail packs of 3, 5, or 12." Ishigami bluntly explained. "They're in plain sight but embarrassing to look at. I have never seen such a bulky pack of them in my life."
"Then Tanuma can have it. Just in case." Miyuki shrugged.
Chapter 33 - The boys wanted to be loved, part 2
And so, the boys went to do their own business and scattered, leaving Miyuki, Yuu, and Chika in the office. However, Miyuki decided that he probably had to do contingency work for once in Hachiman's place and keep the school peaceful.
Then Iino Miko arrived, joining the stragglers.
"Fujiwara-senpai, I'm kind of amazed." Yuu suddenly said as they compiled the documents together. "You're quite insightful when it comes to romance."
"Am I? Happy to hear that from Ishigami-kun, of all people."
What do you mean 'of all people'?
"But really, thanks for the compliment."
"Likewise."
"I think it is normal for someone to be observant like that." Chika closed her eyes. "When you get obsessed, you have tunnel vision and can't see the big picture."
"When you get obsessed... you have a tunnel vision." Miko repeated, thoughtful.
"Because I am not emotionally involved, I could judge the situation objectively. If I had an emotional investment in this argument, I might not be as reliable as you see me today."
Hmmm.
"What about you, Ishigami-kun? Do you have love troubles? Let this Onee-san solve it for you." Chika patted her chest proudly.
Ishigami couldn't say he had love trouble. But he was thinking about things that had happened since his enrollment here. That nagging, weird feeling from someone she recently became close with.
"Do you think Hikigaya-senpai was right about his prejudice against nice girls?"
When asked about that, Chika physically paused.
"What was that about prejudice?" Miko curiously asked.
"He said that if nice girls are kind to you, they're kind to everyone else. So you're not special and should never take their kindness the wrong way." Yuu explained. "Don't fall in love just because someone is nice to you."
"Why? Do you agree with him?" Miko asked.
"I don't know." Yuu told her. "To be honest, part of me agreed, and part of me disagreed."
"I see." Chika laughed. "Then we have the same opinion."
"Really?"
"When Hikigaya-san said that if a girl is nice to him, she is nice to everyone else, that is true. Think about his abrasive temperament. Do you think anyone would treat him nicely without natural friendliness?"
Woah, she really roasted him.
"Well, you're not wrong." Miko winced.
"Indeed." Yuu nodded.
"I believe he is right about that part. But here is the thing." Chika wiggled her finger. "Do you think a nice girl would treat the person she liked just like she did everyone else?"
"I don't think so." Yuu postulated. "I don't know how she would treat that person, but if she wanted to show affection, she would do things differently."
"If it's me, I'll try to be nicer to him, but..." Miko blushed. "I don't know, maybe I'd be too embarrassed."
Miko didn't want to admit it, but she could imagine being harsher on a boy she liked.
"Bingo." Chika gave two thumbs up. "No matter what, that special person is special to her. Although it takes effort and willpower to show your affection, it's natural to show that person is different from others."
"In this sense, Hikigaya-san is completely wrong about his deduction whenever it involves himself. Komachi-chan, his little sister, said he would never notice unless you said it to his face."
"That makes sense." Miko and Yuu nodded.
"Oh well," Chika said. "I'm off to the tabletop club."
When the two were left to their own devices, a strange, awkward quietness formed between Yuu and Miko. Most of their early relationship had been turbulent due to Yuu's rebellious behavior and her anally strict enforcement.
Yuu had since reformed and only did what he wanted in the student council office. This annoyed Miko, but they had an agreement.
"Hey." Miko suddenly approached him as Yuu was playing on his portable console.
Uh oh. Yuu thought.
"Do you think Fujiwara-senpai..."
"She likes Hikigaya-senpai." Yuu helpfully finished for her as he resumed playing. "Romantically."
"Figures. Since when did you realize it?" Miko sat beside him.
"Just now," Yuu said. "I've had my suspicions, but think about how Fujiwara-senpai reframes everything with her words."
"She said something about objectivity because she wasn't emotionally involved," Miko recalled. "Does this not refer to Hikigaya-senpai as well?"
"Indeed it does." Yuu nodded.
"Because, Hikigaya-senpai is prejudiced, he was unable to distinguish how different her actions are towards him when compared to everyone else." Miko concluded. "Hikigaya-senpai wasn't able to recognize that she liked him because they were emotionally close."
"True, but was it just prejudice or..." Yuu finished playing and shut down his game. "He might have a traumatic experience involving nice girls."
"Ah."
Miko honestly could tell. Hachiman never saw her as a potential love interest. That's why he was always openly kind to her. Instead, despite being close to Chika and Momo, he was always guarded. And let's not forget his reaction to Hayasaka Ai's open approach.
"Although Hikigaya-senpai is willing to be friends with girls, he completely shuts his heart to the idea of dating." Miko widened her eyes. "Because he's afraid to open his heart again, lest he get hurt."
"Right." Yuu thought he understood how Hachiman could be so composed in front of girls, something Yuu struggled with a lot.
"Are you rooting for her?" Miko huffed. "I'm sure I will be."
"Why?"
"Because his two other suitors are much worse." Miko blew up. "Hayasaka-senpai is so clingy and shameless. It makes for a bad example for the other students! And Ryuju-senpai is an actual delinquent! Can you imagine what disaster would happen if they started dating?"
Oh yes, of course. Why would Ishigami Yuu guess differently? Miko always idolized Fujiwara Chika. Though Chika was not without her flaws, in Miko's eyes she was still the best out of the three.
"So?" Miko loomed over him glaring questioningly.
"Eh," Yuu shrugged. "I have no strong opinion one way or the other."
Miko chided him, but at the same time, her face softened. Both of them had been victims of malicious gossip, so they were apprehensive about gossiping about people close to them.
"Fair enough." She sighed. "What about you? Something bugging you lately?"
"Our classmates have been a little nicer to me, and the weird thing is that it's actually made me uncomfortable." Yuu sighed. "Even though I always wanted this to happen."
"That's the power of reputation." Miko grinned. "Not only have you been absolved because Ogino apologized, but you haven't done anything bad since you entered Shuchiin. Plus, you've been helping us in the Disciplinary Committee. Some people will look at you in a better light."
"In a way, could you find a better way to do an image change?" Miko looked at him and smiled brightly. "If you keep this up, I wouldn't have to scold you anymore."
Ah, human minds really are fickle. But Iino Miko was not wrong. Although Yuu's reason for helping the Disciplinary Committee was to ensure Miko didn't go too far.
(And he wanted to disturb all the lovey-dovey couples at school out of jealousy, so it wasn't exactly a noble intention on his part.)
But still, actions speak louder than words. Even Miko was becoming nicer. That was proof. Yuu didn't think his personality had changed in the slightest, yet people's behavior toward him had changed.
That was also how Yuu viewed the people around him. The moment they showed him a different side of themselves, the more it surprised him.
He shouldn't have been so surprised though. Humans aren't flat-faced creatures; even the most one-dimensional person had nuances. Yuu was chained down by the actions of his past into a monotonous prison imposed on himself, and the Student Council were the ones that had freed him.
"Thanks." Ishigami Yuu, for the first time in front of her, earnestly smiled back.
Miko blushed a bit and coughed. "Nevertheless, it is annoying for me to see you being such a slob in the Student Council just because it's technically outside school jurisdiction, so I'll leave."
As Miko went outside, she slapped her own face. It was weird to realize it now, but had Ishigami Yuu always been handsome? In fact, he might very well be one of the most gorgeous boys in the first year.
But, since he was always hunched over and didn't take care care of his appearance, no one could see it.
"Oh, come on, you're in high school and still weak to superficial things." Miko huffed. "There is more to a person than just their looks."
Miko was still waiting for her fated white prince to arrive.
Elsewhere...
Hayasaka's phone rang, and she excused herself to answer it.
"Mother? It's rare for you to call this early." Hayasaka answered with unbridled happiness.
"[Please don't be surprised, but... is Hikigaya-kun with you right now]?"
"No? I haven't seen him for most of the day, before lunchtime, actually."
"[Figures, please don't be too shocked. Actually, Hikigaya-kun's father was...]"
In the Tabletop Game Club room, Chika dropped her phone with a horrified face.
Meanwhile, Momo stood up so quickly that her chair toppled over. Her face was furious, and it terrorized the rest of the Stargazing Club members.
"Hikigaya-kun's father was stabbed." The collective parents told their kids. "And was sent to ER two hours ago."
"Just greetings with them will get them on your mind."
"Start texting each other, and your heart will be set a flutter."
"If they call you, you're pretty much done for. Enjoy staring at your log, grinning like a fool. However, don't be fooled. That's what they call kindness. If you're nice to me, you're also nice to everyone else."
"End up with that kind of expectation, and you'll always end up with that misunderstanding."
"To a nice girl, you're not special. You're just like everyone else."
- Hikigaya Hachiman
Ishigami Yuu thought Hachiman was being edgy. It was so bad that Miyuki still made fun of Hachiman occasionally. Of course, Miyuki would get punished with a barrage of snark that destroyed his self-esteem, but that was beside the point.
Yuu always wondered if this was why Hachiman could be so carefree, even though he was surrounded by girls that each had varying degrees of romantic interest toward him.
Hayasaka-senpai was the most obvious and vocal about her interest in him. The cheerful gal girl was not shy. Quite the opposite, she was very outgoing. However, Hachiman refused to treat her seriously. He would vehemently reject her advances at every opportunity.
Though, in fairness, Yuu thought Hayasaka wasn't serious and committed enough. If he was in Hachiman's position, he, too, would doubt the authenticity of Hayasaka Ai's feelings.
The second girl was Fujiwara Chika. Yuu didn't have an outstanding opinion of her as a senior figure because she was clumsy and self-centered, lied constantly, and always got other involved with her problems. However, Chika was generally kind and never treated Yuu poorly unless he snarked at her, so he didn't hate her as a person.
Chika often flirted with Hachiman in varying degrees of intimacy. Sometimes even physically. But, she treated it casually, insisting that she and Hachiman were close friends, nothing more.
Outside the Student Council, there was also the former treasurer, Ryuju Momo. Of the three, she was the closest emotionally to Hachiman. They were practically glued to the hip, like actual siblings.
Recently, however, their relationship had become turbulent. They had been fighting on and off. Everyone also noticed that not only did Momo become more feminine, but also generally gentler as a person. There was a strange tension and awkwardness between her and Hachiman that had been not been there before.
The three girls were ambiguous and suspicious in their own way. Looking at it from an outsider's perspective like this, Yuu couldn't blame Hachiman for denying that he had a harem of some sort.
"Are you, perhaps, retarded?" Those were Hachiman's words to someone voicing that idea out loud to him.
But, looking at the weird scene before him, Yuu was convinced Hachiman had a point.
"As it turns out, Hachiman was not wrong. Not in the slightest." Miyuki ominously clasped his hands together in front of his face. "Not only did Kashiwagi not see you as a love interest, but Shijo Maki had been in love with you for a long time."
"Mikado-san, are you sure you only knew about this recently?" Tsubasa anxiously asked the red-haired guy who was sitting around the same table with them.
"I did have my suspicions, but I'm as surprised as you are." Mikado explained. "I've always thought she had gotten a childhood crush on someone, but I never thought she would have kept those embers alive for so long. And soo passionately at that."
"So, how do you plan to respond, Tanuma?" Miyuki asked.
"To be honest, I feel a bit touched." Tsubasa wryly said with a flushed face. "But I feel that if I just accept it thoughtlessly, I'd be trash."
"Somehow, I honestly doubt she feels that way." Mikado expressed a horrified face. "After all, she confessed to you the moment she knew you'd been rejected."
Miyuki's tense face was full of calculation, and he nodded. "I believe she did this because she wanted to rewrite Kashiwagi-san's presence in your heart."
Tsubasa slammed his face into the table. "I don't know what to think or feel anymore."
"Clever girl." Miyuki and Mikado simultaneously remarked.
By confessing to Tsubasa in his weakest state, Maki could slip inside the cracks in his heart and offer him a brief sense of relief. However, it was much harder for him to brush her confession aside.
Wicked, but, all is fair in love and war. It would have been kind and considerate for Maki to wait until Tsubasa had sorted out his feelings. But, it would have also been stupid on her part. Sometimes, you need to be selfish to win.
"Ara? So many boys here. What a surprise. Why are you here instead of in the main office?"
Chika was surprised to see new faces on the Student Council's lower floor. The building's first floor was generally unused. There was barely anything except the simplest form of furniture there.
"We figured it was a bit impolite to use the office for gossip." Mikado politely replied. "Ah, by the way, have we not been acquainted? I'm sure we're in the same class."
"My name is Fujiwara Chika!" Chika offered a brief handshake. "Nice to know you, Shijo-san. You're Shijo Maki-san's twin brother, right?"
"Yes. And I presume you're the daughter of Minister Fujiwara Daichi."
"That is correct." Chika nodded. "What are you gossiping about, anyway?"
"So, anyway..." Miyuki hesitated to drag her in, fearing the potential chaos. "Tanuma, do you mind sharing? It's fine to keep it between the boys."
"Ehh? Why am I always been the one excluded? Kaguya-san disappeared after we got our lunch yesterday!" Chika whined.
Yuu could not say he was envious. He preferred not to get dragged into things. So he decided to leave.
Only for Chika to yank his collar and force him to sit down. "No. You stay, too."
This is why he didn't respect her as his senior. Chika was way too spontaneous and self-centered.
"To be honest, I'm fine," Tsubasa told Chika. "So anyway, Maki-san confessed to me yesterday."
"Woah! Really? Congratulations!"
"Hold on. Tanuma hasn't really decided what to do about it." Miyuki stopped her, thinking she misunderstood. But she flicked his forehead instead.
"Tsk. Miyuki-kun, you sure has no sense of romance in your mind." Chika chided. "No matter the response, a confession is a precious gift to accept."
"Right. I agree with that." Miyuki calmed down. "That's why we're thinking about it seriously now."
"Is that the case? Then let me help with it." Chika said. "Let's all move to the second floor. There's way too little privacy here. And we can have some tea while we're at it!"
Yuu was surprised to see Chika being so considerate... until he saw her disgustingly perverted face. Clearly, she was thirsty for gossip, and would, therefore, make herself comfortable listening.
"Women." He thought.
Well, Ishigami Yuu just wanted to play games in peace. So going upstairs would be helpful. And so, after getting settled in the office, the boys began to tell Chika the story from the beginning, which took a while.
Yuu, already knowing the story, played his portable console on mute.
"I see." Chika nodded as she wore her favorite detective hat and cape (Miyuki didn't know where she stored the things). "Objectively speaking, Hikigaya-san was dead-on about his analysis. As expected of him."
"Right?" Miyuki said sorrowfully. "If only I hadn't been so overconfident."
It was rare for Miyuki to openly show a moment of weakness like this. Even Chika was taken aback. He must have felt super guilty about it.
"Well, I can safely say overconfidence has bit me in the backside many times, so I can relate." Chika winced. "But here is the thing, do you think love is ever rational?"
"Hmmm..." The boys scrunched up their faces. They were seriously thinking.
"Is it not normal for someone to fall in love with another because of something?" Miyuki argued with a rhetorical question. "Physical appeal, wealth, power, personality."
"There is always a logical reason for someone to fall in love." Mikado spoke up in agreement.
"Right. After all, I fell in love with Kashiwagi-san because she's kind and cute. Was it wrong for me to feel that way?" Tsubasa asked.
"Of course, it wasn't." Chika crossed her wrists. "There's no such thing as the wrong kind of love. So, let us flip the scenario: what if someone had something you disliked more than what you liked about them? Could you confidently say you wouldn't fall for them? And if you fell for them, would it be rational?"
"Uhhh..."
The boys were a bit hesitant.
Yuu could arrogantly say he would fall out of love quickly. But he had never fallen in love, so he could never be sure. But he knew love changed how a person would see and perceive things.
"The answer is you can't." Chika slammed the table. "Love is a feeling of attraction that transcends rationality and transactionality. This is not something a monster of logic like Hikigaya-san can understand."
"No. I say Hikigaya-san understands this but is unwilling to admit it." Chika corrected herself. "You've heard how he talks about Yukinoshita-san," here she looked directly at Miyuki and Yuu, "but how does he act around her?"
"Hachiman isn't someone who lies often, so he always says what he thinks. He talks a lot of shit about Yukinoshita, believe me." Miyuki rubbed his chin in understanding. "But for someone who seems to loath her so much, he sure is comfortable being around her."
Chika smugly grinned. "That's what love is. To like someone no matter how many things you dislike about a person."
Yuu did not miss the slight pain in Chika's face. It was just a split-second moment, but he noticed.
"Love and friendship goes hand in hand. The point is, you can't really predict love based on mathematics." Chika concluded. "Just because you know that liking someone will be painful doesn't mean you can stop liking them."
"You're right." Tsubasa sighed. "Even right now, even after being rejected and knowing she likes someone else, I still like Kashiwagi-san."
"But can you say honestly you could reject Maki-san right away?"
"No." Tsubasa shook his head and was about to cry. "I'm the worst."
"Hardly. You're just being too considerate of others, Tanuma-kun." Chika patted his arm. "To be a man who can stand proudly, you need to be more selfish."
"So, here is my suggestion on how to respond to Maki-san." Chika proposed. "First, you tell her to give you some time to move on and think about her feelings. Maki-san has liked you for so many years. Her feelings won't fade easily. She can and will wait for your answer."
"Second, once you are ready, you start dating her with a condition, if you find that you can't move on and start liking her you should quickly break things off." Chika said.
"How can you say that?" Tsubasa asked in disbelief.
"Many might call you a jerk for it, but Maki-san openly offered herself as a rebound. She, too, will accept it."
Miyuki noticed the shift in Mikado's mood. No matter how distant they were, would Mikado accept it? Miyuki felt unsettled that Chika, of all people, could propose such a cruel idea.
But it wasn't like what Chika said was wrong. In fact, many people did just that. Relationships form and break within a two or three-week period. 'Normal' people all do it that way.
This group of dateless virgins weren't the 'normal' ones.
"It all comes down to your intentions." Chika said. "No lies, no pretense. If you truly care about Maki-san's feelings, answer them honestly. Even if it hurts either of you, no one will be betrayed."
"That's right." Mikado suddenly lost his smile. "I believe you can treat her well, Tsubasa-kun. I don't mind if you accept her like this, even if I preferred you to think about it more first."
"Mikado-san..." Tsubasa was touched. "Thank you."
"But if you do nasty things with her before you feel settled properly, I will have you castrated and deported." Mikado grinned.
"...." Everyone was deathly silent.
"Isn't that a bit much?" Miyuki winced and tried to mediate. "Surely someone as kind as Tanuma would not..."
Besides, he's spineless. What would he do? Force her?
"You don't understand. It is my sister that I don't trust." Mikado was panicking. "A baby trap is absolutely on the table here. Besides, do you know this guy's family's history?"
"What?" Tsubasa blinked.
"Your grandfather had your father at seventeen. Your father had you at seventeen." Mikado pointed out. "The third time is the charm, so I WILL have you warned in advance."
Tsubasa was quiet as he tried to process everything.
"...You're right." Tsubasa looked so dead inside. "I... I will do my best to resist."
Mikado shivered. "My sister is a bit weird, so think about how you'll answer her feelings."
"Noted."
"Just in case, anyway, get as much protection as possible." Miyuki handed Tsubasa a box.
"..." Tsubasa froze.
"IS THAT A BOX OF CONDOMS?!" Ishigami jolted.
"AHH!" Chika, Mikado, and Tsubasa all freaked out. "WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE FROM?!"
"Please calm down, they're not mine. Ryuju left them here for whatever reason. Not sure where she got them or why, but I'm too embarrassed to dispose of them or take them out of the office." Miyuki scratched his head. "So I've had them hidden in the cupboard."
"Ish, Momo-san sure can be unpredictable." Chika was so disgusted she kept poking the box with her trusty paper fan. "I didn't know they came in boxes this big."
"Well, they're usually sold in smaller retail packs of 3, 5, or 12." Ishigami bluntly explained. "They're in plain sight but embarrassing to look at. I have never seen such a bulky pack of them in my life."
"Then Tanuma can have it. Just in case." Miyuki shrugged.
]やはり, 彼らが望む告白は間違っている. S2
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong S2
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: @ZeroXSEED, Co-written by: @GoukaRyuu
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong S2
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: @ZeroXSEED, Co-written by: @GoukaRyuu
Chapter 33 - The boys wanted to be loved, part 2
And so, the boys went to do their own business and scattered, leaving Miyuki, Yuu, and Chika in the office. However, Miyuki decided that he probably had to do contingency work for once in Hachiman's place and keep the school peaceful.
Then Iino Miko arrived, joining the stragglers.
"Fujiwara-senpai, I'm kind of amazed." Yuu suddenly said as they compiled the documents together. "You're quite insightful when it comes to romance."
"Am I? Happy to hear that from Ishigami-kun, of all people."
What do you mean 'of all people'?
"But really, thanks for the compliment."
"Likewise."
"I think it is normal for someone to be observant like that." Chika closed her eyes. "When you get obsessed, you have tunnel vision and can't see the big picture."
"When you get obsessed... you have a tunnel vision." Miko repeated, thoughtful.
"Because I am not emotionally involved, I could judge the situation objectively. If I had an emotional investment in this argument, I might not be as reliable as you see me today."
Hmmm.
"What about you, Ishigami-kun? Do you have love troubles? Let this Onee-san solve it for you." Chika patted her chest proudly.
Ishigami couldn't say he had love trouble. But he was thinking about things that had happened since his enrollment here. That nagging, weird feeling from someone she recently became close with.
"Do you think Hikigaya-senpai was right about his prejudice against nice girls?"
When asked about that, Chika physically paused.
"What was that about prejudice?" Miko curiously asked.
"He said that if nice girls are kind to you, they're kind to everyone else. So you're not special and should never take their kindness the wrong way." Yuu explained. "Don't fall in love just because someone is nice to you."
"Why? Do you agree with him?" Miko asked.
"I don't know." Yuu told her. "To be honest, part of me agreed, and part of me disagreed."
"I see." Chika laughed. "Then we have the same opinion."
"Really?"
"When Hikigaya-san said that if a girl is nice to him, she is nice to everyone else, that is true. Think about his abrasive temperament. Do you think anyone would treat him nicely without natural friendliness?"
Woah, she really roasted him.
"Well, you're not wrong." Miko winced.
"Indeed." Yuu nodded.
"I believe he is right about that part. But here is the thing." Chika wiggled her finger. "Do you think a nice girl would treat the person she liked just like she did everyone else?"
"I don't think so." Yuu postulated. "I don't know how she would treat that person, but if she wanted to show affection, she would do things differently."
"If it's me, I'll try to be nicer to him, but..." Miko blushed. "I don't know, maybe I'd be too embarrassed."
Miko didn't want to admit it, but she could imagine being harsher on a boy she liked.
"Bingo." Chika gave two thumbs up. "No matter what, that special person is special to her. Although it takes effort and willpower to show your affection, it's natural to show that person is different from others."
"In this sense, Hikigaya-san is completely wrong about his deduction whenever it involves himself. Komachi-chan, his little sister, said he would never notice unless you said it to his face."
"That makes sense." Miko and Yuu nodded.
"Oh well," Chika said. "I'm off to the tabletop club."
When the two were left to their own devices, a strange, awkward quietness formed between Yuu and Miko. Most of their early relationship had been turbulent due to Yuu's rebellious behavior and her anally strict enforcement.
Yuu had since reformed and only did what he wanted in the student council office. This annoyed Miko, but they had an agreement.
"Hey." Miko suddenly approached him as Yuu was playing on his portable console.
Uh oh. Yuu thought.
"Do you think Fujiwara-senpai..."
"She likes Hikigaya-senpai." Yuu helpfully finished for her as he resumed playing. "Romantically."
"Figures. Since when did you realize it?" Miko sat beside him.
"Just now," Yuu said. "I've had my suspicions, but think about how Fujiwara-senpai reframes everything with her words."
"She said something about objectivity because she wasn't emotionally involved," Miko recalled. "Does this not refer to Hikigaya-senpai as well?"
"Indeed it does." Yuu nodded.
"Because, Hikigaya-senpai is prejudiced, he was unable to distinguish how different her actions are towards him when compared to everyone else." Miko concluded. "Hikigaya-senpai wasn't able to recognize that she liked him because they were emotionally close."
"True, but was it just prejudice or..." Yuu finished playing and shut down his game. "He might have a traumatic experience involving nice girls."
"Ah."
Miko honestly could tell. Hachiman never saw her as a potential love interest. That's why he was always openly kind to her. Instead, despite being close to Chika and Momo, he was always guarded. And let's not forget his reaction to Hayasaka Ai's open approach.
"Although Hikigaya-senpai is willing to be friends with girls, he completely shuts his heart to the idea of dating." Miko widened her eyes. "Because he's afraid to open his heart again, lest he get hurt."
"Right." Yuu thought he understood how Hachiman could be so composed in front of girls, something Yuu struggled with a lot.
"Are you rooting for her?" Miko huffed. "I'm sure I will be."
"Why?"
"Because his two other suitors are much worse." Miko blew up. "Hayasaka-senpai is so clingy and shameless. It makes for a bad example for the other students! And Ryuju-senpai is an actual delinquent! Can you imagine what disaster would happen if they started dating?"
Oh yes, of course. Why would Ishigami Yuu guess differently? Miko always idolized Fujiwara Chika. Though Chika was not without her flaws, in Miko's eyes she was still the best out of the three.
"So?" Miko loomed over him glaring questioningly.
"Eh," Yuu shrugged. "I have no strong opinion one way or the other."
Miko chided him, but at the same time, her face softened. Both of them had been victims of malicious gossip, so they were apprehensive about gossiping about people close to them.
"Fair enough." She sighed. "What about you? Something bugging you lately?"
"Our classmates have been a little nicer to me, and the weird thing is that it's actually made me uncomfortable." Yuu sighed. "Even though I always wanted this to happen."
"That's the power of reputation." Miko grinned. "Not only have you been absolved because Ogino apologized, but you haven't done anything bad since you entered Shuchiin. Plus, you've been helping us in the Disciplinary Committee. Some people will look at you in a better light."
"In a way, could you find a better way to do an image change?" Miko looked at him and smiled brightly. "If you keep this up, I wouldn't have to scold you anymore."
Ah, human minds really are fickle. But Iino Miko was not wrong. Although Yuu's reason for helping the Disciplinary Committee was to ensure Miko didn't go too far.
(And he wanted to disturb all the lovey-dovey couples at school out of jealousy, so it wasn't exactly a noble intention on his part.)
But still, actions speak louder than words. Even Miko was becoming nicer. That was proof. Yuu didn't think his personality had changed in the slightest, yet people's behavior toward him had changed.
That was also how Yuu viewed the people around him. The moment they showed him a different side of themselves, the more it surprised him.
He shouldn't have been so surprised though. Humans aren't flat-faced creatures; even the most one-dimensional person had nuances. Yuu was chained down by the actions of his past into a monotonous prison imposed on himself, and the Student Council were the ones that had freed him.
"Thanks." Ishigami Yuu, for the first time in front of her, earnestly smiled back.
Miko blushed a bit and coughed. "Nevertheless, it is annoying for me to see you being such a slob in the Student Council just because it's technically outside school jurisdiction, so I'll leave."
As Miko went outside, she slapped her own face. It was weird to realize it now, but had Ishigami Yuu always been handsome? In fact, he might very well be one of the most gorgeous boys in the first year.
But, since he was always hunched over and didn't take care care of his appearance, no one could see it.
"Oh, come on, you're in high school and still weak to superficial things." Miko huffed. "There is more to a person than just their looks."
Miko was still waiting for her fated white prince to arrive.
Elsewhere...
Hayasaka's phone rang, and she excused herself to answer it.
"Mother? It's rare for you to call this early." Hayasaka answered with unbridled happiness.
"[Please don't be surprised, but... is Hikigaya-kun with you right now]?"
"No? I haven't seen him for most of the day, before lunchtime, actually."
"[Figures, please don't be too shocked. Actually, Hikigaya-kun's father was...]"
In the Tabletop Game Club room, Chika dropped her phone with a horrified face.
Meanwhile, Momo stood up so quickly that her chair toppled over. Her face was furious, and it terrorized the rest of the Stargazing Club members.
"Hikigaya-kun's father was stabbed." The collective parents told their kids. "And was sent to ER two hours ago."
Hey OP, I just read a oregairu x classroom of the elite today and I just realize how much this fic Hachiman and canon Hachinan got it better bc holy fucking shit that school is very horrible.
ZeroXSEED
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Classroom of the Elite is literally if people took S1 Canon Hachiman and call him Jesus for always being in the right. The whole fiction is misanthropic.
It's an awful school, like in the very first few episode/chapters you already see a lot of loopholes and inconsistencies in the rules.
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The school of elite classroom is more about artificially inducing drama through a bizarre reward/punishment system, while the school of love is war is about providing upper crust teenagers with an environment in which to learn to engage and socialize with others less formally and have almost normal teenage experiences. Naturally the latter is undeniably better for turning teenagers into functioning human beings than the former.
The school literally reinforces the idea 'hell is other people'.