Chapter One: The First Encounter / Chapter Two: The Service Club

The Hikigaya Couple's Youthful Love Story Is Still Problematic Author: Xixi

Synopsis: It was only when looking back on the past that Hachiman Hikigaya realized what he had longed for was nothing more than a warm life, tender emotions, and a faint sweetness.

This is a harem story. The heroines are Dango and Yukino. If you dislike that, please do not enter.

Chapter One: The First Encounter

My name was Hachiman Hikigaya, an ordinary high school student in Class 2-F at Soubu High School in Chiba City. Though calling myself ordinary was not quite accurate. After all, no ordinary high school student would still have failed to make a single friend by their second year.

So what was different from middle school?! Damn it.

Back then, I had been filled with expectations. I had even arrived an hour early on the day of the entrance ceremony.

Yet the result was that I spent the entire journey thinking about that particularly vivid yet absurd dream that had persisted for a week.

The high school life of me, viewed from a third-person perspective.

However, the scenes in that dream could never happen to me. As the great loner Hachiman Hikigaya, I had no need for something as useless as friends.

Unlike ordinary people who were excluded from various social groups and then wallowed in self-pity, I had erased everyone else from my social world from the very beginning.

Since I had no social relationships, I would not later suffer the so-called breakdown of feelings because of all sorts of problems. Thus, those awkward scenes would never happen either.

And that was the most perfect relationship between people.

As for the supposed marriage in the dream, that would be even less likely to happen to someone like me. If I really got married someday, my partner would definitely be Komachi.

As Hachiman was lost in thought, he suddenly heard the howling of wind. Before he could react, a fist carrying a Doppler effect slammed hard into his diaphragm.

With a pained groan, Hachiman's already hunched body curled up even further. His knees bent uncontrollably as he tried to lessen the pain his body was suffering.

Teacher Shizuka Hiratsuka brushed back the disheveled hair on her forehead and said helplessly, "What were you thinking about while I was talking to you? Your Dead Fish Eyes have become even more dilated."

Hachiman clutched his abdomen and breathed lightly as he looked at the calm Teacher Shizuka before him, as if the fist that had nearly killed someone had not been thrown by her.

"I asked you to write an essay on [Looking Back on High School Life], didn't I? Don't ordinary people reflect on the past when they see a topic like that? Why did yours turn into something like a criminal threat?"

"No. If you had explained the topic clearly back then, I would have followed it strictly."

"Besides, aren't all high school students like this nowadays? As long as they use youth as an excuse, they can brush off any harm they cause to others."

"Are you saying this is my fault, then? And, Hikigaya, you're still completely alone even now. You haven't joined any clubs, and you don't have any friends you can spend time with, right?"

"No, I just aren't used to having anyone too close to me."

"So that means you don't have any."

Teacher Shizuka pondered while tapping the filter of her cigarette against the desk. Then she pulled a hundred-yen disposable lighter from the pocket at her chest.

Under the haze of smoke, Teacher Shizuka's eyes became even more moist.

"Hmm, now that I look at her, Teacher Shizuka really is a stunning beauty. But why did I hear that she keeps failing at matchmaking? Wait! Why do I feel like you're thinking something extremely rude?"

"No, nothing. You're overthinking it."

"Is that so?" With a sigh carrying a strong smell of smoke, Shizuka Hiratsuka pressed the cigarette in her hand into the nearly overflowing ashtray. Supporting herself on the chair's armrests, she slowly stood up.

"I've decided on your punishment, Hachiman-kun. Rewriting the essay shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Of course."

"If it's only a rewrite, that couldn't be easier for me."

I could casually search online and find a huge pile of finished essays waiting for me to copy.

"Good." Teacher Shizuka Hiratsuka had already reached the door when she turned to look at me. Then she said the five words that changed my life: "Come with me."

"Go... where?"

"You'll find out soon. Don't ask so many questions now. Hurry up and come with me."

Could she be planning to punish me with some kind of high-intensity labor, such as helping another club move desks and chairs? Perhaps I should just say I was in poor health and couldn't perform physical labor.

"Um... Teacher Hiratsuka..."

"Yes? What is it?"

"It's just that... I have a bad back. It's, uh, Hepes①."

"You little brat, can I send you to the police as a disgusting student trying to sexually harass a teacher?"

"W-What?"

"You mean hernia②, don't you?" Teacher Hiratsuka looked at me with an expression like Aqua's.

"Don't worry. I won't make you do any physical labor. Just come with me."

Hachiman followed Shizuka Hiratsuka through the courtyard. As usual, the courtyard, a sacred place for popular students, was filled with the sour stench of romance. Boys and girls ate lunch together, and couples were even feeding each other.

"Oh, could you all turn around and look at how cute Shizuka is?"

The murderous aura around her was almost solidifying. Wait... was this Susanoo? Hey, hey, Teacher, your surname is Uchiha, isn't it?

Provoked, Shizuka Hiratsuka quickened her pace through the courtyard. Hachiman could only stop his wild thoughts and jog after her.

"Ah, this is it." Teacher Shizuka finally stopped in front of a classroom with no sign on it. It looked as if it had been abandoned.

But the instant he saw it, Hachiman's face stiffened. It was filled with unnatural tension.

Shizuka Hiratsuka did not notice Hachiman behind her, his palms sweating and thighs trembling. She knocked on the classroom door, then opened it without waiting for anyone inside to respond.

The scene that appeared before Hachiman's eyes was that of a girl quietly reading a book in the gentle breeze. She had hands soft as young reeds, skin smooth as jade, a graceful neck, pearly teeth, a delicate brow, arched eyebrows, a charming smile, and beautiful eyes.

The feeling she gave off was one that even the end of the world could not disturb.

Sensing their arrival, the girl closed the paperback in her hands.

She gazed helplessly at the striking beauty in the white coat before her.

"Teacher Hiratsuka, I believe I asked you to knock before coming in."

"I did knock. I just didn't wait for you to answer."

"Forget it. What brings you here today?"

"Oh, it's nothing major. I just want you to help correct the atrocious personality of a certain unpleasant person."

"Hikigaya, what are you waiting for? Come in."

At the sound of that name, the hand holding the paperback trembled slightly.

Hachiman entered slowly, his expression complicated. At this moment, Hachiman Hikigaya and Yukino Yukinoshita met for the first time in earnest.

Chapter Two: The Service Club

As Hachiman entered, Yukino's expression became increasingly strange. Her originally fair and pretty face was covered in an unnatural blush.

"So you're the one Teacher Hiratsuka was talking about, Hachiman-kun. I was wondering who could be described by her as having such an atrocious personality."

Hearing Yukino's words, Hachiman's pupils contracted unnaturally. Then he said in an apparently calm tone, "Yukinoshita, I know who you are. Your Class 2-J is the only international studies class at Soubu High. Even within a school with an exceptionally high academic standard, it scores two or three points higher than the ordinary classes. As its top student, you rank first in the school whether it is a small test or the final exams."

"And as a beautiful girl, you're famous throughout the school."

"So, Yukinoshita, it's not strange that I know your name."

"But as someone of ordinary appearance, in an ordinary class, with grades that aren't particularly good and popularity that isn't particularly high even within my own class..."

"May I ask, Yukinoshita, how you know my name?"

Faced with Hachiman's aggressive questioning, Yukino became increasingly flustered and could only wave her hands in panic.

Finally, she forced herself to remain calm. "Would it be difficult for me to remember one person's name?"

"Is that so? Then perhaps I was simply overthinking it."

"Hey, hey, you two have been saying some very strange things to each other this whole time. Are you treating me, your teacher, as if I don't exist?"

Seeing the two of them go on endlessly, Shizuka Hiratsuka could not help reminding them of her presence.

"Come to think of it, judging from the way you two were talking just now, did you know each other from the beginning?"

"No, we didn't."

The moment she finished speaking, Yukino and Hachiman denied it in unison, then turned their heads at the same time and glared at each other.

"Well, if you know each other, that's even better. My main purpose today is to have you, Yukino, deal with Hachiman's awful personality."

"Given his current situation, I'm genuinely worried that I'll suddenly receive a call from Hachiman in prison asking me to visit him."

Hachiman pursed his lips when he heard Shizuka Hiratsuka say this.

"What? Am I wrong? Look at the entire Soubu High. Who else is like you, without a single proper friend even now?"

Hearing Shizuka Hiratsuka's words, Hachiman simply pointed coldly at Yukino.

"As far as I know, the Yukino you've entrusted with this task seems to be just like me. She doesn't have a single friend she can really talk to either."

"What?" Hearing Hachiman's excuse, Shizuka Hiratsuka blew on her fist like a samurai polishing his beloved sword.

"So you don't want to listen to your teacher?"

"No! Your will is the guiding principle of my actions."

Not wanting to die while still in high school, Hachiman immediately surrendered to Teacher Hiratsuka.

"Good. Starting today, you're a member of this club. Yukinoshita is your club president from now on. If you have any problems, you can talk to her. I still have things to do, so I'll be leaving."

Ignoring Shizuka Hiratsuka as she turned and left, the atmosphere between Yukino and Hachiman became even more awkward without a third person to ease the tension.

After more than ten minutes of sitting in silence, Yukino was the first to break the strange stalemate. "Hikigaya, aren't you tired of standing there? Do I need to bring you a stool before you'll sit down?"

"Huh? Oh." After briefly considering whether he should move his left foot or his right first, Hachiman jumped in place. Then he pretended that his foot had gone numb and moved his ankle before awkwardly making his way to the pile of desks and chairs to fetch a stool.

He placed the stool a full ten paces away from Yukinoshita before slowly sitting down and setting his schoolbag beside his right foot.

He turned to look at Yukino, who had shifted her attention back to the paperback in her hands. Hachiman felt that the girl's face in front of him was growing redder and redder.

When the blush gradually spread to her tender neck, Yukinoshita finally could not bear it any longer.

"What are you looking at? You've been staring at me like a pervert. I feel as if your lecherous gaze has defiled my entire body."

"Yukinoshita, you must like cats, right?"

"Y-You know that?"

"That should be easy to tell, shouldn't it? Your book cover is covered in cat designs."

"That's it? Your reasoning is far too arbitrary."

"No. There's another, most important reason. I think you know what it is."

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

As she spoke, Yukinoshita shifted her gaze toward the window.

"Could it be that you've been following me every day? I know I'm cute, but if you keep doing this, I'll call the police."

"What gave you the courage... to praise yourself so shamelessly?"

"It's a fact. Ever since I was little, everyone who saw me praised me for being cute. No one can deny that."

"Fine, fine. You're the cutest."

"By the way, Teacher Hiratsuka still hasn't told me what kind of club this is. Could you introduce it to me?"

"The club is called the Service Club. I founded it myself."

"Showing compassion to those who possess something and giving it to those who lack it is called volunteering."

"Reaching out to those in difficulty is this club's activity." When Yukino said this, the only impression she gave Hachiman was one of heroic spirit.

As Hachiman watched Yukino's serious expression, the Dead Fish Eyes softened slightly.

"So this club was founded to serve the other students?"

"That understanding is not incorrect."

"I have a feeling I've joined a very troublesome place."

At that moment, a knock suddenly came from the door. Ignoring Hachiman's complaint, Yukino told the person outside to come in. As the door slowly slid open, a pink dango appeared. She hid her body behind the door, revealing only her head as she peered inside.