The following afternoon, the dismissal bell rang out like a decree of amnesty, and the classroom atmosphere instantly came alive.
Hikigaya Hachiman packed his bag at his usual sluggish pace, intending, as always, to slip quietly out of the classroom and head to the Service Club—which, by now, was no longer a place he found entirely unbearable.
However, just a few steps after leaving the classroom, he heard the sound of somewhat hurried footsteps behind him, accompanied by an energetic voice.
“Ah, Hikki!
Wait up!”
‘Hikki?’ This form of address made Hikigaya stumble mid-step, nearly losing his footing.
He turned back stiffly, and sure enough, there was Yuigahama Yui jogging to catch up, her face beaming with a bright smile.
In her hands was a small box, carefully wrapped in adorable, cartoon-patterned wrapping paper.
“Here!” Yuigahama arrived in front of him, slightly out of breath, and held the little box out toward him.
Her cheeks were flushed pink from running and a touch of nervousness.
“This is…
a thank-you gift!
Thanks for your help, and…
for the taste testing.”
Hikigaya looked down at the clearly hand-wrapped box.
He hesitated for a moment, then accepted it.
Opening it, he found several pale yellow cookies neatly lined up inside.
Though their shapes were far from perfect—some edges slightly rough—their color was even, and they gave off a faint, buttery fragrance.
They looked…
at the very least, like something a normal human being could enjoy.
“You…
made these?” He was somewhat surprised.
Judging by their appearance, this was a monumental leap forward compared to yesterday’s “carbon-based compounds.”
“Mm!” Yuigahama nodded firmly, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him, carrying a hint of anticipation.
“I practiced for a really long time last night!
Mom taught me a few tricks too.
The taste should be…
okay, right?”
Hikigaya’s attention, however, was still stuck on that form of address.
He raised his dead-fish eyes and looked at her.
“…’Hikki’?”
“Eh?
Is it no good?” Yuigahama immediately put on an innocent, slightly coquettish expression, tilting her head a little and blinking at him with her big eyes.
“I think it’s really cute!
Way friendlier than ‘Hikigaya-kun’!
Isn’t it nice?”
Faced with such a direct frontal assault, Hikigaya felt his defensive capabilities instantly drop to zero.
Somewhat awkwardly, he averted his gaze, the tips of his ears growing warm.
In the end, he could only sigh in resignation and, as if surrendering, mutter under his breath, “…Do what you want.”
“Yay!” Yuigahama immediately broke into a delighted grin, as if she had just won a great victory.
“Then let’s go to the Service Club together, Hikki!
I brought a share for Yukinon too!” She waved a second box in her hand—this one slightly larger, its wrapping even more delicate and carefully done.
The two of them walked side by side down the hallway leading to the special-purpose building.
Yuigahama seemed to be in high spirits, chattering away the whole time, jumping from amusing stories about last night’s baking practice to trivial happenings during today’s classes with remarkable topical agility.
For the most part, Hikigaya merely listened in silence, occasionally responding with a monosyllable or two.
But strangely, he didn’t find it particularly annoying.
This kind of lively chatter, so full of the texture of everyday life, stood in stark contrast to the solitary silence he was accustomed to—yet it didn’t feel unwelcome.
When they reached the Service Club door, Yuigahama pushed it open ahead of him.
“Good afternoon, Yukinon!”
Yukinoshita Yukino was seated by the window, reading.
She looked up at the sound.
When she saw Hikigaya and Yuigahama walking in together, her ice-blue eyes flickered faintly.
Her gaze paused between the two of them for just an instant before returning to calm.
“Good afternoon, Yuigahama-san.” Her gaze fell upon the box in Yuigahama’s hand.
“What is this?”
“It’s a thank-you gift!
The cookies I practiced making yesterday!” Yuigahama happily handed the larger box to Yukinoshita.
“This one’s for you, Yukinon!
Thank you for teaching me so patiently yesterday!”
Yukinoshita blinked, seeming somewhat caught off guard, but still accepted it politely.
“Thank you.”
She opened the box.
The cookies inside looked, if anything, even a little neater than the ones Hikigaya had received.
“This one here is for Hikki!” Yuigahama added, her tone perfectly natural.
“Hik…ki?” Yukinoshita repeated the name.
Her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and the look she directed at Hikigaya now carried a trace of something elusive and probing.
Hikigaya instantly felt an inexplicable pressure bearing down on him and hurriedly tried to explain.
“This is just her imposing—”
“Because it’s cute!” Yuigahama cut him off with full confidence, then turned to Yukinoshita with a grin.
“Don’t you think so, Yukinon?”
Yukinoshita didn’t answer.
She merely cast a faint glance at Hikigaya—a look that seemed to say “how very fitting a name for you”—and then, as if it were nothing, closed the cookie box and set it beside her.
“Please, have a seat.”
The three of them each settled into their places.
Yukinoshita stood, took out the tea set from the clubroom cupboard with practiced ease, and began brewing black tea.
Before long, an elegant tea fragrance permeated the room, mingling with the sunlight slanting in through the window, creating a strangely tranquil atmosphere.
Yukinoshita placed cups of freshly brewed tea in front of Hikigaya and Yuigahama, then took her own cup, returned to her seat by the window, and picked up the book she had been reading earlier.
Hikigaya silently took out a novel of his own and spread it open on the table, though his gaze drifted out the window from time to time, or…
inadvertently swept across that quietly reading figure across from him.
He noticed that her posture as she read today seemed a little more relaxed than usual.
The sunlight resting on her slender fingers and the pages of her book formed a scene pleasing to the eye.
Yuigahama had taken out her phone, her fingers gliding across the screen, but she was clearly having trouble settling down.
She glanced at Yukinoshita, reading quietly, then at Hikigaya, who seemed to have spaced out entirely, and finally couldn’t hold back any longer.
She spoke up, breaking the silence.
“Um…
Yukinon, Hikki, what does the Service Club usually do when there aren’t any requests?”
Without lifting her gaze from the page, Yukinoshita answered evenly, “Exactly what we are doing now.
Reading, studying, or attending to personal matters.
The Service Club is not a social club, Yuigahama-san.”
“Ehh, I see.” Yuigahama nodded, half understanding, then pressed on curiously.
“In that case…
Yukinon, Hikki, did you two know each other before?
It feels like…
you know each other really well.” She recalled how Hikigaya had naturally known yesterday what drink Yukinoshita wanted, and how Yukinoshita had unconsciously made the cookies Hikigaya liked.
The question made the air freeze for an instant.
Hikigaya’s hand, in the middle of turning a page, stopped.
Yukinoshita’s fingers, just about to flip a page, paused ever so slightly as well.
But she quickly regained her composure and answered in a tone that betrayed no emotion.
“We merely had some interaction during childhood.” She deftly sidestepped the word “know.”
“So you’re childhood friends!” Yuigahama’s eyes lit up with understanding, and an even more intrigued expression appeared on her face.
“That’s so nice!
Then when you were kids—”
“Yuigahama-san,” Yukinoshita cut her off at just the right moment.
Her tone remained calm, but it carried an unmistakable, brook-no-further-inquiry finality.
“Excessive curiosity is not always a good thing.”
“Oh…
okay.” Yuigahama stuck out her tongue and obediently shut her mouth, though her eyes continued to dart curiously between the two of them.
Hikigaya breathed a quiet sigh of relief, though for some reason he also felt a bit irritable.
He raised his cup and took a sip of black tea, trying to suppress that vague, unidentifiable emotion swirling in his chest.
The clubroom fell back into silence, but this silence seemed to carry the soundless currents of each person’s private thoughts.
Yuigahama looked from one to the other, seeming to sense a certain kind of atmosphere as well.
In the end, she opted to lower her head and continue playing with her phone—though a faint smile, as if she had figured something out, lingered at the corner of her lips.
This complex quiet had lasted for a little over ten minutes when—
Bang!
The clubroom door was violently shoved open without any warning whatsoever.
The loud noise made Yuigahama jump in surprise.
Even Hikigaya and Yukinoshita were startled from their respective thoughts and looked up toward the door.
There stood Hiratsuka Shizuka in the doorway, one hand still on the door handle, her face wearing her usual, somewhat boisterous grin.
Her gaze swept across the three people in the room, and upon spotting Yuigahama Yui in particular, a flicker of knowing recognition passed through her eyes.
“Yo, all here?
Perfect!” She strode in with large, brisk steps, her voice booming.
Yukinoshita set down her book, her brows furrowing slightly as she watched Hiratsuka march straight into the center of the clubroom.
In her cool, clear voice, carrying a faint trace of exasperated reminder, she spoke.
“Hiratsuka-sensei, before you entered…
did you perhaps forget to do something?”
Hiratsuka paused at this, blinked, and then, as though suddenly realizing, smacked her own forehead and burst out laughing.
“Ah!
Right, right!
Knocking!
I forgot, sorry!” Her apology was utterly devoid of sincerity, but she immediately continued with undiminished enthusiasm.
“No matter, though!
I’ve got a request here, and I think it’s perfectly suited for you Service Club folks!”
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