The final bell finally rang, signaling the end of the day’s classes.
The lingering glow of the setting sun streamed through the windows, dyeing the Service Club room a warm shade of orange.
Hikigaya silently packed his bag, though the corner of his eye couldn’t help drifting toward Yukinoshita by the window.
She was stowing her books and stationery away with meticulous care, her movements elegant and unhurried.
That afternoon conversation and the shift in how they addressed each other seemed to have made the air in the clubroom less suffocating, yet a subtle, delicate atmosphere still lingered between them.
“Well, I’ll be heading off first.” Yukinoshita shouldered her bag and stood.
Her voice had returned to its usual cool clarity, but it seemed to lack some of that initial detachment.
“Ah, yeah.” Hikigaya nodded and stood up as well.
One after the other, they left the clubroom and walked side by side down the hallway.
The setting sun stretched their shadows long.
Silence spread through the air, but it no longer felt as unbearable as before.
When they reached the school building entrance, Hikigaya’s steps unconsciously slowed.
He looked at Yukinoshita’s profile, gilded by the golden edge of the sunset beside him, and somewhere in a corner of his heart, something stirred.
Words he hadn’t thought through at all slipped out.
“Tomorrow…
we’ll see each other again, right?”
The moment the words left his mouth, Hikigaya himself froze.
Why had he asked such an obvious question?
This was practically like…
Yukinoshita stopped walking at his words as well, turning her head slightly to look at him.
Her ice-blue eyes appeared especially clear in the sunset glow.
She seemed somewhat surprised too, but then, an extremely faint yet undeniably real smile rippled at the corner of her lips—like a tiny ripple spreading across the surface of a spring lake.
“Of course.” Her voice carried a rare trace of gentleness.
“This is the Service Club.
And you are a member.”
That smile and those words struck Hikigaya like a small electric current.
He felt his cheeks grow warm and hurriedly averted his gaze, muttering a vague “Uh, right,” before quickening his pace almost as if fleeing, heading toward the school gate without even daring to glance back.
Watching that somewhat flustered retreating figure, Yukinoshita lingered in place for a moment.
The evening breeze gently brushed through her hair.
Unconsciously, she raised a hand, her fingertips lightly touching the corner of her mouth that had, just now, lifted without her realizing.
‘Today…
seems a little different.’ Her heartbeat had quickened because of his question.
She had felt a hint of amusement at his embarrassment.
And she had even, upon hearing that foolish confirmation of his, smiled without meaning to.
These unfamiliar emotional fluctuations left her faintly puzzled.
Was it because of the reunion after so long?
Or was it because…
it was Hikigaya Hachiman?
Yukinoshita shook her head gently, setting these tangled thoughts aside for the moment, and began walking in another direction.
Only that slightly accelerated heartbeat refused to settle so easily.
After leaving school, the heat on Hikigaya’s face still hadn’t fully subsided.
Cursing his own idiotic behavior moments ago inwardly, he pulled out his phone.
The screen displayed a Line message from his little sister Komachi.
[Komachi: Onii-chan!
I want fried chicken cutlet for dinner tonight!
Pleeease~ (๑＞ᴗ＜๑)]
Attached was an adorable sticker.
Hikigaya sighed, replied with a “Got it,” and turned toward the route to the supermarket.
‘What a bossy little sister,’ he grumbled inwardly, yet his footsteps honestly carried him toward the fresh produce section.
Just as he was picking out chicken breast in front of the refrigerated display, an unpleasant commotion arose from a corner not far away in the supermarket.
Hikigaya instinctively glanced up and saw several boys in other schools’ uniforms, sporting exaggerated, bleached-blond hairstyles, surrounding a girl.
She wore the Sobu High uniform and had a striking bun-shaped hairdo.
At that moment, her head was lowered, her body slightly shrinking back, her face written all over with distress and fear.
Is that…
Yuigahama Yui?
Hikigaya recognized the girl from his class.
The situation was clear at a glance—she was being harassed by delinquents.
Hikigaya’s brow furrowed.
Trouble.
Insane trouble.
His instinct was to avert his gaze and pretend he hadn’t seen anything.
Sticking his nose into other people’s business had never been his style, not to mention the other side had numbers.
His mind raced, calculating whether he should simply detour and walk away, or find a supermarket security guard.
Step in directly?
That would be no different from inviting disaster upon himself.
He could practically already see the future where he’d get beaten black and blue for meddling.
Just as an internal battle raged within him, as he hesitated over what to do—
Ding—!
A crisp, clear system notification sound, audible only to him, rang out without any warning deep inside his mind.
Immediately after, that familiar pale-blue light screen materialized before his field of vision once again, like a specter.
[Generating Options…]
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