章節 25: Thoughts Externally
Hikigaya's Route to Senior High Is Not Normal, As I Expected
Chapter 25 – Thoughts Externally
"Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock." - Kurt Cobain
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Kakeru's POV
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Unremarkable.
Is what Kakeru would have liked to say about this, Hachiman fellow, that Shiina would keep speaking about.
When Kakeru first met Shiina, he was worried for her.
She was a loner. Worse than even Mio. Worse than anyone he really knew. Considering how academically smart Shiina was, she was useful to Kakeru, and thus he had to ensure she was okay.
And for the beginning of the semester, Shiina always had a face of contempt. Just accepting. No real opposition, just acceptance, as if speaking to people was something she didn't expect.
Sure, she had Albert and himself, and even Mio, but Shiina was more accepting, staring off and seeing clouded.
That was, until the third week of April.
Her personality changed.
Not completely, but she had more hope and excitement.
Whereas before she had a look of contempt and acceptance, now they brimmed with eagerness.
As if she was excited for something after school. Something was waiting for her, and she was excited.
Kakeru was happy for her. He seriously was. She had something to look forward to.
Who wouldn't want such a privilege?
But for Kakeru, he had to understand what exactly made Shiina change to be a bit happier. Not that he hated Shiina being happy, he was curious and wanted to ensure it didn't mess with her capabilities.
She was still of use to him after all.
Turns out, it was because of a boy from a different class. That immediately brought some red flags for Kakeru. He didn't really want anyone from his class interacting with people from the outside classes.
However, Shiina would do her best to downplay it. "Don't worry, Ryuuen, he only really likes to read books with me. He never really speaks on what the other classes are."
That however, did little to alleviate Kakeru's worries. The last thing he needed was Shiina to become some sort of double agent.
But he also acknowledge that forcing Shiina to not speak to this, Hachiman individual would not benefit anyone. Shiina would become more isolated and less motivated. Kakeru would suffer due to the academic potential Shiina possessed.
Therefore, he was fine with it.
"So what is the name of this person?" Kakeru asked.
"Hikigaya Hachiman. Class 1-D." Shiina told Kakeru. Immediately, this made Kakeru a bit concerned.
He was fine if Hachiman was in Class 1-A, but not the other classes.
And especially, not Class 1-D. Considering how those in Class 1-D were by what he got, he expected Hachiman to be some stupid person or something else.
Kakeru wasn't sure. All he knew was that he would have to see this Hachiman person for himself. To see what kind of person Shiina was getting herself involved in.
Kakeru was glad Shiina was a lot happier and motivated, but it wouldn't do much if this Hachiman boy was just using her. Kakeru couldn't let that happen, especially to Shiina.
Sure, it was for his own benefit, but he would say he respected and cared for Shiina.
And then came the time he approached Hachiman. Shiina had led him to the library, wondering what to expect from such an individual.
But of course, seeing Shiina run up to a typical guy with ugly eyes, Kakeru wanted to chuckle at what was occurring. Regardless, he knew better than anyone that appearances did not show their true side.
As this occurred, Kakeru approached and spoke to Hachiman for a bit. However, he could feel that fisheyes of Hachiman looking at him, gauging him for any information he could get out of Kakeru.
"Seems strangely perceptive for someone who seems unremarkable." Kakeru thought to himself as he too tried to get something about him. For the most part, it was typical, albeit seeming to also be on the lone side.
In a way, it would make sense for Shiina to befriend a seeming loner like her.
But this also means that perhaps Hachiman was also on the academically smarter side like Shiina. As much as Kakeru wanted to deny that due to this individual being in Class D, something told Kakeru that perhaps he was a lot more threatening than he anticipated.
For one, even if he was slimmer than Kakeru, Hachiman didn't seem like a slouch. He was slightly taller than him, but Kakeru could tell that Hachiman was a fighter. Whether through words or other means, Hachiman's demeaner seemed interesting.
"He seems to be a bit of a loner, but he also seems capable… physically and academically…" Kakeru thought to himself. If he was smart and loved books, then he may be on the same level academically as Shiina. But his figure told Kakeru that he was physically adept as well.
Therefore, Kakeru could only think that perhaps his social and communication skills must be so terrible to drag him all the way down to Class D.
Shiina however continued to speak highly of this Hachiman fellow.
Therefore, as much as Kakeru was skeptical of Shiina's affiliation to a Class D boy, even he couldn't deny that something about Hikigaya Hachiman was interesting to him. For one, he was dark and brooding, in a strange sense like him, but he also seemed like the type to not care for those around him.
It made him question once again how Shiina and him were able to converse if the two of them were withdrawn. Regardless, if this Hachiman person showed little care to others besides Shiina, then perhaps Kakeru could leave them to it, or even use Hachiman to his advantage.
It was too early to tell, but something was telling Kakeru, that Hachiman was somebody not to mess with.
He's seen countless people like this.
Individuals like him who weren't always the most confrontation, were always those who would do anything necessary for their goals. Therefore, while Hachiman seemed uncaring, it was because he didn't have a goal.
But once he had a goal, he would do anything in his power to go. He was selfish and caring about himself and his own benefits.
And Kakeru could respect that mentality.
It would benefit him after all, as he felt that if Hachiman would work with others, he could become a leader on par like him.
Finally, there was the name.
Hikigaya Hachiman.
8-Man…
Something about that name was foreign, but like Kakeru. Almost as if he knew who Hachiman was.
But he couldn't wrap his head around him.
"Whatever, he's unremarkable, at a first glance, so perhaps it's be stretching what I think is."
But even then, Kakeru had no problem with this, and ultimately decided to let Shiina have fun with Hachiman, considering she was a happier person because of him.
That was something Kakeru, for now, couldn't deny Shiina.
But he would have to keep an eye on Hachiman, for something told Kakeru he was a dangerous individual. Perhaps more dangerous than Kakeru himself.
If he turned his selfish goals and motives to assisting his class, he could be incredibly dangerous.
For he could have sworn Hachiman was a physical fighter.
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Mei-Yu's POV
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It was a long time coming, in her opinion.
While she was always the one to observe Yousuke and admire him at a distance, she was a nervous wreck when it came to that.
But when it came to the figure of Yousuke or the personality he had, there was another individual that caught Mei-Yu's attention.
Mei-Yu wasn't entirely sure of the name, due to the mutters many of the girls would give him.
"Hikifrog."
It wasn't until Mei-Yu properly looked at the name of attendances did she realize the individual the girls were referring to, was none other
Whereas Yousuke was universally liked by the girls of the class, this individual seemed to universally be disliked by them.
It was remarkable how different personalities can vastly change how people are perceived.
However, even Mei-Yu had to acknowledge that Hachiman was not as pretty or good-looking as Yousuke. Sure, his body figure was the same, however, his eyes were often deemed a lot uglier than Yousuke's.
However, Mei-Yu was more interested in something else other than the body of boys. She was more intrigued in the overall cadence of the individual.
So, when she spotted Hachiman heading to the library, she decided to take the chance. But according to Yousuke and from what information she could gather, Hachiman was also a study leader, in particular dealing with the likes of Yamauchi, Ike, and Sudou.
This gave Mei-Yu some respect for the guy, considering he was willing to put up with them for the likes.
All the while Mei-Yu had to wait after realizing that Hachiman was indeed with the three guys. To her mild surprise, it was somewhat quiet.
Sure, not so much because they were in the library, but rather because the boys were studying. It wasn't perfect, as Hachiman seemed to have frequently started to speak to one of them.
However, it wasn't as negative as Mei-Yu was expecting.
Apparently, this wasn't a one-time thing based on what she could see, as Hachiman had allowed them to leave earlier than they usually did.
As is typical of the boys, they rushed out relieved that they didn't need to study anymore. Regardless, to Mei-Yu's observation, Hachiman continued to work, study and relaxing in his own way.
To the surprise of Mei-Yu, another girl seemed to join Hachiman in studying. Mei-Yu did not recognize the girl in their class, and thus could assess that the girl was from another class.
Although, if she had to guess, probably in the same year as them.
Regardless, Mei-Yu could tell that Hachiman recognized and spoke to the girl, which was surprising considering how quiet he was around the others in his class.
It made Mei-Yu a bit confused and pondering as to why Hachiman was more open with this girl than those in his own classroom.
Although if Mei-Yu had to ponder, it was likely due to Hachiman always being quiet. The only instance where he spoke was during May 1st, where he was apparently one of those people to know of the class points.
Still, Mei-Yu didn't necessarily see him as a villain even when the other girls tried to villainize him, Mei-Yu never saw him as one. The simple reason for this was because Hachiman too was a member of this class, and thus he too would suffer from the lack of private points everyone else did.
Mei-Yu looked on as she watched Hachiman speak more with the girl. She wasn't sure what their relationship was, but Mei-Yu could theorize that perhaps they were on the cusp of dating, or already were. Mei-Yu wasn't sure.
However, Mei-Yu decided to try and interact with them. She wasn't sure if she would be third wheeling or interrupting a study date, but Mei-Yu decided to at least try and be more confident, all the while approaching him to speak to him.
After all, she really wanted to speak to him about their mutual studies for the grammatical section of the test. Hachiman had gotten 100 on both English and Modern Grammar. In the meantime, Mei-Yu decided she should finally try to approach them.
It went… alright.
Sure, Mei-Yu was incredibly nervous throughout the time, but once the initial hesitation was gone, it was relatively easy in managing to study with them.
Hachiman and the girl, who introduced herself as Hiyori Shiina, was seemingly from Class 1-C. She was right, she was of the same year, but in a different class. In the meantime, Mei-Yu could tell that Hachiman was smart. Academically so.
Perhaps smarter than Yousuke, at least regarding the grammatical sections of the upcoming midterm exams.
However, he was pretty weak in mathematics, with science coming at a second. Still, he was human and he would have strengths and weaknesses.
The girl might be even smarter, however, she wasn't sure.
Regardless, the study session was rather quiet and smooth. Hachiman and Shiina were both on the quieter side, which was fine with Mei-Yu herself, who was a bit quieter herself.
"Hey, Hikigaya?" Mei-Yu asked the boy, causing him to turn him to face her. His dead fisheyes were somewhat intimidating to her.
"Yes?"
Mei-Yu pondered as she then asked, "How do you let the boy's study with you well?" She asked, "Hirata tried and even he was unable to deal with them."
Hachiman's eyes gave a bit of narrowing before he answered, clearly he was deep in thought.
"Well, with them you don't really push them into it. The more you push them the more they will resist." Hachiman explained, "That's what both Hirata and Horikita did."
Mei-Yu hummed, "But how do you make sure they are working?"
Hachiman looked at Mei-Yu, before shrugging, "Perhaps it's a bit of a wager, or even a push to work, but I can say that letting them go at their own pace is working. You don't want to put yourself in everything people do."
Mei-Yu understood what Hachiman was getting at, "I guess that make sense."
Hachiman nodded before his eyes went back to his paper.
Mei-Yu then asked another question, "How did you and Hiyori meet?" Mei-Yu asked curiously/
Shiina turned to face Mei-Yu a bit surprised that Mei-Yu would ask that while Hachiman turned to the two girls, before asking Shiina, "Do you want to answer? You take some time talking to her."
Shiina nodded to Hachiman's statement before she spoke, "Hikigaya was putting a book back in a rather, interesting row of books. What started as that was a small debate between which area and genre, we thought the book would fall under. After that, we just continued to speak about more and more stuff."
Mei-Yu nodded in understanding, as she saw how and understood how this made sense. For the meantime, they had been able to make some more progress in studying. Because Hachiman and Shiina had already been studying since the end of classes by helping Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi.
Mei-Yu was fine with that. She was studying in Yousuke's group beforehand, and thus it worked out well for them. Considering it was pretty late, Mei-Yu had decided to head out.
Well, that was until Shiina out of all people took a bold move.
"Hey, Wang, would you like to get some dinner with Hikigaya and I?" Shiina asked, surprising both Mei-Yu and Hachiman about her speaking up for that.
Mei-Yu looked surprised before she decided to agree, "Um… sure…." However, Mei-Yu was more scared of being spotted by one of the girls and being looked down upon.
Thankfully, Mei-Yu, Shiina, and Hachiman had all decided to just order food and head back to their separate dorms. For Mei-Yu, this worked well, considering even if she was spotted, she could just say she was getting food and by some coincidence she was next to Hachiman.
However, Mei-Yu was more of a nervous and quiet individual. She knew she was being controlled by the girls like Kei's opinions. Especially since Kei was dating Yousuke, it made the whole situation complicated.
Mei-Yu didn't have the clout like her, and thus being doomed to the hierarchy, it only made sense that she would adhere to the opinions of those at the top.
Regardless of the circumstances, Mei-Yu would admit she had a decent time with the two. While she didn't get the same bout of excitement as she did when she was with Yousuke, but alas, Hachiman and Shiina both were fine to hang out with.
They seemed quiet and normal, and she was content being around them.
Therefore, she called it the day when she got her food and went back to their dorms. Hachiman was the first to leave as the boys' dorm was the first to leave.
That left Shiina and Mei-Yu alone as they were in the same level for their dorm. It was clearly awkward considering both wanted to start a conversation, but neither could really.
In the end, Mei-Yu decided to speak.
"So, do you and Hikigaya often accompany each other in the library?" Mei-Yu asked Shiina.
Shiina slowly nodded, "Yeah, he and I are good friends. We speak a lot."
Mei-Yu looked at Shiina a bit unsure now. However, it was likely too early for Mei-Yu to consider that. "Well, he doesn't really speak a lot in class. The one time he did, a lot of people didn't like him."
Shiina clearly looked at Mei-Yu now, a bit saddened, "People are mad at Hikigaya? Why?"
Mei-Yu looked on before sighing. She saw how hurt Shiina was when she realized Hachiman was likely not being liked. This surprised Mei-Yu by how emotional she was towards Hachiman.
Mei-Yu sighed, "It's because of the private points. People are mad that he didn't tell anyone." She explained.
This surprised Shiina who looked confused, "Why would you blame Hikigaya for such a thing? You wouldn't blame Hikigaya for this, you would blame the system."
Mei-Yu nodded, "I agree. Hikigaya isn't to blame for this. However, even then, and regardless of that, many of the girls have chosen to antagonize Hachiman, blaming him for the issue."
Shiina, surprisingly clicked her tongue in slight annoyance, "Those girls are stupid." She mumbled, sighing at the circumstances Hachiman was likely in.
Mei-Yu looked on. She was a scaredy cat to ever say anything bad about them. Regardless, Mei-Yu decided to just let Shiina say what she wanted.
Shiina looked on, "I know Hikigaya can be a bit… blunt and rude… but I know he means well…" Shiina sighed sadly, "But I don't know… I wouldn't blame him for not telling anyone about that."
Mei-Yu nodded sadly.
Shiina then added, "But I mean what could you do? He'd be seen as a party pooper, and I don't think one person could even do anything about changing an entire classes' behaviour."
Mei-Yu nodded, "Agreed. One person can't change anything for an entire class. Even when the class is new and you don't know anyone really…"
Therefore, while Mei-Yu and Shiina began to speak relatively calmly about smaller things, instead of really studying with Hachiman, Mei-Yu instead made a friend out of Hiyori Shiina.
…
Not much really to say. Next chapter Hachiman will play a more direct role as the questions I asked from the last couple of chapters will begin to take into effect. So don't worry. These includes the last three questions I asked regarding Hachiman's focus, Manabu's condition, and the question regarding Sudou and basketball. Anyways, see you later.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票