The next day.
Class B classroom.
Hikigaya was lying on his desk, just like usual. In the end, Juke just seed to enjoy teasing him, though that playful attitude could easily turn into bullying. But, for now, her jokes were still within acceptable limits.
As for Hinoyuki, Hikigaya stole a glance her way. As expected, she acted like everything was perfectly fine, laughing and chatting with Ichinose and the others, her pretty face adorned with a sweet smile. Truly impressive. Girls are born actors, masters at pretending.
Hikigaya closed his eyes, familiarizing himself with a newly acquired skill. That’s right—he had added yet another ability to his collection of 108 skills. Predicting the Future!
Every ti the school bell rang, within three seconds, soone would poke his back.
Here it cos!
Ding! In his mind, Hikigaya counted down. Right on cue, he felt Hiyori poke his back. He straightened his posture and switched to class mode.
See? A 100% prediction rate! Hikigaya felt like he was on the verge of awakening a superpower.
Also, class mode itself was an ability. His learning capacity could increase by a whopping 0.01% in this mode.
Completely useless abilities.
Besides, why does Hiyori keep dropping her eraser? She’s so careless.
Hikigaya bent down, picked up the eraser, and handed it back to Hiyori, who smiled and poked her finger at Hinoyuki.
"Huh?" Hikigaya turned to look at Hinoyuki and found her glancing at him, puzzled.
Wait, wasn’t this her eraser? Why was she acting as clumsy as Hiyori?
Hinoyuki spread her white hands, and Hikigaya placed the eraser into her palm. As a proud lone wolf, he made sure to keep his eraser safely in his pencil case, never causing trouble for others. It wouldn’t hurt these two to learn that skill.
After School
Hikigaya packed his school bag and took out the activity report he wrote last night.
He took a deep breath.
He had to see Commander 620 again. It felt like walking to the execution ground. Would he get scolded for the activity report? The problem lay with the school, not him!
Yes, exactly. He convinced himself and gathered the courage to move forward.
"Hikigaya, there’s a girl looking for you outside," Hamaguchi said with a grin. "Better hurry up, you don’t want to keep her waiting."
"Again?" Hikigaya looked confused. Why were girls looking for him every day? When did he beco so popular?
"It’s the sa girl from yesterday," Hamaguchi added with a smirk. "You know, the shy one."
"Thanks." Hikigaya nodded and left the classroom.
Sure enough, Sakura Airi stood outside in the corridor with her head lowered, fidgeting nervously. The boys from Class B peeked curiously from the classroom.
A couple of days ago, when he accidentally called her by her first na, Airi panicked and ran away. She was probably here to return the 20,000 personal points. Even without a contract, she was such a trustworthy, kind-hearted girl.
This ti, Hikigaya wouldn’t make the sa mistake.
"Hello," Hikigaya greeted her, "Sakura-san."
"Eh!?" Airi jumped in surprise, her eyes wide.
What now? He called her by her last na. Isn’t that what she wanted?
"What’s wrong?" Hikigaya asked, genuinely puzzled.
"U-Um..." Airi’s face turned red as she managed to stamr, "You called Airi-chan the day before yesterday..."
"Oh, sorry." Hikigaya apologized quickly. "I was half-asleep then, so I wasn’t really thinking. Please don’t take it seriously."
Airi’s expression fell. How could he be so casual about it?
She had been overjoyed when he called her by her first na. It made her heart race so much that she ran away in embarrassnt.
And now, he was calling her by her last na again.
"A-Actually..." Airi stuttered, her voice barely a whisper, "I... I don’t mind... if you call Airi-chan."
"Oh, got it." Hikigaya nodded.
Even her speech pattern was timid and shaky. He was starting to understand why Ichinose felt the need to look out for her.
"Then, I’ll call you Airi-chan."
Airi’s face brightened. "C-Can I call you Hachiman-kun?"
"Sure, I don’t mind." Hikigaya responded nonchalantly.
Actually, he felt awkward about asking her for money. What if he misunderstood her intentions? So, he decided to change the topic.
"What’s the matter, Airi-chan?"
"Oh! Right..." Airi quickly pulled out her student ID card. The crystal charm hanging from it sparkled in the light.
"Our class didn’t earn any points for months, but now that we have 209 class points, I wanted to pay back the 20,000 points I owe you." She said softly. "But I didn’t know your contact information, so I had to co here in person. Can I have your contact info, Hachiman-kun?"
"Sure." Hikigaya handed her his phone, and they exchanged contact details.
But sothing felt wrong. He glanced at her. "You only have about 20,000 points this month, right? If you pay back now, won’t you be struggling for the rest of the month?"
"It’s okay," Airi replied with a nervous smile. "I can cook for myself, so I don’t need that many points."
Hikigaya looked at her skeptically. Cooking for yourself was fine, but living on so few points was rough.
He knew the struggle; even with his wool-gathering habits, his monthly expenses still amounted to 10,000–20,000 points.
"Listen, I’m not in a rush," Hikigaya said. "You can pay back in a few months. It’s fine."
Airi’s cheeks turned a deep shade of pink. "Hachiman-kun... you’re so kind."
There it was. The dreaded Good Guy label.
"Actually..." Airi continued, her voice trembling with courage, "I feel really bad for making you wait. Can I at least treat you to a al as thanks?"
"Uh... I an..." Hikigaya hesitated. It would feel weird accepting a treat from soone who was already struggling financially. But seeing her pleading gaze...
"Alright," he finally said. "But let’s do it after the sports festival. I’ve got training to handle for now."
"Sure!" Airi’s smile was radiant, and she practically skipped away.
Watching her go, Hikigaya sighed. That was definitely not sothing he was used to.
He returned to the classroom, where his classmates were all grinning at him. Shibata especially looked like he’d just seen the greatest romantic cody ever.
"Jeez, you’re too much of a softie, Hikigaya." Hiyori giggled.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Hikigaya mumbled, sinking back into his chair.
But deep down, he couldn’t help but feel a little lighter.
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