Meanwhile, on the other side of the building.
"See you tomorrow, Komachi~!"
"...Oh."
Hikigaya Hachiman gave a faint response as he waved to Menlai, Huko, and the others, who had just exited the clubroom. He casually raised his hand in farewell before stepping into the elevator. As the doors closed and he descended from the fifth floor of the school building, he found himself distracted by thoughts of what had just transpired during the club meeting.
And that's when he saw her—someone completely unexpected.
Shiina Hiyori.
Right there, leaning against the balcony railing on the third floor of the dormitory wing, just opposite his bedroom window. The orange hues of sunset cast a soft glow around her, and a gentle breeze tugged at the strands of her hair as she held a paperback novel in both hands, reading it with surprising focus and calm.
What was she doing here?
This was the boys' dormitory floor. She had no reason to be here—unless she was waiting for someone. Maybe even him?
Hikigaya stopped mid-step, unsure of how to proceed. The scene was oddly picturesque, like something out of a shoujo manga, but this was reality—and reality had never been particularly kind to him.
He hesitated, caught in a mental tug-of-war. Should he approach her? Say something? Pretend he didn't see her and quietly go to his room?
Back in junior high, there had been a time when a girl had frequently talked to him. He'd gotten the impression—wrongly—that she had feelings for him because he'd overheard someone mention that the initial of her crush's name was "H." Naturally, he'd jumped to conclusions.
That had ended… poorly.
The fallout had earned him the not-so-affectionate nickname: Narcissistic Valley.
But Shiina Hiyori wasn't like that girl, he told himself. If anything, Hiyori always seemed a little laid-back, with an aura of aloof curiosity. He could almost picture her giving him that signature lazy smile and saying something like, "Ah, there you are. Finally."
Still, she was standing at the entrance of a boy's dormitory, reading as if it were the most normal thing in the world. It was kind of… troubling, honestly.
Was it even appropriate for him to approach her?
After standing there awkwardly for a good ten seconds, Hikigaya decided to at least try to confirm her intentions. He walked quietly up to the railing and attempted a casual greeting.
"Oh, oh..."
Great job, me. He immediately winced. That wasn't how humans greeted each other. Maybe he'd eaten too many toffees today? That had to be it.
Hiyori glanced up from her book, blinking in mild surprise. Her eyes landed on him, and then she gave that exact lazy smile he had predicted in his mind.
"Hikigaya-kun, there you are. I've been waiting a long time."
"O-oh…" he stammered again, mentally kicking himself.
She seemed to relax at that point, closing her book with a soft sigh of relief.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"I came to apologize," Hiyori said, clasping her hands together and offering him a sincere look. "I'm really sorry for pretending not to see you at the coffee shop earlier."
Hikigaya blinked. "...Huh?"
"It's nothing," he replied quickly, waving a hand as if to brush off the incident. "I've gotten used to that kind of thing."
Indeed, being ignored was nothing new to him. But this? This was new. No one had ever come back to apologize for ignoring him.
"Why did you come all this way to apologize?"
"Huh?" Hiyori tilted her head, as if the question hadn't occurred to her. Then she suddenly lit up. "By the way, can I call you Komachi? Like Menlai and the others do?"
"Does it matter if I say no?" Hikigaya asked with a pained expression. He wasn't a fan of nicknames, especially not one that sounded so... cutesy.
Still, just like Menlai and Huko, she would probably ignore his protest and do it anyway. People rarely respected his naming preferences. Resistance was futile.
"You were sitting behind us at the coffee shop earlier, weren't you?" he muttered. "That's the only way you'd know Menlai's name."
"Caught me," Hiyori giggled, not denying it. "Then it's settled. Komachi can call me Hiyori too."
She clapped her hands once with satisfaction and then returned to the subject.
"Most people would probably care more about being ignored than about why I did it," she continued. "A lot of them would get upset."
"Well…"
He sighed. "Maybe. But I'm used to being invisible. Honestly, what's surprising is someone going out of their way to apologize for doing it."
"That's why I did it," she replied simply.
As the breeze blew a little stronger, Hiyori rubbed her arms, a subtle shiver running through her. She glanced over at his dorm room door.
"It's a little cold," she said casually.
"Yeah," Hikigaya agreed, tugging his jacket closer. Winter was creeping in fast. You could already spot girls walking around with fleece leggings and thick scarves, clutching hot drinks in their gloved hands.
"All right," he said. "If you've got something to say, now's the time."
Hiyori blinked at him, seemingly caught off guard by his straightforwardness. She gazed at him for a moment before speaking again.
"What I have to say might take a little while."
She smiled, but there was something mischievous in her tone—like a cat pretending not to notice the fish it was eyeing.
In truth, she didn't really need to be here. She could've talked to him anywhere else. But something about his weird, socially awkward behavior was just so entertaining.
She wanted to tease him. Just a little.
"Can't we talk tomorrow?" Hikigaya asked, rubbing the back of his neck, already exhausted by this unexpected encounter.
"Tomorrow?" she repeated.
He nodded. "There's always tomorrow. And the tomorrow after that. That's the beauty of it—countless tomorrows where we can shove off annoying conversations."
Hiyori tilted her head, lips curling into an amused smirk. Her eyes flicked to the door behind him.
"Well… Can't we talk in your dorm room?"
"Uh, no!" Hikigaya instantly waved his hands in panic. "It's a mess inside."
"I don't mind."
"Yeah, but I do," he muttered. "Can we just go back to the coffee shop or something? Or maybe the library?"
"Fine, fine," she replied with a playful roll of her eyes.
The two of them turned and began walking back down the corridor together, side by side.
As they strolled along, the air between them grew a bit more relaxed.
"You really came all this way just to tease me, didn't you?" Hikigaya asked after a moment.
"Maybe a little," she replied innocently.
Typical. But oddly enough… it didn't feel that bad.
Despite the cold wind brushing against his cheeks and the general awkwardness of their encounter, Hikigaya realized something strange. This conversation—this bizarre interaction on a dormitory balcony—it felt kind of… warm.
Not warm in temperature. But in a way that reminded him of how Yukinoshita and Yui sometimes argued with him in that cramped clubroom. It was chaotic. It was complicated. And it was strangely comforting.
Maybe this was what people meant by "being noticed."
And maybe, just maybe, Hiyori Shiina wasn't as distant as he once thought.
As the two of them headed off to the library together, Hikigaya still didn't know what she wanted to say. But somehow, he had a feeling it wasn't really about the coffee shop. Not entirely, anyway.
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