Chapter 16: He's Not Your Hero Alone
Hikigaya Hachiman saw Yukinoshita Yukino and immediately thought that her transportation, like his own, had been destroyed this morning, and she was probably waiting for a taxi.
"Yukinoshita."
Hikigaya Hachiman walked over quite naturally and greeted her.
"Hikigaya-kun, you haven't gone home yet either."
Yukinoshita Yukino asked.
"I just finished up with Student Council matters."
Hikigaya Hachiman figured that since Yukinoshita was his neighbor anyway, if they were both going home, he might as well give her a ride.
"Let's go, I'll take you."
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The moment Hikigaya Hachiman's words fell, a Maybach S680, far more luxurious than Yukinoshita Yukino's usual chauffeur-driven car, started up not far away and slowly pulled up beside them.
"Young Master."
The man in the black suit with black hair and glasses in the lowered window was Kamo Takeyasu, the same man who had driven Hikigaya Hachiman to school this morning.
Although he recognized Yukinoshita Yukino as the girl who lived next door to his Young Master, Kamo Takeyasu remained silent and did not overstep his bounds since the Young Master had not spoken. He appeared instantly when needed.
Just as Hikigaya Hachiman had thought, the Kamo family quickly learned about the Cursed Spirit attack at Shuchiin, which resulted in the entire high school section being dismissed. Kamo Takeyasu had been waiting by the roadside for a long time.
Therefore, he witnessed the entire process: the girl waited from the peak of the dense student dismissal until the school was almost deserted. It now seemed that their Young Master was the person she had been waiting for all along.
"No, I called a taxi, it will be here soon."
Kamo Takeyasu: 'Don't be so reserved!!! Little girl! If the taxi was coming, it would have been here already, and it probably won't be coming now.'
Yukinoshita Yukino ultimately couldn't refuse Hikigaya Hachiman and got into their car, though this made the girl feel even more guilty. Yukinoshita Yukino felt like she was exploiting Hikigaya-kun's sympathy.
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As Kamo Takeyasu had suspected, Yukinoshita Yukino was not waiting for her sister to pick her up but was specifically waiting for Hikigaya Hachiman.
Yukinoshita Yukino hadn't forgotten the one thing she hadn't completed today. That was to give the cookies she baked this morning to Hikigaya Hachiman as a token of thanks. But from morning until school was dismissed, she hadn't found a chance to give them to him. Yukinoshita Yukino was distressed.
She even made a special trip to Hikigaya Hachiman's classroom before school ended, but his backpack was still there, not yet packed. She immediately thought that he might not have finished his Student Council work. This was very consistent with Yukinoshita Yukino's stereotype of Hikigaya Hachiman.
So, Yukinoshita Yukino simply waited at the school gate. Fortunately, this time she only had to wait for half an hour.
Yukinoshita Yukino then saw Hikigaya Hachiman walk out with another rather fierce-looking man with blond hair. That was Shirogane Miyuki, the student council president of the school.
But when Yukinoshita Yukino finally saw Hikigaya, she didn't have the courage to speak. Especially when facing Hikigaya Hachiman, Yukinoshita Yukino always felt a sense of constraint, like she was facing her own mother, and couldn't relax.
Yukinoshita Yukino tends to overthink things.
'The cookies have been sitting all day, will they be soggy? Will Hikigaya-kun feel like I'm giving him a perfunctory gift if he takes them and eats them?'
Yukinoshita Yukino had never had friends, and many things were new experiences for her.
Also, although Yukinoshita Yukino wanted to maintain her composure, she found it hard to keep it in check. Because whenever Yukinoshita Yukino saw Hikigaya Hachiman's serious expression, she would recall the profound words he had spoken that day.
'How did it turn into a situation where we are going home together?'
Because of this, Yukinoshita Yukino felt like she was taking advantage of his kindness, and the guilt in her heart intensified a few points.
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Meanwhile, Shinomiya Kaguya had just sent off the clingy Fujiwara Chika and was now walking with Hayasaka Ai. Their chauffeur-driven car had not arrived yet. Most of the students in the school had already left, so it was fine for the two girls to walk together. Otherwise, the usual order Shinomiya Kaguya gave Hayasaka Ai was to pretend not to know each other at school.
Today, Shinomiya Kaguya was exceptionally energetic and enthusiastic in front of Hayasaka Ai.
"Hayasaka, listen to me.
Hikigaya-kun was like this, and that Cursed Spirit was instantly severely injured."
Shinomiya Kaguya gesticulated to Hayasaka Ai as she spoke, looking just like a child enthusiastically announcing how powerful her admired superhero was.
"And then he gave it one last squeeze, and that Cursed Spirit was crushed to death by him."
"How amazing."
Hayasaka Ai's tone was a bit helpless. This kind of meaningless conversation had already been repeated five or six times on the walk from the school building to the main gate with Young Lady Kaguya. But Young Lady Kaguya was still in high spirits.
"Did you listen to me carefully, Hayasaka?"
Shinomiya Kaguya was quite displeased with Hayasaka Ai's perfunctory appearance.
"Yes, I did. If I recall correctly, your next sentence should be that Hikigaya-kun is even more powerful than the Sorcerers employed by Young Master Oko."
Shinomiya Oko is the eldest son of the Shinomiya family and Young Lady Kaguya's elder brother, and he has a considerable number of independent Sorcerers under him.
Hayasaka Ai thought Hikigaya Hachiman deserved the praise. To be able to exorcise a Cursed Spirit with a strength level close to Grade 1 was simply unbelievable for someone his age. Special Grade Cursed Spirits are quite rare. A Sorcerer who can independently exorcise a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit is undoubtedly a highly sought-after individual by all major forces.
Even if Hikigaya Hachiman was some kind of genius from the Kamo family, it was still too much.
"Huh?"
Hayasaka Ai saw a figure in the distance. She recognized him as Hikigaya Hachiman, and standing beside him was a girl whose cuteness was on par with Young Lady Kaguya's.
Hayasaka Ai immediately figured out, by reading their lips, that Hikigaya Hachiman seemed to be inviting that girl to get into the car with him. She even imagined the sentence in her mind:
"Princess, please get in the car."
Hayasaka Ai confirmed that this was a treatment Young Lady Kaguya had never received.
"Shit!!!"
Hayasaka Ai instantly felt a cold sweat cover her back. Young Lady Kaguya would be furious if she saw this. She immediately took countermeasures.
"Young Lady Kaguya, I suddenly remembered I didn't take one of my assignments home."
Hayasaka Ai forcibly pulled Young Lady Kaguya back.
"Hayasaka, you are so careless."
Shinomiya Kaguya complained about Hayasaka Ai.
"I apologize, Young Lady Kaguya."
Hayasaka Ai sighed, and a very disheartening sentence slowly surfaced in her mind.
'He's not your hero alone.'
As far as Hayasaka Ai knew, her good friend Yuigahama Yui greatly admired Hikigaya-kun. But Hayasaka Ai could not say this to Young Lady Kaguya.
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Inside the car on the way home, Yukinoshita Yukino did not speak due to the presence of a stranger, merely acting very reserved. Hikigaya Hachiman also knew that Yukinoshita Yukino was not very talkative, so he didn't say much either.
"Hikigaya-kun,"
"Hmm?"
Yukinoshita Yukino carefully phrased her question:
"Are you free tonight?"
"What's up? I'm going to visit a student's home on behalf of the school after dinner." Hikigaya Hachiman answered truthfully.
"That should be enough time. I'd like to treat you to dinner, may I?"
Yukinoshita Yukino thought about it. Hikigaya-kun helped her with such a huge favor. The cookies as a thank-you gift seemed too disrespectful. Perhaps cooking for him herself would be better.
"Hmm, alright."