Time and Time, Life Will Throw You a Curve Ball

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[Hikigaya Hachiman's POV]

If someone had told me a month earlier that I would be surrounded by pretty girls whom I could call friends while enjoying the cultural festival, I would have scoffed and told him to dip his head in the water closet and never pull out. That chance meeting with Kiss-Shot changed a lot of things. Although I was no longer a human, I could confidently say I was happier than before, as corny as it was. Things would get complicated as everyone aged, but that was a thought for another day. For now, I wanted to enjoy the moment while it lasted.

Before exploring the stands on the first floor, we decided to visit every class first. I also needed to inspect each of them with Yukinoshita, so there was that. The first class that we visited was class 3B. Their project was supposed to be a trolley tour, but what they did was a roller coaster ride. It honestly looked fun, but Yukinoshita didn't look amused. She worried about the safety of the customers, so she suggested they call it off. One thing led to another and we found ourselves in one of the trolleys.

Yukinoshita looked like she had half of her soul chipped by the end of the ride. She regained her composure soon and told them to call the project off for everyone's sake. The head project manager only agreed offhandedly, showing zero interest in doing what she suggested. Yukinoshita noticed it too and was about to scold the guy, but I stepped in and she immediately relented. She was quite docile these days.

After that, we headed to another class. Class 3E had a popup petting zoo project using housepets. There were cats and dogs inside. It was fairly popular among the female customers, but we could still see some male customers inside. Sakura and Yuigahama expressed their interest, so we immediately got in. Shinobu was not that interested in petting housepets, so she joined Yukinoshita who was afraid of dogs on the sidelines.

I might have expressed my desire to pet the pets a little too much as most of them came up to me. I mentally apologized to the dejected patrons whose pets I had stolen before petting each of the pets. I could see Yukinoshita looking intently at the cats from the corner of my eyes. I mentally willed some of the cats to walk her way, causing her eyes to childishly light up as she saw them approaching. She tried to look as unaffected as possible, though.

"Hachiman-kun, just like back then in the forest, you are good with animals," Sakura remarked while scratching a Shiba Inu behind its ears.

"They say good people are well-liked by animals," I replied sardonically.

"That might be the case," Sakura agreed, surprising me slightly.

I guess I am too used to bantering with Yukinoshita to expect a quip.

"Woah. Hikki! These hamsters are so lazy, you know. Look at how they melt in my hands! They are just like you," Yuigahama exclaimed.

"Have you ever seen me laze around like that?" I asked in mock offense.

"Would you not do it?"

"Touche."

"What's that? A French patisserie?"

Nice one, Yuigahama. Didn't know that you had it in you. Forgive me for looking down on your intelligence for so long. It's a far-fetched dream, but you might be able to get as good as Yukinoshita at quipping.

When we had enough of petting the pets and Yukinoshita had taken enough cat photos, we got out of the class and headed to another class. Class 2J, Yukinoshita's class, was having a traditional English-styled café, in other words, a maid café. We were greeted by well-mannered maids upon entering. It was quite surprising that the high-class girls of 2J were willing to act like the people who worked under them.

When I asked Yukinoshita why her class had decided to choose the project, she said that it was because the most feasible project to do. The class was heavily dominated by females, so physically demanding projects were out of the question. All of them were not that talented at cooking, so food-focused projects were also not possible. Since they were quite confident in their appearance, they decided to sell it and an atmosphere. It materialized in the form of a maid café with average-tasting food but full of good-looking people.

"What do you like to order, sir?" one of the maids asked me with a tinge of red on her cheeks as soon as we sat at our table. She was probably embarrassed that she had to be a maid in front of Yukinoshita.

"What is your most popular dish?" I asked, earning a bashful look from the girl.

"Uh…that will be the Moe-Moe Kyun Omelette Rice."

It's that type of café, huh!? No wonder Yukinoshita looked quite apprehensive when we entered this place.

"Ah, then I will just order the café latte. I don't have any specific request for the art, so go wild with it."

"Understood, sir."

The maid girl asked the others for their order and they also ordered a drink like me. As soon as the maid girl was out of earshot, they immediately discussed why there was no normal dish on the menu. Yukinoshita decided not to comment, saying that she had nothing to do with what her class did. She must have been very thankful that she could escape the project by being part of the committee.

Wait a minute. She couldn't possibly join the committee just because of this, right?

Idly looking around, I found some of the maids doing the moe-moe-kyun drill on the male customers. They weren't into it, but the male customers still got excited. I thought it was a bit worrying that some of the customers were in their twenties, but they were extremely reserved. On the other hand, the younger customers were quite a bit too enthusiastic. On top of that, they were Sobu High students.

"Here is your order, sir."

"Thank you."

My order came first. As the maid scurried away, I observed the latte art. I told them to go crazy with it but didn't expect them to produce such an aesthetic-looking heart. I took a photo of it and sent it to Komachi. At the end of the play, Mom called her to accompany her somewhere, so she had to go home. The photo would make her cry in envy.

Ding!

My smile was immediately wiped off my face with the reply, though. Mom had won a voucher for a full-course meal at a three-star restaurant. Not only that, but they were also on their way to the spa together as of the moment. My heart bled and my tears threatened to fall at the apparent favoritism. Of course, I didn't seriously feel that way. I didn't mind Mom spoiling Komachi instead of me. I had enough money to afford the meal myself.

When the girls' orders arrived, I curiously looked at Sakura and Shinobu's latte art. When I found out that they had their portrait on their coffees, I didn't find my latte art that awesome. It was underwhelming compared to theirs. I wondered if the barista secretly had a grudge on me. But well, I was a man full of appreciation, so I downed the coffee anyway. It was surprisingly good, so I immediately forgot about the latte art.

Time flew quickly and Sakura bade her farewell. I properly saw her off and was relieved that the dense idiot was no longer present. It was also at that moment that I met Sakura's best friend, Kyoko, who had been exploring the festival with her other friends as she couldn't find Sakura anywhere. The girl was quite rough around the edges but a good person. She cared about Sakura which was why she was domineeringly protective.

We went to the main stage afterward, watching Haruno's orchestra perform. Near the end, Shinobu and Yuigahama excused themselves to the toilet. On the other hand, Yukinoshita set her eyes on Haruno the entire time, admiring her every movement. It was at that moment I realized Yukinoshita Yukino admired her sister greatly. Their not-so-amiable relationship must be caused by her sense of inferiority and Haruno's my-pace nature, of course.

"Amazing, isn't she?" Yukinoshita remarked. "That is Nee-san for you. She always does everything easily. I have always wanted to be like her. I was optimistic initially, but now, I don't think I will ever be like her."

"You don't have to," I responded, earning a surprised look from her. "To be someone you are not is lying to yourself. So, what if you don't shine as brightly? What if you don't feel remarkable compared to your figure of admiration? You don't have to be like someone else to be special. You are fine the way you are."

Yukinoshita looked at me with the same eyes she did when we were talking on the rooftop. She looked like someone who had just had her view broadened. She remained wide-eyed for a while before leaning forward on the rail. She sighed and then shyly faced her head toward me.

"T-Thank you…"

"You are welcome."

Shinobu and Yuigahama returned from the toilet at this moment. I had just greeted them when one of the committees asked for my help to diffuse a situation between a student and one of the customers. I immediately headed to the place of conflict after excusing myself from the girls. When I got there, I immediately separated the female customer from the male student.

After a little bit of talk, they turned out to be a quarreling couple. I deadpanned at the two, causing the student to apologize profusely. I immediately went to regroup with Shinobu and the girls afterward. On my way, I heard a quite heated discussion between a male and a female. Wondering why many couples were quarreling today, I walked away. That was until I heard the female whimper in pain.

When I rushed to see what happened, I found Saki pinned against the wall by someone whom I instinctively considered repulsive.

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Honorary Mention:

Venerable Immortal Bowzer

Venerable Immortal Drowz

Venerable Immortal Funéral

Venerable Immortal Orion

Venerable Immortal P. Felipe

Venerable Immortal W. M. Jones

Venerable Immortal x_iLaggedOut_x