Chapter 5

Kiyoshi's pov

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock. I groggily tried to turn it off, almost making the lamp resting in my nightstand fall down in the process. After that, I had a shower and went downstairs to make my breakfast.

It was a beautiful day outside. The rain that had had a major role the last few days was finally gone, leaving a clear sky in the city of Chiba. If you listened closely enough, you would even be able to hear the kids happily talking outside as they made their way to school.

I, on the other hand, was wondering if hitting my head against a wall in order to skip today's PE class was worth it.

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. Once my coffee was done, I walked up to the table and drank it in silence.

My mornings were like this in general. I didn't interact much with my family for various reasons.

My mother had died a couple of years back in a car accident, I was still a middle schooler back then. It was a heavy blow for all of us and it took us a while to recover, but that was all in the past now.

My older brother, Renji Takeda, was already a college student in a university overseas in America. I was happy for him, he had to study a lot in order to get admitted and, after all his hard work, he certainly deserved it.

It was a bit sad that I didn't get to see him nearly as often as I used to, but we tried to maintain contact as much as we could. It started with a phone call every day but, as time went by, the number of times we talked to each other slowly went down.

At this point, almost a year after he left to America, it was a phone call or two every couple of weeks. He still came home on holidays though, so it wasn't as if we were complete strangers.

Finally there was my father, Osuke Takeda. I still lived with him, but I tried to avoid him as much as I could. He lived his life and I lived mine. Not the usual father-son relation you would expect, but I was fine with that. In fact, I wanted things to stay this way.

It seemed that lady luck didn't feel like lending me a hand today though. The sound of footsteps were head from the upper floor and a few seconds later, he came down the stairs.

My fath- Osuke was tall, of average complexion and had an unkept beard. He used to have auburn hair but, after entering his fifties, grey hair was slowly replacing it.

There was an awkward silence during which I could feel his gaze in me, but decided to ignore it.

"Good morning, son."

"Morning."

I said that I tried to avoid him, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't talk to him at all. Things were awkward enough as they were, and the silent treatment would only worsen things even more.

As he went to the kitchenette and prepared his breakfast, I tried to finish mine as soon as possible.

However, despite my efforts to the contrary, Osuke sat in front of me before I could leave.

"How's school?"

"Fine."

Why is the coffee so bitter this morning? Dammit!

It seemed that he noticed my attempts to finish the coffee as soon as possible, but that didn't stop him from talking.

"You have been returning home later than usual these past few days."

"Mhm."

"Busy at school?"

"Something like that."

Before he could ask more questions I shallowed the remainder of the coffee and stood up.

"I'm leaving."

Ignoring the tired sigh that came from the kitchen, I went upstairs to pick my schoolbag and left the house afterwards. No further words were exchanged.

xxxxxxx

The gates of Sobu high were crowded with students making their way to their respective classes.

"How was your weekend?"

"It was great! Why didn't you hang out with us on Saturday?"

These kind of meaningless conversations reached my ears as I walked. It was a day like any other, in which I would attend to school, go through the classes, spend my afternoon in that reformatory disguised as a service club and go home.

"Takeda-kun! Yahallo!"

Now that was not normal. Turning around, I saw Yuigahama approaching me with her usual happy-go-lucky smile.

"Ah, um..." I awkwardly raised my hand and did the only thing that my still sleepy brain could come up with. "Y-yahallo?"

I think I just lost a couple of brain cells.

Seeing that I had returned her... salute? Or maybe it was some kind of ritual that escaped my knowledge...? Ahem. Seeing that I had acknowledged her presence, she smiled cheekily and started to walk next to me.

"Are you going to the clubroom today?"

"I guess."

"Okay!"

How could she be so energetic? Maybe it was a girl thing. Most of the boys were usually walking corpses this early in the morning.

"I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but why are you talking to me all of the sudden?"

"Um..."

Everyone in general had avoided me until now, Yuigahama was no exception. It was a natural question to ask.

"Well, I noticed that you're actually a nice guy!"

"You barely know me." I deadpanned.

"That doesn't matter! I still think that you're a nice guy, contrary to..."

She avoided my gaze.

"Well... how do I say it? It's just that, well..." Yuigahama laughed awkwardly as she scratched her cheek. "You know, the rumours and all... But! After talking to you I noticed that you're not scary at all!"

That raised several questions. I already knew about the rumours, but was I really that scary in other people's eyes? What did this girl think of me in the first place? Why was Miura glaring at me as if she wanted to end my very existence? Oh, wait...

"Yui."

"Ah, Yumiko! Yahallo!"

Yumiko Miura, the Fire Queen of the highschool, interrupted our conversation without a hint of shame.

"Come with me for a moment, I want to talk to you about that shop of the other day."

"Huh? But..." Without a warning, the Fire Queen grabbed Yuigahama's arm and started to pull her away from me. "S-see you later Takeda-kun!"

"Yeah."

Miura sent me another glare as they walked ahead.

xxxxxxxxx

The time we spent in the service club was always mostly the same. Yukinoshita and Hikigaya were reading their respective books, Yuigahama (who hadn't arrived yet for some reason) either played with her phone or talked to "Yukinon" as she liked to call her, and I either did my homework, played with my phone or dozed off.

When I entered the clubroom today I couldn't help but notice that Yukinoshita, aka the Ice Queen of the highschool, had arranged a large, rectangular table in the middle of the room.

She sat at one end of the table, Yuigahama's seat was right next to her and Hikigaya sat at the other end. I chose to keep my distance from them as I had been doing until now, so I sat between Hikigaya and Yuigahama, still keeping a safe distance between us.

Paranoiac? Me? Nah.

"So, um... As I was saying..." Hikigaya was trying to convince Yukinoshita to let him leave the club. Something about the tennis club needing more members.

"Impossible."

"Impossible, huh... But, umm..."

"The impossible is impossible."

Despite asking her many times, she didn't budge and rejected his proposal.

"I mean, I can see where Totsuka was coming from when he asked me to join the tennis team. In short, I have to scare them into being more active. If a new person joins the club, won't that eventually change things?"

Ah, Totsuka. He was a cute boy who was a member of the tennis club and also went to our class. I have to admit, the first time that I saw him I thought that he was a girl. Due to his cuteness, the girls gave him a title, which I can't remember right now. You know, just like Yukinoshita was the Ice Queen and Miura was the Fire Queen, Totsuka was the... Prince of something, I think.

Yeah... Teenagers, I know.

"You really don't understand what it means to be in a group, do you? You're the master of solitude." Yukinoshita said.

"You're the last person I want to hear that from..."

I decided to enter the conversation and help Hikigaya a bit.

"Yukinoshita, for the first time since I met him Hikigaya is willingly trying to help someone. Isn't that a good thing? Maybe he is finally turning into an outstanding member of society like you wanted."

He glared at me, but then noticed that I was actually lending him a hand and turned to Yukinoshita, who scoffed at my words.

"Don't make me laugh, it is obvious that Hikigaya-kun couldn't care less about the future of the tennis club. He just wants to leave the service club. Then, when he joins the tennis club, he will leave it after a few days as well."

"Oi..." He tried to refute her, but he couldn't. She had seen right through his plan.

"We're not going to help the tennis club then?" I asked her.

"If they don't come to us for help there's nothing we can do." It was true that we heard of the tennis club from Hikigaya, but they didn't really come to us to ask for help or anything. "Besides, why are you both so interested in helping them? Oh, wait. Nevermind, since Hikigerma-kun was trying to use it as an excuse to leave the service club you're probably thinking something among those lines as well."

I opened my mouth to refute her reasoning, then closed it and turned to Hikigaya.

"What's with people giving you all these nicknames?"

"Maybe it has something to do with his eyes." Yukinoshita offered.

"...Leave me alone."

"Yahallo~!"

Yuigahama suddenly entered the room with the usual grin on her face. Normally she would be the only other person to enter the clubroom besides us three, but today someone else had joined her.

"Ah... Hikigaya-kun!" Totsuka's eyes lit up for some reason.

"Totsuka..."

What... What is this? Does he not know that Totsuka is a he? Is that it?

"Hikigaya-kun, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, I'm a member of this club... Why are you here?"

"I brought a new costumer with me today, fufu." Yuigahama laughed proudly, which earned a glare from Hikigaya.

"Hey, come on! I'm a part of this club too, ya know? So I thought I'd earn my keep. And Sai-chan looked like he had something on his mind, so I brought him here."

"Yuigahama-san."

"Yukinon, you don't need to thank me. As a club member, this is the least I can do—"

"Yuigahama-san, I don't see how you're a club member..."

"I'm not?!"

I raised my hand with a confident look on my face.

"I nobly offer my place in the club for Yuigahama to join."

"Denied."

"Dammit."

Totsuka noticed my presence for the first time and shrieked as he hid behind Yuigahama.

"T-takeda-kun is here too?!"

"Ah, don't worry Sai-chan! Takeda-kun is actually a nice guy once you get to know him."

I have to admit, it felt kinda good when a cute girl like Yuigahama said that.

"R-really?" She- He! He cutely poked his head from behind Yuigahama and looked at me with curiosity.

"I would still keep my distance from him though. Who knows what's going on in that rotten brain of his." I glared at Yukinoshita, who smirked in victory. It was clear that she just couldn't let the opportunity to ruin the moment escape.

"So, Totsuka Saika-kun... Right? What do you want from us?"

"U-Umm... I want... to make the tennis team better, I guess?" Totsuka tried to explain, but he stuttered under the Ice Queen's gaze and turned to Hikigaya for help.

"I don't know what Yuigahama-san told you, but the service club is not some miracle cure-all. We are here to only help and promote independence. Whether the tennis team gets better or not completely depends on you." Yukinoshita said.

"I... see..."

"Where's that stamp, where's that stamp..." Yuigahama, who had been hurriedly writing an application in order to officially join the club until now, rummaged through her bag. This action was interrupted when she felt Hikigaya's glare though.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Don't give me that... You made irresponsible false promises, and now we have to break this young man's fragile hopes and dreams."

"I feel like there was a reference there, somewhere..." I muttered.

Ignoring me, they kept talking.

"Hmm? But, I mean, I thought Yukinon and Hikki would definitely be able to do something... Was I wrong?"

Yukinoshita's expression suddenly turned to a prideful one.

"...Hmph. Now you've said it, Yuigahama-san... Whether the one over there can do anything is another issue, but to think that you would try to test me like this..."

"Are you serious? And you say that I'm the one who has a child's mentality?" I asked incredulously.

"Leave her be, Takeda. It is clear that she can't help it." Hikigaya said with a smug grin on his face.

Yukinoshita coughed awkwardly, her cheeks slightly red.

"A-anyways. Totsuka-kun, I will accept your request. All I have to do is help you improve your tennis ability, right?"

"Y-yes, that's right. I-if I get better, I think that everyone else will try harder too."

"And how are you going to help him improve?" Hikigaya asked.

"Hmm..." She put her hand on her chin, deep in thought. "I suppose I will make him run to exhaustion, and then make him play practice matches until he can't move any longer."

"Are you serious?!"

Totsuka's face became even paler as he started to tremble.

"Am I... going to die...?"

"It's fine. I'll protect you." Hikigaya suddenly stated.

...

"Hikigaya-kun... Are you saying that seriously?"

"Nah, sorry... I just kinda wanted to say it."

I approached the two of them and looked at Totsuka.

"Don't worry. Yukinoshita wouldn't kill anyone... I think."

"H-huh?!"

"Oi. You're scaring him even more."

And so, it was decided that the service club would help Totsuka and the tennis club.