Hikigaya's peaceful life

Leaving the matter of Momo aside, Shishio talked with Usa about their plan to go to the theme park.

Usa had asked Shishio to create a chance for him, so he could show his best side to Ritsu.

Shishio thought the best place to do this was at the theme park, so in the morning, they walked to the vending machine located on the edge of the school, talking to each other about their plan in a straightforward way.

"Did you bring the money?"

"Um, yes." Usa took out his money and respectively gave it to Shishio. "Please check the amount, Oga-kun."

Shishio took the money from Usa, checking the amount of it while sitting on the bench. After he confirmed the amount, he knew this money wasn't enough to treat everyone, but it didn't really matter since he wasn't that cruel.

"..Is-Is it enough?"

Shishio looked at Usa, and somehow he could see this guy was slightly thinner. "What's wrong? You seem to be so exhausted."

"Well..." Usa yawned as he sat on Shishio's side. "I have been working for many days in a row, but don't worry. Even if my body collapses, my spirit won't!" His eyes were burning, showing his passion for getting the heart of the woman he loved.

"..."

Shishio was in silence for a moment before he patted Usa's shoulder gently. "Good. I receive your spirit. For now, go and take a rest. I'll take care of the rest."

"O-Oga-kun..." Usa wiped the tears from his eyes, looking at Shishio as if he was his long-lost brother.

"Stop it. Don't look at me like that. I just created a chance for you. If you fall, then that is." Shishio quickly stood up and dodged when Usa wanted to hug him.

"Bu-But even so..." Usa felt Shishio was his best friend since Shishio had helped him so much.

"Enough! Don't say more!" Shishio shook his head and said, "Let me remind you of something, Usa."

"Yes?" Usa looked at Shishio in confusion.

"If you fail, it doesn't mean everything is over, alright?" Shishio said since he didn't want Usa to get all moppy and depressed.

"Eh?" Usa was surprised and asked, "So if I fail, I can confess to her again?"

"No." Shishio shook his head and said, "If you fail, it is better for you not to talk with her for a while."

"Why?" Usa was confused.

"The feeling of rejection is harder than you imagine. If you keep looking at her, you'll act irrationally, and you won't know what you'll do. It's better if you calm yourself for a while or just search for a new woman," Shishio said calmly. He thought for a moment and said, "You remember about Tagami, right?"

"Um, yeah, what's wrong with Tagami?" Usa didn't know what it felt like to be rejected, but he was confused when Shishio suddenly mentioned Tagami in their conversation.

"He had told us before that he had been rejected by the manager of the soccer club, right? You still remember how depressed he was at that time, right?" Shishio said.

"Yeah..." Usa sighed when he thought about Tagami since that guy was all depressed and moppy for a week, but Tagami quickly recovered since the girl Tagami confessed wasn't everything to him.

Tagami only thought the manager of the soccer club was cute, so he tried his luck, but he was rejected.

That's all.

However, Tagami didn't let that rejection make him all depressed. Instead, he quickly found a new girl and went on a goukon (group date) with his friends.

Shishio knew Usa understood how Tagami was, so he didn't bother to say anything. He just patted Usa's shoulder and said, "Then, I'll prepare the rest. You should prepare your heart."

"Thanks, Oga-kun." Usa nodded, but then he started to think, what if he was rejected? Could he act like Tagami? Could he search for another girl?

Usa wasn't sure, but for now, he felt he should have a chance with Ritsu, right?

Usa thought positively and thought he should be able to do it.

Watching Usa's back from the corner of the wall, Shishio could read Usa like an open book. However, he didn't intend to say anything since he knew when someone was in love, they had become blind. Therefore, it was impossible to say anything to that person.

If Usa could gain his happiness, that might be the best, but what if he didn't?

The only thing Shishio could do was to stop Usa from becoming a criminal or a stalker. After all, the world was big, there were many women in this world, and there were also many beautiful women who didn't trigger his system. Instead of focusing on one woman, it was better to search for others.

However, sometimes, many people thought that woman was the only one for them, and they didn't want to give up even if they failed in their confession.

In such a case, one needed to calm themselves by distancing themselves from the women they loved with. They shouldn't talk with the women when they were still preoccupied with the feelings of rejection from the women since even if we seemed alright and might seem unfazed, without a doubt, the feeling of rejection would cause an irrational act whenever we were around the women we confessed to.

It was better to expand our world by talking to different women and doing other activities, so we could think clearly about whether we really love the women that we confess to or not.

One might give up and choose other girls, but it was normal since our time was precious, and it was too wasteful to chase after one girl that we didn't know would give us an answer that we wanted to hear, so instead of trying to get this girl to fall for us, it was better to search for others.

However, one could also not give up and continue to love the girls that made our hearts fall.

Still, no matter what choice we had made, there was no right or wrong.

The only thing that Shishio hoped was that Usa wouldn't make a choice that would make him regret it.

Shishio suddenly thought about Ritsu and couldn't help but let out a sigh, wondering what was so good about her except for her beautiful face. However, he also couldn't deny Ritsu was a charming girl, and without a doubt, her personality was suitable to become his wife too. Still, he had too many women, and he had passed the age of being active.

Instead, he was passive, and unless the girls made a move, he wouldn't move.

It wasn't that he had given up on his path to becoming a scumbag.

Instead, he had changed his method or how he acted now.

Shishio had decided to become current, letting the girl become the ship, following him subconsciously, and made them make the first move.

Still, this wasn't the time to talk about this.

Shishio was going to talk about the matter of the theme park in the clubroom later when everyone had gathered together, but before that, he needed to go to Saki's class since there was something he needed to talk about with her about, so after the break, he left from his class to her class.

---

During the break, the cloud turned dark, and the drizzle turned into heavy rain after a while.

The students that usually ate outside decided to stay in the class to eat their lunches.

Hikigaya was also one of them.

As a loner, it was impossible for Hikigaya to eat in class since it would appear unnatural to eat alone, and he also didn't want to become a topic of conversation among the group who stayed in the class.

It was also the reason why Hikigaya often walked out of the class and ate outside, watching the scenery of the school in a peaceful manner until the break ended. However, with the rain, it was impossible for him to go out.

Still, it didn't matter since he knew he wouldn't attract much attention and just ate quietly while listening to non-existence music on his earphones.

The book and earphones were something essential for him since they would make him appear busy among all the students in the class.

Hikigaya would also show everyone not to bother him, but during his stay in the high school, there weren't many people who bothered him either, except for the time they needed to collect homework and other tasks.

Still, this time, there were few people that caught on to his observation.

Hikigaya might not tell anyone, but he had a hobby of observing people. The reason why he didn't tell anyone about this hobby was that it wasn't a respectable hobby, and he also didn't have anyone to talk to either, so he just kept silent about it.

The first person who caught his eye was Kawasaki Saki.

While Saki might not talk much, she started to get the attention of other people, but she was too cold, and except for Ebina Hiba, who often pestered her, she glared at everyone, causing them to fear her.

Still, what made Saki interesting was Shishio's girlfriend.

Hikigaya couldn't imagine how Saki could show a loving expression or something, but when he thought about Shishio, he felt it was possible for him to draw Saki's cute side.

However, Hikigaya didn't observe Saki too long. Instead, he observed Yui and her clique. Hearing their conversation and how Yui kept praising Yumiko Miura, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed since it felt like he came to a feudal society, where the people below had to bootlick the people above.

'If it's like this, it's better to be alone.' Hikigaya thought, but then Saki attracted his attention again since she didn't seem to walk out of the classroom. After all, usually, Saki was the first person who walked out of the class without hesitation, but this time, she didn't, which made him curious.

'Has he fought with his girlfriend?'

Still, it had nothing to do with him, and the world of scumbag wasn't something he could understand.

Hikigaya thought to eat his lunch in silence, but who would expect his acquaintance would get into trouble.

'Well, before that...'

Hikigaya ate all the bread in his mouth before he walked in the direction of the teacher's office, considering he was called by Hiratsuka. Hopefully, nothing will happen, but frankly, 100% something really happened.