I wonder how it came to this. Once again, my reluctant body was now once again being led by Isshiki Iroha to some unknown locale. Our winding journey began at the station and included all manner of twists and turns, uphills and downhills. Even my extensive knowledge of all that was Chiba could not help in deciphering the narrow residential streets that now fill my vision.

"Where exactly are we going?"

I threw out my question with a tired voice, carefully measuring the right amount of dejection to elicit guilt.

"I mean, all you said was that you needed help with something and to show up at the station at 6. I didn't sign up for walking all this way without knowing what's going on. Wait, is this about practicing for Hayama again?" Damn, my protective instinct kicked in again, and I ended up going with Isshiki's unreasonable invitation. I set a mental note to stop associating Isshiki with my Komachi sense.

"Ahh, that? That was just a lie to get senpai to come with me, you know?"

Isshiki placed her finger next to her mouth and half turned her head back to me, her flaxen hair shifting ever so slightly with the motion.

"Actually, I'm surprised you fell for it a second time in a row. Senpai, could it be that you're not as sharp as I thought? "

"Don't give me that, what kind of upperclassman just ignores their kouhai when they come to them for help?"

Whatever kind of upperclassman that would be, I suddenly feel like I want to be like them right now.

"Anyways, you'll see soon enough. We're almost there." Finishing her sentence with a grin, Isshiki turned back towards the road in front of her and we continued towards whatever destination she was taking us.

It was another 5 minutes before we finally arrived. What greeted me was a small outcropping set into the hillside, with one bench facing the dim orange glow of the setting sun. Isshiki stood beside me with her hands behind her back. She leaned forward and looked into my face, searching for a reaction.

"Well? Isn't this spot great? It's close to my house, so I used to come here all the time as a kid. I'm pretty busy nowadays, though, so I tend to save it for special occasions."

"Sorry, I don't follow. What exactly did you bring me out here for?"

"To watch the sunset together. It's beautiful, right?"

"Hah?! What are you trying pull? Something this pointless is something only a couple would do, you know?" Crap, I have a seriously bad feeling about this now, for some reason. Ok, calm down Hachiman, use your Chiba knowledge. From this spot I can see 12 major streets that I can recognize, and scattered among them 5 Ramen shops. There's a Saizeriya over there, too. Ok, my love for Chiba has saved me once again. Chiba banzai.

While I was spacing out, Isshiki had turned her body towards me and was now facing me, showing off the front side of her white blouse. The setting sun bathed Isshiki in the dim glow, and my eyes can't help but to be drawn to the contrasting shadows enveloping Isshiki's lower body, her dark frilled skirt covering her slender legs.

"Senpai, are you making a pass at me? Because if you weren't, you should really go ahead and do it already. Seriously, it'll probably work out."

"Eh?" What's going on? My brain that was just saved from total hard drive failure was now being put into a frying pan and melted into mush. Seeing the bewildered look on my face, Isshiki sighed in resignation and collected herself, and once again looked up at me with her hazel eyes.

"Senpai…no, Hachiman. I like you. Please go out with me!"

"S…stop joking around! I'm not the person you're looking for, right? I'm not falling for your tricks again!" Damn, my thinking's all messed up, and I ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind. Rather than brain freeze, this is more like a brain melt.

Seeing my frantic response, Isshiki's face held an expressive of anger. More determined than before, she gathered up her voice once again, this time with more volume and more conviction, she questioned me again.

"Yes or no, Hachiman." She took a step towards me and stuck her face uncomfortably close, I could distinctly smell the lavender perfume on Isshiki's body.

"I'm serious. Do you like me or not? And keep in mind, I'm not taking no for an answer."

"What's there's to ask if you're not going to take no for an answer…?" Isshiki knew all along, and I probably did myself, too. The feelings that I've been writing off as similar to how I feel about Komachi, I probably just didn't want to deal with all of the fallout afterwards. With this, the way that I've viewed myself up until now was well and truly shattered. What an inconvenient truth.

"Yeah, I do."

"Mmph-" My lips are sealed instantly, Isshiki's lips lock with my own as she embraces me with her delicate arms. My senses melt into the hazy background of the sunset. When I realize what's happened, Isshiki is already resting her head on my shoulders, tears welling up in her eyes.

"That's not fair, Hachiman…"

"What isn't?"

"That was my first kiss, you know. To have it after having a confession not be taken seriously. It was my first serious confession too, and it got taken more lightly than the one I wasn't serious about. You really are the worst, Hachiman. No way with women at all."

Isshiki buried her face deeper into my shoulder. I can't stand this atmosphere anymore. It wasn't anything like guilt, or pity, or anything like that. I just don't want to see Isshiki sad anymore, I only hoped with all my heart to see her smile. I see, I think understand now, this may be the genuine thing we were both looking for.

"Isshiki."

"What?"

"Sorry for being this kind of guy. I can't ever get you back your first serious confession, but I have something much better."

"Huh?" I pushed the confused Isshiki off of my slightly damp shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"How about your first time being confessed to?"

"Hachiman…"

"Iroha, I like you. Go out with me."

"Haha, what a half ass solution." Iroha smiled brightly back. "Yes. Of course."

"You know me, that's the only way I know how to do things."

"Well," Iroha began, grapsing my hand in hers. "It was a good try. I'll give it a ten out of one hundred."

Author notes: If you liked it, give it a review! As stated in the summary, there are a few references to chapter 2 of volume 10.5 of the original LNs, and the character relationships start from what was established at that point. So, you should probably go and read that if you haven't already before reading this. I tried emulating Watari's prose as much as possible but it kind of fell back into my own style later...

As I thought, writing a confession scene with only a few chapters of interactions in the original is difficult. I tried my best but there's no easy way to write this without making Hachiman seem out of character. Perhaps a more capable writer than I can accomplish it, or you can just pretend there were more interactions between the two that weren't seen on screen in the LNs, or that this is much later in time. Hey, maybe I'll write those out someday and this won't seem so out of character. We'll see about that when the time comes.