Chapter 2: H and H, N and N. (Note: This chapter jumps from perspective to perspective.)

"Komachi, go to my room and retrieve the bat, it should be before the door."

"Uhhh…. Sure Onii-chan. Wait…. A bat?! As in a baseball bat?!"

"Also… bring me… coffee."

Barely audible words entered my ears as I wake up from an unplanned slumber.

"Yo." Was the first thing I heard after I opened my still drowsy eyes. A figure of a man beside the bed I was sleeping on greeted me as I slowly remove the blanket that was covering my body while I sleep. I could tell…. that the man that was standing there was also the same guy back in the living room.

Also….., I don't know why I do, but I just do….. He still has yet to say it, but somehow….. I know his name…

Hikigaya Hachiman…

"….Yo…." Was the only thing I can think of as a reply with my half sleeping self.

After greeting him back, that man, Hikigaya Hachiman, said nothing back to me and didn't move an inch at all… It just turns out he was putting all his attention into examining me. At least, that's what I assumed he was doing.

"Hey…" Somewhat embarrassed, Hikigaya Hana…. I… called him out.

Yet he didn't answer at all. He just stood in there in front of me like a statue.

"Hey…" I muttered stronger this time.

Silence. Silence was what he gave back.

Fine then, if you're going to act that way I might as well do it also.

I softly rubbed my eyes as to try to remove some drowsiness in them… Then I put myself into a silent and motionless state on the bed as I put my brain into work.

And soon after, I started examining him…

Slim build. This man!... This man that attacked me without a reason at all and even called me a stalker a while ago in my own hous…

Uhhhhh….. my bad, anger took over me there. Where was I? Ahemmm, Ahemmm. This man sported a body build that was not fat yet not that skinny…. It's just right, I guess?

Messy uncut hair. This man looked like he didn't get a cut for about two months or longer, and it looks like he doesn't brush it too often too…

Rotten eyes. W-why does this guy have them…. And why….. why do they look so dead?

An ahoge. What lied on top of his head was a strand of hair that stands proud. I kinda want to pluck it off…

A-Anyways….. these were the impressions I got from him…. He looked like your average man.

"Komachi, go to my room and retrieve the bat, it should be before the door." I said to my sister who was then collecting herself from the mess we had earlier.

"Uhhh…. Sure Onii-chan. Wait…. A bat?! As in a baseball bat?!" Was what she said to me. Right… she still wasn't here when that girl almost knocked my head out of my neck with that bat.

"Also… bring me… coffee." I continued. Man, Am I thirsty from all of those running. It's all thanks to her that I got this exhausted….

….speaking of her…

The girl that made me ran for my life for various reasons…. the girl that just intruded my house yet she herself made irrational accuses against me….. She was now sleeping on the bed right in front of me. She was sleeping soundly and peacefully, it was as if nothing back then happened.

Hikigaya Hana….. huh. I muttered to myself as I stare at the empty ceiling of my room. I somehow feel that what she said back then, which was her name, was true. It wasn't an alias or anything like that….. I just somehow know that it wasn't.

"Oh man…." I muttered to myself after stretching my body a little bit. My body is fatigued and I know it.

Hmmmmmm? I got startled. I got startled because something moved on the bed that caught my eyes.

After that, a single yawn can be heard at the direction of the bed…..

… It was at that exact moment that she opened her eyes.

"Yo." I said to her as she rises from her lying position. It was the first thing that came to my mind and I'm somewhat satisfied with it. I mean it's clean, simple and straightforward. I just wanted to catch her attention anyway.

"Yo." She replied to me.

Hmpff.

Jet black hair extending to her shoulders that was then messily formed into a twintail. A petite build akin to Yukinoshita Yukino's. Round clouded pupils… (wait, clouded?) And last but not the least, a limp ahoge towering on top of her head.

Aside from the distinguishable yet limp ahoge and maybe that cloudy eyes of hers too, I would say she's like your average High school girl.

The two were the same person yet they also had their differences because…..

… even if the two were of the same position…

…. even if they were of the same entity in their respective universes…

…. that didn't mean that the two had to be identical, for not everyone takes the same choice given by fate.

The two Hikigaya's eyes locked onto each other… They identified each other's images with great attention. Monologues filled their minds but only silence was to be heard in the room itself.

"Ahh…."

Hachiman was the first to break the silence with a forced cough. "So…. Hana-san…" He said with a weak voice.

"W-What….. what is it, Hachiman-san?" Startled by him, Hana came back to her senses.

His name is Hikigaya Hachiman. Her mind tells her that, but she doesn't know why. He has yet to tell his name to her but…

Same was with him, he can't remove the name Hikigaya Hana when he sees her. It was hard for him to believe her that her name was really "Hikigaya Hana" but his mind tells him otherwise…

"I don't intend to apologize for the rest of what happened earlier today but I do intend to apologize on that little incident of ours…" Said Hachiman.

"Oh it's fine… it's not like it was all your fault that we ended up just like that….. I have my responsibilities on that too…" Hana showed a depressed expression on her face while averting her eyes from his. "Can we just forget about it?" She said to him.

"Sounds good to me."

What is that thing that the two Hikigayas are talking about? And why do they want to forget about it? Well let's take a look back at the struggle that took place earlier on the living room.

"Can you just release me?" Hana said to him. A tear fell from her eyes for every time she took a breath.

"No." Said Hachiman while gripping her wrists even stronger than before.

"But why? I told you the shit you want so let me go!" She screamed with all her might. Though struggle as she might, she was exhausted beyond all. She came to understand that she can't get out of his grasp with strength alone.

"Was there a deal that I'd release you if you say your name? I don't think so."

"Please…."

"No, not until I made sure you won't…"

"Ouch… C-can you just at least remove your hands? My wrists are hurting like h-hell." Her hands were shaking….. no, her whole body was. Hachiman can feel it, he knows that she's getting hurt. Maybe it was truly too much?

"No is a no." Hachiman let out those words with a face of iron.

"Please….." She cried out again but this time mucous began to flow from her nose. Her cheeks began to take a hint of red too. What she looked like right now was a pitiable girl.

Finally taken over by guilt, Hachiman has let go of her wrists but he was yet to get off on top of her. He just couldn't continue being harsh against a now tired defenseless maiden. "F-Fine.. but once I caught you….."

"Hmppff, well that was soft of you."

Hikigaya Hana smiled as she started to move her now free right hand towards Hikigaya Hachiman's face. A grin can be seen form from her lips, her expression turning from sorrow to that of excitement.

Why excitement of all things? Well because Hikigaya Hana was not a helpless lass and she wasn't a defenseless maiden at all.

It was at that moment that Hikigaya Hachiman knew that he was tricked. He was a fool for believing her. In the end her tears were fake. Her cry was a fake. She did it all so that her hands can be freed.

"Not so fast." Hikigaya Hachiman, cunning as he was, braced himself for her attack even before he let loose of her hands. It was handy at that moment that he was the Hikigaya Hachiman, the one who can see through the façade of others… the one who can't easily be fooled, the one who can't easily be betrayed.

"What the?!" Hana shouted in shock.

"Did you really believe I would fall for that?" Hikigaya Hachiman smiled at her, mocking her seeing as she failed to sneak out her plan.

He had blocked her hand from slapping his face using his left arm.

Everything was at his command…..

Everything …well, except one thing. That one thing was gravity.

You see, gravity had a different idea.

Hikigaya Hachiman didn't take into account that taking out one of his hands that were supporting his whole weight would cause him to lose balance in his pose.

Without an arm to support him, Hikigaya Hachiman's face fell….

…and fell,

….and fell.

And then, finally… their lips touched.

Hikigaya Hana's lips met Hikigaya Hachiman's.

Try as they may to quickly remove themselves from their unwanted positions, it seems that the two are finally out of breath this time. Run this and struggle there, it was no surprise they would be out of energy.

As their lips remained in contact, their eyes widened as their faces came the closest that they ever would be to each other.

"….."

The two can't move, the two can't speak…. everything to them was at a standstill.

Sweat, tears…. well fake tears anyway… and saliva mixed up.

Both of them were quickly overwhelmed. With shock. With hatred. With disgust.

Before they can muster what's left of the depleting energy from their muscles to get themselves out of the situation they were in, their minds were then assaulted by a growing pang of pain as strange flashes of scenes were injected to them.

Their consciousness swirled and swirled into a deep sea of emptiness. Deep inside their own minds, they saw events that were both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time.

"Huh? What's this?"

Hikigaya Hana saw a scene where she confessed to a bespectacled girl, then a scene where she made a girl cry….. and finally a scene where she gets run over by a car…

"Hmmmmmm?"

Hikigaya Hachiman this time saw a scene where he saw a large crowd surrounding him, each and everyone of them wearing either a laughing expression or a disgusted one, then he saw a scene where he saw himself escorting a young girl away from her group of friends… and finally a scene where everything he can see was all blood and nothing else.

The two were as calm as the summer sea inside their mind but their physical selves were a different story. Strange flashbacks made their heads ache like never before.

With the immense pain they were suffering, the two could only wish to lose consciousness to make it go away. And they actually did.

"Onii-chan!" Hikigaya Komachi, who saw everything unfold, shouted on the top of her voice but her brother fainted along with the girl before she can even do anything.

Everything after it was a blur for the two.

So…. all was left in the hands of Hikigaya Komachi.

"So….. where are you going to sleep?"

"Eh?"

"Hana-san, it's 1 in the morning so you can't really go home.. funny that it's been that long since we knocked each other out."

Hana hastily checked the window and sure enough it was as dark as her hair.

"Go home? Shouldn't I sleep her-"

"Well, you can't sleep here since this is my bed." Hachiman interjected.

"W-wait! Since when was this your bed?! And since when was this your house?!" Hana leaped out of the bed, pointing her hands here and there in protest.

"Oh crap, not this again." Hachiman muttered to himself.

"Hey! Listen to me!"

A/N

Introductory chapter to Hana, sort of.