AN: Yahallo~ my lovely reader! I hope you're all in good health as you're reading this.

The first thing I'd like to say, is welcome to my first ever attempt at a normal high school drama setting. I chose Oregairu as a starting point because I recently fell in love with it and have been gorging myself on other fanfictions about it. The problem is, there's so little of them! (TTATT) The stories I found on this site were so good but the amount available was so limited!

So I decided to take this opportunity to contribute to the community! It's also an attempt to try out first person writing style because I've only ever done third person. So if you would please, I'd like you all to criticize on my writing and to give me useful feedback if possible when your done reading.

To my usual readers, don't worry about my other stories. I'm sure you're all used to the long update time for Life After Remnant XB. Though I'd like to focus on it, I'm taking this time to brush up on my other skills and my story writing since I feel I've been deteriorating since my last hiatus. So I hope you guys will forgive me! X3

That's about all I have to say for now. I hope you guys enjoy the story!

Chapter 1: Elementary School Sucks

Bullying.

The act of using superior strength or influence to intimidate someone, typically to force him or her to do what one wants. Bullying is synonymous with Harassment, a term for aggressive pressure and intimidation.

Growing up, I got very familiar with the act of bullying.

Or to be more precise, being bullied.

Children are the image of innocence, a being still uncorrupted by the harshness of life. They have the capacity to be molded and taught the good things in order to fight the bad.

But it's because of this innocence that children can be the cruelest of all. It is due to their ignorance towards consequences that they do not fully understand the impact of their words or their actions.

People would say ignorance is bliss.

But ignorance is just a perfect excuse to act like nothing is wrong.

But probably the number one, cruelest thing about children…

Is that they don't know when to stop.

People are like branches on a tree, bend them too far and one day…

They'll just snap.

"I am so sorry!"

I stared at the scene before me with a blank face. The sight of my mom apologizing to the gathered adults was just ridiculous. If I was more normal I would have shown some hint of anger or maybe shame, but honestly I was currently too jaded to even care. Though a twelve year-old being jaded was a cause for worry, right?

Why was my mom apologizing again?

The faint, painful flare of my bruised cheek gave a jolt to my memory.

Oh yeah, I got into a fight.

Say what?! The passive, always nice, gentle and loving child, Hikigaya Hachiman got into a fight?! Say it ain't so!

Huh? You want to know how it happened? Well it's a long, epic story but I'll try to explain it as best as I can.

So there were three kids who have been picking on me for a while now. I think since the start of sixth grade? So that means… five months! It's been five months since they started harassing me!

So they've been bullying me for almost half a year straight and today I just got kind of tired of it, you know? Maybe it's the whole festering of resentment thing but I blame it on Komachi jumping on my stomach to wake me up this morning.

No wait don't blame Komachi, she's too cute to blame. Festering resentment it is then.

So yeah I just kind of… snapped, I guess. I mean, it really wasn't intentional, or was it? I think the first punch was intentional, at least. Seeing one of your bullies get one hit KO'd by an unexpected punch from the titled class wimp was very cathartic. Though I never knew I was that strong. Maybe I had unlocked my super saiyan blood or something. Will I start growing blond hair?

Well, potential spikey anime hair aside, the whole thing blew up into an epic brawl between the other two bullies since the third one was busy having a face to wood conversation with the tables he knocked into. It turns out kids don't actually know how to fight, myself included. So the epic brawl was just a one versus two scratch and slap match. Toss in the usual pushing and pulling and you have a classic elementary school death battle, WINNER TAKES ALL!

And there you have it. I told you it would be a long story.

… Ok, maybe it wasn't long but it was still epic!

"Hachiman!"

It seems like reality is calling. I'm coming, Mama!

"Huh?"

Perfect first response. Good job, me.

"Get up and apologize to everyone!"

I stared at my mom's angry face, then to everyone else around the room who also had a mix of unhappy and angry faces. Mostly angry I think.

Before I could think of an appropriate response my mouth decided to do it for me.

"Why should I?"

I swore I could hear some people gasping, biggest contributor being my mom. What? Wasn't expecting me to talk back? Please woman, I'm way past being courteous.

"Hachiman! What are you saying?! Hurry and apologize for causing everyone trouble!"

Ok, now I'm getting angry. I may have gotten first blood, but it was still an outnumbered match up! Can't you see I'm the victim here? Whose side are you on, Mom?

"Why should I apologize? I'm the victim here!"

One of the other parents, a woman, stood up and glared furiously at me, "Victim?! According to your classmates, you hit my Tadashi first! No wonder your boy is such a ruffian, you should teach him more respect, Hikigaya-san."

Oh this shitty hag, she may not be the best mom but she's my mom. No one's disrespecting my mom except for me, "You're one to talk, lady! You should teach your kid not to bully others!"

The woman and everyone else were taken aback by my comeback.

"B-Bullying?! Nonsense! Tadashi would never do that!"

"Why don't you ask him that?! In fact, why don't you ask all three of them?!"

The other parents, whom had stayed silent up till now, turned to their respective children. Of course like all children who thought they were about to get in trouble, they did the one thing I expected of them.

They lied.

"I-I didn't do it!"

"We didn't bully him! We were just playing around!"

"Yeah, he's just blaming us!"

But like most kids, they couldn't lie to save their own teeth. I saw the doubt in the faces of all the adults and I knew I now had the upper hand.

"You're just a bunch of liars! Tell them the truth! Pushing me in the corridors! Throwing water buckets at me! The harassment notes! My pocket money! MY SHOES!"

By now I was breathing pretty hard. My mom tried to reach for me to calm me down but I was having none of it. It's time I brought out my secret weapon. The coup de grace.

I grabbed my bag and emptied the contents inside onto the floor. My notebooks and stationary were expected, but the bunch of crumpled pieces of paper and a pair of dirty shoes that looked like it was dumped in garbage weren't.

"Why don't you try lying about this!"

I took one of the crumpled papers and practically shoved it into the hand of the lady who had bad mouthed my mom. She was still a bit stunned but moved to read it.

"Frogs live in rivers. You should jump into a river where you belong, Frog-gaya." She gasped at the end, and so did the others.

"T-This could be just your own doing. You could be f-framing…"

God, was this lady as stupid as her son?!

"Look at his handwriting! If it's not his then it could be the other two! Compare it to one of their notebooks or something! There are plenty of others to go around!"

By now the bullies were sweating like no tomorrow. He could see it, the fear. Serves you right, you bunch of low grade slimes.

"D-Don't listen to him, Kaa-chan! He's just acting weird and creepy like always!"

Oh, stupid Tadashit. You just dug your own grave.

"Like always? What do you mean by that, Tadashi?! Is it true?! Have you been bullying him?!"

"N-No, I-"

"Enough lies, young man! Tell me the truth!"

Seeing no way out, he did the final act of a child; the last resort for any kid who had been cornered and lost.

He cried.

"I-I… sniff… didn't mean… U-UWAAAAHHH!"

Holy fat Buddha can this kid cry. I was expecting tears but not a waterfall. Shit man, get a grip, you're already twelve for heaven's sake. Makes me feel a little guilty…

Not.

The other parents had joined in as well by now, interrogating the other two kids till they were reduced to sniveling trolls. During all this I took a moment to stare up at my mom. She had a look of silent shock and disbelief, like she found it hard to understand what had just transpired in less than a quarter of an hour. Really this is me, your son we're talking about. You should have known after giving birth to me and my freaky ass eyes that I won't have a normal childhood. Did it really take you twelve years to notice?

"Alright, I think we've had enough of this uproar."

Oh, I almost forgot you were there headmaster. You must really like the whole old, wise and silent trope. Did you take it from Dumbledore or Gandalf? Because right now, all you're missing are the dirty robes and the wizard beard.

"Everyone, I think it's best we reevaluate the situation. Thanks to Hikigaya-kun, this whole fiasco has become much larger then we initially thought. Let's all calm down and approach this with a clear head."

And just like that, the situation was back to normal. Well, as normal as it could get. With my job done and over, I decided to go back to rest mode to conserve energy and only half listened to the talk.

Really. Good job, me. You made it through without breaking down.

Was I that tired of this bullshit or did I just not care?

Dinner was a quiet affair.

Usually Komachi would be the ray of sunshine on the table and talk her cute little head off on what exciting things she did today, but oddly enough she was extremely subdued.

Oh yeah, it's because of me and this shitty situation we're in.

I heard the sound of the house front door opening and someone walking in.

"I'm home."

Oh, looks like my old man is back. Mom and Komachi seemed to lighten up as in walked a middle aged man with tired eyes like my own. From what my relatives say, I was the spitting image of my dad when he was younger and that I'll grow up to look just like him. Hopefully that doesn't happen, since I don't want to look like a zombie in a suit when I'm older.

"Welcome home, darling."

"Yay, Papa's home!"

My dad smiled at the two women in his life before his eyes landed on me.

"Hachiman…"

Right, I still look like I came out of a fight with a large angry cat. Maybe I can blame it on our housecat, Kamakura? No, he's too lazy to pick a fight; A proper Hikigaya clan familiar, that one.

Having accepted the inevitable, I gave my dad a weak smile to start things off, "Y-Yo, Dad."

He paused and frowned, as if contemplating how to approach me. A minute later, he settled on giving me a tired sigh and a pat on the shoulder.

"Too tired to say anything now. We'll talk after I get some food in my stomach and take a bath."

"R-Right…"

My dad took his place at the head of the table and got ready to eat. As he settled down, he looked at his family and smiled at us, "So, other than Hachiman's fiasco at school, how was everybody's day?"

I was in my room, lying on my bed and playing my PSP. My homework laid half done on my table but I couldn't find it in myself to finish it.

Whose bright idea was it to invent homework? It's not enough you torture us in school but you have to burden us at home as well. All teachers are sadists. I hope I'll never meet a teacher who would opt for physical violence as well. That would suck.

Somewhere out there a young woman sneezed before chugging down another sake bottle as she drowned herself in post-breakup therapy; getting shit sloshed to heaven and hell.

I heard someone knocking on my room door and instantly knew who it was. Shutting down my game, I sat up and called for my dad to come in. He gave me a tired smile as he walked in before closing the door and moving to sit beside me on my bed.

"So… I heard you got into a fight at school."

"Not so much a fight when all we did was smack each other around like a bunch of kids."

"Look in the mirror, you're still a kid yourself you know. Did you expect it to be like those anime fights you watch?"

"Finding out I have some super-secret hidden power in my veins would be cool… but the collateral damage would have been too much of a hassle. Plus, you'll have a lot of explaining to do at the end of the day instead of me."

"What, you expect me to say we hail from a clan of super ninjas and our sacred task is to protect the princess who has been asleep for centuries now? I may look tired 24/7 but that's not because I lead an exciting double life. Besides, why didn't you suspect your mom for having super powers instead? Heaven knows how strong that woman can be when she wants to."

My thoughts went back to the time in the principal's office and I frowned, "She wasn't much of a super-mom today."

I could see my dad mirroring me with his own frown, "Well, it's the first time she was called in by your school for something like this. She was much more surprised than I was when we heard about your scuffle with the bullies. Trust me when I say she had your best interest at heart, so cut her some slack."

I rolled my eyes at that but nodded at his words before looking up at him in confusion, "What did you mean when you said you were not as surprised as mom? I thought you would have blown your balding head off." While my dad was more of a laid back kind of guy he could get really excitable when he wants to be. Particularly with Komachi when she has play dates and there are other little boys around.

Bloody daughter-con.

"Boy, do you see this head full of hair?! I am still young god damn it! Salt and pepper boy, salt and pepper!"

Oh yeah, and did I mention he was very sensitive about his hair? No? Well, now you know.

The both of us broke out into grins before chuckles escaped us. While its fact that my parents favor Komachi over me, no one can say my dad and I don't click with each other.

"Alright, enough about my hair. When I said I wasn't so surprised, I meant I was partially expecting this to happen someday."

"You mean you actually believed I would eventually get into a fight?"

"It happened to me. I was sure it would happen to you too."

"Huh?"

My dad gave a tired sigh, "Look son, I'm sure you noticed-I mean how could you not-but our eyes aren't exactly the most pleasant thing to look at."

"Captain Obvious much?"

"Quiet, you. I'm trying to talk here. You should clearly know by now how kids your age… well, now that I think about it… anybody, regardless of age, would prejudge someone base on their looks." I nodded at his statement.

"The thing is I knew that someday you would have to go through the same thing I went through, being bullied. It comes with having eyes like ours."

"… That's one shitty bloodline limit. Couldn't we have gotten the byakugan or something?"

"While the ability to see through walls and peaking at girls without getting caught is great, trust me when I say you'll get bored of it quick. Nothing beats the real thing in your own hands."

"Eww… I don't want to imagine what you and mom do while Komachi and I are asleep. Hearing it is nightmare fuel enough." My dad got visibly flustered at that and awkwardly coughed into his fist. Serves him right for giving me sleepless nights.

"Ehem! Uhh… well at least I don't need to tell you about the birds and the bees… Now I just need to pray Komachi doesn't know as well…" Even if you mumble I can still hear you.

"A-Anyway! The point is that I knew this would happen. I just wasn't expecting it in elementary school."

"So when did you think I would have flipped the table? Middle school or high school?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't flip out at all. Just be glad you didn't end up in the hospital like me." My eyes grew wide at that tit bit of information.

"What did you do?"

"Meh, just a little bit of trouble I got into with some old friends from my school days."

"Is that why most of your friends look like they're a part of the Yakuza? Because I swore I saw one of them carrying a gun one time during dinner."

"… Let's not pick on the minor details." You didn't deny it though.

"Look, Hachiman. While I expected this to happen I was still upset that it did. I'm proud of you for standing up to your bullies but violence is never the answer. You got hurt because of it." I look down as I couldn't stand looking my dad in the eye anymore.

He was right after all. Maybe if I had just come clean to my parents, everything would have turned out better.

But what's done is done I guess. Now it's time to face the music.

"So… what's my punishment?"

"… Nothing."

Huh?

I looked at my dad in disbelief, "What do you mean nothing? Shouldn't doing something be considered normal?"

"Hachiman, I already told you. I expected this to happen. Your grandfather didn't and sent me to boot camp instead. Like that did any help. Unlike him, I know what it feels like to be bullied. To just snap under all that hate. So no, I'm not gonna punish you, that wouldn't do much to help you now, would it?" I read in between the lines of his words and looked at him curiously.

"So… what are you going to do to help me?"

My dad smiled at me before placing a hand on my shoulder, "You've been suspended for a day for causing a ruckus. I'm taking a break from work tomorrow so we can have some father-son bonding time. We'll be meeting an old friend of mine early in the morning so make sure you try to get a good night's sleep. I'll show you how I'm going to help you then."

Before I could prod any further, my dad ruffled my hair, got up from my bed and went to the door. He turned back to me and smiled, "Hope I managed to take some of that stress off you, son. Now it's time for the hard part."

I stared at him in confusion before realizing what he meant, "You're going to console mom now, aren't you?"

I swore I saw a perverted glint flash in my dad's eyes, "I did say to try to get a good night's sleep."

"Urgh, you guys make me sick."

"Pleasures of being a married man. Good night, son."

"Night, dad… and thanks for the talk."

"No problem. Any time."

I stared up at the large sign above with a hint of trepidation.

Chiba's MMA MAX Gym.

I turned to my dad and gave him an incredulous look, "So your idea of helping me to stop fighting… is to teach me how to fight?"

My dad grinned down at me, "You've got to learn and understand how bad something is to not do it. Besides, it's about time you learn how to defend yourself."

"I think this is a bad idea."

"Stop talking and start walking. My friend is waiting inside."

We went in the gym and the first thing I noted was how large it was inside compared to its appearance outside. There were two boxing style rings in the center of the space. Large exercise mats covered most of the floor and there were a ton of different equipment laid out and organized at different spots.

My dad approached a large, well-built man with spikey dark blue hair. Seriously, is that even natural?

"Tora, it's been a while." said my dad as he greeted the muscular man.

"Gen-chan! Long time no see!" Did Muscles just call my dad, Gen-chan? That's just pure gold!

For those of you who don't know, my dad's full name is Hikigaya Genji. Yeah, my family has good naming sense.

My dad must have noticed the shit eating grin on my face and gave me an annoyed glance. Hey don't blame me dad, or should I say, Gen-chan.

Pfff…

"Tora, I'd like you to meet my son, Hikigaya Hachiman. It's been a few years since you last saw him, hasn't it?" Muscles now had his attention turned to me. I could feel a slight pressure on myself as his heavy eyes landed on me. Is this the natural presence of a warrior? Japanese men sure are scary.

"So this is little Hachi. You've grown up a little bit since I last saw you, boy. The name's Honda Tora, nice to meet ya!"

"A-Ah, H-Hikigaya Hachiman! P-Pleased to meet you as well, Honda-san!"

"Ah, no need for that, boy. Just call me Tora or Shishou!" (master)

"Uhh… ok?"

Through my blunder of an introduction, he nodded his head in approval, "Good! Good! Well-mannered, just like your father. Though you're a little skinnier then what I had hoped, I'm sure you can handle it."

Uhh… handle what now? Did I miss something?

My dad saw the confusion on my face and decided to clarify things for me, "We talked about it outside didn't we? Tora here is going to train you on how to defend yourself."

I gaped at my dad, "Wait, you were serious about that?!"

"HAHAHA! Gen-chan here told me about the little scuffle you had yesterday. Don't worry, Hachi-chan! I'll make sure to toughen you up so that no one will be messing with you ever again!"

Ok, my dad is officially a liar. No punishment my ass! You're just sending me to the meat grinder!

"Saki-chan, come here girl!" shouted Tora-san, or is it Shishou now?

The sound of footsteps reached us and someone, or more specifically a girl, had approached us. She had short, silver-blue hair and pretty green eyes with a beauty mark under her right eye. A neutral frown marred her pretty face as she stared at the gathered males with a questioning look.

"What is it, Oji-san?" (Uncle)

"I want you to meet your new sparring partner. This here is Hikigaya Hachiman, the son of my good friend here, Hikigaya Genji. Gen-chan, Hachi-chan, this is my niece, Kawasaki Saki. I hope you two can get along from now on."

With introductions done for us, she and I involuntarily turned to each other. She stared at me with a piercing look while I gulped in response. About a minute passed with her just staring me down before she broke the silence herself.

"… You look weak, and what's with your freaky eyes?"

…

…

…

Seriously?

I stared at her unamused while the two man-children beside me decided it be the best time to laugh their asses off.

Again, seriously?

"I'm more of an indoors kind of guy, and blame my eyes on my dad. It's technically his genes."

She gave me a confused look before shrugging her shoulders, as if saying she didn't even care about my statement. What a wonderful personality.

Well, at least she doesn't look like the talkative type. Quiet and pretty is fine with me.

"BAHAHAHA! I can tell you two are gonna get along just fine!" said Tora-san in the middle of his hysterics.

I looked up to my dad and gave him a tired stare, "Do I really need to do this?"

In response he gave me an amused and slightly wizened look, "Son, when the world is pushing down on you… sometimes the best course of action…

…is to push back."

AN: Alright, so what do you guys think? I hope I got Hachiman's personality somewhat right. He's only twelve right now so he's not gone full monster of logic but tell me if he's too OOC. Well, as OOC as kid Hachiman can be. XP

I also hope you guys like my portrayal of his dad. I know in the light novel and anime he's never introduced so he should be an OC at best. I tried to give him a more laid back kind of personality; Sort of like an older, wiser Hachiman who looks tired all the time.

As for introducing kid Saki, she'll be acting as the sort of childhood friend for now. I'm going with the original green/aquamarine eyes instead of the purple in the second season of the anime. I felt her design in S2 was very plain and underwhelming compared to her S1 design.

Well that about wraps it up. I hope you enjoyed reading this because I had a lot of fun writing it. So for now, see you next time. KitsuneLovers, out!