Chapter 4 — Denouement

[One omitted non-consensual sex scene later]

Well, that could have gone better. For instance, if Hayato-sama was more responsive and not out cold. Doesn't matter though; we were each other's firsts, so Miura and all the other girls will have to live with that fact.

Reluctantly separating our lower halves, I clean myself up and begin putting my clothes back on. I even contemplate preserving this moment with a memento, but I'll just have to settle for these shared memories between the two of us. Don't worry, Hayato-sama, I'll make sure to clean you up afterwards as well.

Suddenly, a slow clap resonates throughout the room. I know for a fact that the door was locked after I came in, and anyone trying to enter after that should have made more noise. Whirling around to find the source, I freeze when a silhouette emerges from the other corner of the room.

Stepping out of the shadows, I find myself face to face with none other than the bitch who played me for a fool during the Cultural Festival, Yukinoshita Haruno.

What the FUCK is she doing here?

"Bravo, Sagamin~. I didn't think you had it in you to cross that line." Her sarcasm makes me wonder if the Haruno from that other time was merely a mask she wore.

"Don't act so familiar with me, you fucking bitch." If not for you, Hikigaya might still be alive. It doesn't escape me that I literally killed him, but I'm not to blame for the root cause.

"'Fucking bitch', huh? That's a pretty apt description of you, at least from Hayato's point of view." She casually takes my words and throws them back in my face. "Course, you probably traumatized him for life with your little act of selfishness, but what do you care, Sagamin~?" She keeps taunting me with that nickname that she has no right to call me by.

"You could have tried to stop me at any time, rather than hanging back and enjoying the show. Or did you not intervene precisely because you like to watch?" It's pretty clear that the elder Yukinoshita is an S-type. [1]

"Oh, believe me, if Hayato had screamed for help, I would have been the first to rush over and save his precious thing from being taken by you," she proclaims in a mock-indignant tone. She then grins, following up with, "However, not only did he not shout, 'Save me, Haruno! You're my only hope!" but I'm also not his guardian. Therefore, I can't be held responsible, even if this does technically make me an accomplice to a serious crime."

I exhale, only slightly relieved that she isn't going to come after me as revenge for Hayato-sama. "So, what happens now? You obviously overheard everything, I bet. Did you happen to bring a recording device to later bring to the police as evidence?" Unlike my last encounter with a still-alive Hikigaya, I didn't have my stun gun on me at the moment, having left it in my bag back in the classroom.

"Ha! I should have thought of that!" Haruno makes an exaggerated hand-smacking motion to her forehead, the sound resounding through the mostly empty room, population: three. "Rest assured, Sagamin~, I'm not here to turn you in or to even ask you to turn yourself in." Good, because I intend to avoid going to prison at all costs, even if the roadblocks keep increasing. "I just came here for some answers, that's all."

I don't buy it for a second, but if I can bluff my way out of this, I can still keep my freedom. I don't know if this is actually a ploy for her to buy time until the authorities show up, but I don't have any other options right now.

"Before I answer your questions, tell me something: was it you who delivered the jar to Hayato-sama?"

"100 points! Gosh, you're such a smart girl, Sagamin~." That nickname from her again.

I keep my distance from Haruno, though she isn't making any obvious advances to close the gap or approach Hayato-sama's prone body. "How did you even know that it existed? Let alone where it was?" I wasn't the most oblivious teenager; if someone was following me home, I think I would have noticed!

Haruno twirls in place, meaninglessly, her playful mood at direct odds with the tense atmosphere. Maybe only I was feeling the tension; after all, I didn't exactly have a weapon to threaten Haruno with. "Technology is a wonderful thing, wouldn't you agree?"

"What?"

"You'd be surprised at how much detail a drone-mounted camera can capture these days!"

This sounds like something out of a cookie-cutter spy thriller. "You were spying on me? Invading my privacy?" I know that my crimes pale in comparison, but acting, no, being indignant is the only way hypocrisy won't swallow me up.

"Not just you, Sagamin~. We deployed dozens of them, but your place was the one that gave us pause." So she just cast a very wide fishing net, with absolute disregard for the other innocent parties, all just to find me, the culprit. "Once we zoomed in and found an optical match to Hikigaya's missing eyes, we sent a 'professional' to retrieve the object without alerting the neighbors."

FUCK. She's willing to throw her weight around and use all her family connections in this search. What kind of monster am I up against? I bet she could literally get away with murder!

I try to think of another retort, something, anything, to break this stifling silence. She clearly has much more she wants to say, but she's waiting for me to make the next move, denying me the option of passing. I wonder if this is a setup for her to blackmail me, but honestly, there's not really all that much she can extract from me, given our relative social standings.

I could probably easily outrun her, especially since she's wearing high heels. But I would at least need to take the jar with me. The lone eye, coincidentally looking in our direction, silently judges us, but I don't believe in the supernatural, so there's no worries about being cursed by his spirit.

But one thing still isn't adding up. As far as I know, Haruno's family has no strong ties to Hikigaya's family, so this isn't out of that kind of social obligation. Sure, it seemed like she teased him that one time during the festival, but I seriously doubted they were in a secret relationship. She wasn't just out of his league, she was out of his stratosphere.

"Why would you go so far for him?" If she answers, 'He was my lover,' I might just throw up then and there.

"Let's just say I find, well, found him intriguing." What a vague non-answer, doesn't give me anything to work with. "He is, was, different from the other guys, who clearly didn't see my as anything more than a trophy to be won, a challenge to be conquered." She chuckles, apparently thinking back to some memories of their interactions. "In fact, he might have actually been the only man to not cherish the attention I gave him! Can you believe that?"

"Maybe he didn't want to deal with the constant jealousy from those around him." I can't believe I'm entertaining this dumb idea of them together. "He's not exactly well-liked to begin with."

"Funny you say that, because I initially thought Hayato had finally snapped and taken his rage out on Hikigaya." She gestures to Hayato-sama, like there was any possibility I would think she was talking about another Hayato. "But I immediately came to my senses and realized that Hayato is too weak-willed to ever do something like that."

The feeling of déjà vu causes me to shake my head, not liking the direction of this conversation.

"What do you mean, that Hayato-sama was a suspect?" It's true that he didn't get along with Hikigaya, but that doesn't mean Hayato-sama would ever stoop to such lows.

Again, I dryly note the irony of these thoughts coming from me.

"Did Hikigaya ever tell you about why Hayato doesn't have a girlfriend, despite his high stats in every relevant field?"

I think back to the rooftop conversation, how Hikigaya mentioned that Miura, annoying satellite that she is, had had no success in getting Hayato-sama to see her in a romantic light. How I, and the rest of the non-competition, would also never win Hayato-sama's heart. How I had told Hikigaya to SHUT THE HELL UP.

At first, I had thought the 'her' in 'simply because you aren't her' was referring to Yukinoshita Yukino, the younger of the two sisters. With Hikigaya out of the way, (thanks to yours truly), one would have expected the development where he goes to provide emotional comfort to Yukino, who, despite her Ice Queen exterior, ostensibly still has a human heart. But it seems that didn't happen.

So why is Haruno telling me that Hayato-sama could snap? There's no other girls he could be interested in that happened to be interested in Hikiga-

…

…

…Are you FUCKING kidding me?

Haruno is the girl that Hayato-sama is interested in?

So that means Hayato-sama really was jealous of Hikigaya over something, or someone is this case?

I can't reconcile these facts in my brain. This can't be real. Haruno must be playing tricks on me!

I take a step back, careful not to trip over Hayato-sama and damage him. Haruno hasn't said anything since, simply staring at me in amusement. Bitch, your mind games won't work on me this time.

"My question remains unanswered, Haruno." That's the first time I refer to her by name out loud. "Hikigaya doesn't sound like he was a close friend of yours, let alone anything more than that. You don't seem particularly motivated to help Hayato-sama, either." Now it sounds like I'm the one playing amateur detective!

"Really?" she exclaims. "All these hints and you still haven't pieced the puzzle together yet? I thought you were brighter than this, Sagamin~." I notice her tone has changed into something slightly more unhinged. "Hikigaya was a playful distraction from the constant ennui of life. A rare toy that offered a more unique experience than others. But now that he's gone, I need to find a new to fill the void left behind."

This woman is dangerous. Bad news. I can see why Hikigaya tried to avoid getting involved with her, as futile as that was.

"Hayato used to fill that role, but he tries too hard in all the wrong places, which I quickly tired of." She glances at the boy, still in an indecent state, shaking her head. "And after today, he's definitely not going to be of much use to me anyways."

Why is she telling me all this? I can't be certain, but I know her intentions for me are anything but positive. She isn't out for justice nor vengeance, which I might have had a chance to reason with her.

No, she's doing this for her own selfish gratification.

"And that's where you come in, Sagamin~." Haruno inches closer and closer, but at a glacial pace, almost daring me to make a sudden movement.

I avoid spouting the cliché line, "Stay back!" because every time a character says that, of course the opposite is going to happen. I slowly back away and sidestep, never breaking eye contact.

"You're going to be their replacement, one for the price of two."

What am I, a doll? I stumble over nothing, barely catching myself on a table to regain my balance. Was all of this a trap? Did Haruno expect Hayato-sama to fail to convince me? Was this her Plan B?

"You really should've listened to Hayato when he gave you the choice to turn yourself in."

Five minutes ago, I would've responded with a "HELL NO", but now, I'm not so sure this is much better. Is Haruno going to kill me right here, right now?

"But this is so much more fun for me, seeing you come to the realization yourself." To my horror, the gap is now half as much as it was before Haruno dropped all pretenses.

"Ha…ha. I don't swing that way, Haruno. You witnessed that firsthand, right?" My heartrate is rapidly increasing, the adrenaline pulsing through my body, my mind screaming at me to put as much distance between me and this demon.

"Oh, don't be mistaken, Sagamin~. What you did to Hayato is just barely the tip of the iceberg of what's in store for you."

I'm confident that there is still a chance for me to escape, but that is dashed almost immediately when Haruno takes out a small object and slams it into me. The electricity courses through my body, my mind recognizing the irony of a stun gun being used against me.

"You know what they say, Sagamin~."

The last thing I see before everything goes black is Haruno's maniacal grin.

"An eye for an eye."

END?

Author's Notes:

[1] S = Sadist, as opposed to M = Masochist.

This originally started out as a one-shot (what is now Chapter 1). Had I left it at that, I might have been satisfied with the open-ended nature of what exactly happened to Hachiman.

Just between you and me, the final pun is what spurred me to write a continuation. There isn't much to work with as far as a potential sequel goes, but after I get more stories out of the way, I may come back to tweak and tune this one.

I doubt any of my future stories will be as edgy and grimdark as this one. (With exactly one known exception)

Shoutouts to u/shadbin10.

[1/3]

Epilogue

[POV Switch — Yukinoshita]

In the end, the authorities never found the culprit behind Hikigaya-kun's brutal murder. Without any leads, they deemed the case unsolved and stopped appearing on school grounds.

The funeral service was attended by a small group, mainly family and those who we met and helped through the Service Club. Komachi took her brother's death especially hard, her wailing echoing into the heavens, where Hikigaya-kun's spirit now resided.

Gradually, most of the students and teachers returned to their previous routines, unfazed by the loss of one student.

Two students, actually.

It seems that, coincidentally, after Hayama's confrontation with Sagami, she stopped coming to class. The official explanation was that her family had moved away due to her parent's work, but I wasn't buying that suspiciously timed disappearance. However, whenever I tried to ask Hayama about what exactly had transpired that day, he would always shrink back in terror and curl up, sobbing quietly. I hope he gets the necessary professional help he so desperately needs.

Yuigahama has lost much of her former zest, knowing that the Service Club will just be the two of us for the foreseeable future. It doesn't help that Hikigaya-kun's sudden death deters any prospective members from even considering our club, rumors of a curse floating around.

Isshiki doesn't come by as often, not just because her servant is gone, but also because she, too, sometimes breaks down and just cries her heart out. I greatly sympathize with both girls, though I put on a brave front for their sakes and to give them a shoulder to cry on.

I need a shoulder to cry on, but I have no one to turn to.

Nee-san knows more than she's letting on, but I cannot get a straight answer out of her. That, more than anything else, frustrates me to no end. Being denied the closure I seek, the forbidden knowledge that is just out of reach, drives me crazy. She knows something. And I bet my life that it's whatever ties Hikigaya-kun, Hayama, Sagami, everything together.

She tells me, "Need not to know," as if this somehow wasn't something I have a very personal stake in.

She tells me, "Ignorance is bliss," as if the pursuit of knowledge is something I haven't been instinctively doing my whole life.

But, more than anything, whenever I talk to Nee-san over the phone, I swear I hear something that sounds like whimpering. I know that she doesn't raise any pets, and that her social life does not include bringing people over, preferring to not let anybody get to close to her.

The last time I heard it, I wanted to bring it up, ask if she had simply left her television on too loud.

But it didn't sound like it came from a program.

And that scared me immensely.

I don't know if Nee-san has changed since the incident. I don't know what Nee-san is thinking. I don't know what Nee-san is planning.

All I know is that Nee-san is right: some things are better off left in the dark for my own good.