Hikigaya Hachiman, 16 years old. Fairly athletic, reasonably handsome, if a bit ragged from bad lifestyle. His family was neither rich or poor, more like upper middle class.

He went to Japan's #1 Elite Shuchiin Academy High School through pure scholarship. It was a hard work, a lot of blood and sweats were shed, nevertheless, here he is, half a year later and this is the second semester of his unusually boring high school life.

He had decided that the idyllic boring life needs to stop. His best friend Shirogane Miyuki have decided to go for Student Council Presidential Election, and ask if Hachiman want to join him in the council.

Hachiman declined.

Part of him wondered, if accepting the invitation was the right thing. Nevertheless, Miyuki respected his decision, and this path separation didn't make two of them any less friendly with each other. The path of near-brotherhood more or less tempered over the course of summer vacation, Hachiman wasn't too worried.

Nevertheless, it was a road not taken, no use crying over spilled milk.

With a bit of rebellious streak, superfluous fund he don't know what to do, Hachiman picked a drowned motorcycle from a semi-famous used bike dealer in Tokyo. To be honest, it wasn't really worthy of bragging, it was purely lifestyle choice. Nevertheless, it might just affect how people view him.

…it was a Yamaha Dragstar 250, a Cruiser bike with low, comfortable ride. And also resembles gangster bike. This surely will never backfire!

It was the first day of the semester and Hachiman ended up, somehow, tangled up with Yakuza group and its Princess. Narrowly escaped with his life and dignity intact, he ended up knowing her more than before, originally as stranger even though the two of them were in the same class.

He gave her a ride to school when traffic jam blocked her family car, so she managed to avoid tardiness on the first day in the semester. She owed him at least that much in the end, among other things.

Her name was Ryuju Momo, the primary heir to Ryuju group, the biggest Yakuza group in Tokyo Metropolitan area. It could be said that they conquered half of Japanese's underworld, though most of their business appear legit.

Eh.

Hachiman wasn't quite as comfortable with her as he was with Miyuki or his sister, nevertheless, Hachiman and Momo built a strong sense of friendship and camaraderie.

Thinking that his chaotic school life more or less stabilized, managed to keep his grade high for one semester, and all that important things, he wonder if he should begin searching potential girlfriend?

Heh.

Asking to get heartbroken again perhaps?

Who knows?

...

Before he knew it, the hectic September had passed and the new Student Council began their work. Shirogane Miyuki was known as the first outsider student to be elected President for a while. The importance of social caste in Shuchiin Academy cannot be overstated, and Miyuki's background as a poor, destitute outsider student reliant on Scholarship was quite a hot topic to argue about. Nevertheless, he gathered enough votes to get elected, thanks to his peerless effort.

Sometimes Hachiman wondered, is there such a thing as a genius at hard work? Because cynically speaking, Shirogane Miyuki was a talentless hack forcing himself into this cruel and unjust academy. Nevertheless, the strength of his determination was what allowed the two of them to be friends like this.

Standing beside him was a deathly cold Goddess of death, or so Hachiman like to call her, the Goddess of lonerdom. The so-called perfect girl incarnate, blessed by numerous talents and achievement, born into one of the most elite families in Japan, the Shinomiya. That is, Shinomiya Kaguya.

All this time, more than half a year, Shirogane Miyuki put so much effort into chasing her shadow. Of course, Hachiman also contributed and helped Miyuki passed multiple trials and tribulations that allow him to be a perfect man worthy of her attention as rival and equal.

Hachiman have an inkling that there's something beyond simple rivalry into their relationship, nevertheless, he decided not to meddle unless asked.

生徒会のやり方が選ばれなかった

The Student Council's Road was not taken
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: ZeroXSEED (Unedited)

Based on: "The Council's Road, not taken" in Questionable Questing

Chapter 1 - Hachiman want to speak...

It's time for him to begin his second elective class. The previous classes last semester were uneventful, though Miyuki was there so Hachiman never get bored. Nevertheless, Hachiman decided to pick a different subject than him this semester.

Hachiman decided to pick Journalism.

From a practical standpoint, this is basically the densest and productive elective class. You're taught foreign policy, language, general research and publishing, and 100% of the activities were done using computers. In other words, almost everything relevant to the modern job market.

Hachiman wonder what kind of people he'll meet here?

From what he heard, most of the big names went for Calligraphy again this semester, so Hachiman was unlikely to meet a bunch of bigshots. Nevertheless, that's not really a problem for him, as someone who has very few friends in the first place.

Wrong.

It seems that two anomalies had slipped under the radar.

Kashiwagi Nagisa was the Daughter of the President of a major shipbuilding company in Japan, looking at that fact, it sounds like someone Hachiman shouldn't really deal with casually. Though admittedly, it's not as if Hachiman wasn't not chummy enough with Ryuju of all people.

But the second one is even more terrifying.

Shijo Maki was the Daughter of Shijo Group, an offshoot family branch of the Shinomiya who decided to expand outside as the Shinomiya dominated the Japanese economy. Shijo group was a massive multinational conglomerate, and its total wealth and influence were not less than Shinomiya's own, combined.

Along with them, the more noticeable sort of students there was Kino Karen and Erika Kose. Kino Karen was the daughter of Bodansha's CEO, a major publishing company in Japan. Erika Kose, if Hachiman remember, her family owned a Miso Company.

Unfortunately, aside from that, his information on them was fairly limited. Nevertheless, he had to work with what info he had.

And so began the introduction to Journalism class. To be honest, Hachiman studied this ahead of time so it should be easy to relearn everything with a preexisting foundation of knowledge. Nevertheless, Hachiman decided to work at his own pace.

Hachiman decided to keep his work hard as normal.

Part of him felt that it was pointless. To work is to lose, that was something that both him and his father agreed. Unlike normal subjects in mandatory classes, elective classes have no objective grading and examination. It was purely there to fill in for wasted weekdays so that students won't be idle or waste their youth in dangerous stunts, while at the same time learning useful stuff at their own relaxed pace.

However, at the same time, Hachiman also believe that hard works always go rewarded. Unlike dreams who betray many, hard work betrays none. After all, Hachiman wouldn't be here without working hard to earn that damned scholarships.

Part of him still a bit stiff when communicating with people, but it was hardly as bad as it was in middle school. Shirogane Miyuki had been helpfully teaching Hachiman at the very least to stop looking creepy in front of people.

Being proactive allowed Hachiman to get closer to people who nominally away from his reach, especially when he caught their interest. No one dislikes hard worker, people only dislike tryhard attention seeker. And Hachiman is not, he worked hard for his own sake.

The attention one get can be a blessing or a curse, being the center of attention can be tiring and too much hassle.

"What it means to be a journalist?"

What an idle question, but also a very important one.

"Someone who writes a journal about an ongoing or recent event." That would be the literal answer to that question.

"Ehhhh?!"

Ah, there goes again, his trauma came back. What's with girls and laughing incessantly over the smallest thing? It always confused him out, so he decided to smile at her in response. Nice girls are truly the worst!

"You're too hilarious!" Shijo Maki laughed incredulously, her twin tail flailed as she did.

And then there's this bitch!

"Then let me ask something back in response." He told them, "What's the most important aspect of a news piece?"

"It has to be up to date, what use of news about things that people already know." Shijo huffed arrogantly, seriously this girl's ego is bigger than the collective heads of this class can contain.

"Umm, it has to be appealing or catchy?" Kashiwagi guessed, "I mean people need to be interested to know about it in the first place."

"It has to be accurate and authentic." Kino and Kose said, somewhat seriously. As expected of die-hard Mass Media club members, they embody the true core of journalism. Nevertheless, ideological purity never brings you anywhere in this corrupt and unjust world...

The girls ended up arguing among themselves right in front of Hachiman, and he was being ignored completely now. That's not shocking actually, that's more or less expected.

Hikigaya Hachiman was an unknown mob in the eyes of this group, this would not change whether he got to Shuchiin or not...

These four must be really close friends.

He opened his mouth as he leaned on his chair, with arms crossed.

"When it comes to a news piece, it might be true that the most important thing is the truth." He said to them, "The accuracy of the news might be the most important."

"See? He agrees with us." He could swear that Kino's nose seems to grow by a couple of inches with how smug she looked at the moment.

Kino Karen was a beautiful girl, that much Hachiman have to admit. From first glance, her face didn't look fully Japanese at all. Hachiman wasn't sure if it was just recessive genes or she really had foreign blood but that's not important. With her hair being the longest among others, exposing her forehead, Karen radiated unusually feminine aura.

When she stopped talking that is.

Or maybe Hachiman was too prejudiced. That was likely the case.

Kose Erika was much more traditional Japanese beauty, compared to her. She's not exceptional, otherworldly beauty like the famed Shinomiya Kaguya, but that actually makes Hachiman more bothered. It's as if someone like Erika is within his reach, and that thought is terrifying.

Kashiwagi Nagisa had this airy, innocent and childish aura to her. Like a sheet of white silk, it was quite tempting to think she was the type that's easily corrupted. Still, one shouldn't look at people by the cover. Due to her status, she might be more cunning than she appears...

And then there's Shijo Maki. For someone with a physical resemblance to the Goddess Kaguya, she sure lacks even a shred of elegance. Sure, her mannerism was honed, the way she gestures and poses, something like that, the mannerism of a princess. However, in the end, everything was superficial.

This group of four sure is messed up.

Then again, neither Hachiman nor Miyuki fit into the definition of a normal.

"But... that's not necessarily because of a moral standpoint." Hachiman explained.

"Huh, why is that?" Erika raised her eyebrows.

"Think about for that moment, actually, you're girls so you probably understand this more than I do." He awkwardly gestured, "Why do girls like gossips so much?"

The four of them looked at each other.

"Curiosity." He pointed, "Most people don't always seek the truth, they seek affirmation for preexisting bias and belief. I know that's true, it's expected, and so on. Most people don't like being proven wrong, and they'll see affirmation through gossips and tabloid news cycles. At the end of the day, most news pieces are built based on an established narrative. In this sense, Kashiwagi and Shijo are correct. Quick and flashy brings in money."

"Eh?" Kashiwagi looked confused.

"But news piece did not stop at publishing." Hachiman smiled ominously, "As news reached the public, there will be reactions. Some praise, some condemnation, clarification, and corrections will soon follow. And when that happens, the courts will get involved. In other words, lawsuits. When a lawsuit happens, the ultimate defense is always objective truth. Unless you throw a sack of money into lawyers to spin harder than a blender, you're not going to win that."

"Scary." Shijo twitched a bit, though she tried to suppress it.

Karen clapped her hands, "Ah I've heard this before because different countries have a different definition and standard of libel, publishing fake news can be disastrous. Not to mention you can still be sued for secondary damages. Even media giants fell into oblivion when the right lawsuit is brought."

"Exactly." He stood up as he shut down his laptop, "Before thinking about selling your story, always make sure to cover your ass. When you're unsure if the information you have is the truth, put a disclaimer."

"Ehhh, what is that? Disappointing!" Erika cringed in response to his words, not that anyone can blame her. This is the kind of person Hikigaya Hachiman are.

Someone who looked too dimly on modern society, while reveling in it. Still, the fact that he managed to talk with classmates (girls) without stuttering, that's kind of achievement by itself.

This talk about news, gossips, and rumors made him reminisce about something. Something that happened in the past, ah yes, his days in middle school. When he confessed to a girl he liked, the eleventh one to be correct, the news spread among her friends and then...

It was hell.

If the truth can be so hurtful to the victim, what about lies? He could hardly imagine how disastrous that would be.

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality." Hachiman laughed as he put his laptop in his bag, intended to leave. The girls looked confused as they tried to process what he said, especially since he said it in Japanese.

Except for one.

"Wait." Maki looked like she turns serious for a moment as she said, "Edgar Allan Poe, wasn't it?"

Hachiman grinned at her wordlessly as he finally left the door on his way out. Miyuki and Momo both have after-school activities in the council, so Hachiman will be more or less on his own.

...

To be honest, it's been lonely ever since the election passed. As part of going home club, it's not like he can't just study his ass harder than ever. But that felt like too much of a waste. After increasing his rank all the way to the top ten, he knew there was diminishing return in terms of the amount of study time versus an increase in exam grades.

Studying harder might not be worth the hassle. As long as he can stay in the top 50, he can still maintain the scholarship.

But if not studying, what else? Should he buy some random games to play? Maybe too much of a waste of money...

As Hachiman walked down the stairs that connected the Shuchiin's front gate and the main road, he heard someone calling im. "Hikigaya-san?!"

Maybe that's just his hallucination?

"Hikigaya-san, wait! OW!"

Ah, that was actually real. And there were two of them.

As he turned his back to face the people in question, he saw Karen and Erika chasing after him desperately. And thus, it caused them to trip one-third of their way down. Fortunately, Hachiman was there to catch them both by the back. It's probably doesn't hurt all that much, but it's super embarrassing. So embarrassing Hachiman got a second-hand embarrassment. He felt the numbness in his arm began to subside as he let them go.

"Ah, th-thank you." Both girls look flushed and moved away.

Eh, not unexpected. They probably feel icky being touched by someone like him.

"Nevermind that, what do you need?" He asked them.

"Umm, if we're not wrong, you're President Shirogane's closest friend, aren't you?"

"Far as Shuchiin academy concerned yeah." Hachiman told them as he continued walking, "You want to know something about Miyuki or what?"

Those two are members of Shuchiin High's mass media club, why wouldn't they be curious? Besides, they're not going to miss a chance by ignoring his close friend when it comes to information sources. That's just common sense!

"Umm, you said it before that it's best to know the truth before spreading stories but." Karen asked hesitantly, "Was it true that President and Kaguya-sama are going out?"

"You're still insisting about this stupid rumor." Erika rubbed her temple, clearly frustrated with her friend's shipper antic. Then again, it's not like the thought didn't cross Hachiman even once. However, Hachiman knew that Miyuki will never keep a secret this big. Especially with how proud and egoistical he can be about his achievement.

There's no way he'll not brag to heaven if he scored with such high-level girl.

"It's not impossible, but that's not really the case at the moment." Hachiman assured them, "They're not dating, this I'm sure."

Whether they are attracted to each other or just Hachiman seeing what isn't there, only God knows. However, what Hachiman very sure about was the fact that they're not going out.

"What do you mean it's not 'impossible', Hikigaya-san?" Erika looked somewhat perturbed as if she didn't approve the idea in the first place.

"Whether they will go out in the future is unclear, but the possibility is not zero."

Especially with how stubborn Shirogane Miyuki was, trying to get her attention. Come to think of it...

Considering what happens between Hachiman and Miyuki in the last six months, Hachiman probably have a part in fueling that fire. It's kind of disturbing how much Shirogane Miyuki improved as a person as long as he put any effort into it.

Shirogane Miyuki was a parody of wretched human beings, with all of his attributes except his face start in the negatives. Yet, looking at he is now, no one would know the old Shirogane Miyuki was someone who has minimum passing grades and incredibly unathletic.

There's no way his effort to pursue Shinomiya will remain unnoticed. Not by Shinomiya, not by the public at large. But Hachiman wondered why the rumor acts as if his pursuit was reciprocated?

Because Hachiman knew that was not really the case. It was blatantly one-sided rivalry, borderline obsession even.

"At the moment, their relationship is more like rivals than lovers, so you better stop imagining what's not there." He told them, "You'll get killed doing that."

"Rivalry?" Karen blinked in confusion, "Ah, I see! Because of their rivalry, their feelings may turn into love?"

Hachiman saw a glint of hope on Kino's clear eyes, and he regretted the fact that he just put a disturbingly romantic situation in a gullible maiden's mind.

"Yes, but that's just a possibility. Seeing as you're obsessed with truth, the idea that they love each other is false. If they like each other or dating, I would be the first person to know."

"That's probably not going to happen." Erika looked relieved but also disturbed, "I understand, we're not going to talk about this to anyone."

"You better do, else no one knows the sheer anger Shinomiya can incite on unfounded rumors." He warned them.

Karen looked like she's a lost cause, however. But as long as Erika stayed there to rein her, things will probably turn out okay.

"Kaguya-sama isn't that petty, she's so perfect and gallant that something like rumor wouldn't leave any stain on her." Erika frowned in response.

"What, really?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Kaguya-sama is like an angel the world has been looking for!" Karen said with starry eyes.

"Her brilliant light shines upon mankind!" Erika agreed and they, in an incredibly disturbing fashion, intertwined their fingers together.

From a distance, it looked intimate and romantic, but seeing them up close like this was horrifying!

"And I believe President Shirogane is the only one qualified to stand beside her, ahh!" Karen shouted.

Erika's enthralled expression turned dark in response and scolded her friend, "I believe that belief is open to interpretation."

Karen, in response, glared back with a certain intensity. "And I'm afraid I can't let that slide."

Hachiman was absolute speechless, one was a shipper fool and one was a Shinomiya fanatic, He was put between a rock and hard place today, for sure.

But at least they're not nice girls, he couldn't handle nice girls. Not with his trauma.

"By the way, you're done? If there's something else you need, ask away." Hachiman told them.

Erika and Karen looked around confused, before they realized it they ended up in a parking spot not too far away from the school, behind an abandoned factory. This is the parking spot Hachiman normally use.

Normally Hachiman just go through the factory complex with his clumsy parkour skill. Many thanks to Ryuju Momo for teaching him that, and he's been improving every day.

Erika looked like she's afraid of something, "Uh, why are we here again?"

"Oh yeah, we're following Hikigaya-san." Karen finally came back to her senses, "Why are we here, Hikigaya-san?"

He looked at her with an incredulous expression, and then presented the Yamaha Dragstar 250 beside him. "I park my motorbike here, why?"

"Wha! The rumored Shuchiin black rider is you?!"

"What kind of stupid rumor is that?!" He raised his voice in pure and utter disbelief.

"Yeah, there's a rumor circulating the school about one rebel student who's involved with the Yakuza and goes around the town on a giant gangster bike, terrorizing everyone!" Karen explained to him.

He looked at his weedy 250cc bike and sighed, they called THIS compact cruiser a giant? Just how sheltered Shuchiin princesses were?

"Look, I'm on good terms with Ryuju group because my friendship with their daughter, doesn't mean I'm a Yakuza too. Besides which, I didn't break any rules, how could I be a rebel?"

Erika squeezed her eyes, "But you're not allowed to bring motorcycle into school."

"And we're outside school now, so I never break that rule." He insisted.

A legal loophole, bitches! How's that?

"That's true." The duo gave up.

"Umm, Hikigaya-san, are you going somewhere after this?" Karen blushed a bit, "H-how about we have some tea? I know a nice cafe around here."

Hachiman froze for a moment, but racked his brains for a more likely explanation. And found one.

"You want to ask more stuff about Miyuki again?"

"Well, that's too." Karen rolled her eyes aside mischievously, "But more than that, you seem to know a lot about media and journalism."

Erika, on the other hand, doesn't look like she had ulterior motives. "Yeah, it would be nice to talk about it with other boys. As you can tell, our mass media club is exclusively girls at the moment."

Well even if Hachiman agree, he'll never spill bad stuff about Miyuki. To be honest, he dislike Miyuki's fake and show off nature, but Miyuki is a hard worker who's willing to run through a thorny part to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Hachiman respect that part of him.

Hachiman might be a wee bit cynical, but he's not a betrayer.

Even if he agreed to go, there's no need to think deeper and look into anything other than obviously superficial, intellectual interest. They wanted to talk about media and journalism, and nothing else.

"Sure."

Seeing not much reason to reject, he agreed with their invitation and joined them in a little tea time after school. It's not as if he was completely lacking in an ulterior motive, to be honest.

It's been six months since he moved to Tokyo, and no girls ever invited him to anything. Sure there's Momo, but she's a basket case. She probably didn't even think of Hachiman as a real man, and hanging out with Yakuza underlings are far away from romantic.

Hachiman was thirsty, that's a fact. He's horny and romance-starved just like every other healthy 16 years old boy. Being invited by girls like this, why would he refuse?

"Great, where should we go again?" Erika asked, "We don't know if any of these cafes are up to your taste, Hikigaya-san."

"Anything is fine by me, even Saize." He straightforwardly told them.

"Sai..."

"...Ze?"

He fully expected them to laugh right there immediately since it's the absolute least romantic place to go. Girls in Chiba also like that. But, for a casual outing? There's absolutely no better place than that. High school students in Chiba love Saize, Tokyo can't possibly be that different.

"It's a joke." He brushed their confusion away immediately.

"What is Saize?" Karen asked.

"Umm, I think it was one of the Italian restaurant chains?" Erika guessed wildly, "Saize... Saizeriya or something?"

"Are you kidding me?"

Just how much anti-plebs are these Shuchiin girls, not knowing one of the biggest restaurant chains in Japan? Honestly, Hachiman pitied them. These girls were basically like flowers raised in a glasshouse, never knowing nature.

"Saizeriya is the best friend of all poor students everywhere. In other words, it's a heaven for us plebeian." He told them, "It's an Italian-themed Japanese restaurant chain with hundreds of branches all over the country. Their taste is so-so, but the main selling point is the immensely low price. People who have been in Shuchiin for all their lives probably never go to one."

"A place where girls of Shuchiin will never go." Erika's eyes widened and gleaming, "Interesting."

"We can make an article out of this!" Karen agreed with her.

"Please bring us there, Hikigaya-san!" They asked him.

Fuck.

No, that's not an understatement. Even though Hachiman pretend to be calm, the excitement of going with two pretty girls combined with the frustration of their ignorance made him ran his mouth needlessly.

Well, it doesn't help that Saize is one of his favorite places, so he took the matter rather close and personally.

"Just make sure you don't have a food allergy or something." Hachiman warned them, "Also the closest Saizeriya is about 8 minutes walking from here."

...

Instead of having they walk he decided to commute them one by one via his motorcycle. He could tell how scared and ashamed they were with how they tried not to hug him but also gripped his jacket tightly since they were afraid of falling down.

And so here they go, Saizeriya.

"So crowded!" Karen muttered, "Is it always this crowded?"

"No, this isn't bad at all, you should see how it looks like during lunch and dinner period." Hachiman scoffed at her almost childlike expression of marvel.

"The interior is huge, but the number of tables is huge, it feels a little cramped." Erika wasn't quite as impressed, but she still paid quite an amount of attention to her surroundings. "Children are running around too."

"There's absolutely no privacy isn't there?" Karen nodded.

"This is what people call hiding in plain sight." Hachiman sighed, "The number of customers is large enough that it's actually easier for someone to hide, as long as they don't appear too fancy. I think the main problem is your uniforms now."

"We'll keep that in mind."

The shock on Karen and Erika's face when they looked at the menu was astounding to say at the least.

"Uhhh... are you sure this isn't a scam?" Karen whispered carefully.

"Rude, this much is expected for us lower and middle-class plebs." Hachiman chastised her, "I told you the price is cheap, didn't I?"

"But not this cheap!" Erika flailed her hands, "I've been to normal cafe and restaurant before, this is too dubious, it's scary!"

"Kose, your father has a Miso company, surely you understand a simple concept such as economy of scale?" Hachiman almos slammed his face on the table out of frustration.

"Yes, of course, I am." She looked a bit insulted by his provocative statement, "What's that has to do with this?"

"Saizeria food isn't cooked on-site, they're prepared in a factory kitchen somewhere in this city and distributed early in the day to the restaurant chains like this." Hachiman clearly explained to them, "They're heated up and served as needed, but for the most part they will be kept in cold storage on the back."

"Amazing."

"I see because you're saving on labor cost by centralizing food production..." Erika looked around, noticing something. She looks at the place where the customers seem to get a drink on their own. "Self-service drinks? For a place this huge and crowded, the number of waitresses was rather minimal? Is this for cost-saving measure too?"

"It's called a drink bar. You pay once, you get unlimited refills as you see fit."

Hachiman's favorite, needless to say.

"How... how convenient," Erika murmured, "How generous."

"Amazing, free drinks..." Erika wasn't that different.

He almost lost it, right there. But He took a deep breath and calmed himself. They're not idiots, just uninformed. And he felt obliged to tell them, if only as Saize aficionado.

"Saize as franchise symbolize the modern food industry, as the cost of labor exceeds the cost of ingredients, it's easier to make food cheap by minimizing the number of human beings involved."

"Amazing!" Karen brightly smiled and praised him, "Hikigaya-san sure is well learned!"

That's just common sense, girl. But then again, what can one expect? Actually, most commoners don't really care about how it works either. They only care about the fact that the food they eat is cheap, safe, and reasonably delicious.

"Let's order our food and drink immediately as we talk"

"Wait wait wait final question." Karen stopped him, "Is there minimal order?"

They must be terrified by the number of calories. Eh, girls are like that no matter if they're rich or not. But they'd be too embarrassed to order small things.

"There's none, just order as you see fit. Excuse me, we want to make our order." He called a waitress, who immediately approached them with a smile. "I'd like Focaccia with cinnamon sugar, milk gelato with coffee jelly, and drink bar."

That's actually plenty of snacks, but to be honest Hachiman's lunch today wasn't too fulfilling.

"Umm, milk gelato with cherry and raspberry sauce, and drink bar... please?" Karen finally spoke after getting over her initial shock.

"Ice tiramisu and custard pudding, and drink bar." Erika ordered what she wanted. Hachiman noticed that she doesn't seem to be afraid of calories, unlike her friend.

They also took some of the pictures of the food and restaurant interior for documentation.

In the end, none of them talk about journalism and instead of talked about restaurants and the food industry. Hachiman have to admit, once he got past the annoyance and disbelief, their curiosity about common things is rather... fascinating.

And to think that compared to the world-class super-elites like Shinomiya or Shijo, Kino Karen and Kose Erika was rather on down to earth? It's kind of horrifying realization.

Hachiman remembered talking with the previous Student Council President and Miyuki. The previous President wanted Miyuki to join and eventually succeed him precisely because he wanted a common person to introduce common knowledge to the sheltered students of Shuchiin.

Alas, Miyuki getting elected never bring any changes to the students as a whole. As shown by the two girls in front of Hachiman.

In a sense, Hachiman won against Miyuki in that regard. However pointless, it brought a small warmth to the back of his mind.

"Wahhh, in the end, we're getting derailed, I'm sorry!" Karen apologized profusely.

"But at least we can write interesting articles now, thank you Hikigaya-san." Erika smiled widely.

"I don't mind, then I shall leave."

"Wait." Karen hurriedly pulled her phone out, "Do you mind if we exchange contacts?"

"Ah yeah, me too." Erika followed shortly.

Now that? That's shocking. In all Hachiman's sixteen year life, never once a girl would voluntarily exchange contacts with him. Whenever they do, it was because obligation, and even then they looked hesitant.

(No, Momo still doesn't count)

But he knew deep down, he shouldn't be too hopeful. Eventually, they'll get bored with him and forget. Even so, is there anything wrong with indulging in it a little?

To be honest, he was conflicted. On the other hand, he felt that giving LINE contact feels a little too soon, it's against his sensibilities. Make no mistake, he thought giving LINE on the first meeting is normie crap, and that's bad.

It feels like too much a leap, ignoring personal space.

On the other hand, giving an e-mail feels too formal and distant. And he doesn't want to get laughed at for being too much of a goody-two-shoes. Even office workers nowadays use LINE, e-mail is very old fashioned. It's like sending letters in the age of Fax.

Perhaps it was the reason why he got dumped and ignored all the time in middle school. He's not ready into this messaging thing.

It's easy to block or get blocked via e-mail contact, but blocking or getting blocked in LINE carried so much more connotation of hostility compared to e-mail. Not to mention, you can tell if you're being ignored purposely in LINE.

That's going to hurt.

Hachiman was not ready to experience that kind of pain again.

"Is E-mail fine?"

"What? You didn't use LINE?"

He exchanged mail addresses with both girls quickly.

"I use E-mail with Miyuki, I mean President Shirogane too."

That wasn't technically a lie, as Miyuki doesn't have a smartphone, the two of them basically communicated with each other through E-mail and normal phone call instead. Aside from Momo, the other girls that he had on his LINE contacts were his sister Komachi, and Miyuki's sister, Kei. He didn't have to tell these two Mass Media girls that He do, in fact, use LINE.

A lot of people told Miyuki to cave in and get with the times, but so far he still refused to budge. This wasn't really a secret, so Hachiman was fine disclosing it, as many other people in regular contact with Miyuki knew that fact.

"Ahh, I'm using the same method of communication as President. I'm so happy!" Karen yelled out, borderline ecstatic even. Of course, even Erika felt disturbed with that brazen display of fangirlism, "Maybe Kaguya-sama too, only exclusively use E-mail with him!"

"Get a grip Karen, what are you doing?" Erika practically yanked her from the sheer anger. "There's no way the smart and dignified Kaguya-sama can be behind the times like that."

Hachiman was about to say that using e-mail is exactly the kind of traditional Ojou archetype would do. Honestly, could that Ice goddess even use emoticon if it would save her life? But Hachiman don't want to get involved any more than He already are. Besides, He might cause Erika's own fangirl side to erupt saying that. No way.

Let alone being ignored, Hachiman had this nagging feeling that he might get harassed instead. This is some monkey paw's shit. Having these two on his contact list might not be worth bragging.

"...I don't even know what to say back in response." He told them, wryly smiled at the same time. "See you next week."

"Ah, see you next week." The two girls momentarily stopped fighting to say goodbye.

At times like this, a strategic retreat is absolutely mandatory!

Anyway, since tomorrow is Saturday, and he has no club activity, he'll probably go to Chiba and spend weekends there, lazying around the house with his beloved cute little sister. That would be nice.

Author Notes: As you can tell, this is an AU of the "The Confession they want is wrong as expected" where Hachiman never joined the Student Council and instead went on his own way trying to survive Shuchiin. This fanfic will focus with ordinary Hachiman interacting with side characters of Kaguya-sama's world and how he will influence them, and how they will influence him.

This story originally told in the form of CYOA/Quest in the Site Questionable Questing, with me as Quest Master.