(Service Club Clubroom, Monday Afternoon, Hachiman POV)

Here am I, ready to talk about what's on my mind these past few weeks. Ready to talk about the burden of the Christmas Event, the stress about my deteriorating relationship with Komachi, and the rift that's forming on the club.

The Club, ever since the Kyoto incident, we haven't been on good terms. With me leaving early to help Isshiki causing Yukinoshita to assume that I wanted to leave the club.

To be honest, at first I didn't want to be here. I wanted to find a way out of this forced punishment our Christmas cake Sensei put me in. But through ups and downs with Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, I have come to appreciate and cherish the time I spend with the club.

Which brings us here, on the clubroom. Me sitting on the request side of things this time, rather than hearing them. This feels embarrassing, if you ask my opinion.

"Hikigaya-kun, what is it?" Yukinoshita asks, confused. I looked towards Yuigahama, to see that she is confused as well.

"Yeah Hikki, why are you right there, do you have a request?"

The silence is deafening, the tension so palpable that it is making breathless. But I have to do this, to tell them what I really feel. "I want something genuine!" There, I said it, I think they will understand what I wanted to convey.

Silence followed after.

Then more silence. I took a look at the two, their faces masked with the same confusion as they had earlier.

""Hikigaya-kun/Hikki, I don't understand.""

What?

They don't understand? How? Did our time here in Service Club mean nothing, that they don't know what I wanted? Did I misunderstand again, like what I did back when I was on middle school? Mistaking their actions as understanding?

Maybe I did. That's why they're confused, because they didn't understand me in the first place. I get it now, it's my brain forcing these beliefs again that led to this moment.

"I don't understand it Hikigaya-kun, will you please explain what you said further?" Yukinoshita asked.

What use would that be, if in the first place, they never understood me? What use explaining it if they won't understand anyway? You know what Yukinoshita, forget it. "Nevermind what I said, it's nothing. Can I leave early? I feel like I'm going to get sick." I stood up to grab my things. Hearing nothing but silence from the two, I made my way towards the exit, quickly leaving the place before spilling my tears. I bumped into Isshiki, who is suspiciously near the clubroom for some unknown reason. Ignoring her pleas for help, which took a lot of effort, I made my way onto the bike racks, where I can ride my bike towards home.

Tears spilled and fell as I cycled towards the house, with the weather getting worse and worse as I continue to cycle. It looks like it will rain today, which is rare since it's winter and it should be snowing right now.

Back to my thoughts, what they replied to me hurt. It's just like middle school again, where I mistook something and acted upon it, not realizing it was really the other way around. Am I really that pathetic, to always fall into the same pattern, and doing it all over again?

"Keika, don't!" A voice stopped my ramblings, making me look towards the source of said voice. It was Kawasaki, shouting to her little sister.

Who is currently in the middle of the road.

"What's the matter Saa-chan?" The little sister asked.

Then a black car showed up, moving faster than the speed limit. Strange, that car looked familiar. If I don't act now, then Keika will be in danger. She might get hit by the said car.

So I acted, biking towards the little girl, making sure to grab her as the car hit us. After getting hit, we skidded onto the pavement. After stopping, I looked towards the young girl, who looked scared. "Are you okay?" That question made her look to me. Then, in recognition, she smiled and said she was okay.

"Oh goodness gracious! Are you guys alright?" The big sister rushed to our side. "Hikigaya! Thanks for saving Keika. Are you okay? Can you stand?" She asked.

I stood up, feeling a bit dizzy, then it hit me. A searing pain like something is broken.

My right arm is broken.

"Crap." Was all I could say. Kawasaki rushed me towards the hospital, explaining the situation to the nurses when asked about it. Great, it's not even 3 years since the last time I broke my leg, and now another limb is broken.

Couple of hours later, I was given the clear and was given a cab so I could go home. Looking at my phone, there were 15 missed calls from home, looks like I worried Komachi yet again. I better apologize tomorrow.

Good thing that when I reached the house, it was almost 10pm, meaning that Komachi already went to bed and I could go in without her knowing what happened. So I decided to go straight to the bath to clean myself up.

Taking a bath with a cast is really hard, so it took a solid 35 minutes cleaning myself. After taking a bath, I decided to sleep as I have school tomorrow.

I woke up early, by the searing pain of my broken limb. Which made me question myself, how do I do chores? How do I cook? Clean the house?

I guess I'll just have to suck it up. No use giving more burden towards my younger sister, who is giving her best studying so she can go to Sobu high as well. I'll have to get out the house before she's awake, or our strained relationship will get worse. I showered, this time quicker as I learned what I should prioritize. I tried cooking anything but being crippled to one arm made it hard. I only managed to cook rice and eggs, with great difficulty.

With the amount I cooked only capable of feeding my younger sister and her lunch, I guess no breakfast for me then, which helps my situation. I will just go buy something on my way towards the school. Let's go and start the day early.

Reaching the school gates, there were only handful of students, making it easier for me to go to the classroom without any hassle.

"Hikigaya." I guess not.

"Kawasaki." I replied. She moved closer to where I was and asked another question.

"Are you alright? How's the arm?" She asked with worried face. It is nice to see someone getting worried about you, sometimes.

"I'm okay, the arm hurts but nothing that I can't manage." I answered. To be honest, the pain is hard to ignore, and I might need some painkillers from the clinic.

"Your face tells me otherwise. I'll come with you to the infirmary if you want." She said. Looks like my thoughts displays on my face.

"No, really, I'm fine. I just need some painkillers to help me deal with this. You can go ahead Kawasaki."

"I insist." The silverette replied. "Come." Then she drags me towards the infirmary. When we reached it, I was thankful that the school nurse made sure that Kawasaki go to our class. After getting some painkillers, I was kicked out of the infirmary with the nurse saying that if it ever hurts again, I shouldn't hesitate to come.

Back to the scheduled program of me getting to class without any problems.

"Hikigaya!" And the program is yet again interrupted by another woman. Hiratsuka-sensei ran towards me. "What happened to you? Did you get into a fight?"

"Just because I look like a delinquent doesn't mean I got into a fight, you should know me better than that Sensei. I broke my arm saving Kawasaki's little sister." I answered.

"Saving a kid from car this time. What's with you and road accidents?" She teased.

"I don't really know. Maybe I was a stoplight before I reincarnated." She laughed at my pathetic answer. Reaching the classroom, I was greeted by the eyes of our classmates. Hiratsuka-sensei quickly dispelled such eyes by imposing her scary aura, making them pay attention to her.

The classes went on without a hitch, aside from me getting occasional stares from my classmates. Especially from a certain peach haired airhead and a silverette.

"See you tomorrow guys." Our last teacher for the day said. With the classes over, now it is time for club.

Ah, yes, the Service Club. I haven't been in contact with them ever since yesterday. I wonder what are they thinking, they must be angry at me. Time to go and face them I guess. Yuigahama went ahead of me, probably because she doesn't want to talk to me.

"Hikigaya."

It's Hiratsuka-sensei.

"What's up Hiratsuka-sensei? We talked earlier right?"

"There's something I forgot to talk to you about, let's go to my office." Seeing that this might be important, I followed Sensei towards her office. Reaching her office, she ordered me to sit down the chair and shut up.

"How's the arm treating you?"

"It's fine, nothing that a painkiller can't fix. Is this what you want to talk about?" Let's get into the meat and potatoes of this meeting Sensei, no more side stuff.

"I heard about what happened yesterday from Yukinoshita." Right, that. Of course Yukinoshita would tell Sensei, she's our advisor after all. "Tell me Hikigaya, what's is the Genuine thing you wanted?"

That put me into deep thought. What is the genuine thing that I want? To understand people and learn more about them? To be understood by the same people, regardless of what I might not say? To be be honest, no more use of a carefully crafted mask built to fool the society?

"Honestly, I don't know." I started. "I wanted to convey that we should be real to each other. But I guess they don't understand it. What I wanted was to understand and be understood. If we are genuine towards each other, then no one would get hurt, we will come to understand ourselves more, and that the uneasiness of ours will be remedied. Like the Toad Sage from that ninja manga you're reading." I finished. Strange, it's the first time I've seen her write about something when we're discussing something. "Do you usually write stuff students say?"

"No, but what you said really struck a chord in me." She continued writing. "Say Hikigaya, what do you think is the primary reason people get hurt?"

"Their own selves assuming one thing, therefore get hurt when it doesn't happen?" I answered. She hummed in acknowledgement of what I said, before finishing her writing.

"Good point. To simply put it, we hurt others just by existing. It's through our transparency to others that we can rely on to convey what we do. Still, transparency only takes you so far, that's why good communication with others is a must. It's not enough to be transparent, you need to be able to convey it to people you intend to."

She's right, it is important to be able to convey what you want to really say in a way that people will understand. In the end, looking back at what happened yesterday, I think that it's my fault that they didn't understand what I wanted to say. But it's not like I wanted it to happen, we've been there for almost a year now. Surely they might've got an idea to what I really wanted.

"But, that's just my thoughts. Look at me I'm 27 and still single." She nervously laughs to play it off. "Besides, didn't we talk about this when we were at the bridge?"

"Yes. What's the point of repeating it?"

"Just a refresher." She stands up to stretch. "That concludes our talk for today. If you want to talk to me about something, don't hesitate to come here."

"Sure." I answered as I stood up. "Thanks for taking care of me so far Sensei." Then before going out, I said one last thing. "You're cool, I mean it."

When I closed the door, I heard her say about something she forgot to tell me. But I didn't bother to go back because it takes a lot of effort. After all, I'm still conserving energy like an efficient person that I am.

Reaching the doors of the Service Club, I was hesitant to enter, mainly because of what happened yesterday, but also because looking back, I think I said something cringy. But, I steeled my resolve and slid the door open.

I saw purple eyes, and a shocked face.

"H-Hikigaya! Where have you been? I wanted to talk to you but you disappeared on me, so I came here to look for you." She stated with panic in her voice. Is it weird to find that attractive?

"Hiratsuka-sensei talked to me. Something along the lines of asking about my arm or something." I answered. "What did you want to talk about anyways?" Kawasaki started fidgeting. Out of character for a delinquent looking girl to be doing that.

"Basically, Keika talks a lot about you at home and it got my parents curious. So they asked me to invite you over dinner. Are you able to come today?" She asked.

"I could but, it's still club hours so I guess I'll just go to your place later. Can you text me your address?" I replied with a question.

"Sure, though I don't have your contact information." I quickly pulled up my phone, unlocking it before reaching near my face, and showed her my contact information. "Then I'll text the address later." She left in a hurry. What's wrong with Kawasaki? It seems like here emotional spectrum goes from one extreme to the other. With Kawasaki out of the way, literally and figuratively, I entered the clubroom.

For a minute or two, which felt longer than it is, the room was silent.

Taking a seat to my usual spot, which farther from the two, I pulled up the light novel I'm currently reading.

"Hikki..." With the proverbial ice being broken, the two started to talk. "What happened to your arm?"

"Yes Hikigaya-kun, did you get into a fight with delinquents because they found your dead fish eyes intimidating?" Very original Yukinoshita, very original.

"Saved Kawasaki's little sister from getting hit by a car, hitting the pavement probably broke it." I answered. "Come to think of it, the car that nearly hit Keika looks the same as the car that broke my leg last year."

My last sentence probably killed the momentum for them to talk back, as Yukinoshita looked pale and Yuigahama is looking away, unsure of what to say.

The club hours continued, with me reading my novel, and them being strangely silent. It looks like what I did yesterday did more harm than what I intended to, which is to get us on good terms again. Guess this heavy atmosphere will continue for now.

I glanced to my phone, checking the time. Since it's nearly the end of club hours, I decided to stand up. "Right, better text Kawasaki."

"Hikki... What's the deal with Saki-chan? Why are you texting her?" Yuigahama broke the silence.

"Are you planning on doing something to her Hikigaya-kun?"

"What are you saying Yukinoshita? I don't plan to do anything to her, she was inviting me for dinner."

"Dinner?" Yuigahama asked.

"Apparently, her parents was curious because Keika was very vocal of me, therefore they invited me to eat with them. So, can I leave early? It's almost time to go home anyway." I proceeded to get out. I decided to call Kawasaki, since it is better than typing.

'maybe you're just not that good with texting Hachiman'

Yes I am not. Texting fast are for riajuus anyway.

"Hello, this is Kawasaki Saki."

"You sound like an answering machine." Way to go to start a conversation, Hachiman. "Anyway, I called to ask about the dinner."

"R-right! I forgot to tell you our address!" She then proceeds to mouth off their address as I nod to what she said.

"That's near our home. Do you mind if I go to my house first?"

"That's fine. See you later then?"

"Sure, see you later Kawasaki." I hung up. Time to go home, Komachi's probably home now.

Right, what do I tell Komachi?

A/N: Sup guys! Jasserru here with a new fic! I was inspired byThePrinceVonGhost's work, where he explores the idea of the girls misunderstanding what Hachiman meant by saying he wanted something genuine. Voila! here it is! I'll let you guess who the ship here is really.

I nearly retconned the story by a bit, if you notice it, I nearly put what happened on the bridge scene on Season 2 in their conversation.

What's with Hachiman getting hit by cars? Probably me being lazy.

See you next chapter!

-Jasserru out!