It's definitely Yukino, isn't it?

...What if his crush isn't even from the main cast...that would be wonderful.

my guess is yumiko or yui

Not gonna guess since I suck at it,hope it's Yui she's so beautiful,cute, and sweet,she deserves love! She's my favourite... I'm just rambling.

Not gonna take a guess since I suck at it but I'm hoping that it's Yui,she's so beautiful & cute & sweet etc,she's my favourite...and I'm rambling.

So who was the crush?

Noooo, come back

Thus the story was never continued

Ebina? Also, please update your story. Any of your stories. Please.

miura.. definitely miura.. you cant go wrong with a jab at miura

Are you going to continue this? It is interesting and I'd like to see a proper end to it.

After reading two chapters, I came to a conclusion that...two chapters are not sufficient to hazard a guess...okay that was quite obvious...but some daring moves should be made to unveil the (un)lucky girl.

Before that let me clear few misunderstandings.

1) Hiratsuka sensei said that the way 8man talks to her changed "since Hayama's birthday party", so there is no rule that he talked to her "at Hayama's birthday party", it might be even after that. But it is clear that something happened at Hayama's birthday party which is a very important hint.

2) Service club will be broken no matter who 8man will end up with, unless it is a harem ending including yukino and yui...which is unrealistic...(or is it?)

3) His crush talks with better looking guys, nicer guys, but that doesn't mean she hangs out with them. But she's never interested in them. Thus eliminate Yumiko as she has crush on Hayama, who is 'nice guy'(unless you made her OOC)

4) The way 8man had conversations with girls, none of them 'seemed' fishy. So this hint is pretty useless for now.

That the end of misunderstandings...

Now lets get to hints...

1) "While the relationship between her and I isn't one where it's appropriate to express affection, there are some times, although rare, we subtly go out of our help each other with some more... deep seated issues. Or, at least we try to. I don't think we're capable of solving each other's problems, but it doesn't stop us from trying. these occasions that are poking holes in my cover. If anything will be my undoing, it'd be that."

This clue concludes that mystery girl must be among yukino and haruno. But we need to check other clues too.

"I've been careful about it for... quite a while now. Actually, how long has it been since I first began to harbor these feelings? Even though my first impression was something 'she's beautiful', I can say for sure that I didn't have these feelings when we first met. I'm not even sure what it was, if not her beauty. Was it the way she carried herself? she approached every issue she faced? Or was it because she saved a different side of her personality just for me? Whatever the reason, the feeling only grew stronger"

Again this clue reeks of yukino/haruno...
but it eliminates quite a number of girls like isshiki,rumi,komachi,sagami(why I'm even considering her?),yui as he thought of them as cute not beautiful. "And the way she carried herself, approached every issue she faced" so hiratsuka also might be a possibility along with yukino/haruno

These two paragraphs are the most important hints. You can eliminate many possibilities(girls) if you carefully observe..I mean study those paras.

2) 8man is curious about Yukino and Hayama's past, but this is just statement which lead to ambiguous conclusions. So we need supporting statement.

3) "She's... someone I can't approach."
"Why?"
"She's... it'd never work out. I'm just not in the position to be dating her."
"I see. But Hikigaya," She leans in. "if you can't pursue those feelings, you should at least lay them to rest."
"It's not even a matter of being rejected. Simply confessing has consequences, you know. And not just for me, either."

Again...the mystery girl might be yukino/haruno/hiratsuka because "She's... someone I can't approach." "even confessing has consequences". They obviously point to them.

"An absurd thought occurs to me. What if she accepted my confession? I mean, the chances are astronomical at best, but I suppose it's not the least possible thing in the world. arguably, her accepting my confession would be the worst possible outcome. The service club would fall apart for sure. And then when our tragic romance has run it's short I'll be left alone again. In that case, should I warn her beforehand that I have no intention of dating her?"

"Oh no. Not her. After the conversation I just had, she is possibly last person I want to be talking to. I really don't need this kind of aggravation right now. I just want to be with my thoughts. I wonder if I can just turn around and pretend to be a tree, and she won't see me. Nope, too late to try. She's already on the way over.

Enter, the grand master of facades. The tyrant queen herself.
Yukinoshita Haruno.
With Hayama Hayato in tow. That makes me even more unhappy."

Oi, how many hints are you going to drop author-san? Dropping too many hints to confuse reader eh?

But its obvious that mystery girl is either yukino/haruno.

4) So now...its time to make 'bold' conclusions.

Why'd 8man feel aggravated to talking to haruno after the particular conversation, is it because that she'll easily find out 8man's crush and possibly hayato might also connect dots due to haruno's hints? That seems likely...

If haruno is 8mans crush then he should feel nervous or mixture of nervousness and aggravation talking to her just after the conversation with shizuka. But he's afraid that she might easily deduce 8mans crush, and it'd be pandemonium after that. So haruno is not 8man's cursh.

So the only option left is Yukino...and she satisfies all clues...even though it is cliche...she's the most likely possibility...Hence I rest the case, your honour!

P.S: I might be wrong too, because I assumed that background developments of this story are canon. If they are not then all my conclusions are erroneous...I'm back to square one.

Rather than for the story, I think 109 reviews are because of the million dollar question? "who is 8man's crush?"

Anyway, you've got good writing skills...one of the most realistic 8man I've ever seen...

...oh dear, I've become invested in this mystery. It seems that it is slowly mixing itself into my lifeblood and I may not be able to go on without more of this story. Oh.
Seriously though, this is all fantastic, good on you!

great story, just started reading through ur stoeies nd i have to say i rly like all of them. ik ur prob tired of hearing this a million times but id just like to ask if ur gonna update this story nd/or Appreciation? just rly curuious as these ones have seem to gone cold lol. Anyways, keep up the great work nd awesome stories!