Episode 11: Hamada Mitsuki Doesn't Play Nice

"Eh?" The smile vanished from Iroha's face. She took her seat across from Hachiman at their table... in a family restaurant.

"Something wrong?" Hachiman questioned.

"Ah, yes, I'd like you to return my hopes and expectations."

"I can't return something you never gave to me in the first place."

"Still! A family restaurant?"

"What were you expecting, a five-star meal? If you want a meal ticket you can always call everyone's Ha—"

"Because I'd rather it be you treating me." Iroha said bluntly, putting her elbows on the table, taking an aggressive stance. Her legs were crossed and she bounced the hanging foot playfully, occasionally poking at Hachiman under the table.

"Ah, well after the whole thing with the ramen… I didn't wanna risk taking you anywhere local in case you didn't like it…"

If the girl's hand hadn't been there, her jaw surely would've dropped open. Luckily, before her shock could be noticed, a waiter came and took their drink orders. Once he left, Iroha returned to her thoughts.

"Eh? He still remembers that?"

Her eyes drifted to the side and she leaned back into the cushion. A slight blush creeped across her face as she recalled the day that she had forced Hachiman on a date under the pretext of it being practice. She'd had a lot of fun that day. She'd dragged him on other practice dates in their third year, but that one was still important to her. The volume of her voice hushed to a little more than a mumble.

"That's a special memory though… I wouldn't mind going back there sometime if you like places like that…"

"Ah, I'll remember that next time…" Hachiman hid behind his menu as he spoke.

"Next time?! Hey! What did you mean by that?!" The pair thought in unison.

Iroha cleared her throat before speaking, "Well I hope next time you'll still try to take me somewhere at least a little nicer than that ramen shop."

Her words didn't match her thoughts, as she too now hid behind her menu. A smile broke out on her face, overjoyed at the idea that he would take her out to eat again.

"Ah, Hikigaya-kun is that you?" a girl's voice said.

Iroha peaked up over the top of her menu. Standing there over top of Hachiman was a tall slender girl. She had medium length light brown hair. Her long legs extended from beneath the waitress skirt as she stood with pen and paper in hand. She was cute. Iroha's eyes moved to the girl's chest.

"Tch. Bigger than Yui's..."

"Oh and you must be Not-Girlfriend-chan. Nice to meet you I'm Mitsuki!"

"'Scuse me? What's with that nickname?"

Iroha's face froze on a dangerous smile. To the uninitiated, it would appear like any normal, awkward smile when you first meet someone. The kind of smile that says "ah I hope I'm not left alone with this person suddenly" or "nice to meet you but I'm bad with strangers." However, Hikigaya Hachiman knew Iroha better than that. The boy felt the killing intent in the air as Isshiki Iroha smiled back at the older girl.

"Hey Senpai~, don't you think it's good manners to introduce your friends to the girl you're with when you see them."

Hachiman winced again as the malice was now directed towards him.

"I didn't really have a chance."

"Ah, Mitsuki, this is Iroha. She's my student you saw me with the other day. Iroha, this is Mitsuki. She's in my literature class in school."

"Psychology too." Mitsuki chimed in, leaning her... assets down as she spoke. She made a slight pout across her face.

"Eh?"

"How meeaan Hikigaya-kun! Did you never notice that we had two classes together?"

"Well I don't really pay attention to who's in what class in college, it's not like high school…"
"Oh, were you more observant in high school?"

"No." Iroha chimed in with finality that shut down the exclusive conversation the two were having.

"Ah, sorry how rude of me. I'm guessing you two were having a debriefing after following my Ka-kun around?"

"Nothing so official." Hikigaya answered this time, seemingly grateful that the conversation topic had shifted off of him. Mitsuki's energy was as exhausting as ever, "What are you doing here?"

Iroha nodded, in complete agreement with the question, though the tone seemed different.

"Ah, I work here. Your waiter had to step out for an emergency so I'm taking over. Speaking of, can I have your order?"

"Ah, sure."

The two placed their orders. Mitsuki smiled and hurried off to the kitchen to put the ticket in. She then went about tending to her other tables.

"She's cute."

"Hm?"

"She's cute."

"Ah sure, I guess."

Hachiman scratched his head. The younger girl's mood seemed to have soured considerably since his classmate had become their server. Hachiman couldn't hazard a guess at why, and didn't bother to either. Best to leave troublesome things alone and resolve the situation as soon as possible.

"Really, WOW! Senpai is helping out such a pretty girl. You must be pretty popular at school! I mean she even knew that you two had two classes together! Wow! I bet you're so popular on campus Senpai!"

Every punctuation hit Hachiman like a labeled arrow. The little witch was delivering serious damage tonight.

"One more crit and I'll be down for the count."

"I'm not that popular. And you're right she's cute, but I honestly hadn't noticed. Not interested. Besides, I think you beat her in the "cute" department."

Hachiman turned to look out the window, his dead fish eyes panning the parking lot. He tried to recoup the lost health points and mend his pride injured by the girl's cutting words.

"You didn't notice?"

"Why would I?"
"Senpai do you like them big or small?"

"What sort of question are you asking me in a family restaurant?"

Hachiman turned back to Iroha. She seemed to be in a better mood now. She had returned to kicking her feet beneath the table. She poked through the menu; they had already ordered but it looked like she had decided on getting a dessert.

"I did say I'd foot the bill, but please be gentle."

The two chatted for a little while longer, and eventually their food arrived. Along with an uninvited guest. Mitsuki slid herself into the booth next to Hachiman. Iroha's eyes narrowed briefly into a slight glare, but by the time Mitsuki looked up, the younger girl's placating smile was plastered magnificently to her face.

"So what did you two find out?" Mitsuki asked, stealing a couple of the fries the two had gotten to share.

"Oy, don't just take those." Hachiman griped as he slid over to make room for the girl, "Don't you have tables to serve or something?"

"They'll be fine for a couple minutes. What did you find?" She scooted closer to Hachiman again, leaning in and looking at him expectantly. Pretending to ignore Iroha, but shooting a brief glance her way.
"This chick!" Iroha fumed internally, but refused to let the older girl know she was getting to her.

"Come sit by me Mitsuki-senpai! I have pictures and notes we took."

"Ah, what a reliable kouhai you are… Irohama-chan?"

"Iroha-desu."

Mitsuki moved around the table. Hachiman settled back in his seat, breathing a sigh of relief. Though it didn't last long, as the entire time Iroha was showing Mitsuki her notes and photos, the girl's eyes bore into him.

"I didn't make her, don't blame me!"

Hikigaya tried to communicate through his expressions, but his excuses seemed to fall on deaf ears as Iroha didn't seem amused. Resigning himself to a lecture later, the boy looked outside.

"Ah, this is that friend I thought liked him in high school!"

Mitsuki exclaimed as they reached the photos of the two walking together. Hachiman and Iroha exchanged glances.

"It didn't look like they were up to anything bad Mitsuki…"

"Meeting her without telling me is bad enough! He's totally gotta be cheating right?"

"I think that's a bit of a rushed conclusion Mitsuki-senpai…"

Neither of the two who had spent their afternoon following the pair really knew how to handle the situation. Iroha sighed and looked to Hachiman for back up.

"Ultimately, what you decide to do is up to you. We just gave you the information we have, what do you want to do next?"
Mitsuki seemed to think for a moment.

"Hikigaya go on a date with me."

Iroha almost spit out her drink. Coughing, she looked over at the girl sitting next to her. Now standing, her mask had fallen off revealing genuine surprise and slight animosity in her expression. She quickly composed herself.

"Excuse me?!"

She may not have completely composed herself.

"Did I say something strange?"

"The fact that you don't think it's strange is concerning!"

"All I did was ask him out on a date. Why are you reacting so strongly? It's not like you're his girlfriend or anything."

Iroha turned to face Hachiman— the boy still seemed to be processing the request, not having caught up to the present state of the conversation.

"Senpai, say something!"

"Ah! … I don't really get how us going on a date would help your problem."

"THAT'S WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY?" Both girls thought simultaneously, though one's tone was amused while the other's was distraught.

"I obviously want to make Ka-kun jealous so he'll come back to me." Mitsuki replied with a haughty tone. Suddenly, a customer flagged her down. She stood up and returned to her job.

"Obviously… she says!" Iroha flopped back down into her seat with a sigh, "Senpai… why couldn't you say anything…"

"Wasn't she joking?"

Iroha stared blankly at the boy, unsure if he was being serious or if he was trying to dodge the subject. The girl shook her head and sighed. She should've known that he wouldn't take it seriously. He'd blown off the signals of multiple beautiful girls all through high school with hardly so much as a second thought. The monster of logic and self-consciousness lived up to his name.

"I need to use the washroom."

Iroha stood from the table and made her way to the washroom. Water splashed against her face. She'd gone light on the makeup, but she still took care to keep what she was wearing from smudging. She was thankful to be wearing waterproof mascara. She applied more lip gloss before making her way out. Standing there in the hallway was none other than Mitsuki leaning up against the wall, waiting.

"Ah, Iroha-chan"

"So you CAN use my name."

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah actually, let me use Hikigaya."

"So that's it… *sigh*"

"It's not like he's my property or anything. I can't make him do or not do anything."

"Ah so I'm—"

"I'm not finished."

Iroha's words were cold. They seemed to startle the girl, who had only really seen her act nice. Hamada Mitsuki had yet to realize that she was out of her depth when dealing with Iroha on the subject of Hacihman.

"Hachi-senpai isn't stupid. He's not some toy to be used and thrown away at your convenience. He knows you aren't serious and that you'd just be using him, he won't misinterpret something as ingenuine as that. As you. And I doubt your boyfriend likes that side of you either."

"Aha…"

Mitsuki was caught off guard by the change. She now found herself on the receiving end of a rather harsh refusal to her request.

"But the thing about senpai is… well he's a nice guy. Kind or selfless isn't exactly the word, but he's there when it counts. He'll help you, cause you asked him for help. That's how he is, a little lonely, a little anti-social, and more than a little dense, but he's a nice person. I won't let you take advantage of that. We'll help you with your problem, but I won't let you use him."

Iroha pushed past the girl. Making her way down the hallway back to the table. As she moved past, she muttered under her breath. Words that Mitsuki could barely make out.

"You're too much like how I used to be… I hate it."

The sound of Iroha's sneakers making their way back to the table seemed to echo in Mitsuki's ears. She turned to watch the girl confidently walk back to the table. She sighed, a grip on her chest from the young girl's edged words had finally loosened. She laughed at herself for getting chewed out by a high school student. She looked at the two again; they seemed to be enjoying some sort of banter that she couldn't make out the context of.

"He's nice, huh?" Mitsuki said to herself before returning to tending tables.

(End Ep 11)

Yahallo~! I told you I would get this one out soonTM. Hope it was worth the wait. But wooow, Mitsuki sucks a little huh? Fake people really do be that way though. Iroha is having NONE OF IT though which is fun for me to write. Next chapter we are finally out of this lousy date though. As I promised I scoured the internet and my memory banks to find characters that looked most like all the OCs I have written so far! They don't look exactly like these characters, but these are the best references I could find!

Character descriptions:

-Hamada Mitsuki looks a lot like Miyako from a sister is all you need in my head, not sure if I get that across though.

-Keisuke Katsuki looks like Yosuke Hirata from classroom of the elite

-Himeji Rikyu looks a little bit like Tsukishima from Haikyuu!

-Professor Himeji looks an anime version of Miyzaki

-Professor Gardner looks like Ivan from Your Cat Ears Are Showing (Horamimi)

As for comment responses… Pyro, thanks homeslice I'm doing my best to keep powering through. Some chapters are a bit more a slog than others for various reasons but I'm glad I can keep putting out good ones for you all to enjoy. Rinto nice to meet you, here's a spicy new chapter, hope this is the more you couldn't wait to see! Draculyn, as always you honor me with the greetings lol!

Lets see commentary on this chapter… *looks at title* hmm… yeah that's true. Hope you enjoyed! See you next time! (Also 69 reviews at time of writing this. Nice.)

-BREAD