5 Chapter 5: Calm before the storm

I usually don't put alot of stock into the jabs Yukinoshinta throws at me, after all they're just harmless jabs, but maybe she really was onto something...what did she call me earlier today? Hikitrasha? Yeah seems to fit the bill.

"Hey." I feel a slight nudge from behind me that briefly shakes me from my self loathing thoughts, only briefly though as the person doing the nudging is the second biggest reason for my current mood. I'm obviously the biggest reason, Yui did seduce me, but I let it happen. All that self reinforcing talk about being loyal and at the first actual test to loyalty I crumble. Pathetic.

"Hey." She calls out again and nudges me again with a bit more force. I don't want to talk to her, not in the slightest. It's a mix between spite and fear, I'm angry at her for showing me how weak I actually am and...I'm afraid that she'll pull out that weakness again.

Suddenly her hands grasp onto the sides of my head and yank it around to face her, looks like I'm not getting out that easy. As expected she doesn't look cheery and her eyes are lifeless. "Hey."

I'm too busy to be afraid, and to be honest I've grown a little used to this treatment at this point...that's not healthy is it? "What." I state with no effort to hide my annoyance or reluctance to speak, consequences be damned.

Consequences do arrive shortly after. "Hey don't be rude! You were the one ignoring me!" She cries out it in indignation with her faux pout while she lightly punches my shoulder. Recent events make me wonder just how fake that pout really is...how fake any of her bubbly personality is. Where does the Yui I thought I knew end and the real monster that Yui can be begin?

"Right, so what did you want?" I continue with the same tone, this seems to frustrate her.

"Is there a reason you're being so mean to me all of a sudden?" She glares at me, the cheery facade slowly falling apart.

"You know what you did." I try to turn my head away to fully dismiss this conversation but she doesn't seem intent to let it end there, shown by how she holds my head and forces eye contact.

"I do. I showed you my true, genuine, feelings. Is that supposed to be a bad thing? I remember what you told me...that's exactly what you wanted, so why are you treating it as if I did something wrong?"

"If what you did was what you truly felt was genuine, then I want nothing to do with you." I steel myself and glare at her as hard as I can. This whole situation was caused by me lacking the will I told myself I had, I won't make that mistake again. I cowered away from what I felt was right...what was genuine... because of the possible consequences, the possible damage. I don't care how she hurts me, how loud she screams, this is what I feel is right and wont shy away this time...well mostly, I'm still going to shut my eyes and brace myself as much as I can...baby steps right?

I hear sniffling "No...that's..."

I dare to open my eyes slowly and take in everything. Her eyes are no longer emotionless pits, they're the exact opposite. They brim with emotion and tears barely held back, her lips tremble as she tries to steady her breathing. "That's not fair...not fair." She weakly chokes out. The grip on my head softens and her hands slowly fall from my face as if the strings holding them up had suddenly been severed.

"Yui..." I don't regret what I said...or at least I don't think I do, but this is just what has to happen right? That being said do I have to be completely cold and abrasive? I've done that plenty of times in the past, like with the whole cultural festival thing, but the thought of being like that to Yui...even with everything that happened it doesn't feel right.

Suddenly her hands spring back to life, this time shooting around my form to bring herself mashing into me. "It's not fair! It's okay for her to do it but not me? Why? What did she do that I didn't? How is she any better?!" She rants while burying her face into me, I feel her tears soak into me. "It's...It's not fair." She continues to choke out.

Stay strong Hachiman, You've played the bad guy before in life. Don't succumb, use that iron will...show no mercy...don't...

I turn my body around so that we're facing each other instead of having my back to her, she gasps at the action and quickly shoves her head back into me with a slight whimper. I let out a heavy sigh before bringing my hand to the top of her hand, patting gently a few times. Her breathing calms down a bit and she becomes brave enough to pull her face back a bit to look me in the eyes.

"H-Hikki"

"Yui...I...we should talk, calmly this time." I pull my hand from the top of her hand and make a move to sit up straight before she latches on to stop me.

"Can we...can we stay like this...please?" She weakly whispers out, her face still red from her previous session.

Iron will. Iron will. Iron...

"I guess." Damn. Well it's been established that I won't be able to treat her like I treated others in the past so moving past that the first order of business would be...

"Yui...would you mind...uhh..." In the heat of the moment with emotions going wild I had failed notice but now that the things have calmed down a bit I can notice that Yui never...adjusted herself after our actions. This is emphasized by feeling two pronounced pillows being pushed into my chest.

"Oh...I mean if you want." She dejectedly mutters out before pulling her hands from around me to adjust her bra, putting her dangerous Yuis back into their containment cell. Well now that were back to being somewhat decent we have to move onto less fun and simple matters.

"I...I should have thought my words earlier through more." I start and hear her gasp, possibly in hope. "It's not like I want you out of my life, after all I do...care for you." I feel my face heat up as her eyes widen as she continues to stare into my eyes as I continue, I really don't like being mushy like this but it's the right call...the genuine call. "It's just that...I can't accept what you did...I can't accept your feelings."

To her credit Yui remained calmed for a few seconds, perhaps as she fully processed my words, but that didn't last long. It didn't take long before her hands lashed out to clutch my shirt as she tried to bring us closer together, so much for talking calmly. I braced myself for whatever violent outburst she had planned.

It never came, instead her lips mashed into mine in a searing kiss. She kept herself pressed into me for a few seconds, simply keeping our lips together with no intention to turn it into anything more intense. When she pulled back I took in her expression in full, calm but determined.

"And I won't accept that answer." She brings a hand up to the side of my head and gently cups one of my cheeks.

"Y-Yui"

"I know you don't like nice girls Hikki, but I could of sworn I already told you."

She gives me a quick peck on the lips.

"I am not a nice girl."

She brings her other hand to the other side of my head, now fully cupping it.

"I am selfish, I'll take what I want for myself. No matter who I hurt, not matter what it takes."

She leans in her lips barely hovering over mine. "And I want you."

She brings her lips crashing on to mine again, a chaste but passionate kiss that last a bit longer than the last. When she pulls back she looks deep into my eyes again, eyes warm but with something...sinister behind them. "And you've already proven that you want me too, so I won't accept you saying you don't return my feelings. I won't let you lie."

"I...I do care ab-" I intend to start off with some middle ground but that isn't good enough for her.

"Care? Is that really all Hikki? I've already honestly told you how I feel, so now it's your turn!" She beams with a toothy grin interrupting me.

I take a deep breath to gather myself before speaking "Fine if you're gonna force me into a corner I do...love you but-"

"ah ah ah, Isn't that all that matters?" she interrupts again.

"No...because I can honestly say I love Iroha. You may not like it but those are my genuine feelings and I won't just toss them aside, not even for you."

Surprisingly enough Yui remains perfectly calm, bringing a hand to her chin as she strikes a comical thinking pose. "Soooo...I'm supposed to just toss my genuine feelings aside for you?"

"Wha-"

"I'm not sure what...she did to make you think her feelings were stronger than mine, but they aren't...at all." She takes a glance to the small clock on my nightstand near my bed before sighing "It's getting a little late but I want you to think about this for tomorrow, okay Hikki?" She gets up from my mattres and straightens out the rest her clothes before making her way towards my door to leave.

"Does true, genuine, love just mean whoever makes a move first?"

I did think about, Thought about for the rest of the day...and I'm still thinking about as of now. It's obvious what Yui meant to imply, that I shouldn't just resign myself to Iroha because she was the first one to make their feelings known. She seems to miss the underlining reason that I'm not just settling however, I can say with certainty that I love Iroha. So with that all squared away telling Yui off is simple right?

If only. I'm sure that even if I did try to pick Iroha over her she simply wouldn't accept it but that's not the real Issue, I...also can't deny that I have very warm feelings for Yui. It's wrong and I know it's wrong, hell to be entirely honest I didn't even think it was possible. Isn't it human nature to only be able to truly love one person? Like Loving multiple people in a romantic is a delusional fantasy only explored in the most degenerate fiction...that I may read from time to time. Reading habits aside the real issue remains, I have strong feelings for both and don't know which to pick...what right do I even have to "pick."

Coincidentally before I can explore the further depths of my mind for an answer the bell signaling the end of classes goes off...It also signals the begging of club activities. Yeah I know, "Really? Wow who would have thought that clubs start when classes end, thanks for the clarification." but I'm only calling attention to it because what club symbolizes for me, a deadline. No actually I think "Doomsday event" is a more appropriate term, There's going to be some form of conflict...an earthshaking one...a worl-

"Hey Yui...you seemed pretty upbeat today." My thoughts are cut off as my attention immediately shifts to listen in on another conversation. Stop any possible rude remarks and let me explain that it's only because Yui was mentioned, with how much she's dominated my thoughts recently it's only natural that her name will draw my attention, nothing creepy about it. All of that's beside the point though, let's instead focus on who even asked the question alright?

The fire queen herself, Yumiko. With how often Yui spends time at the service club it's easy to forget she actually does have friends outside of it. I don't interact with them outside of requests and I can't say I really regret that, either from annoyance or fear. I'll let you guess which one the resident queen bee falls under.

"Whaaaaa I'm just being me, I'm always like this!" Yui responds with an exaggerated noise of surprise.

"Well yeah...it just seems a bit extra today is all." Yumiko states as she idly whips out her phone. She may be trying to hide it but I can tell that she is curious in what's been happening with Yui and paying full attention, just doesn't openly show it...a Tsundere?

Yui blushes a bit before she throws a quick glance at me, she smiles a bit once our eyes meet. I avert my gaze trying to hide that I've been aptly listening in. "Well...something really great did happen."

"Ohhhhh? Well don't leave me in suspense, just say it geez."

"Well me and Hikki-" I quickly shot up from my seat and made my way towards them to grab Yui's attention

"Oi, It's time for club. Lets go." Suddenly I feel a hole being burned into the side of my skull as I look at Yui, I'm sure we can all figure out the source.

"Excuse me?! Maybe you didn't notice but we were talking, buzz off."

oof. "Oh? Sorry I tend to tune you out so I didn't realize you were talking...or even here for all that matter."

"WHA-" She shoots up from her chair and I accept my impending doom, what I get for giving the queen of sass...well sass. Thankfully she's interrupted by Yui doing her Yui routine of defusing situations.

"Sorry Yumiko, Hikki just doesn't have any uhhh what's the word..." She strikes a thinking pose as she tries come up with her discreet way of insulting me.

"Common sense?" Yumiko decides to help in her ever so helpful way.

"Yeah, so let him off the hook please?"

"That's two words though..." I grumble out, if you're gonna insult me at least do it right and follow your own rules of engagement.

"See?" Yui cheerfully states while motioning towards me as if I'm some exhibit.

"...Fine, just make sure you text me later okay?" Yumiko resigns and thankfully lets me off the hook, I have enough problems as it is.

"Yep! Come one Hikki, let's go!"

"R-right."

P.O.V switch- Yumiko

What did she do? What did they do together? I know that Yuigahama fawns over Hikio, I mean you'd have to be stupid to not notice, so when she sat in her seat being extra bubbly and stealing glances at him throughout the whole class I knew something was up. I want to know why she was so happy, what did she do...what did she do?!

Deep breathes, no sense in getting all angry in a class all by myself. I browse on my phone a bit to calm down a bit, something I do alot nowadays.

Geez...I was so close to getting to the bottom of it then Hikio just has come in and ruin everything, I swipe to the left on my phone as I continue to think. Stupid, bashful, clueless, blunt, overthinking Hikio coming in at the worst time to ruin everything...He was probably listening in and planned to interrupt, no way was that timing coincidental. I swipe again.

Planning ahead and catching onto everything around him, freaking annoying but...

I swipe again looking at the latest picture on my phone, it's similar to all of the other ones in the sense that they all focus on him...Hikio.

I guess that type of thing is just one of the many reasons I love him.

Ending notes- Bummed out on writing the big conflict this chapter, but I think if I included it this chapter would have been too long. That being said the next chapter shouldn't take too long to get out. Anywho how'd yall like the Little Yumiko nod I gave this chapter, thought it would be fun to come up with what she spends all the time looking at on her phone. May still be a bit of time before she gets her *ahem* spotlight but I don't just want to completely ignore characters until it's their time to shine. Speaking of shining the next girl in the spotlight is gonna by Yukino, a fair warning to that one guy who doesn't like her. Until then take care and review yall.