Chapter 36: Late Night Call
The plan for dealing with the midterm exam was finished.
As the details needed to be discussed online, Hikigaya finally exchanged contact information with his deskmate, Sakayanagi-san, and the person in front of him, Yukinoshita-san, a month and a week after school started. He gently weighed his phone, feeling inexplicably that it seemed to have gotten heavier.
'Is this the weight of bonds? It's so light.'
He should stop overthinking. Two more contacts in his phone book just mean a little more data; the weight shouldn't have increased.
It was already late outside. The group decided to eat dinner at the family restaurant before leaving.
"Hikigaya-kun, is there anything you'd like to eat? I'll treat you tonight," Sakayanagi said, smiling sweetly at Hikigaya, looking to be in a very good mood.
"Sakayanagi-san, it's probably not a good idea to spoil this man too much," Yukinoshita interjected coldly.
"Please spoil me once before saying something like that..."
"Well, I don't think treating Hikigaya-kun to dinner occasionally is a big deal," Sakayanagi said, pressing a finger to her chin, watching the touched and teary-eyed Hikigaya with a smile.
'Sakayanagi-san, are you an angel from somewhere?'
"...After all, we're spending the Service Club commission that Hikigaya-kun shared with us."
Hearing Sakayanagi's added remark, Kamuro said "Is that so?" with an indifferent look, picked up the menu on the table, and started looking at it, checking the box next to the seafood fried rice with a pen.
Hikigaya was silent for two seconds: "...Then I'll have a curry rice bowl."
Although the money did come from his cut, how they spend it is their freedom. Since someone is willing to treat him to a meal, he shouldn't worry about it too much. If anything, the food you don't have to pay for is the most delicious!
After a simple dinner, Hikigaya said goodbye to the others, who still had details to discuss, and returned to his dorm alone.
After a hot shower, Hikigaya haphazardly put on his pajamas, dried his hair, and sat down in the chair at his desk. He opened the photo of the actual exam questions that Yukinoshita had sent and began to review them against his textbook.
The night is highly efficient because there are no noisy people to interrupt... although generally speaking, no one interrupts him during the day either.
The night deepened. It was a clear summer night, and the cool moonlight shone upon the campus, peaceful and quiet. The shops that were bustling during the day one by one closed, leaving only the scattered stars in the sky staring back at the empty streets, a silent exchange.
After briefly reviewing Japanese Literature, Hikigaya buried himself in the monotonous practice of copying English vocabulary words. After finishing the words within the exam scope, Hikigaya casually picked up a few books to cover the words on the paper, wanting to check if he had memorized them.
It was then that Hikigaya's phone suddenly rang.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already 10:30 PM.
'Hey, hey, hey, who on earth would call at this time? Most people who call others this late are overworked company slaves, so they must have dialed the wrong number by mistake, right?'
Hikigaya looked at his phone again. The screen displayed the name of someone Hikigaya had only met today: Yukinoshita Yukino.
'Th-This isn't right, is it? Yukinoshita-san, even if it's work, it can wait until tomorrow to be communicated... I feel like if I answer this call, I'll become a company slave.'
Hachiman can be, no, Hachiman is a well-behaved child with a regular and healthy schedule.
'Maybe... I'll just pretend I didn't see it, and when she asks tomorrow morning, I'll brush it off with something like, "Oops, sorry, I fell asleep last night."'
Besides, suddenly calling someone when they're about to go to sleep is wrong in the first place.
Hikigaya's thoughts were defiant, but remembering Yukinoshita-san's sharp-tongued nature, his finger, which was reaching for the power button, obediently pressed the answer button instead.
"...Moshi Moshi, Yukinoshita-san, what's up?"
However, contrary to Hikigaya's expectation, the clear, cool voice of Yukinoshita did not come from the other end. Instead, he heard the voices of a man and a woman talking.
"...Yukinoshita-san?"
Hikigaya asked in confusion, but received no response. He could only strain to decipher the faint conversation coming from the phone.
Man: "...I didn't expect you to track me all the way here." Woman: "I'm no longer the useless person my brother knew. I came here to catch up to you, Brother."
The two people talking seemed to be a brother and sister. Although the girl's voice was also a bit cool and clear, it wasn't Yukinoshita-san's voice. The boy's voice, however, sounded
vaguely familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before. Also, Yukinoshita-san hadn't said a word yet. What was going on?!
Hikigaya quickly switched the phone interface and checked Yukinoshita's location information, only to find that she was currently located behind the student dormitories.
Hikigaya knew that place; he had gone there for a walk after eating too much. There was nothing there but a self-serve beverage machine, and people usually didn't go there, and... there didn't seem to be any surveillance cameras either.
"..."
With no time for further thought, Hikigaya grabbed his phone, swiftly threw on his school jacket, and dashed out of his room, taking the stairs two at a time.
Hikigaya, running at full speed, did not hang up the phone. Instead, he tried to gather information through the conversation coming from the phone:
Brother: "I heard you got into Class D. You really haven't changed at all since three years ago. You've only ever watched my back and still haven't figured out your flaws. Choosing this school was a failure."
Sister: "Th—That must be a mistake. I'll definitely move up to Class A right away, then—"
Brother: "Impossible. You won't reach Class A. What's more, your class will probably collapse, too. This school is not as simple as you think."
Sister: "I absolutely, absolutely will get into Class A..."
Brother: "Didn't I say it was impossible? You're such a disobedient little sister."
Roughly summarizing the conversation in the phone—the sister chose to enter this school because she was chasing her brother's back, and although she was assigned to Class D, she wants to work hard to move up to Class A because she seeks her brother's approval.
That's nice. Hikigaya sometimes wishes his sister would see him as an idol, but Komachi often looks at him with a troubled and worried expression when he stays at home. To be honest, being looked at like that makes him feel like he's lost all his brotherly dignity.
Speaking of which, the brother on the phone said his sister didn't know enough about this school, which means the sister is very likely a first-year student, right?
Brother: "No matter how much I try to avoid you, I can't change the fact that you're my sister. If the people around us find out about you, I'll be the one who's embarrassed. Leave this school immediately."
Sister: "I-I can't do that... I... absolutely will move up to Class A..."
Brother: "How foolish. I'll let you taste some bitterness, just like in the past."
Sister: "Brother—I—"
Brother: "You don't have the strength or the right to climb up. Get that through your head."
'H-He's actually putting down his own sister like that, and even saying things like "taste some bitterness, just like in the past." Is that guy really her brother?! '
If I dared to yell at Komachi, I would definitely be kicked out of the house immediately by that bastard, my sister-obsessed dad.
It was at this moment, as if she had clearly seen the face of the man speaking, that Hikigaya finally heard Yukinoshita-san's surprised voice:
"...Student Council President?"
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