303 A Good Man Should Be Single-Minded
"Hachiman-kun, being a group leader is hard work, isn't it?"
"Here, eat a little more."
Sakura Airi picked up a piece of chicken leg from her bowl and placed it in his.
"Uh, it's not really that hard," Hachiman replied.
"It's just a bit of a hassle."
"..."
Hachiman originally intended to put the chicken leg back, but seeing Sakura Airi's wide-eyed, expectant look, he had the illusion that refusing her would cause a massive wave of guilt.
"Alright, then I'll accept it respectfully."
"Hee-hee!"
Sakura Airi immediately broke into a radiant smile.
'What's this about?
Watching him eat makes her happier than eating herself?
Is she on a diet...'
A dense protagonist from a light novel might think that. But Hachiman clearly was not. Realizing that the probability of a certain possibility was very high, Hachiman's cheeks couldn't help but flush, and the way he looked at Airi changed.
"Mmm~"
Meeting his gaze in mid-air, Airi immediately lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Hachi, come try some of mine too."
Hasabe Haruka picked up a piece of pork cutlet and brought it to his lips.
"Uh, I—"
Before Hachiman could say anything, she stuffed it directly into his mouth.
"No saying 'no'.
When something is brought to your lips, how can you not eat it?"
Hachiman took a bite of chicken and a bite of pork, chewed, and swallowed them both. Hasabe Haruka waved her chopsticks at him, lecturing him.
"I'm afraid of being stuffed to death."
"Hmph~ The one who's 'stuffed' is probably someone else!"
Hasabe Haruka narrowed her eyes, her words laced with hidden meaning.
"Wait, has the rumor already spread that far?" Hachiman couldn't help but frown.
"Yes, the rumors about Ichinose-san and Hachiman-kun are truly awful!" Sakura Airi said indignantly.
"It can't be helped. Who would have thought that Ichinose, who always kept her distance from boys and kept herself pure, would have that kind of... dream?
Though, for a teenage girl, it's not exactly a huge deal."
As Hasabe Haruka spoke, she looked at him with a strange expression: "By the way, I didn't know Hachi was so capable. Eight times! A full eight times! That's equivalent to me and Airi... uh, I didn't say anything!"
"What eight times... I have no idea what you're talking about."
Hachiman's eyes drifted as he feigned ignorance.
"Hachiman-kun, how can you be like this?" Sakura Airi looked at him with an aggrieved face.
"No, that was just a dream...
And it was a dream Honami had herself; it's not something I can control!" Hachiman waved his hands hurriedly in explanation.
"That's true...
If Hachi had a dream like that too, it probably would have spread long ago."
Hasabe Haruka nodded thoughtfully. To verify this, she had specifically asked around the boys' dormitory and hadn't heard any suspicious news.
"Exactly. Things in dreams are ethereal and illusory. How can you take them seriously?"
Hachiman casually reached up to wipe away some sweat. Fortunately, he had settled the members of his own dormitory group.
Otherwise, he couldn't imagine how much more ridiculous the rumors would have become!
"Ethereal and illusory in dreams, huh..."
Sakura Airi pursed her lips, her mood dropping slightly.
"Well, it's not entirely fake.
As they say, 'what you think about by day, you dream of by night.'"
Hasabe Haruka stared at him with a complex gaze: "Hachi, what do you think is real?"
Hachiman was silent for a moment. He looked at the two girls in front of him, and then, as if possessed, he reached out both hands and grasped the palms of Airi and Haruka respectively.
"This moment, right here, is what's real."
-
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Dinner ended. They returned to the dormitory.
"Aaaaaaaaagghh!!!"
Hachiman huddled under his covers, letting out a dry howl of extreme embarrassment and irritation.
'What is real...
This moment, right here, is what's real...'
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Hachiman frantically banged his forehead against the floor.
'Are you stupid?!
Are you an idiot?!
You big moron!
Holding two people's hands at the same time...
Hikigaya Hachiman!
I have never seen anyone so utterly brazen and shameless!!!'
Inside the dorm room, everyone was looking at him with bewildered faces.
"What's the situation here?"
"I don't know. He's been like this since he got back from the cafeteria."
"Tsk tsk~ Has your dead-fish-eye finally gone completely insane?" Ryuen Sho mocked, kicking him while he was down.
"Hikigaya-kun!"
"Are you repenting?"
Sou Shibata walked over with a joyful expression and patted him in a friendly manner: "That's wonderful! You finally realize that a good man should be single-minded..."
"I wouldn't be so sure.
I just saw Hikigaya-kun in the cafeteria talking and laughing with Sakura and Hasabe from Class D. He looked quite happy," Hashimoto remarked.
"Sakura and Hasabe?"
After thinking about it seriously, Kanzaki Ryuji reached a conclusion: "I have to admit, in certain aspects, they are indeed not inferior to Ichinose."
"Are those 'certain aspects' decent?" Katsuragi Kohei couldn't help but interject.
"They're all huge—huge busts!"
"Vulgar!"
"You dare say you don't like it?"
"I wouldn't..."
"He who lies will have his 'junk' shrink by 3 centimeters."
"You—how vicious!"
Facing the aggressive Ishizaki, Yahiko had no choice but to bow his head and admit it. After all, he was already lacking in "capacity"; if it shrank any further, it would be too embarrassing to show!
"A bunch of shallow fellows."
Koenji Rokusuke had an arrogant expression, launching an indiscriminate attack on everyone.
"What did you say?"
"Tch~ What a pretentious guy!"
Everyone voiced their disapproval.
"A woman's charm is not simply determined by the size of her chest."
Despite the indecent nature of the topic, Koenji's tone gave off a strangely sacred vibe.
"That's not right!
The upperclassmen you date are all 'big' ones, aren't they?" Yahiko pointed out loudly.
"Those were just people who happened to fit my aesthetic, and it just so happened they were all busty." Koenji nodded seriously.
"Pah! Aren't you just a bust-lover then?"
"You shameless bastard!"
Faced with unanimous condemnation from the group, Koenji remained unfazed, repeatedly muttering, "I am so beautiful."
Just as Hachiman was feeling lucky that Koenji, the man of shocking words, was drawing the fire away from him, Shibata Souta was standing to the side, staring at him with sharp eyes.
"So, what exactly is going on?
Hey! Hikigaya, say something!
How can you flirt with other girls behind Ichinose's back?"
Faced with Shibata's aggressiveness, Hachiman felt both annoyed and speechless.
'Is this guy's brain broken?'
It was common knowledge that Shibata liked Ichinose Honami.
For the sake of argument, let's assume Hachiman liked her too.
That would make them romantic rivals.
According to normal logic, Shibata should be happy to see him dating other girls. If he were more sinister, he should even be reporting this to Ichinose to drive a wedge between them.
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