Chapter 4: Hikigaya Hachiman Begins His Investigation
After spending a pleasant day with a few classmates who—though it's been a while—can now be considered friends, Hikigaya decided to go check out Komachi's school.
Although he had never been to her school before, that wasn't a problem.
As long as he knew the name, the rest would be taken care of by the taxi driver.
After confirming Komachi had already left and wasn't anywhere near the house, he went out, got into a taxi, and headed straight for Komachi's school—a trip that took about thirty minutes.
After paying the fare and getting out, Hikigaya glanced at the name beside him—Sakura Academy.
Yup, this was the place.
He looked over at the security guard at the entrance, curled his lip, and then walked right past him without a care, entering the school grounds.
This was thanks to him using a bit of his Authority—Set's power, which allowed him to obscure people's perception.
Compared to Sobu High, this place was definitely bigger.
After turning here and there, Hikigaya finally found the Middle School Department and entered through the main building's doors.
Then he began searching floor by floor.
Because of Set's power, of course, no one could see him.
What Hikigaya wanted to see was Komachi's real life at school.
Anyone who could influence Komachi was most likely someone who interacted with her regularly—so the school was naturally the most probable place to start.
Finally, he spotted Komachi in one of the classrooms, happily chatting and goofing around with a few classmates.
There were three girls.
To be fair, they were all beautiful, with outstanding looks—obvious social butterflies.
Judging by appearances, they didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary.
But there are always exceptions—after all, when the Creator made the world, He didn't specify that normies couldn't also be total perverts!
Hikigaya walked in, approaching Komachi's group, and then—
"Whoa!"
A surprised cry rang out from behind.
Hikigaya turned to look—and chuckled.
A few boys were playing video games.
They were clearly from the unpopular crowd.
The girls nearby all had that "so noisy" look on their faces, while the boys were totally immersed, ignoring everyone around them. Hikigaya felt a strong sense of kinship—these guys were loyal members of the Great Loner Faction!
He used to be like that himself—though he never gamed as smoothly as these guys, he just read manga back in the day.
"That's the latest season of Meruru, right? Awesome!"
Okay, not gaming—watching anime. But… dude, are you sure shouting like that is okay?
Hikigaya glanced around—sure enough, most of the nearby girls were giving them that "what's wrong with you" look.
At that moment, he heard something unusual from Komachi's side—a violently loud heartbeat, imperceptible to normal people but crystal clear to him.
Surprised, he turned back and found that the sound was coming from one of the girls chatting with Komachi.
This girl clearly loved to dress up—light brown dyed hair, earrings, long painted fingernails, a mature aura not fitting for a middle schooler.
Still, after meeting a certain sultry older woman, Hikigaya thought—this kid's still wet behind the ears.
But that casual impression was cut short by another girl—the one with long, straight black hair.
She was high-quality: neat appearance, well-mannered, and very much the "good girl" type.
"Kirino? What's wrong?"
Kirino? That name sounds familiar…
But before Hikigaya could think further, the black-haired girl seemed to have identified the "cause."
"Hey, you boys over there!" she said angrily to the boys playing games. "Could you not talk about that kind of stuff in the classroom?"
"Ugh, otaku are so gross," another girl added—this one looked like an elementary schooler, with her twin tails hairstyle.
"Right, Kirino?" she asked the girl with the light brown hair.
Hikigaya furrowed his brows—not just familiar by name now, their faces were starting to look familiar too.
Something's off about this class… or is it just my imagination?
As he was thinking that, a white blur suddenly charged toward him—or rather, toward the space behind him.
Hikigaya courteously stepped aside.
It was yet another female student. Hmm… there's a high ratio of girls in this class.
"Move! Move!"
She was a short-haired, energetic-looking girl.
When she reached the seat behind where Hikigaya had been standing, she screeched to a halt—then suddenly became all bashful and hesitant.
"G-Good morning… T-Tsukasa-kun…"
She said this to a boy sitting at a desk.
The boy wasn't especially handsome, but had proper features and a sunny disposition.
But the way he looked at the girl—Hikigaya found it off.
Like he was staring at a bear or something.
Clearly, the girl didn't notice, because she was actually blushing…
"Oh, right!" Mid-blush, the girl seemed to remember something—she nervously lifted one leg, put her bag on it, and began rummaging inside while saying, "To thank you for taking me to the nurse's office yesterday, I made some cookies!"
Whoa—this is the legendary "girl chasing guy" move!
Hikigaya completely forgot he was here to gather intel and started watching with great interest.
Sure, Miura might have chased Hayama before, but that was all coy and indirect—this girl was straightforward!
Not sure why she stopped chasing him though.
Soon, the girl pulled out a lunchbox, placed it on the boy's desk, and opened it bashfully like a doting wife—only to immediately slam it shut again!
Hikigaya had gotten a good look—there were cookies inside, or more accurately, cookie crumbs.
Also a note, with messy handwriting, containing what seemed to be a personal review of the cookies she had originally put in there.
Who did that? Well, whoever it was—nice job! This just spiced up the story.
"Um… I think I'll practice a bit more…" the girl forced a gentle tone and expression, but Hikigaya could see—she was about to blow.
Sure enough, the next second, she sprinted across the classroom and roared in anger, seemingly yelling about her brother…
Too bad she didn't see—the boy looked visibly relieved the moment she ran off.
"Wow, those two are totally a couple," said Komachi, nodding as if she had seen through everything.
This little sister is still such a goof—both reassuring and concerning for Hikigaya.
Reassuring because she's too dumb to turn bad, concerning because one day someone might whisk her away, leaving him stuck in the "helpless older brother watches foolish little sister get stolen" plot.
That absolutely cannot happen!
Still, this class is seriously chaotic—better watch from a distance. My ears are going to explode.