Two years ago, during the winter of our second year in middle school.
Our everyday life and happiness collapsed.
The special annex of Sōbu Middle School...That was our place — the three of us.
Spring.It began with me entering that classroom.I founded a club all on my own, the Service Club, and made that classroom our base. …Though now I wonder, how did I even get approval for a one-person club? Maybe I should ask Hiratsuka-sensei today.At the back of the classroom, I quietly read a book, as if waiting for someone. Quietly, secretly, as if enduring something.I held a grand ambition — to change this world.And along with that ambition, a selfish desire to become a hero, to eliminate all enemies.
A little over a year later, a boy entered the room.His eyes were lifeless, his posture hunched, his whole presence gloomy...At Hiratsuka-sensei's request, I had to turn this boy into a proper human being.…I figured he would be just like the others, placing baseless expectations on me and inflating their vile desires. Disgusting.Worse yet, that boy had some kind of connection to me.And an inconvenient one at that.What am I supposed to do...? I worried.It wasn't my fault. But at the same time, my family certainly shared some of the blame.In the end, I chose silence.Let's just stay away from him. I thought. If I do what I always do, he'll avoid me too.So I kept insulting him....But contrary to my expectations, he came back.Did he fall in love with me? …No, he was just annoyingly earnest.And it irritated me.He too, secretly held the goal of becoming a hero.There might be others at this school like that, but I didn't think much of it.
Soon after, another person entered the room — this time, a girl.Like the boy, she came due to a request.She wanted to thank someone, and asked me to teach her how to bake cookies for that purpose.…Simple and straightforward. All she needed was effort.So I treated her the same way as everyone else.Then, like all the others, she'd eventually leave.They always drew lines for themselves. Said effort was pointless, that moral correctness wasn't right, and instead clung to their unspoken social rules.And as fate would have it, she too had a connection to both the boy and me.Though she hadn't been directly hurt like he had, I tried pushing her away the same way....But she didn't leave.Her first words were of awe.When she said I was "cool," both the boy and I couldn't help but let out dumbfounded sounds.She said she'd do it properly this time and went back to the kitchen.
…Such strange people.And yet, I didn't dislike them.Before I realized it, I started to see the two of them being together as something natural...
A boy named Saika Totsuka asked for help to become stronger at tennis.The girl turned to me for support, and in the end, the boy, true to my words, defeated the idealistic Hayato Hayama.Then came a request from a delusional patient named Zaimokuza, asking for his novel to be reviewed.Apparently, he was an acquaintance of the boy. The boy handled him with a fair amount of sincerity.Had it been me, I might've verbally eviscerated him and shattered his mental state… Well, I might have almost done so anyway.Next came a request from that idealist Hayato Hayama — to stop a chain mail trend.The girl stepped into a role she didn't want, and the boy played the key role in resolving it.A middle schooler named Taishi Kawasaki asked us to find out why his sister, Saki Kawasaki, kept coming home in the early morning, and to stop it.The girl got furious for my sake, and this time again, the boy delivered the solution.
From there, our relationship began to fracture slightly.Apparently, the boy and the girl had some history.Because of that, they grew distant, and the girl stopped coming to the clubroom.Should I just let this relationship end? ...That thought never truly crossed my mind.I couldn't forget how comforting the time the three of us spent together in that room was.To repair the relationship between the boy and the girl, I decided to celebrate her birthday — a so-called birthday party.I went to search for a gift, taking the boy and his younger sister Komachi along.Although Komachi soon wandered off on her own.
Along the way, the boy did various things for me.…Could that be called a date?It was my first time going around stores alone with a boy, so I suppose I can call it my first date now.Unexpectedly — most unpleasantly — we ran into my sister.…And it seemed the boy had somehow caught her interest.I clasped my hands together in sympathy and, at the same time, felt a pang of irritation.The boy even saw through Yukinoshita Haruno's composed expression, realizing it was nothing more than a mask.…It was the first time I saw him in a new light.
Finally, the boy and girl reconciled.They ended their unresolved past and began a new chapter — as club members, the boy and the girl.And I was the only one left behind.
At last, things seemed to settle.Summer arrived.We were asked to help with a summer camp for elementary school students — a request from our club advisor, Hiratsuka Shizuka.I asked Komachi to help drag the boy into the assignment.During that time, we met an elementary school girl named Rumi Tsurumi.She too had been a victim of rejection by the world around her.More similar to the old me than the boy, actually.The boy, once again, made a self-deprecating, terrible move to resolve the situation.…I couldn't do anything.
On our way back, my sister showed up — along with the car that represented the entangled fate of the boy, the girl, and me.Sure, I had kept quiet.I didn't know what to do.But still, wasn't this too much?I rushed my sister to leave quickly, but I'm sure the boy noticed.And the girl, too.
Even after summer ended, I couldn't bring myself to tell them the truth.
The cultural festival began.My sister, acting as the festival committee chair, led a truly impressive event.But I served only as a regular committee member.It's true — I had many thoughts swirling within me.And yet, for some reason, I didn't choose to follow the same path as my sister.Also, somehow, the boy had joined the festival committee as well.…What's he doing here? He had said he didn't want to work.
I think I started to panic a little from that point on.Minami Sagami, who had failed spectacularly at the culture festival in her own way, was made committee chair for the sports festival, under the guidance of Meguri Shiromeguri-senpai, who had also been involved in the cultural festival.Sagami-san asked me for support as chair and to help make the festival a success.I forgot the original mission of the Service Club and threw myself into the work, bordering on reckless.Along the way, my sister tried to interfere, and even though Sagami-san was unaware of it, she also got in the way...
Eventually, I fell ill.But what surprised me was that the girl got angry — on my behalf.The boy didn't say it aloud, but he came to visit me.And then, once again, the boy took action.What an idiot. He knew he'd be blamed, that people would point fingers.…Even so, I was happy.
Even if it wasn't for me.Even if it was just another excuse he twisted into something warped and indirect.Just knowing that someone would stand beside me — that was enough to make me happy.
In the end, the cultural festival was a success.At the cost of one person's standing within the school.
…Once again, I had relied on him.
The sports festival.To make it a success, we received a request from Meguri Shiromeguri-senpai, who had also been involved in the cultural festival.To that end, we made Sagami-san the chair again, despite her failure at the last event, and formed a committee.There were issues — conflicts with the sports clubs, Sagami-san's friction with the boy — but I think things went fairly well.…In the end, our team, the white group, lost.It was honestly frustrating not to win alongside Shiromeguri-senpai.
Then came the school trip — and at last, a complete falling-out.We received a request from Shō Tobe, a member of Hayama's group.The request: to help make a confession of love to Hina Ebina succeed.Such an absurd request — and yet the girl, no, the three of us accepted it.But Ebina-san had no intention of starting a relationship.Then how could we possibly make the confession succeed?
The girl and I left the final step to the boy.
"I've liked you for a long time. Please go out with me."
…We were stunned.Not by the words from Tobe-kun, who stood beside us — but by the boy, who had interrupted with his own confession.Ebina-san used that moment to declare her intent not to date anyone, and the request failed.
Of course, the odds of the confession succeeding were practically zero.Even if he wanted to protect Tobe and Ebina, and their group dynamic, that wasn't the way to do it.Disappointment.That's all I felt.
How could you do something like that?
I wanted to say that in anger.But the only thing that came out of my mouth… was a word of disgust.
It wasn't that I hated him.I hated the way he cut himself down, over and over again.Even so, he still saved others.I hated that method of his.
And when I voiced that hatred... another emotion arose inside me, one that shocked me.
…Jealousy.
Of course, I was also concerned about his future at school.But in truth, I harbored a wretched, ugly feeling — the same kind I had once been subjected to so many times in the past.
And so I looked away.Told myself that I hated his way of doing things.
After returning from the school trip, Shiromeguri-senpai visited the Service Club room once more — this time with a first-year student.Her name was Iroha Isshiki.She smiled in an overly deliberate way, as if putting on an act. What exactly did she want?Despite everything that had happened during the school trip, she directed her gaze at the boy....The boy was blushing.
Isshiki-san's request was this:She had been nominated as a student council president candidate — against her will — and wanted a way out of it.In other words, she didn't want to be president.
...Was it meant as a message?To whom? My sister?Maybe so.After all, my sister had never become student council president.Maybe Isshiki was saying, "I'm not following your path."Maybe she was doing as the boy had told her — that she didn't need to follow after Haruno.
…No. That's not it.
You sacrificed yourself for us.You said it wasn't a sacrifice — just that you wanted to create a world where you didn't exist.That made no sense, and yet you believed it.
So this time, I wanted to be the one to make the sacrifice — to save you.I wanted to prove that even if one of us got hurt, our relationship wouldn't break.
…but the girl didn't want that.The boy didn't either, I suppose.
In the end, we installed Isshiki-san as the student council president.It seems she realized she had been manipulated.Once again, I found myself unable to do anything.Did the two of them reject me?All I wanted was to prove that our bond was unbreakable.
I…Later, I heard from Shiromeguri-senpai that the true intention behind the request had been misunderstood.She had wanted the Service Club — the three of us, plus one — to join the student council.…Maybe that was one possible answer, too.
December brought a bit of calm.Isshiki-san, now the new student council president, came to the clubroom again.She asked us to help with a joint event with another school.Apparently, the boy accepted the job on his own.
…Was he still trying to spare us?
It was true — nothing had been resolved.Our relationship had continued to drift, growing more and more strained, heading toward the worst possible outcome.
In the meantime, I received a bit of one-on-one instruction from Hiratsuka-sensei, who was also a professional hero.I thought I needed training outside of the Yukinoshita household as well.That's when I learned that the boy also aspired to become a professional hero.
During that joint event, the boy stepped into the Service Club room for the first time in a long while.Even though I had told him not to come.
Why...?
...The boy spoke honestly — his true weakness, his real thoughts.
He, too, wished for the same kind of relationship that I did.
…And I no longer knew what to feel.
Just as I was about to run away, the girl held us in place with her hands.
Finally, we returned to the way things used to be.Or maybe… even better than before.
After that, the girl and I also began helping Isshiki-san.Under the guise of "research," we went to Tokyo Destiny Land.I spent that time with the boy.We talked about everything that had happened, about what lay ahead, and we made a promise — just the two of us.
During that time, Isshiki-san made a bold move.Even so, it seemed that Hayama-kun didn't choose her.
In the end, the Christmas party with Kaihin High was a success.Along the way, I saw Rumi Tsurumi again — from the nature camp — and also Kaori Orimoto, whom we'd briefly met in the past.Rumi sat beside the boy, and Kaori smiled at him.…Seriously, that boy.
The new year came, and the third-year students loomed ever closer.Naturally, conversations turned toward our futures.On the day before my birthday, the boy and the girl were caught by my sister and Hayama-kun.Well — to be precise, by my sister alone.
It was there that the three of us reaffirmed our shared dream: to become heroes.
I, to set the world right.The girl, for the sake of the boy and me.And the boy, for his little sister.
The girl's conviction was clear.The boy's… was a bit vague.Was he hiding something?To make things worse, my sister invited him to become her future partner.
My sister was enrolled at U.A. High School — a promising hero in training.That was undeniable.It seemed she had taken a strong liking to the boy.
…I could already foresee the struggles ahead.
Time passed, and as we continued our training to become heroes, we lived our happy days.There were a few things that made me uneasy — the marathon event, the Valentine's Day festivities…
Even as we dealt with requests from Miura-san and Kawasaki-san, the Valentine's Day event came to an end.And then, after my sister exposed the cracks in our relationship, the girl began to move on her own.
What do we really want?What kind of relationship are we aiming for?
We talked about it — at the seaside park.In search of answers, we made a vow.
We didn't know yet.The girl had already decided what to do, but the boy and I hadn't.Still, we finally made up our minds.
…I, too, chose the boy.And at the same time, I selfishly wished to continue my bond with the girl as well.We both told the boy how we felt.
The boy replied:
"Right now... I still don't like myself.I can't claim something as grand as choosing between the two of you.…But someday, if I can become someone I can be proud of —a hero who can protect others in a different way than before —then I want to give you both an answer."
With tears in our eyes, we nodded to his "answer."He was no longer the same person we met.He had changed.Or maybe, he hadn't — maybe he'd say otherwise.But what mattered was that now, he was facing us.
At last, we could begin to move forward.
That's what I thought.
But in that moment…
Peace was suddenly swallowed by a pitch-black mist.