Chapter 12: Free Is Always Better Than Paying
"No matter where I go, I always run into people I don't want to see."
The girl's words interrupted Hikigaya's thoughts.
He turned around to see the black-haired girl who had sat next to him on the bus and in the classroom.
"Is that so…"
[Ayanokōji turned his head, looking at the person who had once said the same thing to him at the convenience store.]
["Back then, you said that to everyone, didn't you?"]
[Horikita: "Not exactly. I have different attitudes toward different people."]
[Ayanokōji: "Oh? I'm curious to know what your attitude toward him will be."]
"You're not going to ask why? Let me be clear, I won't pity you."
"No, being disliked is normal. Being liked is what's abnormal."
"What a weird guy."
"That's not the first time I've heard that. Usually, people who really dislike me say, 'What a weird monster.'"
The girl was momentarily speechless at the boy's self-deprecation. She had never seen someone describe themselves so poorly.
"Horikita Suzune."
"?"
"My name. I don't want to be called a weird monster in the future. But let me make it clear, just because I told you my name doesn't mean I'll pay attention to you in class or act like we're close."
'Oh, oh, oh, I wasn't going to come looking for you anyway.'
Hikigaya just turned his head and continued picking out daily necessities at the counter.
As Hikigaya turned away, the girl behind him suddenly grabbed his sleeve, startling him so much that his body trembled.
Horikita: "Hey, are you doing this on purpose?"
Hikigaya: "What's wrong?"
Horikita: "I already told you my name. The least you could do is tell me yours."
Hikigaya: "Didn't I introduce myself before class…? What a hassle."
Horikita was someone who wouldn't bother speaking to people she wasn't interested in. Back then, she had been too busy mocking Hikigaya beside her. Now, after giving her name and seeing him turn to leave, Horikita Suzune was completely dumbfounded.
Her face flushed red with embarrassment at his words.
She couldn't exactly say, "I wasn't interested in you back then," could she? Though she believed she didn't need companions, that would be too rude.
In any case, exchanging names in public and being outright ignored was, for someone as socially awkward as Horikita, her first major failure.
To get this troublesome "Yukinoshita No. 2" to stop bothering him, Hikigaya finally said his name.
"Hikigaya Hachiman."
"Hisigaya?"
"Hey, don't just give me a new nickname like that."
After getting his name, Horikita Suzune returned to her usual expression. The embarrassed girl from moments ago seemed to vanish, replaced by her usual indifferent demeanor.
The two didn't say much more, just quietly picked out their daily necessities. Well, "picked out" might be a stretch since only Horikita was actually buying anything.
Horikita: "You came to the convenience store and aren't buying anything. Are you planning to drop out?"
Hikigaya wished he could. If possible, he didn't want to be at this school. He just wanted to return to his familiar home, to Komachi's embrace.
[Yuigahama Yui: "What a scary sister complex…"]
[Yukinoshita Yukino: "Well, it's Hikigaya, so that's normal."]
[Isshiki Iroha: "Does that mean, senpai, you like girls younger than you?"]
[Hikigaya: "Mmm… I don't dislike it."]
[Isshiki Iroha was about to give Hikigaya a rejection card but noticed the two senpais beside her, deep in thought. She didn't need to guess to know what they were thinking about.]
['…Senpai is really hard to deal with.']
Hikigaya was pulled back to reality by the girl's fist. Facing her question, he just brushed it off with a casual response: "Since I'm not picky at home, there's no need to be picky here either. But you, since you get 100,000 points every month, why not buy something expensive?"
Though Hikigaya didn't say it outright, he had noticed that the girl was only picking out cheaper daily necessities to buy.
Horikita: "There's no need for that. We'll probably need points for a lot of things in the future."
Hikigaya: "Like what Chabashira-sensei said, 'Points can buy everything.'"
Horikita: "You noticed too."
Hikigaya: "If I couldn't hear sensei in the same classroom, that'd be a real problem. I'm a loner, but I'm not so bad that I'd be isolated on the first day of school."
Horikita: "If you don't want to be isolated, why did you do that on the bus? If you had just done nothing, you could've blended in with everyone else and pretended not to see."
Hikigaya: "…"
'I can't pretend not to see something happening right in front of me…
This fake existence wasn't what he had always pursued. That was Hikigaya's answer.
Seeing that Hikigaya didn't want to respond, Horikita didn't press further.
"So, you're not buying anything?"
Horikita Suzune, carrying her purchased daily necessities, walked to the checkout counter, with Hikigaya following behind her.
"Isn't there a free set?"
Hikigaya casually picked up a set of daily necessities marked as free. Shortly after entering the convenience store, he noticed there were free items available. At home, he was never picky, and at this school, if there were free options, there was even less reason to spend money.
"Money should be used wisely."
"With 100,000 points of living expenses every month and free options provided, this school is pretty generous."
After checking out, the two slowly walked out of the convenience store, only to hear a familiar voice ringing in their ears.
"Don't mess with me!"
The red-haired hedgehog head seemed to be in a dispute with a few students from another class.
'Hey, hey, is this the mafia?'
"You're from Class 1-D, right?"
"Yeah, so what?!"
The red-haired hedgehog raised his fists high, glaring menacingly at the three students as if intimidating them.
"Whoa, quite the attitude. We're your senpais, you know."
"Shut up!"
The argument outside continued to escalate, but neither the store clerks nor Horikita seemed interested in getting involved.
( End of this chapter )