This Service Club really was unreliable.
If Hikigaya Hachiman could read the doubt in Yukinoshita Yukino's eyes, he could answer her with absolute certainty.
Because he'd founded this Service Club yesterday to clear a system quest — after badgering Hiratsuka Shizuka into letting him and even begging student council president Kaede for favors — beating Yukino to the punch by one day.
"Ding!""2D Love-Activity System loading…""No relevant character resources detected…""No relevant character plot detected…""...Please establish a club and carry out club activities."
Ever since he'd awakened memories of a previous life and realized he'd been reborn as Hikigaya Hachiman, strange voices had been whispering in the back of his head.
He knew what "love-activity" meant: it was short for love-activity, a two-dimensional dating-sim-style game with a cute, anime-ish aesthetic. Players trained, dated, and interacted with the girls they liked in a school where they were the only male.
He'd collected plenty of character cards once — Irisviel, Ryougi Shiki, Mrs. Yuigahama, Hinata Hyuga, Tomoe Gozen, Cecilia, Sephiroth Micaela Deviluke, Victoria — all favorite cards of his.
But those cards were just data that had existed in a game. Whether they would carry over after rebirth was another matter; even if they did, the current love-activity system might not detect them.
If it couldn't detect them, well — marrying a cold, long-black-haired JK would be perfectly fine too.
He believed in gender equality and had no shame in aiming to be a stay-at-home husband and quietly pursue that life.
But this world was deeper than that. He couldn't just retire to domestic bliss.
Elves, vampires, mermaids, centaurs — things that normally belonged in another world — existed here too, though most were still in their original realm and only a few occasionally appeared in this one. Rumors said demon lords and goddesses existed in other worlds as well, but they couldn't cross over here.
And leaving other worlds aside, this world itself had yokai and vengeful spirits.
Not long ago, he'd been trapped on a snowy mountain and rescued by a yuki-onna.
That glimpse at the brink of death still lingered vividly in his mind.
The yuki-onna who saved him had been stunning — on par with Yukinoshita Yukino, whom he'd loved in his last life: the same long black hair, the same frosty temperament and barbed tongue. But that yuki-onna had a far better figure than Yukino...
(There's an illustration here — viewable after the next update.)
Because he'd once cheated death, he'd developed some unrealistic expectations about this love-activity system.
Although the original game emphasized romance and not combat, he remembered that studying, exercising, and reading little books in the game could increase stamina, knowledge, and — ahem — H-power. If there were no real-world limits, he could at least keep training to improve his body.
The demon lord in some far-off other world couldn't touch him here, but this world had yokai and vengeful spirits; they might be scarce in human news, but who knew when he'd be unlucky enough to run into a malicious spirit?
Since awakening his memories, he'd already prevented two or three coercion incidents and had nearly come to blows with a few pieces of scum — saved only because a discipline committee member happened by.
He had to admit that the two-dimensional world was never only beautiful; it simply showed people its beautiful sides more often.
In this realistic two-dimensional world, besides magical yokai, his first enemies were the ordinary jerks among humans.
Luckily, the moment he created the Service Club, he gained just enough power to protect himself for the time being.
"Ding!""Club successfully established — reward: Brotherhood Assassin Template.""Club activity function enabled."
[Brotherhood Assassin Template][Eagle Eye Vision]: A bluish-tinted field of view, active for a limited time during large movements; can pass through obstacles and briefly mark characters. (Ordinary enemies and prey display as red; target characters display as gold; allies show as blue or green.)[Transformation Technique]: After killing the target, you can take on their appearance.[Freerunning]: Commonly known as "parkour," most assassins master this skill, enabling access to places unreachable without tools, graceful traversal of cities and forests, and survival from high falls.[Leap of Faith]: A miracle promised by God — jump from great heights unharmed as long as there's grass.[Equipment]: Hooded robe, hidden blade.
As an Assassin's Creed–style template, the Brotherhood Assassin's abilities looked ridiculously powerful.
The hoodie-robed, middle-school-chuunibyou vibe and the hidden blade tucked inside the sleeve made Hikigaya Hachiman feel years younger.
But beyond the Assassin template, what caught his attention more was the newly activated club-activity function.
[Club Activities][Hunt the Minotaurs on Campus][Each Minotaur killed grants one random reward]
Hunt minotaurs?
Hachiman blinked.
Was this for real?
So that's what the Assassin template reward was for — the love-activity system actually wanted him to hunt minotaurs...
On the bright side, at least it wasn't one of those club activities where he had to interact romantically with the girls from the original game; he wouldn't be able to complete something like that alone.
Yesterday he hadn't been able to find any minotaurs to hunt, so today he'd been patrolling the school from the window with Eagle Eye Vision when a red figure suddenly flared near the swimming club.
Hachiman was about to perform a Leap of Faith to carry out his first assassination when the system's voice chimed in his head.
"Ding!""Character card detected — Yukinoshita Yukino.""Triggering character quest — I am the Minister of the Service Club."
"Get Yukinoshita Yukino to recognize you as the head of the Service Club."
At the system's prompt, Hachiman slowly turned and looked at the two people who had just burst into the Service Club room.
He'd already pulled his hood on for the Leap of Faith. Backlit by the setting sun, Hiratsuka Shizuka and Yukinoshita Yukino couldn't make out his face beneath the hood.
Hiratsuka, however, didn't bother with his appearance. Seeing him lower his open hands and turn around, she yanked him over and scolded him with theatrical venom:
"Hachiman, you weren't about to jump off a building and make me worry, were you?"
"...Of course not. My sister Komachi isn't married yet — how could I possibly do something like that?" Hachiman rolled his eyes. He had never thought about dying.
There were so many awful people in the world living carefree lives; why should he die? He intended to live comfortably too.
"That was a bout of chuunibyou!" Hiratsuka decided instantly, making her diagnosis.
"...Hiratsuka-sensei, what are you doing here?" Hachiman had no intention of discussing chuunibyou. He glanced instead at the long-black-haired beauty standing beside him: Yukinoshita Yukino.
"You probably already guessed — this is your new member," Hiratsuka said, releasing Hachiman and giving his shoulder a hearty slap, winking in exaggerated fashion.
"Class 1-J, Yukinoshita Yukino." Yukino stepped forward with a straight face. "By the way, don't be fooled by this frivolous teacher. I have not agreed to join the Service Club."
"It's fine — you can try being a member for one day," Hachiman said, nodding as he examined Yukino's expressionless face.
It seemed that because he'd set up the Service Club first, Yukino was now being strong-armed by Hiratsuka into joining.
Hmm... maybe I should try to get Yukino to call me 'Buchou' once she's on board.
"Yukinoshita-san, you do Aikido, right? Have you ever experienced real combat?" Hachiman asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Yukino took a few cautious steps back, watching Hachiman with wary eyes. His clothes, posture, and way of speaking were... unusual.
"Would you like to try one of our club activities?" he invited.
"Club activities?" Yukino frowned slightly. The Service Club had only been founded yesterday — how did they already have a request?
Hachiman's nod was slow. Beneath his hood, his gaze seemed to cut through the walls and land on a spot somewhere on campus where a red light flickered.
"Yes," he said. "Let's hunt those minotaurs that have fallen into darkness."