Running Interference (Haganai/KS Xover) *Discontinued

[xcrossfacekillahx]

Suddenly, I think of Hanako, and the spell breaks. I forcefully turn away from Yozora and push myself up before I lose my self-control. Don’t forget Hisao, Hanako is your main goal right now. Yozora’s just a friend.

I wonder how he's going to handle it. I think that Hisao will find a way not to disappoint Yozora and Hanako.

[BobBobberson]

Ah yes, Monster Hunter. I kind of expected more focus to be on whatever activity the last chapter ended up hinting at, but I guess going into too much detail about the game would have been distracting.

Eh, I pulled the Monster Hunter bit from one of the episodes of BwTgS, as a reference. I've never really played the game, so I could only do so much about it.

I wonder how he's going to handle it. I think that Hisao will find a way not to disappoint Yozora and Hanako.

Hah, when's the last time a love triangle was resolved amicably, both in real life and in fiction? Not that this is a love triangle, or anything.

[BobBobberson]

Hurray, more stilted writing! I thought my TF2/Saya no Uta draft would be finished first, but inspiration for this story struck first.

I’m running down another endless corridor, Keyblade in hand. I’m not sure how I got this weapon to start with, but it’s the only thing that’s keeping me alive against these damn Heartless that keep coming out of nowhere. Whoever’s watching me is toying with me, since I’ve been running for hours with no signs of progress.

Out of nowhere, a massive wooden door comes into view. I slow to a walk and gently press on it to make sure it is real, which it is. I grab the oversized handle and slowly pull it open. A blinding light overtakes me and for a moment, I’m disoriented.

Slowly opening my eyes, it appears...I’m on a beach? Except the sky is dark gray, but with no clouds. And a glance behind me tells me that there are innumerable large gray rocks going inland. I take a few steps forward when I hear a loud voice cry from behind me.

“Jawohl!” Medic cries out as he pries himself from one of the rocks.

“Ah, I thought I’d never get out of that vock. I take it you were teleported here after we killed da Announcer, Herr Nakai?” Medic inquires, examining his syringe gun.

“Huh? Uh yeah I guess, I thought you died holding off all the Nobodies with Heavy?” I ask back. That was an intense battle.

“No, I managed to get off an ubercharge in time to kill the rest of the dummkopfs. But suddenly a bright light appeared and next thing I know, I’m on this deserted beach! And Herr Heavy was missing too.” Medic explains.

“Oh, OK. Well, we might as well find an exit.” I gesture at Medic to follow me, and we start walking down the beach. We only walk for a few minutes when we both notice a body laying against a rock on the shore. Running towards it, my mouth drops open when I realize it’s Hanako, wearing her pink nightgown. The bad thing is that she’s unconscious, but she doesn’t look harmed at least.

“Medic, use your medigun on her, see if we can wake up her up.” I request.

He nods and trains the medigun’s nozzle on her, the red beam of light flowing into her. He barely has it trained on Hanako for ten seconds before a loud noise and a bright light emits from behind us. Spinning around into a combat stance, I blink in surprise once I see who it is: Yozora, looking oddly mismatched with the giant katana sheathed on the side of her denim jeans.

“You know what I want, Hisao. All you have to do is forget about her...” Yozora gestures towards the unconscious girl next to me.

I vigorously shake my head, holding the Keyblade with both hands.

“I...I can’t.” I stutter out. “Not for...anyone.” The last part comes out stilted, like I didn’t really mean it.

Looks like Yozora sensed my hesitation, as she pulls out her katana and wields it.

“Let’s see if this will change your mind.” She says before charging towards us. I immediately rush forward, Keyblade in hand, intending to intercept her. But right when we’re about to collide, Yozora suddenly shifts to the right, and as we pass by, she gives me a victorious smirk. I quickly dig my heels in and try to reverse myself, but it’s too late. I can only watch in horror as she closes in on Hanako, clearly with the intention to kill. Medic’s trying to switch from his medigun to the syringe gun, but Yozora is already upon Hanako, blade held above her. I run as fast as I can to get close enough to Yozora to strike her, but she’s already letting her blade fall towards...

I suddenly jerk up off my floor bed, panting and in a cold sweat. A quick glance at my alarm clock tells me that I’m five minutes early before the alarm woke me up. Would’ve been five minutes into my dream too long. Looking at Yozora, it seems she’s still sleeping, with a rare peaceful look on her face. For a moment, I debate whether to wake her up or not, but I decide to leave her be and prepare for school as much as I can without disturbing her.

Quietly getting up from the floor, I head to my closet and silently extract a clean uniform and a towel from it. After turning off the alarm, I spare one last look at Yozora before I leave my room and head for the showers.

Luckily for me, the bathroom is devoid of Kenji. I don’t think I can withstand more assaults on my mind right now. Stripping and getting into the shower, I start to idly think of how messed up that dream was. I mean really, why did I have a Keyblade to begin with? Sure I’ve played Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, but that was a long long time ago, back in the days when I was normal. I could at least see how Medic was in it, since he is my favorite character from Left 4 the Half-Fortress.

The disturbing part is when Hanako and Yozora came into it. And try as I might, I couldn’t see any correlation between the two and what’s happening in real life. I realize that I took about ten minutes pondering over this, so I quickly shampoo and scrub myself and get out of the shower.
After a minute of hasty changing, I’m in my school uniform, looking as normal as can be, for a Yamaku student anyways. I’m about to head out of the bathroom when the door opens, to reveal Kenji walking in.

“Sup, Hisao.” He says, draping his towel over one of the racks.

How the hell did he know it was me? He can barely see for crap.

“Umm, hey Kenji,” I think about leaving before he can get into one of his rants, but suddenly an event I recalled changes my mind. “I saw you talking to this pale girl with a white braid yesterday, what was that about?”

“What? Oh, that was Rika. I thought she was another new guy like you, so I tried recruiting her for the resistance against the feminist movement. But then she slapped me and walked away.” Kenji responds with the air of one talking about what they had for dinner last night.

“Ok...” Is all I can say before I walk out the bathroom. For Kenji, that was remarkably...normal. If he was trying to make some moves on this Rika, I would have laughed my ass off. Speaking of Rika, oh yeah I forgot, Yozora’s club has a girl named Rika too. Except she’s apparently really really really perverted. Huh.

Entering my room again, Yozora’s still sleeping on my bed. Deciding that now’s a good time to wake her up, I gently shake her shoulder.

“Yozora, wake up.” I whisper. Her eyes finally open and lock onto me on a glare.

“Ugh, give me five more minutes, Hisao.” Yozora groans, facing into the pillow.

“Nope! Seriously, I have to leave for class soon.” I declare, shaking Yozora more vigorously. She finally relents and gets up from my bed.

“Alright I’m up, damn Hisao you’re so annoying sometimes.” Yozora mutters. “Not really...” She adds as an afterthought. Standing up, she yawns and stretches her arms and back.

“It sucks that you have class today, we could’ve done something else today.” Yozora notes, striding to her bag to retrieve her uniform.

“Eh, well blame the school, not me,” I point out, fiddling with the bag of food in search for any kind of food.. “Anyways, I’ve got other plans today.”

I’m not going to say what those plans actually are though. Or maybe I shouldn’t have said that last bit to begin with.

“Other plans? With who?” Yozora inquires.

Crap. Curse my big mouth. Common sense tells me I should lie and say something mundane, but my mouth isn’t listening to it.

“I’m going out to the city tonight with Lilly and Hanako.” I blurt out. In my mind, I’m bonking my head against a wall for my stupidity. I finally decide to grab something at random from the bag. Turning around, I notice Yozora giving me an angry glare. But upon noticing me watching her, she quickly averts her gaze.

“Sounds lovely.” She briefly says, refusing to look at me now. “I’m going to change now, so if you don’t mind burying your face in your pillow again...”

I quickly get to my bed and hide my face in the pillow. I again hear the faint sounds of one undressing and dressing.

“Alright I’m done, Hisao. Let us depart.” I hear Yozora say. Getting up from my bed, Yozora’s back in her school uniform, complete with short dark green skirt and white blouse. Slinging her gymsack behind her, she walks over to the door, looking at me expectantly. Taking her cue, I head to the door and open it, allowing her to go first, as per standard. The trip down to the lobby is silent, neither of us daring to say anything.

Walking out of the boys dorm, I notice Yozora hasn’t made another excuse to hold my hand again. I kinda feel disappointed that she hasn’t, but then reason kicks in, wondering why I’m disappointed to begin with. Good thing it’s early enough that most of the students are still in their dorms. I purposely set my alarm earlier today just for this purpose. Going down the stairs next to Rin’s mural, my heart instantly drops.

Shizune and Misha are standing next to the landing, signing animatedly to each other. Why they’re standing there in this ungodly hour, I have no idea. I must try to sneak by unnoticed though. The two of us finally get on solid ground, and I pick up my pace slightly, hoping Yozora will get my message and mirror me. Thankfully, she picks up the pace as well, and as we get away from the landing, I become more and more relieved.

“Hisao! Hey, Hisao!” I hear Misha yell from behind me. Oooh, so close. I turn around to see both Shizune and Misha walking towards me. Strangely enough, Shizune has that angry look on her face that I’ve seen countless times, and Misha’s frowning as well.

“You know these two?” Yozora asks quietly, looking perplexed.

“Yeah, they’re the Student Council. Brace yourselves.” I warn her. I’d like to say more, but the duo are within listening distance now.

“Hey Hisao, what’re you doing out so early?” Misha asks. I think the two of them are intentionally ignoring Yozora for now.

“Ehh, y’know, walking towards class. Gotta get a head start for class.” I lie. We were walking towards the school gates.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re going to the campus building,” Misha points out. Damn it. “And who’s this?” Misha gives Yozora an inquisitive stare, which doesn’t faze Yozora at all. “You don’t look like a student here! Wahaha~!”

“The name’s Yozora. I slept over Hisao’s room last night. And your laugh is really annoying.” Yozora nonchalantly replies. Double damn it. You could at least choose your words more carefully.

Misha furrows her brow in anger at her response, displeased with Yozora's response. Not surprising, given Yozora's abrasive nature. Once Misha’s translation reaches Shizune’s eyes (Misha signs everything said in a conversation for Shizune’s sake), Shizune’s eyes widen for a moment, before furiously signing back her response.

“Having girls sleep over the boys dorm is strictly forbidden!” Misha says in an angry voice. It’s odd hearing her angry for once. “And she’s not even from our school! Hisao, your immoral actions will have consequences!”

Why me? I figured Shizune would blow up seeing me with another girl. She didn’t take my rejection of her invitation to the Student Council lightly.

After Shizune’s (through Misha) blowout, Yozora suddenly leans uncomfortably close towards Misha, who instinctively leans back a bit to allow some space between her and Yozora.

“Oh, it wasn’t Hisao doing the immoral actions, it was me.” Yozora says with a smirk. “And tell your friend this: After we finished up, he’ll never want to go to someone like you.”

Stepping back slowly, Yozora takes my hand and marches me away from the two girls, who seem dumbstruck by her response, well Shizune becomes dumbstruck once Misha slowly signs Yozora’s response to her.. Hell, even I’m struck cold by what Yozora said, if for a different reason.

“Yozora, why did you have to say that?” I ask once we’re out of earshot. That was a very dangerous thing to say.

“Hisao, I can tell when a girl is jealous. That blue-haired chick back there was extremely jealous of me right now. So let’s just say I decided to pull on some...strings.” Yozora replies, giving me a deceptively innocent look.

“But why did you have to go that far? You do know what the word reputation means, right? And how it can be affected by just one sentence?” I counter. I wouldn’t put it past Misha and Shizune to spread this little encounter to the campus.

“Actually, I did have to go that far. You picked up your walking pace when those two girls came within viewing distance, which told me that you didn’t want to talk to those two girls. And there’s really only one reason why a girl would look angry at a guy and a girl walking together. So I did you a favor and shook her off your back. You should be thanking me.”

Well, she does have a bit of a point there. If it looks like I’m taken with someone else, Shizune might relent and stop bothering me. Might. Of course, she could just take out her anger on me and conscript me into doing more boring Student Council work. Too late to take it back now though.

“Well, er...Thanks, I guess? She was getting a bit annoying trying to rope me into the Student Council.” I say.

“No problem, Hisao. Friends gotta have each others back, right?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The rest of the walk goes by quickly, and soon we find ourselves at the bus stop.

“So...I guess this is it, huh?” I mumble. I’m finding it harder to say goodbye to Yozora with each encounter. Realizing that she’s still holding my hand, I gently pry it loose from her grip.

“Yep, it’s this time again.” Yozora quietly replies. “It sucks. Sometimes I wish that...” She trails off, looking up to me with those purple eyes. Again, like last night, time halts into a stop, and I know that this is another moment where if I want to make a move, now would be the best time to do it...

Inside my brain, a war wages inside my head whether to finally make an advance of Yozora. The events of last night has persuaded a large part of my conscious that Yozora is a great girl for me, although the other part of my conscious that believes Hanako is the worthier chick is fighting back. I have to take some sort of action soon, before this moment passes again.

I don’t get a chance to decide, as Yozora takes my head and brings it towards hers, our lips meeting. My will drains away as we kiss for the first time and taste each other. After a few seconds, she pulls away from me, a satisfied look on her face. For the third time in a 24 hour time span, my brain ceases operations.

“That’s something to remember me by until next time.” Yozora whispers.

Conveniently, the bus pulls in right after Yozora’s statement. With a wave, she gets on the bus and it pulls away from the curb. I stay at the stop watching the bus go away. Once it disappears from sight, I snap out of my trance and head off towards school.

“Yozora kissed me.” is the only thought that runs through my mind as I walk through the park to the building and enter my classroom. No one is inside the classroom to interrupt my thoughts, so I silently take my seat.

A couple of minutes later, the door squeaks open again, and Hanako timidly walks in. Noticing me, I notice her smile a bit and head over to me. With Hanako’s appearance, the full weight of what just happened pierces my heart. Maybe that dream I had last night was a premonition of sorts. I never thought a random encounter would lead to something like this.

Ehhh, I feel like I didn't do the buildup properly, but I can't pinpoint where. Constructive criticism of this chapter would be greatly appreciated.

[nemz]

Yozora is a delightful little bitch. Poor Hisao, your world just got a lot more complicated. Drama bomb detonation in 3...2...1...

[Elcor]

oh its a wonderful thing your writing can't wait for more.

[BobBobberson]

Yeah, this took too long for my liking, and writer's block has stricken me on this fic for the past 5 days. So yeah, gonna freeze it for the rest of finals week and see if I can still come up with something. It appears my writing skill is shit compared to the big guns of the fanfic forum if the lack of post count has anything to say about it.

“Hey Hisao.” Hanako greets me, hovering next to my desk.

“Morning, Hanako.” I reply in a cheery tone, hiding my inner turmoil. It’s hard to look her in the eye right now.

“You remember our plans for t-today, right?” Hanako twiddles her thumbs at this question, looking a bit nervous.

“Yeah, I still remember. Jazz club tonight with Lilly and Akira.” I recite.

“O-ok, that’s good,” Hanako gives a look of relief at my non-lapse in memory. I wonder why? “Where’d you go yesterday? You disappeared after the bell rang.”

Crap! Quick, come up with an excuse Hisao!

“I had to go run back to my dorm to get this library book that was supposed to be returned today.” I say the first thing that comes to mind, which sounds surprisingly legitimate.

Hanako becomes slightly crestfallen. I hear her mutter something I don’t quite catch before she heads to her desk. More students start to flow in now, some cheerily greeting me as they head to their desks. The prospects of having only a half-day today is clearly affecting their moods. Shizune and Misha arrive at the same time as Mutou today, which is to say that all three of them are late. The two girls are clearly still fuming from their encounter with Yozora, since Misha isn’t all giddy and neither of them greet me as they take their seats. I feel a sense of foreboding about this, but it’s not like I can do anything about it.

Mutou’s draw soon overtakes the whole classroom. Strangely enough, I’m alert and actually taking notes of his lecture. Not that it’s necessary since science seems to come naturally to me. Suddenly, Mutou drifts off into the seemingly random topic of percussive maintenance, which sounds suspiciously like randomly hitting an object with a wrench to get stuff to build. I guess he’s watched Left 4 the Half-Fortress too.

“So the possibility of building machines that can heal wounds just by standing next to it isn’t completely far-fetched. The scientists over at Valve based the machines from Team Fortress 2 from actual technology that they’re developing...” Mutou continues, drawing a hasty picture of what’s supposed to be a Dispenser.

Poke. I feel a pen dig into my right shoulder. Sighing, I turn to Misha, who grins and hands me a note. I spare a glance back at Mutou, who’s busy writing complicated formulas next to the Dispenser diagram. While this isn’t completely related to chemistry or physics, I have a feeling this will be on the test. Giving Misha a perplexed look, I quickly take the note before Mutou turns around. Opening it quietly, I read the note.

“Thought you’d get back at me? Well you may have won the battle, but I have the clutch card.”

The handwriting’s definitely Shizune’s, but I’m not getting the message. What battle...? Oh yeah, the whole Yozora thing. In retrospect, it was pretty satisfying seeing those two pissed off. I remember that prank Shizune pulled on me a week-ish ago. Meh, now I wish I remembered this sooner, would’ve made the whole revenge feeling feel a lot better. So if that was the battle I won (Pissing off Shizune and Misha), what’s this clutch card Shizune’s talking about? I don’t like what this note indicates. Sounds like Shizune’s going to play it soon.

I quietly fold the note and tuck it somewhere in my notebook. Looking to my left, Shizune is noiselessly signing to Misha with a mischievous look on her face. Whatever this is, it can’t be good.

I spend the rest of the morning period pondering over whatever this card Shizune’s going to use. The lunch bell rings, and I head to the tea room with Hanako, where Lilly’s waiting with a steaming teapot and three cups.

“So Hisao, Hanako, you two ready for tonight?” Lilly asks once we get settled in.

“I g-guess, I have my clothes all picked out.” Hanako replies.

It takes me slightly more time to come up with a response. I know this outing will be a good chance to get closer to Hanako, and I suppose Lilly and Akira as well. But the thought of Yozora’s kiss suddenly makes me mentally cringe with guilt. Nevertheless, I force a grin.

“Yeah, I’m ready for tonight as well. It’ll be good to be in the city again with the four of us.”

“That’s good to hear. The rendezvous point will be my room at about...six P.M.? That should be enough time.” Lilly declares.

With that confirmation, the three of us finish up our lunch and clean up, departing for our respective classrooms at the sound of the bell. I’m hoping that the rest of the school day will go by without a hitch. I don’t want anyone, specifically Shizune and Misha, spoiling my mood for tonight. I nervously keep tabs on the two, watching for anything out of the ordinary. When the bell rings, I give a sigh of relief as I pack my things. Looking at Hanako, I’m about to beckon her over so we can walk to the dorms together when I notice something out of the ordinary.

Misha and Shizune stride up to Hanako in unison, Misha saying something indeterminate to Hanako. I quietly make my way to the door, hoping Misha doesn’t yell at me to come over as well. As much as I want to help Hanako, embarrassing me in front of her seems like a tactic the Student Council would pull on me. After all, nearly every student in the school knows about the rumor that Hanako and I went on a date, something neither of us has gotten around to confirming nor denying...
As soon as I make it into the hallway, I breath a sigh of relief before heading to my dorms. Hopefully, they won’t cause too much of a fuss to Hanako. I did want to hang out with her for a bit before getting ready for the jazz club, but I suppose I can wait the time out.

The trip to the dorms is surprisingly short, and I soon find myself entering my room. I take off my dress shirt, leaving only my white undershirt. Ehh, might as well take off my pants. Taking those off as well, I’m left in my undergarments. Grabbing Plugged from the desk, I lay back in my bed and zone out.

Turning the last page of the novel, I place the book back on the desk and look at the clock...5:30?! Woah, I took longer with the book than I expected. I hurriedly rush to my closet, trying to figure out the best ensemble when going to a Jazz club. I decide to go with a light blue polo and dark denim jeans. I doubt it’s going to be too formal, or Lilly would’ve specified. After taking my phone from my uniform pants, I rush over to Lilly’s dorm.

When I get to Lilly’s door, I hesitate for a moment before knocking. I’m about to hang out with Lilly and Hanako again, which will have a very different feeling after hanging out with Yozora twice beforehand. Gritting my teeth, I knock.

“Hey, Lilly, it’s me, Hisao.”

I hear the sounds of someone shuffling things around and the door unlocking.

“Yeah, just come in, Hisao.” I hear Lilly say.

Taking her cue, I open the door to see Lilly standing in front of the door waiting for me. She’s wearing the same outfit that she used when we went gift shopping for Hanako, not that it’s bad. I haven’t seen her wear that in a while, so I’m not going to say anything.

“Where’s Hanako?” I ask, noting the distinct lack of her in the room.

“Oh, she had to go get something from her room. We’re meeting up with Akira at the front gates, where she’ll pick us up with her car.” Lilly responds.

Behind me, I hear the sounds of a door opening and closing, and someone approaching us.

“I’m back, Lilly! I just have to...” Hanako stops talking suddenly. Turning around, I see Hanako, also in the same getup that she wore in our movie night, albeit with a dark purple hat replacing the black one. Judging from her face, she didn’t think I’d be here yet.

“Hey, H-Hisao...” Hanako murmurs, looking away. That’s weird of her. She’s acting like we’re meeting for the first time again. Lilly doesn’t notice her actions though, or she’d know something is wrong.
“Alright then, let’s head for the gates.” Lilly orders. Taking her place on Hanako’s shoulder, we head down to the front gates, where Akira’s waiting, leaning against her red sedan.

“Hey guys. Let’s hurry up before all the good seats get taken!” Akira urges, prodding us to the car.

“Jeez, are you that much in a rush Akira?” I ask, slightly irritated by her pushing.

“Yes, I am Hisao. Now be quiet and get in!”

We rush inside the car at her command, and she speeds off into the road. Lilly’s sitting in the front passenger seat, and Hanako and I are in the back together. Although from the smirk I can see on Akira’s face from the rear-view mirror, it seems like it was on purpose. Leaning back on the car seat, I sense a vibration coming from Hanako. It looks like she’s...shaking? I’m not sure what happened back in the classroom, but I have a feeling it’s what causing Hanako’s strange behavior. Well, strange for being around friends. In the small talk we throw around, she talks just fine with Lilly and Akira, but when I address Hanako, she freezes up a bit and starts stuttering. Damn it Shizune, what did you say to her?

Arriving at the city, it takes Akira only a few minutes to find a parking spot. Normally, I would take notice of the shining lights of the city at night, but I find myself worrying about Hanako and whatever Shizune and Misha said to them. As soon as Akira parks the car, I quickly get out and rush over to Hanako’s door in an impulse of chivalry, opening it for her.

“Hanako.” I say, offering my hand to her. She mutters something, but slowly takes my hand with her right hand, the partially scarred one. As soon as I feel her hand, I can already tell the differences between Yozora and Hanako’s hand. Hanako’s is still pretty soft (not as soft as Yozora’s), and I can feel a slightly rough patch that must be scar tissue. Akira, who's been watching this act of chivalry, gives me a knowing look as she assists Lilly.

“Alright, just follow me guys. And don’t get lost!” Akira orders. I obediently fall in line behind her, letting loose my grip on Hanako. But she unexpectedly tightens her grip and follows me as well. I turn to her, but she’s looking down and away from me, so I have no idea what’s going on in her mind right now. She’s just clutching my hand as if it were her only lifeline to this world. I don’t mind it though, it reminds of someone...

After following Akira for a minute, she turns into a stairwell that leads down into what looks like a basement of sorts. But people are coming in and out of the stairs too, and they all look fairly high-class, so it doesn’t look like this place is a dump. I slowly go down the stairs, taking care not to accidentally push the people leaving the club.

Hanako and I follow Akira and Lilly through the door, and I’m stunned by what I see. There’s an old-fashioned stage on the far end of the room, not like a theater stage, but small enough so that small bands could comfortably play on it. Off to the side, there’s a couple of pool tables, and opposite the pool tables sits a bar, complete with bar tender. In the middle are various kinds of tables, ranging from circular ones to booths near the wall. The lighting isn’t too bright nor too dark, just enough to set the mood that the light jazz music emanating from the speakers is creating.

“So, what do you think?” Akira inquires, looking at Hanako and I expectantly.

“It looks a-amazing. It does bring a mood of the past.” Hanako replies.

“Yeah, it does. Very class.” I supply.

We take some seats at the bar, although Hanako and I look out of place since we’re a bit younger than Lilly. Lilly can pull off being 20 very easily, with her mature appearance. But Hanako and I don’t, unfortunately. Looks like Akira’s noticed this as well, as she pokes me and gestures to the pool table.

“You go do your thing with Hanako. We’ll be fine.” Akira whispers so neither Lilly nor Hanako will hear it.

Feels kinda odd having Akira play matchmaker for us. Someone is definitely pulling on our strings from backstage. Although this would be a good opportunity to determine why Hanako was acting all weird before.

“Hey, Hanako, you want to try the pool tables?” I ask, motioning towards the tables on the side.

“Sure, I haven’t had a chance to play pool in a while.” She confirms, finally looking me in the eye as she gets off the bar stool.

We make our way to the pool table, where I rack up the pool balls and grab two cues for Hanao and I. As I rub some chalk on the cue tip, Hanako interrupts the silence.

“So Hisao...” I turn away from the cue tip to glance at Hanako, who’s uncomfortably shifting around. “Um...can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can, Hanako. I don’t mind.” I mindlessly reply. Heading over to the cue ball to break, I start to line up my shot.

“Well...who’s Y-Yozora and why was she s-sleeping overnight in your room last night?” She asks right as I move to strike the ball.

What? The question is so random and disturbing that my aim is off, hitting the right side of the triangle of balls. Of course, the balls don’t scatter as well as I’d like, but I’m not worried about that right now. Damn it, that must’ve been what Shizune meant by the clutch card! She already figured out that I liked Hanako, and is going out of her way to ruin it for me!

While my mind is reeling internally, externally I radiate calm, or at least I hope I am. The air around us has changed from friendly to cold in an instant. Looking at Hanako, she doesn’t look mad (not that I’ve ever seen her mad to begin with), but she just has a sad expression on her face, head slightly tilted waiting for my response.

To tell the truth or lie? That is the question that has to be answered in five seconds or less. Deciding on one, I upright myself from leaning over the pool table and give my answer.

“She’s a friend of mine. She came over Yamaku the day before, but she ended up staying too long, so she had to stay over.” I honestly reply. As long as she doesn’t tread on the one land mine, I can handle whatever Hanako throws at me.

Hanako only nods at my answer, walking over to the cue ball and lining up a shot. With poise, she seamlessly knocks a striped ball into a hole. I probably already know the answer to this, but I might as well ask.

“How’d you find out?” I ask, watching her shift positions to try to land another ball.

“I have my sources.” She replies in a deadpan voice. Can’t tell if she’s bluffing or not though. Can’t imagine who else could’ve told Hanako about Yozora.
Hanako shoots the cue ball, but it hits the striped ball at the wrong angle so it bounces off the wall next to the hole. I head to the cue ball to line up my shot.

Looking down at the pool table, I can only hear Hanako’s next question. “Why did you keep her a secret from m-me?”

I freeze once I hear it. I’ve never imagined Hanako to be so upfront about anything, especially a situation like this.

“Well y’know how bad rumors can get in our school, so I figured if I kept her on the inconspicuous side, no one would notice and make a big deal out of it.” I rationalize, sinking one of the solid balls in a corner pocket.

Shifting around the table once more, it looks like my answer was not the best one, according to Hanako’s distraught face. She’s slowly spinning the pool cue like a baton, giving me a haunting look. I look away before my memory can memorize that face.

“You couldn’t have told me about her yourself?” Hanako quietly asks. “Since our movie date, you haven’t made a single effort to do something with me again. Why, Hisao...w-why?” Her voice starts to break with those last few words.

I focus down on the ball, refusing to look at Hanako. I don’t think I can right now. Looks like my lying, or at least the omission of truth, is coming back to bite me right now. All I can do now is tell the truth and hope for the best.

“Well...I guess I was busy with Yozora. But isn’t that what friends do, hang out with each other?” I shoot back, trying to reason with her. Carefully aiming the cue ball, I manage to land another solid ball into a pocket. I don’t want to miss, or I’ll have to look up from the table.

“You could have told that to me, instead of making up excuses...” Hanako murmurs as I slowly walk to a different side of the table. Zooming in on the cue ball, I realize with a sinking feeling that there’s no obvious straight shot I can shoot for. And I’m not one of those guys who can make those complex shots. I grit my teeth and aim at one of the striped balls, knocking it so it’ll be harder for Hanako to sink it.

Steeling myself, I look up at Hanako again. She seems to have calmed down a bit, but upon closer inspection, I spy a small tear go down her face. Huh? Is she really making this such a big deal for herself?

“Well I didn’t know how you’d react! Especially since she...” I blurt out unexpectedly, somehow stopping my tongue once I realize what I was going to say next.

“Looked like me?” Hanako bitterly finishes my sentence.

My mental capacity to respond crumbles at her statement, and I find myself looking away out of shame. Even if Hanako had brought this up, I wouldn’t be all guilty about this if Yozora hadn’t...kissed me. Damn it Yozora! I have to think of something fast to salvage this, or the time I’ve spent with Hanako will have been for naught!

[Elcor]

A great update and leaving it in such a way that makes you want more. Looking forward to the next update.

[MystiKnight]

Oh noes, its going to be frozen? Aww! Don't be discouraged by a low post count, I would say that you have quite a lot compared to some other FF's here (such as mine >.>).

Try thinking of it this way: Your writing skill is so good that its stunning, rendering people speechless, so they dont post a reply.

[Hacksorus]

A lot of the posts in the fanfiction section are pointing out errors, so a lack of comments may be a good thing.
Personally. I'm enjoying it.

[DelusionsOfGrandeur]

I, like many others, come here on a daily basis and read the wonderful fanfics you guys write up. I have a post count in the single digits but have spent many hours reading and loving the material that is posted. I would like to take the time to make amends to all you guys, we the lurkers, apologize for not being more supportive. I 'm inclined to agree with MystiKnights observation, if there is one thing the internet loves to do is tell you that everything you like/write/say is shit and will create a power point presentation to back their claim. I've seen nothing but praise so far.

[Silentcook]

I'd like to bring this to people's attention concerning postcounts.

[Sin of my sins]

It appears my writing skill is shit compared to the big guns of the fanfic forum if the lack of post count has anything to say about it.

Hey don't fret too much about it, as some have already said , most posts in FF threads are either to correct mistakes or just completely pointless and/or irrelevant. Personally I would have posted on the thread earlier, but I have mainly visited the site on my mobile and it's too much of a fuss to deal with. I find your story very intriguing, and I'm looking forward to seeing how our Master of Romance talks his way out of that mess. ^^

ps. Just a btw, this thread inspired me to watch BwTgS, which turned out to be quite entertaining. Cheers!

[xcrossfacekillahx]

Don't be discouraged by the post count since I'm enjoying this fanfic especially because it's a crossover of Boku wa Tomodachi. Anyway, the story's getting interesting can't wait to read the next.

[Mirage_GSM]

"...or all the time I've spent with her will be for naught."

To me this doesn't sound like he's in love with Hanako and more like he just wants to conquer her...
At the moment I'm not rooting for Hisao but hoping that Hanako won't fall for that jerk.

[nemz]

To me this doesn't sound like he's in love with Hanako and more like he just wants to conquer her...

or perhaps like he's earned her, which means he's thinking of spending time with her as a cost, one he fears may soon become a bad investment.