The next morning.

As usual, when Hikigaya Hachiman was parking his bicycle in the bike shed, a listless voice called out to him from behind — it was Yuigahama Yui.

“Morning, Hikigaya…”

“Morning… What’s wrong with you?”

The usually energetic dango (nickname for Yui) had suddenly turned into a lifeless shell.

“I just kept studying a bit more after you guys left last night…”

Waving her arms weakly, Yui greeted Hachiman and then drifted toward the school building like a ghost.

“Are you sure you’re okay like this? Do you want to visit the infirmary?”

Hachiman hurried to catch up.

“I’m fine. I was just tormented by the science problems all night. I’ll be okay after zoning out a bit in class.”

She waved her hand, signaling it wasn’t a big deal.

As the two continued walking and began climbing the stairs, they spotted Yukino Yukinoshita’s back ahead of them.

“Yukinon!”

The moment Yui saw her, she perked up instantly and energetically ran up the stairs toward Yukino.

“Hey! That’s dangerous!”

Seeing Yui run like that despite being so exhausted, Hachiman also quickened his pace with concern.

Yukino, hearing Yui’s call, turned sideways on the steps and greeted them.

“Good morning, Yuigahama-san. Hikigaya-kun.”

“Morning, Yukinon!”

Yui excitedly ran up to Yukino, just about to proudly tell her how she had studied all night.

However, just as she stepped onto the same step as Yukino, her foot caught something.

Losing her balance, she tumbled forward toward the steps.

Yukino instinctively reached out to catch her, but ended up stumbling forward as well.

Just before Yui’s face was about to slam into the stairs, a hand grabbed the back of her collar and lifted her up.

“Didn’t I just remind you to be more careful?”

Hachiman’s face was full of exasperation.

While holding onto Yukino’s arm to steady her, he chided the main culprit behind the incident.

“Sorry…”

Yui held her collar and looked completely deflated. She lowered her head like a student about to be scolded by the teacher.

“It’s fine. Just be careful next time.”

With Hachiman’s help, Yukino regained her balance and immediately reassured Yui.

“Yui?”

Just when it seemed the incident had settled down, Yumiko Miura suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

Seeing Yui standing with her head down in front of Hachiman and Yukino, looking all downcast, Yumiko instinctively assumed they had bullied her.

Her face darkened as she marched up the stairs, radiating hostility.

“I believe you’ve misunderstood something, Miura-san.”

Facing Yumiko’s unfriendly expression, Yukino spoke calmly.

“Misunderstood what? Look at her — clearly you bullied her!”

Yumiko shielded Yui behind her and glared menacingly at the girl she despised.

“Um, Miura, it’s really a misunderstanding…”

Yui tugged at Yumiko’s back and quietly explained what had just happened.

Although she was happy Yumiko came to defend her, she didn’t want to see her and Yukino argue over a misunderstanding.

[…..]

A heavy silence fell over the staircase.

Yumiko’s angry face quickly turned red as she realized the truth — so red, in fact, that steam practically shot out of her head.

To think she made such a huge fool of herself in front of her sworn rival!

Having realized that, Yumiko swiftly stormed past Hachiman and Yukino, charging toward the classroom in embarrassment.

Seeing that, Yui quickly said goodbye and rushed after her with her bag in tow.

“Why didn’t you say anything more just now?”

Now alone on the staircase, Hachiman asked Yukino as they slowly walked down the hallway.

With her sharp tongue, Yukino had the upper hand back there.

But aside from calming Yumiko down at first, she hadn’t said a word after that — nor had she stopped Yumiko from fleeing.

“What do you mean, ‘say more’? She was trying to stand up for Yuigahama, wasn’t she?”

Yukino rolled her eyes at him, clearly annoyed.

Who does he think she is?

“Fair enough.”

Hachiman nodded in agreement.

Even if Yumiko’s attitude was aggressive, her desire to protect Yui was real.

Too bad it turned out to be one giant misunderstanding — not only did she fail to defend Yui, she ended up embarrassing herself badly.

“Well then, see you at the Service Club this afternoon.”

Before they realized it, they had arrived at Class F’s door.

Yukino gave a brief farewell, and without waiting for a reply, continued walking down the hallway.

“See you this afternoon…”

Though he knew she couldn’t hear him, Hachiman still softly called out to her back.

Then, he opened the classroom door and walked to his seat.

Just as he hung his bag on the side of his desk and was about to rest his head in his hand to daydream, he saw Yumiko Miura marching straight toward him from the back of the classroom.

Is she really coming to pick a fight now?

Though his thoughts were uneasy, Hachiman kept his gaze on her, not showing the slightest trace of panic on his face.

“About earlier… I misunderstood you and that woman. I’m sorry.”

The proud queen of the class had just voluntarily apologized to someone on the bottom rung of the class hierarchy!

Looking at Yumiko’s awkward and extremely embarrassed expression, Hachiman’s face twisted as if he’d just seen a ghost.

Had the sun risen from the west?

“What’s with that look on your face? Is my apology really that shocking to you?”

Seeing Hachiman’s expression, Yumiko felt a little annoyed.

Did he normally think she was some kind of uncultured brute?

“No, just a bit surprised. About the same level of surprise as seeing TV Tokyo not airing anime and seriously broadcasting the news instead.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep