Minor note: I think it's a tradition of sorts for me to write a story in between chapters of other stories. And to those waiting for updates on An Unlikely Request, I'll put it out...some times later. I'm not too good with deadlines. With that said, enjoy the story.

Chapter 1: The Service Club is strange.

My eyes fluttered for a few seconds before opening fully to the sight of blinding white light.

I surveyed the area for a while. Bland white walls. Bland white ceilings. Everything was just bland. It was a generic office room.

I also heard people bustling and hustling about their daily works. Turning my head a bit, I spotted a couple of adults conversing with a bunch of teenagers, wearing clothes that I could only assume to be their uniforms. Those adults talking to them also seemed familiar…

"Oi, Hikigaya. Don't you dare get distracted!"

A rough voice called out to me as the source of that same voice smacked me with something soft. I rubbed the affected spot before turning back, my face scrunched up in annoyance.

I came face to face with a demon unlike any others.

"And stop gawking."

She bobbed my head once more with the papers she was holding. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me. This woman…

Rubbing my bleary eyes slowly, I was soon able to focus on the strange woman in front of me. Her face seemed familiar…That pissed off expression coupled with the 'What-am-I-going-to-do-with-you?' face. It was easy to identify that expression since I did it often with my sister.

"Anyway…" She leaned back into the couch, crossing her legs, "Tell me what were you thinking when you wrote this?"

"Wrote what?"

"The essay!" She shouted quite loudly, garnering quite a bit of stares and glares from the others. Now that I had the time to think about it, this place must be a teacher room. I didn't really feel that sure but it was a feeling that I got.

Plus, the strange woman mentioned something about essay.

But as I said, I didn't feel that sure about anything right now. For some reasons, my head was spinning and I couldn't even focus on a single thought.

So, in the risk of provoking an already pissed off beast; I asked.

"…What essay?"

But instead of a violent outburst like I expected, she merely pinched the bridge of her noise, sighing as she did so. With an exhausted shake of her head, she placed some of the papers on the table while taking a singular page and handing it to me.

Written in a hasty yet careful manner on top of the page was

'Looking Back On High School Life'

Oh right, I did write something similar to this but why was she bringing this essay up now? Didn't she lecture me on it already?

"This isn't a joke, Hikigaya. This essay is an assignment. An assignment."

I didn't particularly like how she stressed the word assignment like it was a threat. What is she, a terrorist? Oh wait, if I recalled correctly, she's just an overripe, overbearing woman who happened to not be married.

In other words, Hiratsuka-sensei.

No wonder she seemed so familiar.

But why was I here again? My memories may be fuzzy but I was certain that the faculty office wasn't my place of being.

"But then again, I haven't really took the time to understand your rather peculiar mind so it could be a fault on my end," She gave a satisfied nod to herself. Was she that shallow that she was feeling pleased at giving a cheesy one liner?

Sensei, please…

"You know, I used to have a mindset similar to yours back when I was your age." She said wistfully, her mind probably reminiscing about said times.

Heh, I'm surprised you remember it since it must be such a long time ago.

"I'm surprised you remember it since it must be such a long time ago." I said without missing a beat. It was only after a thick air of silence filled the room that I was able to comprehend what I did.

Crap…I said it out loud…

"Under normal circumstances, I would put you in an armbar but I'm generous today so don't push it."

I gulped quietly. The air of tension wasn't disappearing and I straightened my posture in a similar manner to a kid who has been caught slouching.

"I don't mean to pry but…" Hiratsuka-sensei said in a soft voice, almost afraid to speak up, "Is your current…'condition' influenced by that accident?"

Oh, that accident. Been a while since I've thought about it. But how did Hiratsuka-sensei know about it? Did I tell her? Sure, she's a teacher and all but…

"Nah, not really. I would've been the same without that accident anyway."

"Hah, is that so…" This time, she was the one who slouch. Immediately after, she rubbed her head sheepishly before continuing to talk, "You know…the one you've saved was quite insistent on repaying you."

I raised an eyebrow, "I don't think a dog can repay me in any possible way."

"You're calling one of my students a dog?"

"…I thought we were talking about that accident," I gave a confused stare, "Are we even on the same page?"

"I am. Not sure if you are though." She crossed her arms coolly as she said it with a smug expression adorning her face.

"That sentence doesn't even make any sense."

Flustered, she dropped her pose and slammed one of her hands on the coffee table; earning us wayward glances from the other inhabitants of this room. Ugh…

"Anyway! I want you to join this club that I've made with one of the students!"

What? Wasn't she in charge of the Service Club? Why did she create another club then? More importantly, why was she trying to get me into a new club?

"But I'm-,"

"No buts. You're coming with me. End of story."

Hiratsuka-sensei gave me a glare that only an unmarried woman could give.

"Yes. Ma'am."

I'd better be careful with my words. Don't want her to actually put me in any weird wrestling moves from shows she obviously watched alone.

…

…

Ah, there we go. Thank goodness, I have a filter in my brain.

Hiratsuka-sensei stood up from the couch, hands in her pockets and started moving towards the door. I followed suite. There were no words exchanged between us as we walked towards a very familiar building.

Finally and to the relief of my aching feet, we've reached a room. The hallway we were in was desolate. There was no one except us but it felt right…somehow.

Placing one of her hands on the door, Hiratsuka-sensei looked back at me as if questioning me whether I wanted to go in there or not. Sheesh, you dragged me all the way here and now, you're trying to gain my affirmation?

Letting out a big sigh, I nodded wearily. She nodded in return in a similar fashion to a soldier confirming the command of her fellow soldier. With a squeak, the door slid open.

And what greeted my sight wasn't right.

It wasn't right at all.

Even if I didn't remember all the details, I was sure that this room…this place wasn't supposed to look like this but there was one thing that seemed to be a constant though.

A lone figure sitting on an equally lonely chair by an open window, staring out into the horizon.

But that wasn't right. Even that constant wasn't a constant.

"A-Ah, Hiratsuka-sensei. You startled me." The figure said, alarmed by sensei's sudden arrival.

"My bad, my bad," Hiratsuka-sensei had an apologetic look on her face, "But anyway, as promised, a brand new member!"

She shoved me roughly in front of that same figure, taking me off my balance for a few measly seconds. After giving her a stern glare, which had no visible effect, I turned towards the aforementioned mysterious figure sitting by the window.

The figure stood up before walking gingerly towards me.

Waist-length black hair. Perfect uniform with no signs of any folds on them. Soft blue eyes behind a pair of glasses.

"Umm, hello...You must be Hikigaya Hachiman-san, right?"

What the hell? Why was she acting like that? Why did she look like that? Why was she speaking like that?

Is that even Yukinoshita?

The Yukinoshita that I knew never had to wear glasses unless she had to work with computers. She most definitely never referred to me with 'san'. She never, ever exudes an aura of bashfulness, innocence or cuteness for that matter.

I nodded warily and even though I wanted to say something, my words got caught up in my throat. Yukinoshita simply smiled bashfully at my action.

Why was she doing that? Yukinoshita almost never smiles. Not without a proper reason anyway.

"Hikigaya, stop gawking."

A painful feeling made itself known to my head. I turned around and Hiratsuka-sensei was standing there, sighing with her hand in the shape of a karate chop.

I grumbled quietly at her actions before turning back to Yukinoshita. To my surprise, yet again; she was averting her gaze and rubbed one of her arms sheepishly. Yeah, this was definitely not the Yukinoshita I knew.

"Umm, Hiratsuka-sensei told me that you'll be joining…" She glanced at me as she said those words, "The S-Service club…"

"Hah?"

How can I join something which I am already a part of?

"I'm s-sorry! I didn't mean to be presumptuous."

"No, that's not-I mean-," I pinched the bridge of my nose as I let out a sigh, "I'm already a part of this club…aren't I?"

Yukinoshita's eyes visibly widened and her mouth was agape. A confused gasp was sounded behind me and soon afterwards, Hiratsuka-sensei walked in between the two of us.

"Jeez, Yukinoshita; if you had told me that he'd already joined then I wouldn't have to trouble myself."

"B-But I never saw Hikigaya-san applying for the club…"

What the hell is going on?

I covered up my face with my hand in an effort to clear my mind. When I stopped doing so, two pairs of eyes latched themselves on to me; making me feel awkward and cornered at the same time.

"Well, whatever, right?" Hiratsuka-sensei stated nonchalantly, "As long as he's part of the club, I'm okay with that."

"O-Oh…" Yukinoshita responded meekly.

Meek.

Look at that word.

That's a word that I would never use to describe Yukinoshita.

But here she was, talking in a way that I would never expect her to talk.

"I'll be off then! Ah, and don't forget to help Hikigaya with his problems and whatnot!"

And with that, the kind (heh) teacher that is Hiratsuka-sensei left the scene; leaving two young adults in the sunlight filled room. But as I pondered how cliché this all was, I forgot the other young adult in the room. A young adult that I was very familiar with.

'Was'

"So…shall we get started?" Yukinoshita asked softly.

"On what?"

"On fixing your peculiar behavior," She moved towards her chair at the end of the table before motioning me to sit near the chair with her. This must be a prank of some sorts. A sick prank with no comedic value.

I tried looking around for hidden cameras but I spotted no obvious ones…for now.

With a great deal of caution, I sat down on the aforementioned chair that Yukinoshita wanted me to sit in. I expected a whoopy cushion prank at any moment yet it never came. The chair was perfectly fine. The table didn't appear to have any sort of mechanism on it either…

You can never be too sure.

"So…umm, Hiratsuka-sensei told me that you became like this in your first year, correct?" Yukinoshita asked as she took out a notepad and a pen.

Last time I checked, I didn't sign up for a therapy.

In response, I nodded. Yukinoshita wrote something in her notes before asking me again.

"Umm…uh…"

Except was she obviously fumbling with her words and ill-suited for this position.

"Look, why are you even doing this? It's not like talking about something will change anything." I tried my best to salvage the situation.

"But it's better than doing nothing…right?"

"If you say so."

Yukinoshita looked a bit distraught after hearing my comment, like a child who thinks she had broken a valuable vase, but she soon composed herself if her straightened posture was any indicator.

"Then, do you have a clue as to what changed your behavior?"

Plenty of things actually. Failed confessions, embarrassing past, awkward situations, that accident…

"Not really."

I lied.

After all, talking about the past won't change it. It'll only make your memories sting even more.

"O-Oh…"

"But I think running away from your problems and not changing yourself won't solve it," Yukinoshita continued, her eyes directed at my own, "Someday, it'll only come back to you."

"If you're changing yourself, then you're just giving up to the stupid rules society deemed as normal."

Weird, I felt as if we already had this conversation before. Well, some other variation of it anyway.

"But if you don't try to change, don't you think that's a little cowardice of you?" She asked, straight faced.

"If you're changing yourself, then you're giving up just like a coward anyway. What's your point?"

"I-I didn't mean to insult you in anyway," Standing up, Yukinoshita firmly bowed, "Sorry!"

I found myself at a dead end with interacting with this 'new' Yukinoshita. It wasn't like this was an entirely new behavior for Yukinoshita. In fact, she would do something similar except in a very sarcastic manner and a smug expression to boot.

"But I do mean it when I said that changing yourself would be for the better. If you can't do it alone, then you always have friends to help you, right?"

"You're speaking as if you have experience."

"A-Ah…I just…" Her voice eventually turned into mumbles as she slyly took a book to cover her mouth. Very un-Yukinoshita.

"It's just…it seems very fun to be around friends, don't you think?"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It seems?"

"Admittedly…I don't have many friends."

"I see."

At least, one thing was a constant. Both our social aptitudes were horribly low. I know that my state of loneliness is caused by intentionally ignoring any chance at making friends. The Yukinoshita that I knew was lonely because of her rather high standards and unapproachable attitude or something like that.

This Yukinoshita should have no trouble being at the center of the spotlight. Could her loneliness be caused by her shy attitude? I doubt it since Totsuka had no troubles being friendly with others.

Speaking of Totsuka, I hoped he didn't go along with this farce and change into a prodigy soccer player or anything. Tennis is the only sport that I have a bit of confidence in.

A knock stopped my train of thought as both Yukinoshita and I turned towards the door. Yukinoshita had a cheerful disposition for some reason. Was the person behind that door one of her friends?

"C-Come in." Yukinoshita stuttered, either in trepidation or in excitement.

The door slid, squeaking slightly as a presence unlike any others made itself known. I gulped. Yukinoshita probably did so too.

A tuft of pink hair poked its way through the small gap of the sliding door and before long; the whole body came with it.

"Is this…the Service Club or whatever it's called?"

Oh, it was just Yuigahama. I smiled internally. Maybe Yuigahama's klutziness will show itself once more and expose this hidden camera scam/prank once and for all!

But it also wasn't Yuigahama.

Her voice was rude. Her attire was still conflicting with the school's policy sure but it was bolder. Not in the sensual sort of way but in the violent sort of way.

"Yes!" Yukinoshita replied cheerfully as she stood up and made her way towards Yuigahama, "Did Hiratsuka-sensei send you?"

Yuigahama gave a nod before surveying the room. And it was just my luck that her eyes happened to land on my dead fish ones. I tensed up immediately as she narrowed her eyes like a lion spotting its prey.

But she didn't say anything. She simply walked over to a chair near the table that I was near too and took a seat nonchalantly.

Yukinoshita simply laughed awkwardly before waddling over to the both of us, effectively seating herself in her original seat; situated between the both of us.

What was this, an ASEAN summit?

"So, Yuigahama-san, what do you need of the Service Club?" Yukinoshita said in probably her most cheerful voice yet; the kind of voice that would fit better on Yuigahama.

As I contemplate this, I noticed a pattern. This elaborate scheme of theirs had one single constant. A universal constant, if you will. And that constant is that every 'scene' is follows a certain chronological order.

An order that I know all too well.

In other words, my first meeting with these two.

So if I remembered correctly, Yuigahama would start asking about cooking and such which would ultimately lead to Yukinoshita teaching her and ultimately failing.

Heh, foolish tricksters, it's all according to keikaku.

"Well…" Yuigahama started off slowly. I wasn't nervous, not at all. Yukinoshita, on the other hand, appeared calm under those glasses of hers but I could see her fingers impatiently tapping on the wooden table.

She was getting impatient for some reason.

With a deep breath, Yuigahama proclaimed.

"I want a guy to notice me."

Of course, cooking. Such a nonse-

...What?

"What?" I voiced my confusion rather loudly, earning a glare from Yuigahama herself. Pink never seemed so threatening until now.

"You got a problem with my request or somethin'?" Her voice seemed as if I accused her wrongly.

"N-Nothing like that…"

"You think it's funny, don'tcha?"

With her eyes downcast and her bangs covering it, it almost seemed like a 180 switch to her earlier, almost delinquent-like personality.

But when she rose up her head, her face was anything but a non-delinquent. In fact, she seemed like a mafia boss. Her glare tore through me like hot knife through butter and not to mention, the tension in the room was also thickening with neither of us refusing to say a word.

Fortunately, we had Yukinoshita to break up our little confrontation.

Unfortunately, she was horrible at it.

"Come on guys….ahaha…" Yukinoshita tried her best to ease the tension between us but her best just wasn't enough.

With a loud 'Hmph!', Yuigahama turned her face away from my own; staring at the stacks of tables and chairs to the side instead. I quietly let out a sigh of relief. She was an extremely convincing actor but surely, she would have slipped up by now.

If they want to drag this on, then so be it.

I looked over to Yukinoshita who looked like she was trying to think of ways to approach Yuigahama. Her difficulty in doing so was understandable. After all, Yuigahama wasn't acting like Yuigahama now. She was more like…dare I say it, Yumiko. Ruthless, rude and blunt.

"So, Yuigahama-san, about your earlier request…"

Yuigahama gave a sideway glance to Yukinoshita before sighing and faced her.

"Fine, fine. I'll explain…I guess…"

As she finished saying that, she immediately threw a glare at me. It wasn't a long glare but I definitely noticed it. I gulped at her actions and hoped that Yuigahama would notice it so that she would stop acting.

She didn't.

"So, there's this...umm," Yuigahama twirled a single strand of her pink hair, her eyes avoiding both of ours, "…a boy that I'm…"

"Curious about?" Yukinoshita asked genuinely.

"In love with?" I added, earning another glare from Yuigahama.

With a sigh, she stated, "That I'm interested in."

What a peculiar choice of word for her to use. Interested in? Sure, I'll buy into it. For now.

"So you want to get closer to him?" Yukinoshita asked.

"Not necessarily…just…I wanna be his…friend, I think."

"You think?" I raised a question.

"Why, you got a problem with that?!"

Jeez, why did she have to be so aggressive?

"Well, I think it's a good thing to want to be friend with someone."

We both turned to Yukinoshita who immediately recoiled from our looks.

"A-Ah, I mean, it's comforting, don't you think? Having a friend, that is…"

Yuigahama nodded idly while I merely observed Yukinoshita. Why did she have such an earnest expression? Could she really be yearning for friends? Before I could contemplate this even further, a voice took me back to reality.

"I was thinking of cooking something for him…is that okay?"

Hah! I knew it. Everything came full circle. Of course, they would resort to such a scenario. Now all I had to do is to wait until Yuigahama finishes her dish and tell her another way to get someone to notice you.

"Just a bit of side note, you are asking two people with no extensive knowledge in relationships whatsoever." I chirped in, a bit too cheerfully.

"Yeah, so what? I already knew what I came here to do; it's just that I don't know what to cook for him."

Unnecessarily aggressive. Yeah, if I could describe Yuigahama right now with one phrase, that would be it.

"What about cookies?" Yukinoshita clasped her hands thoughtfully. I could figuratively see the enthusiasm in behind her glasses. She was brimming with it, "Or maybe a cake? How about a bento?"

"…Cookie is a good idea but I'd never cooked one before…"

"It's okay, I'm sure the home economics room has plenty of recipes!"

God, Yukinoshita was so cheerful, I felt like I could be blinded by her enthusiasm. So the plan was made, at least, I hoped it was. There were no verbal agreement but those two probably had the same things in mind.

Women…

So, just like last time, I was sidelined to merely observing the two busying themselves with utensils and ingredients lying about on the table. It was like I expected. Yukinoshita introducing the recipes to Yuigahama, both of them working to make the best possible batch.

There was one thing wrong however.

Yuigahama Yui. The airheaded klutz of the Service Club knew how to cook.

And it wasn't just for show. Well, I say that but her way of handling ingredients was really convincing. Even Yukinoshita struggled to keep up.

"Y-Yuigahama-san, the recipes only said to put exactly 250 grams of sugar-,"

"So what?" Yuigahama completely ignored her partner, "It's not like it'll completely change the cookies or anything."

From my end, I could see Yuigahama pouring obscene amounts of sugar into the batter before mixing it together. Yukinoshita attempted to do the same but when her hand grasped the bag of sugar; she found it to be empty, much to her visible disappointment.

"Oi, Hikki. Help Yukinon here, will ya?" Yuigahama commanded without ever taking her eyes of her own work. She was so efficient, it was so scary.

Wait, it wasn't supposed to be like this! Yukinoshita is supposed to be the one bossing other people around, not Yuigahama! And Yukinoshita is supposed to be the calm one, not Yuigahama!

Am I in a parallel world or something?!

…Heh…

I couldn't possibly be. It was impossible. Maybe I was right, it was just a prank. Maybe, I'm dreaming. It was utterly, certainly impossible for me to be in a parallel world. Those stuff only exist in science fiction, right?!

…Right?

"Hikigaya-san?"

"Waah!"

With just a small movement of my eyes, I found Yukinoshita's face situated quite close to my own. I could literally smell her shampoo.

"I-I mean…sorry," I turned away sheepishly. After all, I did just scream right into her face, "Let's just get the sugar, yeah?"

Yukinoshita nodded warily with a worried look on her face. We went to take a bag of sugar from the cabinet. Nothing strange. No, not at all.

Yukinoshita poured her own amount of sugar into her batter after some careful measuring. Very careful measuring. Seriously, it was like she was handling radioactive materials instead of a simple ingredient.

And then, the batter was carefully poured onto two trays; one for Yuigahama and the other for Yukinoshita. They shaped it carefully into the best circle possible and I had to say, I was impressed.

Afterwards, the batter simply went into the oven.

I glanced at the remaining time.

10 minutes.

Seemed long enough.

However, the peace and rhythm of the oven humming was interrupted by a worried voice.

"…What if he doesn't like it?" said a worried Yuigahama. Yukinoshita was by her side, also grasping her chin in assessment of the situation.

"True," She began, "You didn't mention anything about this person's preference."

Yuigahama's face began to contort into one of extreme distraught and she began mumbling some incoherent words though the only one that I caught was 'I'm stupid…' or something along those lines.

And thus, my part comes into play.

"You know, it's stupid to worry about anything," I began confidently with a smirk, earning confused stare and a glare from Yukinoshita and Yuigahama respectively.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, your target's a guy, right?"

Yuigahama nodded. My smirk widened and I continued.

"So does it even matter if the cookie's even delicious or not? Normal guys would be happy with just receiving a gift, especially from a girl."

That seemed to caught Yuigahama off guard as for the first time today, she didn't give me a glare. I looked over to Yukinoshita who also seemed to be just as shocked.

A ding knocked us all out of our stupors.

Yukinoshita, in her panic, struggled to find oven mitts while Yuigahama simply took a pair near a table and fitted it on her hands. She gracefully took out two trays baked cookies, which smelled scrumptious by the way and placed both of them on the table, one by one.

Yuigahama took off her protective oven mitts and reached out to touch the cookies…only to recoil back a few seconds later.

Stupid girl. Who would touch freshly baked cookies with their bare hands? Sheesh.

But eventually, the cookies cooled down just enough that Yuigahama was able to hold and eat it without dropping it.

I failed to see my purpose in all of this. What did I even do last time anyway?

A piece of cookie was held up to my face; connected to it was a hand and connected to that hand was a person. A person that didn't seem too pleased that she had to give me a cookie.

I raised an eyebrow and gave her a confused stare.

"D-Don't misunderstand, okay?! I'm only giving you this as a taste test!"

Receiving the cookie, I stared at her for a moment. She wasn't looking at me; rather, she was staring off to the side. I shrugged and plopped the cookie into my mouth.

I grimaced.

"Too sweet…"

"O-Oh…I see…" came Yuigahama's rather anti-climactic reaction. I expected her to yell again, saying things like 'This isn't meant for you!'

"So are you going to give it to him?"

"I'll…think about it."

"I see."

We spent the next few minutes packing the cookies into cute, little plastic bags and Yukinoshita even took the time to wrap them in ribbons though I expected this sort of thing to come from Yuigahama.

As we finished up, we decided that it was time to go to our respective houses. But when we reached the gate, Yuigahama forced something into my chest.

"I just remembered. That guy said that he doesn't like things that are too sweet," Again, she was averting her gaze, "Sorry for wasting your time, Yukinon."

Oi, what about my time?!

"And why, exactly, are you giving it to me?"

"Because I feel bad wasting such a wonderful treat."

Oh, how nice of you, Yuigahama. I realllly appreciate it.

With her business finished, Yuigahama took off. Not walking or jogging but full on running towards her destination. I stared on in disbelief. What has gotten into these people? And why was Yuigahama acting like an extremely generic delinquent?

"Hikigaya-san, here you go."

I turned to my side and to my utter shock; Yukinoshita was standing there, a packet of cookies in her hand. Not knowing what to do, I merely followed to flow and accepted her offering.

"And why are you giving me this?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, I thought that I would give one to Yuigahama-san and another to you for…umm, making my day fun," She bowed before continuing, "I'll be on my way then. I think I could still catch up to Yuigahama-san."

And with that, she took off. We didn't wave goodbyes at each other or anything; Yukinoshita simply left without saying a word. I observed her retreating shape as she went on an impossible run to catch up with Yuigahama.

I took a single cookie from Yukinoshita's packet and bit into it.

It was too perfect. It was bland. It was like math; everything calculated and precise.

It was as bad as Yuighama's diabetes inducing cookies.

The sun was setting. I'd better get home soon, but as I walked, I thought to myself.

Why was today so strange? Why were Yukinoshita and Yuigahama acting like that? Why did sensei introduce me to the Service Club once more? On that point, why did she bring up an assignment of mine which we'd already discussed?

It made no sense in any context whatsoever.

I stopped walking to contemplate even further. Truthfully, this whole thing was hurting my head. My earlier thought was that I was in a dream but no dream could ever be this vivid.

If I had a pet with me, I would probably say something along the lines of:

'Kamakura, we aren't in Chiba anymore.'

But I am in Chiba. I am in Japan. I could smell the slightly salty sea air. I could hear the bustling cars, motorbikes and people walking around. The streets were exactly the same as I remembered them.

Chiba didn't change, far from it. It stayed the same through and through. I could still remember the location of Saize or even the train station.

But that begged the question. Why?

Chiba didn't change yet why did everything feel so different? It was as if I was in a whole new world altogether. It was as if I just met Yukinoshita and Yuigahama.

Then something hit me.

That same feeling when you've finally realized you're a third year high school student about to graduate. That feeling when you've realized that you lost your PSP.

That feeling when you've realized you're not where you're supposed to be.

I chuckled and held my head in one hand. To the few passerby, I may seem delusional, insane even but I was sane. Oh, I was definitely sane.

That earlier quote could definitely be applied here, though there was one significant difference.

I, Hikigaya Hachiman, am not in my Chiba anymore.