What is victory? And how does one win, exactly?

The riaajus of this world would be confused at this question. "Isn't winnning, just y'know,winning? Beating someone?"

Winning is defined by success,obviously, so the amount of winning should be defined by the amount of success.

However,each one of us is locked into the presumption that "success" is a flat value that must be compared without any other factors being taken into account.

Such notions are obviously false.

For example, isn't it much more impressive when someone wins something that they put very little effort into?

The stereotypical cool-guy who completes every goal without even trying in a day is much more impressive then a corporate slave who toiled away for a week.

Of course, cool-guys are just idealizations of narcissitic riaajus that like to look down on other people.

Tch. They should go die, the inferior scumbags.

Anyways, a common mistake is that you forget the effort side of the equation.

People too often look to achieve as much as they can without considering the amount of effort they are forced to expend in the process.

Minimization of effort is overlooked and forgotten, but it is an easy way to increase success. Short-term victories often depend on effort, and often decrease general comparitive success in the long-term.

Trust me, I'm an expert in this field.

So why was I trying to win against Yukinoshinita?

Hikagaya Hachiman wasn't having a great day.

Vita-Chan had kept him up all night, and the three cans of MAX cofee he knocked down before he went to bed certiantly didn't help things.

The real mistake he made was forgetting about Hiraktsu Sensei during his bike to school. She didn't even listen to his rushed excuses, and skipped directly to her strongest move, the "World Ending Destructive Meteor Detonation Punch"

At least his desk felt pleasently cool to the touch, and was an adequate place to sleep given how tired he was. He rested his cheek on the notched wood, and began to drift into fragmented half-sleep.

"Hey... Maybe class won't be so.."

SMASH

Apparently, Hiraktsu Sensei had enough MP left to deliver another one of her signature moves on Hachiman's sleeping form.

The pain in his stomach and fear of another one of the dreaded "Destructive Meteor Punch; World Ending Variation" forced him to stay awake the entire morning.

And Isshiki had the nerve to disturb his last bastion of rest, his lunch period.

Iroha had to burst into his tranquility with all of her cuteness, slyness, and "Ehhh? I'm sorry if you wanted to eat lunch with me. Such a transparent ploy is too obvious, please come at me more indirectly next time."

"Also, I really need your help, senpai! I've got some really heavy boxes, and it's not nice to make a girl do the grunt work, you knooow?"

What did this temptress take him for? He was Hikagaya Hachiman, lone wolf extrodinare, master of refusal.

So he said no. Of course he did. He didn't have that much of a sis-con, and even if he did, it definitely didn't extend to that sly fox.

...

..

.

What? Don't look at me like that. Girls are scary, y,knoooooooow?

...

Nontheless, Hachiman's arms were sore and aching from definitely not helping Isshiki move boxes into the Student Council room.

Today really was the worst.

So when Hachiman went to the service club, he was comforted by the familiar sight of Yukinoshinita sitting with all the presence and posture deserving of her title, the Ice Queen.

But something else familiar was missing.

"Where's Yui?"

"Yuigahama san has caught a small cold and had to be excused from school for the day."

"Yui catching a cold? That's unexpected."

"Unexpected? I don't expect someone of your reduced intellect to be able to understand higher level maths, but you should at least understand basic probability. There's nothing "unexpected" about it. Especially in the winter, anybody can catch a cold."

Yukinon stopped, and drew a delicate hand to her chin, as if she was in a state of deep contemplation.

"Perhaps you're right. Certianly, she seemed to catch it sooner then everybody else. Maybe spending too much time around a source of extreme toxicity weakened her immune system, or infected her."

"Can you stop treating me like a giant germ? Or a carrier of some plague?"

"That settles it. We have to put you under quarantine, Hikigerm-kun. For the safety of myself and Yuigahama, not to mention anybody else that comes in contact with you."

"Nobody else does come in contact with me. I'm a loner. I quarantine myself."

"Saying something like this so proudly..."

Hachiman snorted, and returned to reading his light novel.

"Oh, Hirakstu Sensei stopped by. She gave me a chessboard and was saying something about making sure you stayed engaged during clubtime"

Tch. Should have known that Hirakstu's vengeance went beyond petty violence.

"Would you care to play a game, Hikagaya kun?"

"No. I haven't finished this novel yet, and the protaganist has almost thrown his magic ring into the volcano."

"Ara? Is a chess game not exciting enough for your simplistic mind? Perhaps we make it more of consequence, and the loser has to listen to what the winner says."

I see right through you woman. It's obvious that Yukinon had the upper hand here, so playing against her was just begging to get more abuse.

"I refuse."

"I see... Hiraktsu san will be sorely dissapointed by that answer."

Are you threatening me? That's seriously scary, I concede. I'll do whatever you want.

"Fine,I'll play."

"As expected, Hiki-coward kun."

Tch. This was your idea. We could've just called it a day and forgetten about the whole thing.

Dispite my inward protests, the board was set up, and I was to play black.

Because of my high base stats, Chess came easily to me. I toyed with the game a while during elementary school, usually playing against myself or a teacher who felt sorry for me.

But Yukinoshinita had perfect base stats, and I was expecting to get absolutely crushed.

Standard Queen's Gambit Opening

Queen's Gambit Declined

Slav Defense

And soon, the club-room was filled with the click-clack sound of pieces being moved across the board.

There's something wrong here though. Knowing Yukinoshinita, she was probabaly formally trained. Heck, knowing Yukinoshinita, she was probably qualified to play professionaly.

So why wasn't I losing?

There was something distracting her, stopping her from playing to the level where she could usually. What was she preoccupied by? What could she be preoccupied by?

As I watched her, brow furrowed in concentration, a thought came to me.

"Are you still living in your apartment?"

Her eyes darted up to mine,and then back to the board

"No" she sighed. "My parents have been... difficult."

So that was the reason. Her parents have probably demanded her to stop living alone, and Yukinoshinita, the ever dutiful daughter, must have obliged.

And so she must have been worried about the near future when she had to face her family and slip back into the role of perfect daughter.

An opportunity! I'd have to sacrifice one of my best pieces to make this happen, but there's no reward without risk.

"Check"

There was a hint of suprise on Yukinoshinita's face, but it soon melted into a self-satisfactory smile as she moved her king with confidence.

Ha! You fell into my trap. I expected you to move there. Now all I have to do is... Hm... This is going to be a little harder then I thought.

The rest of the game was just me throwing everything I had at her progressively stronger defense while I lost piece by piece to the monster that is Yukinoshinita.

"Of course you would lose. I'm rated several deviations above the average chess player. While I am slightly suprised you know how to play at all, there is no possible way you could have won."

Hachiman notices that her hand was shaking a little. Faking confidence is no good,you knoooow?

"So as we agreed, you have to listen to my demands."

This felt oddly like entrapment..

Yukinishinto paused, and shifted nervously.

"St..stay here with me for a little longer."

Hachiman stared at her in bewilderment. After a second,she must have realized how it sounded.

She brought her hand up to her face and coughed into it daintily, faced flushed red.

Eyes averted, she went on her usual tirade. "As stated before, for the common good of the people, you can't be allowed to leave the room. You would infect everyone else with your disgusting fish-eyes. I am doing my altruistic duty by making sure you can't escape."

Somehow, this group of insults didn't hold the heat of the prevoius ones.

She peeked at him behind her hair, almost hestitantly.

Hachiman realized that she must've been delaying going home to the conflict between her and her parents. She was depending on him again. So why did that leave such a bitter taste in his mouth?

Whatever. This gave him an opportunity to catch up on his sleep anyway, and you can't say you relied on someone who wasn't conscious.

Hachiman was woken up ungently from his dreams of Totsuka (Hollowed be thy Name, his Reverence) by someone hitting his head with something hard. He lept up from his chair in shock,and made clumsy by the dregs of sleep, he tripped over himself and something else.

That particular something else wasn't the hard table surface he expected it to be. It was oddly soft, and held a pleasant smell of high-quality shampoo.

It also ended up underneath him during all the commotion, and was making small whimpering sounds on the edge of hearing.

What could it possibly be?

"Hik... Hikagaya-kun"

He opened his eyes and felt himself staring into blue-grey oceans of Yukinoshinita's eyes. She stared back at him, metal ruler held in one hand, half-forgetten.

She was rarely, if ever, dishevled, but her beauty was somehow magnified by her tousled hair and rumpled skirt.

Hachiman thought to himself about the nature of eyes.

They say eyes are windows to the soul. Because of this, people assume that it would be easy to understand someone through direct eye contact. But that's not true. The world would be a much more kind and open space if it was.

Windows can be smudged. They can be damaged. And most of the time, we use blinds to hide any weakness we might possess from prying eyes.

Impossibly, in this moment, he felt like he understood Yukinon blood and bone.

There were no lies, no prentenses. It felt ... genuine.

Hachiman found himself fascinated by the fear, loneliness and resignation he saw, all mixed into something too complex and too deep to fathom.

But as he found himself looking more closely, he saw her eyes burned with some other mysterious emotion. It was the reflection of the sunset across the ocean, something that melted through the otherwise untouchable Ice Queen.

Somehow, he felt himself being drawn to Yukinoshinita like a fly to a light. It was the same instict that wrenched the hand out of the fire, working in reverse. He felt himself inexplicably, inevitably pulled to her.

Her lips. Why do they look so soft?

Closer. And closer.

"Hachiman! The tennis club needs someone to demonnstrate an underhand..."

The cheerful, way too loveable Totsuka Saika walked into the clubroom expecting the Service Club to recieve him as they usually did, and instead he found

Hachiman draped over Yukino,an inch apart.

"Sorry for interrupting... Yukino san. I didn't know you two were like that. I'll ask Hachiman later.."

Immediately the both of them sprang up, shocked out of their reverie, and started stammering denials.

"It's not like that! I just tripped over her. This is all a huge misunderstanding!"

"I am suprised as to how Hikagaya kun manages to dress himself in the morning, being as clumsy as he is. How he continues to screw up in everything he does never ceases to amaze me."

Totsuka glanced away from the two, and hurriedly scooted out of the room, disbelief clearly written on his face.

"Wait! You've got this wrong! Totsuka, let me explain!"

Hachiman chased his one-true love outside into the hallway.

Meanwhile, Yukinon went to brew the last batch of tea for the day. During the... alteraction, the tea had grown cold.

While she was waiting for the tea to reach just below boiling point, she kneaded her forehead with her fingers,frustrated. Frustrated at what, she couldn't fathom.

If you looked very closely she almost looked...almost disappointed, somehow?

A/N:

Heya! I've decided to break into the Oregairu fandom. The show is really good, and there's not enough fics here, so I've decided to throw my hat into the mix.

Getting back into writing, so feed back is really, really helpful guys. Reviews are nice. They're like candy. It helps me write