Chapter 1: A setup, a confrontation, a resolution, and most importantly, a beginning.

Nothingness.

That was all that surrounded me when I came to. No matter which direction I looked, it was all the same. I raised my arms in front of me, and noticed that they were outlined by some neon-blue light. It wasn't just the arms, it was also the case for the rest of my body as well. Since nothing but myself was visible, it seemed as if I was floating in a void.

"What is this place?"

When I took a step, I noticed that there were rings of neon-blue light emitting from under my foot when it landed – the rings would expand a little, then gradually disappear after a second or so. It was like walking on water, except that instead of water, it was nothing. I kept walking until I was far enough from my original position, and looked around. Sure enough..

"Looks like there's nothing here" I muttered.

"Of course, there's nothing here" somebody startled me with their voice suddenly coming from behind.

When I turned around to see who it was, I immediately got another round of emotional rush, although I was more surprised than startled at that point.

"Yahallo, Hikki" the person said, also having her body outlined by neon-blue lights, waving at me like she normally does.

"Yuigahama.."

"Are you surprised?"

Nope, not at all, I promise. I mean, it's normal to have somebody creep up behind you – I'm being sarcastic, if you couldn't tell.

Well.. since she was the one who called out to me, maybe she'd know something – let's calm down for a bit, I thought.

"What is this place?" I asked, putting my somewhat asinine plan into practice, only to have her giggled back at me.

"Well.." her brows curved into that of a frown as she said it, still smiling,

"I really wish I had the answer.."

Thinking about it, it is obvious that whatever this place is, it wasn't Yuigahama's doing – somebody as bright and cheerful as her wouldn't have thought of something like this. If anything, this looks like a place that I have come up with to represent my thoughts and beliefs.

"Although.." Yuigahama said as she closes her eyes for a short moment, and once they were opened, her face changed to that full of determination.

"I do at least know why we are here"

I think I might know what this place is now.

"Hikki, Hiratsuka-sensei is in trouble.."

Now, that's new, I thought.

"What trouble, exactly? And how did it get us here?"

"She seems.. I don't know.. alone? Whatever it is, she didn't seem like the person that you and I knew," she said.

I don't know about Yuigahama, but to me, the Hiratsuka-sensei is that I know is a strong and independent women. But now she's different.. Which means that she's now weak, and more importantly, dependent..? As in, not by herself? Does that mean she's married? – If that's the case then I don't see the problem here. In fact, isn't this a win for her?

"That's why I tried supporting her in some ways.. But none of what I came up with seemed to have worked so far" she said,

"..I kept failing.."

If Yuigahama's involved, then maybe this isn't about marriage. What could possibly be more serious than that?

"I thought that everything was all over, but," she said, pausing for a moment, "as I wished for somebody to come and help me, I suddenly found myself here, right behind you."

As I expected, this place isn't a manifestation of anyone's emotions – rather, it's a byproduct of her never-ending perseverance.

"So, I guess this is how the almighty whatever responded.."

"Haha" that made me chuckled more than I needed to – what made it even more interesting was the fact that "almighty whatever" is the phrase that I would also use, albeit for a completely different reason.

"Hey!" she pouted, "this is serious, you know?"

Was what she said, but..

"Sorry.. Sorry.. Haha"

She could only keep up her serious demeanor for so long before smiling once more. This time however, instead of the same awkward, forced smile she did earlier, it was a genuine smile that gave my heart a warm sensation.

"I mean.. At least that chuckle showed me that you're still sane, and most importantly, human" she said, "if only the Cultural Festival Committee from that time was here, I would be able to show them you're not some heartless monster. Jeez.. to think that they still hold a grudge against you even after entering their third year."

That smile and the warmth that came with it made me completely forgot about the fact that both of us are floating in a weird place. It's not so bad, I guess.

"And that's also why, even if you don't know the specifics yet, I am still going to trust you with this," she said,

"Hikki.. Please save Hiratsuka-sensei"

That was really powerful – it was to the point where I was convinced: I've got to do something. But as a human being, I still have some doubts – lots, actually. For the meantime, though, I had had decided to summarize all of them into a single, short question:

"How?"

"I.. still don't have the answer," she said, once again forcing a smile, "Although, now that you're here, maybe I'll finally get to know"

"You're not making a whole lot of sense here, Yuigahama"

"I know, haha," she said, "Well.. I can at least tell you that it's probably the best idea to solve the problem at its cause"

"And?" I said, still not knowing what exactly she was trying to convey.

"If this whole thing is really what I think it is, then, you'll meet Hiratsuka-sensei when the seed of her problem starts growing. Be sure to completely dry it out.."

Again, that still didn't make any sense.

As I was about to ask her once more, however, the neon-blue outline on her body started flickering. Holding my hands up in front of me, I could see that the outline on my body was also doing the exact same thing.

"Ah.. it seems like our time here is up.." she said.

"Hey, wait a moment" I said, "what do you mean by that? And most importantly, what exactly should I do?"

"There isn't enough time for an explanation ", she said, "Just remember this, Hikki, when you wake up, you'll be in an apartment somewhere, just get dressed and go to school normally – everything you need is in the closet, even your living expenses. There's literally a treasure chest in there."

"Wait.."

As I stretched my arms out to reach her, rather than getting closer, the distance between us seems to be gradually increasing.

"Wait!" I said once more, still trying to reach out, even though I knew it was completely futile.

"WAIT!" I said – this time however, what I was trying to reach with one arm was not Yuigahama, but a white ceiling. The other arm, rather than being beside my body, was grasping at the edge of a blue blanket that was covering the lower half of my body.

I lowered my arm and sat up in a bed, my face full of sweat, still panting at random intervals from that weird dream. Though, I think it was less like dream, and more like an actual encounter when I took a good look and my surroundings then.

My bedroom seemed to be a lot smaller compared to normal, and as I went out, a small living room was there to be seen. There was a counter to the right, which I assumed was there to limit the kitchen area to a small space. The living room portion was to be everything else to the left.

A TV, a small sofa, a coffee table, and a dinner table with two chairs – a very typical 1LDK – the entire apartment was as big as my own bedroom.

"She was right" I murmured, I'm really in some random apartment.

Looking at the wall, I noticed that it was 8AM then, and that reminded me of what Yuigahama said at the end of our "encounter".

I guess the best option right now is to go to school. Rather than panicking about the whole thing, I should just ask Yuigahama about last night once I got there.

I went back into the bedroom to check the contents of the closet, and fair enough, Sobu High's school uniform was in there. Recalling what she said, I searched inside, trying to find a treasure chest filled to the brim with gold-colored goods, only to be met with a drawer full of paper-stuff that are mostly whitish in color.

The ones that stood out from the rest were light brown envelopes. Opening one of them up, there was some amount of money inside it. I assumed this was the "treasure chest" that Yuigahama talked about.

Dang it, don't say "literally" when you don't mean it.

I decided I leave it as it is though, since it wasn't my place. Even if she did say it was my "living expense", that money probably still wasn't mine..

Showering and hair drying took me around twenty minutes, and by then I was ready to leave the place.

The commute to school wasn't that much different from what it used to be – the apartment was only two train stations further from my house, albeit in the opposite direction.

As I arrived in class, something immediately struck me as odd.

They aren't here?

You know, the usual people: Hayama's group of social elites. Usually, they would have already been here, talking about random things that they could think of. I would be honest, though, the reason I noticed it was because Yuigahama wasn't there – I mean, I did want to ask her something important.

Actually, the other people who were there didn't seem like the regular of this class either, but what do I know, it's not like I knew my classmates. Yuigahama, the rest of the Hayama gang, and I are all in this same class again this year, and that's pretty much all I knew.

Come to think about it, I am not really that closer to them, if at all.

While I did say "I want something genuine", I never said "I'm going to become the most sociable person within a few months"

"Maybe, I'm in the wrong class?" I murmured to myself.

I turned back towards the door, but as I was about to leave, a relatively young-looking man appeared at the door, startling both himself and I. He was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt with a striped necktie, and his black hair was of the average length. It seemed like he was in his mid-twenties.

He's probably a teacher, I figured.

That was when I realized that I was definitely in the wrong class, since I have never seen that teacher before.

"Where are you going? Homeroom is about to start"

"Excuse me, Sensei, I think I'm in the wrong cla-"

"Ah, wait a sec.. You're Hikigaya-kun, aren't ya?" he said, "I've been looking for you"

What kind of trouble have I gotten myself into this time.. I don't think I've written anything criticizing youth recently..

"Since this is your first day, I'll have you introduce yourself to the class"

"Huh?"

There must have been some sort of misunderstanding.

"But I have been at this school for two years already" I said.

"Oh, so you're that kinda guy!" he said, breaking into a small laughter, "Jeez, I haven't heard such a good joke in weeks – Thank you, I feel like today's gonna be a good day!"

She'd know I'm not joking.

"No, I really mean it, Hiratsuka-sensei would have my name in her list," I said, "She'd know."

Rather than laughing, the teacher made a stunned face suddenly, as if finally realizing something serious.

"Oh, so you're.. that kinda guy?" he said once more, this time a lot less enthusiastically. With his face turned to that full of curiosity, he followed up with,

"Hiratsuka-"sensei"? I never knew you were into that sorta thing, Hikigaya!" he said, going back to a full smile, "Wow, to think you'd go as far as to express your fantasies just to approach an acquaintance. I never thought today's youth would be so creative."

I was lost for words. If this was some sort of practical joke, then that was taking it too far.

"Our class already has a female joker. It seems like the male joker has just arrived today!"

No, you're the joker!

"Sensei–"

"Hikigaya-kun, it'd really love for this to go on, I really do, but homeroom is about to begin," he interrupted, looking genuinely disappointed after taking a look at this watch. I seemed to have made that face, too, judging from his next statement (although I probably did for a completely different reason).

"Don't worry, if she really knows you, then she'd recognize you. You can have your reunion during lunch – I'll even make sure to distract the 5th period teacher a bit if you need extra time. For now, though, there are other things we need to do."

"That's not.. "

As the misunderstanding was getting out of hand, my attention was suddenly turned toward the many pair of eyes that were beyond the sensei's shoulder. I had only realized it then, but..

The sensei is blocking their way while talking to me!, I gasped.

Tiptoeing, I looked over more clearly and saw a crowd of students standing outside, seemingly running out of patience as their stern faces became clearer and clearer by the second. It was especially clear with the short-haired girl who was right behind the teacher, she had this murder intent expressed through both of her eyes.

"Sorry, I'll go take a seat" I said, heading straight to what would have been my own seat were I in my own class.

As I ran away from the view of the potential mob, he had the word "I told you so" written all over his face, as if he was just standing there on purpose.

When everyone settled down on their seats, the teacher went straight to the point.

"Alright, everybody, today I would like to announce that we have a new student," he said, "Hikigaya-kun, why don't you stand up and introduce yourself"

I guess I'll just go along for now.

I had yet to become familiarize with socializing, and that goes without saying that I didn't know how to create a good impression of myself, either.

I hope this will be a great year for us all?

I'm looking forward to working with all of you?

Sentences keep going in and out of my head, and none of them seemed to have been good enough to have come out of my mouth. Having stood still for long enough, I decided to just go with the bog-standard introduction, deciding to leave all the sugar-coating out. Considering that I didn't had to go back to that class ever again, it should have been fine.

"My name is Hikigaya Hachiman, nice to meet all of you" I said, bowing slightly.

In response, the class did the obligatory applause for a short moment. As I sat back down, the clapping sound died off in an instant, and nobody seemed to have said anything.

It was more positive than I had thought, but had it been an actual self-introduction, then I would have considered it a complete failure.

"This is his first day at school, so try to be so hard on him, alright" the teacher said,

"Now then, let's get to the attendance check"

At that point, I just didn't give it much thought anymore.

"Minakami Mai"

"Here"

I was just hoping that after the roll call, the teacher would just go "gotcha!".

"Naganohara Mio"

"Here"

And then, everybody involved would just laugh it off.

"Aioi Yuuko"

"Here"

Although, I did wonder if this whole thing was really worth it for those behind it.

"Hanasaki Saki"

"Here"

Well, whatever.

"Hiratsuka Shizuka"

...

"Huh?"

The person who had that name didn't say that.

That was me, after hearing something that shouldn't have been there.

"Here" that person finally said.

I turned to the direction that the voice came from. Toward the window, at one of the seat right beside it, sat a girl who didn't look any older than the other girls surrounding her.

Nah, that gotta be a different person, right?, my conscious mind tried reasoning with my inner self. However, no matter how I looked at her, my subconscious wouldn't conclude anything else other than the fact that that girl was indeed the person I knew.

Those gray eyes, and those black hair that, while didn't touch ground, was long enough to have been a hindrance in some cases.

The only thing uncharacteristic of that person was her totally indifferent expression. Contrast that with the disciplined and determined (and sometimes caring) expression of that person, had it not been for the appearance, I wouldn't have even made the connection. Even without her lab coat, there was still a striking resemblance.

That line of thought resulted in my brain receiving a slight nudge, but still being fixated on a certain girl, it didn't bother me too much.

I started praying to the "almighty-whatever" in my head, praying that it was a part of the joke that she would dress up younger, and by the end, she would be one of those people who would laugh at me for a while.

But, again, no truth can escape your inner self.

I knew from the bottom of my heart, that the girl wasn't aware of my struggle, and that no one else was either, not even the teacher who kept messing with me.

I was the only one in on the joke.

Upon that realization, that sight nudge turned into a full, hard-as-a-meteor throb. With that, my hand went straight for the side of my head, trying to suppress whatever was pounding into it continuously.

If this is Yuigahama's way of pulling my leg, then she may as well have ripped them off.

"Hikki"

Why would she do this.

"Hikki" her voice kept echoing in my head.

No.. she wouldn't have the ability to do something of this sort.

"Hikki!"

If it's not her, then who.. or what?

"Hikigaya!"

That voice came from somewhere else, and it sounded like a man's voice rather than that of Yuigahama. Nevertheless, it pull me back to reality.

"What are you doing? You don't even have your book out" a teacher said.

It's a different teacher from the one earlier.

"Were you daydreaming about something?"

"No.. I'm sorry"

"This may be your first day, but that isn't an excuse to slackoff" he said, "Well, nevermind about the book, just read this passage here on the board"

"Yes," I said, standing up as per Japanese classroom etiquette.

Still haven't put myself together, I looked at whatever was written on the blackboard. It was actually a passage from a novel I have already read, so it shouldn't have been much of a problem.

However, there was something off about it: the name of the character was different from what I remembered.

"Yuigahama opened the door and found that it led to a small passage." I started reading, knowing full well that it things weren't how it was supposed to be,

".."even if my head would go through," thought poor Yuigahama. "It would be-""

"Stop right there, Hikigaya" the teacher said with a stern look on his face, "Is this some sort of a joke?"

"No it's not.."

"I know you probably would like to go to on a vacation at Yuigahama beach right now," he said, "but let me tell you that it won't happen until the end of semester, and if you're not going to take this seriously, I'm going to make sure it won't happen then, either"

"No, I.." but as I was about to make an excuse to what I thought was an unreasonable criticism, I looked back at the blackboard once more and realized the reason the teacher was so ticked off.

The name of the character from the passage was now "Alice" like how I remembered it.

"I am.. really sorry" I said.

The teacher, upon realizing that I was being genuinely troubled, dropped his stern look in an instant.

"No matter.. just get yourself together, alright? Your entrance exam is on the second semester.. I'm sure Kasuga-sensei told you that" he said, now making a disappointed face, "You can sit down now"

Really not an impression anyone would want to show on their first day, wasn't it?

Sitting back down, I took out my phone and, lo and behold, it was 12:30, exactly twenty minutes before lunch break. I had no idea such short thoughts would have taken me almost the entire first half of the day, but then again, apparently time leaping is a thing, so that may have been a part of it, probably.. I don't freaking know anymore..

I wished the class would end soon so that I could go to the toilet and wash my face. However, now that I was made conscious of the remaining time, it was like sitting on a flight from Tokyo to the U.S., having no toilet on board.

The sound of the chalk hitting on the board didn't make it much better, either. Each time the powder stick was dragged across the dry, green surface, a shockwave is sent across my head. If my brain was an island nation, its government would have issued a 10 magnitude earthquake warning with a possibility of aftershock.

Had I needed to wait for Friday to come in that state, I would have gone so mad, the mental ward would kick me out the next morning.

When that bell finally rang, I shot up from my desk, leaving everything on it as they were and headed straight for the door, and out to the toilet.

The only thing left was to get to the toilet that was at the end of the hallway, by the stairs.

Somehow, it took longer than it should have, with the hallway, and subsequently the classroom doors and windows, elongating and contracting, even tilting acutely to the side after each step I took. At least, that's how it was to my eyes.

I went into the toilet and headed for the tap and twisted open for my long awaited wash. When a splash of water reached my face, it was as if a part of my troubles melted away down the drain along with the clear liquid. I still didn't feel stable, but It was the most composed I was able to be after the revelation, and it was good enough for me at that time.

Having calmed down somewhat, I went back to the hallway in order to head back to my class.

Suddenly, as I went out of the toilet, a girl ran up the stairs at the left, and turned to my direction.

"AHHH!"

"Woah!"

Her sudden appearance undid all the composure I was able to achieve from the face wash in less than a second.

In an instant, my butt was on the ground with my both my arms supporting my back.

"Are you alright?"

"Hey, you aren't hurt, are you?"

"Hey!"

Were the things she seemed to have said. I could only guess, since all that entered my ears then was some white noise – to me, she was just flapping her lips up and down randomly.

She slowly approached me, trying to calm me down, but my mind and body seemed to have the opposite idea of her. My survival instinct kicked in as if it thought the girl in front of me was a hungry lion. With each step she took, I dragged myself back with my hands.

When my back reached what felt like a wall, the feeling of hopelessness engulfed my entire being, like a prey that was about to be eaten. At that point, I started going hazy, and my vision began to fade to black. As the girl got to me, everything went completely dark.

I had no idea what went on after that, but when I came to immediately afterwards, half of my vision was blocked by a shade of some kind, while to other half was filled with the sky.

Oh, so I'm at the rooftop..

My head was elevated at a nice angle as it rested on a soft object – It was really comfortable.

"Have you calmed down?" someone said, as their face moved into view.

It was a girl who came up the stairs. Her hairstyle was a black, short bob that terminates at the collar – a very common sight for a schoolgirl. She had a pair of light blue eyes, which accompanied her hair color quite well.

"Yeah, I think so" I replied.

"That's good, then" she said, giving me one of the brightest smile I have seen.

Looking at her face, I started getting self-conscious as I felt my cheeks burning up. Then, as I realized I my head was resting on her lap, I immediately shot up and backed off. I didn't have a mirror then, but I knew just from the heat that my face shared a great resemblance to a ripe tomato. She definitely knew it too, since she was giggling really hard.

"You look really cute when you're all flustered like that!"

Don't get the wrong idea! She's just a nice girl who's trying to help you!

..Ah, I wanna die!

"But.. I'm glad you're okay" she said, toning down her smile, "I'm sorry for surprising you like that – I shouldn't have been in such a hurry"

"No, don't apologize.. that was all on me" I said, "a normal person wouldn't just freak out like that"

"Yeah, what was up with that? It was such an incredible reaction!" she said.

I couldn't tell whether or not she was being genuinely curious, or just plain sarcastic, but she did have a point. Why did I act that way? I really wasn't so sure of it either.

"Who knows.. Maybe I was overwhelmed by all the new things.. I mean, this is my first day at this school" I said. Well.. when you think about all the things that had happened today, it wouldn't be wrong to consider it my first day.

"That makes sense, I guess" she said, "I mean, I could tell from your self-introduction this morning that something was troubling you.. Maybe that's why"

Oh, so she's a classmate.. now the news about me losing my mind and resting on a girl's lap will spread like wildfire.

"You're really lucky that I am the one who ran into you, you know?" she said, "Had it been someone else, the whole school would know about you freaking out by next morning"

Great, so it was a one in something-hundred chance of survival – how lucky of me.

"It didn't help that Kasuga-sensei totally messed with you this morning," she said, giggling in between, "Blocking the door really didn't do well with your classmates' first impression of you"

"You saw that?!"

"Of course I did! Haha"

Actually.. wait a sec.

And that was when I remembered:

She was the first person in line – right behind him!

"I see you have finally realized!" she said.

"But why.. the face?" I said, recalling that everybody behind the teacher was making an expression akin to that of a lynch mob participant.

"I mean, I really didn't wanna stand out, y'know? Besides, it was really funny looking at your face!" she said, before bursting into a small laughter.

"Gah.."

Could she be the "female joker" that he told me about this morning?

After the her laughter died down, the atmosphere went completely quiet. Although, the silence that came about was not the awkward kind you'd get when you don't know what to talk about next. In fact, it was a sort of signal for me to transition into something a bit serious.

Although, I felt like she wouldn't share the same sentiment, for obvious reasons.

"Umm.. Hey, you"

"Ah, right, I still haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I?" she said,

"My name is Saki, Hanasaki Saki. You have already introduce yourself this morning, but.. nice to meet you anyway, Hikigaya-kun!"

With the abrupt formalities out of the way, I went straight back to business. Without even asking, I already knew the sort of answer I was going to get, but I wanted a confirmation anyway.

"Hanasaki," I said, addressing my new acquaintance for the first time.

"Yeah?"

"What year is it?"

Rather than giving an immediate answer in the form of a number, she instead made a surprised expression, similar to the one that the homeroom teacher made this morning.

"Hikigaya-kun.." she said, her face now full of seriousness.

I guess it was to be expected. I mean, you wouldn't just ask somebody the current year unironically, would you? She probably thought I was messing with her.

"Are you perhaps.. A time traveller?"

Apparently she didn't.

Somehow, that unexpected reply caught me off guard, and it sent one big chill down my spine. I couldn't tell whether or not she was joking – the big pause that ensued didn't help with the situation either.

But, if she knows, then I could definitely ask her for help, right?

"Hanasaki.. I"

"Just kidding!" she said, raising her arms in the air, negating all the seriousness she just built up, "Ahaha.. Your face was totally priceless!"

I knew it, this girl is the female joker!

"Sorry, sorry.. You were probably serious about it" she said.

I prefer "definitely".

"It's 2003," she said "Well, sometimes you do get the year mixed up, especially during the first few months, so I guess it's not really that weird of a question, after all."

Once again, I already knew that was the sort of answer I was getting (Save for all those stuff in between). While knowing the exact answer wasn't in any way reassuring, I can at least get one thing off my brain now, namely, "when the seed of Hiratsuka-sensei's problem began to grow".

Judging from what I have seen today, and the answer I just got, the premise of this whole thing became clear: something must have happened to her during high school which would leave her emotionally scarred for life, or at the very least, made it take a turn for the worse. What Yuigahama wanted me to do was to stop that from happen.

"Ah, there's the bell – let's get back to class, Hikigaya-kun!"

"Yeah"

However, although I was satisfied with the information I pieced together, many questions still popped up in my head upon making the connections.

What really happened to Hiratsuka-sensei.. Or rather, what's going to happen to her?

Someone, or something led me, who she knows in her late twenties, to this place and time – does that mean that the problem is at its peak during my high school days?

If so, then why would it take a decade for the problem to manifest itself. Wouldn't something like that happen soon after a major event of some kind?

Those were the significant ones among them.

I knew what happened today was just the beginning, and things would happen later during my time here, which I'm sure would provide me with the answers I wanted.

There's also the question of how I was to supposed to support myself at a time like this, knowing full well that none of my relatives now would believe anything my current self has to say.

But considering that I woke up in an apartment, I believe I would be able to get a clue on how to tackle these if checked that place out again, which is something I planned to do after school. It was probably the best place to start – Yuigahama did have a lot of confidence when guiding the place to me in that short amount of time. Most importantly, I had the key to the place, so it wouldn't hurt to check things out.

But before that, there was something that I wanted to see for myself.