After school, Shiori and Hikigaya are by their lockers getting their stuff and normal shoes out when Hikigaya drops a small pack of pencils that spill out a bit.
"Damn.." He groans.
"Ah man, let me help you with that." Shiori says, trying to be supportive.
"No, it's okay. Go meetup with the others, I'll only be a second."
"You sure?"
Hikigaya nods as she listens and walks away. He leans down to begin picking them up, revealing Tsuki leaning next to him against a wall. As soon as Hikigaya finishes picking up the pencils and putting them back into the locker, Tsuki speaks.
"Hikigaya, wait."
"Oh, it's you again. Sorry but I just sent Shiori off and I gotta catch up."
He turns to walk away, obviously not wanting to talk to him but stops at Tsuki's words.
"I know what you're doing."
Hikigaya turns to look at him, sarcastically amusing Tsuki.
"And what could that be?"
Tsuki smiles at him.
"I know you like her. You want her all to yourself. You feel threatened by me."
Hikigaya's eyes widen ever so slightly at his words but this quickly subsides as Hikigaya looks at him casually.
"Even if I did like her, which I don't, how would I feel threatened by you? She barely just met you."
"Yet here you are, still arguing with me on it."
Hikigaya gets irritated at his comment but doesn't dispute.
"It's pretty clear to me why you feel threatened. I'm smarter than you, more good looking than you. Sure, you might be stronger and have known her longer but in the end she's going to pick me. I'm just better for her in every way than you are. So you need to back off and get used to seeing me around cause I'm not going anywhere."
Tsuki says almost like a warning. Hikigaya looks at him for a moment, a hint of frustration in his eyes.
"Wow, pretty confident, are we? You sure you know all that?"
Hikigaya responds mockingly. Tsuki clicks his tongue in frustration and walks past him but stops right next to Hikigaya.
"For what it's worth. I really do appreciate you helping save my life, but she's mine."
Tsuki walks past him and out to meet the others as Hikigaya stands there looking down. The others all get surprised looks when they see Tsuki approach them instead of Hikigaya.
"Hey guys! What's up?" He says while waving his hand at them.
"Where's Hikigaya?" Shiori asks.
"Oh, he… couldn't make it." Tsuki lies.
"Couldn't make it, huh?" She raises an eyebrow at his response.
"Yeah, he said he had to rush home early. Sorry, but hey, at least I'm here. I could walk you home instead?"
As he says this, he grabs Shiori's wrist and begins walking in an attempt to force her to walk home with him but he doesn't even take one step before stopping when he realizes that Shiori doesn't move a bit. She stands completely still and he is incapable of moving her at all.
"First of all," She yanks her arm away from him effortlessly. "Don't ever grab my wrist like that again. Secondly, I don't think you understand. We live together. He wouldn't ever leave without me."
She gives him an intense look as Tsuki sweats a bit. Suddenly, Hikigaya comes walking towards them from behind. Shiori looks at him then back at Tsuki with a look of 'I told you so.'
Hikigaya still looks down as he comes up to Shiori, grabs her hand and begins walking home with her, pulling her along. She has a look of surprise but goes along with him, not fighting back at all as they leave, holding hands. Tsuki just stares as they walk away.
"You know, you could always walk me home."
Hisana offers. Kitaro rolls his eyes as he grabs her shoulder and begins walking away, dragging her along.
"See you guys later."
He says as he waves goodbye to the group. Hisana just smiles and waves too before walking on her own. The others all do the same as they begin to walk away. Tsuki watches as they leave when a hand gently lays itself on his shoulder.
"If I were you-"
Chizuru speaks softly. He looks at her and sweats a bit as he sees her with her eyes closed and a soft smile on her face yet her aura is intense and intimidating.
"I would be a bit nicer, yeah?"
He nods slowly as she keeps the same expression.
"Good. See ya!"
She says as she lets him go and runs to catch up with Lucy, Ryuji and Suiyoubi. Tsuki watches as Lucy bumps Ryuji with her hip and they laugh.
'They are some weird people…'
He thinks to himself before looking down. He stays there in silence for a moment before rubbing the back of his head and grunting in frustration.
"Man, this wasn't a good start at all!"
He stops and looks down before looking ahead.
"Whatever. This is only the start. I'll earn their trust and get them to like me eventually. Just wait Shiori."
He gets a confident smile and begins walking home by himself.
As Shiori and Hikigaya walk home, they walk in silence. Shiori looks at Hikigaya with a slight look of concern. She then looks down at their hands where he holds hers firmly yet carefully, not letting go.
"Hikigaya, are you okay?"
She waits for his answer but he doesn't speak. Shiori pauses with a look of uncertainty but asks again.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, stop asking."
He answers sharply. She can tell something is deeply bothering him.
'I want to help but I… I don't know what to do…'
She thinks to herself before lowering her head a bit and staying silent as they walk home.
During a new day, back at school. Chizuru, Shiori and Hikigaya are walking down a hall, each holding a box of different papers.
"Why does Ms. Samuel always makes us do her grunt work?" Hikigaya asks, obviously annoyed by the work.
"I don't know but at least I'm accompanied by more than just you this time, am I right, Chizuru?"
Shiori jokes with a smile as she looks back at her. Chizuru smiles and nods happily. She smiles as she walks slightly behind them. She looks out the windows into the courtyard of their school as she walks. She then notices Touma, the large, so-called delinquent of their class, walking in the courtyard. Suddenly, a small stray cat jumps out from the bushes at Touma. Chizuru has slowly stopped walking at this point to watch him. The others notice and stop as well.
"What's up Chizuru?"
Shiori asks. They walk to the window and notice Touma too.
"Huh, wonder what he's up to." Hikigaya says.
"I've heard some things about that guy. Apparently he's a big time bully. Taking people's money in the hallways to let them pass type bully." Shiori says.
"You think Principal Ai has him on a program like ours?"
"No way, ours is special, haha!"
Shiori says jokingly as they step away from the window. Chizuru watches Touma as he crouches down to pet the small cat. He plays with the cat gently and has a look on his face of enjoyment as he blushes and pets the cat. Chizuru blushes a bit too.
"He doesn't feel that bad to me.."
She whispers and smiles warmly. The cat then runs away as Touma stands up and watches it leave. Suddenly, a flying kick is sent at Touma by a random girl. He guards as he slides back. Chizuru gasps as she starts running down the hall.
"Come on guys! Touma is in trouble!"
Shiori and Hikigaya look at each other then get looks of determination before following her.
Touma blocks and dodges a flurry of kicks and punches as they make their way to him. Suddenly, Chizuru comes out of the hallway with the others nowhere to be found next to her. The attacker's eyes widen as her kick is stopped just before Touma's face by Shiori's left hand in front of Hikigaya's right, grabbing her foot. They throw her back as she flips and lands.
She is a tall, dark skinned girl with long white hair pulled into a high ponytail. Her eyes are big with red pupils that almost look like fire exists in them. A big smile comes across her face as she taunts Shiori and Hikigaya to come get her. Hikigaya leads by charging her with a left straight punch which she leans in right to avoid but staying close to Hikigaya, she lands a heavy knee to his stomach causing him to stagger before being thrown behind her. Then Shiori follows with a left kick but she beats her to it landing a heavy kick to Shiori's stomach causing her to fall to her knees stunned.
Hikigaya comes back with a right hook but she ducks under it and elbows him in the same spot as before causing him to fall to his knees too. Shiori pants heavily as she holds her abdomen with a look of shock on her face.
"How did she… do that?.."
She looks up at the girl who is now standing over her. The girl has a wicked smile across her face and a fiery look in her eyes.
"Aren't you two the impressive ones."
As she speaks, Chizuru watches from a distance. She has a concerned but slightly confused look on her face.
'I don't understand. Her feelings… they have no harmful intent. She's… playing..?'
Chizuru thinks as Touma takes a step forward towards the girl.
"Alright, that's enough, Emiko."
He says. Shiori and Hikigaya both look back at Touma with surprised looks as he approaches them.
"C'mon Touma! I thought I raised you better than to let others fight your battles for you!"
The girl, now known as Emiko, says with her hands on her hips. Shiori and Hikigaya stand and dust themselves off casually after catching their breath. Emiko turns and looks at them then smiles widely.
"Wow! You two really are strong!"
"You caught us by surprise, that's all." Shiori says, a little bothered by the results of the attack.
"...you didn't raise me by the way… our parents did…"
Touma says under his breath with Emiko's back turned towards him. Despite this, she hears it and stiffens up before suddenly putting Touma in a choke hold.
"Yeah, so what if they did?! I'm still your big sister and I helped raise you too, got that!?"
Touma struggles and nods the best he can to be released while Chizuru comes up to them.
"Wait, sister?"
Emiko stops struggling and looks at Chizuru with a surprised face before smiling. She lets Touma go, causing him to fall to the floor as she stands tall with her fists on her hips and chest pushed out. A spotlight appears on her.
"Why yes! I am Touma's big sister, Emiko Armada! Fourth Year and three, soon to be four, time winner of the Iris High Sports Festival!"
She stands there proud as if waiting for applause when no one is impressed. Chizuru looks down to see Touma still on the ground rubbing his neck from the hold. She crouches down by him.
"Here, let me help you up."
Touma looks at her hand and blushes a bit, embarrassed before taking her tiny hand compared to his. Chizuru helps Touma up from the ground and he looks at her.
"T-Thank you.."
She blushes when their eyes meet. She looks away after a moment as they stand. Shiori and Hikigaya talk, not even looking at Emiko anymore.
"Sports festival. Isn't that the thing Mr. Goda keeps talking about?" Shiori asks.
"Yeah, something along the lines of he wants us to represent our class so he can be the winning teacher or something."
Hikigaya responds. Emiko stops her pose and gets angry in the background.
"None of you are even paying attention to me!"
She then pauses realizing what they said. A smile comes across her face.
"So you're the new second years I've so much about."
They turn and look at her with confused looks.