"Next, it's Yukinon's turn to ask the questions!"
Without pausing, Yukinoshita Yukino continued, "Next, it's a geography question. Please name two local specialties of Chiba Prefecture."
"Misso peanuts and... boiled peanuts?"
The girl with the buns on her head answered.
"Is that all our prefecture has, peanuts?" Hikigaya Hachiman couldn't take it anymore. If this kept going, the study session would turn into a comedy show.
Thankfully, before it became a comedy show, the study session was forced to end.
"Eh? Brother?"
As a boy and a girl from middle school walked past Yukinoshita Yukino's table, they suddenly stopped.
Hikigaya Hachiman froze for a second. "Komachi? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm just here because a friend needs to talk to me," the middle school girl said with a smile.
Friend?
Hikigaya Hachiman's sharp eyes flickered for a moment. His gaze immediately shifted to the boy standing next to his sister.
A moment later, the group sat down together.
"Hello, everyone! I'm Hikigaya Hachiman's little sister, Hikigaya Komachi. My brother's always causing trouble, so thank you for taking care of him!"
Hikigaya Komachi, with her short hair, smiled as she spoke. When she talked, you could see her little tiger teeth, and her cute appearance made it hard to connect her to the Hikigaya Hachiman sitting next to her with his lifeless, dead-fish eyes.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Totsuka Saika, Hikki's classmate," said the cute boy with a voice so gentle it was hard to tell if he was a boy or a girl.
"Wow, so cute!" Komachi exclaimed, elbowing her older brother.
"Hm? He is cute, but he's a guy," Hikigaya Hachiman replied indifferently.
"Come on, brother, you're joking again," Komachi laughed twice, then froze. "Eh? Really?"
"Yeah, I'm a guy," Saika said, feeling a bit shy as he brushed his hair.
"Ah, my turn. Nice to meet you! I'm Yuigahama Yui, Hikki's classmate. I know he says he takes care of me, but honestly, it's Hikki who takes care of me most of the time."
Yuigahama Yui waved her hand. "By the way, how's your injury?"
"Injury?"
Komachi looked at the pink-haired girl with buns sitting across from her with confusion, then her face lit up as she realized, "Ah, that! Of course, he's already fine."
"Wow, that's a fast recovery," Yuigahama Yui remarked.
"Well, it was just a small fracture in his leg, and it happened a long time ago," Komachi said, laughing as she scratched her head.
"Eh? Wasn't it last week?" Yuigahama Yui was surprised. "Didn't you fall from the stairs last week...?"
A strange image flashed through her mind—Hikigaya Hachiman being shoved off the corridor by someone rushing towards him—but the image quickly became blurry, like an old photo smeared with ink, making it hard to see clearly.
"Ahaha, maybe I was just half asleep!" Yuigahama Yui laughed awkwardly, unsure of what to think.
"Mm?"
Komachi was also confused by Yuigahama behavior. Wasn't Yuigahama talking about the time her brother got hit by a car and ended up in the hospital at the beginning of the school year, after saving her dog?
Hikigaya Hachiman noticed his sister's questioning look and said, "No, don't look at me. I'm not sure either. Maybe it's just a scene Yuigahama dreamt about."
He already knew from Yukinoshita Yukino that Yuigahama Yui had lost her memory of that day, but it seemed that her memory wasn't completely erased. It might come back to her someday.
"Ahem, are you done?"
Yukinoshita Yukino coughed twice to grab everyone's attention. "Nice to meet you. I'm Yukinoshita Yukino, Hikigaya's club president."
"Oh, so my brother joined a club! What an impressive improvement!" Komachi quickly shifted her attention and poked her brother in the side with her elbow.
"That was because Hiratsuka-sensei forced me into it, not something I wanted to do..." Hikigaya Hachiman turned his face away.
"Um..."
The middle school boy who hadn't spoken up until now took the conversation forward. "I'm Kawasaki Taishi. I'm in the same cram school as Hikigaya, and my sister, like you all, is a second-year student at Soubu High. Her name is Kawasaki Saki."
"And..." Komachi added, "Recently, Taishi's sister seems to have turned into a delinquent, coming home really late every night. So she came to me for advice on how to get her sister back to her old self."
After everyone got the gist of the situation, Yukinoshita Yukino decided to take on Kawasaki Taishi's request under the name of the Service Club. But before proceeding, there was something important to confirm.
[Hayashizaki, do you think the killer of Ooka might be involved in this request?] Yukinoshita Yukino thought to herself.
[No way. We've searched all over Chiba, nearly digging up the whole place.] Hayashizaki replied. [But you can call Ijichi and ask him to look into Kawasaki Saki.]
[Is it really okay to investigate someone's identity like this...?]
Yukinoshita Yukino seemed a bit hesitant.
[What's wrong with that? Are you planning to use that personal information for anything bad?] Hayashizaki countered.
[Of course not.]
[Then it's fine. Go ahead and make the call!]
Yukinoshita Yukino snapped back to reality, stood up, and said to everyone, "Sorry, I'll be right back."
In the restroom, she called Ijichi Kiyotaka, asking him to help look into Kawasaki Saki.
"Kawasaki Saki from Chiba Prefecture, with a younger brother named Kawasaki Taishi, right? Alright, I'll check and send you the details later."
The reliable professional on the other end quickly responded.
By evening, Ijichi Kiyotaka sent Yukinoshita Yukino a package of Kawasaki Saki's personal information. After reviewing it, she quickly discovered the real reason for her late returns.
"Kawasaki Saki is working part-time?"
Yukinoshita Yukino frowned as she looked at the information on her computer. "Working late at night at this age is not allowed. Did Kawasaki lie about her age?"
"Heh, she's really working hard. Seems like she's in serious need of money," Hayashizaki chuckled.
"Now that we know the reason, what are you planning to do?"
"Nothing special. I'll reason with her and explain the situation," Yukinoshita Yukino said calmly. "If she's a sensible person, she'll understand what I'm saying."
Seeing the confidence the dark-haired girl displayed, Hayashizaki simply smiled lightly, without offering any further response.
...
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