She thinks to herself. Just as she fights with herself to reach a hand out and talk to him, she is interrupted by Lucy.

“Hey Shiori, check this out.”

She crumples up a piece of paper into a ball. Shiori watches confused but starts to get what is going to happen.

“Hey, wait. Don’t-”

Before she could finish, Lucy throws the paper ball at the side of Hikigaya’s head.

“What did you do that for?!” Shiori gets infuriated with Lucy. ‘Of course she is a bully too. Why wouldn’t she be?! She’s just like everyone else!’

She thinks angrily. Before she could react upon her thoughts however, Lucy speaks.

“Hey, Hiki. C’mon don’t ignore us. It’s not our fault you suck at videogames.”

“Don’t speak to me, heathen. I tried to beat that level for months and you come and beat it first try…”

Hikigaya hides his face even more in his arms, depressed at Lucy’s impressive videogame skills.

“Cheer up Hiki! I’m sure there’s some game out there that Lucy can’t beat you on.” Chizuru tries to cheer him up.

“No, there isn’t. I truly demolish him in every game we play.”

Chizuru smiles awkwardly as Lucy playfully pokes fun, not sugar coating her gaming superiority in the slightest. Shiori looks around confused, realizing that they already know each other and Lucy wasn’t being mean. Well, not entirely.

‘I guess... he’s not like me at all…’

Shiori thinks softly. Suddenly, Hikigaya sits up and sniffs a bit of the air. Shiori looks at him confused.

“They’re here…”

Shiori stares before getting startled by a loud voice.

“Hiki! I knew that large grey hair belonged to you!”

Someone slaps Hikigaya on the back with a big open hand. He’s also startled by this and turns around quickly to look who hit him. His eyes widened with surprise and joy.

“Haru! Ryuji! I knew it was you!” He shouts with a big smile.

A cool looking boy, Ryuji Sato, stands behind the tall ball of sunshine, Haru Tanaka. Hikigaya stands up happily and hugs Haru who happily hugs him back. Shiori stares almost in awe that Hikigaya has friends. She then notices Ryuji specifically. She stares at him as he shines brightly in her eyes.

‘So cute!’ She shakes her head, hard. ‘Wait no! What am I thinking? He’s just a boy like all the others.’

She thinks defiantly before gently looking back at Ryuji who’s chatting with Hikigaya. She blushes as she covers her face with her hands.

‘But he’s so… pretty…’ She thinks as the others continue talking.

“We knew Lucy and Chizuru were in this class but we weren’t sure about you.” Ryuji teases casually.

“What? Think I’m not smart enough to make it?”

Hikigaya responds. Ryuji side smiles a bit and shrugs. Hikigaya droops a little with an awkward side smile.

“Gee, thanks for believing in me…”

“Can you blame us? Your test scores were always just below mine and we all know how well I study.”

Lucy says. They laugh a bit while Hikigaya gets embarrassed about the topic. He then notices Shiori just sitting there looking at them occasionally, deep in her thoughts. He stares at her softly for a moment before speaking up.

“Ryuji, Haru, meet Shiori. She’s the girl I’ve been assigned to.”

He says, pointing their attention to her. Haru smiles.

“Hi! I’m Haru Tanaka! Hiki has told us lots about you already! Well, what he’s seen anyway. I hope we get to know you better though!”

Haru smiles at her brightly and waves. Ryuji takes a step forward to introduce himself.

“My name is Ryuji Sato. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He leans a little closer to her and puts his hand out for a shake. She blushes, thinking about how attractive he is. She snaps out of it quickly though and shakes his hand, looking away and blushing from embarrassment this time.

“Shiori Inabi…”

She says softly. Ryuji was smiling at her but stopped and gets a surprised look on his face. She notices and looks at him.

“What is it?”

He shakes his head a bit and smiles again letting go of her hand.

“Oh nothing. I just remembered something, that's all.”

With the seating now concluded, Shiori and Hikigaya are both still at the front 2 desks of the classroom. Hikigaya has Ryuji to his right and Haru right behind him. Shiori has Chizuru to her left and Lucy behind her. Ms. Samuel then regains the class’ attention.

“Okay, now that you have all decided your seats it’s time to get started. My name is Ms. Samuel, and I am your homeroom teacher. In your desk you will find a packet with all the information you’ll need.”

All the students reach into their desks and pull out the packet full of papers. They begin reading the papers and everyone starts getting excited about the year to come filled with school events, field trips and classroom activities. Ms. Samuel pauses for a moment, letting them get interested. She smirks and rubs her finger under her nose smugly.

‘That’s right kids, be impressed. I made the curriculum extra fun for my first year. Aren’t I the best new teacher you’ve ever had?’

She straightens out a bit, still smiling, and continues talking, breaking down the new year.

“This place really knows how to make an eventful year.” Hikigaya says.

“Of course. This is the best school in the District.”

Shiori says with her eyes closed and looking up, almost as if she is talking down to him. Hikigaya gets a bit annoyed.

“Well then how did you end up here hm? Being a delinquent and all.”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” She responds defiantly.

“Oh ho, so a super genius I see.”

He pokes her gently in the shoulder teasingly. She rolls her eye and pushes his hand away. He smiles at her obvious annoyance. Suddenly, Ms. Samuel slams her hand on her podium at the front of the class.

“Inabi, Oshiro! Shut it while I’m talking!”

She shouts, not super loud but enough to startle everyone. The whole class goes dead silent after her outburst. Coming across to the class as kind and soft, this hard, loud outburst catches them all by surprise. She composes herself, clearing her throat.

“Ahem. As I was saying. Our class will have a fairly strict schedule to keep and rules to follow due to special circumstances so follow the rules. Understood?”

She looks at Shiori and Hikigaya specifically as they lower in their desks a bit. The class all answers back quickly and efficiently, fearing another outburst.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The rest of the day goes by normally without any hiccups and soon the last bell rings on the first day of school. The whole group, now up to 6 people, Ryuji, Haru, Lucy, Chizuru, Hikigaya and Shiori, all decided to meet at the front entrance of the school once they are let out. It’s a couple cement benches right under a tree just before the main gate. The rest of the group is chatting, waiting there for Shiori and Hikigaya. As they come through the school doors, Shiori is looking down, kind of slouching, with a displeased look on her face.

‘I can’t believe I’m actually doing this…’

She thinks with an anxious tone but then she looks up to see the group standing under the tree waiting for them. She pauses for a moment with a warm look on her face. Still no smile in sight however.

‘They really did wait for me…’

Her eye lights up a bit.

“Hey Hikigaya, Shiori!”

Chizuru calls out.

“Yeah, yeah..”

Hikigaya waves back with a smile as he walks past Shiori. She stares at him as for just a moment, she forgot Hikigaya was following behind her.

‘Oh. That’s right, they were waiting for him…’

Shiori looks almost hurt by this but quickly moves on, not thinking about it too much and is soon occupied with the rest of the group.

“I’m surprised you actually came Shiori. I thought for sure you’d just abandon us the first chance you got.”

Hikigaya says poking fun at her. She doesn’t entertain his comment.

“So guys, what do you think? Isn’t this great or what?” Chizuru asks excitedly.

“Yeah! Only one day into highschool and things are already getting interesting!” Haru says excitedly.

“It’s nice having all my friends together again. Especially in the same class.” Lucy adds.

“And making new ones.”

Chizuru says with a warm tone as she smiles at Shiori. The group all turns and looks at her with smiles on their faces too. She blushes in embarrassment for a moment.

“Yeah…”

She says softly, looking at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact. Ryuji steps next to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. She looks up at him, slightly surprised.

“So what do you think? Care to join our club?”

He asks with a gentle tone. She stares at him for a moment before looking at the others. Lucy smiles and shrugs. Chizuru giggles and sweats, a bit embarrassed that Hikigaya is trying to pry himself away from Haru’s hug behind them.

“Sorry if you planned on getting super popular in high school because we can’t help you with that. Believe it or not but we’re not exactly the popular kids around here.”

“What’re you talking about??”

Haru shouts from behind her before getting dropped to the ground by Hikigaya. He then quickly gets to his feet with a big smile on his face and his fist in the air.

“We’re the coolest kids you’ll ever meet!” He shouts.

“No, it’s-”

Shiori says quickly but then pauses for a moment. Lucy raises her eyebrows a bit.

“This is fine…”

She says softly, a little embarrassed even. Ryuji and the others smile.

“Alright then!”

Lucy says, stretching, pulling her arm up over her head.

“Now that that’s all official, I gotta get home. I am way under-prepared for my classes and should probably get on that.”

“Ooh can I help? I love preparing school supplies!”

Chizuru says excitedly. Lucy smiles and nods.

“C’mon Ryuji.”

Lucy says while waving Ryuji over. She and Chizuru begin to walk away as Shiori watches Ryuji walk past her to follow them. He turns and waves at the others as Chizuru does the same.

“See you guys tomorrow.” Ryuji says.

“Bye-bye!” Chizuru waves with a smile.

Shiori is still standing in the same spot not moving or saying anything. She’s unsure of what to do in this situation. Hikigaya notices how out of place she seems and decides to takes initiative.

“Let’s go Shiori. I’ll walk you home too.”

He begins walking away as Shiori turns and looks at him surprised.

“What? You don’t have to stick with me anymore, the school day is over.”

He stops for a moment and turns to her halfway, a soft smile on his face.

“I know.”

He continues walking. Shiori sighs and reluctantly follows. Haru gets a shocked look on his face.

“Hey! What about me? You're just gonna leave me here all alone to find my own way home by myself?” He calls out.

“You’ll be fine you big baby!”

Hikigaya calls back from across the street with Shiori. He waves at him as Haru laughs and waves back.

Shiori and Hikigaya walk down a sidewalk going a different direction than the other three left on. They walk in silence for a while which makes Hikigaya kind of uncomfortable so he decides starts talking.

“Sooo, how was your day?”

“You were with me the whole time..”

“Ah haha yeah…”

He rubs the back of his head embarrassed. After another moment of silence he asks another question.

“Hm... Did you like them?”

“What?”

She turns her head to face him confused but intrigued by the question.

“My friends. Did you like them? Do you think you could be friends with them?”

Shiori looks away a bit thinking about the question.

“Friends…”

She says under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

She looks ahead as if she said nothing. Hikigaya grins a bit and looks ahead too.

‘Friends… I think… I like the sound of that…’

She thinks with a slight smile as they continue walking. The walk for Shiori from home to school is not very long. She knows this but she doesn’t know where Hikigaya lives or how long that would take for him. She sneakily looks over her shoulder at him as he seems to not have a care in the world following behind her.

‘We’re getting pretty close to my house. Why hasn’t he left yet?’ “Hey Hikigaya.”

“Hm?”

“You don’t have to walk me all the way home you know.”

He gets a look of surprise from her statement.

“It’s all good. I live down this way too.”

Shiori gets a displeased look on her face but keeps walking. The closer they get to Shiori’s apartment complex, the more irritated she becomes.

“Look, I’d really appreciate it if you leave now.”

“What? Why?” He asks with a confused look.

“I really don’t want you coming all the way to my house. That’s weird.”

“I totally understand but… I still live this way.”

He says, a bit of a sweat on his head and an awkward look on his face. They stop and look at each other as they approach her fairly large apartment complex.

“What do you mean?..”

Shiori asks, a confused and uncertain look on her face. They both look up at the complex then back at each other quickly. Their eyes widen and their jaws drop, looks of shock on their faces as they realize the situation.

“EHHH?!?!?” They both shout at the same time.

“What do you mean you live here?!” Shiori shouts.

“I could ask you the same thing!” Hikigaya shouts back.

They start yelling at one another about the fact that they happen to live in the same apartment building. Shiori stops for a second and takes a breath.

“Okay look. This is really weird but it’s a big complex. If you think about it, it’s not the craziest thing to happen.”

“Yeah. And it’s not like we’re neighbors or something.”

They were, in fact, neighbors. They stand outside of their respective front doors right next to each other. They’re both slumped over obviously upset about this.

“Of course. Cause why not?..”

He says with a sigh. He then looks at Shiori and smile awkwardly, pointing at his door.

“I’m just uh… I’m gonna go inside.”

He unlocks the door and steps inside. Shiori just sighs and lowers her head facing her front door again, still processing everything that has happened so quickly. But before she can do anything else, Hikigaya steps back out, closing his door behind him with a confused look.

“That’s weird. My mom isn’t here..”

She gives him a weird look then unlocks her door and opens it. She looks inside then slouches over even more upset.

“I think I found her…”

She says with a droop. Hikigaya peaks inside then gets a shocked look. He sees his mom on the couch with her back facing them in Shiori’s living room laughing and having a good time with Takanou and Hamasaki, Shiori’s parents. As they step in, Asami tilts her head back over the back of the couch looking at the kids upside down.

“Ah, there they are now.” She says with a smile.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“Well.”

She gets up with a gentle huff and steps around the couch to them, revealing a small child about 6 years old, Riku. Shiori’s little brother had been sitting in her lap. She puts him down and he immediately runs to hug Shiori at the mid thigh. She hugs him back while Asami continues.

“After getting that letter about your “special situation” I decided to go speak to the principal just to get a bit more information on how you’d be handled.”

“Just as we were leaving, we saw Ms. Oshiro doing the same with the same idea. So we stopped and talked for a bit and now here we are.”

Takanou adds while standing up. Hikigaya then raises his fist into the air with a frustrated look on his chibi face.

“Curse my mom’s sociable nature..!”

“Who knew we’d be neighbors?”

Hamasaki says with an excited look on her face, still sitting on the couch.

“That still doesn’t explain why you had to stay here…” Hikigaya pouts.

“What? Mommy can’t have friends of her own?”

“Not when it affects me.”

He says under his breath with attitude. Asami wraps her arm around Hikigaya’s neck again and starts strangling him, obviously upset at his response. Shiori watches as she notices how much more easily embarrassed Hikigaya is around his mom.

‘I didn’t realize anything could bother him.’ She thinks to herself.

“Alright, well it was really nice meeting y’all. And a pleasure meeting you, Shiori.”

She boops Shiori’s nose a bit and smiles at her.

“If you need us, you know where to find us.”

She winks at the family and heads out the door. Hikigaya awkwardly follows and waves a bit before leaving as well. Hamasaki walks around the couch and leans against the back of it with a smile on her face.

“Wow, Asami was so nice.”

“Yeah, we definitely need to have them over more often. What do you think, Shiori?”

Takanou asks. Shiori just looks at the door for a moment before turning around with a frustrated sigh.

“I think he’s a real headache.”

“Hey, what teenage boy isn’t? Am I right?”

Takanou laughs at his own joke, turning and looking at Hamasaki for reassurance that his joke was funny. She just smiles at him in a way that tries not to hurt his feelings. He droops a bit with a ‘right...’ Hamasaki then steps next to her daughter.

“You probably had a long first day huh? Why don’t you go rest a bit and I’ll start preparing dinner.”

She says with a loving tone as she pats Shiori on the head who smiles as thanks.