Aoki Kei couldn't help but feel wronged under the heavy, resentful glare from Hikigaya Hachiman.
Turning toward Hiratsuka-sensei, he gave her a puzzled look.
After declaring, "Aoki, you're in charge of escorting Hikigaya," she paused.
Noticing his confusion, Hiratsuka continued with an explanation.
"This brat has no respect for me whatsoever. I assigned the class an essay titled Reflecting on High School Life, and do you know what he turned in?"
She paused dramatically, clearly expecting Kei to play along.
Kei glanced at Hachiman beside him and replied, "What did he write?"
Hiratsuka cleared her throat and began reading aloud with exaggerated disdain:
"Youth is a lie, and it's evil. Those who praise youth are merely deceiving themselves and others.
Even if they commit horrible acts, they call it 'a youthful mistake' and memorialize it as some beautiful memory.
For example, if they steal or join a biker gang, they still call it youthful recklessness..."
Hiratsuka slammed the paper down.
"I mean seriously! What kind of high schooler writes something like this?! Hates youth? Hates popular kids? Is this a crime confession or a suicide note?!"
She was clearly riled up.
Kei stayed quiet, nervously wondering if his own essay titled My Aspiration to Become a Government-Sanctioned Vampire would also be dragged out and shredded publicly.
But since she hadn't mentioned it and he did write it logically and clearly... maybe he was safe.
While he was silently spiraling, Hiratsuka continued.
"Anyway, I'm sending this one to the Service Club. Since you're a member there, you'll escort him for me."
Taking Hachiman to the Service Club wasn't a big deal.
Once he dropped him off, Kei didn't even need to stay for the club activities.
But there was a small problem.
Noticing Hachiman's faintly betrayed expression, Kei felt a little guilty...
"No problem, right, Aoki?" Hiratsuka prompted from her desk.
Kei hesitated, glanced at Hachiman, then back at Hiratsuka.
Selling out a friend like this...
Like this...
He nodded firmly. "Understood, Hiratsuka-sensei."
And in his heart, he offered a silent but heartfelt apology to Hikigaya Hachiman.
As Hachiman stared at him like, 'I knew you couldn't be trusted' look.
Kei then led him out of the office with an apologetic look.
Although Hiratsuka had technically dumped the job on Kei, she followed them out of the office—partly out of professional responsibility, and partly because she didn't quite trust Kei not to goof off.
She figured she might as well explain the situation directly to Yukinoshita.
The staff office was on the second floor, the same as Kei's Class 2-F.
The Service Club room was on the far end of the third floor.
It took them about three minutes to get there.
At the door, Hiratsuka didn't hesitate—she flung it open with a dramatic whoosh.
Inside, Yukinoshita Yukino looked up from her book with a faint frown.
When she saw who it was, she let out a quiet, resigned sigh.
She'd long since given up asking Hiratsuka to knock before entering.
After all, every Thursday and Friday, Aoki Kei also barged in without knocking just to be annoying.
She was getting used to it.
Still, even if she was used to it, that didn't mean she had to be polite.
Her tone was as frosty as ever as she looked at the group now standing at the door—Hiratsuka, Kei, and a sullen-looking boy she didn't recognize.
"Hiratsuka-sensei, why are you here with the second-ranked student in our year... and this dead fish-eyes guy? What's going on?"
The "second-ranked student" was Kei.
The "dead fish-eyes guy" was clearly Hachiman.
The nickname was painfully accurate.
Hiratsuka chuckled but quickly stifled it with a cough, then explained,
"Well, Yukinoshita, I've got a problem student here. His personality is... alarming. He's isolated, socially hopeless, and friendless.
If left unattended, he's likely to become a parasite harmful to society. So I figured the Service Club could help rehabilitate him. Think of it as your civic duty."
Before Hachiman could even react, Yukino responded instantly.
She glanced at Kei, then at Hachiman, and said coolly, "Sorry, Hiratsuka-sensei. I refuse. Just dealing with Aoki Kei is already pushing me to the limit. If you want me to take on this 'dead fish-eyes' guy too, we might as well disband the club entirely."
"..."
Hachiman's mouth twitched.
These people were ruthless with their words. He couldn't take it.
'Harmful parasite? Alarming personality? Socially hopeless? Dead fish-eyes?!'
Could they at least sugarcoat it a little?!
And what did she mean by "friendless"?! He and Aoki Kei were totally close friends! Super close!
The betrayal he'd felt earlier when Kei sold him out completely dissolved as he mentally pushed back against their attacks.
Still... what even was the Service Club?
As he pondered that, he turned toward Kei and asked quietly, "Aoki... what does the Service Club actually do?"
Kei didn't answer right away—he was too busy thinking up a snappy comeback to Yukino's earlier jab.
"Second-ranked student," huh? The exams hadn't even started yet.
He refused to accept that title just because she said so.
After a moment, Kei answered with deliberate volume:
"The Service Club operates under the philosophy that 'great power comes with great responsibility.' It assumes the role of the 'strong' helping the 'weak'... Honestly, it's a pretty twisted club."
He glanced at Yukino, clearly aiming his words directly at her.
'He's totally just saying that to get back at her,' Hachiman realized, almost touched by the gesture—until Kei kept going:
"Sure, Hikigaya may be a harmful parasite, have an alarming personality, be socially hopeless, and have dead fish-eyes... but for someone in a position of power to insult a 'weakling' they've just met... Club President Yukinoshita, isn't that a bit much?"
Yukino paused.
She slowly looked up from her book and fixed her sharp gaze on Aoki Kei.
Right after that, she spoke in a completely emotionless tone.
"Parasitic pest, dangerously unpleasant personality, socially isolated and pitiful—those were all terms used by Hiratsuka-sensei.
I only called him 'dead fish eyes' out of a sense of justice and self-preservation. So Aoki-kun, there's no need to pin all those descriptions on me."
With a subtle glance toward Hiratsuka Shizuka, Yukinoshita Yukino continued, calmly turning her attention back to Aoki Kei.
"Though now that you mention it, if Hiratsuka-sensei's assessment is accurate, then could it be that you're so eager to defend Hikigaya-kun because the two of you are… friends? Birds of a feather, perhaps?"
The verbal sparring was clearly escalating.
Off to the side, Hikigaya had turned pale and was already retreating into a corner, doing his best to disappear from the situation entirely.
Hiratsuka Shizuka looked torn, unsure how or whether—to intervene in this brewing storm between the two.
Still, seeing how pitiful Hikigaya looked, she decided to speak up in an attempt to soothe things.
"Ah, I might've exaggerated earlier. Hikigaya's actually… not such a bad guy."
But clearly, neither Yukinoshita nor Aoki Kei cared about her input.
The exchange continued.
After Yukinoshita's retort, Aoki Kei paused for a moment.
He inhaled, like a character in a fighting game preparing to unleash a special move, and spoke again.
His voice remained flat, devoid of emotion, almost like he was reading off a script.
"Friendship doesn't always require obsessing over your friend's flaws. Someone as intelligent as you, Yukinoshita-san, must be familiar with the old saying:
'Be strict with yourself, and generous with others.' As long as someone has decent character and we get along, there's no need to nitpick every little fault."
He looked straight at her, paused, and then continued with a cool expression:
"So, all things considered… Yukinoshita-san, I take it you don't have many friends?"
…
Aoki Kei's words were razor-sharp, cutting straight to the core with surgical precision.
Drawing on his anime knowledge of Yukinoshita's character, he went for a ruthless strike—like Emiya Archer holding his own against three heroes at the holy grail.
Except instead of heroes like Hercules Berserker, or Arthoria Saber, Cuchulain Lancer he was verbally sparring with a sixteen-year-old girl his own age…
Yukinoshita's expression froze at Aoki Kei's pointed question.
For a brief moment, she fell completely silent.
The room went still.
Hiratsuka Shizuka and Hikigaya Hachiman both stared at Aoki in stunned disbelief—then turned sympathetic eyes toward Yukinoshita.
Realizing she hadn't responded, Aoki suddenly felt a pang of guilt.
That… might've been too much.
The truth has a way of hurting the most. And pointing it out like that, stabbing at someone's open wound… it was far from noble.
Even if it slipped out instinctively, he knew he had to apologize.
After all, a gentleman is judged by his actions, not his intentions.
So Aoki opened his mouth.
But before he could say anything, Yukinoshita beat him to it.
Her voice was cold as ice, and her words laced with steely resolve.
"Aoki-kun… I hope you can still act this smug after next week's exams."
"…!"
Now it was Aoki's turn to fall silent.
His apology caught in his throat, he paused for two seconds—then decisively swallowed it back down.
Looking at the unshaken confidence and fierce determination in Yukinoshita's eyes, he suddenly felt a little less certain of himself.
Sure, she always seemed to be reading light novels or obscure books at school… but who's to say she didn't secretly pull all-nighters cramming at home?
What if the book reading was just a smoke screen?
The thought chilled him.
But he quickly shook off his paranoia.
Even if he wasn't confident, he remembered a quote that helped calm him:
"Composure is a sign of maturity. Stay calm in chaos, remain steady in crisis, and great things can be achieved."
He had no idea if that even a quote from someone, but now wasn't the time to show weakness.
So—
Aoki Kei smirked coldly, replying in a voice that tried to sound calm and relaxed, though it betrayed a hint of forced bravado.
"Then allow me to return those words to you, Yukinoshita-san. I hope you can keep that same confidence after the exams."
Unlike Yukinoshita's crisp composure, Aoki's words carried the faint edge of insecurity.
Yukinoshita didn't seem to care if he was bluffing.
She stared at him for a few seconds, then calmly turned her attention back to her book.
The room was silent again.
A few seconds passed.
Then Yukinoshita suddenly said, "I'll accept your request, Hiratsuka-sensei."
…
Roughly ten minutes later, Aoki Kei left the Service Club.
Hiratsuka-sensei followed after him.
Hikigaya, still reeling from the earlier verbal crossfire, also chose to flee with them rather than stay behind in the emotional wreckage.
As they headed downstairs—Hikigaya slinging his bag and walking ahead—Aoki was just about to leave when Hiratsuka stopped him.
She led him back to the faculty office.
Curious, he followed, only for her to pull out a piece of manuscript paper filled with handwriting from her desk.
With a smile and an unusually kind expression, she asked:
"'Aspiring to Be a Government-Issued Vampire'... Tell me, Aoki—are you the infamous General Aoki?"
"… …"
Aoki froze.
He cycled through silence, suspicion, panic, then finally… acceptance.
Desperate to change the subject, he blurted out:
"Ah, so you've watch that too, huh, Sensei…"