Hikigaya doesn't want to be a force of strength

If you want to truly be friends with Hikigaya and get into his heart, what you need to do is not to actively approach him, but to have normal contact.

It's like treating a wild cat. If you approach it too directly, it will inevitably become defensive and attack.

Only through a little bit of contact and companionship can you make the other person let down their guard and be willing to accept you.

To be honest, this kind of personality is really troublesome. It's a pity that Miss Shiina is willing to persist.

"Also, the grilled fish here is delicious. Hikigaya-san can go get a skewer and try it."

Now, after establishing the basic route for how to interact with Hikigaya-san, Shiina Hiyori spoke slowly with a calm smile.

If it were her in the past, she would probably just hand the grilled fish on her plate directly to Hikigaya.

Such unguarded behavior would probably be fatal to a normal boy, but in the case of Hikigaya, it would have the opposite effect.

It was after Shiina understood this that he acted completely differently from the past.

"oh oh."

Faced with Shiina's attitude which was completely different from the past, Hikigaya naturally would not understand the thousands of tricks that instantly went through Shiina Hiyori's mind.

However, although he could not understand the essence, he himself clearly felt the changes in Shiina's behavior.

What to say.

Previously, Hikigaya had always wanted to pretend that the strange distortion didn't exist, or to pretend that it disappeared even though he was aware of its existence.

But now that Shiina has taken the initiative to express his intention to tear apart the false illusion, he naturally can no longer pretend that nothing has happened.

"Cough cough..."

He coughed forcefully twice, and even though it was difficult to say the next words, Hikigaya still managed to force himself to say some words.

"Yeah, being friends is probably a long way off. How should I put it... How about writing off the past? No matter what happened at school, or on the uninhabited island, or anything else that's on your mind, just treat it as if it never happened."

Hikigaya tried his best not to look at Shiina Hiyori's reaction and continued talking without leaving any gaps.

"I know that my personality is really weird, so if you still want to talk to me, forget everything that happened before. Let's start over from now on, as if we just met..."

Every time Hikigaya spoke a word, he felt a pressure on his heart as if it was being grabbed, but if he didn't say it, he wouldn't be able to put an end to this matter.

"After all, I don't want others to talk to me with extra emotions. Whether it's human feelings or complicated emotions, they are too luxurious for someone like me. Obviously, all I need is the simplest way of conversation and the simplest relationship... If you can stop worrying about me, maybe you can start over."

After saying all that, Hikigaya let out a breath, feeling as if all the unhappiness in his chest had been released.

Now I can finally be relieved, including the misunderstanding that made me shake my head, and my own wrong defensive behavior, all can come to an end.

However, thinking this way may itself be a misunderstanding that makes people shake their heads, and it may also be a defensive behavior that is wrong on one's own part.

When saying this, Hikigaya didn't dare to look at Shiina Hiyori's face. He could only hear some breathing sounds coming from the other side of the table.

"Hikigaya-san, you're right." Shiina Hiyori spoke slowly, "This is the first time for us to establish contact with others. In the process, we made many mistakes and had many misunderstandings. It would be best to abandon all these burdens and start over..."

"Really?"

"But is this really the right approach?"

"This……"

Not expecting Shiina Hiyori to say such a thing, Hikigaya turned around in surprise, and what came into his sight was Shiina Hiyori's serious face with a hint of sadness.

"I want to be friends with Hikigaya-san. This is not a lie. Moreover, I hope that it can be a purer relationship, one that can be maintained even after going through mistakes, conflicts, and scars... I don't want everything that happened before to disappear."

"..."

Hikigaya was silent. He didn't expect Shiina to say such a thing.

In a sense, the other person's words even expressed his inner desire, something he once wanted to obtain but had abandoned at some point in time.

"You're right." Finally, Hikigaya nodded, "I was too superficial. If we are true friends, how can we discard the wrong parts and only keep the good parts? If it is something genuine, we cannot hold back."

"That's it."

Hearing Hikigaya's words, a smile appeared on Shiina Hiyori's face.

It was several months later, after going through round after round of mistakes and taking all kinds of wrong detours, until today, I finally saw a smile on the other person's face again.

Hikigaya even seemed to have returned to the original library in a trance, and remembered the scene he witnessed when he first met the girl who looked like a fairy in the book.

If I don't make any mistakes this time, maybe I can really...

As soon as Hikigaya thought of this, he suddenly shook his head.

He almost had the wrong idea again. As a lone ranger, he must not let other people's feelings waver in his heart.

No matter what kind of feelings the other person has, I can't change my answer.

Even if it is really a very special feeling.

I can never take seriously any feelings that arise from an accident, any sympathy gained by sacrificing oneself, or any love that develops because of helping someone.

I have long since given up on my own expectations and then ended up with nothing.

I don't expect anything at the beginning, nor in the middle, and I don't expect anything until the end.

This kind of person is Hikigaya Hachiman.

Chapter 329: Kamuro, it must be you who betrayed Class A!

After receiving a reply from Shiina Hiyori, Hikigaya finally recovered from his bored and excessive self-awareness, and his eyes gradually became calm.

That's right, it's impossible for Shiina to have any special feelings for me.

Even if it really exists, I shouldn't expect such meaningless things without permission.

I expected things without permission, then I was disappointed without permission, and finally I was even broken...

That kind of clown-like stage play doesn't suit me at all.

Moreover, up to now, the communication between Shiina and I has been limited to the library and books, so there is no reason for the other party to have any special feelings for me.

There can be no mistake about this.

Hikigaya was silent for a while, then raised his head from the table.

The last rays of sunset outside the window illuminated the gentle face of Shiina Hiwa. As the lights in the restaurant were not yet on, Hikigaya could not see anything from her squinted eyes.

"Ah, by the way, Ryuuen-kun and Hikigaya-san, your contract hasn't been signed yet." Shiina Hiyori seemed to remember this and suddenly said, "Now that we are back on the ship, why don't we find a teacher to sign it later."

"Yes, but there's no need to rush."

Hikigaya himself didn't care at all when the contract with Ryuen would be signed.

After all, Class C's handle is still in his hands.

The camera I rented from Ichinose Honami has not been returned to the school yet.

However, Shiina Hiyori had a very serious expression on his face and said slowly, "How can this be possible? Ryuuen-kun is a very cunning guy. If time goes on, he might come up with some bad ideas to deceive you, Hikigaya-san."

"That's what I said." Faced with Shiina Hiyori's serious attitude, Hikigaya was a little overwhelmed, "But, Shiina, you and Ryuen are mostly students in Class C, right? Is it okay for you to be so supportive of me, a student in Class D?"

"This……"

After hearing what Hikigaya said, Shiina realized that he had been acting a little too intimately.

Although she had already decided in her heart to slowly cultivate her relationship with Hikigaya, her personality still instinctively made her overly anxious about some things and eager to show off in front of Hikigaya.

"It really doesn't seem good." Shiina Hiyori smiled awkwardly, "Sorry, I was a little too anxious. Since this matter is between Ryuuen-kun and you, Hikigaya-san, let's wait for Ryuuen-kun to come to you in person."

"oh oh."

Hearing Shiina's words, Hikigaya nodded silently.

Although he didn't know what Shiina was thinking, he could realize that the other party seemed to be cooperating with him as much as possible.

In fact, he really wanted to tell Shiina that there was no need to force her to cooperate with him in anything, as someone like him was not worth the other person's extra efforts.

But he was also worried that all this was due to his excessive self-awareness, and Shiina Hiyori didn't actually think much about it.

So, in the end, he said nothing and just silently put the dinner on the plate into his mouth.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became quiet. Neither Hikigaya nor Shiina were the type to talk a lot while eating, so this dinner could be said to be very dull.

However, neither of them seemed to have any opinion on this situation.

Hikigaya is a loner by nature and is quite used to this state of silence, and the same is true for Shiina.

Although the two of them would chat when they were with each other, they were actually both loners with introverted personalities.

When it comes to ruining the atmosphere, they can be said to be quite in sync.

So even though the atmosphere seemed quite bad to outsiders, it was actually a pretty good situation for them.

Soon, the food on the plate was completely gone. Hikigaya couldn't help but burp and looked up at Shiina in front of him: "Well, I'm done eating, so I'm leaving first?"

"Well, goodbye, Hikigaya-san."

Shiina had a calm smile on his face, and he looked as if he really no longer cared about what happened before.

Hikigaya breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this and turned away.

Even after he walked out of the restaurant, he still couldn't help feeling a little dazed about what had just happened.

Looking back, every time I met Shiina, I had a strong feeling of unreality. Was the other person really a human being?

Could it be that the person I met was a goblin from the book?

In fact, no one except himself can see Shiina's existence. Is the other party just an illusion created by his own imagination because he is too introverted?

Hikigaya instinctively had a mess of thoughts in his mind.

There was no way around it. As a loner, he had never had such normal communication with other people in his life, let alone chatting and eating dinner with a beautiful girl.

Even in his imagination he couldn't imagine such a miraculous scene. It was really hard for him to believe that all this was really happening.

If Hikigaya didn't make a mistake, then there must be something wrong with Shiina herself.

He would have such dark thoughts.

Hikigaya gradually wiped away the messy thoughts in his mind, put the plate in his hand into a special storage place, and then prepared to leave the restaurant and go back to the dormitory to rest.

However, on his way back to the dormitory, he found a large number of Class A students gathered in a corner of the hall.

Kōhei Katsuragi, who looked like a bald Wu Ke, was surrounded by the crowd, and together with his companion Yahiko Totsuka, he was being questioned by other students in the class.

"Our Class A suffered such a heavy loss this time, how are you going to take responsibility, Katsuragi!"

"Forming an alliance with Class C has caused us too much loss!"

"Class B is almost overtaking us now. If we fall behind by accident, we will be demoted from Class A to Class B!"

"..."

The students of Class A surrounded Katsuragi Kōhei and Totsuka Yahiko, making it clear that they wanted to hold Katsuragi, as their leader, responsible for the defeat.

"Didn't you guys also agree to sign a contract with Class C?"

Seeing this, Yahiko Totsuka couldn't help but refute.

However, his words were not accepted by his classmates. Many members of the Katsuragi faction spoke angrily, cursing him and Katsuragi, and putting all the blame on the two of them.

While all this was happening, it was Katsuragi Kohei himself who fell into silence, remaining silent from beginning to end and allowing others to belittle him.

Katsuragi obviously knew that saying anything at this time would easily cause dissatisfaction among his classmates. Although remaining silent was not a good approach, it was indeed the least risky option.

What to say.

Katsuragi is Katsuragi again, and in the end he chose to act in his own style.

It’s a pity that his style itself is a mistake in this school and cannot bring real victory to the opponent, not to mention that the real minefield in Class A is Sakayanagi Arisu.

As long as Katsuragi wanted to compete with Sakayanagi, he would never achieve the desired result.

"It's very miserable, Katsuragi."

When Hikigaya took a look and was about to leave the scene, a voice suddenly came from the shadows.

"Hashimoto?" Totsuka Yahiko and the members of the Katsuragi faction were originally in internal turmoil, but when they saw Hashimoto appear, they immediately showed expressions of common hatred and a common enemy. "It is because of the existence of you untrustworthy people from the Sakayanagi faction that Katsuragi's plan has problems!"

"Really? Do you have any evidence?"

"This……"