“How was your day, sweetie?”

“It was good.”

She responds casually, looking at Riku. Takanou gets a surprised look for a moment as Shiori notices.

“What?”

She asks. Her dad just smiles and shakes his head a bit while walking into the kitchen.

“Oh, nothing.”

He responds with his head in the fridge looking for a snack. Shiori pouts as she gets up.

“Tell me papa.”

Takanou smirks as he opens a cup of applesauce.

“Well, it’s just, for the past few years, every time your mom or I would ask how your day was you’d always respond with “It was fine.” Not, “It was good.””

He says while throwing his head back and slurping up the applesauce. Shiori is surprised as she looks down, trying to think of times this happened.

“Really..?”

“Yep. Everyday like clockwork.”

He tosses the cup into the trashcan. She blushes a bit as she looks away, embarrassed.

“I never.. even realized.”

Takanou just laughs a bit.

“I’m glad you’re having such a good time, sweetie.”

While looking down, Shiori actually smiles a bit.

“Yeah...”

She says softly.

Later that night, she’s in her room at her desk writing in a journal. She’s not wearing her eyepatch but her bangs cover her eye as she thinks to herself.

‘What am I doing? I’m getting way too attached. I only have to be with Hikigaya because I was told to. I need to slow down and step back. None of them know me. None of them even want to know me. They just have to because of Hikigaya…’

Her face gets more upset as she thinks this, trying to justify her actions. She slowly stops writing and just looks at her desk for a moment, clenching her fist in frustration.

‘They were right…’

She thinks with a pained tone when suddenly she turns her head around looking at her window. She stares at it for a moment before squinting a bit, getting a strange feeling. Outside on the family’s second story patio, an arm reaches over the ledge and a person climbs on up. Right as they land on their butt, the door from the living room is swung open hard. Shiori stands over them wearing her eyepatch again. 

“What the hell do you-”

Her eye widens as she stops, realizing it’s Ryuji. She blushes in slight embarrassment and surprise. Ryuji turns and looks at her with a confused face.

“Shiori… You’re living with Hikigaya now?..”

She immediately stops blushing and her eyes go blank.

‘Of course it has to do with him…’ She thinks with a sigh. “You got the wrong number. He’s right there.”

She disappointedly points to the patio on her left.

“Ah, thanks.”

He says casually as he stands up and dusts himself off. He turns to face Hikigaya’s patio and takes a couple steps before stopping. He turns and looks at Shiori.

“You and him are close?”

He asks, kind of out of nowhere. Not phased by the question at all, Shiori answers.

“Oh, definitely not. I know nothing about him, we barely met like a couple weeks ago.”

Ryuji nods a bit, kind of surprised by the answer.

“Huh. You could’ve fooled me.”

He says, giving her a cool smile. Shiori just shrugs in response.

“He may not be the easiest guy to get along with but give him a chance. I haven’t seen him warm up to anyone the way he has with you.”

He says warmly as Shiori just slightly looks away.

“I doubt that. I don’t think he even thinks of me as a real friend..”

Ryuji pauses and looks up for a moment like he’s thinking. He then looks back at her.

“Well, the others and I do. I’m sure he does too.”

He says casually. Shiori gets a little surprised and looks at him.

“You do?”

She asks with hope barely noticeable in her words. Her eye brightening up a bit. He looks at her and smiles before hopping over onto the other patio. She stands there for a moment watching him before slowly stepping back inside. She closes the sliding glass door and leans against it before sliding down and sighing. 

‘Could he be telling the truth? They actually like me?.. I mean, he doesn’t exactly have a reason to lie to me.. does he need one? But what if they’re just saying that? With me not around? What would that gain?’

These thoughts rush through her mind as she groans and leans her head back against the door with a conflicted look.

‘Maybe… I should just give them a chance…’

She thinks softly as she sits there in the living room, uncertain of what the future might hold.

The next morning Shiori steps out of her house in her school uniform and locks the door behind her. She takes a couple steps towards the railing of their second floor hall before stopping, turning and leaning against it. Just a moment later, Hikigaya comes out of his house also ready for the day.

“Should I expect this to be a regular thing?”

He asks playfully as he steps next to her. She answers with her eye closed as she begins walking down the hall, not entertaining his teasing.

“Principal Ai said we need to stick together. Since you’re right here anyway, we might as well get to school together as to not risk getting in trouble.”

She answers confidently, as if expecting this. He laughs a bit as he follows right behind her. On their way to school, it’s like any other early fall morning.

“Do you enjoy walking to school?”

Hikigaya asks after a bit of silence. Shiori looks at him over her shoulder as if examining him closely.

“Are you just asking me that to fill the silence between us?”

She asks suspicious of his intentions. He laughs nervously.

“Hah.. maybe a little, but, to also get to know you better.”

He responds with a warm tone. Shiori looks at him for a moment before turning to look ahead again.

“Yeah, most of the time. When it starts cooling down is when I get really miserable…”

“Not a big fan of cold weather eh?”

“Not walking in it, that’s for sure.”

She responds, drooping a bit at the thought.

“Yeah, I used to not care for cold season much either, with all the cloudy skies and stuff. But, then somebody once told me they liked the clouds and why they liked them. I don’t remember who it was but I remember how cute and somehow powerful it was. So I enjoy them much more now!”

He says with a big smile as he raises his hands to the sky. She stares at him as he smiles to the sky for a moment before a slight blush comes about her cheeks. She realizes this and looks away, stepping ahead of him slightly covering her face.

“Yeah well.. that sounds dumb.”

She says softly as Hikigaya is shocked.

“Huh?? After I open up to you, you just insult me??”

He starts arguing with her as she argues back, overcoming her moment of shyness. They eventually make it to school as all the students gather and enter. Lucy, Chizuru and Ryuji are waiting at their spot by the entrance. They wave at them as Shiori and Hikigaya walk up but suddenly, Hikigaya’s eyes widen for a moment before he ducks forward as Haru dives at him trying to give him a big hug from behind. Haru goes tumbling on the ground as Sugawara watches and sweats in embarrassment, behind them. Haru’s eyes swirl from the impact for a moment before he quickly flips over and glares at Hikigaya from the ground.

“Come on man, why you gotta dodge me like that?” 

“I’ve told you time and time again to not do that.”

“I’m just trying to express my love for my best mate. Why won’t you let me be who I am?”

He covers his mouth and looks away from him while tears roll down his face, devastated. Hikigaya rolls his eyes and walks past him as Lucy comes over to Shiori.

“Regret your choice of friends yet?”

She asks with a laugh as Shiori smiles softly and shakes her head. Soon, the starting bell rings as they all make their way to class.

Later that day during lunch time, the group decides to eat in the classroom today. The others are all talking to each other while Shiori writes in her notebook. Hikigaya sits back into his chair with his arms folded behind his head and a smile on his face.

“So Ryuji came over last night.”

Shiori says, not lifting her gaze from her notebook.

“Oh yeah haha he told me about it. Hope he didn’t scare you too much.”

“It takes more than some cute boy to scare me.”

She says confidently as Hikigaya turns and looks at her.

“Oh? That’s funny because he’s staring right at you, listening to our conversation.”

He points his thumb over his shoulder at Ryuji. Shiori turns her head sharply, almost falling out of her chair with an intense blush on her face.

“What?!”

She looks only to find him spun around, invested in his conversation with Sugawara and Haru. Shiori slouches in her chair, sighing in relief. Her relief doesn’t last long though as she hears Hikigaya giggling to himself. She glares at him angrily and punches him in the arm.

“Shut up you jerk! What did he even come over for?”

She blushes in embarrassment and quickly tries to change the subject.

“Ow! Haha nothing. He just dropped something off I’ve been asking for, for months.”

“And it couldn’t wait until morning?”

She asks with a disapproving sigh.

“I mean yeah, it probably could have but where’s the fun in that? It’s so much more fun doing things at night. Being all sneaky and such. Wouldn’t you agree?”

She looks at him for a moment before rolling her eye and facing back to her notebook, continuing writing. After just a moment of silence, she answers.

“I suppose so.”

Hikigaya smiles a slightly surprised smile.

“See? That’s the spirit! Really enjoying the little things!”

He says while patting her on the back repeatedly while she tries to write. After a few slaps she breaks her pencil in frustration and knocks him on the head hard.

“Stop hitting me!”

She shouts as a loud thud is heard throughout the school.

Eventually, the day comes to an end and the group part ways as usual, waving each other goodbye and walking home in their pairings. After getting home, Hikigaya waves to Shiori as she hesitantly waves back before they both enter their homes. Shiori closes the door behind her and leans against it for a moment with a sigh. She takes her eyepatch off and begins rubbing her eye with an open palm, feeling a bit sore today. She lowers her hand, her bangs cover her eye still, as she stares at the eyepatch in her hand for a moment. She breathes in before going into her room and closing the door behind her.

Shiori’s buzzing alarm goes off as she sleepily rolls over and hits the button on her phone. The phone reads that it’s eight o’clock in the morning. She rolls onto her back and pushes the blankets mostly off of her upper body. She inhales and exhales a deep breath softly.

‘Saturday.’

She leaves her house and locks up the door. She is dressed in a black tank top and pink striped sweatpants, her eyepatch on and her hair pulled into more of a ponytail than usual. She then begins her normal routine run. After a bit, she sweats and pants as she runs down the street until eventually she comes across her neighborhood playground and the small field connected to it. She is used to this scenery as she does this most weekend mornings but today something caught her eye and she slowed down to a stop beside the small fence entrance. She stares at a young man who is doing a handstand on the blacktop of the park in a white tank top and blue sweatpants. He is shaking very little but is sweating quite a bit showing that he has been in this handstand for a while. Shiori slowly catches her breath as she observes the boy who looks vaguely familiar but she can’t quite place her thumb on who he is. Suddenly the boy throws himself up just a bit so he can get his two fingers under himself, changing from a two hand stand to a two finger stand. He stays upright for a moment before something happens and some blood spills onto the floor. This causes the boy to wince in pain and lose balance, falling over. Shiori rushes into the playground to aid the boy.

“Hey, are you alright?”

She calls out before crouching down next to him with her hand hovering over his back. The boy then turns to face Shiori revealing it to be Hikigaya with his hair tied up. Shiori gets a stunned look on her face when she realizes his bigger frame wasn’t just from height. That Hikigaya is actually quite toned.

“Shiori? What are you doing here?”

He asks as his left eye is closed from a little bit of blood dripping down his face from his eyebrow. Shiori quickly gains her focus again.

“What are you doing? You’re bleeding.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve noticed that. It ain’t nothing a little time won’t fix.”

He says confidently before getting to his feet. He stands up and wipes the blood off his face with his hand, rubbing it against his pants. It still bleeds but noticeably less. Shiori looks at him for a moment before remembering the events of some days ago. When he was stuck on the left side of his head by the bat.

‘I guess it did have an effect after all.’ “That’s from when the man hit you, right?”

Hikigaya hums a bit, thinking for a moment before realizing she’s right.

“Oooh, yeah! I was wondering why my head’s been hurting. I guess it didn’t quite heal as well as I thought it would, haha…”

He laughs awkwardly. Shiori looks at him for a moment before turning and beginning to walk away.

“Come on. Let’s go get you patched up.”

Hikigaya looks at her surprised. She turns her head to look at him.

“We don’t want your mom to see you coming home bloody, do we?”

 She says before continuing on her way. He smiles a bit and follows.