The next morning comes. The group is sleeping in much later than most of them normally sleep. Lucy is the first to wake up. Or so she thinks. She sits up with her hair a mess. She rubs her eyes and looks around. They were all more or less sprawled out on the floor of the living room. She carefully gets up and walks to the kitchen. Lucy is not a morning person very much so she is groggy and still very sleepy. She comes to the kitchen to get a glass of water only to find Ryuji there also drinking some water. He notices her and stops.

“Good morning Lucy.”

“Mornin’.”

She says as she takes a drink of her water. As she drinks, Ryuji lifts a small sweet bread in a plastic wrapper towards her. She looks surprised for a moment before taking it. 

“They’re your favorite. I made sure to tell Hikigaya to get you some. Sorry I forgot until now.”

He says plainly while staring at her.

“Oh you, so forgetful.”

She smiles at him, poking his arm.

“Thanks Ryuji.”

Ryuji nods at her and leans against the counter while she starts snacking on the bread. 

“Lucy. Do you remember what Hikigaya told us throughout middle school?”

He asks, a plain look on his face as he now stares at the floor, obviously in thought.

“Hm? You mean about the clouds thing?”

He nods.

“What about it?”

He pauses for a moment.

“Hmm… Nevermind actually.”

“Eh? What do you mean, ‘nevermind’? Tell me! You said you wouldn’t keep secrets from me, remember?”

She gets up in his face a bit, pouting. He leans back slightly.

“Well, it’s just that…”

He explains what he was thinking to Lucy as Chizuru sits up in the room over. She rubs her eyes a bit and looks around, stopping when she notices something. Back in the kitchen.

“I see. You may be right. But we shouldn’t push too much until we know for sure.”

Lucy says, now leaning against a different counter.

“How do we find the truth?”

Lucy shrugs her shoulders.

“Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

She smiles at him a bit before Chizuru comes in, in a hurry, a big smile on her face.

“You guys have to come see this!”

She brings Lucy and Ryuji back to the room where Shiori, Hikigaya, Sugawara and Haru are still sleeping. Once they come in, Lucy covers her mouth quickly trying to hold in a laugh as Ryuji smiles a bit. Hikigaya and Shiori are snuggling, facing each other very closely, sharing a blanket. 

“It’s so cute, isn’t it?”

She asks with an excited whisper while she takes a quick picture. Lucy giggles to herself. As they do this, Hikigaya and Shiori begin to wake up. They slowly open their eyes and stare for a moment, centimeters away from each other. After that moment, they both shoot up blushing hard. They look away from each other while Lucy laughs at them. Hikigaya notices them and gets an embarrassed, upset look.

“Guys?! What are you doing?!”

“I’m sorry! I can’t hold it in anymore!”

Lucy says and falls on her back laughing while Ryuji shakes his head.

“I’m sorry guys but you were just so cute. I couldn’t help myself…”

Chizuru smiles innocently at them while Shiori gets up. 

“I-I’m going to the bathroom.”

She walks away embarrassed while Chizuru tries to apologize for disturbing them. Hikigaya sits there still blushing a bit thinking about it. Suddenly, Haru sits up incredibly fast, yelling.

“NO MAN YOU CAN’T BRING BROCCOLI TO A PARTY THAT’S WEIRD!!” 

He screams. This scares everyone in the room but surprisingly, Sugawara is still laying on the ground adjacent to him, not reacting. They just look at him very confused as Haru is still processing the fact that he’s awake now. As he sweats, a foot rises up and starts pushing his face.

“You’re being too loud…”

Sugawara groans.

“Ah… Sorry guys…”

He laughs embarrassed. They spend the rest of the day relaxing and lazing about until the afternoon. They help clean up the mess they made then Chizuru says her goodbyes as Asami picks up and drops off the same kids as before. Eventually, they make it back home. Asami heads inside as Shiori and Hikigaya collects their bags and follows inside too. As Shiori walks up the stairs, Hikigaya follows behind her with a nervous look.

“I’m sorry for waking up so close to you this morning. I didn’t mean to.”

He says softly. Shiori is slightly surprised by his words as she looks over her shoulder at him before turning forward again.

“Hikigaya, you were asleep. Of course you didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, but I should still apologize..”

They walk in silence for a moment, only the sounds of their feet hitting the floor with every step. Shiori says nothing but he thoughts are so loud it’s like you can almost here them until she eventually decides to speak.

“Why are you being so nice to me? I haven’t done anything to earn it. In fact I’ve only been mean to you since we met.”

She says without turning to look at Hikigaya. He looks at her for a moment before lowering his head with a smile.

“Well, I can’t sit by and watch such a socially inept person struggle, can I?”

She gets noticeably angry at his response as he laughs.

“Seriously though. I don’t need a reason to treat someone else kindly. Besides, you’re much nicer than you give yourself credit for.”

Shiori stops by her door first as Hikigaya approaches his, turning to her as she speaks.

“Yeah? What makes you say that? Cause our definitions of ‘kind’ must be very different.”

He thinks for a moment, flashing the time she bandaged up the cut on his head, blushing a little from the thought as he smirks.

“Oh, just a hunch.”

He then puts his finger to his lips in a shushing motion. 

“But don’t worry, I won’t tell the others your secret. Your hard, unloving persona still holds strong!”

He giggles at her and she rolls her eye before heading inside. She puts her bag down with a sigh as her mom turns to her from the living room.

“How was it sweetie?”

“It was... a lot of fun.”

She says, thinking about the events of the night. Her mom smiles warmly.

“I’m so glad to hear it.”

Shiori smiles back before heading to her room. She flops down on her bed, letting go of the dragging bags behind her. She lays on her back for a moment, staring at the ceiling. 

‘Uncaring persona...’

She thinks with an almost hurt look on her face.