Hikigaya, the Son-in-law of Three Surnames

Otherwise, he wouldn't have come home and specially run over to give an umbrella to a classmate he wasn't even familiar with.

To say that Yumiko once had a crush on Hikigaya Hachiman is really a joke. Her taste has never been that low. She used to be a face lover and only liked handsome guys like Hayato. Now she is even more used to seeing handsome men and beautiful women in the media. She has never taken Hikigaya Hachiman in the eye.

So, why? Probably to get rid of the irritability that has accumulated today.

"I even missed the last bus." The moment she stepped out of the car door, the last bus on the opposite side just drove away.

Hikigaya Hachiman took the umbrella, held it up, and said jokingly, "In that case, let's use the sky as a blanket and the ground as a bed and stay here tonight. To be honest, except for the rain, it's quite comfortable here."

Yumiko was a little disdainful. She really couldn't understand why someone could be a homeless person and look relaxed and comfortable. But she suddenly seemed to want to break something and said, "Move aside."

Actually, Hachiman was just joking. A woman in a fancy business suit with a designer brand and a sloppy homeless guy like himself... It was a scene he had only seen in Ivy.

As a result, Youmiko really squeezed next to him. The two umbrellas, one red and one black, looked somewhat gaudy and abrupt on the rainy street.

The summer rain does not make people feel cold, but rather icy and somewhat comfortable. The drizzle makes pedestrians' pace quicken. The neon lights of convenience stores and vehicles become colorful and hazy under the scattering of rain. Youmeizi, who is used to the repetitive work life, never thought that just squatting on the street on a rainy night would give her such a different feeling.

"The world is really big." Yumiko sighed inexplicably.

Ta-ta-ta...the sound of a lighter was heard nearby. Yumiko saw Hachiman take out a shriveled cigarette box, take out a cigarette and light it up, and couldn't help but sneer.

"You're already a homeless person, and you can still smoke." Besides, she hates men who smoke. Like Hayato, he never touches cigarettes or drinks.

"Let me tell you, the welfare in Japan is pretty good. It's hard to starve to death as a homeless person. If you have a little bit of means, getting a pack of cigarettes is not a difficult task." Hachiman said with a smile.

"......Anything else?" Yumiko asked.

Hachiman looked at the cigarette box, feeling a little conflicted, but he finally handed it over: "This is the last one, as a way of repaying your kindness of using an umbrella. To be honest, it's quite uncomfortable to be rained on all the time."

Yumiko took the cigarette out of the box and Hachiman lit it. She choked on it the first time she tried it.

"What's so good about this kind of thing?"

Having said that, he tried again slowly, then, holding the cigarette in his mouth, he continued to stare at the wet street in a daze.

If the TV station and the people who usually watch Chiba News saw the female anchor they love smoking a cigarette and huddled together with a homeless person, their fantasies would surely be shattered.

"Are you feeling better?" Hachiman put out his cigarette butt and threw it into a nearby trash can.

Yumiko didn't answer and said, "I wonder how you became a homeless person? I remember you were admitted to a good university."

Hachiman answered honestly, "I resigned from the company without permission, and then stayed at home until my father kicked me out."

"Wow, you really are a waste." Youmiko mocked mercilessly.

"I am not succumbing to Japan's meaningless overtime culture and feudal superior-subordinate relationships," said Hachiman.

"Translated, doesn't it mean that you didn't want to work overtime, and then you were bullied by your seniors in the company, so you had to resign? You really suck." Isn't it natural to work overtime? If you are bullied by your seniors, you have to learn to resist. Escaping is shameful and useless.

This is Yumiko Miura's creed.

"But I can appreciate such a calming scene, right?" Hachiman said with a smile, not feeling ashamed.

"But you have hands and feet, shouldn't you work harder?" Yumiko was a little touched, but still couldn't agree.

"I am wandering like this now. I will not starve to death if I spend some time every day doing some daily paid work. I have no plan to get married in this life anyway. Even if I work hard, I can't afford a house. Having children will only drag down the next generation. If you think about it carefully, what is the essential difference between me working hard and wandering now? Is it just that I look more glamorous in the eyes of others? Then I would rather use the time I spend working overtime and currying favor with my superiors to discover the beauty of this world, like now."

Smoking a cigarette, enjoying the drizzle, humming a tune, I feel very happy.

Youyouko was stunned for a moment. His theory of lying down was really novel. Moreover, he did not have the self-abandonment of a homeless vagrant or a otaku who was unwilling to go out. Instead, he had a sense of freedom that was not in the world of mortals. In two words, he was insightful.

Just now when he was getting off work, the three people who passed by laughed at him and called him a poor homeless man. Perhaps in Hachiman's eyes, they felt that these hard-working "worker bees" were boring.

"You've become quite talkative." Yumiko's impression of him changed a little, and she slowly stood up.

"Well, after all, I have worked in the workplace before." Hachiman said with a smile.

"You are just a loser, and you still have the nerve to say that."

Yumiko smiled and said, "But in Japan, there are actually quite a few marginalized people who are eliminated from the workplace, but it is rare to find someone like Hachiman who has not become decadent...."

It seems that he is not decadent in spirit but in actions. It's really contradictory.

Although there was no last bus, taxis could still be hailed. However, just thinking about the fare from here to the apartment made Youmiko feel painful. One third of her salary for this month was gone.

This is the price of a temporary illness. It is indeed very expensive, but it is not without gain. At least I feel a lot better.

Seeing the taxi parked not far away, Hachiman waved and said to Yumiko, "Goodbye, Miura-san."

Yumiko walked to the car, paused, walked back, and said, "If you are willing to beg me, maybe I can let you stay for one night. You are shaking now."

"A real man does not eat food that is served too easily." Hachiman said with great dignity.

"Oh, so that's the case. If you don't die tonight, we'll meet again someday." Yumiko said coldly.

Hachiman held out his half-worn cigarette case and said, "I have a brand-name cigarette case that can be used as payment for the room."

"It's really a problem. I have a boyfriend." Yumiko looked at him proudly.

"I wonder if your boyfriend has any special hobbies that I can either watch or play with," Hachiman said pitifully.

Yumiko laughed so hard that tears came out.

She originally thought that she would never smile like this at another man again.

Chapter 3 About accidentally buying a mining card

The rain is not as heavy as it was at the beginning, but the drizzle like catkins is still falling densely, making the whole city of Tokyo seem to be covered with a hazy color.

In the taxi, Youmiko kept looking at the rain outside the window without saying a word, as if there was still something stuck in her heart that she couldn't get rid of. The driver in front kept looking at the two people in the back seat through the rearview mirror. It wasn't that he was gossiping or anything, it was just that in all the years he had been driving, he had never encountered such a weird combination.

The glamorous and beautiful woman on the left looks like a person floating in the clouds, and she looks a little familiar, but I just can't remember who she is at the moment. The sloppy guy on the right is obviously a homeless person.

Speaking of which, the driver is also an old martial arts fan. He is fascinated by this culture that came from the other side of the sea. He has read all of Jin's translated versions. Duan Yanqing and Dao Baifeng immediately came to his mind. It was a sense of déjà vu.

Damn it! Even though I’m a little old, I’m cleaner than a homeless person. Why doesn’t the Bodhisattva like me?

He felt so jealous just thinking about the homeless man's dirty hands touching the pretty girl's face.

Then, because of his frequent glances, he attracted the attention of the homeless man. Hachiman smiled strangely and said, "You will pay later. I don't have any money on me."

"I know. I never expected you to give me money." Youmiko said as a matter of course.

Then the driver felt even more upset, thinking that God was so unfair.

Just half an hour later, the driver arrived at the high-end apartment rented by Youmeizi. Looking at the expensive location and the high-end apartment, the driver was a little numb.

Yumiko took out cash from Gucci's wallet and gave it to the driver without saying anything. She said in a bad temper, "If you look at me again, I will call the police and file a complaint with your company."

When the driver encountered someone who was not easy to deal with, he immediately put aside his wild fantasies and drove away.

Hachiman was also somewhat surprised by where Yumiko lived, but he said first: "What do you think the driver was thinking just now?"

Yumiko pulled the corner of her mouth and said, "What else can it be? It's just a flower stuck in cow dung, and then you wonder why that pile of shit is not yours."

Hachiman couldn't help but laugh, this guy was still as mean as before, he looked around the apartment and followed Yumiko inside.

"You live in a nice place."

"After all, the income of a female TV host is pretty good. Relying on her fame, she can also make some money by taking on some business orders. In Sobu High School, apart from those who rely on their family, there are not many people who are doing better than me."

Yumiko said as a matter of course that she was proud but not conceited. Although she did rely on her father, it was only because of her father's connections that she got the opportunity to interview. The rest of the time depended entirely on her hard work.

Have you ever seen the sun at 4 o'clock in the morning in Tokyo? She saw it every day when she was working hard to record the show, and she even went to the hospital for it.

Well, compared to those people who were born with a diamond key in their mouths, the achievements and social status she had worked hard to obtain are still insignificant. This is the reality of Japanese society.

What else could Hachiman say but to applaud.

When I arrived at Yumiko's apartment and turned on the lights, I found it a bit messy, with used clothes and underwear thrown around randomly, but it was actually okay. It didn't fit the setting of light novels where the character is a genius in a certain field but her life is a mess and she needs the male protagonist to make up for it.

However, Yumiko was still a little uncomfortable, so she quickly packed up the clothes and threw them into the basket next to the washing machine.

Then, he took out a brand new bath towel and a set of men's casual clothes from his room and stuffed them into Hachiman's hands: "My boyfriend used them, but they have been washed. They are better than the ones you are wearing. Go wash them quickly and don't dirty my house."

She said with disgust.

Hachiman took the clothes and towel, then pressed his nose hard on them and sniffed, with a half-smile on his face.

Yumiko clenched her fists and said, "What? Just say it if you have something to say."

Still as annoying as before.

"It's nothing, I just think your laundry detergent smells really good. I can't smell any other smell after washing." Without waiting for Yumiko to get angry, he quickly slipped into the bathroom which was designed quite high-end.

Youmiko was so angry that she laughed. What was she really doing? She actually brought a homeless guy home.

"Hikigaya... Hachiman?" Yumiko said softly. She remembered that when they were in high school, this guy had a subtly good relationship with Hayato. It wasn't like the relationship with Tobe Sho where they played football together and had fun together, but they were more in line with each other in terms of ideas?

Anyway, she was jealous of this at first, but all of this is now a thing of the past.

This guy is surprisingly cunning. According to her experience, people who can read other people's minds like this will never be ostracized to the point of resigning. Maybe, as he said, it is possible, but not necessary.

About twenty minutes later, Youmiko looked at someone in a daze and almost blurted out, "Who are you, sir?"

After washing off the dust on his body and changing into a new set of clothes, perhaps because the contrast was too great, even a beauty lover like her thought that this guy was quite handsome, and his handsomeness was different from that masculine boy like Hayato. Maybe it was because she didn't have a razor at home, his face still had stubble, his decadent eyes were a little vicissitudes of life, and his figure was taller and thinner than when he was in high school. For a little girl, he was still quite lethal.

"Am I that pretty?" Hachiman teased when he saw Yumiko staring at him, and picked up an apple on the table, showing his honesty and bluntness.

"I think that if you become a gigolo, you should be able to deceive a lot of lonely women." Yumiko said with a little malice.

Hachiman picked up the apple and suddenly sat next to Yumiko, whispering in a low, hoarse voice beside her: "Master, I am just your duck... like this?"

Yumiko got goosebumps and her breathing became faster.

Hachiman glanced at him, then stood up while biting an apple. Then Yumiko grabbed his hand and said, "Kiss me."

Hachiman put the apple down, shrugged and said, "I was just kidding. I'm not a real duck."

Youyouko covered her heart, as if to prevent herself from regretting anything, and said, "Stop pretending. Do you really think that I brought you home just to let you stay overnight?"

Hachiman put his hand on Yumiko's cheek. Yumiko held her breath and wanted to close her eyes, but someone's figure suddenly appeared in her mind and she subconsciously grabbed Hachiman's hand.

When she came to her senses, regret appeared on her face: "I'm not, I..."

Hachiman stroked her cheek and said, "You know, if we had just graduated, I would have stopped because I think this kind of thing requires an emotional foundation between both parties, but now..."

He pushed Youmiko onto the sofa.

........................

Yumiko came out of the bathroom, having changed into a new set of clothes, and she even tried to cover herself up more tightly, even though it was meaningless.

She came to the living room and found Hachiman quietly watching TV and reporting the news himself. For some reason, she felt a little angry.

Yumiko went to the refrigerator, took out two cans of beer, and placed one of them heavily in front of him, as if to express her dissatisfaction.

Yawata compared the female anchor on TV with the female classmates around him and said, "You are quite pretty on TV."

Yumiko rolled her eyes at him and said, "Am I not beautiful now?"

But I regretted saying it out loud. It was a bit too frivolous. It was because of my stupidity tonight that that kind of thing happened. In the end, it seems that I can't blame the other party.

Yumiko saw that Hachiman was looking at it seriously, so she asked, "Don't you have a cell phone?"

It has to be admitted that due to the mobile Internet, even as a female anchor of Chiba TV, she believes that the influence of television is declining. The public is now more accustomed to getting information from mobile phones, and the timeliness and amount of information are not of the same order of magnitude.

Nowadays, if the public learns about a vicious murder case on Twitter and it is reported on the TV news that evening, they will be praised for keeping up with current affairs. This is ironic in itself.

Television news has become synonymous with "old news," and sometimes it even makes Yumiko doubt whether her career has any meaning.

"No, I haven't used a cell phone for more than two years." Hachiman said indifferently, but he was watching the news very seriously, as if he was really absorbing the latest social information from the news she reported.

"Wow, barbarians who are outdated." Yumiko thought, I really can't believe how people live without mobile phones nowadays.

Hachiman paused, looked at the woman and said, "Do you know the term information cocoon?"

"After all, I graduated from a regular journalism department," Youmiko said, so don't try to act like that in front of me.

“So you should also know that when people habitually use only a few apps on their phones to get information, they are actually imprisoned in the field they are familiar with based on interest and traffic algorithms. Only seeing what you want to see will only narrow your vision and perspective, which is actually not a good thing.”

"But isn't it the same for everyone? This is the nature of the development of the times, and it can't be changed by one or two people," said Youmiko.

"Why can't we change it? Just stop using your cell phone." Hachiman said as a matter of course.

Yumiko choked for a moment, then said, "You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Mobile Internet has many advantages as well."

Yawata asked in return: "What are the advantages of mobile Internet? Is it irreplaceable in life?"

"It seems... not." Although mobile phones are convenient, they are just a convenience and are not irreplaceable.

Hachiman continued, "At least when I'm walking on the street, I can use the time I spend reading novels on my phone to look at the flowers and plants on the street, watch how a mother disciplines a crying child, and watch an old couple caressing each other in the park. Mobile phones are good, but they're not real enough. There's an advertising slogan that says, JOJO, discover the beauty of life. Okay, I just made that up."

Youmiko looked at this guy and found that if he shaved his head, he would look like a monk. The term "information cocoon" is not unfamiliar. Most young people who have access to the Internet know it. However, most people just shout "it's terrible" and then continue to check their phones, including her.

Laziness is human nature, so we pursue convenience.

Not pursuing convenience is itself an act against human nature.