The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

"How about we come to my room instead?"

Hachiman suggested that he would rather a girl enter his room than himself, because he could guarantee that there would be nothing strange in his room, but he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't see anything he shouldn't see in a girl's room.

"Why? My room is very clean."

Chisa was puzzled. She had tidied up the room specifically so that there would be room to move around while they talked.

This isn't about being unclean, Miss Chisa; he's worried about whether his eyes will still be there the next day.

"Do you... think I'm a sloppy girl?" Chisa pursed her lips, feeling a little unhappy.

"of course not."

Well, once he said that, regardless of whether this door was truly the gates of hell or not, he was determined to go in and try.

Helpless, Hachiman walked into the room under the other person's gaze.

Chapter Nineteen: Morning Glories and Lilacs (Part Two)

Looking back on his nearly twenty years of life, he has entered the rooms of three women. The first was when he and Yui visited Yukinoshita's house to discuss the stage event held to celebrate the graduation of their senior high school classmates. The second was Komachi's room, where, as an older brother, he would occasionally need to wake up his younger sister who stayed up too late reading novels to make sure she got up on time the next day. The third was now.

Sitting upright on the tatami mat, smelling the faint fragrance in the room, Hachiman Hikigaya looked at the purple flowers in the vase beside the dressing table. At first, he thought they were hydrangeas, but upon closer inspection, he found that the shape of the petals was not quite the same.

He swallowed hard. How should I put it? Whether he was in Yukinoshita's room or Komachi's room, he didn't feel too constrained.

The former was because Yui and Yukinoshita's older sister were in the room at the time, while the latter was because familial affection overcame the barriers between opposite sexes. However, the present situation is different from the first two.

"Oh, thank you."

She took the green tea offered by the other party and stared intently at a single tea leaf floating on the surface of the tea. Without any hesitation, Qian Sha sat down next to him. She didn't know if she had just taken a cold shower or what, but her body temperature was noticeably higher than normal.

Can anyone teach him how to talk to a girl without making her angry and kicking him out of the room?

Why are you so nervous?

Although Chisa is an outgoing girl, she knows how bold it is to invite a boy her own age into her room. She was a little nervous at first, but when she saw that he was even more reserved than her, she couldn't help but laugh.

Hearing her melodious laughter, as sweet as a kingfisher's, Hachiman resisted the urge to roll his eyes. You have no idea how strange other people think of us right now. If you did, they would probably have kicked us out the door long ago.

"Relax a bit."

When two i-people are together, either neither of them speaks, or once they start talking, one of them will evolve into an e-person.

Chisa picked up the teacup, and the rising steam caused a drop of water to well up on the tip of her nose. Hachiman, holding the teacup, looked at her and asked a question.

Is there something you want to say?

Chisa hissed and stuck out her pink tongue, the top of which was red, apparently from being scalded by the tea. He glanced at it and then looked away.

"Ah."

She fanned herself with her hand, blowing a cool breeze and releasing a refreshing scent towards Hachiman. He twitched his nose slightly, and a lemony aroma filled his nostrils. He hadn't expected her to use such a scented shower gel; he had assumed a girl like Chisa would use a strong rose scent.

No, no, no! He clenched his fists, a faint blush creeping up his ears. Please, Miss Chisa, get to the point!

Fortunately, his wish was known to God. Chisa stood up, rummaged through the drawer, and took out a poster.

"This is……"

Hachiman faces the poster, raising an eyebrow.

[The famous animal "Tao Tao" will be performing at the Shimoda Marine Aquarium next Wednesday. We look forward to your visit.]

Looking at the dolphin with a playful smile on its face on the right side of the promotional material, Hachiman had a bad feeling. Could it be that Chisa wanted to ask him to go see it together?

"Are you interested?" he asked cautiously, though the question sounded odd. Why would someone ask you if they weren't interested? What's the point?

As expected, Chisa nodded, her eyes sparkling. Oh no, she was really interested!

"I've been thinking about it. If you, Hachiman, could learn something about aquatic life, it might be helpful when you go into the sea. If you could come to like these animals, you might not be so afraid when you're facing their habitats."

The girl expressed her thoughts, and the expectation and understanding in her tone made Hachiman pause for a moment.

"……Thanks."

He scratched his cheek and looked away.

When faced with someone's concern, his first thought was whether he was causing trouble for the other person. Although he was touched, he still felt it was inappropriate.

He sighed inwardly. For some reason, the other party always seemed to find his weakness, and he simply couldn't refuse requests like this.

However, when will this misunderstanding be cleared up? They were hoping to prove to everyone tonight that their friendship was pure, but next week they're going to the aquarium together again. Even someone like Iori will just think they're putting on an act and putting on a fake show to fool everyone.

Are we all going together again like today?

Come to think of it, he hasn't told Chisa yet that everyone will be going to listen to rock music together tonight.

"Qian Sha..."

"what happened?"

Hachiman hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"We're all going to listen to rock music together tonight."

"Oh."

He looked at the girl and saw that she was calm. He breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his idea was right. Chisa just wanted to listen to rock music, and she didn't look forward to it because she was with him.

"My sister has already told me about this. It's great. It'll be more lively if everyone goes together."

Chisa didn't think it was a big deal. On the contrary, she felt relieved when she heard the news. After all, it might be a little awkward to be alone with Hachiman. Although she didn't know what the awkwardness was, she just had that feeling.

“However, I hope that when we go to the aquarium, it will just be you and me.” Chisa picked up the poster and stroked the creases on top.

"Huh?" Hachiman was stunned. She guessed what he was thinking? And what he said sounded like something that could easily be misunderstood. Look at him, his pants are almost wet.

I hope I don't see Nanaka-senpai eavesdropping at the door when I go out later.

Chisa held the poster upright in front of her face, her eyes darting around: "If everyone goes to the aquarium together, then it's very likely that their attention will be diverted."

In that case, he wouldn't be very interested in the animals in the aquarium, and the trip would be a waste.

After listening to her explanation, Hachiman nodded in understanding. Yes, if Iori and Kohei had gone too, it would have been impossible for them to calm down and experience the atmosphere of the aquarium.

But now we're faced with another difficult choice.

Life is indeed a journey of choices.

Imagine a spider suddenly appears in your room. Do you choose to swat it, or do you choose to wrap it in a tissue and release it outside?

"Chisa, there are spiders in your room."

"Eh? Where?"

Chisa looked in the direction he pointed, and her face turned pale instantly. Most women dislike animals with many legs or no legs.

She suddenly stood up, hid behind Hachiman without thinking, grabbed the back of his shirt with both hands, and asked anxiously and tremblingly in a low voice, "Can you drive it away?"

"I can, but you have to take off my clothes first."

Hachiman stared at the spider hiding in the corner; he could almost hear the fabric being torn apart.

"Mmm." Chisa nodded obediently, her hands trembling as she loosened her grip on his clothes.

"I'll tear off a piece of paper." Hachiman pinched the tissue and approached the corner. The little spider stared with its big black eyes at the approaching giant creature, its tiny legs reaching back as if trying to climb the wall.

He wasn't going to give it that chance; he quickly pinched it with a tissue, lightening the pressure.

"All right."

He turned around, his eyes wide with shock. Qian Sha's eyes were filled with tears, and she looked pitiful. Her originally slightly heroic face now had a touch of coquettishness.

She nodded, walked to Hachiman's side, and said in a sweet voice, "Put it in the bushes outside on the first floor."

“…Ah, um.” Hachiman responded, clutching the tissue holding the spider. Suddenly, he felt something disappear.

He looked at the empty tissue and was about to say something when he saw the girl in front of him suddenly turn terrified and raise her hand.

"Qian Sha?"

"Yeah!"

He was slapped out the door and fell to the ground. At the same time, he saw the little spider running away quickly in his vision. It seemed that it had just run onto his face.

He stood up and stared at the locked door.

Wasn't he kicked, but slapped?

Hachiman shook his head, turned around to go back to his room, only to see two people standing not far from his door.

Iori and Kohei stared at him, their eyes and the corners of their mouths curving into an angle that made Hachiman feel uneasy. Their expressions at that moment resembled that comical meme.

They both pointed at him at the same time: "You did something bad, I'm going to tell Nana-chan (senior)."

Upon hearing this, Hachiman's face turned as black as coal.

Chapter Twenty: Morning Glory and Lilac (Part Three)

[The train has arrived in Ito City—]

As everyone stepped off the tram, a refreshing breeze swept over them. Hachiman, who had just finished showering, exhaled a sigh of relief. The experience was quite pleasant, especially since it eased the pain in his face.

There was no bright red handprint on his face. Although Chisa was frightened, she subconsciously pulled back her strength, but she still felt the pain.

"This is my first time in Ito City."

Iori looked out at the street in the distance. The place where she got off the bus was on the outskirts of a residential area. It was nine o'clock at night, and most people had returned home. As a result, the road, which was only lit by streetlights, looked very deserted.

"Me too, most of the time I really don't want to go anywhere else."

As a homebody, Kohei naturally wouldn't have the leisure to travel to other cities. He's busy every day, watching new anime series, rewatching old ones, searching for new merchandise for his favorite characters, and occasionally checking news about anime conventions, even though he's never been to one.

Ultimately, so-called cosplayers and people like them are not on the same wavelength. Being able to play their favorite characters in front of a crowd, interact with others openly, and collect characters has reached the level of being a "real-life person."

He can't get along with people who are popular with the opposite sex.

Kohei closed his eyes and smiled. Fortunately, his friends were all a bunch of bastards, so he didn't have to worry about such a thing happening.

"I felt a chill for no reason."

"really."

Hachiman and Iori touched their arms and looked at Kohei, who had his eyes closed. They couldn't help but wonder if the boy was cursing them, but they couldn't figure out why. Or perhaps anything could have a reason, so they didn't bother to ask.

"Are we going to the performance hall next?"

Nanaka asked, holding a cloth bag containing several pieces of clothing, as she was worried that the weather would get even colder on the way back.

“Okay, let’s go there first.” Hachiman nodded. “Goto’s performance is around 9:30. Let’s go there first. She said there’s a food street nearby, we can check it out.”

"That's nice. Do you have an izakaya (Japanese pub)?"

"There should be."

"Are you planning to go for a drink?" Nanaka asked Iori and the other person. She didn't mind if they had a drink, but if they drank too much, they would probably have to stay at a hotel here tonight.

"Hmm, I plan to have a little bit."

Iori said that he and Kohei had recently earned some money by working as bricklayers with Tokita-senpai, and planned to go to the store to drink some other alcoholic beverages, since they were getting a bit tired of drinking vodka, whiskey, or eau-de-vie all the time.

“It’s good to warm up,” Hachiman said.

Are you planning to go get a drink too?

Chisa, who had somehow walked up to him, stared at his face and reached her hand a little further into her pocket, her expression slightly unnatural.

"Me? I don't have that thought."

Rather than drinking alcohol to keep warm, he would probably choose oden.

Fish cakes, crab sticks, meatballs, white radishes, konjac jelly—the steaming hot food fills your mouth with a sense of satisfaction. Then, take a sip of the not-too-bland, delicious seaweed soup, and just thinking about it makes your mouth water.

"I'd rather eat something than drink alcohol."

Hachiman watched the changes on his phone's map as he walked forward.

"Have you forgotten what kind of club you belong to, Hachiman!"

"This joke has been used several times already."

Hachiman sighed.

"Besides, oden stalls also sell alcohol."