My youth story cannot be a knight war

"Long time no see, great hero who protects the weak?"

The girl took off her glasses and held them behind her back. Facing the boy who was looking at her, she tilted her head and smiled sweetly.

The smile is beautiful, and the curve of the eyes carries the sunshine of the time when the two met, as well as the maturity revealed after the immaturity gradually faded away in adolescence, and the emotions lingering between the brows.

【“…”】

[The boy carrying the girl on his back gradually disappeared from his sight, and the strange presence behind him made Zaimokuza pause, and he turned around in silence.]

[Not far away, Hikigaya Hachiman, who had just stepped into the room before Zaimokuza, stood quietly in front of another pure white door embedded in the wall, and slowly withdrew his gaze when he looked over.]

[“Hachiman…”]

【Click.】

[Before Zaimokuza finished speaking, Hikigaya Hachiman calmly turned the doorknob and opened the door. With the sound of a clear mechanism, he once again stepped into the swirling white vortex, forcing Zaimokuza to stop what he was about to say.]

【Zaimokuza was silent for a few seconds, then followed suit.】

[He realized that, although the person who was not sure if he was his best friend had no ill will towards him, he also had some thoughts about him.]

[Everything the other party did was not so much for ulterior motives as it was to guide me, to guide me to a certain place.]

[“Hachiman…what do you want me to do?”]

[He stopped moving forward and looked at the light spinning in front of him. Zaimokuza's confusion became more intense.]

【"call--"】

[He took a deep breath, his chest swelled with the incoming air, and then he stepped into the blooming light...]

……

【"……here it is?"】

[When the light he felt in his eyes was no longer so bright, Zaimokuza slowly opened his eyes.]

[Although he was mentally prepared, the long slope that seemed to extend to the end of his vision still made Zaimokuza's expression startled. ]

[“This road… I remember this place. This is where it used to be—”]

【Zaimokuza's words suddenly froze in his mouth, and he looked down in astonishment at the figure that "passed through" his chest.】

[A boy wearing a brown windbreaker of the same style as him, with the same white hair, but with a rounder appearance than Zaimokuza and a head or two shorter, lowered his head and walked forward with a backpack under one hand.]

[“My past self?”]

[Zaimokuza stared blankly at the figure walking forward with his head down, his eyes gradually widening.]

[“And this is the case… Could it be that the current time is——?”]

[As if recalling something bad, Zaimokuza's expression suddenly became gloomy, and his hands clenched into fists.]

[“Actually, it happened at that time…”]

……

【Yoshiki Zaimokuza was holding his backpack, walking in a daze on the road leading to Sobu High School where the entrance ceremony was about to be held.】

[Sobu High School, one of the best high schools in Chiba Prefecture, is basically the best high school and is also my alma mater where I will spend the next three years.]

[Logically, he should be excited now, just like those classmates who are wearing the same school uniform as him, walking or riding bicycles passing by him, with a smile on their faces, and their eyes full of longing and yearning for the new campus life.]

[But Zaimokuza was not happy at all. Instead, he was dejected. The deadly and gloomy atmosphere seemed to become real around him, causing passers-by to look at this depressed fat man and avoid him with disgust.]

[Although it is hard to believe, a month ago, Zaimokuza was still a handsome boy whose appearance could easily score 90 points, and his appearance was on the same level as those idol stars who would make girls scream crazily just by passing by.]

[But in just one month, he became so fat that even the dog would hate him. His weight soared by about 50 kilograms.]

[The reason for this situation is that he lost his grandmother, the relative who raised him since he was a child instead of his busy parents. ]

[The death of his grandmother caused Zaimokuza a great mental trauma, which almost made him unable to recover. After nearly a month of self-exile, he became what he is now. ]

[Not to mention his parents and old friends, even Zaimokuza couldn't connect his current self with the boy in the past who always had a sunny and cheerful smile on his face when he looked in the mirror. When he looked at the photos in the past, he always felt like he was looking at another person's life.]

[As the entrance ceremony of Sobu High School approached, Zaimokuza finally managed to cheer himself up. In order to relieve his busy parents from worrying about this, he forced himself to smile and comfort them. After a long period of counseling, he finally got them to agree to let him attend the entrance ceremony alone.]

[But that was just an act after all. The moment he left home and said goodbye to his parents, the smile on his face that he was forcing himself to imitate his past self quickly collapsed.]

[The death of my grandmother seemed to have taken away Zaimokuza's ability to smile. The proof is that the sincere smile that he could easily show on his face in the past now feels like it is being hung by a thread, awkward and uncomfortable.]

[And that smiling boy seemed to be buried along with his lost smile, never to appear again. ]

[To be honest, Zaimokuza doesn't really care about this entrance ceremony. He doesn't care if doing so will lead to him being excluded or even bullied by others during his next three years of high school.]

[Because the motivation for him to get into Sobu High School originally came from his grandmother. It was because of his grandmother that he chose to enter this high school with the highest deviation value in Chiba.]

[Before the current Sobu High School was reorganized and rebuilt, and before it was called Sobu High School, Zaimokuza's grandmother was a student of that school. Therefore, she also hoped that Zaimokuza could be admitted to this school, so that she could return here as a new student's elder and a graduate alumnus to attend her grandson's entrance ceremony and reminisce about her life in this school. ]

[Although his grandmother never asked Zaimokuza to do this, the young Zaimokuza always took his grandmother's joke to heart and worked hard towards this goal. In the end, he finally got into this "aristocratic high school" with excellent grades, which is now generally only available to students from wealthy families. ]

【He just wanted to make his grandma happy. 】

[…But now, this wish can no longer be fulfilled. ]

【Now Zaimokuza came to attend the entrance ceremony for only one reason. He wanted to fulfill the promise he made with his grandmother at the end, and burn the photo of himself attending the entrance ceremony in front of her tombstone as a sacrifice to her, so that his grandmother would know that he had fulfilled her wish.】

【“…”】

【Zaimokuza walked around students one by one in silence. When they saw him, they also avoided him and looked at his back with some dissatisfaction as he walked further and further away.】

[This is normal. After all, on a day that should be filled with joy, a person like me who is full of dead air does spoil the mood, right? Zaimokuza thought to himself with self-mockery.]

[At an angle that people behind him couldn’t see, he tried hard to practice smiling, so that when the photos were taken at the entrance ceremony, his smile wouldn’t be too creepy.]

[——Today is a truly uncomfortable day, in every way.]

【Feeling the gazes of those behind him and the somewhat gloomy and dark sky, Zaimokuza couldn't help but think.】

[“Wait! Sabre, don’t run!”]

[“Woof woof woof!”]

[As Zaimokuza was walking and practicing his "smile", a sudden scream and dog barking in front of him attracted his attention, and he looked in the direction of the sound.]

[A dachshund ran down the ramp from above happily, dragging the leash around its neck on the ground for a while, while a pink-haired girl wearing the freshman uniform of Sobu High School was chasing the dachshund running in front of her breathlessly.]

[Obviously, this dachshund is the girl's pet, and now it has broken free and is running wildly towards freedom.]

[And the direction it ran down was exactly the direction Zaimokuza was heading. ]

【But Zaimokuza just glanced at it and then silently lowered his head. He was in a very depressed mood and really didn't want to meddle in other people's business.】

[And not surprisingly, with the girl's instruction, the short-legged dachshund was closing the gap and was about to be caught up.]

【boom--】

【"Um?"】

[Zaimokuza looked up again at the engine sound, and then his eyes suddenly widened.]

[On another road ahead, a black luxury car was driving towards this side at a very fast speed, and the speed did not slow down at all. ]

[The girl who was chasing the pet was heading in the direction of the car, and it was right in the blind spot of the girl's vision! ]

[“Hey! Stop now!”]

[Zaimokuza could no longer ignore it, and waved his backpack vigorously and shouted at the girl.]

[“Eh? Wait! Sabre!”]

[The running girl looked back at him in confusion, and then continued to chase her dog, which was running towards the new path of the car, with an anxious expression.]

[Oh no!!!]

【Looking at the two parties about to collide, Zaimokuza's expression changed drastically, he threw away the backpack in his hand and rushed forward quickly. 】

【“!”】

[In another direction that Zaimokuza couldn't see, a black-haired boy who was pushing a bicycle also saw this scene, and his originally lifeless eyes suddenly widened. ]

[“I’ve got you! You really are——”]

【"--Danger!!!"】

[At the moment when the dachshund ran into the path of the car, the girl finally caught her escaping dog. She breathed a sigh of relief and was about to complain, but a hoarse roar made her turn her head away.]

[She turned her head and faced the direction where the luxury car was approaching! ]

[——It’s too late! ]

[Zaimokuza rushed over, looking at the girl who turned back in front of him and the car behind her, and rushed over with gritted teeth. 】

【——】

[A black figure leaped up together with him, and the two figures were completely parallel at this time, with no one in front or behind.]

[Time seemed to stop at this moment. Zaimokuza turned his head slowly and looked to the side. He saw that the other party was also looking at him in astonishment. His dead fish eyes were full of astonishment, as if he could not expect someone to make the same choice as him.]

[They stared at each other, so close that they could almost feel each other's breath.]

[Plop——]

[Looking at those eyes, even without saying a word, Zaimokuza suddenly understood what the other party was conveying. ]

[Whether it was himself or the black-haired boy in front of him, the two people who had never met before seemed to have a spiritual connection at this moment, conveying their inner thoughts to each other, and reaching a consensus in a moment that was too short to describe.]

[——Save that girl first! ]

[The two men quickly turned their heads, put their hands on the girl's shoulders, and pushed her away with force as she looked frightened.]

【--Bang!!!】

……

[Patter. 】

[While he was half conscious, Zaimokuza felt as if he heard some strange sound ringing in his ears. ]

[It is just like the second hand representing the progress of time stops for a moment, and then moves again in the next second.]

[——But the meaning it represents is no longer the same.]

[He and the young man were lying on the iron railings of the road, both of them had their heads broken and were bleeding, and their bodies were leaning against each other, shoulder to shoulder.]

[Zaimokuza saw the girl who was pushed away by them running towards him with a panicked and tearful face. A hand opened the door of the parked car not far away, and a long black hair was faintly visible behind the non-reflective car window glass...]

[Unable to hold on any longer, he slowly closed his eyes, which were stained red by the blood from the wound on his forehead, and passed out.]

……

[That day, four young people with different personalities had a unique encounter, which laid the groundwork for everything in the future. ]

[The story therefore took a very different direction from the original one. ]

[This is the first encounter between the four members of the Service Club.]

15. The Door of Memory - Chapter 5 (K)

【“…”】

From a third-person perspective, Zaimokuza silently watched as "himself" and his best friend were loaded into the ambulance by the paramedics, and then the ambulance drove off towards the hospital, his eyes filled with indescribable complexity.

[It turns out that looking at what happened from an outsider's perspective gives you a completely different feeling than the original one? ]

[Thinking about it now, everything that happened that day seemed like it was destined. ]

[It was just an unexpected encounter, but it changed everyone's life. 】

[“That day was the first time we met. We were both injured and suffered complex fractures. We were taken to the hospital by ambulance and stayed there for about a month.”]

[He looked at the direction where the ambulance carrying two people was going, and suddenly stood there and began to talk to himself, as if he was talking to the air in front of him.]

[“What’s even more coincidental is that we were actually in the same ward. At that time, I couldn’t stand the loneliness and kept talking to you who was lying in the bed next to me. At first, you were lukewarm to my greetings and always tried to evade me by saying things like “bears are solitary creatures, and I’m a man like a bear”… Actually, I thought you were a strange person at first, but after getting to know you, I realized that you were just not good at greeting others.”]

[“But after living under the same roof for a month, we have become familiar with each other. I changed my name for you from “Hikigaya-kun” to “Hachiman”. I still remember the first time I called your name, you looked like you were about to cry, but the next second you turned around with a cold face and said that it was your freedom to call me whatever you want, and you refused to call me by my name.”]

[“I remember Komachi came to visit you and hit you in the face with a pillow after you knew about this incident. She also called you a tsundere brother.”]

[“We were even discharged from the hospital on the same day. When we returned to school, the social circle in our class was completely fixed and we couldn’t get in. So we were familiar with each other and kept hanging out together.”]

"We did a lot of ridiculous things, like playing games together, going to karaoke, and so on. One time, we even ran into a classmate from junior high school. I think her name was Orimoto? Hahaha? They looked at us weirdly. And then Komachi told me that you went home and wrapped yourself in a blanket and howled all night long."

[“About a year later, when we were in our second year of high school, we wrote a messy homework assigned by Ms. Hiratsuka, so she thought there was something wrong with us and wanted to correct us. She ordered us to join the Service Club that the then president had just founded and forced us to participate in club activities.”]

[“Then the first commission we received was from Yuigahama… I still remember how bad the cookies she made were, but in order not to make her sad, the two of us finally swallowed the cookies that tasted like Huoxiang Zhengqi water. After she left, we immediately ran to the sink and vomited so much that the director turned blue, hahahaha?”]