Hachiman Hikigaya, who returned from his studies after completing his training.

Can we skip the topic of miso soup?

Hikigaya, sensing that responding would only invite further ridicule, lowered his head and remained silent, only increasing his eating speed.

After finishing the soup in his bowl, Hikigaya put the bowl and chopsticks in the sink and headed to the entrance to put on his shoes and go out with Shiina.

"Are you planning to leave like this?" Shiina sighed, blocking his way.

Are your clothes dirty?

Upon hearing Shiina's words, Hikigaya looked himself up and down. His thin white T-shirt had the words "I love Chiba" written on it without any stains, and his slightly worn black casual shorts showed no abnormalities.

No problem, it's simple and cool.

Thinking this, Hikigaya looked at Shiina, who smiled helplessly and walked to his wardrobe. Inside were identical school uniform sets.

"Hachiman, you haven't bought any clothes since you started school, have you?"

Just like Shiina said, Hikigaya hasn't bought any clothes since he entered this school. The outfit he's wearing now is the only summer outfit he brought with him when he started school.

In the past, Komachi would always take him shopping for clothes, and she would usually pick out the clothes for him.

"Can't you?"

"Of course not." Shiina laughed happily, as if she had thought of something. "First destination confirmed for today."

.........

"Hey, isn't this our dear Secretary Hachiman? Where's your girlfriend, Accountant Ichinose?" In the men's clothing store at Keyaki Shopping Center, a blond-haired guy affectionately put his arm around Hachiman's shoulder.

After being forcibly dragged to a men's clothing store to buy clothes, Hachiman never expected to run into his 'acquaintance', Minami Masaru, there.

When Nan Yunya arrived, she was accompanied by a cute girl with long orange hair and a sunflower hair clip. However, judging from the distance between the two standing side by side, they didn't seem to be in a romantic relationship.

"Are we that close? It's not work time now, can you pretend you don't know me?"

Hikigaya slapped his hand away and even patted the spot he had touched, showing a disgusted expression.

"Hahaha, you got rejected by your junior, Ya." The orange-haired girl laughed heartily, ignoring Nan Yun's unpleasant expression.

After stopping her smile, the girl walked up to Hachiman and said, "Hello, Hachiman-senpai. My name is Asahina Nazuna. I'm Miyabi's childhood friend. Nice to meet you."

Childhood friends, huh? No wonder he dares to laugh at Nagumo like that. If anyone else laughed like that, Nagumo would probably target them and expel them from school. As far as Hachiman knows, students in Class A who didn't obey him have also been expelled by Nagumo.

"Hello, Asahina-senpai. I am Hachiman Hikigaya from Class D, Year 1. This is my classmate and friend, Hiyori Shiina."

"Hello, Asahina-senpai." Shiina, who had noticed that Hikigaya had gotten away from the sales clerk after being hit on, greeted Hikigaya.

"Wow, Shiina is so cute."

Asahina, who had been quite serious, suddenly lit up and moved closer to Shiina, putting her arm around Shiina's shoulder just like Nagumo had put her arm around Hikigaya, and then looked at Nagumo.

"You can choose, Miya. I'm going to hang out with Shiina-senpai today."

"Qi, didn't you promise to help me pick them?" Nan Yun put on a mask of pain.

"Go find your girlfriend. I wouldn't have come with you if you hadn't kept pestering me, so that some girls wouldn't come up to me and act all sarcastic."

"..."

Nan Yunya was embarrassed to be spoken to like that by her childhood friend in front of the younger students. She left alone with a dark face and didn't mention buying clothes.

"I'm sorry, Shiina-kun." After Nagumo left, Asahina released Shiina and put her hands together in prayer. "I was just asking you to help me get rid of Aya."

Asahina-senpai has it tough too. Hikigaya gleaned a lot of information from Asahina's words. It seems that both Nagumo Masaru's current and ex-girlfriends have come to her, his childhood friend, to assert their dominance.

Furthermore, Nagumo seems to have feelings for Asahina now, which is quite intriguing.

“Hikigaya is the leader of Class 1-D, right?” Asahina suddenly said.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"As a thank you gift, I have some news for you. There's a girl in Class 1-D with a yellow ponytail who offended Ya's current girlfriend, [name unclear]. She's now involved in a scandal!"

There's only one girl in Class D with blonde hair and a single ponytail, and that's Karuizawa Megumi. Hikigaya guesses that Karuizawa supported him last time because she wanted his help, but then Sato's incident happened.

"Excuse me, could you please tell me the name of the person who made this video? I have a question about the 'skill' in Chinese characters. I can't explain it further. I'm asking for help with the 'skill' in Chinese characters. I'm asking for a question about ...

Since she's Asahina's senior, she's naturally a third-year student. If possible, Hikigaya doesn't want to disturb Horikita's studies.

When he has time, he'll ask Karuizawa out to talk to her about what caused the conflict. If they can talk, he'll help her communicate with Kazue Kazuo.

"She's a senior from Class 3B. I'll ask for her contact information later and send it to you. Add me as a friend first."

After saying that, Asahina handed her phone to Hikigaya, who took it, entered his account, and added it as a friend. "Thank you, Asahina-senpai."

"It's nothing." He waved his hand and walked towards Hina out of the shop, pausing at the door with his back to him.

"I heard from Ya that you and he don't get along. If you can, please teach him a lesson. He's getting a little too cocky now."

Chapter 48 Shiina Special

"Hachiman, don't follow Nagumo-senpai's example."

After Asahina left, Shiina's soft voice came from beside Hikigaya.

“I’m sworn enemies with Senior Nagumo, why would I follow his example?”

Wiping away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead, Hikigaya took the clothes Shiina had picked out for him and went into the changing room. After changing, Hikigaya walked to the full-length mirror outside.

The outfit consists of a light gray, loose-fitting short-sleeved shirt made of a sporty material, with only a single letter on the left chest for decoration. The bottom half is paired with light blue mesh athletic shorts.

You can tell from its appearance that it's made of comfortable and fine fabric, and it feels very comfortable to wear.

"The price must be quite high." Hikigaya pinched the fabric of the clothes and could feel its delicate and silky texture.

"Do you like it, Hachiman?"

Shiina's adorable figure, dressed in a white dress, appeared in the full-length mirror, a satisfied smile on her face.

He naturally liked Hachiman. The clothes and pants were very comfortable and in his favorite light colors. Wearing the new clothes, he felt like he looked even more handsome.

"I like it, but how much does it cost?"

Based on his appreciation for the comfortable fabric, Hachiman knew the price must be very attractive.

"Don't worry about the price, Hachiman." Shiina had several more pieces of clothing appear in her hands without her noticing. "Try these out too."

A blue-green tight-fitting sportswear outfit paired with light gray athletic shorts.

A light blue shirt paired with khaki casual pants.

After trying on two more outfits, Hachiman ended up wearing a matte black suit with a long-sleeved shirt and straight-leg, high-waisted gray suit trousers.

"This isn't something you should wear this season, and it's so expensive."

Looking at the handsome man in the suit in the mirror, who was smart, elegant and had an extraordinary temperament, Hachiman could only sigh that clothes make the man. He could definitely make it into the list of handsome first-year students now.

"You're so cool, Hachiman."

Shiina leaned close to him, resting her arm against his, and held up her phone to show the two of them in the mirror.

"Smile, I'm taking a picture."

"I can't laugh even if you give me such a sudden order, Hiyori." She complained to Hikigaya while forcibly maintaining a stiff smile.

With a click, a photo of the two appeared on Shiina's phone.

The pretty girl in the pure white dress had an extremely cute smile on her face, while the tall and handsome boy had a helpless, fake smile.

"Well, that's fine too." Shiina said, looking down at her phone.

"Can I switch back now? It's so hot."

Mid-July summer is no joke; if the store weren't so well-air-conditioned, Hikigaya would probably be covered in sweat by now.

"Well, it's alright."

After changing back into his own clothes in the locker room, Hachiman took the clothes and went to meet Shiina, who was standing in front of the cashier. The clothes were very cool, but he would give up if the price exceeded his expectations.

After asking the clerk how much it cost, Hachiman was told that his girlfriend had already paid for it.

“We are just ordinary friends.”

"..." The female shop assistant, who had been smiling, changed to looking at him like he was a scumbag, and without stopping, she stuffed several shopping bags full of clothes into his hands and took the suit to pack it up.

"I'll transfer the points to you later when I get back." Carrying several shopping bags, it was inconvenient for Hikigaya to operate his phone.

"Don't say such unpleasant things when you're shopping with a girl, Hachiman." Shiina poked Hikigaya's cheek in dissatisfaction. "It's still early. I won't let you go until it gets dark."

"Evening? (The rest of the text appears to be nonsensical and unrelated to the preceding sentences.)"

Hikigaya stared at the 10:11 mark on the store's digital clock, lost in thought. Because it was summer, it would get dark after 7:00.

That means he will have to accompany Shiina for more than eight hours.

Why don't you just kill me, Ms. Hiyori?

.......

Shiina was very excited to go shopping with her friends for the first time. After buying clothes in the men's clothing store, she immediately went to the women's clothing store to let Hachiman choose clothes for her. After struggling to choose a few clothes, Hachiman followed Shiina's example and paid in advance.

After buying clothes, it's time for the accessories store.

After visiting the jewelry store, we had a meal and rested for a while before heading to the arcade. After having a great time at the arcade, we went to a karaoke bar and booked a small room.

After leaving the karaoke bar, Hachiman felt like his throat was on fire, but Hiyori next to him still looked very excited.

"Hachiman's voice is very magnetic, it's just that his technique is a bit lacking."

After going outside, Shiina, who scored over 90 points on the computer, comforted Hikigaya, whose highest score was only 50 points.

"Where to go next?"

"How about the movie theater? I haven't seen a movie with my friends yet."

"Let's go to the movie theater then."

Today, Hikigaya took many firsts from Shiina.

The first time I went shopping for clothes with friends, the first time I ate at a restaurant with friends, the first time I went to a video game arcade with friends, and the first time I went to karaoke with friends.

Next was my first time going to the movies with friends.

Upon entering the movie theater, Hikigaya discovered that there was only one screening room, and his plan to watch different movies separately from Shiina and then secretly rest was instantly thwarted.

That makes sense. Besides, a movie theater that mainly serves a few hundred students doesn't need a second screening room.

After buying tickets and entering the screening room, Hikigaya was surprised to see Ibuki Mio from Class 1-C watching the movie alone.

"You are a strong person, Ibuki-kun."

I admire Mio Ibuki for being able to watch movies by herself, and I sincerely respect her. You should know that even someone as aloof as him only reached this level when he was in his third year of junior high school.

"That's ridiculous." After saying that, Ibuki glanced at Shiina beside him but didn't greet her.

Ibuki Mio's personality is very similar to Horikita Suzune's. Both of them practice martial arts and have such strong personalities that they have no friends. The only person she can talk to is Ryuen Sho, the leader of Class C.

"Good afternoon, Ibuki-san."

Even though she was ignored, Shiina still greeted Ibuki and sat down next to her. Although it was Sunday, there weren't many students at the Keyaki Activity Center because it was close to the final exams, and there were only Ibuki and the three of them in the screening room.

"Who's stronger, you or Ryuen?" Hikigaya asked Shiina across the room.

Hikigaya is also a little curious about who is stronger, Ibuki or Ryuen. Ibuki's physical ability rating is B and she has trained, and Ryuen's physical ability rating is also B. Even though they are male and female, there shouldn't be a huge difference between them.

Just like Kiryuin Kaede, Hikigaya is sure she can speedrun through Ryuen.

"Do you want to challenge me to a fight?" Ibuki Mio's expression turned somewhat unpleasant when she heard Hikigaya's question.

Sensible enough, Hikigaya chose to end the topic and chat quietly with Shiina.

After a few minutes, the movie started playing.

It was a romantic comedy with a plot that Hachiman found extremely melodramatic. When the scene of the male and female leads kissing came on, Hachiman couldn't help but look at Shiina to see what expression she had on her face.

At that moment, Shiina happened to turn her head and look at Hikigaya.

As they made eye contact, Shiina's face quickly flushed red with embarrassment, her eyes darted away, and her pink lips parted slightly—in short, she was incredibly cute.

"cut."

In a daze, Hikigaya heard someone's disdainful voice.

Chapter 49: Another Traitor in Class D