CH. 37 - The Start of the Second Year

One year ago, even if it has felt like longer, a girl by the name Shiori Inabi entered a highschool of her choosing known as Iris High. It was here that her whole life began to spiral out of her control.

This girl had spent almost her entire life creating this idea that if she was left alone, her life would be so simple, so easy. Never worrying about complications but at the same time, never getting to experience life to the fullest.

But then, after going into highschool and immediately being thrust into a situation she never imagined she'd be stuck in, Shiori was forced to join Hikigaya Oshiro in a partnership outside of their control.

Now, in this partnership, Shiori meets many new people, from spontaneous teachers to odd friends and many strangers filled with personality everywhere else. Completely unfamiliar to these interactions and emotions, Shiori had to navigate this new life with the support of her new friends despite the chaotic events unfolding all around them. From Valentine's Day drama to having to move, beach days to field trips, her highschool seemed to be far more interesting and far more alive than Shiori could have ever expected.

Even though she had a chaotic and lively highschool life, Shiori also had a secret. Her vigilante persona. From time to time, when the District needed her most, Shiori or better known as Fullsky, would join the fray and stop the Devil's Syndicate where she could with the help of another vigilante, Watchdog, who just so happened to be her new partner, Hikigaya. But fighting a criminal organization comes with its own costs.

During their final encounter, Fullsky and Watchdog fought hard against the Devil's Syndicate and their Pillars at the Fawn Tower. That night, later labeled as the Fawn Tower Incident, was filled with chaos, destruction and violence. Many people were hurt, some of whom we know, but despite the chaos and despite the Syndicate's best efforts, that night the criminals were stopped by Fullsky and Watchdog. But not without a price. Hikigaya's sister, Amber Oshiro, was taken hostage that night and even though Shiori gave everything she could, she wasn't able to save her. Amber Oshiro passed away that night in her little brother's arms.

That was the summer just before the next school year would begin. Despite the long year and the many things that had occurred, fights, holidays, trips and war, the year would pass. So now we step forth and into a new year that seems like it's going to be just as chaotic and just as alive. Only a few days after the events that unfolded in Year One, let us begin Year Two.

A warm morning in August, only a few days after the events that now seem like so long ago, a girl stands in her room getting ready for the day. The day they return to school, return to their friends, and face the new year that is to come.

Shiori Inabi, a 15-year-old girl now entering her second year of highschool, buttons up her shirt and clips her skirt. She adjusts her tie and gets everything together the way she needs to before stepping to the door of her room, but she stops just as she grabs the handle to her door. Feeling as if she's forgetting something, she turns and looks at her eyepatch on her desk. She stares at it, hesitating for a moment, but grabs it and quickly puts it in her bag before rushing out her door. Shiori steps down the stairs of her home that she shares with Hikigaya and his mother, but stops when she sees Asami talking to Hikigaya in a soft, caring tone.

“-I love you.” She says quietly as she kisses him on the forehead. Hikigaya says it back before giving her a hug. Shiori can see tears form in Asami’s eyes a bit. After she lets him go, Shiori continues down the stairs. Asami clears her throat and collects herself. “You two have a good first day of second year!” Asami says happily as Takanou looks over at his daughter from the kitchen and gets a surprised look, noticing something about her.

“Shiori, your eyepatch?” He asks gently. Shiori looks at him and gives him a soft, anxious smile. Understanding, he gives her a proud smile. “Go get ‘em.” Takanou says in a warm tone.

Soon, both Hikigaya and Shiori wave goodbye to their parents as they head out to school, on their way to begin this new school year.

On their walk there, Shiori’s expression is a worried one, anxious about what's to come. Hikigaya notices her stressing out and attempts to calm her nerves.

“You nervous we won’t be in the same class?” He asks gently.

“Yeah… It was hard enough the first time. Without you guys, I don’t know if I can meet a whole new class. I don’t want to be all alone again…” She admits with a quiet voice, her body tensing up.

“Don’t worry about it. Even if we’re not together, we’re still your friends. It’ll be alright.” He gives her a slight smile, trying to cheer her up but knowing that he can’t guarantee anything. She smiles back a bit but continues to worry.

They step into the front gates of their familiar school and stop. The entrance is crowded with many new and returning students all over the place trying to find their friends and the classes they’re in. Shiori begins to shake a little before exhaling and calming down.

“You ready?” Hikigaya asks, knowing her feelings. She nods as she follows him in. She keeps her head slightly lowered as she looks around. Of course, as they walk through the crowd, people start to notice and stare. She notices the looks she’s getting and people being surprised by her eyes. She gently grabs onto Hikigaya's shirt from behind as she presses her forehead against his back, her bangs covering her eyes in an attempt to hide.

‘I don’t know if I can do this… I can’t-’ She thinks with panic rising in her chest but before she even finishes her thought, it’s interrupted by a voice.

“Hey Shiori.” Lucy says to her.

“Hikigaya!” Chizuru calls out excitedly. Shiori looks up to see the others all waiting by the large wall with the classes and students' names on many posters. As soon as she looks at them, they immediately notice. Chizuru and Haru begin blushing as their eyes light up. Ryuji smiles as Sugawara and Lucy are surprised.

“Shiori! Your eyes! They’re different colors!” Haru points out blatantly. Shiori gets a bit reserved by his words before Chizuru speaks up.

“That’s so cool!” She says excitedly.

“I always thought you had been in some horrible accident.” Sugawara says plainly, tilting his head to the side a bit.

“That’s what I assumed.” Lucy adds with a smirk. Shiori gets very embarrassed and blushes.

“You guys.. don’t think it’s weird..?” She asks softly.

“Well yeah, it is!” Haru says. She looks up confused and a little hurt by Haru’s words before he continues. “But I mean, look at us! Look at this guy.” He wraps his arm around Hikigaya. “Take a look at his eyes. All hollow and lifeless. Unlike Chizuru or even Ryuji.”

“Okay, I think she gets the point.” Hikigaya says as he ducks out of Haru’s hold.

“What he means to say is that you fit right in. It doesn’t matter what you look like. You’re our friend and your eyes won’t change that.” Lucy says directly and happily.

“Yeah, but they’re definitely super cool to look at!” Chizuru says as she gets close to Shiori’s face. Shiori blushes and stands awkwardly as Chizuru examines her. Hikigaya looks at the others.

“Did you guys find out what classes you have?”

“No, we wanted to wait for you guys so we can find out together.” Sugawara says.

“What the little guy said.” Lucy points her thumb at him as he blushes a bit. Hikigaya smiles and turns towards the board.

“Well, I guess we better do it now.” He calls to the others and they stop examining Shiori to check out the board.

“Oh right, our classes.” Chizuru says calmly. Shiori gets a bit sad and worried, but reluctantly approaches the board. She looks for her name and when she gets right about it, she closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath before looking at her class. When she reads it, her eyes grow wide.

In the classroom, Shiori walks in and looks for an empty desk. They are not labeled like before, so she decides to pick a seat a row from the front and with desks on both sides. She sits down and puts her bag on the side of the desk. Her bangs cover her eyes as she hangs her head low before she folds her arms on her desk and puts her head down on them. She sits in silence for a moment before someone speaks.

“Well, maybe it’s because they don’t trust you.” Lucy says.

“It’s not me they should be worrying about. Without us, who’d make you actually do your work?” Hikigaya responds.

“Hey, I do my work just fine.” Lucy says back casually.

“Yeah right.” He says as Lucy punches him playfully on the arm before they go their ways to sit in the same seats they did the year prior. Hikigaya to Shiori’s left and Lucy right behind her.

“I can’t believe we got the same class together!” Chizuru says excitedly.

“There is no way this was by chance.” Ryuji says plainly.

“Well, whatever it was, I’m happy. I’d be pretty bummed without my guys. Especially this one.” Haru says as he turns and pokes Sugawara on the nose gently. Sugawara blushes as Haru giggles. They take their seats around her as well. Chizuru then notices Shiori with her head down so she pokes her shoulder. 

“Shiori? What’s wrong?”

Shiori, with her head on the desk, has tears in her eyes and the biggest look of relief on her face as she speaks softly.

“I’m just so relieved..” She says as the others look surprised, then smile warmly at her. Hikigaya smirks.

“Oh, you big baby. I told you it’d be okay.” Hikigaya teases. She gets angry and shoots her head up to look at him.

“Oh yeah?! Well, how was I supposed to trust the words of a moron!?” Shiori shouts. Hikigaya gets angry back and presses his head onto hers aggressively.

“Moron, huh?! At least I’m not crying on the first day of school!” They yell and argue for a moment as the others get a little embarrassed. Lucy sighs and shakes her head.

“Well, it’s good to see them acting like normal, am I right?” She says as she turns to Ryuji. 

“Yeah.” He answers quickly and turns away from her. She is caught off guard by his answer and gets a little sad about it, but doesn’t pursue.

As Shiori and Hikigaya growl at each other, the teacher steps into the room. The class begins to settle down, all except for those two. As she steps to her desk, she puts down a large binder gently and looks at them, smiling.

“Already starting off strong, I see.” A familiar voice say. They stop and look to see Ms. Samuel smiling at them. They get embarrassed and sit down.

“Sorry, Ms. Samuel…” They say in unison.

“That’s better. Don’t forget, you’re still paired because you are to be on your best behavior and nothing less. You’re not off the hook yet.” She wags her finger at them, to which Hikigaya looks to the side upset and Shiori sticks her tongue out at him. He gets playfully angry but doesn’t blow up.  

“First off, congratulations to all of you for making it to second year. As you all should know, that achievement comes with its own perks. A few being, you all can now join clubs of your own, you will have new class opportunities and be able to join extracurricular school events. We’ll go over those in more detail when the need arises. Any questions so far?” Samuel asks with a large smile as the entire class livens up with energy and excitement for the year to come.

As lunchtime rolls around, the group sits in their usual formation in class, eating and chatting when a couple people set up lunch next to them. 

“Come on, guys. It’s only been a month and you’ve already forgotten about us?” Kitaro asks as he and Hisana give playfully disappointed looks. Haru smiles widely.

“Guys! Welcome back to the mean extreme super team!”

“Oh, you’re so silly cute Haru!” Hisana giggles as Haru smiles back. Sugawara gets cartoonishly angry, pouting behind them. 

“Stop flirting.” Kitaro says.

“What? Flirting? I would never! Believe it or not, my love still belongs to that manly man over there.” Hisana turns and looks back at the same delinquent punk as last year, eating alone like before. She gives him the same adoring look as Kitaro rolls his eyes. 

“So you gonna finally make a move or what?” Kitaro asks, slightly annoyed by her.

“You can’t rush romance! I’ll make a move when the time is right.”

As they speak, some others start talking to themselves behind Hikigaya. He overhears what they’re talking about.

“Did you hear about the incident at Fawn Tower last week?”

“Yeah! I heard some girl was pushed off the roof!”

“No no, she definitely jumped off.”

Hikigaya hears them talking and lowers his head, his eyes covered in shadows. Shiori turns and notices his reaction, then hears what they’re talking about. Shiori is about to get up and say something when someone else speaks up. 

“She didn’t jump off.” The other kids stop talking and turn around to see Touma, the delinquent boy that Hisana is crushing on, stand up. He gets up from his chair and steps towards them. They begin to sweat and get nervous as he steps in front of them. “Bad people were doing bad things. She was just caught up in it.” He says with his deep voice.

“R-right… Sorry, we didn’t know.”

They then look down at their desks to avoid eye contact. Hikigaya perks his head up at the defense of his sister. Touma then turns to look at Hikigaya.

“Hikigaya Oshiro.”

Hikigaya turns to make eye contact. Everyone else in the room is quiet and focusing on the intensity between them now. Shiori and Ryuji tense up as if ready for anything to happen. They stare at each other for a moment before Touma speaks.

“She was your sister, wasn’t she?” His eyes widen as Touma’s assumption is correct. After being surprised for a moment, he nods. Touma gets a look of understanding before sitting on his knees and bowing to Hikigaya. “I am sorry for your loss.”

Everyone is surprised as Lucy and Sugawara fight back tears. Shiori and Hikigaya are stunned for a moment before the kids talking about her before speak up.

“Hey, we’re sorry Hikigaya. We didn’t know it was your sister.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry man.”

Hikigaya is still surprised but smiles softly after a moment.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

Touma then stands up and places a hand on Hikigaya’s shoulder. He pats him gently and goes back to his seat as Chizuru watches him with slight blushies on her cheeks.

“Oh, what a man!” Hisana says after a moment of silence with heart eyes and steam coming from her head.

“Would you shut it?” Kitaro says, as he bonks her on the head. Hikigaya, unsure of how to feel, turns to face his lunch again before the kids speak again.

“Hikigaya, my name is Danny, and he’s Chikao. Let us know if you need anything.” Chikao nods, letting him know to which Hikigaya smiles back. Shiori watches him and smiles when she sees him smiling too.

‘I guess he is okay, after all.’ As she looks at him, Kitaro looks up at Shiori. He stares for a moment before realizing something.

“Hey, Shiori. What’s with your eye? It’s pretty weird.” Kitaro asks plainly. The others all turn and look at him as if ready to defend her as Shiori is shocked by his question.

“Hey! You can’t call a girl weird!” Hisana shouts at him. She bonks him on the head like he did to her a moment ago. “Besides, it’s not weird. It’s actually… really cute.” Hisana says, biting her lip at Shiori a bit. “I never realized you were so pretty…” She says with an attracted smile on her face. Shiori blushes and looks away. Hikigaya gets a little jealous but doesn’t say anything. 

“There she goes flirting again. She can’t help herself.” Kitaro says, leaning back to Haru.

“Well yeah! It’s a little hard when she’s this pretty!” Hisana says back.

“Yeah, yeah, anyway. I just noticed you weren’t wearing your eyepatch. I thought you had some horrible injury or something you wanted to cover up. I didn’t expect you to have a cool colored eye under there. What made you want to take it off?” Kitaro asks casually and genuinely.

“Oh uh, I just got some encouragement, is all.” She answers nervously as Haru and Lucy look at each other, smiling as if they know who encouraged her and give each other a fist bump. Kitaro also gives her a cool smile.

“Well, I like it.” He says.

“Me too!” Hisana says, raising her hand in the air as the others laugh. She smiles warmly.