Yukinoshita Yukino, cleaning the school supply closet

Yukinoshita Yukino was not built for physical labor even atop her social pedestal. The prettiest girl in Sobu highschool was so alluring and a treat that many opted to watch from afar like some supermodel. And now she was all alone delivering some student papers into some supply closet located at the end of the school building. For you see, Yukino was part of a club dedicated to helping out those in need. She was their club president. They called themselves the service club and its purpose was altruistic in that they helped nurture skillsets for their clients but easy to take advantage of in that they get turned into pack mules like right now. Where were her club members? They went ahead of her, as she was the slowest of the bunch. Soon they would rendezvous and assist her but now she had to focus on her breathing and aching arms.

The black haired beauty huff and puffed as each step was more taxing than the last. She was nearing her limits, her dainty hands were about to give in— until another pair of hands whisked away.

A boy, half a head taller than her, carried the stacks of papers and folders in her stead.

“Lemme help you, Yukinoshita.” Hikigaya Hachiman spoke like he was born a wall. Even after working together for a year and more he refused to call her by her first name, opting instead to her family name. “Don’t want miss perfect to chip a nail or something, heh.”

“Well aren’t you quite the gentleman, Hikigaya-kun.” She finally could rest easy. There was only a few steps left and they were at the supply room.

“Well we don’t want you to faint on me. People would get the wrong idea. And I rather not get harassed by your fan club.”

“True but I have a feeling all you have to do is glare at them and they’ll leave you alone. Your terribly rotten eyes would turn any onlookers into stone.”

“I’m not a gorgon.”

“Well a gorgon started pretty, Hikigaya-kun was anything but—“

“Oi.” The boy glared at her, his messy hair and haphazard uniform gave off the vibes of a delinquent but Yukinoshita knew this boy would never hurt a fly even if his eyes could kill with a single glance. His eyes were a key defining point in his life. From the stories Hikigaya told much of his bullied past was thanks to his creepy looks and uneasy demeanor. He had the opposite problem of Yukino. Where Yukinoshita lived above the mountains as an untouchable goal for the masses to adore and ‘conquer’, Hikigaya lived in the gutter where many hoped he was forgotten.

“— that’s a jest, Hikigaya. You are a joke after all.”

“Now you’re having too much fun calling me names.”

There was a glint. Yukinoshita spotted gold.

“Is that a smile I see on your mug, Hikigaya?”

“…” His cheeks burned red. Yukinoshita wanted to prod further but someone called out to them from the supply closet.

“Heyyy! Hikki! Yukinon! What’s taking you guys so long? I’ve been waiting for you guys, humu.” Yuigahama Yui, the last member of the service club, called out to them. She raised her arms and waved which made her chest bounce with each sweep. Yui, as many of the boys in the school declared, was stacked. She wasn’t privy to following the school dresscode so she had ditched the v-neck cardigan in favor of just wearing her poloshirt unbuttoned. She wasn’t preening, at least Yukino thought that, but was embracing her basest desires. Speaking of basest desires…

Hikigaya was silent but as soon as she turned, Yukinoshita saw hunger in his eyes. She always looked at his eyes. She wanted to pinch him but relented. “Where are you staring, Hikigaya?”

“Nowhere!”

“Quit arguing you two and help me!” Yui shouted exiting the closet.

Compared to their spacious clubroom which was just an unused classroom, the supply room was a fourth of the size with quadruple the dust bunnies. Yukinoshita almost mistook it for the average supply closet until she spotted three weird lockers in the center of it all. It made no sense to have lockers in an already claustrophobic space. What’s odder was the name tag above them all. It had the name of the girl that just left the closet, Yuigahama Yui.

“What’s that doing in there?” Hikigaya asked.

Yuigahama shrugged, she was a ditz most of the time and this did not surprise her clubmates. She played with her hair as she recounted what she did in her lonesome. “Well, I decided to decorate a bit seeing as the student council let us do whatever in this room, hehe. So I brought some of my stuff here.

She did bring her stuff, Yukinoshita could confirm, the first locker was filled with Yuigahama’s makeup. It was enough to fill a vanity table or a makeup studio. And most of it was pink like Yuigahama’s hair and just genki vibes.

“Well I’mma go buy a drink then head back here. See ya later, Hikki. Yukinon~” The pink haired girl skipped away but Yukino and Hikigaya did not pay attention to her instead the latter was busy trying to keep his balance from the added paper stacks tossed unto him by Yuigahama while the former was looking at the next locker.

The second locker was, again to no surprise, more of Yuigahama’s hobbies. There was burnt cookies made with love, care, and mistakes. Yui loved baking but lacked the talent for it. Then there was a chew toy, possibly for her pet dog Sable. Why would she have it in school and not at home where Yui’s pet was?

Yukinoshita looked at the last locker — it was empty.

“I guess I’ll stack the rest of these documents in the last locker.”

Hikigaya entered the supply closet with extra care, not wanting to bump into Yui’s stuff. He was taking his time organizing everything, his head deep inside the metal structure. The eeriness of it all made Yukinoshita uneasy but she was brought back to her senses when Hikigaya called out to her.

“Yeah can you close the door, Yukinoshita?”

“Why?”

“Don’t want this papers flying out and all that.”

“And leave you with Yuigahama-san’s belongings?”

“Do I look like a guy who’d take advantage of a woman? Uhp, uhp, uhp! That was a rhetorical question. Now will you close it for me or not?”

She would’ve scoffed at the request again but something pushed her to close it. Was it curiosity over something that was to pass or just her desire to trust this boy.

It didn’t matter, she had already closed the door. There was a loud thud. Yukino could not hear Hikigaya anymore.

“Oi. Yukinoshita.” Yuigahama called out. She’s back already? “The hell are you doing here alone?”

Yukino turned to her clubmate, eyes wide. “Yuigahama-san?”