Life As Hikigaya Hachiman

Chapter 567: The Great Dumpling Tasting Battle

At 8:30 in the morning.

Hachiman and his little sister had just finished breakfast when the doorbell rang.

Yesterday, Hachiman had already informed Komachi in advance that Yukino and Yui would be coming over.

Hearing the doorbell, Komachi immediately guessed that it was the girls.

Thinking this, the young girl stood up from her chair and smiled at Hachiman, saying:

"I'll go wash the dishes. Onii-chan, you go answer the door."

With that, she gathered the dishes and utensils and headed toward the kitchen.

Seeing her behavior, Hachiman shook his head but didn't argue. He left the living room and made his way to the entrance.

When he opened the door, he saw a girl with long, straight black hair standing there—it was Yukino.

A smile appeared on Hachiman's face at the sight of her.

"Good morning, Yukino."

"Good morning," Yukino replied, a beautiful smile gracing her face as well.

"You're here pretty early, Yukino. There's still half an hour to go."

Hachiman stepped aside to let her in and handed her a pair of slippers.

"It's not that early, just half an hour ahead of time," Yukino replied.

Uh, half an hour isn't considered early?

Hearing this, Hachiman's lips twitched slightly.

"By the way, have you had breakfast yet? If not, you can join us for a bit."

Yukino shook her head. "No need, I've already eaten."

Hachiman simply nodded in response.

Once Yukino had changed into slippers, the two of them walked into the living room.

From the kitchen, where she was washing dishes, Komachi saw Yukino enter and quickly greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning, Yukino-nee."

"Good morning, Komachi-chan," Yukino replied with a warm smile.

"Yukino, have a seat for now. Yui should be here soon, and once she arrives, we can start."

Hachiman gestured for Yukino to sit on the sofa, then began tidying up the table.

Soon, the dining table was tidied up, and Hachiman brewed a cup of black tea for Yukino.

"Here, black tea," he said as he placed the cup in front of her.

Looking at the tea, Yukino smiled softly and accepted it.

Not long after, the doorbell rang again.

Hachiman went to answer it, and Yui's cheerful voice immediately rang out from the doorway.

"Yahallo! Good morning, Hikki!"

"Good morning, Yui," Hachiman replied.

Before long, Yui had changed into slippers and followed Hachiman into the living room.

Seeing Yukino already seated on the sofa, seemingly waiting for a while, Yui looked a little surprised.

"Huh? Yukinon, you're already here? I thought I'd be earlier than you."

Hearing this, Yukino set down her cup of tea and responded calmly, "I just arrived not long ago."

At that moment, Hachiman returned with two more cups of tea in hand.

"Alright, now that you're here, Yui, take a moment to rest, and then we can get started."

"Mm-hm!" Yui nodded enthusiastically.

The two girls had no objections and settled down at the low table, taking their textbooks out of their bags.

Suddenly, Yukino seemed to recall something and turned to Komachi, who was sitting nearby.

"Komachi-chan, would you like to join us? I brought some first-year textbooks. If you review them now, it'll make things much easier when you start learning later."

Komachi blinked in surprise but quickly realized that Yukino had a point. After some thought, she nodded in agreement.

And so, the four of them gathered around the low table and began studying.

Although it was called studying, it was more like a tutoring session.

After all, Hachiman and Yukino held the top two spots in their grade, and they were already thoroughly familiar with the material in the textbooks.

For most of the time, the two of them were helping Yui and Komachi with their questions.

"Yukinon, how do I solve this problem?" Yui asked, holding up her textbook.

Yui held her practice workbook and leaned toward Yukino.

"Trigonometric functions are so hard! And then there's all this stuff about symmetry and odd-even properties. Ugh, it's so confusing."

Yukino glanced at the problem Yui pointed to, set down her pen, and pondered for a moment before beginning her explanation.

However, Yui seemed completely lost as Yukino spoke, her expression one of utter bewilderment. It was clear she still didn't understand.

The issue was that Yukino's explanation essentially mirrored the steps and logic outlined in the textbook.

Unfortunately, since Yui's struggle was with understanding the reasoning itself, repeating the steps verbatim didn't help at all.

Watching this unfold, Hachiman shook his head and sighed.

"Yukino, that's not going to work. Yui's problem is that she doesn't understand the underlying logic. If you're just copying the explanation from the book, it won't help her understand any better."

Yukino sighed softly, a hint of frustration in her voice. "Then what should I do?"

"Let me give it a shot," Hachiman said with a small smile.

Hearing this, Yui eagerly handed over her workbook and pointed to a specific problem. "Yes, please, Hikki! It's this one right here."

Hachiman glanced at the problem she was pointing to and spun his pencil idly between his fingers.

After a moment of thought, he came up with a teaching method that Yui might actually understand.

Hachiman explained the problem's solution and formulas in the form of a story.

This approach didn't just captivate Yui; even Yukino and Komachi couldn't help but listen attentively.

Before long, the story ended, and Hachiman let out a small sigh of relief.

"So, Yui, did you understand it now?" he asked.

Yui's face lit up with excitement as she nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, yes! I get it now! Math is actually this simple?"

"Glad to hear it," Hachiman said with a smile. "Math isn't hard. For similar types of problems, you just need to apply the right formulas."

Yui nodded eagerly. "Mhm, I get it now."

Though Yukino had explained it clearly earlier, her explanation had felt too much like the textbook's. Yui simply couldn't grasp it that way. But Hachiman's storytelling had made it click.

Yui glanced at Hachiman with admiration.

As expected of Hikki.

A simple story had made everything clear.

Even Yukino was a little surprised.

She had always relied on textbooks to understand and learn math, and it had never occurred to her that using a storytelling method could work as well.

With the issue resolved, the group resumed their studies.

Thanks to Hachiman's earlier vivid explanation, Yui quickly figured out the solutions to similar problems when they appeared.

Time flew by, and soon it was lunchtime.

Hachiman glanced at the clock on the wall and smiled. "Alright, let's take a break for now. We'll continue studying after lunch."

The other three nodded in agreement.

Lunch, naturally, was prepared by Hachiman, though Yukino stepped in to assist.

With their combined efforts, lunch was ready in no time.

"Itadakimasu!"

Gathered around the dining table, the group cheerfully said their customary pre-meal phrase before digging in.

...

After lunch, cleaning up the dishes and tidying the dining area became Komachi and Yui's responsibility.

According to them, they weren't much help with cooking, but washing dishes and cleaning up was something they could handle.

After tidying up, the group took a short break before diving back into their studies.

Before long, the clock struck 4 PM.

Noticing the time, Hachiman decided it was time to execute his plan. He glanced at Komachi, signaling her subtly with his eyes.

The two had already devised a plan the day before: Komachi would find a way to lead Yukino away, leaving Hachiman and Yui some time to be alone.

Catching Hachiman's signal, Komachi immediately spoke up.

"Onii-chan, Yukino-nee, and Yui-nee, it's getting late. How about we wrap it up for today?"

Hearing Komachi's suggestion, Yukino looked up at the clock on the wall and nodded.

"That's fine. It's already 4 PM; I should be heading back as well," she said, starting to pack up her things.

"Oh, no need to rush, Yukino-nee!"

Seeing this, Komachi quickly stopped her.

"It's such a rare day off. Why don't you stay for dinner before leaving, Yukino-nee? It'll be more lively with everyone here."

"Usually, it's just Onii-chan and me at home. Having guests over makes meals so much more fun."

"Is that so? Alright then," Yukino hesitated for a moment before nodding.

After all, going back to her apartment would only mean being alone again. Staying for dinner at Hachiman's house did seem like a more enjoyable option.

Seeing Yukino agree, Komachi couldn't help but smile mischievously.

"Great! Yui-nee, you should stay too. I'll make Onii-chan cook a big feast for everyone!"

"A feast? That sounds amazing!" Yui's eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly.

"But," Hachiman interjected, "it looks like we're running low on ingredients in the fridge. We'll need to go buy some."

At this, Komachi quickly chimed in again.

"How about this? Yukino-nee and I will go to the nearby supermarket to get the ingredients. Onii-chan and Yui-nee can stay here and rest."

"I'm fine with that," Yukino replied without any suspicion.

After all, they had used up most of the food supplies during lunch, and since Hachiman would be cooking, it was better to let him rest beforehand.

As for Yui, Komachi thought it would be a perfect chance for her to spend more time alone with Hachiman.

With that in mind, Yukino stood up. "Alright, let's go, Komachi-chan."

"Mm-hm," Komachi nodded, flashing a meaningful glance at her brother before grabbing the money Hachiman handed her for the shopping trip.

The two of them left the house together.

Watching them disappear out the door, a subtle smile crept across Hachiman's face.

The dumpling plan is officially underway.

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