Why did Hikigaya save the anime girls in Sword Story?

"Anyway, let's get this over with quickly, preferably today."

"Of course I plan to do that!"

After successfully graduating, Hachiman and the other four were about to go back.

But Takizawa spotted a ramen restaurant in the distance and suggested that they at least have lunch together. So, taking advantage of this rare opportunity, the six of them decided to go to the ramen restaurant in the distance together.

"It's my treat today, just order whatever you want."

Takizawa puffed out his chest and announced this. For Haruno, there was no particular reason why she needed Takizawa to treat her, but as if to avoid offending Takizawa, she decided to accept the treat silently.

Ryotaro seemed to hesitate when he heard this, but for the same reason, he didn't interrupt.

Of course, he was planning to treat himself next time he had the chance.

"Wow, this is my first time at a ramen restaurant."

Asuna suddenly said this. It seems that Asuna has never had such an opportunity so far.

She looked around the store with great interest.

"Is this Asuna-chan's first time? Huh? But I'm a little surprised that Hachiman-kun, who loves ramen so much, has never brought Asuna-chan here."

After hearing what Haruno said, Hachiman turned his gaze towards himself and gave a very reasonable answer.

"Ah~, well, since she hasn't been out of the hospital long, I'm still paying more attention to her diet. Well, I won't say such spoiling things today."

"Ah~, so that's how it is. I see. Takizawa-chan has taken me to various stores before.

But if you think about it, this might be the first time I come in with someone else.

I don't have any memories of eating ramen with my family either.

Ah, so, is this Yukino-chan's first time too?"

"No, sister, this is my second time. Once, Hachiman-kun, the teacher and I went there together."

"That's it."

Haruno seemed a little surprised and asked Yukino:

"So it's related to Takizawa-chan, huh? But that was probably back in high school, right?

At that time, were you and Kotakizawa going out together? Or did Kotakizawa join you two when you were together?

I don't remember Hachiman-kun and Yukino-chan being close enough to go to a ramen restaurant together. Did your relationship improve around Christmas?

That incident happened not long after that. Hmm~, I can’t figure it out. When exactly did it happen?

"What happened that night on the school trip."

"Study?"

"travel?"

"night?"

Ryotaro, Asuna, and Haruno repeated in confusion one after another.

Takizawa was stared at by three people. He whistled as if he heard nothing and turned his face away.

Then he looked at Hachiman, who narrowed his eyes with a look of nostalgia.

While looking at Yukino, he replied:

"Ah, it's that time. I really miss the time when I happened to meet Yukino in front of the hotel convenience store at night. She was very attentively selecting Mr. Pan's merchandise."

"Hey~, Yukino actually likes Mr. Pan so much!"

"Uh……"

Being stared at by Asuna with sparkling eyes, Yukino perhaps accepted her fate. Although she was a little shy, she still spoke clearly.

"Yeah, I like it very much."

"Then let's invite Yui and the others to go to Disneyland together next time!"

"That sounds really interesting. Let's make arrangements right after we get back."

"Ok!"

Hachiman was delighted to see Yukino and Asuna getting along so well, and he continued to explain:

"Then, by chance, the teacher who was planning to sneak out to eat ramen without telling the other teachers passed by. In order to 'shut her up', we ended up going out to eat ramen together."

After hearing this explanation, Haruno looked at Takizawa meaningfully and said:

"Takizawa-chan...you really are..."

"Is there anything I can do? I just suddenly want to eat!"

"Oh, well, forget it."

Takizawa protested to Haruno while seeming to be concerned about Ryotaro's reaction.

He glanced over there furtively.

Ryotaro himself was crossing his arms and nodding his head.

"Um...Mr. Ryotaro?"

Takizawa spoke to Ryotaro timidly, and Ryotaro replied with a grin:

"I totally understand how you feel, Ms. Takizawa! I love ramen too!"

“Ah… Y-yes!”

Takizawa was relieved by Ryotaro's words and responded happily.

After the conversation ended, the six of them went into the store, sat down and ordered.

Although Asuna was asked several times, "Is that really okay?", she finally ordered the same thing as Hachiman.

The moment the bowl was placed in front of her, she looked at Hachiman's face in confusion.

The bowl was full of oil, oil, and oil.

Hachiman nodded to Asuna and silently pointed to the bowl in front of Yukino.

Asuna subconsciously looked over and found that the bowl in front of Yukino was in a similar state.

Yukino noticed Asuna's gaze and said to her with a smile:

"It's okay. It might be a little surprising at first, but it's really delicious."

After hearing what Yukino said, who seemed to have a smaller appetite than him,

Asuna looked at other people's bowls again and found that they all looked similar, so she picked up the chopsticks and carefully put the ramen into her mouth.

“Ah…delicious…”

"Right?"

Hachiman heard this and said to Asuna happily.

Yukino also looked at Asuna with an expression that said, "See, I told you so," and nodded to her with a smile.

In this way, the group finished their meal in a harmonious atmosphere and walked out of the store.

At this time, someone spoke to this group of people.

"It looks like a pleasant lunch, that's great, Hachiman."

Because the person who made the sound could not be seen at all,

Ryotaro and Takizawa both looked around in confusion, but there was no one around.

"I want you to try it too, Kimi. As promised, I'll give you some high-octane fuel later, just as compensation."

"Okay, thank you very much."

"High octane?"

After hearing this conversation, the two people didn't sound like they were talking to humans. With the thought of "could it be?", they stared at the car that Yang No and the others had been riding in.

Perhaps he noticed being watched, so he swung the car door up and down to greet people.

"Nice to meet you both, I'm Kimi."

After being stunned by the polite greeting, there was a pause, and then both of them let out a cry of surprise at the same time.

“Really~~~~~?”

"Is this true?! This is amazing!"

For both of them, this seemed to be the biggest surprise of the day.

Then, Hachiman and the other four rode Kimi back, leaving only Ryotaro and Takizawa.

ALO: Chapter 171: The Teacher in Darkness

Just like that, Hachiman and the others left, leaving only Ryotaro and Takizawa at the scene.

Takizawa realized that they were alone again, and he became very nervous, thinking that he must not fail from now on. Because of this, the parts of Takizawa that usually cause trouble began to stir again.

That was the part - forcing himself to pretend, trying to disguise himself, trying to appear better in the eyes of others - that always resulted in Takizawa's failure.

On the other hand, Ryotaro unfortunately did not realize this.

After that almost car-racing activity with Hachiman and the others, they ate ramen together. This series of events ruined all his originally planned dates.

Ryotaro was very worried about what to do next, and Takizawa just waited completely passively for the distressed Ryotaro to make a decision.

Ryotaro, who lacked experience in this area, thought to himself, "I have to cheer up," with a sense of mission, and pondered over it alone, but he could not come to a conclusion.

In the anxious Ryotaro's mind, Takizawa's words just now emerged:

"Hikigaya, you recognized the existence of enemies that you couldn't defeat alone, and in order to defeat them, you learned to rely on the power of trusted allies.

Your 'lessons' are all over. I have nothing more to teach you. Graduate, Hikigaya.

(I see… Those words weren’t just spoken to Hachiman, but also to me now.)

So, Ryotaro stopped worrying about it alone and decided to discuss it with Takizawa. He said:

"Ms. Takizawa, regarding what's next..."

"Y-yes! Let's go wherever Mr. Ryotaro wants to go."

"I really can't decide on my own, so, eh? Miss Takizawa?"

"Yes, yes, Mr. Ryotaro, where should we go next? I'll follow you wherever you go."

"Eh……?"

It was at this moment that Ryotaro noticed for the first time that something was wrong with Takizawa.

Takizawa's eyes looked like those of a dead fish.

"Takizawa, Ms. Takizawa?"

"What is it? Mr. Ryotaro?"

Although Takizawa turned to answer Ryotaro, the movements of his face were so stiff and unnatural that one could almost hear a "crunching" sound.

Ryotaro ponders how to get Takizawa back to normal, but can't come up with a good idea, so he finally decides to call Hachiman.

"Excuse me, Ms. Takizawa. I need to call Hachiman. Please wait a moment."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

Although Ryotaro was worried about Takizawa, he hurriedly called Hachiman.

Fortunately, Hachiman answered the phone immediately, and Ryotaro quickly explained the situation to him.

“I see, it seems the teacher has fallen into the dark side of the Force.

Maybe after being alone with you, I thought, 'This is where the key starts,' and I over-invested.

So, what's the method to restore the teacher who is in that state to his original state?"

"I find this a bit difficult myself, but I really can't think of a good idea. Please, Hachiman, I can only rely on you."

"Well, after all, you two don't know each other very well yet, so asking you to solve all the problems by yourself is a bit unreasonable. Got it, just wait a moment."

Hachiman thought for a moment and said to Ryotaro: