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Author Topic: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) <DROPPED> - Thank You For Reading, a Summary  (Read 94884 times)

Offline Minami-chan

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru, OzeUemu+) [Rest-stop (Aug. 30, 2018)]
« Reply #160 on: September 02, 2018, 10:59:04 PM »
Same as the previous couple surprised me and liked me a lot. This couple doesn't appeal to me.
Thanks for the chapter, I imagine it will be important for the development of the main story.
See you!

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [TEMP HIATUS]
« Reply #161 on: September 16, 2018, 05:30:38 AM »
@Minami-chan: Thank you for always reading and commenting! Your comments mean a lot to me (comments are like the fuel for my soul). The last two weeks, I've been pretty busy so I haven't had a chance to update.

I'll be taking a short hiatus (lol, somehow this happens a lot, doesn't it?) because school has started up and I have to deal with college applications. My first batch of applications is due November 1st, but hopefully I get the stuff done before then. For now, I probably won't be able to update Eccentric much.

See you later! I hope you'll continue reading Eccentric when I can finally update again.

Offline Minami-chan

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [TEMP HIATUS (possibly until Nov. 1?)]
« Reply #162 on: November 12, 2018, 11:43:12 PM »
I hope you do well in the exams.
Give it all!

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru, Yuichanzu+) [Checkpoint 40 (Jan. 1, 2019)]
« Reply #163 on: January 02, 2019, 04:07:42 AM »
Happy New Year! I'm alive! And I'm very sorry for the long wait!! With a lot of things happening in 2018 and a lot of busy-ness for college applications on my part, I wasn't able to pull myself together to write Eccentric. But, alas, I love this story. And I want to keep writing, for Yuichanzu, for Manaka, and for Keyakizaka. (And of course, everyone who reads this fic. I love you all)

@Minami-chan: Thank you! I've finished up my college applications, so now what's left is to wait. But, finally... finally, the wait for Eccentric... is over (as far as I can see). Thank you for waiting.






Checkpoint 40


A school cultural festival was all that it should have been. Yet, her heart went cold at the silence around her as that person’s bitter sneer and that cracked phone screen revealed everything that she had been trying to bury away.

—It was all your fault.

—Did you really think you of all people could believe in friendship?

—Not when you-

She stumbled back a moment, her breath catching in her throat. The pain of that time back then seemed to come back like a ghost; it hurt inside and out. She wondered what she would see when she met their eyes. What she didn’t want to see was that so-familiar contempt.

This time, even if she hid behind a fringe, she wouldn’t be able to escape, but she still ran away.

For a moment, she caught her friend’s distracted eyes. At least one person would be too preoccupied with something else.

—Not yet.


The class had just finished voting on what activity to do for the upcoming cultural festival. Amidst the flurry of suggested plays, games, haunted houses, and more, the ultimate winner of their vote turned out to be a butler themed cafe.

The event was four days long, two for just students and staff, two for guests of varying statuses as well. Within the event, there were a myriad of smaller events.

It was break time. No matter the upcoming event, the Keyaki class still had classes, albeit shortened classes in the morning until one week before the festival.

Kobayashi Yui sat on a desk with her partner Imaizumi Yui. The Yuichanz pair had just signed up for the performing talent festival on day two of the cultural festival. Whether or not they would make a new song for the event, they hadn’t decided yet, but without thinking, the pair had begun humming a song to themselves.

Kobayashi Yui tapped her fingers to the rhythm of the song as she watched the smile on Imaizumi’s face. Of course, by now, nearly no one in the class called the two Yuis by their family names, the short Imaizumi getting oddly worked up over nicknames.

Imaizumi called out to Kobayashi, placing her chin on the taller Yui’s shoulder, “Yuipon.”

Yuipon responded, “What is it, Zuumin?” She had been so entranced by Zuumin’s smile that she had nearly failed to hear her name be called.

“I just wanted to call your name.”

Yuipon’s words found themselves lost on her tongue before she quickly got herself together and asked another question. “Do you want to brainstorm about our song together after school?”

“Sure.”

“KobaYui, Zuumin!” A cheerful voice broke through the two Yui’s conversation. Before Yuipon could even turn, Manaka dragged the usually cool Watanabe Risa over and smugly asked as if stating a fact, “Risa’s blushing, isn’t she?”

Risa sputtered, covering her face with the hand that she wasn’t letting Manaka hold onto, “Wait, why are you asking them?” The pink dusting her cheeks betrayed her affections for her girlfriend.

Manaka stated as she peered into Risa’s eyes, causing the blush to redden just a tad more, “I want to win.”

At that, Yuipon figured out that the cool pair had likely been playing the aishiteru game or some variation. Their friend group always got so rowdy playing games after all, and she had gotten wrapped in not few times along with other classmates like Nijika.

Yuipon glanced over to Zuumin for the judgement call. “So, what do you think?”

“Well, I don’t know…” The short Yui made a thinking noise, a small smile cracking through her feigned pondering expression.

Risa bluffed, “I’m not blushing.”

Zuumin turned back to Yuipon. “‘Aishiteru?’”

Yuipon blinked. “Huh?” Her cheeks reddened at the sudden word, her heart clenching as she saw Zuumin’s bright smile and laughter quickly after. She must have made a strange face.

“The verdict is Manaka’s victory!” Zuumin clapped her hands together as she proclaimed her decision.

Her smile appeared so open, yet Yuipon couldn’t decipher what the small girl who was her partner was thinking at all. Yuipon simply followed suit and clapped as well, “O-Oh. Congratulations on winning the game.”

Happily accepting the claps, Manaka commented to herself,  “One hit KO from our class’s Imaizumi.”

Risa nodded. “Yes, yes.” She said to Yuichanz before dragging Manaka off, “We’ll stop bothering you two now.”

Just as quickly as the pair had rushed over, they returned to their usual corner of the classroom with their friend group, which had started getting excited over some other topic. That let Yuipon and Zuumin come back to their conversations with just the two of them until their break ended.

Humming a quick tune, Zuumin met Yuipon’s eyes. “What were we talking about before?” Due to the sudden interruption, it seemed their talk had darted away from her mind.

Yuipon replied generally, “The cultural festival.”

“It is coming up soon after all. We’re doing a butler cafe, huh. Yuipon, you’d look good in a suit.”

“Really?”

Zuumin nodded earnestly. The short Yui looked around the room to check who else would look good in suits, seeing Hirate in one corner, Habu in the next, and then a gathering of tall people with Manaka and friends. Finally, she grumbled, “Rina-chan is my only comrade as a short person.”

The taller Yui responded with a wry chuckle, “You’ll keep growing probably. I think Zuumin will look good as a butler too.”

Light hearted chatting filled the rest of their break. Soon the bell rang, signalling the start of class.

Yuipon slipped off the desk, standing and thinking that she had to return to her seat when class started. She turned to Zuumin who had also gotten off the desk and lifted a hand to wave a see you later.

“Let’s brainstorm our song together after school.” Zuumin said as the two Yuis waved.

In the end, she had remembered what they had been talking about.



Class soon started. Sitting in her seat, Kobayashi Yui let the words of the lecturer enter one ear and exit the other. Her eyelids grew heavy. When she saw a slip of white paper on her desk, she opened it up sleepily.

Reading it, she realized that it was a note from her roommate Oda Nana. Although everyone in the class with a phone had each other’s LINE and, despite the disciplinary failures of this attitude, it wasn’t particularly hard to secretly use their phones to chat during class, Oda wanted to have fun with some old fashioned note passing.

Yuipon dug out a pen and scribbled a little with it to make sure there was still ink. Then, she replied to the note, passing it back to Oda Nana.

The note went delivered to Suzumoto next. Soon enough, it was back to Yuipon and then to Oda and Suzumoto. As the small paper filled up, they replaced it with a new slip or sometimes a sticky note.

When Yuipon looked toward where their short haired friend was, she spotted Hirate Yurina sleeping. Neru who sat close by gestured with a finger in front of her mouth not to wake up Yurina.

Yuipon silently mouthed an affirmative.

A part of her wished that she could have a bond like the two roommates appeared to share. Another part felt surprised at that sudden thought. Yet another part began to think about a girl who had placed a new melody of the sun into her life. She shook away those thoughts.

Yuipon mused quietly, “I wonder what sort of dreams she’s having.”


« Last Edit: January 09, 2019, 01:26:24 AM by Shinoki »

Offline Minami-chan

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 40 (Jan. 1, 2019)] THANK YOU FOR WAITING
« Reply #164 on: January 06, 2019, 11:35:08 PM »
Great!
I'm very happy to have you back.
This new chapter seems to open another story arc with new characters (the two Yuis).
We will see the outcome of it.

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 41 (Jan. 8, 2019)]
« Reply #165 on: January 09, 2019, 01:25:20 AM »
I'm going to do my best and maintain weekly updates for this arc. While I'm not super satisfied with this checkpoint, I hope you enjoy! Entering the Yuichanzu arc, these peaceful days too will start to crack once more.

@ Minami-chan: Thanks! This is the Yuichanzu arc.





Checkpoint 41


Hirate Yurina couldn’t remember what she had been dreaming. As lunch rolled around, the groups within the class moving their desks together, the short haired girl offhandedly thought upon looking at Kobayashi Yui that the taller Yui in the class seemed to have been the main character for a first half of the dream. What the dream had been, she could not remember. Yet, she had slept more sweetly than expected on the hard desk.

Still groggy at having just woken up, at the slightest prompting from Neru, she opened her mouth and found a small homemade omelette be placed in her mouth.

Neru asked teasingly, “Yurina-chan, did you sleep well?”

The short haired girl nodded, chewing on the omelette that melted in her mouth with a sweetness not just from the flavor of the food.

Neru filled Yurina in, noting that her roommate and girlfriend had filtered out the beginning parts of the group’s conversation, “We were just talking about the cultural festival.”

“Like Yuipon’s performance with Zuumin.” Oda Nana piped up.

“It’s going to be a surprise for the talent show.” Kobayashi Yui said in response to Oda Nana’s statement. “Though we haven’t made our song for it yet.”

Taking in the information, Yurina said, “I’m looking forward to it.”

If the short haired girl had to comment, she would say that she liked hearing the two Yuis sing, something that had become a routine for the class whenever the pair was in the mood.

Offhandedly, the short haired girl noted that Yuipon was sitting with them today and Zuumin with Yuuka’s group. Yuichanz had been active, and Oda Nana had been lonely according to Oda Nana herself lately.

“Yuichanz’s first live performance at Sakamichi.” Neru stated as if tasting a phrase of words. She giggled, “We should record it so when you two become big hits in the future, we can brag about seeing it.”

Yuipon choked on her drink halfway through a sip.

Yurina added onto the joke that Neru started, “Yuichanz’s first single with the title track their first song Shibuyagawa.” She thought that it sounded quite doable.

“Ah, next is Yuichanz’s first Music Station?” Suzumoto wondered aloud.

“Yuichanz’s first photobook-” Oda Nana started.

Yuipon cut them off, embarrassed, “You’re all getting carried away!”

Oda Nana proclaimed, “I’m ready to be the official photographer any time now.”

“Aren’t you alread-” Suzumoto furrowed her brows in thought as she trailed herself off.

Neru quickly reached the same realization as Suzumoto, “Oh, that fansite…”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Yuipon took a bite of her lunch. She pretended as if she hadn’t just heard what her friends had mentioned, not needing an exploration of her roommate’s usual antics.

Yurina shifted the topic, “By the way, what do you think the butler cafe will be like?” Happy to continue eating the bento made for her by Neru, the short haired girl waited for the conversation to move.


—Icarus fell when he flew too close to the sun.

—Blindly.

—You haven’t forgotten, have you?


When lunch ended, the Keyaki class began the first stages of the cultural festival’s preparations. Along with explanations on the schedule, the rules on inviting guests and whatnot, as well as a Keyaki class specific reminder on points gained from the event, Sugai Yuuka and Sato Shiori went up to the front of the classroom to organize the group into committees in charge of the various parts of the preparations.

The event was a large one of four days. Day one was just for students and staff to enjoy like a test run. Day two was for guests of important people related to the school, and organized events were held on that day. Day three was for all guests invited. The final day was for students again with other miscellaneous events that did not require signing up.

Although the long explanation came from Sato’s mouth one way or another, the class ultimately decided to tack the handout with the information they received from a teacher somewhere on the wall in the classroom as a reminder.

Kobayashi Yui found herself in the group in charge of the crossdressing committee for the class’ butler cafe. Her short singing partner had found her way to the food committee. The third committee was the cafe layout organization committee with the artistic Sato and surprisingly skilled calligrapher Ozeki.

The crossdressing committee took over one corner of the classroom for their first discussion.

Nijika raised her hand to inquire as they started, “What does the crossdressing committee do?”

The group paused, silent. No one actually had a response beyond a rough idea that they were in charge of the crossdressing part of the butler cafe, and the name of their committee didn’t elaborate.

“Costumes, right?” Yuipon hesitantly put out, an awkward smile at the silence.

Koike then wondered aloud, “Characterization too?”

Habu clapped her hands together, understanding what her roommate meant, “Like a maid cafe where the maids have phrases and characters!”

“Like stage names?” Nijika asked as well.

“Let’s figure out what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it first and go from there.” Yurina interrupted before the group got carried away, causing everyone to turn to the short haired girl.

“This looks like it’ll be fun.” Watanabe Rika softly said, causing Yuipon who hadn’t noticed her quiet classmate beside her to jump.

Yuipon nodded, “Yea.”

Peeking out the corner of her eye to where the food committee had gathered, she saw that Zuumin looked to be having fun as well, a bright smile fluttering across that girl’s expression. Yet, for some reason, she felt a little miffed upon seeing Oda Nana suddenly hug the short Yui from behind.

Zuumin noticed Yuipon and waved, mouthing almost indecipherably, “Let’s make this a success.”

Yuipon waved back, mouthing her own set of words and feeling silly that she had been so obvious as to be noticed. Then she tore her eyes away from the food committee’s corner, knowing she would watch entranced forever if she didn’t.

“Let’s make this a success.” Yuipon repeated her partner’s words aloud to no one in particular, Zuumin’s smile contagious, and looked toward Yurina who the team had entrusted leadership to.


« Last Edit: January 21, 2019, 04:47:22 AM by Shinoki »

Offline Minami-chan

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 41 (Jan. 8, 2019)]
« Reply #166 on: January 10, 2019, 01:22:38 PM »
Thanks for the new chapter
waiting to see what happens in the "Butler Cafe" that the girls are going to do in the school cultural festival..

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 42 (Jan. 20, 2019)]
« Reply #167 on: January 21, 2019, 04:46:23 AM »
I thought I would get a Checkpoint .5 in as well tonight, but let's treat it as something for tonight in a different time zone then. This Checkpoint is more dialogue than I expected, but I hope you enjoy.

@Minami-chan: Thanks for reading as always! Before the butler cafe really comes into play, Yuichanzu will be dealing with their plans for the talent show event.






Checkpoint 42



After school, their time together finally arrived. The moments between had dissipated into a distant memory.

Fingers on the strings of the guitar, Kobayashi Yui absentmindedly watched her partner Imaizumi Yui narrate how the first day of preparations for the food committee part of the class had gone. They were alone in an unused music room to practice for the cultural festival.

With the afternoon sun filtering in through the drawn curtains, Zuumin’s smile seemed dazzling to the eyes. Lyrics fluttered through Yuipon’s head. The windows felt like they had opened, curtains blowing with the wind, sheets of music blowing away, and then it cut off.

Zuumin’s face was right in front of Yuipon’s. The shorter Yui asked, curiously, noticing that Yuipon’s hand on the guitar had fallen to side and that Yuipon was gazing off somewhere else. “Yuipon, are you listening?”

“Ah, sorry. I zoned out.” Yuipon sheepishly replied.

“That’s unexpected.” Zuumin giggled. “Should we move onto writing our song then?”

“That sounds good. Do you have a genre in mind?”

“I don’t know, but I like the song you were just playing on your guitar.”

The taller Yui paused in surprise. She murmured questioningly to herself, “I was playing something…?”

“Yea?”

Yuipon’s fingers settled firmly on the guitar and began to play the song that she had not been aware she had been playing before. The notes, she had imagined them in a moment of boredom while waiting for something fun to come. “Do you mean this?”

“That’s right.” Zuumin nodded.

“I think it’s not quite right though.”

“If you change the chord during that second part, then maybe-”

“Because it’s supposed to be a duet. It’s missing the other part still.” Yuipon blurted out, interrupting Zuumin. “Let’s write the other part now.”

A little surprised at first, the shorter girl clapped her hands together with a big grin and cheered, “Let’s do it!”

The two of them, sitting cross legged on the ground, a little haphazardly, made their song together. This chord, that note, this melody that would match, the essence that was Yuichanz melded together before they realized.

“Should I write it down?” Yuipon wondered aloud.

Zuumin responded, “Eh, Yuipon, you know I’m terrible at reading sheet music.”

“Just the chords. Just the chords then.” The taller Yui said as she searched for a pen and paper to write. Shaking the pen before starting, she jotted down what they had created so far.

Zuumin who had been watching then suggested, “Maybe also the sheet music.”

“Why?”

“I like Yuipon’s handwriting.”

Yuipon lightly retorted, “Music notes are just music notes.” She didn’t see how a line and a circle and maybe a bar would be pretty enough to be liked. Yet she still dug out a sheet and began to outline the notes, digging into her brain to remember what they had been playing.

Zuumin pointed to the a place on the paper, knowing that Yuipon was writing despite her remark, “We can write the lyrics here.”

Yuipon hummed, “We need to write the lyrics first then.”

"Yuipon’s killing dreams here.”

“We’re not done with writing the song either though.”

“It’s okay.” The short girl stated with an odd confidence and sang a quick line, “For example, doesn’t ‘The stars in the sky are beautiful because we can’t ever reach them’ sound good with here?”

“Isn’t that sad?”

“Just a little.”

“It’s like a love that won’t come true.”

“The tune is already melancholic.” Zuumin said. “But, wouldn’t it be nice to write a love song?”

“Love, huh? Have you ever fallen in love before, Zuumin?”

“Not really. Maybe there was that boy back in elementary school, but…” Zuumin trailed off, furrowing her brows, glancing at Yuipon’s eyes almost sparkling. “What about Yuipon?”

“N-” Yuipon wanted to answer, but she couldn’t. Instead she looked away and said, “Probably not anything that can become love.”

“I’ll cheer you on.”

“How about marriage? Do you want to get married one day?” Yuipon gulped, feeling sweaty palms, as she added on abruptly.

Zuumin didn’t notice Yuipon’s near stutter at the beginning of her sentence, instead saying, “It would be nice to. If I got married, I would want to get married to someone who can deal with my occasional unreasonable requests. If there’s marriage, I guess there’s kids? I think having two kids would be good since having an odd number would be lonely.”

“You’ve really thought far ahead.”

“What about Yuipon?”

Yuipon paused, her mouth feeling oddly dry, “I don’t know. I guess, maybe something like I’d want to keep my own family name for convenience?” She didn’t know what words were coming out

“I’m the opposite. Rather than Zuumin or Imaizumi,” Zuumin shook her head. “I want to be called Yui by the person I marry.”

“What a lucky person.” Yuipon said. Tapping the pen in her hand to the rhythm of their song, she pondered upon a sudden idea, “How about ‘Please marry me’ for a line? No, it doesn’t really fit.”

‘Please marry someone better than me’ maybe.”

“And ‘please forget about our good memories.’”

“This is too heartrending!”

“Isn’t it?”

“Let’s get back to writing the song. And make it a happier one!”

“Love isn’t all bitter or sweet. It’s bittersweet, right?”

“A sweet song would be nice though. I want to sing a happy song.”

Yuipon’s heart stung. “Yea, you really fit smiling.”

Zuumin replied, “That’s my line, Yuipon. I like Yuipon’s smile.”

“By the way, we’re performing this for the cultural festival, right?”

“Yes?”

“This is really heartrending.”

“Like I said!”

“But it seems like a good song.”

“True. It really is.”

“It’s a little embarrassing to say this about something we wrote ourselves.” Yuipon noted after both of them had said their self-praises.

Zuumin laughed. Pumping her fists into the air, the short girl proclaimed, “Well, let’s make it an even better song then!”

Agreeing, the two of them returned to working on their song. Singing, playing the guitar, writing down notes, almost mixing up the papers, time passed. The afternoon sun began to redden outside the window, and before they knew it, the day had begun to end.

While Zuumin sang a section that they had decided to have the shorter Yui sing solo, Yuipon’s hands on the guitar that were playing a still barebones accompaniment unintentionally stopped. Zuumin’s acapella captured her ears.

The short girl finished her singing. She had noticed Yuipon’s hands stop. Looking toward the window, she said, “It’s already this late? Maybe we should stop for today.”

“Yui-chan.” Yuipon said in the start of an answer, words slipping off her tongue distractedly before her eyes widened with alarm that she had called Zuumin Yui aloud. “Sorry, Zuumin. I-”

Zuumin placed a finger on Yuipon’s lips. “Yuipon, keep calling me that?” Her mouth curved upward only slightly. “Just for now.”

“Sure.” Yuipon couldn’t say anything else to the heartbeats ringing in her ears.

She didn’t know why she heard the song they had just been playing in that smile when neither’s hand was on the strings of their guitars. Perhaps it was the sound of her own pulse. Nonetheless, their practice stopped for the day.


« Last Edit: January 22, 2019, 03:29:31 AM by Shinoki »

Offline MaYukiIsLife

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 42 (Jan. 20, 2019)]
« Reply #168 on: January 21, 2019, 12:43:24 PM »
I thought I would get a Checkpoint .5 in as well tonight, but let's treat it as something for tonight in a different time zone then. This Checkpoint is more dialogue than I expected, but I hope you enjoy.

Lol probably tonight here I guess XD

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 42.5 (Jan. 21, 2019)]
« Reply #169 on: January 22, 2019, 03:28:44 AM »
As I messed up and didn't manage to double update properly, don't forget to check out the previous Checkpoint posted yesterday. Well, i-i-it's the same day in some time zone out there. Haha.

@MaYukiIsLife: So close! But this penguin was not fast enough.





Checkpoint 42.5


Discussing the matters of the cultural festival that was coming up in less than two weeks at this point, Moriya Akane and Sugai Yuuka stretched their legs by wandering around the classroom. All around, they could spot decorations set up to the side for when their class cafe would actually be done.

Offhandedly remembering about a form for the cultural festival, Yuuka asked her roommate Akane, “Who are you going to invite to the cultural festival?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” Akane responded. “How about you?”

“My father’s been getting better recently, so maybe my parents can come.” Yuuka said. “I’d invite my sister, but she’s too busy.”

“I’m glad he’s getting better. Is she busy with work?”

“Since my ‘cousin’ is a missing person, after his company tore itself apart with internal rivalries, the shareholders asked her to become the CEO, so right now she’s cleaning things up.”

“That’s amazing.” Akane spoke with respect, making a face at the thought of the filthy excuse for a cousin Yuuka had mentioned.

“Right?” Yuuka agreed. “I wonder who the others will invite.”

“Tecchan and Neru said that they aren’t inviting anyone they know.”

The horse loving girl reasoned on the roommates’ decision, “Aichi and Nagasaki are both a little far away.”

“I wonder if Tecchan doesn’t want people she knows to see her dressed up as a butler.” Akane suggested, remembering the shadow falling on their short haired classmate’s expression when they had first tried out their crossdressing get-ups.

“It is a little awkward.”

“Yukio-kun.”

“Don’t remind me of that please.”

Akane laughed and took Yuuka’s hand, intertwining her fingers with her girlfriend’s. “You look beautiful in whatever clothes though.”

“So you say.” Yuuka pouted as she tugged on Akane’s hand.

“Hello Kitty underwear is another issue.”

“They’re not that bad.”

“No, Hello Kitty underwear is no good.” Akane shook her head. “Why don’t I pick out some underwear for you next time?”

“This is too much to talk about like this.” Yuuka squeezed Akane’s hand, hiding her flustered face in Akane’s shoulder.

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Smacking Akane on the shoulder, Yuuka stumbled over her words before she found a diversion. “Anyways, let’s ask Fuu-chan and Nijika about who they’re inviting to the cultural festival.” Yuuka dragged Akane over to the pair that she had spotted out the corner of her eye.

Fuyuka was sitting intimately with Nijika. The former watched as the latter went through her phone’s gallery, showing pictures of her pet dog excitedly.

“Yo, who are you going to invite to the cultural festival?” Yuuka lamely greeted.

“Haha, what’s with the ‘yo’ greeting?” Fuyuka snickered. “I think I’ll randomly pick a family member. The form is due soon, right?”

Akane said, “Now that I think about it, the student council president Sasaki-san asked me recently if the Keyaki class still needed to submit.”

“I don’t think many people have yet.” Fuyuka looked around the room before turning to the girl beside her. “How about you, Nijika?”

Nijika replied, “I haven’t decided either. I wish I could invite Lady here.”

Yuuka repeated the name, “Lady?”

“My pet dog,” explained Nijika.

Fuyuka let out a satisfied sigh, placing a hand on top of Nijika’s head, “That’s super cute.”

Akane joined in, followed by Yuuka, with patting Nijika on the head, leaving Nijika perplexed before she realized that they were treating her like a dumb little kid. Then, Nijika swatted their hands away to sulk by herself for a moment before getting consoled by Fuyuka that it was okay to miss her dog.

Enjoying a short chat with Fuyuka and Nijika, Akane and Yuuka decided to leave the pair alone. They seemed to be getting along.

Another set of roommates was doing their own thing, catching Akane and Yuuka’s eyes. Suzumoto was passed out on her desk, asleep without a care for the world. Yuipon was tapping a rhythm of her desk while quietly humming out a song, not paying attention to the rest of the class. Oda Nana was, while sneaking glances at her musically inclined roommate, filling out a piece of paper.

Akane asked, “Dani, are you filling out the form right now?”

“Yea.” Oda Nana nodded.

“Who are you inviting?”

“My little sister.”

“I wonder if she’s like you.”

Oda Nana opened her mouth to say nothing as if that answered the question. Then, she shrugged. “Our classroom’s a little separated from the rest of the school, so I don’t know she’ll even be able to find our cafe.”

“How about Yuipon?” Yuuka inquired about the Yui sitting right next to them.

Yuipon, hearing her name called, choked on air.

After a bout of Oda Nana’s panic, Akane smacking Yuipon’s back, and Yuuka fumbling about confused, Akane asked, “What were you so distracted with?”

To that, Yuipon answered, “What’s it like to fall in love?”

Needless to say, Oda Nana choked.


« Last Edit: February 11, 2019, 03:04:02 AM by Shinoki »

Offline Minami-chan

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 42.5 (Jan. 21, 2019)]
« Reply #170 on: January 22, 2019, 01:18:55 PM »
Thank you very much for these new two parts of the new episode.
I see that some things are still missing before it is the cultural event.
I still look forward to seeing Techi and Neru as a couple, since they started dating, almost no interactions have been seen between them.

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 43 (Feb 10, 2019)]
« Reply #171 on: February 11, 2019, 03:03:13 AM »
For the nth time, I have to tell myself not to promise anything about update dates. I didn't expect to be so delayed by various in real life things and translation related things (to any Shida oshi who are using jphip, check out Depressing Subs' site for Manaka blog translations because there's no way I'm letting my oshimen's history disappear).

Anyhow, thank you for the wait.

@Minami-chan: Thank you for reading! I hope I can get some more TechiNeru in here. If I can't find a good place for TechiNeru interactions during Yuichanzu's part of the arc, there's still the second half that Techi's story begins to hijack.






Checkpoint 43


Love, a year, a month, a week, however long it had fermented in her heart, she hadn’t realized, or perhaps she had. Thinking to herself, she had noticed when she lifted her head that simply a week remained before the start of the time when she would-

“Yuipon.” Zuumin’s voice interrupted Yuipon’s thoughts. “How do I look?” Twirling around, dressed in a suit, hair in a boyish ponytail rather than under a wig, the short girl asked her partner for her opinion.

Without thinking, Yuipon replied, “Beautiful.”

In response, Zuumin smiled bashfully. Even to such a simply description from Yuipon, Zuumin appeared utterly happy.

Thus they cut a picturesque scene under the sunlight filtering through the classroom windows now decorated with lace window curtains. The chatter of their classmates became their background music. The paper scripts in their hands went forgotten.

Until another broke through their moment, Yuipon had thought only a few words.


—Such as I love you.


Only a week remained before the first day of the cultural festival. Most preparations had completed. With the classroom decorated from windows to seating, desks replaced with quaint little cafe-style tables, the Keyaki class girls were just finishing up the last touches.

The group in charge of the food was setting up a small kitchen area, really a kitchen in name only. Everyone else had changed into their outfits to practice the butler roleplay that would be the crux of their cafe.

Yuipon had been in the middle of chatting with Zuumin when Neru approached with Yurina.

“Yuichi-kun, Yuisuke-kun.” Neru teasingly greeted Yuipon and Zuumin with their butler names respectively. Lightly squeezing her girlfriend’s hand, Neru also said, “Yurio-chan,” before wondering aloud, “We have a lot of classmates whose names start with ‘yu,’ don’t we?”

Zuumin nodded her head sagely at Neru’s observation, “It must’ve been hard to think up good names.”

Yuipon smiled wryly as she thought about the state of affairs with some of the stage names that had been made. For example, Yuuka was Yukio, Habu was Mizunosuke, and Oda Nana was Sebastian.

“Maybe.” Yurina exchanged glances with Yuipon.

Yuipon nodded. “Yea, maybe.”

Neru then said, “Oh, by the way, I came over to bother you two because I wanted to asked Zuumin about something. Let me just steal Zuumin from Yuipon for a second.”

With Neru dragging Zuumin away, Yuipon found herself alone with Yurina. As they usually sat together for lunch, Yuipon hadn't particularly thought much about how they interacted, but she realized that she rarely talked one on one with the short haired girl.

Noticing Yurina fiddle with her outfit, Yuipon inquired, “Is the size off?” They still had time to adjust the outfits.

Yurina shook her head. “It's just strange wearing male clothes.”

“We don't really wear this type of outfit often.” Yuipon agreed. Pausing before she spoke, Yuipon noted, “I guess it feels like we're someone else.”

Yurina hesitated over an one word reply, “Yea.”

“Disagree?”

“No. Rather that hit right on.”

“But in the end, we’re still us. We have to deal with our own issues. Don’t you think?”

“That’s right.”

“I wonder if it’d be easier as a guy.” Yuipon couldn’t help but murmur as she thought of her partner, Zuumin. She knew that as Kobayashi Yui, she couldn’t stay by the girl Imaizumi Yui’s side in the future Zuumin envisioned.

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

“Being a guy. It might be easier, but in the end, we’re who we are, like you said.”

“Do you think you would be seen differently being a guy?”

“No.” Yurina shook her head.

“I can see that. You and Neru are still lovey-dovey when dressed as guys after all.”

The short haired girl was thrown off by the sudden tease. “Wa-”

“I’m a little jealous.” Yuipon joked. “Even if both of you were men, you two just click.”

“Are you?”

“It seems nice to be in love.”

Just as Yuipon spoke, a pair of hands went over Yurina’s eyes, cutting off her line of sight. The owner of those hands asked, “Yurina-chan, who am I?” The answer was obvious.

“Neru.” The short haired girl removed the hands and addressed her girlfriend who had tried to prank her to no avail.

Zuumin had also returned along with Neru, the pair finished with their conversation. She curiously asked Yuipon, “What were you two talking about?”

“Being guys.” Yuipon responded. Her mouth went dry as if she expected Zuumin to read her thoughts about that matter in disgust. Zuumin wouldn’t.

Yuipon heard Yurina say, “It’s not easy to become a man.”

She heard Neru’s whisper, “I like Yurina-chan the way you are.”

More than anything, she heard the contrast between those words and Zuumin’s innocuous statement, “You two look handsome dressed in suits.”

Yuipon took Zuumin’s praise, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but wish again now that the words were in her mind. She couldn’t help but wish to be someone who could be able to be by Zuumin’s side. To be a guy, to be someone else, those empty desires seemed so easy to ask for.

She realized she was making excuses in her heart. Yet, almost too simply, she found that she had fallen in love with the short girl beside her. It was terrifying because she couldn’t say anything.


What were the words? The lyrics that they had written together?
“Please marry someone else.”


As the day came to an end, everyone had changed out of their butler outfits. Cheerfully heading to the dorms, Zuumin couldn’t help but walk with a hop in her steps. Yuipon watched; her partner was too adorable. Unexpectedly, Zuumin took Yuipon’s hand as she skipped along.

Yuipon, dragged along, inquired, “What are you so giddy about?”

Zuumin told Yuipon, “I just realized that we’ll be performing in a week.”

“Excited?”

Zuumin nodded rapidly, “Yea. I’m nervous and excited. Really excited and nervous.”

Yuipon squeezed Zuumin’s hand reassuringly, “We still have a week.”

“What if something goes wrong?”

“Let’s practice tonight then.”

“Would that be okay?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Yuipon!”

“Also, do you want to sleepover?” Yuipon added. “Oda Nana and Suzumoto said that they were going to be bugging Manaka and Risa until pretty late.”

Zuumin smiled, “That sounds like fun. Just like summer break.”

Like the sun, she smiled, and Yuipon was glad for that smile. Yuipon felt Zuumin’s anxiety dissipate, and she felt the smaller girl’s fingers slip away from her hand, no longer pulling her forward.

They were still walking together, Yuipon told herself.

I love you, she couldn’t tell the one who she wanted to tell.

Offline Minami-chan

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Checkpoint 43 (Feb 10, 2019)]
« Reply #172 on: February 14, 2019, 11:49:03 PM »
Thank you very much for the update.

Yuipon is very disoriented with her feelings towards Zuumin.

See you in the next update. Hopefully it will be soon. (or not very far)

A greeting!

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Short hiatus]
« Reply #173 on: March 05, 2019, 03:28:34 AM »
Thank you for reading! I apologize for not updating at all recently. It's been pretty busy, and even though I want to keep writing Eccentric, one way or another, things keep getting in the way. I hope I can finish this fic somehow.

For March, I know I likely won't be able to get much writing done. Between school, other projects, and of course translating KEYAKI HOUSE (I'm pretty sure most fans would probably put fansubbing before fanfic writing, haha), there might not be much time at all, so I'll just say it now that I won't be able to update in March.

Again, thank you for reading! I hope you keep on reading despite my lack of updates.

Offline Minami-chan

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Short hiatus (likely to end after March)]
« Reply #174 on: March 10, 2019, 06:53:50 PM »
I am totally devastated with this announcement.

I do not even have the strength to listen to songs from my favorite group right now because everything reminds me that Neru is leaving.

We read later.

Offline Keyaki--Otaku

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Re: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) [Short hiatus (likely to end after March)]
« Reply #175 on: November 03, 2019, 04:11:25 PM »
I know this is very late but thank you for the update!  :) I'll patiently wait for the next update!
Keyakizaka46 and Hinatazaka46 fan

Offline Shinoki

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Eccentric (TechiNeru+) <DROPPED> - Thank You For Reading, a Summary
« Reply #176 on: January 24, 2020, 03:43:46 AM »
To start, I have to apologize for saying over and over again that I’ll definitely update and not updating. In the end, it seems that I will be dropping this fanfic, Eccentric. This story was formed from the overflow of my love for Keyakizaka when I first found them and dove into them, but eventually, real life and other factors got into the way of writing. When I finally could return to writing, I found myself looking at a landscape that I no longer recognized and at words that I no longer could continue.

Therefore, I will be dropping Eccentric. I know that there are people who were looking forward to the story, but I likely will never update it again. If anyone would like to pick it up and write it, feel free to do so.

I will put here a summary of the future of the story.



The arcs that we’ve covered so far…

<Neru I>

Neru joins the Keyaki class, but not soon after her transfer, a case of theft occurs in the school and the blame is laid upon the Keyaki class, the girls turning in suspicion toward Neru. Their trust is put to the test, and by clearing the suspicion, Neru becomes closer to the class. However… is she truly suspicion free?

<Yuuka>

Summer is approaching for Sakamichi, and the Keyaki class girls are faced with their big exams before summer. The mysterious man on the board reminds them that the exams can help or break the girls’ points and briefly explains points as a graduation requirement, which was outlined in the student handbook. However, amidst the mystery of the Keyaki class’ administration and the stress of exams, Sugai Yuuka has her own issues, gaining the worry of her friends.

<Aoi>

School finally lets out for summer vacation. Aoi gets a digital camera, hoping to make memories over the summer of her precious friends. However, a dirty thought gnaws at the back of her mind that she’s not good enough as a friend, causing her to drift away. Yurina and Neru’s own conflicts aggravate the bonds of friendship even more. Aoi struggles to realize her place in the Keyaki class that had always been there for her.

And the arc that we were in the middle of…

<Yui>

The fall semester has started. As the school festival preparations go underway, the two Yuis form the Yuichanz for the school festival performing talent festival. Through hard work, delays, and perseverance, the girls get closer to each other. However, as the talent festival approaches closer, trouble falls upon the Yuichanz, leaving them unable to perform.

At this point, I will begin to give you a better explanation of what will happen in the story. These small paragraphs above were the notes I took while working on writing the arcs at the time. Some details are sloppy, but the story still exists.



<Yui>

As Yuichanz prepares for the school festival with the rest of the class, Yuipon falls in love, unrequited love, with Zuumin. She does not have the courage to confess to Zuumin. Even worse, a new love rival appears in the form of Kyoko who Zuumin seems quite close with. Yuipon just can’t figure out how to confess. As the festival comes closer, she learns from Zuumin how happy Zuumin is to be playing music with Yuipon. In the past, Zuumin was a sickly girl who was bullied for being weird. Zuumin had always wanted to sing on a big stage and have precious friends like Yuipon. Thus, these recent times with the Keyaki class were a great blessing for Zuumin.

Yuipon’s heart constricts even further as she thinks about how her feelings for Zuumin were creating dissonance in their music. Zuumin hadn’t been blaming Yuipon at all, saying that they were a great pair. However, Yuipon knew that something was wrong with herself.

The first day of the festival arrives soon enough.

In a slight story detour, it’s revealed that Memi has dropped off the mysterious package she received previously. Additionally, there is a scene between Yuichanz and Kyoko.

Yuichanz perform brilliantly at the music event, and they have a surprise encore where Yuipon performs something that she created for Zuumin. This might be Yuipon’s courage. She confesses to Zuumin after the performance, and… she gets rejected. Rather, it’s like her confession was never said, was never accepted. That heartbreaking look of apprehension on Zuumin’s face hurts Yuipon more than the fact that she has more or less been rejected.

Their part of the festival has concluded, and there’s still the rest of the festival to go.

As expected, the Keyaki class’ event is popular. Throughout, there’s some awkwardness between the Yuichanz, but luckily they’ve split to be mostly with their roommates and other friends. Techi also is ill at ease crossdressing, but she’s constantly reassured by Neru. The TechiNeru relationship is close.

On the third day of the festival, outside guests are allowed to come if invited. Techi hadn’t invited anyone and no one in the class knew her past, so she continues the day as usual. Or, at least, that was how it was supposed to be. That person wasn’t supposed to be here. Miki, a childhood best friend. As more customers were coming into the butler cafe, Techi freezes in place as she sees her ex-best friend and begins to shiver.

Miki bursts into anger that Techi has no right to dress up like Yukiteru, like the dead brother who has been mentioned before. She loudly blames Techi for killing Yukiteru, and things almost begin to get physical. To the surprise of the class, Techi just stands there and takes all of the abuse. That’s when the mysterious package shows up. Except this time, it’s open, and inside is a cracked cellphone that Techi very intimately recognizes. She can’t really get away since the school still is bustling with the festival. With a buzz, the phone turns on all of a sudden. The class sees the message pop-ups on the screen and are shocked at the vitriol. These messages are aimed toward Techi and they’re only a few months old.

For some reason, Neru is delaying to act even though the expression on Neru’s face shows that she’s unhappy. Nonetheless, as soon as the class figures out what this crazy girl is talking about, they rush in to chase her out, Manaka grabbing her wrist before she can hit Techi, Yuuka and Akane going to console Techi.

The Keyaki class decides to close their event early for the day so they can understand what happened. At first, Techi doesn’t want to talk at all. She seems more closed off than when she first met everyone at the beginning of the school year. To everyone’s surprise, Berika suggests that they throw away the phone because it’s clearly someone trying to mess with them and hurt Techi. Everyone more or less agrees and asks Techi if they can get rid of it. Techi agrees. Somehow, they now understand why Techi doesn’t have and doesn’t want a phone.

After a while, Techi quietly explains that she used to have a brother, but he died, and because of that, she was bullied really badly back in her hometown. She isn’t willing to explain anymore.

Neru hugs Techi and apologizes. This somehow escalates into a huge class group hug. Techi tries to apologize for ruining the festival, but no one will let her blame herself. They collectively decide not to push any of their curiosities. Quietly, Techi cries some almost happy tears.

On the last day of the festival, the class decides they should just have some fun instead of continuing the butler cafe, which had become awkward to do. Yuipon manages to ask Zuumin if they could go explore the festival together, and Zuumin agrees. Yuichanz are still close. Overall, the school festival is an enjoyable affair for the classmates involved, and they continue to grow closer.

<Oda Nana>

Fall is cooling down and winter is near. The annual Sakamichi winter celebration is announced, and the winter ball will commence. The ball is filled with romantic rumors, and within the whirlwind of excitement for the upcoming events, the three roommates Suzumoto, Kobayashi, and Oda Nana find themselves at odds with each other.


Time passes. There’s not long until the winter vacation, but before that there is an annual Sakamichi winter celebration with a winter ball. Some of the classmates can’t help but think that rich private schools sure were amazing, ignoring how needlessly high spec their classroom and dorms are. With a ball coming up, there’s clearly a pressure to find someone to go with, a date, and the entire school is getting excited, some normal class girls asking out members of the Keyaki class. There’s even some award for the best couple at the ball.

MonaRisa and YuukaNen are dating, so everyone knows that they’ll be going together to the ball. OzeUemu are clearly going together too. Koike very openly places her dibs on Habu. Even Techi and Neru have decided to go together.

Then there’s Oda Nana who really wants to ask Yuipon out to the ball, completely ignoring Suzumoto’s feelings. Since the three are living together, the atmosphere in their dorm room really isn’t great. While Oda Nana is acting blind, Suzumoto is pretty sure that Yuipon is in love with Zuumin. However, Suzumoto loves Oda Nana. She can’t bring herself to hurt Oda Nana’s feelings, so she just bears with it.

Oda Nana continues talking with Suzumoto about how much she loves Yuipon. The talk continues during lunch, leading to Neru to suggest Oda relax a little bit or just go ask Yuipon to the ball already.

Even Oda Nana needs to build up some courage before asking Yuipon out. Thus, she goes to Suzumoto for advice. They’re close friends although Oda Nana always rejects Suzumoto’s advances as jokes. They’re gym buddies sometimes and dance studio buddies at other times. On Oda’s side, she’s glad that she can have such a close friend to confide in. If Yuipon is her crush, then Suzumoto is her best friend. She just doesn’t realize how much she’s hurting Suzumoto because she can’t seem to understand that Suzumoto’s love isn’t a joke.

Suzumoto confides in Fuu-chan about her troubles, the emotion in her voice nearly going flat. She can’t understand why Oda Nana doesn’t understand, and she wonders if she’s beginning to fall out of love with her roommate. It’s not a good feeling.

Fuu-chan wants to confront Oda Nana about it, but Suzumoto shakes her head. Oda Nana’s going to confess to Yuipon tomorrow.

To no one’s surprise, Oda Nana is rejected by Yuipon when she asks Yuipon out. However, Oda Nana is surprisingly hurt by the rejection. When Suzumoto goes to the dance studio to burn off some frustrations from recently, she sees Oda Nana acting weird. Then, Oda Nana asks Suzumoto out to the ball.

Suzumoto rejects Oda Nana’s request. Even though she loves Oda Nana, she’s… she’s not willing to be an extra who gets asked as a second choice because Oda Nana doesn’t put her in her eyes.

From there on, things get even more awkward between the room of three. Yuipon already spends a lot of time with Zuumin, so she’s often not in the dorm. Suzumoto takes to spending most of her time in the dance studio. Oda Nana doesn’t know what to do, feeling like she’s ruined her relationship with both of her roommates, and pretends to be sleeping when they come back to the room.

At this point, even Koike and Habu ask Oda Nana if everything is alright because they see Yuipon and Suzumoto acting strange. Oda Nana is still lost, and she thinks about properly talking to her roommates even though she has no good words to say.

She finds Yuichanz practicing music together and awkwardly watches for a while. Yuipon looks so enamored with Zuumin that Oda Nana can’t believe she didn’t notice before. When Yuichanz finish and notice Oda Nana, Oda Nana quickly blurts out an apology to Yuipon and runs away. She runs all the way to the dance studio where she spots Suzumoto dancing, and it’s brilliant. Oda Nana manages to say another short apology. Suzumoto accepts, but she tells Oda Nana that she still won’t go to the ball with her because Oda Nana still doesn’t understand Suzumoto’s feelings.

In an interlude, it is revealed that Zuumin is beginning to accept Yuipon’s feelings for her. The short Yui might actually really like the taller Yui. Zuumin agrees to go to the ball with Yuipon.

Ultimately, Oda Nana and Suzumoto go to the ball without a date. They have a talk where Suzumoto explains her feelings and Oda Nana begins to understand. Suzumoto likes the funny Oda Nana, but she also likes the serious Oda Nana. In the end, she still likes Oda Nana, but she won’t let Oda Nana step over her feelings even by accident.

At the end of the talk, they return to the ball and share a dance together.

<W. Rika>

Winter vacation is about to start. The girls in the Keyaki class have to stay on campus because of the rules and their bracelets, so they receive a special announcement from the man in the video. He informs them to be careful and stay inside during the winter because there will be a mild preliminary test of survival for them. They’re confused at his cryptic words, but he does not explain any further.

The break starts. The normal class students have all moved out, and the Keyaki girls are relaxing in their dorm, making use of all the facilities available. They decide to hold a New Year party because they had missed the timing to throw a Christmas party. At the middle of everything is a certain Berika.

Ever since the school festival, she’s been feeling closer with Techi. She’s been wondering about the bonds in the class and how wonderful life has been for her ever since meeting everyone here. It’s a feeling especially strong when she thinks about her roommate, Naako. Because of this happiness, she throws herself into the New Year party preparation. Although she’s clumsy and odd, no one gets mad at her for it because she’s doing her best.

They throw the party on New Year’s Eve. During the party, it begins to snow. They missed a white Christmas, but they got a beautiful New Year’s Eve. Everyone does their best to stay up for the New Year’s countdown, watching Kouhaku and all. Berika is truly happy. As she begins to doze off, she accidentally lays her head on Techi’s shoulder. Techi gently wakes Berika up, and Berika thanks Techi. That thanks has many meanings, but the quiet Berika doesn’t explain and just keeps her gratitude for Techi’s presence in the class in her heart.

Three, two, one. The new year arrives and Berika drifts off to sleep, this time on Neru. She vaguely hears Manaka and Naako laugh as she’s dragged onto the couch and covered with a thick blanket.

Berika’s first dream of the year is strange. It starts off with her past where she was quiet and unnoticed. She didn’t know whether or not her ex-classmates had been doing it deliberately, but they treated her like she didn’t exist. For a short while, she was bullied, but they probably got bored, so Berika was treated like she didn’t exist. If that had continued, perhaps she would have done something she would regret like stabbing something or someone.

Her dream suddenly changes scenes so that her Keyaki classmates were in the seats of her old classmates. Even though she is aware that this is a dream, Berika is filled with apprehension. Everything looks gray. No one is looking at her, no one, not even Naako. Then she feels a tap on her shoulder from behind. First, she looks up and sees Naako smiling at her. Then, she looks behind her and sees Manaka smiling at her. The world once again has color. It is so warm and happy. The Keyaki class is her precious, happy place where she was not rejected for her oddities.

She looks around and suddenly realizes that Techi and Neru are missing. She gets up and suggests to her dream classmates to look for them. The class agrees. Berika goes with Naako, Manaka, and Risa in the dream to find Techi and Neru. When they find Neru, something scary happened, jolting Berika awake.

When she wakes up, she realizes that she’s on the couch. Much of the class has returned to their dorm rooms, but a few of her classmates are still there. Manaka has apparently been playing Pokemon the entire night as Risa snoozed on her shoulder. Techi is sleeping on Neru’s lap. Naako has just returned from a kitchen with cups of hot chocolate for everyone still here.

Berika happily takes the hot chocolate and looks outside. The snow is still falling. That’s strange. It shouldn’t snow too much in Tokyo, but the snow keeps falling. By the end of the day, everyone having woken up and started doing their own things, the snow is still falling.

The Keyaki class finds themselves locked into their dorms by essence of the snow blocking the exits. Outside, the originally light snowfall has become a howling blizzard. Then the power goes out. A generator slowly whirs to life, but a lot of the dorm facilities are of no real use without power. They need to figure out what to do now.

All the outside help they receive is a fuzzy transmission from the screen man giving instructions to the location of the generator and where the manual is.

First, they decide to gather everyone together in the lounge. The lounge is for the moment the warmest place. The class sets some rules for everyone to stick together. They dig out some flashlights, water bottles, and snacks for the time being. The members who can cook volunteer to cook for the class since the cafeteria is out of order, but luckily the stoves are gas stoves and still functioning. They’re scared at first, unable to search up what to do with the internet out, but they eventually settle in.

Techi feels that this situation is too suspicious, but everyone settles in. It begins to feel like a big sleepover, and the snowfall looks as if it’s slowing.

Of course, the Keyaki class doesn’t have much luck. The generator malfunctions, and they’re suddenly out of power. Even worse, Naako has come down with a cold, so they really need to get the heat in the lounge back on.

Remembering the fuzzy instructions, the girls begin discussing how they should fix the generator. They want to send a team of people who would be likely to be able to fix things, but no one knows where the location the instructions said is. After all, normal high school girls don’t go exploring the mechanical rooms in their dorms even if they’re allowed to go.

Except, Berika actually knows because she’s explored with Naako before. Berika pipes up that she probably knows where the generator is. Neru volunteers to help, followed by Techi. Akane, Yone, and Sato join the team as well. They grab a few flashlights and head toward the generator room.

When they reach the room, they quickly find the generator and instructions. Reading the instructions, Neru miraculously manages to get the generator back up. It’s not without a few hiccups along the way, but the squad overcomes the obstacles.

They begin to head back to the lounge. Berika notices Neru lingering and watching the generator with a complicated expression. For some reason, Berika voices a concern that Neru takes with a mysterious smile. Neru asks for Berika to keep her suspicions quiet, and that mysterious smile looks a little sad. Techi turns back, wondering why the two are lagging behind, and seeing how much Techi cares for Neru, Berika decides to agree to Neru’s request.

Eventually, the snow stops. With the generator working, the Keyaki class is relatively at ease. The power comes back on, and they’re awoken one morning by the sound of snow trucks getting rid of the massive pile of snow outside of their dorm.

In an interlude, Neru complains through her phone that they shouldn’t get the girls involved in such dangerous activities. Then she pauses. The other side seems to be laughing at her request, and Neru has nothing she can say because she knows that the future will be even more messed up.

It’s an eventful winter vacation.

<Nijika>

School starting is a lot less eventful than winter break was. The girls who aren’t the brightest grumble about school. There’s a parent visitation day coming up, but for many members of the Keyaki class, that day is unimportant. At least, they thought it was unimportant. Techi is a little tense that her parents might come, but that seems extremely unlikely. The Keyaki class doesn’t have any plans for parent visitation day.

As has become tradition for the Keyaki class, the mysterious man in the screen announces an event for the upcoming day. A quiz bowl style competition will be held for the visiting parents, a pair randomly selected from each class in the school. The pair selected for the Keyaki class is Yone and Nijika. Of course, this being the Keyaki class means the competition performance will affect the points in the class’ bracelets.

Unfortunately, the Yone and Nijika pair might be one of the worst possible pairings at the start. They get along decently enough in daily life, but the academically competitive Yone really hates how bad Nijika is at her studies. One way or another, Yone ends up snapping at Nijika at the end of the week. The pair splits before they even get started, Nijika stomping away in tears.

Yone tries asking Oda Nana and Naako for advice as she begins to feel bad. If only they could have chosen their partners instead of having this shoddy random assignment. Unfortunately, Oda and Naako can’t think of good advice. Yone then goes to find Neru, who she wishes was her partner, but she still doesn’t obtain a good way to deal with the problem aside from talking with Nijika and apologizing. When even Techi and Koike tell Yone to just talk to Nijika, Yone childishly refuses.

Meanwhile, Nijika is upset. She’d like to just quit, but Fuu-chan convinces Nijika that it’s important to do her best even if Yone is being unreasonable. Fuu-chan gets Manaka, Risa, and Akane together for Nijika, and the friend group helps Nijika study. In the end, it feels like they only studied strange trivia, but Nijika does feel better.

Finally, Yone and Nijika get it together and apologize to each other during a class break. Nijika apologizes first, leading Yone to retort that she should be the one apologizing. They go through a silly back and forth of apologies and praises for each other. Through that, they realize that they’re pretty good friends. They can’t do anything about the pairing for the competition, so they can only do their best and not argue. From there on, Yone puts her trust in Nijika.

Parent visitation day comes. The quiz bowl event happens. And, as expected, Yone carries the team, acing the science categories. Yet, Nijika boosts their pair as well with some weird trivia that Yone had never heard of before.

In the final round, they’re among the last three pairs remaining, all tied. The last category is a mystery until it’s suddenly announced as a partnership relationship quiz. The event was not in pairs for nothing.

Yone and Nijika smile at each other. They have the final quiz in the hole as they’ve gotten much closer over this ordeal. With that, the pair clinches the victory, earning their class points.

The rest of the parent visitation day rides that high of victory. On one hand, Yuuka’s family makes a fashionably late appearance, causing Yuuka to burst into happy tears. During a class break, they tease Yuuka and Akane as a lovey dovey couple. On the other hand, Techi’s parents do not show up, much to her relief.

After class, the girls are happily chatting and celebrating Yone and Nijika’s victory. Techi steps out of the classroom for a bit, having lost a match of rock-paper-scissors and gotten stuck with juice buying duty. On her way to the vending machine, she bumps into two people she really did not want to meet. They are her parents.

Yet, it doesn’t feel like they’re parents. The way the look at her is the way someone would look at a person they want dead. When they open their mouths, they tell her that she looks happy but doesn’t deserve to be. Techi can’t retort when they begin to mention her brother who died because of her. She doesn’t know how long this one sided beration goes on for, but somewhere in the middle of it, Neru shows up, worried that Techi would be overwhelmed by the number of juice cans only to see a family confrontation.

The parents tells Neru that she should stay out of the conversation and stop hanging around someone like Techi. Neru frowns. Then, the parents say that they’re going to withdraw Techi from this Keyaki class program.

Finally, Techi speaks up. She doesn’t want that. She really doesn’t want that. However, they don’t care what she wants or not.

At that moment, Neru covers Techi’s ears. She coldly stares at the pair of adults, not letting Techi see her expression, and says something that Techi doesn’t hear. Whatever Neru said causes the parents to recoil for a slight second. Techi gently removes Neru’s hands from her ears and thanks Neru.

The parents manage to get in the last words, but they leave quickly after. This doesn’t seem good for Techi.

<Manaka>

The news gets out to the class that Techi’s parents want to withdraw her from the Keyaki class. The girls are understandably upset. They want to petition Techi’s parents to not do so, worried that Techi would be thrown back into the toxic environment from Techi’s previous school. However, Techi tells the girls not to.

Everyone is worried for Techi, but luckily, no official announcement of withdrawal comes. They’re relieved. Perhaps the original intent of withdrawal was just a threat.

As life begins to go back to normal, Manaka starts getting a little bored on campus. It isn’t as if she’s explored the entirety of the school, but she does want to go out to the city some time. She tells Risa that she wants to sneak out. Risa isn’t interested, so Manaka goes by herself one day to a school exit near the Keyaki dorms.

The second she sticks her hand out, her bracelet reacts, and she’s electrocuted by it, losing a few points. Sputtering in confusion, Manaka can’t help but think that something is definitely wrong with this school.

She messages everyone in the class group chat to tell them what happened. A lot of her classmates don’t believe her. After all, even Manaka couldn’t believe that the school would actually physically punish students for breaking a rule. Still, she’s very sure that she got zapped because she was trying to break the rule about staying on campus.

Manaka tells Techi the next day, and Techi explains that the same thing happened to her. That gets the class more convinced. They decide that maybe they should try it out and see. That is when the screen man shows up on screen to tell the class not to do so, which the class takes as a confirmation for Manaka and Techi’s words. Manaka gets even more suspicious and tells the class that she wants to investigate the Keyaki class.

Part of the class agrees. Another part disagrees. Strangely enough, Neru is part of the latter group.

She looks into the history of the class program, which is basically nonexistent. She looks up the sponsors. They seem legitimate, but when she asks Yuuka about them, they find out that the companies are also quite suspicious. It doesn’t make sense for the companies to fund the Keyaki class. Furthermore, the construction of the Keyaki class facilities was done by a company that does not exist. Even the snowstorm that the girls suffered through wasn’t recorded to be so big that it would block people into a building. Scattered throughout the haphazard investigation is the name Yukiteru.

Manaka doesn’t feel like she understands more now that she’s investigated. Since Manaka started the investigations, Neru has been a little weird too. Neru had asked Manaka to take care of Techi for her, whatever that meant.

Nonetheless, Manaka steamrolls forward. She accidentally overhears a strange conversation Neru has on the phone one time, but she tells herself that she’s getting her suspicion toward the Keyaki class system mixed up with Neru. After all, she remembered back in the beginning when Risa had been all gungho anti-Neru and turned out to be wrong.

Meanwhile, Neru is frantically contacting the person on the other side of the phone. As Manaka investigates, the higher ups are deciding how much earlier they should move up their plan for the Keyaki class. Neru’s anxiety causes Techi to worry.

Manaka decides that she wants to present her findings to everyone in the class. The break after lunch break, she tells her classmates what she has found. Neru is frowning. Manaka also notes the name Yukiteru even though she can’t remember where she’s heard it from. Techi is shocked, explaining quietly that Yukiteru was her brother.
Just as Techi finishes, the man in the screen announces to the girls that Techi will be withdrawn from the Keyaki class.

<Yurina>

This arc is meant to be narrated through Techi’s point of view like the —thoughts.


A long time ago, when this story’s Techi was born, she was born as the younger daughter of a couple with a wonderful son. They treasured the son more than the daughter, praising the son and thinking lowly of the daughter. Yet, she did not mind too much because like everyone else, she also loved her brother, Yukiteru.

The girl had two main friends, another girl named Miki and a boy named Ren. She was sure that they had become her friends because of her brother. She knew for certain that Miki had a crush on Yukiteru. However, that was just how life was. She was her brother’s little sister, so people liked her for that. Except, she wasn’t her brother, so people disliked her for that.

All was well until all was not well. Eventually, even the shy Yurina could not handle always being compared to her beloved brother.
She fought with him. She became angry with him. Then she killed him.

She had been causing him stress because of how much she had pushed him away. Their parents scolded her, only her, making her even more upset with her brother. Normally, it would be temporary, but she couldn’t help but be upset. He tripped and twisted his ankle in his tiredness, so her parents scolded her for being a burden on him. Strangely enough, he didn’t blame her.

At that time, she just didn’t want to listen.

It only took one more mistake to make her regret everything. They were fighting, something that had become more and more common. She no longer remembered the reason why, but she ran out of the house. She knew she couldn’t win the argument, especially when their parents would choose him without a question.

He chased after her, his ankle not fully healed. When he caught up with her, they were near a street, near the basketball court that they used to play at as kids.

There was more argument, and she pushed him with her hands in her frustration. Normally, that wouldn’t do anything because he was much stronger than her. However, perhaps it was because of his ankle, but he fell onto the street and was hit by a speeding car before he could get up. And she just watched in shock.

Naturally, she regretted everything because he was still her precious brother. Now he was dead.

If a world with Yukiteru barely accepted Yurina, then a world without Yukiteru did not accept Yurina at all. From there on, her life became something close to living hell. Her parents looked upon her with loathing because she had destroyed their treasure who she could never replace. Her false friends shunned her, and acquaintances knew her as the girl who killed her brother. Bullying escalated to outright physical harm, but there was no more brother to help her.

What saved her was the Keyaki class.

When Techi came to the Keyaki class, she was empty. Then, her classmates filled her heart one by one. Neru came, and somehow, life seemed happy. Techi was still often stuck in the past, but she… she was happy. And she was in love with Neru. She was living.



The man in the screen says that she’s being withdrawn from the Keyaki class. Techi doesn’t want to accept that. She doesn’t want to go back to a living hell. She wants to be with the people who had become precious to her. As she opens her mouth, she hears something that she can’t quite understand.

Why is that man saying those things to Neru?

<Neru>

The man reveals that Neru is an accomplice to whatever plans were made for the Keyaki class. Neru is a traitor. The room freezes, but Neru has no ability to deny the truth when it’s openly revealed, so she apologizes to her classmates. She especially apologizes to Techi, Hirate-san.

Techi can’t accept it, but… what else can she do? Neru will not meet Techi’s eyes.

The Keyaki class pre-game is over. All the windows in the classroom are shuttered over, and the door is locked. The girls are stuck in the classroom now. The screen man tells Neru that he’s leaving the rest to her and disappears.

At that moment, the lockers in the back of the room fold into themselves, revealing an elevator compartment behind the lockers. What Aoi had previously in the summer detected was hollow behind the lockers was this compartment. Neru directs her classmates, aside from Techi, into the elevator compartment. There are refusals to follow her instructions, but she manages.

When the elevator goes down, only Neru and Techi are left in the classroom. Neru hands Techi a loaded one bullet gun, telling her that she’s allowed to do anything with it. Techi asks why Neru is doing this, but Neru explains that she was simply instructed to do so. When the elevator returns, Techi accompanies Neru to the place below.

Meanwhile, the class has been looking at the game rules left for them in the room they were delivered to. It’s a messed up battle royale. Each day, they have to use a certain number of points in their bracelet for survival. If they don’t pay a survival fee, then they’re killed by a poison in the bracelet. They can only earn points by taking points from each other or by killing each other. The last one surviving will get out free and earn a prize.

Everyone is angry that the masterminds thought that they would turn on each other and vow to figure out another way.

Techi and Neru finally arrive. The class bombards Neru with questions about the situation, but Neru cannot answer most of them. She explains that Techi is an outside player in the game, which is why she was withdrawn from the class in technicality. If Techi shoots and kills any one person, then everyone wins and gets to leave.

Tensions are high, but no one can figure out a way to get the bracelets off or leave otherwise. All they can do is pay the points and play the game for now.

Neru is stuck alone in a corner, acting as a supervisor, while the class is huddled around Techi to protect Techi. They reassure Techi that they’ll somehow figure it out. There’s no way they’ll make their precious classmate do something terrible.

A few days pass. Neru knows that some of her classmates don’t have many points saved up and would only last one week. She sees the ones with more points sending points to the low points girls, but she doesn’t want to see them die. She knows she’s a terrible traitor, but she can’t help but call out to Techi that Techi is also allowed to kill Neru to win. Techi doesn’t respond to that.

Neru thinks that this will be it. She thinks that she’s ruined the relationship between her and Techi even though in reality, she’s fallen for that awkward girl. She’ll be glad if she’s the only blood on Techi’s hands.

However, one night a few days later, Techi comes find Neru to talk.

Accidentally calling Techi Yurina-chan like before, Neru makes Techi smile that Neru was still Neru after all. Techi asks Neru about a lot of things like friendship and love. She tells Neru that she loves her, and Neru just mutely nods. Then, Neru shakes her head. Neru tells Techi that she, Neru, is very fake. From the start, she had investigated Techi. She had a job to do. She was part of the underworld, a young gang leader who had gotten roped into a job she hadn’t thought she would start to care so much about. She hadn’t thought that she would love the Keyaki class so much, that she would fall for Techi for real.

Techi wipes away Neru’s tears and tells Neru that she’s reached a conclusion. Neru asks if it’s to kill her. Techi shakes her head. Then, Neru asks to see the gun. When Techi gives the gun to Neru, Neru fiddles with it a little.

The following day, as Techi is asked if she wants to use the gun before the survival fee payment, she nods. Before anyone can say anything, she raises it to her own head and shoots.

Everyone is running towards her to stop her. Neru’s eyes widen, tears threatening to spill out. At this moment, all of the bracelets unlock and fall to the ground with a clink. Techi is still alive. Neru is so glad that she does end up crying. Techi is confused why she isn’t dead.

Neru hiccups that it’s because she flipped the safety because if Techi wasn’t going to kill her, she didn’t want anyone else to die. She was sure that Techi wouldn’t know enough about guns to notice.

It’s in that moment that Neru is shot. The man from the screen makes his appearance in person, and he looks very familiar to Techi. Neru shouts to Techi in pain not to get close to that man because he’s dangerous. He then kicks Neru to the ground and tells her to shut up or else he’ll shoot her again.

Techi starts talking to him, asking him who he is. He asks if she doesn’t recognize her own brother. However, Techi knows that he isn’t her brother. It takes her a while, but from the way he spoke, she guesses that it is perhaps her ex-childhood friend Ren. He seems overjoyed to be recognized. She asks him if he hates her enough for Yukiteru that he would hurt the people around her like this. He tells her that she’s wrong because the one he liked all along was Techi, not Yukiteru.

She doesn’t understand his logic. He wants to become Techi’s savior by bringing her away from a bad place and destroying her all over again. She really doesn’t get him.

That makes him angry, so he decides that he will kill everyone. Techi won’t accept that, so she begins to fumble with the gun again. He laughs because he doesn’t think that she has the ability to actually shoot a person, but she undoes the safety and really does shoot him.

Ren goes down in pain. He seems temporarily disabled but not dead. At that moment, no one knows what to do, but at least the bad guy has dropped his gun. Neru, still bleeding, grabs the gun and hits him over the head to knock him out. She wants to get rid of him, but she’s afraid to scare her classmates more.

Neru gives Techi some sort of device to control the building and leave. Techi wants Neru to come with the rest of the class, but Neru shakes her head, saying that she needs to deal with Ren. Neru then looks toward Manaka and asks that Manaka fulfill the request that Neru had made a while back.

It takes Manaka a few seconds to realize it was Neru’s request for Manaka to take care of Techi. Manaka tells Neru that they’re still friends, and then she pulls Techi along to leave with the rest of the class.

<Final>

After everything is finished, the class manages to stay together. The Keyaki class program is shifted to new management, so much of what had been suspicious is taken care of. Now, they are really just a specially funded program of girls from around the country selected by some sponsor’s standards. Life begins to return to normal.

The class passes onto their second year, panicking over final exams and taking remedial classes in the case of Nijika, Habu, and Zuumin. Techi receives emancipation papers from some mysterious source, allowing her to finally be free from her parents. Yet, Neru is nowhere to be found.

Techi has so much she wants to tell Neru. She’s kept Neru’s part of the room the way that Neru liked it. She wasn’t able to return to the place where the old Keyaki classroom was. She just wants to see Neru again.
Then, a bit into their second year, just like the first time they met, there’s a transfer student, a certain Nagahama Neru.

END


Thank you for reading Eccentric. Thank you for loving Keyakizaka46. Even though the Keyakizaka46 in this story no longer exists, I hope that everyone will continue being happy and loving the girls who we fell for.

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