“Animals naturally form packs. Carnivores form social hierarchies within their packs. Those that fail to become alphas harbor the burden of failure until they die. I’m sure herbivores feel guilt as they sacrifice their comrades to evade their predators and live on. In this world, forming packs yields no benefit for the individual. Thus, I choose the way of the solitary bear, which does not form packs. The bear finds no anxiety in living alone. He is proud. He is a lone wolf. Furthermore, they hibernate in the winter. How wonderful that must be. There is no doubt in my mind. In my next life, I want to be a bear.”

Hikigaya earned his ‘honor’ as a loner, he holds his principals high as a man of solitude. He does not need to rely on anyone but himself, this makes him an independent person. Even though he is often considered gross by other people, he doesn’t really care about it and does not stray from his loner path. His perseverance definitely earns him some respect.

In episode 2, Hikigaya wrote an essay about how he would like to become a bear in his next life, as he claims it to be an antithesis against the social hierarchies of packs for his biology assignment when he should have been writing about “How Animals Live in the Wild”. This caused Hikigaya to be summoned by Shizuka Hiratsuka.

In episode 3, during Totsuka’s tennis practice, Hayama Hayato and Yumiko Miura showed up and wanted to play on the tennis field as well. This resulted in a tennis match between Hikigaya and Hayato, as the winner would claim the tennis field. When Yuigahama was subsequently injured, Hikigaya was ready to get on all fours and begged them for the field.

“Well, regardless, it’s about time to get on my hands and knees. When you currying a favor, you throw aside your pride and curry away. That’s my pride. It’s time to get serious.”

Just as Hikigaya was about to give up, Yukinoshita showed up just in time, replacing Yuigahama and resumed the tennis match. Nearing the end of the match, Hikigaya was able to utilize his experiences of being a loner as an advantage to win the match.

The actions displayed by Hikigaya here elaborates how much he cares about his pride, which is none. Hikigaya is ready to sacrifice his own pride and kneel before Hayama in order to help his friend Totsuka. It’s amazing how Hikigaya went through such lengths to help his newly acquired friend. Eventually, he was able to prove that despite being a loner, he remains superior over Hayama.

“That’s right. I’ve forged my own way alone up until now. While you guys were fighting with and consoling each other for whatever reasons, I’ve faced everything head on by myself. Now look at me. I’m the strongest.”

After all those years of being a loner, Hikigaya has managed to acquire quite a few skills, one of which is his observation skills. As he rarely talks to others, this allowed him to pay close attention to the things around him. Being observant and detailed does come in handy for Hikigaya on some occasion, as he is able to read and assess any situation at hand.

In episode 4, when Hayama Hayato came with a request to the Service Club regarding a chain mail that has been circling around the class which involves Tobe, Oooka and Yamato, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama decides to help Hayama by finding the culprit behind the rumors.

When Yuigahama failed to gather information, Hikigaya, through his observation skills, managed to conclude that Oooka, Yamato and Tobe are friends of Hayama, but to each other they are simply friends of a friend. This ultimately led to the conclusion that the rumor started because the 3 of them wanted to be in the same group with Hayama on the upcoming workplace visit.

In episode 12, when Sagami the chairwoman of the Sobu High School Cultural Festival went missing, Hikigaya was the first to find her on the roof. When confronted, Hikigaya knew he’d only have to say the things Sagami wanted to hear so she would return to the stage, but he decided to lay the truth bomb on Sagami instead.

“Yukinoshita did things her way to the bitter end. And so, I’ll do things my way. Unequivocal, invective, vile, villainous, and vicious.”

“Look at me. I don’t know jack about you, yet I figured it out. We’re the same. We feed from the darkest depths of society. Think about it. I don’t give a damn about you, but I found you first. Logically, that means… No one was really looking for you, were they?”

Hikigaya was then pinned to the wall by Hayama asking him to shut up. When Hayama left the scene, he asked Hikigaya as to why he couldn’t do things differently.

Hikigaya demonstrated how ruthless he can be, even going through so much just to expose Sagami. He knew the consequences and yet still refuses to stray away from his path, doing things his way. This incident definitely earned admiration from people as they tend to not want to be the ‘bad guy’ and say or do things that might hurt other people’s feelings, even though it’s true. Hikigaya doesn’t really care about his image as the ‘bad guy’, or the misunderstandings that people might have towards him.

In episode 5, after Hikigaya found out that Yuigahama was the girl whose dog was saved by him, he decided to confront her, and tell her to stop being nice to him if she was doing it out of pity or guilt. To Hikigaya’s surprise, Yuigahama didn’t say much after that, she just called Hikigaya a “jerk” and left.
“I hate nice girls. Just exchanging pleasantries with them makes me curious, and texting each other makes me feel restless. If I get a call, for the rest of the day, I’ll keep checking my call history with a stupid grin on my face. But I know the truth. They’re just being nice. Anyone nice to me is nice to others too. But I always find myself on the verge of forgetting that.”

“If the truth is a cruel mistress, then a lie must be a nice girl. And so, niceness is a lie. I would always hold expectations. I would always misunderstand. At some point, I stopped hoping. An experienced loner never falls for the same trap twice. A lone warrior, surviving hundreds of battles. When it comes to losing, I’m the strongest. That’s why, no matter what happens, I will always hate nice girls.”

One of the great things about Hikigaya is that he is able to see through the facade that people put up in order to get others to like them. This particular skill is praiseworthy as not many can really see through one’s true self. People who often judge by outer appearances can be really deceiving at times. This makes them believe what they want to believe therefore clouding their judgement between ideals and reality.

Ultimately, Hikigaya hates nice girls simply because he resents the fact that he might fall into the trap of expecting things from them. Despite being a loner, he can still see through the intentions of one’s action. This was also shown in episode 6 where Hikigaya compliments Yukinoshita Haruno’s “Fortified Armored Shell-like mask” revealing that ideals are ideals, they aren’t reality.