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ACT 1.2
CONFESSION
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“I can rewind time.”
“.....”
“.....”
"....."
“.....?”
"....."
“...Hinata-san.”
“.....”
“Hinata-san.”
“....-Ow!!” The boy in question pulled away with a small yelp when the girl leaned forward to pinch his cheek, rubbing his offended face and giving her a look. She pulled away and gave a sigh of relief.
“Good, you’re still with me. Sorry for pinching you… but you have a tendency to zone out a lot and it can get a bit tiresome waiting for you to snap out of it.”
“Wha-! I never-! You always-!” Sputtering, Hajime was unable to even collect all the words he wanted to properly call her out on her hypocrisy. Seriously? And to think he'd been getting all nervous five minutes ago when Chiaki came to his lodge claiming she wanted to "confess" something-!
“Do you believe me?”
“-Huh?” Focusing back on the girl stood uncomfortably close to him, Hajime swallowed to find her gazing up at him intensely with her head tilted aside. “Do you believe me, Hinata-san?”
“I… uh...” He scratched his head, averting his gaze away. He knew Chiaki wasn’t a liar - in fact she was one of the few in the group who helped aid him when trying to calm the rowdy students down - but what she was “confessing” to him wasn’t physically or logically possible. He wasn't going to lie to her and claim he believed her. "I.... I don't."
"...." Chiaki pulled away so there was a comfortable space between them, saying nothing for a moment. Eventually, her lips twitched in an almost sad smile. "Mhhm, I didn't expect you to. But that's okay, it is quite a hard truth to swallow. It would be worse if you did believe me, I think."
“W-What are you talking about?" His voice came out louder than he expected but he couldn't help it, Chiaki was- she was freaking him out in all honesty.
"...." Chiaki raised a hand to scratch at her sleeve absent-mindedly, turning her face away from him. "....I shouldn't be telling you this. I don't know why I am in the first place. But then again... I suppose I've done a lot of things I shouldn't have lately."
He swallowed thickly, he didn't like how ominous her words sounded.
"I just... wanted to tell someone once..." Her voice faded, her face still averted from him and with concern he took a step forward-
- a piercing scream interrupted the pair and Hajime snapped his head around to stare out the window towards the other lodges where the scream sounded from.
“Tanaka-san’s been found in Sonia-san's lodge, his body stabbed twenty-three times. Just this moment, Koizumi-san discovered him whilst she was looking for Sonia-san and is in shock... but when we rush there, the body discovery announcement will play and everyone else will appear.”
Hajime pierced his gaze once more into Chiaki. Her voice was entirely methodical and devoid of grief but when she peered at him, her eyes were filled with heartache. He felt a chill go down his spine, this entire exchange and atmosphere was all wrong. This shouldn't- this couldn't be happening. He felt the floor vanish from beneath him, a dizziness spreading through his head as her words sunk into his brain.
“W... What are you saying...? You can't be serious...”
She gave a sad smile. “This is the only time I'll confess this to you, Hinata-san. I hope you don't remember this.” In that moment Hajime realised this was a completely different Chiaki to the one he had initially befriended. This Chiaki had long since experienced grief, heartbreak and turmoil. He could almost see the last flames of hope about to extinguish from her eyes before she tore her gaze away from his.
"Goodbye, Hinata-san."
His heart lurched into his throat as he felt some sort of pull in the air around him, and without quite knowing what he was doing he automatically leapt forward with his arms to grab her.
“Wait, Nanami-!”
"-Diiiiing Dong. Diiiing Dong. Ahem, Hope's Peak Academy's School Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make!”
Hajime groaned as he forced his eyes open to stare up at the roof of his cottage. He slowly turned his head towards the TV monitor in his room, staring with irritation at the figure on screen.
“Goooood morning, everyone! Looks like today is gonna be another perfect, tropical day!"
That damn bear. Sitting up in bed, he paused when his gaze landed on the room as if for a moment he expected someone to be stood there before shaking the thought away. As if that would even make sense-
"-Now then, let's show some enthusiasm and make sure to give it our all today!”