Chapter Text
“Everyone goes on and on about hope but what they really mean is status quo. Ah but despair is the big old mystery box! There’s nothing like it to get the blood pumping, the synapses firing, the senses tingling…! It straight shatters the status quo and paves the way for chaos!
Think about it. When a single assassin’s bullet can plunge humanity into the world’s war, none of us is as far from the abyss as we like to tell ourselves. Embrace that simple fact and wah-lah! You're in for the ride of your life!”
Junko could taste it - the taste of sweet, sweet victory within her grasp, though currently akin to the taste of blood due to her senior’s rough treatment, was something worth despairing for.
“Look at me! My nerve endings are at an eleven! Despair did that!” She giggled from underneath his shoe. Her face tilted in a way that was not comfortable, yet her eyes gleamed positively bright at the prospect of her inevitable win. “Come on hunky pie, some part of you has to understand,” she said, her voice dropping to a cold, sultry voice, seducing him to the grand things despair has to offer a beautiful thing like him.
“Hope only gets us as far as want we think we want. Safety. Tranquility. Boredom,” she continued, making the last word as pointed as possible. She smirked when his brow twitched. “Come on, Nirvana looks great on paper but for someone of your intelligence? It’s more like purgatory... You’re better than that.”
Enoshima Junko, aptly dubbed the Ultimate Fashionista due to her knack for predicting fashion trends before they come to, was so close to her goal. She shivered and drooled at the thought of it. Just one more push and victory would be hers!
“They call you the world's hope Kamukura Izuru, and who am I to say you're not the savior. Therein lies the--”
The sound of a metal door opening drowned out her crazed tirade.
“Um… what’s going on?” a quiet voice asked from its direction. It sounded a whole lot like one of her future classmate’s voice but it sounded a whole lot more breathier and lacks that distinct protagonist vibe. “I didn’t know you had guests. I would have visited you later if I did, I wouldn’t want to intrude on your business after all.”
“You’re back,” Kamukura answered from his perch, casually ignoring what the other said. His foot was still pressing down Junko, preventing her from catching a glimpse of the rude bystander who intruded on her moment with Kamukura.
“Aha… were you worried? I should hope not. I didn’t mean to take long, but um…” he faltered before continuing. “Would you mind raising your foot off her? I understand that Kamukura-kun’s judgement is infinitesimally better than my own; however--” Junko heard the sound of fabric rustling and correctly deduced the boy to be fidgeting, “--that is just not the way you’re supposed to treat a lady, Kamukura-kun.”
“She is hardly one,” Kamukura said before stepping down on her, cutting off whatever she was about to say, along with her consciousness.
“Regardless--” Komaeda huffed as Kamukura approached him, “--that’s still not very nice of you. Honestly. I expected better from you, Kamukura-kun.”
“You were expected to be in class a week ago,” Kamukura replied, side-stepping Komaeda’s point easily. He left the room with a pouting Komaeda in tow, uncaring of the collapsed girl on his floor nor her shocked sister on the other side of the room.
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『Your name is Hinata Hajime and you are currently a Second Year student at Hope’s Peak Academy – Reserve Course Department』
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It was often said that time goes slowly when one was waiting for something, and honestly? Hajime could definitely attest to that.
The hours ticked by on a snail’s pace, and no amount of listening to his lesson could make his day go any faster. His teachers droned on and on about mundane things he has already read ahead on his books. And they said advanced reading was supposed to be good for you. Hajime sighed.
The sight of Main Course students loitering the grounds outside his classroom window caused him to purse his lips. He turned his gaze to the clock in front and looked out the window once more. Another half-hour of this. Great.
His seat wobbling snapped him out of his daze.
Hinata turned to his right and saw Natsumi Kuzuryuu sending him a look, as if telling him to quit being mopey. He sent a look back and turned away. Another kick sent his seat wobbling and Hajime has half a mind to tell her to knock it off. He settled with a glare, because a certain someone kept on insisting he be nicer to girls more.
“What do you want, Kuzuryuu?” he hissed, making sure to lower his voice lest their prissy teacher find another reason to humiliate him again.
She raised an eyebrow and covertly raised her notebook. ‘Knock it off. They’re not going anywhere,’ her writing said.
He blinked at that. It’s true. Regardless of how long Hajime’s classes take, the others will remain waiting for him in their base …
“Thanks Kuzuryuu,” Hajime said, his smile growing at the way Kuzuryuu puffed her chest out.
The bell rang, signaling the end of his classes for the day, and Hajime hurriedly packed his things. “What did I fucking say?! Slow down, god!”
“You can’t say that when you’re doing the exact same thing!” Hajime replied, dashing out the room and into the shared library of the academy. He pushed against the rushing mass of students and nearly collided with another student leaving the library.
“Sorry!”
Hajime didn’t hear their reply as he quickly entered the grandiose building, his steps creating a staccato against its marble floors.
It didn’t take him long to reach an isolated room at the end of the hall, but it did take him a while to gather his wits with him. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his thundering heart. This part really doesn’t get any easier. Hajime shook his head and reached for the knob. Kuzuryuu’s right. They’re waiting for him.
The sight that greeted him was a familiar one.
The setting sun streamed in from the window, bathing the quaint room in a soothing orange, with all its occupants engaged in their own thing. Today, though, it seemed that they were all busy talking to each other.
“Come on, Kamukura-kun! Just tell us what she’s talking about!”
“Yeah… It sounds intriguing…”
“No.”
“Kamukura-kun…!” Komaeda whined. “Hinata-kun’s going to be here any second!”
“Too late,” Hajime said as walked towards their table.
“Hinata-kun,” Nanami waved from her seat. “Hi…”
“Hi,” Hajime waved back before getting tackled.
“Hinata-kun!” Komaeda beamed from in front of him. “Tell Kamukura-kun to tell us what happened in his room.”
Hajime turned to the only one who didn’t greet him. “Er… do I want to know?”
“Probably not.”
“You heard what he said.” Hajime sidestepped Komaeda to grab a seat beside Nanami, prompting the other to sit back down as well.
“And the council has dubbed it stupid,” Nanami mumbled, engrossed on her game. “Besides, based on what Komaeda-kun said, it sounds worrying…”
“Exactly, Nanami-san! As expected of our benevolent class rep!”
Hajime tried his damnest not to pinch his nose and sigh. Barely five minutes in and he already has a headache — why did he look forward to coming here all day again?
“Not to derail or anything—” except he definitely was trying to “—but welcome back Komaeda. Where the hell have you been? You got us worried sick, especially that one.” Hajime pointed to Kamukura via his thumb.
“Ah… I didn’t mean to—”
“But you did,” Nanami interjected, putting her game down in the process. “You suddenly disappeared and Kamukura-kun refused to come to classes until you came back.”
Komaeda has the sense to seem admonished at that. “Ah… to have amazing people like you to worry about me, even if Hinata-kun is nothing more than a lowly reserve—”
“Hey!”
“—I truly am the lowest of the low…” Komaeda said, hanging his head in shame.
Kamukura leaned over and rested his head on Komaeda’s shoulder. “You will be redeemed if you tell us what happened.”
“That’ll only work if you didn’t already know,” Hinata glared at the two.
“I don’t.” Kamukura straightened himself to level Hajime with a stare of his own. “Komaeda Nagito insists on inquiring about my situation instead of explaining himself from the moment we met.”
“So that’s a deal then…?” They all looked at Nanami. “If Komaeda-kun tells us what happened, then Kamukura-kun will tell his side too?"
The silence was palpable while Kamukura weighed his options.
“And no. You couldn’t just use your analysis and guess what happened to Komaeda-kun. It has to come from him, on his own words, and you have to tell us what happened in your bunker.”
Hajime felt proud at how proactive Nanami was acting. Guess she really meant it when she called us her family, huh.
“Very well, that would be acceptable.”
“Great. So Komaeda…?” Hajime prompted.
Komaeda looked to the side and fiddled with his wispy hair. “Ah, about that... I was about to travel back to the academy for the new term but well… I happened to get involved in a little hostage situation.”
“Wh-What?!” Hajime’s outburst perfectly summarized the way everyone felt.
“Yeah, I was the hostage. It was pretty hectic. But anyway, I just got back now.”
“You were gone for a week, Komaeda!”
“Ahaha...yeah, it was sort of a hassle,” Komaeda smiled. Fucking smiled.
To say Hajime was worried was an understatement of the century. He was aware of this guy’s luck cycle but this was ridiculous. And he has the sense to appear unconcerned about it. Komaeda… just how much trauma has this guy been through?
Hajime unclenched his fists when he felt Nanami’s hand over his. “Even so, what matters most is that you’re safe, Komaeda-kun. I’m glad to have you back with us now.” Nanami smiled with a hand on her chest, as if willing it to be at peace with the situation.
Rarely does Hajime see a genuine emotion reach Komaeda’s eyes, but right now, he could say without doubt that Nanami’s words truly reached him for once. Huh. Looks like Kamukura was right. Therapy does work wonders.
“What about you then?”
Kamukura looked away from Komaeda to stare at Hinata.
“Go on. We had a deal, what’s up with you and whatever Komaeda was whining about earlier.”
“Two girls visited me two hours and forty-five minutes ago. Komaeda Nagito entered the room at its most opportune moment, and halted all progress.”
“Did I ruin their visit…?” Komaeda fretted. “I’m so sorry, Kamukura-kun.”
“On the contrary,” Kamukura reached out to pat his head, “You saved me the effort of rejecting her. Thank you.”
Komaeda glowed at the statement, but there was still some things to address. “I thought no one was allowed to go down there. Heck, the only reason Komaeda and I could even go was because of our connection to the labs,” Hinata said.
“Is it possible that they’re associated too…?”
“I don’t think so, Nanami-san.” Komaeda placed a finger on his chin, probably remembering what he saw. “There were signs aggression when I came in. Thankfully, there wasn’t any blood spilt on the corridors; however, to have the guards littered face down was quite worrying…”
“Kamukura-kun…?” Nanami said, reaching for the other’s hand, a frown on her face.
The happiness Hajime experienced when he first entered the room has long since vanished, in its place was a terrible sense of foreboding, a feeling that whatever was about to come out of Kamukura’s mouth was something none of them would expect. Nonetheless, they could do nothing but hold their breaths and hope that he would tell them the truth. It couldn’t be that bad right? He did say that he was going to reject her. Right? It was no use worrying about that now. Kamukura was their friend, supposedly. He seemed to like them well enough so, surely, they could trust him with this.
“She told me of her views and tried to impose them on me.”
Hajime sighed. “You can’t build up the suspense and just leave it at that.” It was clear that Kamukura was hiding something but what? What reason does Kamukura have to keep this from them? Unless… Hajime’s gaze strayed to the quiet Komaeda, brows furrowed and lips pressed on a thin line. He covertly glanced at Kamukura and saw him staring back. I see.
“Well, whatever,” he shrugged. “He said he was going to reject her, right? It probably doesn’t matter at this point.”
“Hinata-kun…!”
Nanami hummed and bobbed her head. “I think I’m getting what Hinata-kun was trying to say… This is the part where the main character already chose their route right? Like, no matter what they choose from here on out, their path is set and they’ll only get experience points from specific objectives now.”
“Y-yeah… let’s go with that…”
She nodded and a fierce gleam lighted her eyes. “Kamukura-kun! I trust you to make the right decisions and level up your stats accordingly!”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it goes Nanami-san…” Komaeda hurriedly raised his hands in defense when she sent him a look. “N-not that I have any right to say otherwise haha… ha… but still…”
“Komaeda…” He was still clearly thinking about it. “Isn’t this the part you always talk about? Forming bonds, trusting each other…?”
“Hinata-kun! Are you implying that I don’t trust any of you?! Because I’ll have you know that more than anything I—”
Hajime nearly wept at the heavens when Komaeda paused in his tirade. He made a mistake when he said those words and he paid for them. Thank goodness Kamukura stopped him before he could get more steam.
Even if it was Kamukura suddenly throwing himself into Komaeda’s lap.
At least Nanami was kind enough not to say anything about the irritated groans coming from Hajime.
“Ka-kamukura-kun…?”
'Look what you did! He’s blushing now for Christ’s sake!’ Hajime thought as he watched a flustered Komaeda and a stone-faced Kamukura.
Nanami giggled and he was pretty sure it just wasn’t because of how quickly the mood in the room changed.
“Oh!” She perked up. “Before I forget, I saw Hinata-kun make another girl cry earlier...”
Hajime flinched at how quickly Komaeda’s gaze turned on him.
“Ho-hold on… Let me explain myself…!”
“For shame, Hinata-kun!”
“Yeah, for shame,” Nanami echoed.
“You stay the hell out of this!” Hajime pointed.
“And pointing at a girl?”
Komaeda was pissed and Hajime definitely wasn’t helping his case. He turned towards Kamukura and saw him waving him off.
“Rest in pieces, Hinata Hajime. You will be missed.”
“You guys…!”
(Hinata learned a valuable lesson that day: his friends were absolute bastards and he should probably find someone else to befriend. Unfortunately, he has already gotten attached and escape was unattainable at this point. Poor Hinata-kun, may a flight of birds sing thee to thy rest.
“I’m not dead yet you assholes!”
Ah… I can still hear his voice. Don’t worry Hinata-kun, I’ll definitely light a candle for your safe journey to the afterlife!)