Chapter Text
When we are first brought into this world, we believe we can do anything. That the entire world is at our fingertips.
Our parents don’t make it any better. The good kind of caregivers give their all for us to keep our childhood innocence. My parents, in particular, drilled it into my head that the world is full of hope. That every human being is full of potential. That I, too, was capable of being a beacon of hope to everyone around me.
But there is a time in everyone’s lives when we realize we’ve been lied to.
To be honest, I believe my time of realization was too early. I could’ve bared being happy a little while longer. Unfortunately, the world does what it pleases. Instead of letting me be happy, it made me experience a plane crash. That was when I opened my eyes.
It was a horrific display. All I wanted was to go home after a long vacation, but instead, I was met by a scene of hijackers and meteors. It resulted in the death of hundreds. Including my parents.
Upon feeling immense despair, I finally grew up. I came to terms with the fact that the world is an awful place. Death and destruction follow you wherever you go.
But why? Why did these awful things happen to people? That’s what I wondered.
Finally, upon watching a new batch of Ultimates enter Hope’s Peak Academy on the news, I came to a conclusion. The people who died in the plane crash had weak hope.
The hijackers, the others on the plane, and even my own family. They died because they were hopeless individuals. They had no talent. They had no real reason to live. So they died. That’s what I convinced myself to believe.
I, too, am talentless. Hopeless. Nothing. The only reason why I survived that crash was because of luck.
Luck controlled my entire life from that day onward. Everything that happens to me now is based on my luck - a power that I can not wield at will to save my life.
But it’s alright. As a lowly individual, I can use my luck to help the Ultimates shine. They are the ones who have strong hope. They need to share it with the world, and I can support them. Even if it costs me my life, I’ll do it. That’s all I’ll ever be good for. That’s all every talentless person is good for.
The sole purpose of a talentless person is to be thrown away. They’re all worthless trash.
That’s something I’ll believe for the rest of my life.
-----
Komaeda Nagito finished writing with a satisfied smile. When he dropped his pen, the ring of the Hope’s Peak Academy bell echoed throughout the courtyard.
“Lucky me,” He said, getting up from a bench, “I finished right on time.”
He then stuffed his items into his backpack and headed to the main course building. When he finally got to his classroom, class 77-B, he was met with an unexpected sight.
His homeroom teacher, Kizakura Koichi, was vomiting into the trash can.
“Ah, Mr. Kizakura, are you alright?” Komaeda asked, tearing his eyes away from the scene to see most of his classmates in the room already.
“Y-Yep. Just a bit hungover, that’s all,” the teacher replied. He wiped his mouth with his handkerchief then got up, facing his students with a smile. “Class dismissed.”
With those words, the class erupted into choruses of excitement and confusion.
“H-Huh?”
“Hell yeah! No school today!”
“This is going to be fun.”
“Wait, you can do that?”
The blonde shrugged. “I’m not feeling so hot today, and I don’t feel like calling in a sub. You kids don’t need to come to class every day, anyway. As long as you perfect your talents, you can graduate. So, enjoy your free ti-“
Before he was able to finish his sentence, the teacher was once again hunched over the garbage can. Komaeda heard him mumbling profanities as he and his classmates left the room.
“Hmm, how unfortunate, I was actually looking forward to class today,” Komaeda thought to himself, "Oh well.”
Not wanting to stray too far away from the Ultimate school, the white-haired boy headed back to the bench in the courtyard. It was his favourite spot to go to in the morning. The bench was in front of the school fountain, a quiet place surrounded by trees. The most beautiful area he could find to write down his thoughts in his trusted notebook.
But, instead of finding an empty bench like always, Komaeda found a boy laying on it. A brown-haired teenager with his eyes closed. Probably sleeping. Komaeda couldn’t help but smile upon seeing him. He looked so peaceful.
The white-haired Ultimate walked up to the boy on the bench, leaning over him to try to get a better look. Komaeda made the quick assumption that the brunette was a fellow Ultimate. He must’ve been a new student who hadn’t recieved his proper uniform yet. That was probably the reason behind the suit. It was a fair assumption, considering the fact that he saw other people in the same predicament.
“H-Huh?”
All of a sudden, the striking colour of lime green met Komaeda’s line of vision. The boy had opened his eyes.
“Good morning,” Komaeda greeted with a smile, “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”
“Uh, no, actually. I was only- uh- thinking,” The unfamiliar male replied. He sat up and turned to make room for the other.
Komaeda gratefully took a seat beside him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” He asked.
“I could say the same for you,” He responded. Then he shook his head. “No, I’m not. There was an issue with the teacher so now I’m out here.”
“Hey, same here,” Komaeda said, shooting him a kind smile. He put his hand out for the other to shake. “I’m Komaeda Nagito. What about you?”
“I’m Hinata Hajime,” He said, taking his hand and shaking it.
“It’s nice to meet you, Hinata-kun. If it’s alright, may I ask what your talent is?”
The brunette stared at him, wide-eyed. Sweat began to bead down his forehead. “U-Uh-“
“Oh, are you uncomfortable with your ultimate talent? Don’t worry, me too. If you don’t want to share it, I promise, I won’t force you. But know that I’m sure it’s an amazing talent. Much better than mine, anyway, I’m not sure you can even call it talent!” The pale boy then laughed in a carefree way, calming Hinata down.
“Hinata-kun… he seems to be a lot like me. I can sense it. He has the same admiration for Hope’s Peak Academy as I do!” Komaeda thought with joy.
He was quick to change the subject, much to the other boy’s relief. “Hey, do you have anywhere to go soon?” Komaeda asked.
“Well, I'm supposed to be attending school right now so... no, I don't. If you want, we could stay here and continue talking,” Hinata suggested with a smile.
“Ah, are you sure you’d like to sit and chat with trash like me?”
The brunette frowned. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You seem like a great person.”
“Thanks, Hinata-kun,” Komaeda said, turning to gaze at their surroundings. “Isn’t the place wonderful?”
“Yeah, it’s really peaceful…”
Just like that, Hinata and Komaeda began talking up a storm. In only an hour or so they had already found out so much about each other, and realized how similar they truly were.
“Hey, Hinata-kun!” A girl’s voice called from a distance. Pausing in the middle of a conversation, the two turned to see a girl with black hair and violet eyes running towards them. “The teacher problem was situated. I was told to bring everyone back to the classroom.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks. Sato, right?”
She nodded with a small smile. “Yeah. Now, you should get back to class. I need to find everyone else!” With that, the girl was gone.
Hinata turned to Komaeda with an unhappy look. “Sorry, Komaeda. I have to go. I’ll be here tomorrow after school if you’d like to chat again.”
“Are you sure? The time we’ve spent together wasn’t painful for you at all?”
The boy shook his head. “Not at all. It’d be great to talk to you again.”
Komaeda grinned, a rare feeling bubbling in his heart. Someone actually seemed to appreciate him. “Well, if you insist… I’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Great. See you then.” And then Hinata was off.
Komaeda was left in front of the fountain. Although alone, he felt genuinely happy that he found someone to spend time with.
This was going to be the start of something great.
The next day came by, and Komaeda and Hinata met up again. They spent some time together, chatting, and then left school for the day. The next afternoon was the same. And the next, and the next, until it became a regular occurrence.
The two became rather close rather quickly. Slowly, but surely, Komaeda realized that the other was hiding something from him. Multiple things, actually. He just wasn’t sure what.
Even still, he didn’t pry. If Hinata didn’t want to share a few things with Komaeda, it was perfectly alright. Komaeda, as a self-proclaimed lowlife, would be stepping out of line if he ever asked the brunette to spill his secrets. So, he kept his mouth shut about Hinata, and, instead, opened up his mouth to talk about himself.
If Hinata wanted to keep things private it was fine, but Komaeda hated to lie and hide things from others. Ultimates, especially.
So, one day, when the pale boy was reminiscing about his childhood, he decided to share a few things with Hinata.
“Hinata-kun, what do you think of luck?”
“Luck…? Uh…” Hinata looked up at the clouds in thought. “Well… honestly, it feels like some sort of superpower. Something that should only exist in movies.”
Komaeda nodded in approval. “Yep. That’s what I think too. It’s absolute power that can not be controlled but instead controls you. That sounds rather dangerous, don’t you think?”
“Definitely.”
“Everyone considers me to be extremely lucky,” Komaeda started. “Luck has affected me my entire life. When I was in elementary school, my family and I were on vacation at San Cristobal. We were heading home on an airplane, but it got hijacked. That sounds like bad luck, right? But then a meteorite fell at exactly the right time, and struck the hijackers! Such good luck… but it struck my parents too. They died instantly. For the rest of my life, it’s been like that. Bad luck followed by good luck followed by bad luck.”
Hinata stared at the other boy with intense concern, curiosity, and pity. He tried to process this information as best as he could, but in the end, he couldn’t. All he knew was that Komaeda had been through some rough times, and his luck was the culprit.
“Komaeda, are you by any chance… the Ultimate Lucky Student?”
“One of them, yes,” He replied, “Every year Hope’s Peak Academy chooses one teen to randomly attend as the Ultimate Lucky Student. I’m not the only one, so that’s why it seems like such a pathetic talent in my eyes. So many individuals with their own unique talents, and then there’s me.” The white-haired boy shook his head, looking up at Hinata with a smile. “But who cares about this piece of garbage? Let’s talk about something else!”
“Wait, before we do… Komaeda, if you ever feel like venting your emotions when it comes to your bad luck, I’m right here. I care about you. There’s no need to hide any pain you feel behind that happy expression.”
“I... I’ll remember that. Thank you, Hinata-kun.”
Later, that same day, Komaeda forgot something at the fountain when he left. Hinata noticed it and picked it up. It was a notebook. He opened it and found pages full of Komaeda’s signature messy writing. This was most likely his journal. The brunette turned to the bookmarked page, and a single line caught his eye.
“The sole purpose of a talentless person is to be thrown away. They’re all worthless trash.”
Panic surged through Hinata Hajime. He scanned through some of the less recent entries and discovered that they all said the same thing. The talentless were trash and deserved to die for the sake of hope.
“He doesn’t really think that about me…” Hinata muttered, “Does he…? After everything we’ve done together…”
The day afterwards, Hinata decided to confront Komaeda about it. It would be a risky thing to do, considering the fact that he had yet to reveal his secret to the luckster, but he had to do it.
“Komaeda, you left your notebook here yesterday,” Hinata said, handing it to him.
“Thanks,” He replied with a small grin, “I was looking everywhere for this… uh, did you read anything in here?”
“Actually, yeah, I did. I’m sorry if it feels like I was invading your privacy but-“
“No, no, it’s fine. If knowing more about me brings you hope then I’m all for it!” Komaeda cheerfully declared, cutting him off.
“Um, about that… do you actually think that hope is absolute good? That after great despair comes great hope, and the talentless have to… sacrifice themselves for it?”
An unsettling, large grin then formed on Komaeda’s face. “Why, of course! You see, my luck cycle has shown me that after despairful events, hopeful events always occur. After my parent’s death, I earned a large inheritance. It was a splendid event that gave me hope for MY future, even though I know full well I’m scum! And all it took was a few hundred sacrifices.”
Hinata stared at the boy in front of him with horror, but Komaeda couldn’t have cared less.
“You see it all the time, don’t you?” He continued, inching closer and closer to Hinata’s face. “The talentless die every day in crashes and disasters, but the talented never die in such common ways. Because their hope outshines everyone else’s. Their main purpose in life is to bring hope to the world’s future, which is exactly why they attend Hope’s Peak Academy. That’s exactly why you’re here in front of me, Hinata-kun! To bring hope! To bring absolute good!”
“Komaeda...“ Hinata warned, backing up. He felt his legs hit the fountain edge.
“Hinata-kun, all I want in life is to see great hope shine. That’s all. If in order to do it I have to sacrifice myself, or anybody else… I’ll do it. For you, and all the other Ultimates here! I love you all from the bottom of my heart! Aha! HAHAHAHAHAH!”
A loud, terrifying laugh erupted from Komaeda’s throat. It made a chill run down Hinata’s spine as the other teen stood above him, almost superior. Hinata was trapped between Komaeda and the fountain, terrified. That was the most scared the brunette had ever been in his life - especially of someone he considered his friend.
Finally, when Komaeda’s laugh died down, he gave Hinata a soft smile. “I’m thirsty. I’m going to go get a drink from a nearby vending machine… would you like one?”
“U-Uh… n-no thanks.”
“Alright, then.” And Komaeda was off, oblivious to Hinata’s fear towards him.
It took a bit for Komaeda to get to the vending machine. When he did, yet another lucky event was waiting for him.
“That’s odd… I put in a thousand yen and pushed the button, but it’s not coming out. I’m so unlucky," He sighed.
Right when he said that, a truck flew out of nowhere and crashed into the vending machine. It triggered the machine’s lucky mode, and dozens upon dozens of Dr. Hopper drinks fell out. Just as Hinata said, his luck did seem like something from a movie.
Komaeda couldn’t help but chuckle, secretly expecting something like this to happen. “I guess I really am lucky, after all.”
Without hesitation, the teenage boy started picking up the drinks and placing them in his backpack. This was yet another hopeful event in his opinion, and he wasn’t going to waste it.
“Hinata’s face looked… pretty scary when I left. Maybe if I give him a few of these, he’ll cheer up a bit!” Komaeda thought.
When he picked up as many as he could carry, he hurried back to the fountain.
Hinata was standing there with Komaeda’s classmate, Nanami Chiaki. This was probably their first meeting. The two talked as Nanami played on her gaming console, as always. Komaeda joined them with a smile.
“I’m back, Hinata-kun! Good afternoon, Nanami-san,” he greeted.
“Huh? Oh, hello, Komaeda-kun.” Nanami looked back and forth at the two boys in curiosity. “You guys know each other?”
Komaeda nodded. “Yeah. We’ve known each other for a while, actually,” He replied, setting down his cans of Dr. Hopper, “Would you two like some?”
Nanami nodded back at him, grabbing a can and taking a sip before going back to her video game. Hinata couldn’t resist taking one as well. Komaeda took one too.
“Where did you get so many of these?” Hinata asked.
“I got lucky at the vending machine,” Komaeda explained, opening his can and holding it up, “Cheers?”
Hinata reluctantly met his drink with the other boy’s. “Cheers.” He was acting very cautiously around Komaeda after their earlier encounter.
Even still, it was only Komaeda’s views that were a little messed up, right? And that was because of his harsh past. Hinata just couldn’t blame someone for something they couldn’t control.
Unfortunately, Komaeda was not the same.
“Hello! You must be Nanami-san and Komaeda-kun!”
“Hey, that itches! Let me go!”
A woman with bright orange hair and green eyes approached the three teens, dragging a boy from the 77th class by the legs from behind her.
“I’m Yukizome Chisa! Starting today, I’m your teacher. Nice to meet you!” She introduced. Her eyes then wandered over to Hinata. “Huh? That uniform… are you a student in the Reserve Course?”
The question raised red flags in both Hinata and Komaeda’s minds. Hinata was especially anxious. He couldn’t lie to Hope’s Peak staff, but what would be Komaeda’s reaction?
“Y-Yes,” The brunette replied, turning away from the group. He couldn’t look Komaeda in the eyes. Finally, the truth was out, and it scared him to death.
“Reserve Course?” Komaeda asked, shock evident in his voice.
“You haven’t heard of it?” Chisa asked, “It was introduced last year. They accept ordinary students. The student fees are high, though...”
“Hmm…” Nanami hummed, not seeming to care much. Meanwhile, Komaeda couldn’t have been more baffled.
“O-Ordinary students…?” He turned to Hinata, “You’re talentless, Hinata-kun?”
He sheepishly nodded. “Yeah…”
Silence followed. It took Komaeda a second to process it, and when he did, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Hah.. ahahaha! What’s this? My only friend at this academy has been lying to me the entire time I’ve known him! I always complimented him on having amazing talents, and he accepted these compliments. It was almost as if he deserved them... but he never did. He’s just a normal, boring, talentless individual. Like me. The only difference is, I know my place. You never seemed to know where you belong, Hinata-kun. Although, after our chat earlier today, I’m sure you understand now.”
“K-Komaeda…”
“I’m trash. I should’ve expected to be betrayed, but at least I know I deserve it. You’re like me, Hinata-kun. You should know that you deserve this too. Because you’re talentless. You can pretend you’re the opposite all you want, but that’s what you are. You weren’t born with worth, just like a small dog wasn’t born large. And a small dog can never become a large dog… that’s just the truth of it all.”
“Komaeda, I’m sorry, I never meant to-”
Komaeda shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what you meant to or didn’t mean to do. I know the truth now. You’re just another person who’s going to end up being thrown away one of these days.” He shrugged, turning to walk away from the scene. “I can’t be friends like someone like that… especially someone who’s a liar too. I hate liars, they remind me of my parents.”
“Komaeda, wait!” Hinata called out, sounding desperate.
Komaeda wanted to be desperate too. Desperate enough to forget about the whole ordeal and run back to Hinata’s kind and supportive words. But he didn’t deserve them, and Hinata didn’t deserve him either.
“I’ll see you back in the classroom, Ms. Yukizome!” He shouted. The white-haired boy turned a corner, and he was gone.
“Oh, dear... I didn’t expect that to happen,” Yukizome said with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have brought the reserve course up. Hey, you’re Hinata, right? Don’t worry. I’ll go and talk to him once I- hey!” It was then when she realized the boy she was dragging had escaped. “Get back here!” She yelled, running off to chase after him. Of course, she didn’t mean any harm by it. She was a good teacher. She just needed to get her students back to the classroom.
Now, the only two people left at the fountain were Hinata and Nanami.
Hinata’s heart felt as if it was cracked in half. There was no denying the strong friendship Komaeda and he had developed. It came to the point where Hinata almost accepted his insanity. But now, everything that the two had been through was tossed down the drain. Yes, it wasn’t a whole lot, but it meant something. It meant a lot to Hinata. Komaeda was the first person at Hope’s Peak to be genuinely nice to him.
The words he uttered played over and over again in Hinata’s mind, akin to a broken record. It hurt Hinata. Every single insult hurt like a knife wound. It almost made him want to... change for Komaeda.
Hinata let out a dejected sigh. “If only I had talent… maybe Komaeda wouldn’t hate me. I should-“
“It doesn’t make a difference whether you have a talent or not,” Nanami said. She didn’t look up from her game but knew the severity of the situation all the same.
“Huh?”
“I mean, that isn’t the end goal. You have freedom greater than we do. All I have are games. But you can go anywhere, and become anything. So, don’t listen to Komaeda. What he thinks is the truth isn’t true for everyone, y’know?”
“I’ll remember that… thanks, Nanami.”
━━━━━━━✿━━━━━━━
“Komaeda-kun, you’re still in here?”
Komaeda had been absentmindedly staring out the window when someone called his name. He looked up to see his new teacher with a concerned look. The classroom was eerily silent. Contrary to what he previously believed, no one was in there except them two.
It had been about a day since the incident between him and Hajime had occurred, and he had been zoning out more and more. There was this empty feeling in his heart. It bothered him. It caused him to stop paying attention during class, to the point where he hadn’t even realized it ended.
“Oh, I must’ve not heard the bell… how embarrassing,” he chuckled, shaking his head.
“Well, as long as you’re here, could we talk? About you and Hinata earlier?”
“Hinata-kun? What about him?” Komaeda asked. He held the same bright smile but shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Not just Hinata - you and Hinata,” Yukizome said, crossing her arms. “You two seemed so fond of each other before I mentioned the Reserve Course… what happened?”
Komaeda didn’t waste time explaining. “To put it simply, I dislike the talentless. Loathe them, actually.”
“Huh? Why? They haven’t done anything to harm you, have they?”
“No, I suppose not. They do bother me, though… most of them pretend to be so grand. They compare themselves to Ultimates as if they could ever reach their level of greatness. This includes Hinata. After all this time I’ve known him, he never once told me he wasn’t Ultimate.”
Yukizome pulled up a seat across from him, taking in every word. According to the other students, his way of thinking was strange. They could almost never comprehend it. On the other hand, as his teacher, Yukizome was determined to succeed. And she did.
“This isn’t about him being in the reserve course, is it? It’s about him lying to you. He was your friend, and he let you down.”
“No, it really isn’t,” Komaeda insisted, “He isn’t even my friend. I would never befriend an Ultimate - faking it or otherwise. I’m nothing but a step-“
Yukizome interrupted him, shaking her head. “I don’t believe you. You said while yelling at Hinata that he was the only friend you’ve made at this academy. Do you remember that?”
“I-I said that?” He asked, dumbfounded. Then, the memory came back to him. He DID say that.
Yukizome sent him a smile. “Well, we’ve found the source of the problem. You’re mad that Hinata never told you he wasn’t Ultimate.”
“I…” Komaeda sighed. He knew deep down that she was right. With sorrow, he admitted it. “I am. Although, that isn’t the only reason.”
“Well, whatever the reason is, you still think of him as a friend. Right?”
Shamefully, Komaeda nodded. He felt so selfish in doing so. He didn’t deserve friends - why would a worthless nobody like him deserve friends? - but he wanted them. Ever since his childhood he only wanted someone to care about him. Tell him that he wasn’t worthless.
Hinata could’ve been that person for him, but he pushed him away. All because he felt betrayed, and he also felt... scared. Komaeda knew his luck would end up hurting or killing Hinata, and he really didn’t want that to happen.
“If that’s the case, you must still care about him,” Yukizome continued, “And he probably still cares about you, too. My point is… I think you should apologize to him. Be back to being friends. What do you say?” She asked with a reassuring smile.
Komaeda was silent. He considered the possibility, but there were way too many things that could’ve gone wrong. Still, he was unsure. What good would come from him apologizing? Probably a lot.
The green-eyed woman sighed. “Well, think about it, okay? I want all my students to find happiness - that includes you, Komaeda. And, clearly, that boy makes you happy,” She said, getting up, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Alright. Bye, Ms. Yukizome… and, thank you.”
━━━━━━━✿━━━━━━━
I’ve always considered friendship and happiness to be so trivial. It could never compare to the greatness of hope.
Then there’s the talentless. For such a long time, I’ve never wanted anything to do with them. They were nothing to me. Just worthless beings to fill up the empty space in this world.
But Ms. Yukizome was right. I befriended a talentless person, and he made me happy. No, not just that. He made me feel like I actually belong in this world. He made me think that I mattered. To him, anyways.
And I got mad at him for such an inconsequential, stupid reason: he never told me that he was talentless.
Now that I think about it, I should’ve realized it sooner. From the beginning, he felt similar to me. We both admired Hope’s Peak and were interested in the same things. I should’ve deduced that maybe he was talentless too. I just jumped to conclusions too quickly.
He was also hiding things from me. I knew this but didn’t think to ask what they were. Maybe if I did ask, we could’ve avoided this entire situation.
I’m sure there were times where he tried to tell me too. I just never let him. It’s my fault. Like always, everything is my fault.
I’m going to fix things by apologizing to Hinata-kun.
Had things been different, I never would’ve thought about apologizing to anyone talentless. They have weak hope. They don’t deserve any kindness. But Hinata-kun is different. He has strong hope… I can feel it.
I don’t want to lose that hope again.
-----
“Komaeda? What are you doing here?”
Komaeda dropped his pen in surprise. He had been waiting for Hinata on their bench in front of the fountain. Now, here Hinata was, almost as shocked as he was.
“Oh! Hinata-kun! Nanami-san told me you two were going to meet up here, but she had some things to do with Ms. Yukizome. So, she sent me instead,” Komaeda explained.
Hinata was skeptical, but the luckster was telling the truth. He just left out the part that this was all planned ahead of time in order for Komaeda to apologize. That was something Hinata would have to figure out for himself.
“Well, if that’s the case then I’m leaving,” the brunette said. Obviously, he didn’t want to spend time with the guy who seemed to hate him.
“Wait!” Komaeda exclaimed, grabbing Hinata’s arm before he could walk away. This surprised and confused the teenager. “I… I wanted to… say I’m sorry.”
“You’re… sorry?” Hinata’s surprise and confusion continued to increase.
Komaeda nodded. “Yes. I am. Somebody as lowly as me shouldn’t have yelled at you for something so selfish. You really didn’t deserve that.”
“R-Really? But aren’t I… a talentless, worthless reserve course student?”
Komaeda shook his head without hesitation. “You may be talentless… but you aren’t worthless. I am, yet you still tried to be friends with me. You cared about me and made me smile. That’s something nobody has ever done for trash like me before. That’s why… I believe you have hope far more powerful than I had originally thought. And… I love that hope, Hinata-kun.”
Hearing Komaeda talk, Hinata realized that he was the only one who seemed to care for Komaeda after his parents died. He couldn’t help but want to continue doing it. He wanted to continue to be there for him. Because Hinata loved him too.
“Anyways, my point is: I’m sorry for yelling at you. If you don’t forgive me, it’s alright, I’m an awful human being who doesn’t-“
“Of course I forgive you."
“Huh?”
Hinata gave Komaeda a small smile. “You know what? I have an idea. Let’s start over.”
Now it was Komaeda’s turn to be surprised. “Really? You’d give trash like me a second chance?”
Hinata’s eyes softened. “Of course, because you aren’t trash...” He then said, “I’m Hinata Hajime. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Uh... I’m Komaeda Nagito. It’s nice to meet you too.”
Keeping the same smile, Hinata held out a welcoming hand. “Komaeda Nagito... would you like to be my friend?”
Komaeda hesitated for a second. Now that he knew Hinata was like his parents - people with weak hope who truly cared about him - there was no telling what could happen. Something bad would happen to Hinata. That was just how his luck worked.
Komaeda was scared. He didn’t want to harm Hinata...
... but he pushed those fears away, smiled back at the green-eyed boy, and shook his hand.
“Yes. I’d love to be your friend.”
Komaeda had a small feeling that, for now, his luck was on his side. The thought filled him with joy.
But this joy was not going to last forever.