Chapter Text
Nagito woke up like always, pushing the sheets off of him and stretching, rubbing his eyes as he got out of bed.
He noticed an open notebook on his desk as he did so, as he passed by, he read some of the words as his eyes were glancing over it.
He stopped, and walked back to the book. It was… unusual.
He picked it up from the desk and started to read the words written in what was his own handwriting. But he did not remember writing it.
What is written hereafter is truly unbelievable but everything is the truth, please read it until the end.
You have to.
He raised an eyebrow. If this was indeed written by himself, the last sentence seemed a bit too much out of his character for his taste.
It was a classmate, another student at Hope’s Peak in the same year as me
There was a gap after that. It seemed like it would’ve been the perfect spot to put in someone’s name, but it was nonexistent.
I went to the library like usual, and there
I met a prickly bunny boy.
I could only tilt his head to the side as he wondered what he was even reading, and what kind of substance was his past self that wrote it on.
***
The library. A sanctuary of pages, paper, books and knowledge. Where one could entertain themselves alone by diving in it headfirst.
He liked going there on his days off, even if it was quite a way from school and his home, he didn’t really need to study, after all he was always lucky enough to pass tests by answering randomly, he mostly came for the endless trivia of knowledge the place offered.
There was quite the amount of people here, but that didn’t bother him. There were times where for some reason people just flocked into one location for one reason or another, and Nagito has no right to dictate where people should be. As long as the place stayed nice and quiet. Only whispers, no gossip, no loud screeching at horrendous news being transported by rumors, just a still atmosphere. Peaceful and quiet.
He ventured thorough the mystery aisle. There was a series of murder mystery he was enthusiastic in finishing, apreciating the tense tone that kept the reader on edge.
He crouched down to reach for it, making his green coat touch the ground, reminding him that he should wash it once he got home, and he picked up the book from the shelf.
Something passed by in the corner of his eye. That something was completely out of place.
He needed to confirm that what he saw was indeed real, and he hurriedly got up and looked at the direction that something had passed by.
He was staring at the other end of the aisle, where it was leading to tables where the people could sit down and read what they had picked out.
There wasn’t anything out of place about that.
What was however, was a spiky haired brunette walking among the other folk looking around him, while wearing a skimpy bunny boy suit.
Not as skimpy as what one would wear as an assistant in a magic show however. It looked handmade, like something Nagito’s classmate Ibuki would make. Black shorts with a chain accessory hanging on it, somewhat similar to the chain Nagito was wearing himself on his pants, exposed midriffs, abs and part of the chest, a bit covered by a mini jacket that had the decency to cover the shoulders and pecs. All of it completed with black bunny ears on the head.
The luckster could only stare in morbid curiosity, and possibly to admire the silhouette, as the boy walked down the hall. Completely unnoticed by the other passerby. He would peek down at what they were reading, and even wave his hand in front of their faces. Still unnoticed.
The white haired teen followed the other boy, almost not even paying attention to what he was doing anymore, as if his gaze was being absorbed by his presence.
The brunette stopped next to him to sigh as he kept on looking at the crowd. His sight swept over the environment and eventually stopped on the pale teen, their stares meeting.
The boy had dying grass like green eyes, and strange symbols on his pupil, like a stop sign inside his eyes, making his gaze feel intense. As an admirer of pretty things, the white haired teen was forced to recognize its beauty.
But strangely, a wave of embarrassment crashed on Nagito, he who was immune to any kind of shame.
The brunette pointed at himself. “Can you see me?”
As if to confirm, the luckster traced the other’s silhouette up and down, and down and up, finishing it with a nod.
The bunny boy brought his hand to his chin in thought, before a slight flush appeared on his face after some kind of realization.
He then started to walk away to the exit.
Nagito walked after him. “And an explanation?”
The other turned around, now tugging on the jacket as if to try and cover himself more. “I was doing an experiment and I got my results. So I’m going now ok!?” He was clearly horribly embarrassed.
Nagito raised one of his hands as a sign of peace. “No need to get angry.” He put it down. “Can I ask for a name at least?”
The brunette raised an eyebrow. “You’re supposed to give your name first before asking someone else’s.”
“True.” The white haired teen chuckled. “Nagito Komaeda. And you?”
The brunette opened his mouth in a bit of shock. “Oh I know you. The Luckster, the guy with the crazy luck streaks…”
It is true that Nagito had formed himself a bit of a reputation in the school after the school festival. He would either win in a flash or lose at record speed on the stands, especially when it came to luck games. His games were so unexpected that it had gathered a bit of a crowd when he was playing.
He didn’t care very much though. It was nice to receive attention, but he could do without the gossip.
“I assume you go to Hope's Peak too?” Asked the pale teen.
“Yeah.” The brunette realized he still hasn’t given his name. “Oh and, I’m Hajime Hinata.” After handing out his identity, he started walking to the exit once again.
“Oh and…” He turned around once again. “Please forget what you saw.”
He told him to forget, but…
Nagito was walking on the path to school, and kept staring at the back of a certain boy a good bunch of meters ahead of him.
He was walking alone. Didn’t seem to have any friends around him, nor did Nagito.
The pale teen might’ve been walking alongside some other classmates in another time, although all of his class and teacher were away on a long school trip that Nagito was unable to go to after accidentally torching the school lab, forced to stay at school to clean it up and punished by being unable to go.
His comrades were sad he was unable to go, and did try to talk to the director to change his mind, but he didn’t budge on the decision.
Nagito encouraged his friends to go and have fun. They swore to bring him tons of souvenirs in exchange.
His past self, the one from the previous year, would’ve been delighted at the fact he wouldn’t tarnish the trip with his presence, however…
He gripped his wrist.
He would not swoop back into this territory. His classmates worked hard into pulling him out of it, and he does not want to relieve that pain or waste their attention or said hard work. When the class will arrive back at school, he will be there to welcome them.
While he was literally the only one left in his class, he was transferred to another one for the time being. It has now been around 2 weeks, and his comrades would only come back after 3 more.
Being a complete outsider in the class he was in, of course he was alone. His luck freak show at the school festival did not help. The popular students hated him for all the attention he had gotten, and quiet ones stayed away. The curious ones also took their distance, as their said curiosity died down.
Everyone was so curious about the Luckster while he was pulling out his luck, but now that nothing had happened, and the Lab Incident died down, no one cared anymore, and were just now talking behind his back.
Ence, Nagito Komaeda was alone. But he didn’t care that much.
Being taken in by everyone’s gossip and rumors and letting it get to him would’ve been an insult to his classmates, who have worked so hard to hand him hope and pull him out into the light when he was stuck at the depths of despair.
He kept staring at the other’s back as he thought about it. Hajime was alone too.
Although he would’ve completely blended in with the crowd if it wasn’t for the fact that Nagito had an image of him in a sexy outfit burned in his memory.
It didn’t look like he cared either. maybe he was one of those loner types who choose to be alone. Although here, it seemed like people could see him aside from Nagito, as other people avoided bumping into him as they walked towards school as well.
How strange.
He and Hajime met again at the end of the school day on their way to the train station not far from the school, as he saw the brunette on his way, about to potentially get run over by a bike. As an experience Nagito was very familiar with, being run over by things, he didn’t wish it on someone else.
So like a decent human being, Nagito pulled on his shoulder to get him out of the way, the bike speeding before them with a noise.
The brunette turned around to see his savior and was a bit surprised, but murmured out a “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
The both of them finished their way to the train station and hopped on said train as they were just in time to get it, and just sat next to each other in the train in complete silence.
Silence that was broken when the pale teen brought up the elephant in the room.
“So, that time in the library-”
The brunette interrupted him and stared at him. “Didn’t I tell you to forget about it!?”
Nagito brought his hand in front of him. “Don’t get mad… It's just you have to admit:” He shrugged. “It is rather hard to forget.”
Admitting defeat at his argument, Hajime sat back into his seat. After some thinking, he tried to get Nagito’s attention. “Hey Nagito…”
“I’m honored you remember my name.”
“Whatever.” He pulled out his phone. “I heard a rumor. Is it true you set a lab on fire..?”
Nagito chuckled. “It was an accident. What do you think?”
“Huh?”
“Does it change your opinion of me? Am I a bad guy now?” He asked with a smile on his face.
For his surprise, Hajime only replied. “No. Who cares.”
“Oh?”
The brunette waved his hand. “You just told me it was an accident, accidents happen. I can at least recall a few times I set something on fire by accident when I tried cooking stuff I’m not familiar with.”
The pale teen let out another chuckle. “You’re a kind person.”
Hajime took his eyes off his phone. “How so? I just asked you and used logic.”
“Which is way more than others do.” Nagito sat back. “Others set themselves into the atmosphere. A rumor like that sets the mood around me. The mood to stay away. And anyone who cannot read the atmosphere will be a bad guy, like me. A fish who goes against the current is a pariat amongst others.”
Hajime raised an eyebrow, decoding the words.
Nagito turned back to him. “So yes. You asking me for clarification and using logic is kind. Thank you.”
Surprised at the praise, the brunette avoided the other’s gaze and pulled on his uniform tie, putting it back correctly.
“Now it's your turn to talk.” The pale teen tried to lean into Hajime’s vision. “What was that all about in the library?”
The train stopped at Hajime’s station. He made a signal for the both of them to get up. Hajime sighed, starting to explain while Nagito was following him.
“I noticed people stopped seeing me around a week ago. When I went to the aquarium on a whim quite a way from here.”
“Alone?”
“Is that bad?” He sighed again. “At first I thought it was just me, but when I went to a café on my way back, it’s like I never entered at all. Like I was invisible.”
“Strange.”
“No kidding.” While they were walking through the station, Hajime stopped in front of a public locker, ones you could rent, and he pulled out a key. “When I took the train back around here, everything was normal again.” He opened the locker and pulled out a bag. “So I tried going around a few different places to see if someone could still see me.”
Nagito noticed that inside the bag was none other than the bunny boy suit.
Hajime sighed. “A friend of mine made this for me when I was forced to fill in as a drummer for a show… For some reason I kept it, and I tried to wear it while I was doing my experiment, because someone was sure to notice me if I wore something like… that.”
Nagito smiled. “Definitely worked with me.”
“Yep.” A blush crept on his face. “It was a stupid idea… As soon as I realized someone actually saw me I just wanted to high tail out of here.”
Nagito was immune to public shame, but he still let out an: “Understandable.”
The pale teen made a few connections in his brain. That hand made style… filling in as a drummer…
“Say. Is this outfit made by Ibuki Mioda?”
Hajime looked at him in shock, before he realized it wasn’t probably that much of a said shock. “Yeah.”
“I’m one of her classmates. She never talked about me?”
“She did.”
Nagito raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you ask for my name?”
Hajime shrugged. “I told you, you say your name first before asking another.”
“And why did you instantly connect me with the Luckster rumor instead of your friend’s classmate?”
“Because that’s the first thing I thought off.”
“You’re quite blunt aren’t you?”
“And you aren’t?”
“Touché.”
The brunette started walking through the station again, the other following. “And you haven’t heard of me? I hang out with your class quite a bit, weird that we never met.”
The pale teen shook his head. “I refused to take part in the class’s group activities for a long time, took my distance. It’s only since not too long ago that I made a turnaround. I’m sure we would’ve met eventually. I remember Chiaki insisting I meet one of her friends after the trip, and the others agreeing as if they knew them.”
“That… is probably me.” Hajime concluded with simple logic.
“I think so too. However, it seems it’s only the two of us for now.”
“Yeah.”
The brunette glanced at a food stand in the station. “Time to make another experiment.”
The pale teen watched him walk to the stall and try to talk at the vendor.
It seems as though Hajime was indeed invisible to them, as they didn’t react to his presence or voice.
Nagito walked over and took his order in his place. Having no problem bringing attention to himself.
The brunette munched on his kusamochi as they walked out of the station. “Well that sucks.”
The pale teen took a look at the station as it grew smaller in the distance. “It would indeed suck.”
Hajime swallowed the last bit of kusamochi. He glanced over at the Nagito. “And you actually believe all of this?”
The pale teen stopped in his tracks. Innocently smiling. “And would you believe me if I told you I lived something similar?”