Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Never in his wildest dreams did Hajime ever think he'd end up in a mental hospital, especially not one he checked himself into. He knew about the controversies, the issues, the general lack of care or trust that often went into mental health in the nation, and yet...he knew he had no other option. If he wanted to genuinely get better and improve as a person, he needed some form of professional help, and besides, according to the website for Hope's Peak Behavioral Center, they were modeled after a Western idea of mental health care and promised safety and health always came first before anything else. Really, Hajime felt he couldn't have picked a better place.

Normally, one was expected to arrive with their guardians, but Hajime got registered and diagnosed prior a few days ago with his parents and they had work, so he had to reassure them he was perfectly fine with getting himself signed in and admitted himself. He could, he didn't have anything majorly wrong with him, he certainly wasn't crazy.

Not like those other people...

He had the thought before he could suppress it and instantly felt bad about it even though it wasn't his fault, and technically true. Why else would one be admitted to a mental hospital?

The place was large and brown, built in a classic Neo-Victorian style popular in various European nations. There was even a nice white fountain outside, merrily spraying water, but Hajime knew he wasn't there to purely admire the view. Taking a deep breath, he tightened his grip on his duffel bag and walked inside, smelling the strong medical scent as well as flowery air freshener. A tall blonde woman sat at the all-white desk and smiled when he approached.

"Good afternoon! A visitor or a patient? If the former, I regret to tell you visiting hours aren't today," She asked cheerfully. Hajime already felt overwhelmed.

"Patient. Hinata Hajime," He fought to keep eye contact with her.

"Right! We were expecting you," She bowed politely at him and he bowed back. "Sonia Nevermind. I do all the business-y stuff around here. Sign here," She slipped a sheet of paper towards him. "Kirigiri-san will help you with any medications you need, and since it's your first day you aren't obligated to attend any meetings or sessions unless you really want to or feel you need them. Just focus on getting settled in! One of the kids your age is tasked with showing you to your room," She then gestured for his bag once he finished signing. "Adolescence wing, right?"

"Yeah," Hajime tightly gripped his bag. "Why do you need this?"

"To check! To make sure you don't have anything that could be used as a weapon!"

She said it so cheerfully yet so seriously Hajime felt himself pale. Swallowing, he surrendered the bag. The only things he had in there were just several pairs of clothing, some books and games, school supplies but no writing utensils, things like that. Phones were not allowed so he didn't bring his, nor toiletries as they were provided.

"Welcome to Hope's Peak Behavioral Center!" Sonia said to him as he left the lobby, following the signs to the teenage wing and stepping inside, smelling orange cleaner and looking into a room of green and white furniture and soft chairs. Large sunny windows lined the walls. He glanced around and saw several people all around his own age, doing their own things. Three girls played a board game in one corner, the brown-haired one getting super into it. Three other teens; two girls and one boy, sat super apart from each other, curled up in their respective chairs and reading. Two super muscular people were playing cards, which made Hajime do a double-take, and the remainder of the patients were wandering around. One of them noticed Hajime and hurried over, smiling.

"Hi! Are you Hinata-kun? Hinata Hajime?" He asked a bit shyly.

"Yeah," Hajime nodded and bowed slightly.

"Great! I'm your guide! To show you your bedroom and everything," He had brown hair styled a bit differently to Hajime's, which he found interesting. He wore a baggy green sweatshirt, green jeans, and white socks patterned with green four-leaf-clovers. What was with the green, who wore that much green on a regular day? He tried to suppress any other thoughts though, nobody here was really normal. Not even him. That didn't mean they were all genuine lunatics. "I'm Naegi Makoto, by the way,"

Hajime didn't say anything and just kept looking around the room.

"You're cheating!" One of the girls cried, slamming her hand against the table.

"Calm down, it's just a board game. She's not cheating," The second said.

"Yeah she is! I saw her move three spaces instead of two!"

"That's not cheating, she's just confused,"

"Want to hang around here, or see your room?" Makoto asked curiously.

"My room, please," He was afraid of getting in the middle of a line of fire if things started getting thrown. Makoto nodded and led him away, walking down a white hallway with blue paintings.

"Uh, we tend to share bathrooms, like if you have a roommate, you'll share with him. That's...not going to bother you, is it?" He ran his hands along the edge of his sweatshirt.

"No. I don't have...issues like that," Hajime answered easily. "I don't really care about sharing unless they scream at night or something,"

Makoto laughed awkwardly at that. "Nobody here screams," He pointed to one line of doors. "These are the girls, and then on the other side are the boys. And this is your room!" He led Hajime into a small grey room with two blue beds perfectly made-up. One side was plain and undecorated, which Hajime assumed was his own side, while the other was decorated with posters of rockstars and motorcycle motifs. Clearly this person was scheduled for a longer stay. "Bathroom is here," Makoto pointed it out. "Cafeteria is across from the lounge you just saw, and I'm sure you can read the signs to find your therapy rooms. Any questions?"

"You have a roommate?" Hajime asked, settling down on his bed, widening his eyes at how bouncy and soft it was.

"Yeah! Fujisaki-kun! You likely won't see him too much, but he's such a sweetheart. I like watching him program, it's so relaxing," Makoto said eagerly.

"Why not?"

"Uh....he....well, you'll see him sometimes during meals, and exercising and freetime. Sometimes we do goals and group sessions together. But usually he's doing his own things because he's....uh....different,"

"Different how?" They were all in the same place, they all had something 'wrong' with them. That wasn't mean of Hajime to think as it was clearly true.

"He has Integration-Dysregulation Syndrome," Makoto answered slowly.

"Oh," Hajime blinked, caught off-guard. He knew the basics of that illness; speaking gibberish, hallucinating, withdrawing from people, things like that. He was glad he wasn't his roommate, he wouldn't have had the first clue of how to deal with episodes. "You know anything about mine?"

"Oowada-kun. He's a great guy, I think you'll like him. Likes riding motorcycles," Makoto started to look off at something else. "He gets angry a lot but don't let that scare you,"

"I won't let it. Thanks for showing me around or whatever, I can handle it from here," Hajime waved him off, feeling like Makoto was miles away by that point. Makoto waved and ran away, leaving Hajime alone. He still didn't have his duffel bag back, not like it made much of a difference. He got a schedule with his brochure which told him the only things left in the day were more group sessions as well as dinner. He wouldn't attend anything until he got settled in, but he had to go to dinner at least. Maybe he'll meet Mondo there. The anger didn't frighten Hajime as long as he didn't start punching holes while he was trying to sleep. He didn't like anyone disturbing his sleep.

He thought about calling his parents and letting them know he was admitted before checking his pockets and remembering he didn't bring his phone with him. Surely they had hours set aside to let people talk to their families, right?

As he sat there thinking, a polite knock came to his door and he looked over to see a woman with lilac colourings and a light pink business dress and lab coat standing there.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I'm Miss Kirigiri, I brought your medicine," She held out the small bottle. "I'd also like to see you for a moment, if you're able?"

Hajime started to agree before he felt a sudden pang in his chest. He stared at the pill bottle and reached for those instead.

"I'm tired," He grumbled, taking them from Kirigiri and reading the instructions before heading into the bathroom and getting some water. "It was a long trip here,"

Kirigiri just watched him, likely to make sure he didn't try to overdose. Why would he? He wasn't suicidal and never had been, the thought never crossed his mind. You didn't need to be suicidal to need medicine or people monitoring you. He took two pills and laid down in his bed, not bothering to change or even really cover himself up. Kirigiri took the bottle back and stared at him.

"It's a process. Everyone here is in the same boat as you and won't judge you," She explained before leaving. Hajime just closed his eyes and fell asleep, it was a deep, dreamless sleep that left him tossing and turning throughout most of the night.

***

He woke up the next morning feeling exhausted and with his face planted into the pillow. His clothes were wrinkled and felt heavy on him. Even opening his eyes seemed to sap all of his energy from his body and the medicine in his system made him feel slightly dizzy. He managed to slowly roll over and see his duffel bag was placed in front of his nightstand, and he heard the sound of a shower running.

"Maybe I should shower..." Hajime very slowly pulled himself up, feeling like a stiff piece of wood. At the very least, he had to change his clothes. He couldn't keep wearing these. He got out of bed and unzipped the bag, sorting through his items before he found a simple grey T-shirt and a pair of blue sweatpants. Not what he would've preferred, but the website emphasized comfortable clothing that weren't just pajamas so they were the best he could do. His roommate was still showering, so Hajime made do with quickly changing in his room, running a hand through his messy hair when someone knocked on the door.

"Time for breakfast!" He recognized Makoto's cheerful voice and had a suddenly strong urge to crawl right back into bed and sleep for the remainder of the day. He couldn't do that though, well, he supposed he could, especially if he took more medicine, but he checked himself in to avoid that exact thing on a daily basis. He dressed himself, that was good, now he had to eat breakfast with everyone else. He could do it.

He left his roommate to finish showering and instead followed Makoto down to the cafeteria, still wearing an all-green ensemble different from the previous day. The cafeteria was painted in soft yellows and oranges and smelled deliciously of eggs and fish. Everyone else was sitting down and eating seemingly whatever their preferences were. Makoto gave Hajime a smile and took a seat next to a small boy wearing an outfit similar to Hajime's except in blue, eating a big bowl of fruity cereal. He looked around and saw no staff members, though surely some had to be around, right? No way it was a good idea to leave so many mentally ill kids alone on their own, even if it was just breakfast time.

Unsure of what to do next or where he'd even be welcomed, he asked for a plate of eggs and bacon with orange juice and sat across from the three girls he recognized as the loud board game players the other day.

"Are you kidding me?! I was having such a good time before some stupid boy had to ruin it!" The blonde complained, her hair tied up in nice pigtails. Her outfit was a sakura-coloured robe over a white nightgown and both vaguely resembled kimono. She had a typical breakfast of rice, fish, miso, and vegetables with tea.

"Sorry," Hajime slightly snapped at her.

"Don't be so rude to her," The redhead snapped back, wearing a long-sleeved blouse with a brown pleated skirt and suspenders, likely the most dressy person at the table. Nobody was supposed to be wearing pajamas, but to Hajime's eyes it seemed the vast majority of them still were. She had the same breakfast as him.

"She started it,"

"Come on, don't be so mean! We can all get along here!" The brown-haired girl scolded both of them, wearing a tight red tank top and matching gym shorts, her long hair up in a messy ponytail. "Don't mind them, they're weird about strangers. Nice to meet you, I'm Owari Akane, and who are you?" She held out her hand to shake, which Hajime took slowly. He gasped at her tight grip.

"Hinata Hajime,"

"Great name! They're Mahiru-chan and Hiyoko-chan. Like I said, don't let them get ya down,"

Hajime just nodded and returned to his eating, trying not to stare at Akane's plate. She must've had two whole stacks of pancakes and hashbrowns! How could she manage to keep that down?

"You gonna do sessions with us today?" Akane continued, eating as she talked. Hajime slowly tried to put his own food in his mouth. He had little appetite or desire to eat, but knew he had to get something in there for energy. A step at a time. He got dressed, he got out of bed, he could eat. "We do goals and then a more general group thing,"

"I have to," He didn't want to, but had to. Even if he felt better he still wouldn't be super keen on it; spill his problems to a bunch of strangers? No thank you. He signed himself up though, so he had to. He had to try to get better.

"Technically, you do not have to. They force you," A female voice reached him and Hajime looked up to see a girl sitting near the end of the table, a toasted baguette and fancy eggs in front of her. What the heck...where did she even get food like that? She had on a black lacy robe that looked silky over long black sweatpants and a white tank top. "But I assume someone like you would be into that, right? Seeing as how you signed yourself up,"

"You chose to come here?! Out of your own free will?!" A girl with purple braids practically shrieked sitting across from the black-haired girl. She seemed to just have a bowl of oatmeal, or maybe miso soup, Hajime couldn't really tell. She had on grey sweatpants and a baggy purple T-shirt. "Why would you want to?!"

"Because," Hajime tried to return to eating. He didn't have to answer any of their questions. Unfortunately, she kept going.

"Don't you know what they're going to do to you? Tie you to your bed, electrocute you, lock you in your room all day! Then the walls will start talking to you a-and you won't k-know what's real or anything!"

"The walls can talk too?!" The small boy Hajime assumed was Fujisaki freaked, dropping his spoon right into his cereal. "They do they do they do?! Why didn't anyone tell me?!"

"Shut up, you basket-case! Nothing inanimate talks!" Hiyoko shouted back at him.

"Uh-huh, yeah they do. The mirrors do. The mirror in my room is my bestest friend," He shot back.

"Shit, can you all just shut up?! What's with all the fucking screaming this morning?!" A boy dressed in a black tracksuit shouted as he walked into the cafeteria, his hair still slightly messy.

"Sorry Oowada-kun!" Makoto apologized shyly.

"You don't gotta apologize, I know you weren't doing shit,"

That must've been Mondo, his roommate.

"Shit, breakfast is almost over," He hurried to get some miso soup and rice and pushed Hajime over. "My bad, kid,"

"I don't mind," Hajime insisted, staring down at his food. Everyone else was almost done and he barely touched anything.

"You the new kid? We share a room, right?"

"Yeah,"

"Shit, ya sleep like the dead, I didn't even realize you were there last night! Oowada Mondo,"

"Hinata Hajime,"

"Breakfast will be over in five minutes!" An adult walked into the room, strict and polished. He wore a white lab coat like Kirigiri but his uniform was a black business suit that went with his hair. "If you're already done, make your way to the meeting room!"

"We will get there when we get there," The black-haired girl sighed. "Please do not rush us, it is unseemingly,"

"You are on thin ice for when Mikan-kun found that lipstick in your bag last week, Miss Yasuhiro! You want to get in trouble again?" He asked without a beat. Miss Yasuhiro remained silent after that.

"Let's walk together," Makoto suggested, and Hajime nodded and put his tray up, all too happy to leave early. Clearly he wasn't going to be getting any eating done.

The meeting room was a sunny yet mainly empty room in blue with colourful chairs all set up in a circle. Dry Erase boards and markers were set out on each chair, and Hajime just took a random one. Makoto sat across from him when the remainder of the group all filed in, the staff member walking in last.

"Morning everyone! You know what time it is, time for Goal Group! Where we decide what you want to work on for the remainder of the week! I see we have someone new joining us, so before we proceed, let's all introduce ourselves," The guy shouted, Hajime felt he had no sense of volume control. Surely it couldn't be good to have a staff member who yelled everything in a mental hospital, right? "I'm Ishimaru-sensei, not really a teacher but I'm yours while you're here so call me that! We'll go down the line!"

"Do we have to say what we're diagnosed with?" Yasuhiro spoke up daintily. "I thought we were supposed to have patient security,"

"You are correct! However, if you feel like sharing, please do so! It makes everything easier and shows we're all one and the same here!"

"Yeah right," Hiyoko scoffed under her breath.

"Me first!" Makoto stood up and bowed nicely. "I'm Naegi Makoto, though you already knew that!" He laughed awkwardly. "I have OCD,"

That must've explained his weird fixation on all-green clothing.

"You already know me too, Owari Akane," She nodded. "I'm in here for an eating disorder,"

Okay, that couldn't have been right. She was very filled-out, and packing away her food at breakfast! Though, he supposed she quickly excused herself afterwards to use the bathroom. He wasn't around so he wouldn't have known.

"I would prefer to be called Celestia Ludenberg, but if that is too much of a mouthful...Yasuhiro Taeko," The girl grumbled slightly. "According to my parents, and the staff here, gambling is an issue. I fail to see how,"

"It is when you do nothing but gamble, throwing your life away!" Ishimaru pointed a finger in her direction, making her scowl slightly and take her seat again.

"Koizumi Mahiru. Generalized anxiety disorder. I know you are in the same court as all of us, but don't use that as an excuse to push us around, okay?" She scolded Hajime.

"Still upset about breakfast?" He couldn't help saying back, though she ignored him and sat back down. Anxiety wasn't super major, it seemed weird to him she'd be registered for such a thing. Still, she could've been downplaying it.

"F-Fukawa T-Touko...not that it matters. Y-You won't remember me," That was the purple-haired girl. "DID, dissociative identity disorder," She briefly flicked her eyes over in his direction before she looked away.

Crap, that was like, a split personality or something, right? Hajime also regretted having that thought, but he couldn't help it. She may not be actually dangerous, but still unpredictable, right? He hoped he wouldn't see too much of her.

"Saionji Hiyoko....generalized anxiety disorder and also...illness anxiety I think," She shrugged a bit.

The next boy who stood Hajime didn't think was at breakfast; he didn't think he'd forget such a strange-looking mess of whiteish-brown hair. He was wearing a bright red tracksuit that looked too big and baggy on him, hanging off his frame. He offered Hajime a smile. "My turn...Komaeda Nagito. I have histrionic personality disorder. I understand if that freaks you out, but aren't we all here to work through our issues?"

Hajime had no clue what that even was and thus didn't know whether to be concerned or not about his demeanor.

"Fujisaki Chihiro....Integration-Dysregulation-Syndrome," He explained shyly, folding his hands in front of himself.

"That means he's a schizo," Hiyoko called, earning a dirty look from Ishimaru.

"Okie-dokie, time for my introduction!" A blonde girl cheered, bouncing up from her seat. "Okay, I'm Enoshima Junko, or my stage-name, really I'm Ikusaba Junko, but I hate that name so use Enoshima. Anyway, I totes have depression, don't be fooled by my perky nature!" She had her hair in a low ponytail and wore an ankle-long black skirt and tight white blouse. Hajime stared at her curiously. Maybe...they could try to get along. After all, they had the same condition even though it seemingly manifested differently. Maybe she could help him out during his episodes.

"Tch," A blond boy looked away, wearing a black jacket and suit pants with a white shirt underneath it. "I don't have to introduce myself,"

"Mister Togami! Today you have to introduce yourself to the newcomer!" Ishimaru said. "Do you want to see Juuzou-kun and tell him you weren't cooperating?"

He looked over and scoffed. "No, but I also don't fancy confessing everything about myself to this complete stranger." He shot Hajime a look. "Togami Byakuya. That's it. That's all you gotta know,"

"He's got paranoid personality disorder!" Junko shouted in their direction, making Byakuya scowl at her.

"Miss Enoshima!" Ishimaru scolded.

The last girl stood up, though Hajime felt more compelled to describe her as a woman, since she looked at least several years older than the rest of them. She had white hair and very large muscles, putting Mondo to shame. She wore a light pink sweatshirt with glitter on it and a short pink skirt, little slippers on her feet. "Oogami Sakura. I look forward to working together with you, if the time ever comes," She nodded at Hajime. "Substance abuse,"

"Oowada Mondo. I got anger management issues..I say that's bullshit though," He grumbled as he stood up. "Also PTSD, but that's also bullshit,"

"Mister Oowada!" Ishimaru scolded him.

Hajime finally stood up, taking a deep breath. "I'm Hinata Hajime....I have depression. I have no idea what to think of everything so far," He sat back down.

"Alright everyone! Now that you're all introduced, let's begin our Goal Group! Take your marker and write at least one or two goals you want to work on this week! Remember the criteria, do not be vague and make sure you can actually measure it. Tell me when you're done and we'll go over them," Ishimaru directed. Several people rolled their eyes but wrote obediently. Hajime clutched his board in his hands, trying to think of something to write. His biggest goal was to sign himself up and get the help he needed, but where did he go from there? What could they do for him?

He uncapped his red marker and slowly started to write two things down:

-Finish at least two meals at least once this week

-Fall asleep without medicine at least once this week

He had no clue what to do next so he just raised his hand and Ishimaru was at his side in a second.

"Fine goals, Mister Hinata! I look forward to helping you realize them, as do the remainder of the staff and your peers!" He nodded in approval.

"Teacher's Pet," Touko coughed close beside him, not loud enough for Ishimaru to hear but plenty loud for Hajime himself to hear.

"Would anyone like to share their goals?" Ishimaru suggested after a few minutes, looking around at everyone. "Anyone at all?"

"No!" Junko laughed.

"I will," Mahiru stood up. "Attend swimming without freaking out,"

"Very good, Miss Koizumi! Sometimes she has panic attacks when she's around water, but as some of you know, she's been making good progress towards that goal!" Ishimaru praised.

"Ummmm...I-I want to finish my current programming project and eat one of those oranges in the cafeteria. You know, those big orange ones full of juice that you could stick a straw through? I love those," Chihiro sat back down shyly.

"How is eating an orange an appropriate goal?" Byakuya demanded. "This is supposed to be tangible goals about self-improvement,"

"The goals can be whatever we want," Hajime said. "They don't have to be an actual goal. If he wants to eat oranges, he should be allowed to,"

"I agree! Let the kid eat oranges!" Akane cheered from her seat.

"I'm just saying, what he wants won't improve him in the long run," Byakuya insisted.

"And what did you write, then?" Mahiru demanded. "Mr. High and Mighty?"

"As if I'd tell you-" Byakuya started to decline, but Junko swooped in with amazing speed and grabbed his board. Clearing her throat, she read out:

"Call my father and finish an entire conversation with him! What's that? Someone having daddy issues?" She snickered.

"Miss Enoshima and Mister Togami!" Ishimaru barked, running over. "This behavior is extremely inappropriate and uncalled for!" He took Byakuya's board from her. "Keep this up and you will be sedated, Miss Enoshima! And as for you, Mister Togami, you should know better than anyone else that these goals do not have to be necessarily self-improvement. They can be rewards or whatever the person deems necessary at that point in time! Take your seat, Miss Enoshima!"

Junko pouted extremely childishly, but still obeyed. Byakuya adjusted his glasses, trying to recollect himself. Hajime looked around the room subtly; Akane was yawning, Mahiru was taking deep breaths, and Chihiro was clutching his board so tightly his knuckles were white, trembling violently. Ishimaru checked his watch.

"And with that, it's time for everyone to move onto their individual therapy sessions. I'll see you all back for homework time, so behave for your therapist!" He gave pointed glances at Taeko and Junko as they put their boards away.

Hajime noticed nobody offered to walk him, so he supposed finding his therapist would be something he had to do on his own. He subtly followed Junko into another wing and watched as she disappeared into one door. He looked around and found Kirigiri sitting alone at her desk and walked in.

"Hello? I don't know who my therapist is," He admitted.

"I am," She confessed, leaning against her desk. "Please close the door,"

He did so and took a seat, trying to focus on her face and not automatically look down at the ground.

"How are you settling in?" Her tone was a cold monotone.

"I don't know," He shrugged. "It's a lot to take in,"

"It always is,"

"I didn't eat much breakfast," He confessed. "I tried but it was difficult, like someone was holding my arm down,"

"Did you eat some of it?"

"Yeah. I got out of bed and dressed," Hajime ran his hands down his shirt.

"That's progress,"

***

After therapy, which in Hajime's case he felt went absolutely nowhere, it was time for games, and then everyone would eat and get ready for exercise. There was another nurse in a powder-blue business dress and white coat, matching ribbon up in her orange hair who was talking excitedly when Hajime finally entered the lounge.

"What do you guys want to play?" She asked before noticing him. "Oh, Mister Hinata! I'm Yukizome-san, pleased to meet you! I'm one of the nurses!"

Hajime just nodded and collapsed in one of the soft chairs, laying back. Talking to Kirigiri seemed to take way too much out of him.

"Let's play another board game," Mahiru suggested. "That way we can get everyone involved,"

"I much prefer cards, myself," Taeko giggled.

"Don't ya know you're banned from card games?" Mondo grumbled.

"I wouldn't mind a card game," Makoto spoke up shyly.

"Why don't we ask Hajime-kun what game he wants!" Akane suggested, yanking Hajime out of his chair and startling him with her strength. "Well, how about it? What do you want, board or card?"

"I don't care," Hajime grumbled, trying to push Akane off. "I'm not interested, I don't want to play games,"

"You ain't got much of a choice, sucker!" Junko laughed meanly.

"It's a great way to build bonds with everyone," Makoto ran his hands along the edge of his sweatshirt again.

"More like, that is its only purpose. We are meant to learn teamwork and sportsmanship and things like that," Taeko sighed.

"I don't know, let's just play Monopoly or something!" Mahiru eventually threw her hands up. "You can't decide on anything!"

"Monopoly would be great!" Yukizome approved.

"N-No way. I'm not playing Monopoly," Touko shook her head.

"Alright, then why doesn't everyone who not want to play Monopoly, play something else? What about Apples to Apples?"

"T-That's a baby game,"

"I agree," Byakuya nodded.

"But it's far better than some fucking Monopoly!" Junko laughed and the four who weren't into Monopoly walked to the other side of the room with her. Hajime watched them go. He wanted to spent more time with Junko, learn more about her and her depression, learn more about her as a person, but he felt the other three would rubberneck him and prevent him from learning anything useful. On the other hand, there were Makoto and Akane who were the only two who bothered to show him any sort of kindness or help. True, Makoto was asked to, but Akane wasn't required to do anything of the sort and yet she did anyway.

He made his choice and followed after Junko, watching her set up the game.

"Oh? You decided to join us after all?" Taeko covered her mouth with her hand. "I assumed you would be with the others,"

"Y-Yeah, you don't belong with us, w-we're the real freaks," Touko stammered.

"Nonsense! Hinata-kun saw a kindred spirit in me, didn't you? I see nothing wrong with him wanting to join us!" Junko started dolling out the cards, handing everyone seven. Byakuya instantly tossed his own onto the table.

"I'm not playing," He insisted.

"Awwww, don't be like that! We need at least four people!" Junko pouted cutely.

"You have plenty,"

"I-I don't want to play either," Touko huffed, though she made no move to set her own cards down.

"All you guys do is whine and cramp my style! Show some coolness in front of Hinata-kun, huh?" She pouted more. "Okie-dokie, I'm the leader!" She picked a green card and slapped it down; it read 'in school'. "And, go!"

Hajime looked at his own selection, glancing back over at the group playing Monopoly. Somehow, they were acting rowdy and playful. It was enough to give him a headache.

"How are we supposed to pick anything good with that?" Taeko demanded.

"Just pick something," Junko sighed.

Hajime picked 'Eating' and just set that one down, looking at the other two; 'Reading' and 'State Laws'. Junko eyed them and then shrugged.

"Hinata-kun's,"

"No fair, h-how did you even know which was his?" Touko demanded.

"I just do,"

Taeko and Touko both glared at Hajime, making him shrug.

"This is boring," He admitted. Not that Monopoly would be any less boring. Maybe he just wanted to spend the remainder of the day in his room, but no way the staff would allow that. He could fake an episode, but that would lead to him getting sedated and strapped to his bed. He leaned back in his seat. He just had to bare it for the next half hour. He could do that.

***

Hajime had to help put the game away, as in, once Yukizome announced it was time for lunch, the other four split, leaving him to clean it all up. He supposed it could be worse, but still. Nobody seemed eager to walk with him to lunch so he did so by himself, looking at all of the options. None seemed appealing, but he knew he had to eat something. He eventually settled on a hot-dog meal and took his seat, sitting beside Chihiro and Makoto.

"Hey," He tried to greet. Makoto was staring at his slice of pizza intensely, as if he expected the thing to suddenly grow a face and attack, while Chihiro had melon soda and a fruit salad and gave him a shy smile.

"W-Why do you want to sit with us?" He asked shyly.

"Just do. A change of pace. Plus I think Mahiru-san and Hiyoko-san have it out for me," He motioned to the two girls in question, sitting where they were for breakfast.

"They don't hate you," Chihiro tried to stab the fruit chunks with his spoon, only to gasp as the plastic suddenly bent. "My spoon!"

"Have mine," He quickly handed Chihiro his own and studied him as he ate. "So, uh...."

Chihiro continued to eat. "Do you smell orange popcorn? It's the best kind of popcorn there is...Yuki-chan says it's grape but I know it's orange. They cook it here but never let me have any," He spoke up suddenly, looking ahead. Hajime stared at him.

"Orange popcorn isn't-" He caught Makoto's eye, who was shaking his head fervently at him. "Maybe they're all out and you're just smelling the residue," Hajime scooted a bit back. That was way too freaky.

"It smells good," Chihiro continued to insist.

God, they were all a bunch of nutcases, and Hajime willingly signed himself up. He openly admitted he was a regular nut! Chihiro though, he was clearly the nuttiest of the bunch.

He looked around to see if anyone else was up for talking.

Touko sat near the end of the table again, staring down into her bowl of soup or whatever. Taeko was eating a club sandwich and trying to make conversation with Byakuya, who didn't seem up for eating either and was ignoring her. A few seats from them sat Nagito, who would scoop up some mashed potatoes, look at them, and put them back down onto his plate. Sakura and Mondo were also sitting next to each other. Yeah, he could talk to them. Mondo was his roommate, and Sakura seemed nice and approachable from her brief introduction in Goal Group. He scooted over to them and stared, waiting for one to notice him.

"Good afternoon," Sakura greeted warmly, having miso soup and rice. Mondo had a bowl of ramen. "Did anyone win in your game?"

"Wha-oh. Apples to Apples? I don't remember," Hajime answered shortly. "It was boring anyway, nobody seemed super into playing,"

"A shame. Game hour is always my favourite time of day. Lets everyone bond and just relax a bit. Perhaps tomorrow you could join whatever my group decides to do," She said.

"Maybe,"

"Hopefully we won't be playing fucking Monopoly again. Ain't nothin' engagin' about that game," Mondo grumbled.

"So, do we really have to play games like those every single day?" Hajime looked down at his tray and sipped at his tea.

"Yes." Sakura nodded.

"Fucking perfect," He groaned, making Mondo laugh.

"You're alright, kid," He gave him a nudge.

"Everyone here is just a lot to handle,"

"You will get used to them. None of them are bad people. Not even Fukawa-san or Togami-san. They are more intense and distrusting, but it is not their fault. The others are more openly friendly," Sakura explained. "Friends are a valuable resource in here,"

Hajime just returned to staring at his food. The meat had gotten cold and the fries were limp and unappetizing. He managed to eat a few while they were still hot. As usual, peeking around the table shows everyone else was able to eat normally and finish. What kind of a nut was he if he couldn't even eat properly?

"After lunch, head outside for exercise!" Yukizome announced.

"Heck yeah! Best time of the day!" Akane cheered, jumping right out of her chair and running out of the room.

"Do we need to get changed or anything?" Hajime found himself asking as he followed Mondo and Sakura out of the cafeteria.

"Sometimes, if we do somethin' special like swimming, but not really," Mondo shrugged. "And sometimes guys and chicks are separate but sometimes they're together,"

The outside area was large and grassy; fenced-in obviously, but there was a huge basketball court, general court for stuff like volleyball or tennis, a small playground likely for the kids in attendance, a large locked shed, shady benches to sit near the door, and a track field. Even his old school didn't have an outside area this huge.

"Afternoon!" A booming voice greeted them and Hajime turned to see a super built and tall man in a black tracksuit and lab coat smiling down at everyone, his hands on his hips. "Ready for another intense day of exercise?"

"Absolutely not," Taeko rolled her eyes, staring at her nails.

"Outdoor recreation is just as important in your habitation and recovery. Normally I would have something in mind for you, but today we're just going to do whatever! So what do you feel like doing?" He scanned their faces. "I see a new patient here, so good to meet you! The name's Nidai! Coach, to be exact!"

"He's great, isn't he?" Akane suddenly popped up from nowhere, nudging Hajime.

"I would like to jump-rope," Mahiru said.

"Me too, me too, then! I want to do what Big Sister Mahiru does!" Hiyoko jumped up and down.

"Since I cannot get out of this, who would like to play tennis with me? I will do doubles," Taeko sighed.

"I don't mind," Junko grinned, looking at Hajime. "But we need another partner!"

"I'll be on your team, Taeko-san," Chihiro offered shyly. "Mama and I play tennis a lot together,"

"Could you possibly win? You know you are hitting a ball with a racquet, right? Not shooting a laser at a meteor?" Taeko tittered. Chihiro pouted.

"I-I can tell what's going on right now!"

Hajime just left them alone and found Mahiru and Hiyoko jump-roping together, keeping in time. He figured Mahiru wouldn't take kindly to him interrupting them, so he just wandered around on the court until he found Akane again, doing cartwheels and somersaults.

"Hey Hinata-kun!" She greeted as she stood on her hands, balancing herself. "Want to join me?"

"What are you even doing?" He asked.

"Just some random flexibility moves. Gotta keep myself in shape, ya know?!" She wobbled a bit as she started walking on her hands. "Coach Nidai was pretty miffed when he found out last week I didn't come to any of the outdoor sessions and so he told me it was a great way to get a good figure so you better believe I started coming after that!"

Hajime waited. Akane jumped back onto her feet easily.

"And I want a good figure, you know? I already exercise so much," She looked at the track. "Want to run down that with me?"

"I'd tucker out after a minute," He declined, shaking his head. She grabbed his wrist.

"Come on, it'll be fun! Besides, you could live to get some muscle on your frame!" She pulled him in the direction of the track and after doing a few stretches, she took off running, leaving Hajime behind. He sighed and started running too, not as fast as her. For one, he had long sweatpants on and felt they weren't as suitable as her shorts were, and secondly, he was trying to mull through what she told him. An exercise junkie? Made sense to him, people with eating disorders often madly exercised madly to drop the weight. A lot of bulimics did that in place of purging, or both purged and exercised.

She looked back at him and smirked. "Come on, Hinata-kun! You can do way better than that! I know you can!"

"I really can't!" He called back to her, slowing his steps. He stumbled slightly as his slippers didn't have proper traction and fell right on the track, collapsing on his back.

"Are you okay?!" Makoto shouted from somewhere far away. Hajime very slowly got to his feet, walking over to one of the benches. He sat down there and hugged himself, watching the remainder of the outdoor hour.

***

When they went back inside, they were directed back to their dorms, where Hajime collapsed on his bed, feeling utterly exhausted. He couldn't believe it was only almost one in the afternoon. He groaned and hid his face in his hands.

"Ya can sleep if ya want," Mondo suggested as he walked in. "It'll only be for an hour but sometimes ya just need that boost, ya know?"

"No," He might need the medicine and he didn't want to rely on it and end up sleeping the remainder of the day away. "What do we do now?"

"Whatever we want," He shrugged. "You could read or play cards. Or talk I guess, but I ain't got much to say,"

"Your side is decorated, you planning on staying here long?"

Mondo just shrugged again. "Mom gave me this stuff and of course I wasn't going to deny her. She's my mom, you know? I coulda been stayin' here for only one night and I still woulda accepted it!" He responded in a defensive tone. "You'd accept whatever your mom gave you too, right?"

Would he? Hajime felt surprised by that question. He wondered if sometimes his mom even knew who he was. She certainly wouldn't send him anything during his stay here, he was sure of that. Would his parents even call him without him calling first?

"I don't know. My parents and I...don't get along," He finally said.

"Shit, sorry. Everyone should have a good relationship with their mom at least. She's like the most important person in your life!" Mondo carried on. "She won't even visit?"

"I don't know," He rolled over in his bed so his back was to Mondo.

"Well, when my mom comes, I'll introduce ya. Ya can just pretend she's yours too!" He decided, sitting on his own bed. Hajime figured he would sleep and remembered his duffel bag. Rolling back over, he opened his bag and pulled out the book he was currently in the middle of reading, laying on his back and holding the book out as he continued reading. It was some generic light novel about a fantasy world, nothing super complex or engaging. Some kids at his old school were super into the series and Hajime wanted to talk to them about something so he said he'd check it out. He was already on the second novel and found everything about them uninteresting.

He read for the next hour, then had to go to therapy yet again, then followed Kirigiri's instructions to head back to the room everyone did Goal Group in, transformed to have several desks and a large table in the center of the room. Several patients were in there already, poring over books or papers.

"Mister Hinata! Right on time! Every day for two hours, except on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, we spend the time in here working on homework or school assignments or other work given to you by staff here!" Ishimaru announced the second he wandered in, making him wince.

"Can I get my bag from my room then? I didn't know," He asked, blinking.

"No need! Nevermind-kun brought it in for you while you were at therapy!" He motioned over to it, and he nodded slowly and slid into his seat. He glanced up and found himself sitting with Taeko, Chihiro, Akane, Mahiru, and Hiyoko. Touko and Byakuya sat alone as usual, while Makoto and Junko sat at a different table together. Sakura and Nagito sat at their own desks and Mondo was nowhere to be seen.

"Heya!" Akane greeted cheerfully. "Are ya good at physics? I dunno why I'm even taking it but I'm awful at it,"

"No," Hajime dug through his own bag, getting out textbooks and notebooks of things he was assigned before he checked in. Some of his teachers were accommodating and gave him assignments to do, while the others said they'd send it along when they got the chance. He started with math and tried to focus on it, tapping his pencil against the pages of his book.

Ishimaru walked over to a CD player and randomly turned it on, letting soft jazz float through the room. Hiyoko rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, do we gotta listen to this? It's going to put me to sleep!"

"Because you have no taste. I quite like the sound of it," Taeko smiled sharply at her. Hajime just tried to ignore a possible fight and kept his head down, staring at his homework. It was algebra stuff he briefly spent time studying before his fog hit and found himself unable to recall what they learned. Something about patterns and numbers. Number patterns. He tried to focus on that, reading and rereading through the instructions given in the textbook as well as the examples. He then looked down at his worksheet. Nothing would numb his mind more like mindless homework and worksheets, so best get to it.

Hajime drowned himself in his work for the next two hours, getting his math, science, Modern Japanese, literature, history, and English work done, leaning back in his seat. He looked over and saw Mahiru calmly reading a book, not noticing anything else that happened around her.

"Good work, everyone!" Ishimaru's loud voice boomed. "Head to your next group therapy while I get everything organized in here!"

"More therapy?" Hajime said out-loud to himself, making Mahiru stare at him.

"You're in a mental hospital, what were you expecting? It's basically endless therapy with breaks inbetween," She said.

He had only been there for several hours and that was already shaping up to be true.

"Why'd you check yourself in, anyway? I mean, I know you have depression and everything, but you seem so...normal in comparison to these other people. They're certified nuts, but you..."

"I could say the same about you, you just have anxiety,"

"Yeah...I guess it came from always having to take care of myself growing up. I've always managed it, but you know...sometimes you just get lost in town and find yourself on a busy highway and just start crying. Then the police get called,"

"The police?!" Hajime asked in disbelief. "Wait, why are you telling me all this? I thought you hated me,"

"I don't hate you, but you do seem to pick fights with everyone over everything. Leave Hiyoko-chan alone,"

"Fine, whatever."

"I mean it. It's unbecoming of a guy to gang up on a girl constantly. Like I said though, you're not as off-it as these other guys are. You seriously think I could count on Komaeda-kun for anything? Or Fujisaki-kun? Or what about Oowada-kun?"

She made good points, but still. In a few days, they wouldn't see each other ever again, so why bother getting super close with her?

They entered another group therapy room where a purple-haired girl with her hair braided down her back was, anxiously sorting through a bag. She was sitting in a circle of chairs and as Hajime got closer, he noticed the usual white coat and a baby-blue nurse dress on her figure as well. He just took a seat randomly next to Mahiru since they arrived together and waited as the remainder of the group all filed in.

"H-Hi! It's time for group therapy!" The girl squeaked once everyone was in, looking startled. "I'm Tsumiki-san, another nurse, and today we're g-going to do one of my favourites...the Red Rubber Ball! Whenever it's in your hands, you're allowed to speak. Let's talk today about one of your proudest moments," She looked around and tossed it to Nagito, who caught it easily.

"My proudest one, huh? What about this time I won the lottery? I got kidnapped and then found a winning ticket at the bottom of the bag I was thrown into,"

"Some of us have all the luck in life," Taeko sighed.

"U-Um....you're not allowed to speak unless you have the ball," Tsumiki softly scolded her.

"But you don't have the ball either, so you're not allowed to speak!" Junko laughed crazily, making Tsumiki squeak again.

"W-Well, I'm a nurse s-so I'm allowed to!"

Nagito tossed the ball at Mahiru.

"Let's see....my mom is a famous photographer and my proudest moment was when we went out together this one summer and shot pictures of the landscape. Whatever we wanted or thought looked cool. I was only eleven so I was worried mine wouldn't compare to hers, but she said mine were far better. She said I had a real talent," She said. "It's why I decided to seriously pursue photography," Mahiru then tossed the ball to Hiyoko.

"I don't know...when my bitch of a grandmother said I was the best dancer she'd seen in a generation. I hate her, but dancing is the one thing I'm good at, so," Hiyoko looked around and just tossed the ball at random, hitting Makoto square in the face. He gasped and anxiously rubbed at his face madly for several seconds, balling the hand he was using into a fist. His nose looked red afterwards.

"Mine is...getting accepted into this private school in town. It cost a lot but my parents persevered and got me in. My sister is a bit jealous especially when she saw we had no uniforms, just formal dress clothes," He smiled. "Does that really count?"

"Absolutely! Whatever makes you proud as a person, nothing is off the table," Tsumiki gave him a reassuring smile. Makoto gripped the ball with both hands and threw it at Taeko, who barely caught it.

"When I won this gambling tournament. It was a very difficult one hardly anyone ever won so I knew I had my work cut out for me. I won large and kept going back to it every year," She smiled to herself. "Sadly, I was unable to properly match the amount I won the first time, so I kept going back and losing more in the hopes of winning at least once..."

"That's because you have a gambling addiction. A lot of addicts keep getting caught up in the feeling of winning so they just keep trying to do it again," Tsumiki nodded.

Taeko scoffed and threw the ball at Hajime, who caught it despite the stinging in his palm he received from how hard she threw it. He looked at it; a simple red ball that was squishy and blank, nothing written on it. He squeezed it a few times and watched it just reform into its original shape. He could feel their eyes on him, so he quickly tried to think of a moment he felt proud. Did he even have any? He had to have one of them, right? Everyone did, even him.

Even him.

"I...I don't know," He finally admitted, feeling empty. He slumped back in his chair.

"S-Surely you have at least one thing, right?" Tsumiki tried to coax.

"No," Hajime looked around and just threw the ball at Chihiro, blocking out the remainder of the session. His heart felt hollow and empty.

"A-Alright everyone! Thank you for being so cooperative!" Tsumiki praised, taking her ball back. Hajime shook his head to try and clear his mind, noticing his limbs had gone back to feeling heavy. "S-See you all tomorrow!"

Everyone stood up and headed off, Hajime just following them into the cafeteria again, sitting by himself. He got something random and just stared at his food, watching it gel and cool. Everyone talked around him but he just briefly flicked his eyes over in various directions. Could he go to bed early? He didn't even care any more if he missed another therapy session, or whatever else, he just wanted to dope himself up and go to bed-

"Time for television!" Yukizome announced cheerily, and everyone left the room eagerly, heading into another large lounge with puke-coloured couches and beanbags and a big TV set up on a stand. Hajime stuck his tongue out at the sight of the furniture, getting gently pushed into the room by Kirigiri, who stood near the door. Yukizome took a spot near the window, watching everyone get settled in.

"What should we watch tonight? Horror movies!" Junko laughed crazily. "Perfect!"

"N-No way, we're not allowed to watch those," Chihiro shook his head a bit fearfully.

"We totes are when Tsumiki-san is watching us because she can't tell us no!"

"Well, she's not here, is she?" Mahiru put her hands on her hips.

"How about some game show? Nice and inoffensive," Makoto suggested with an awkward smile.

"Please no. We watch those all of the time," Taeko sighed.

"Hinata-kun, you're the new kid! What do you think we should watch?!" Akane asked him eagerly, making him briefly glance over. He just shrugged. "Seriously?! You ain't got any idea?"

"We can watch sports, you wanna?" Mondo coaxed, but Hajime just glanced away, curling up in his chair.

"TV is one of the few fun things to do around here," Mahiru said, but Hajime still said nothing. He stared down at the chalky grey tile and watched the miniscule dots in the material jump around. He heard heels clack over to him and felt someone pull on him roughly and soon he was staring into Kirigiri's violet eyes.

"Are you alright?" Yukizome asked from his other side.

I'm perfectly fine! He shouted inside his head. He looked over at the television and found everyone watching some sort of animated movie, getting super into it. He hung his head.

No, he could do this, it was nearly the end of the day, he could get through it, he could watch television with the others, take a shower, read or journal, call someone, change into pajamas, go to bed like a normal person, he didn't need medicine, he didn't need to be doped up to go to bed, he could function-

"Mister Hinata! Are you alright? Do I need to call Juuzou-kun and Kyosuke-kun?" Yukizome kept asking, tightening her grip on his arm.

He looked over at Kirigiri and struggled to form words; they felt like heavy pieces of lead choking down his throat:

"I-I...g-give me medicine. I-I can't, I gotta-" He trembled, falling limp in their arms.

"Okay, okay, I got it," Yukizome nodded. "Can you stand?"

Hajime very slowly stood up, swaying. He felt like a brick even as Kirigiri steadied his shoulders.

"I'll take him to his room," She reassured Yukizome and walked off with him, guiding him and whispering things that went in one ear and out the other. He kept trembling even as they reached his room and Kirigiri eyed him as he swallowed down two pills with a glass of water, falling into his bed. She left him there, and Hajime hadn't even realized when he fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Text

Another morning, technically his second official morning there. He slowly opened his eyes and was met with a spinning room that made him clutch his bedsheets tightly in a panic. He felt his own body sway wildly and he paled, jumping out of bed and racing towards the bathroom, knocking on the door.

"Get out, get out!" He yelled as Kirigiri walked in the room, giving him a stern look.

"Wait your turn in the shower," She scolded, but he shook his head.

"I can't, I'm going to-" Hajime bit his lip before his stomach flipped painfully and he doubled-over and vomited on the spotless floor. He groaned and wiped his mouth off, wincing at the mess he made. He no longer felt like a brick-wall, but instead like a piece of rubber that had been stretched out way too far.

"Mikan-chan, Chisa-chan, there's vomit to clean up," Kirigiri announced calmly into the hallway, making Tsumiki respond in the affirmative. Hajime just stared at her. How many people hurled on a daily basis here? They were mentally sick, not physically sick. He groaned and leaned against the wall, especially as Tsumiki hurried in and dutifully cleaned up his puke.

"Shit, what happened?" Mondo asked as he walked out of the bathroom, wearing a sports jersey and loose pants. "You hurl your guts? You sick?"

Hajime groaned again and wondered if he spent long enough in the shower if he'd miss breakfast and not have to face everyone.

"You okay? You uh....seemed out of it last night,"

Hajime finally pushed past him and went into the bathroom, seeing it for the first time. It was a small room with a sink, mirror and cupboard, toilet, and shower, all in various corners. There was a painting of fruit in the room, to liven it up some, Hajime supposed, but it just looked weird to him. He closed the door and noticed it didn't have a lock, rolling his eyes slightly. Of course. Inside the cupboard were inoffensive things like toothpaste and toothbrushes. The room was still steamy and slightly wet from Mondo using it. He wrinkled his nose at his clothing and knew a shower was in order, especially after puking.

So, he peeled off the clothing and hopped in, just taking a quick shower. He didn't pay much attention to the water except it was slightly lukewarm, then slowly brushed his teeth with flavourless toothpaste. He then changed into a blue T-shirt and grey sweatpants, slipping on some slippers and averting his gaze from the remainder of the table as he was escorted in by Kirigiri, just grabbing a random tray and sitting near the end.

"Are you okay?" Chihiro asked softly, gently nudging him, but he didn't look over. The food steamed hotly and all he could do was put his hand under his chin and stare at it.

"We have activity therapy today!" Makoto announced happily.

"Oh yes. I wonder what it'll be today?" Mahiru nodded.

"I hope it's music, those are the only fun ones," Hiyoko huffed.

"No, art is. It is very relaxing and allows me to express myself," Taeko smiled.

"For once I agree chick," Mondo said.

"No way, exercise is the best!" Akane shouted, laughing when Mahiru reminded her they had it every day regardless.

"Pet therapy, that's nice," Nagito chimed in. "It's always fun to see what animals they bring in,"

Hajime slowly picked up his glass of milk and took a few sips, then a bite of his toast. His stomach clenched and he fought a wince, knowing if he tried to eat more he might puke again and he couldn't risk that. He couldn't puke in front of everyone.

He put his tray away and just walked to the Goals Group area, staring down at his whiteboard. He could feel several pairs of worried eyes on him but he didn't acknowledge them.

"Morning everyone!" Ishimaru yelled, making Hajime wince at the volume. "You know the drill, so let's get started!"

What was the point of even making new goals? He hadn't even completed the ones he set for himself the other day. With a sigh, he just scribbled down what he wrote before and just prayed he wouldn't be called on as the others talked around him.

"Still no oranges...." Chihiro tilted his head slightly.

"Our resident rich boy didn't call his daddy either," Junko jabbed, laughing when Ishimaru shot her a look.

"Miss Enoshima! Do you want to be put in your room?" He scolded, making her roll her eyes.

Hajime sighed again and wandered into the lounge for games, shuffling his feet. Yukizome smiled at everyone.

"I thought we could do something a little different today!" She announced. "Instead of splitting up into groups to play board games, we're going to play Janken! So find a partner!"

Hajime looked around the room and found the people he expected to partner up. Hiyoko instantly clung to Mahiru, making the redhead smile awkwardly. Makoto and Chihiro took each other's hands and went into another corner to sit down. Sakura and Nagito nodded at each other. Akane looked over at Yukizome and cheered when the nurse agreed. Taeko grabbed Byakuya before anyone else got a chance, while Touko and Mondo just stared at each other. So that left him and-

"Morning!" Junko smiled easily. "You'll go easy on a girl, right?" She sat across from him.

"I guess," He shrugged, sitting up. Stop being on auto-pilot, play a game with her. Just a simple game of Janken. He played with his classmates all of the time growing up.

"I totes trust you!" She laughed and held out her hand. "Ready?"

"Yeah,"

"Janken Pon!" They both announced, throwing out their fists. His still remained a fist, but hers were in the shape of scissors.

"Awww, you win!" She pouted.

"How long are we going to keep playing? We seriously can't play this for a whole hour," Hajime complained.

"Dunno. Maybe after a few rounds they'll make us switch partners or something," She showed her fist off again. "But until then..."

"Janken Pon!" This time, he laid his hand flat while hers was a fist.

"You win again!" Junko announced.

"Janken Pon!" He formed his hands into scissors while she laid hers flat.

"Again!"

"You're doing this on purpose," He accused. Junko played with her hair before she suddenly teared up and burst out crying, covering her eyes.

"You're so mean to me, Hinata-kun! Bullying me just because I'm good at a game!" She wailed.

"Shit! I'm sorry!" Hajime waved his hands at her. Yukizome looked up from what she was doing. "Come on, don't cry!" He should've known better than to rail up someone else with depression!

Junko just as quickly settled down, sighing. "I wasn't that upset. I'm bored though...."

"Me too," Hajime looked around and saw Yukizome was watching someone else. "So, uh....depression,"

"Yeah, a total bitch," Junko leaned back in her chair. "I can already tell we're totes different though. You're more....laying in bed all day and can't function without medicine, while I'm super emotional,"

He just nodded. Much like Mahiru, he was unsure of why she was even telling him this, or what compelled her to suddenly share. Maybe it was just the environment, everyone was so relaxed they felt like opening up instantly.

"My big sis saw how manic I acted and was totes worried about me. She was like, 'your constant mood swings aren't healthy!' Then she signed me up here," She sighed. "It's, like, not the worst thing in the world, but mainly boring. I get my fun out of teasing tightwads like Togami-kun,"

"You have a sister?"

"Uh-huh! She's super annoying and gross though. On visiting days you'll see her. She's the only one who visits me!" Junko laughed crazily. "You can't miss her, she's the most unattractive person in the whole place!"

He nodded again, taking in her clothing. Today was a tight black blouse with a matching ankle-long skirt, white tights peeking out from underneath. Her hair was braided back neatly and tied back with white bows with a teddy-bear pattern. It was childish and basic, yet she wore it well.

"Wanna play another game? We're gonna be here for a while," She sighed, leaning forward.

Hajime groaned and leaned back in his seat.

Only day two. He could do this. He could get through this. He could. He had to.

***

As expected, therapy did little. Kirigiri mainly asked him how he was feeling after his episode, which made him shove his hands into his face in an attempt to hide it from Kirigiri's prying eyes. He never wanted to think about that incident ever again, no matter what.

After his own therapy session, he was told by Tsumiki to get changed into a bathing suit or something similar as that day they'd be swimming in gym. Hajime couldn't fight a small smile forming on his face.

Swimming. Now that he could get behind.

He didn't bring his own trunks, so he had to borrow a pair from the institute and quickly get changed in his bathroom. The trunks were long and baggy, in a deep blue, but they'd do the job. He followed Tsumiki down the halls and into another room that smelled strongly of chlorine, finding the others already there.

"Hell yeah! Ain't nothin' like a good swim!" Akane cheered, wearing a black one-piece that still somehow left nothing to the imagination, making him blush slightly. She stretched. "Who wants to do laps with me?!"

"Nobody would be able to beat you with your freakish strength!" Hiyoko gasped, wearing a pink swimsuit decorated in little yellow bows.

"Nonsense! That's just part of the fun!" Akane kept stretching.

Hajime looked over near the bleachers, finding Mahiru sitting by herself, wearing an institute-issued swimsuit like him, her hands on her chest. She seemed paler than normal, so he slowly walked over and looked at her.

"You alright?" He asked, making her glance away.

"Y-Yeah..w-water....it just freaks me out somehow," She admitted. Makoto walked over as well, wearing the same trunks as him but with a white shirt on over them.

"I feel that...you couldn't pay enough to get me in there," He smiled awkwardly.

"On some days, not even Hiyoko-chan can coax me into the water,"

"Big Sis! Come swimming!" Hiyoko called out, making Mahiru nod at her.

"I'm coming!" She slowly stepped down the steps, a light tremble noticeable in her hands as she walked over to where her friend was. "Let's stay in the shallow end today,"

"Awww!" Hiyoko pouted, but the two girls held hands and slowly waded into the water, remaining in the waist-high area. Hajime looked over at Makoto, who was sitting firmly on the bench, watching everyone. He walked away and tried to see where the others had gone.

"Want to swim with me? We could do laps!" Junko popped in out of nowhere, pulling him into a tight hug. He gasped upon being assaulted by her large breasts.

"I'm not the best at laps," He admitted, pushing her away. Her hair was still braided but she wore a one-piece where one side was black and the other was white.

"So? You can totes still swim! Swim in circles or something! We don't have to do laps!" She pulled on his arm and jumped straight into the deeper end, cheering. "Yahoo!"

"W-Wait!" Hajime called as he was pulled in with her, falling straight into the deep end too. He gasped and coughed as he resurfaced, struggling to remain afloat. "T-That wasn't funny!"

"Heck yeah it was!" Junko laughed, kicking her legs and pulling herself onto her back. "Live a little, Hinata-kun!"

He saw Nidai and Tsumiki sitting on the other side of the pool, both wearing red swimsuits with white crosses on them. Tsumiki also wore a crocheted wrap over her swimsuit. They talked happily but he knew if any sort of problem emerged they'd be on it in a second.

He swam around a little, noticing Touko and Byakuya were nowhere to be seen. He spotted Taeko on the other end of the pool, wearing a lacy black dress with a jacket over it, dipping her feet into the water. Mahiru and Hiyoko gently splashed each other, giggling.

"Y-You're into swimming?" A voice asked him, making him jump.

"Jesus!" He shouted, sighing.

"S-Sorry...!" Chihiro squeaked, floating a bit away from him. He wore bright red swimtrunks. "It's just...a lot of the other guys don't like swimming. It's so weird to see one who does,"

"Gee, thanks," Hajime snapped suddenly, making Chihiro wince. "No, that's not what...I meant....uhhh...." What did he mean? "I just like swimming,"

He nodded and swam closer. "Are you a strong one? We could take turns on the diving board," He pointed to the silver-painted one. "We have to ask Coach Nidai, but he lets me use it on my good days,"

His good days. Hajime tried to shake that image out of his head. It wasn't fair to judge Chihiro just based on that one comment.

"Uh, sure," He finally nodded and Chihiro perked up, clasping his hands together. Hajime followed him up the ladder and to the diving board, waiting for Chihiro to climb up it.

"Here I go!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he jumped off, bunching his body up as he splashed into the water below. He resurfaced and swam over to the ladder as Hajime slowly walked onto the diving board, staring down at the water below. He looked around and saw nobody's eyes on him, so before he lost his nerve, he simply walked off the board and hit the water below, quickly swimming back up and gasping as he resurfaced. He stood back and watched Chihiro do a few more jumps off the board before Nidai stood up, clapping his hands.

"Good work today, everyone! Time for lunch!" He announced. "Head to the cafeteria after you change!"

"The schedule today seems different," Hajime noticed as he walked with Chihiro back to the changing room.

"Y-Yeah...sometimes we exercise before lunch, especially if we have activity therapy or discharge meetings," He explained shyly.

"Guess I'll just have to get used to it," It was partially a lie; after all, he was only going to be there a week. What use was properly memorizing the schedule? He felt he'd be doped up for half of the events anyway.

He quickly dried off and got changed into his clothing from earlier, walking to the cafeteria by himself and once again getting a random tray and sitting at the main table. Akane was there before him and she had a burger and two hot-dogs on her plate, two orders of fries, and a large soda. He balked at her food before he caught himself.

"Hey! You're here early!" Akane greeted nicely, slapping him on the back and making him gasp. "You got ramen, huh? Good choice!"

Hajime could only nod, still fascinated by her large amount of food. He had no doubt she'd be able to finish it all, but then what? Where did it all go? Half-digested in one of the toilets here, he bet.

"So, how are you feeling? You had us freaked last night when you just died or something! You looked really...I don't know. Yukizome-san and Kirigiri-san had to both escort you out," She continued.

"I don't want to talk about it," He said sternly as the remainder of the group filed in, taking their usual seats and beginning to eat. Hajime slurped at his noodles, only stomaching a few bites. He sighed to himself as he tried to tell himself that was good. He was eating. That was good enough, right?

***

After spending another thirty minutes reading the boring fantasy novel, instead of doing his homework, Ishimaru announced it was time for discharge discussion.

"Miss Koizumi will be the one in our group who leaves the soonest, so let's all ask her questions first!" He finished with a nod. Mahiru looked down at her feet in embarrassment.

"I've only been here for three weeks, but I feel I have a better grasp on myself. My therapist suggested I personify my anxiety and treat it more as an annoying person than a limiting force. The next time I feel an attack coming on, I hope to remember their teachings and take deep breaths, calm myself down, mentally tell my anxiety 'not today'," She said. "My mom is rooting for me, and as for my dad...who knows with him. But all I really need is my mom's support,"

"It'll suck so much here when you're gone though!" Hiyoko cried. "It's not fair you get to leave earlier than me!"

"I promise I'll still keep in contact with you," Mahiru smiled slightly.

"Mister Hinata! You are our newest member! What do you plan on doing once you get discharged?" Ishimaru whirled around to face him, making Hajime jump.

"I....have no clue," He finally admitted. "Just hope things will go back to normal, that I'll actually be able to get things done,"

He nodded. "A worthy goal! We don't need any big goals or achievements when we're discharged, sometimes just the simple wish of getting things back on track is enough!"

"Y-Yeah....but what about u-us super crazy people? The ones who'll never leave?" Touko spoke up, smiling weirdly.

"Nonsense! You're all planned to leave at one point or another!"

"D-Doubtful...I've been here two months, and I know Fujisaki and Naegi have been here even longer than me,"

"You just need more help than the others!"

"B-Because we're the really crazy ones," Touko nervously played with her braid. "You don't want us in modern society,"

"Now that's just not true!" Ishimaru declined, but didn't elaborate.

Hajime felt as though he had already been there for two months himself instead of just two days.

***

After yet another hour of therapy with Kirigiri, Hajime tried to stretch himself to get more feeling back into his system once he learned it would be time for actual activity therapy. Different from their daily exercise, they'd have alternating activities three or four days a week, provided the hosts would be able to come. There was art, music, and pet, and Hajime wasn't sure which one he was looking forward to the least.

He followed Kirigiri's instructions to an open room filled with sunlight streaming in through yellow windows. Several different art stations were set up and he rolled his eyes at the realization.

"Finally, my favourite time of the week," Taeko nodded in approval, walking past him. She sat at a large table and he followed her example.

"Uh, do we just get to do whatever?"

"Yes. Our teacher for the session is very much a pushover and lets us do whatever we please as long as we are actually making art,"

"Oh geezh," Hajime groaned. A total pushover working with these people? How did the room look so spotless?

Taeko tittered. "It is not that bad. What sort of art do you fancy today?"

"I don't know,"

The remainder of the group filed in, taking their own seats, and finally a very timid and nervous-looking young man walked in and closed the door and Hajime could only assume he was their instructor.

"A-Afternoon....I'm Mitarai-sensei....I see we have someone new hence why I introduced myself," He had his hair tied back into a short ponytail and wore a brown turtleneck with white pants, an apron over everything. "Just do whatever. If you n-need more structure, you can join me f-for painting,"

Everyone shuffled over to where they wanted, likely having projects they wanted to complete or continue, but Hajime remained where he was alongside Taeko, Mondo, Chihiro, Hiyoko, and Mahiru.

"S-So, today we're just going to be doing some painting. The theme would be....p-paint what the inside of your mind looks like. I-I know we did something similar last week, but...." Mitarai trailed off nervously as he handed out the supplies and stepped back.

The inside of his mind? What kind of an assignment was that? Hajime toyed with the paintbrush, looking at the paint set in front of him. What did his mind even look like?

He tried to sneak some peeks at the others', finding them still starting out. Mahiru and Hiyoko giggled together as they worked, adding stuff to each others' paintings. Taeko daintily painted hers in careful strokes, while Mondo used a bigger brush for thicker strokes. Chihiro looked like he was writing something. Hajime just grabbed some blue paint and started to draw randomly, deciding he'd put at least something on the paper.

"T-The point of art therapy is to let out our e-emotions in a way words can't properly convey. It's r-relaxing," Ryota continued. "It's an easy way to see into someone's mind," He walked off to check on the other patients in the room and Hajime just kept drawing. He painted endless lines of blue, watching the paint run down and fade into black. It looked like a night sky, starless. Like living without a drive. It was possible, but there was no joy in it. He shook his head.

When'd he suddenly get so poetic?

He added some black near the bottom and then just called it a day, looking at his paper entirely filled with blue and black paint. It was a miserable image to look at. No wonder he had so many issues.

He looked over and found Junko intensely weaving some beads and string together and wondered if she was making a bracelet. Akane was doing the same, a more intense look on her face. Sakura was working on a pink vase, and he couldn't tell what Touko and Byakuya were working on.

"W-What does yours represent?"

Hajime jumped when he noticed Mitarai had walked back over to the group at some point, looking anxious. "Y-You don't have to share if you don't w-want to, b-but since you're done...."

"Oh, uh....it's a starless night." He shrugged. "You know, it functions but has no joy in it,"

"I-I like that way of looking at it," Mitarai praised.

"He only likes it because it appeals to his anxiety!" Hiyoko rolled her eyes. "He's never complimented any of our works!"

"T-Then what did you d-draw?"

"This!" Hiyoko held out her picture, revealing cutesy-looking skulls and candies alongside black swirls. "It doesn't mean anything!"

Taeko showed off hers; filled with cards and Roulette tables. "Gambling is the most important thing to me,"

Mondo's was more jagged and messy; the most noticeable thing about it was how he managed to weave the word 'guilt' into every aspect of the picture. Hajime stared at it weirdly.

Mahiru's was similar to Hiyoko's, more spirals and tangles but also a focus on her family and photography. He assumed the spirals represented their dizzying anxiety....or something.

Chihiro twirled his paintbrush around slightly as he showed off his own. Instead of a genuine picture, it was a bunch of pieces of programming code in green, with random intrusive thoughts in differing colours. Half of the phrases didn't finish or start properly and others were strings of letters or words. Word salad.

Hajime shuddered.

"O-Okay everyone, art therapy is over. L-Leave your things in here i-if you want, I'll deal w-with them," Mitarai announced, making Hajime stand up and walk off, all-to-glad to leave for once. He instead walked to another large group room to find Tsumiki there, gently tossing her red ball from hand to hand. He sat down with a sigh.

This again.

"T-Time for another group t-therapy session! We're going to use the Red Rubber Ball today and today l-let's talk about...s-something that makes us laugh," She looked around and tossed the ball to Hiyoko, who looked startled.

"Everything I say will just get me in trouble," She huffed.

"U-Uhhhhhh...."

"When people fall down the stairs! I don't know!" Hiyoko threw the ball to Chihiro, who kneaded it between his hands.

"Funny videos on the Internet," He gently tossed it to Hajime, who nearly froze up.

Something funny. He could answer that, right? It was such a simple question.

"I don't know....um....sometimes I watch old game show bloopers of people falling into soap...those are pretty funny," He answered randomly and threw the ball at Mondo, hanging his head and sighing.

At least that time he properly answered, but what about the next group therapy? The next one? The next one?

He leaned back in his chair.

Two days. He had only been there for two days. He had to get through this.

***

"Television!" Yukizome announced after more therapy. Hajime wandered into the TV lounge and couldn't help noticing a good chunk of the patients were missing. He hadn't seen Makoto for the past few hours, but Byakuya, Touko, and Chihiro were missing as well. He sat by himself, making Akane sit right next to him.

"Come on, let's watch something, Hinata-kun! We'll even let you pick!" She pulled on his arm, making him gasp.

"I don't really feel like watching television," He declined. He could feel Yukizome studying him, likely to see if he'd shut down like he did the previous night. No, he wouldn't, he could go over and watch television....nothing really appealed to him though. He wasn't much of a television watcher before. He wasn't much of an anything before.

"Yeah, we're not even allowed to watch anything good!" Hiyoko fussed. "All boring kiddy movies! I'd take listening to music over this!"

"Can we? Listen to music for once?" Mahiru asked Yukizome politely, who nodded.

"I don't see why not!"

"Alright! We could dance!" Akane cheered.

"Let's find a karaoke channel so we could sing along!" Junko suggested, jumping up to her feet. Mahiru scrolled through the channels until she found a pop channel and then she gently took Hiyoko's hands, dancing and swaying with her.

"I need a partner..." Nagito looked around and held out his hand for Taeko. "Shall we?"

"We shall," She let herself be gently lifted out of her seat.

"Well no fair! I didn't wanna dance, I wanted to sing!" Junko pouted. "And sing I shall!" She mimed having a microphone in her hand and started singing along to the song cutely, walking back and forth and posing. Hajime had to admit, she could sing. Maybe not operatic stuff, but pop stuff was good. She definitely had the looks for it. She spun around and pointed right at Hajime, making a 'pop' with her mouth. "Your turn! Sing something!"

"I-I'd rather not-" Hajime declined before he was cut off by the others.

"Sing something!"

"Yeah, come on!"

"Sing!"

"Just a little bit,"

He sighed and stood up, pretending to grab Junko's invisible microphone and just standing there, randomly singing whatever, not even the currently-playing song. He remained as still as a board and just looked down at the ground, going back to his seat while he was done. The girls all clapped and cheered for him while Nagito laughed.

"That was a good performance, but nothing compares to mine," He stood up and changed to hard rock and started singing it and miming playing a guitar, spinning around all the while. He even shredded and slid down on the floor, posing once the song ended.

"You gotta admit, you put effort into it," Akane praised. Nagito smiled mysteriously at Hajime as he stood back up, but Hajime just rolled his eyes. He still had no clue what his specific mental disorder entailed so he had no idea how to properly feel about him when he did things. Maybe he could look it up, or ask another patient. If they had been there long enough, they'd know what he had, right?

"Alright, no more music," Yukizome scolded lightly, herding everyone back into their seats. "Pick something quiet and watch it until dinner,"

Hiyoko pouted in annoyance as Mahiru decided on yet another animated movie. Hajime just decided to tone it out until Yukizome announced it was time for dinner. The day was almost over. He could get through it without medicine. He could. He was already doing so well!

For dinner, he actively tried to select something he knew he'd eat. One meal was a grilled cheese and tomato soup meal so he got that, figuring it was one of the lighter things on the menu, then looked around for a place to sit. Touko and Byakuya sat by themselves as usual; Hajime had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind he should try talking to them at some point in the week, but not right then. Junko and Taeko sat across from each other, just staring wearily. He finally decided on trying Mahiru and Hiyoko again and sat across from them, making Hiyoko roll her eyes.

"Got nobody else to sit with? Are you a creep?" She prodded, making Hajime glare at her.

"Mahiru-san seems to like me," He jabbed, making Hiyoko gasp.

"Why?! She doesn't like boys!"

Mahiru sighed. "I just want us to get along,"

"Hmph,"

Hajime ignored them and instead focused on trying to eat his food. His nausea from earlier was long gone, yet the idea of food still appealed little to him. He slowly nibbled a corner of his grilled cheese, then tried to dip the remainder in tomato soup. Some dribbled onto the tray as he tried to take a few bites. He sighed and pushed the tray away, drinking some of his tea and just staring at his food. Even when he wasn't in an emotional fog eating was still difficult. Even then, everyone was still able to finish their food.

How bad was he, then?

"Alright everyone! You already had your television hour, so it's time to start settling down!"

Hajime looked over to see Sonia Nevermind standing in the doorway, making him do a double-take. He assumed she did secretarial things only. She kept her own hair loose and wore a forest-green suspender dress with a blouse underneath, soft red shoes and a matching jacket in contrast to the other white jackets worn by the staff.

"We're going to be doing our usual shifts tonight! Yasuhiro, Saionji, Oogami, Togami, Komaeda, Hinata, you'll use the phones, then the rest of you shower! Then we switch!" Nevermind said regally.

"Phones?" Hajime found himself asking curiously as he followed the others to another sunny lounge with several cubicles set up. A closer look showed him each had a phone connected to the inside wall, likely for privacy.

"Yes. Visiting is only on certain days, so instead we may call our relatives and tell them how things have been going," Sakura nodded.

"Do I....have to use the phone? I....I don't feel like it," He finally admitted. "I should go back to my room or something,"

"You will have to ask permission,"

Hajime took one look at Nevermind, standing guard at the door, and decided that wasn't worth it. Instead, he took his seat randomly and stared at the black phone, willing for it to ring. Hiyoko and and Nagito were talking animatedly on their own lines, Nagito practically waving his hand around as he did so. Taeko and Byakuya stared at their own phones in irritation, and Sakura finally dialed hers and spoke lowly. He groaned and leaned back in his seat, making heels clack over to him.

"Mister Hinata, are you alright?" Nevermind asked in a worried tone, staring him down. He wondered if she heard about his freakout the previous night and then scolded himself.

Of course she had, he bet every single staff member knew about it. He was clearly the most 'damaged' patient there at the moment.

"I...I don't really feel like using the phone right now. I changed my mind, can I go back to my room?" He asked as politely as he could muster, making Nevermind nod.

"Of course!" She helped him up and escorted him back to the hallway that housed their dorms, nodding and walking off. He glanced around and found Tsumiki and Ishimaru keeping an eye on everyone. All of the doors were open, so he tried to subtly sneak some peeks at other rooms. Mahiru was sitting on her bed, reading calmly. Akane was standing in her doorway, stretching, sighing when she spotted him.

"I totally puked when I was showering! That wasn't fun at all....all that food wasted for nothin'," She groaned.

"Uh-huh," Hajime just nodded. "You must not puke much then,"

"Sometimes I do and I hate it! Food should stay in my body, you know?! That's where it belongs! I hope my roommate won't get mad when she smells it,"

"Who's your roommate?"

"Sakura-chan!"

That made sense to Hajime, pair up the two most athletic girls there.

He then moved along, finding Makoto and Chihiro's room. The two were sitting on the floor, playing a game of cards with each other. He didn't disturb them and instead headed over to his own room, sighing as he sat on his bed. Mondo was still showering, so maybe he should just continue reading as he waited. Or maybe he could play cards. Surely someone else wasn't busy, right? They could play.

"Do you need medicine?" Kirigiri asked, politely knocking on his open door again.

Hajime looked up and he slowly began to shook his head before he reconsidered. He still felt awful and knew he'd have trouble sleeping and end up waking in an even more irritable and bitter mood. Yet at the same time.....

He groaned and collapsed on his bed.

"Whatever," He answered.

"I need a better answer," Kirigiri scolded.

"Yes! Give it to me! I don't care anymore! Just let me be doped up!" He shouted, making her nod and hand him the bottle. He swallowed them down with a bottle of water she provided, sighing. He couldn't complete his goals today either. He ate some, but was nowhere near finishing an actual meal. And he'd needed medicine to sleep his three nights there so far. He numbly participated in Ishimaru's recap, blinking fervently before he finally collapsed into his bed, dead to the world once more.

Chapter Text

Hajime woke later in the morning, groaning and planting his face in his pillow. Mondo still slept, which made him wonder what the hour even was. He rolled over on his side upon hearing a knock on his door.

"Breakfast!" Makoto's cheery voice reached his ears, making him groan again.

"Coming...." He called out slowly, getting out of bed and staring at Mondo. He eventually decided Mondo could wake himself up and put on a grey tracksuit and his usual slippers, running a hand through his hair and following Makoto to the cafeteria.

"Did you sleep well?" Makoto asked nicely, still wearing all green.

"I guess," He shrugged.

"It's good to see you finally starting to adjust a little bit! This place can be overwhelming so some people have trouble adjusting more than others," They reached the cafeteria and Makoto looked at all of the options. "I like smaller portions, but I've been trying to eat bigger meals,"

"I can get smaller portions?" Hajime asked in surprise.

"Yeah, if your diagnosis says so!"

"Oh," He silenced after that, actually having no clue what his own said. Clearly, normal portions were part of his recovery, since that was all he had been getting. Though, one could always start small, right?

He got a bowl of cereal and looked around for a place to sit, eventually deciding on sitting on his own and seeing if anyone would come over. He slowly ate a few spoonfuls of cereal, seeing Mahiru, Hiyoko, and Akane all sit with each other, laughing about something. He briefly thought about going over to them but decided against it. He wanted to see who would come over to him, right? He tried to eat more spoonfuls but felt full enough, frowning.

He knew he wouldn't get in trouble if he ate at least one thing, but still. Maybe it was the medicine in his system. But he needed it to fall asleep, if he didn't take it for a night who knew what would happen?

Hajime just sat there for the remainder of breakfast, sighing when it was time for Goals Group again. As usual, he just wrote down the usual two he always did, knowing he likely wouldn't achieve them even by the week's end at the rate he was going.

"I went swimming yesterday!" Mahiru announced. "I know I said so yesterday but I'm proud of it!"

"That's what we like to see! Enthusiasm like that!" Ishimaru praised.

For the structured games, instead of going after Junko like the previous day, he instead stayed around Akane, seeing her pulling out a game of Trouble.

"A classic, right? I used to play this with my siblings all of the time!" She suggested.

"No way, we should play Sorry," Hiyoko pouted.

"Monopoly?" Mahiru offered weakly.

Hajime groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"What do you suggest then?"

"I don't want to play anything,"

"But you gotta! The nurses say so!" Akane said, motioning to Yukizome who was standing by the door.

"I know," He sighed. "Just play whatever,"

"Trouble it is then!" She placed the board on the table, kneeling in front of it. "Uh, I'll take green, I'm closest to it anyway,"

"Red," Mahiru picked.

"Then I want yellow!" Hiyoko gasped.

Hajime noticed he was stuck with blue and sat up, scooting himself closer to the board. He attempted to pay attention to the rules and the general gameplay, pushing down on the bubble and watching the dice pop up, moving his piece where he was required.

"You're cheating again!" Hiyoko accused, pointing at Akane. "You stole my piece!"

"No I didn't, it probably fell on the floor," She sighed.

"No way! You can't even steal pieces anyway, you stupid cow! You're supposed to go back to Home if you jump on one!"

"Then that happened,"

"It did not! Give me my piece back!" Hiyoko demanded, standing up.

"Guys..." Mahiru held out her hands, eyeing Yukizome who looked over at them. "She didn't take your piece,"

"Did too! I saw her with my own eyes!"

"Then where's the piece now?" Akane demanded. "You lookin' to get slapped?"

"You won't last a chance against me!" Hiyoko put her hands on her hips as Yukizome walked over.

"Stop it, you two. Otherwise I'll call Kyosuke-kun and Juuzou-kun on you!" She reminded them cheerfully. Hiyoko sat back down with a huge pout, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Akane rubbed at her forehead and Mahiru took her turn, happily moving her piece three spaces. Yukizome returned over to her usual spot, though Hajime could still feel her watchful eyes. He played his hand, just staring as the girls played, Mahiru and Hiyoko talking to each other all the while.

It wasn't...awful, but still left a lot to be desired. Yet, he was actually playing. It was progress. He continued to slowly move his pieces, keeping an eye on his own movements until Yukizome called for lunch.

"Yay! I won!" Hiyoko cheered, throwing her hands up in celebration. Mahiru just shook her head while Akane sighed.

"Darn, here I thought I was good for it. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow!" She slapped Hajime on the back as they got into the cafeteria, grinning. "What's got your fancy today?"

"Uh, I don't know," He answered quickly, knowing he'd just pick the lightest option as usual and then only eat crumbs of it. No, he had to remain positive. He kept making those goals for a reason, and if sleeping without medicine wasn't a possibility, then he could still eat.

"I feel that. Half the time I just get all of the meals because they all look so great!"

He looked at his options and eventually decided on chicken noodle soup and more tea, made in a more Western style in comparison to his last few meals. He looked around for a place to sit and just sat near the end, jumping when Junko twirled over to him, spaghetti and a breadstick on her plate.

"Geezh," He sighed as she smirked at him.

"What a positively peasant dish you have there! Not even a single side! Whereas we get to feast like the royalty we are!" She beamed, hands on her hips.

"A mood-swing?" He predicted.

"Yup!" She twirled some noodles around on her fork. "So, got any questions for me? I may not be as 'old' as some other patients here, but I know my stuff! I ask around,"

"I don't know...." Hajime looked around and found his eyes settling on Byakuya, who was sitting by himself and cutting his food into incredibly small pieces. "What's his deal?"

"Togami-kun! Our resident hardass!" She laughed. "Been here for two months I think? He's super freaked-out and suspicious of everyone. Thinks everyone is out to get him. Got in here because a maid walked in on him trying to kill himself. I heard he was about to jump out a window, but Touko-san swears he was going to jump off the roof. Either way, he wanted to go splat on the pavement so now he's here!"

Hajime shuddered at her description of it. Could that have been him in just a few months?

"Is he....nice?"

Junko laughed even harder. "God no! He's a prick! Kirigiri-san says it's because of his disorder but I totes don't buy it," She slurped some noodles into her mouth, getting some sauce on her lips. "I bet he'd be mean even if he wasn't sick. There's some good people here, yuck, I know, but there are. They're nice because it's in their personality, but not him,"

He looked back over and saw Byakuya slowly chewing his food, staring straight ahead. Every time silverware clinked or a glass got elbowed his eyes would subtly but sharply turn in that direction.

"A maid found him, is he rich?"

"Totes loaded. His mommy is some French actress who's super pretty and his daddy is the rich owner of some company. Got lots of other siblings and they all hate each other. Some say he tried to kill himself for attention,"

Somehow, Hajime felt a pang in his heart. He didn't really want to feel anything for an aloof jerk like him, yet....what a life. He couldn't even imagine being rich with that many siblings and yet still seemingly ignored or flat-out hated. And when you tried to kill yourself, your family assumed you did it for attention and not from a genuine mental disorder. From what he had seen of Byakuya, he tended to mock the others sardonically, but still. Nobody deserved a life like that.

After lunch, Hajime headed to the exercise area and found only the guys there, figuring today they'd be separate from the girls.

"Why don't we all play basketball?" Mondo suggested. "We could ask Coach Nidai to get a ball out of the shed and we could all dribble it or something,"

"What about baseball?" Makoto suggested.

"Not enough people," Nagito sighed. "A shame, baseball would be fun. Maybe next time we have the girls around we could all play a game like that,"

"Aren't they afraid of patients hitting each other with the bat?" Hajime found himself asking, making all of them look over at him.

"It's all in good fun," Nagito laughed easily. "A few times I hit myself in the face, but like I said, all in good fun,"

"Come on guys, basketball it is," Mondo shook his head and walked off. "Get the court ready!"

"You heard him!" Makoto said, and him, Chihiro, and Nagito all dashed off in that direction, picking the nearest hoop. Hajime walked off too, glancing back at Byakuya who was sitting by himself on a bench.

"Want to join us?" He asked slowly. "I just thought you'd want to-"

"Absolutely not. I will not lower myself to such a pointless waste of my time," Byakuya snapped. "Leave me out of it. He doesn't mind if I just sit here as long as I'm minding my own business,"

Hajime felt like Nidai did in fact mind if people didn't properly exercise, judging by what Akane told him the other day, but he also knew if he stood there and argued with Byakuya it'd be an even bigger waste of time that would result in him getting in trouble. He clenched his fists and walked away, joining the others on the court.

"Let's go!" Mondo yelled, dribbling the ball and throwing it up high, watching it sail over their heads.

"D-Don't throw it so high! That's not fair," Chihiro pouted, trying to jump in the air to catch it. Nagito ran halfway across the court's length and jumped up, grabbing the ball and gasping as it hit him in the stomach.

"Got it!" He announced, holding it up.

"Congrats!" Makoto cheered. Nagito threw it at random and it went long, hitting the back of the hoop and falling to the ground.

"Shit, it ain't a dodgeball, just dribble it," Mondo said, grabbing it and dribbling it rapidly between his hands. "Try to take it from me!"

Makoto held up his hands and shook his head, but Chihiro tried to dive in, grabbing the ball but Mondo moved it just out of his reach.

"You try," He suggested to Hajime, making him jump at being addressed.

"Okay," He ran over and tried to grab it, keeping an eye on Mondo's movements. He noticed he dribbled it closer to the ground that time so Hajime got closer, pushing Mondo aside and grabbing the ball, dribbling it a few times himself before tossing it in the air. The ball sailed above their heads and fell into the hoop, making a satisfying 'whisk' sound. It bounced harmlessly on the court.

"Hinata-kun's cool, everyone!" Mondo laughed.

"Did you play a lot of sports before?" Chihiro asked nicely, blinking.

"Not really, guess I just got lucky," Hajime shrugged.

Nagito frowned a bit and took the ball, standing several feet away from the opposite hoop. "Watch this!" Once everyone's eyes were on him, Nagito jumped and threw the ball, watching it go long and roll down the grassy hill. "Awww, I missed,"

"Mister Komaeda!" Coach Nidai's voice boomed. "Go get that ball! As for the rest of you, time for rest!"

Hajime stared back at Nagito rushing down the hill as they went back inside, wondering. Once him and Mondo reached their room, he sat on his bed.

"Uh, know what the deal with Komaeda-san is?"

"What? That weird kid?" Mondo thought about it. "Don't know, really. I kinda stay out of everyone's way. Most of the people here are weird, ya know,"

"Yeah, but he keeps looking at me funny,"

"I don't know what shit goes on in his head. Maybe he's tryna size ya up or something. New kid, ya know?"

"I don't even know what mental disorder he has,"

"Askin' the wrong person,"

Hajime sighed after that. "Wanna play cards?"

"Nah, I'm goin' to sleep. I didn't get a lot last night," Mondo declined, getting into his bed. Hajime just shrugged and looked through his bag, pulling out one of the card games he brought and laid them all out on his bed, remembering the instructions said one person could play it if needed. He shuffled and flipped the cards around quietly so Mondo wouldn't be disturbed until he felt satisfied, then laid them all out on his bed again. He started playing Memory with them, challenging himself to complete the whole deck of fifty before the hour was over. He found one, two, three, four....

***

After the break, Hajime had to go to an hour and a half of therapy; he didn't go to his one before lunch so Kyoko decided to cut into some of his homework time to talk with him more.

"You don't mind," She assumed.

"I don't know, I got lots of work to do," Hajime said blankly.

"Have you been eating?"

"Little bites here and there. Basically just enough to not pass out. I don't feel super hungry,"

She nodded and stared at him. "It could be your medicine you use to sleep. It may work, but it comes at the risk of making you feel nauseous."

"I don't think that's the problem, everyone else takes it to sleep and they can eat just fine,"

"How do you know they take it?" She asked, making him look up into her stern expression. "You don't know anything about the other patients' medical histories, so how do you know they take medicine before bed?"

"I....don't know?" Hajime blinked.

"Exactly."

"Do you know anything about Komaeda-san? He keeps staring at me whenever I do stuff," He tried changing the subject, making her shake her head.

"I am not allowed to discuss other patients nor their diagnoses."

"Fine," He threw up his hands.

"You're having an easier time adjusting than other patients of mine. Most people lash out at me or just sit in silence, but you're making an effort,"

"Because it's the least I could do,"

***

During his homework time, what stuck out the most to him was the lack of Mahiru. He had been there for three days, but Mahiru had always been around in whatever he did because she was a more minor case. Did her own therapy run long? Then again, his own therapy purposefully ran longer so maybe she was around, just in the bathroom or something. He just kept his mind numb with work, even as Ishimaru turned on some light, quiet classical music. Taeko played with her hair in approval.

"This is far more my taste. I appreciate it," She smiled as she continued to work. Hajime had some homework still and wondered what he'd work on if he was still admitted and ran out. Maybe Kirigiri could give him stuff to work on? According to the brochure sometimes the staff stepped in and gave worksheets or other forms of assignments for people to work on during the hour if they had no homework or anything else. He figured he would just cross that bridge when he came to it.

"Good work everyone!" Ishimaru praised at the end of the hour. Taeko sighed and closed up her book, watching Hajime as he rose.

"Did you know on my first day here, I scratched Miss Yukizome? She had me sedated almost instantly, however the fact is I got away with it. No other patient owns that claim to fame, only myself," She suddenly bragged, walking beside him. Today she was wearing a white camisole and black shorts with the same lacy robe over her clothes and he suddenly wondered if her and Junko shared clothing. They seemed to have the same monochrome fashion sense. Could patients even share clothing, or was that forbidden in case they traded weapons secretly too or something?

"Why are you telling me this?" He finally asked.

"I thought you would be interested. You could do that too, if you wanted. They will give you medicine and tie you to your bed most likely, but it feels good for that moment, that you hurt them and got the upper-hand," They walked into the group therapy room where Tsumiki was sitting, going through her bag again. Hajime supposed he could, he could just walk up and yank on her braid or pinch her arm, she'd likely even cry, but what would that accomplish? He felt the staff were monitoring him especially closely after his first night, so being openly violent would get him absolutely nowhere. He caught Taeko's subtly sly smile as she sat down and he sat across from her, keeping his distance.

"Hello everyone!" Tsumiki sprung to her feet once everyone was seated. "Today, i-instead of usual group t-therapy, I'm going to take t-the lead. S-So, let's start. Today, l-let's talk about a personal role model of ours. Who inspires us to do our best. F-For me....i-it's....you guys! S-Seeing my patients recover is always enough to put a-a smile on my face!"

"Ugh, I totes don't wanna talk about that!" Junko shouted. "Not all of us have a role model!"

"U-Um....I-I'll just go down the line...." Tsumiki pointed at Sakura on her right, who nodded.

"The people who inspire me most are my family members. They taught me everything I know and always encourage me to do my best. I understand it may be a common answer, but it is common for a reason. I believe most people have close connections to their families," She then motioned to Touko, who played with her braids.

"I d-don't know....I-I don't really have anyone...nobody really seems to like me," She smiled weirdly. "I-I don't know if my parents even remember locking me up in a place like this,"

"My mom and dad!" Chihiro waved his hand. "But more than them, this famous therapist. She was born with a rare disease so she has to be in a wheelchair and can't talk, but that doesn't limit her abilities to help people! I want to be just like her some day!"

"Likewise, my sister is my own personal cheerleader," Makoto smiled.

"Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary. A truly beautiful and fabulous woman. I want to live my entire life in her image," Taeko beamed.

"Interesting choice...." Tsumiki squeaked.

Hajime realized they were all looking at him, waiting for him to comment, so he tried racking his brains for a good answer. He had no personal role models aside from people who were good at things, anything. He was good at nothing so he latched onto admiring people who had something to show for themselves. Was that a good enough answer?

"Lots of people. Just seeing others live their lives is enough for me," Hajime finally said, leaning back in his chair. He looked over and noticed Mondo was sitting next to him and was talking super energetically about his mother. He assumed most people would just talk about their own families, because who else would normal people be inspired by?

"E-Everyone just talked about their families," Tsumiki sighed at the end of their session. "W-Well, it still counts! Sometimes our families can be the most important and inspiring people in our lives. Okay, dinner time!"

Hajime walked to the cafeteria himself, making a mental note to eat at least one entire thing this time. He got something random yet again and just sat where-ever, figuring someone would either sit with him or not.

"No! Stop it! Get your hands off me! Knock it off! No!" A familiar voice shrieked, and everyone quickly turned to see a blonde girl struggling in the hands of a tall man with green hair, dressed in a white uniform.

"Chisa-chan was kind enough to let you out of your room, but so help me I'll put you back in there if you don't stop!" The man scolded.

"I told you, I'm sick! I can't eat dinner!" Hiyoko wailed, kicking her legs and thrashing around.

"You ain't sick," The man pulled Hiyoko further into the room, ignoring her punches and kicks. A man in an identical outfit with white hair as well as Yukizome then appeared, eyeing Hiyoko. "Sit down and eat your dinner for Christ's sake!"

"No!" Hiyoko yelled again as she was shoved into a chair. She was close enough Hajime could see puke on her clothes. "I'm sick! I'm sick! If I start eating, I'll puke again!"

"We'll see about that," The man scoffed.

"Keep an eye on her, Juuzou-kun," Yukizome ordered. Hajime wondered if the two men were the so-called Juuzou-kun and Kyosuke-kun he heard about.

Hiyoko took three bites of her mashed potatoes before she gagged and vomited into her lap. "See? I'm sick! I told you, I'm sick!"

Sakakura walked right back over and put his hands on her chair. "Eat,"

"No! You can't make me do anything!" She insisted even as the other two rushed over, Munakata holding a needle. Hajime looked around and saw the others eating, not even acknowledging what was happening. He suppressed a shiver. This seemed like a genuine mental breakdown and they were just carrying on like nothing was happening. How common were these here?

"Eat before we stick you," Sakakura demanded, and Hiyoko pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest, trembling.

"I can't! I'm sick! I told you, the only thing that will make me feel better is Big Sister Mahiru!"

"But you know she checked out earlier," Yukizome said with regret in her tone.

"I don't care! She was the only friend I made, the only person who ever gave a damn about me, and you all let her leave! What about me?! I needed her!" Hiyoko cried.

"Keep her to her room,"

Munakata nodded and stuck the needle in her, making her go stiff in a few seconds. The two men dragged her out of the room easily, while Yukizome looked back at everyone. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to host your television hour, so another nurse will take my place. Sorry!" She smiled before walking off. Hajime just shivered, recounting what he just witnessed.

Sure, Hiyoko was a mean brat, but she didn't deserve to feel like that. He looked at the others again and found them still eating in awkward silence. He pushed his own tray away, finding his appetite gone.

Poor Hiyoko. If he kept refusing treatment and just functioned on autopilot, would that eventually happen to him? What if it happened in an actual social scenario?

He had to actively try to get better, no matter what.

***

The nurse in charge of their television time was none other than Tsumiki, which Junko laughed at.

"Finally! Horror movies, here we come!"

"Y-You aren't allowed to watch those," Tsumiki shyly scolded.

"Who's gonna tell me no?"

"Are you sure that is the best action after what we witnessed at dinner?" Sakura asked. "You know just as well as me that upsetting more people is not what the staff needs right now. I am perfectly content with watching a random animated movie once again,"

"Those are so boring though!" Junko gasped.

"Ya thinkin' about that chick?" Mondo asked, nudging him.

"Yeah," Hajime answered slowly. "I don't want to break like that,"

"Nah, I'm sure you'll be fine. I mean, stuff like that happens but it's not an everyday thing, ya know? I think that redheaded chick leaving so suddenly wasn't a good thing for her,"

"No duh," He snapped and instantly felt bad. "I didn't mean that,"

"I know man. You're on edge, I get it. You need a nice hot shower to get your mind off things,"

Hajime couldn't even fathom showering right then, but he knew in a weird way, Mondo was right. He just needed to move on from the incident and keep living his own life. He turned his attention over to the television, which was showing some old game-show, and tried to focus on that instead.

***

After their hour of television was over, Nevermind walked in and smiled regally. "Telephone and shower time! Tonight, Enoshima, Owari, Fukawa, Fujisaki, Oowada, and Naegi will use the phones while the rest of you shower!"

Well, he wouldn't be able to shower, but at least he wouldn't have to awkwardly look at a phone for several minutes either. Hajime just stood up and walked to his room, finding Tsumiki already there alongside Ishimaru like the previous night. He got out his pack of cards from earlier and looked around for someone to play them with. Mondo and Chihiro were both using the phones, as were Makoto and Akane. Hiyoko was absolutely out of the question. He finally tossed the cards away in frustration, realizing nobody left would want to play cards with him, or at the very least, would put up a huge fight about it. Maybe he'd just read.

He dug through his bag for some pajamas and slipped them on, getting on his bed and reading more of his book. He had gotten halfway through a few chapters when Mondo finally wandered in, looking at him.

"You shower yet?"

"No," Hajime didn't look up.

"Oh. You wanna?"

"No,"

"Well okay then," Mondo went into the bathroom to shower while Hajime closed up his book, noticing the others had come back from using the phones. Still, he shouldn't keep people from taking showers or whatever else they needed just because he wanted to play cards.

"Hinata-kun?" A familiar voice reached his ears and he glanced down to see Chihiro, holding out a notebook.

"What?"

"Would you say I had a good day today? My weekly exercise is to ask others if I did a good job,"

"I barely saw you today," Hajime shrugged. "We just played basketball together,"

"B-But did I do good?" Chihiro asked shyly. "D-Did I have any....episodes...?" That word was whispered as if it were something shameful.

"No," He responded, then thought of Hiyoko. "But I don't know what your episodes look like,"

"You'll know!" Junko laughed from her own doorway. "When he goes real cuckoo, then you'll know!"

"Miss Enoshima!" Ishimaru scolded her, making her pout.

"Then yeah, you were good," Hajime told Chihiro, who smiled happily. Hajime walked past him to Junko, finding Taeko in their room, sitting on her bed and reading a magazine. Taeko's whole side was decorated like a gothic mansion, while Junko's was equally opulent except in hot pink and red. "You two share a room?"

"Yup!" Junko flashed him a peace-sign. "Makes total sense, right?"

"Do you guys share clothes?"

"Yeah, sometimes,"

"Uh, do you know who else shares?"

"Well, aside from us two, and you and Oowada-kun obviously....hmmm....Fujisaki-kun and Naegi-kun, they both share. Sakura-san and Akane-san both have a room. Mahiru-san used to share with Hiyoko-san until she got discharged, so now they might put her with Touko-san! I can't remember if Togami-kun and Komaeda-kun still share or if they have their own rooms," Junko rattled off. "Good matches!"

"Thanks," Hajime just nodded, having what he needed. The roommates made sense, most of them anyway. "Discharged?"

"Yup! Around this afternoon when Hiyoko-san was in the middle of therapy, ain't that nutty? She's been a nervous wreck ever since!" Junko grinned. "Makes sense. Those two were nearly admitted at the same time and were inseparable. We started calling them 'Sisters-in-Anxiety!'"

"That's...." He cut himself off, not sure what he thought that was. Not really horrible because even though Hiyoko was a wreck and deserved to say goodbye to her close friend, at the same time, it was clearly time for Mahiru to move on. Just as he expected his own first day, she wouldn't be there for long.

"Mister Hinata," Kirigiri arrived and gently pulled him away from Junko. "Do you need your medicine?"

"Can you not ask that in the middle of the hall?" He asked instead, trying to shush her.

"It's not an embarrassing question." Kirigiri said, holding out the bottle. "Yes or no?"

He stared at it for a time, staring so long the characters started to blur together. If he didn't take it, he wouldn't wake up feeling sick and exhausted and might even eat an entire meal for once. If he didn't, he'd also have trouble sleeping and end up even more irritable in the morning. Being grouchy wasn't good in a place like this, no matter what. One night, he would not take it, maybe his last night, but for now, he felt he couldn't risk it.

"Yes," He finally sighed, and Kirigiri nodded and handed him the usual water and pills, which he swallowed down. He had enough energy and sense left to slowly wander into bed and collapse into it, burying himself under the blankets and falling into yet another deep sleep.

Chapter Text

Much to his surprise, he woke up fairly early, judging by Mondo still asleep and no sounds of knocking on his door. Maybe the medicine was wearing off, or he was building a tolerance for it. Either way, no way was he about to fall back asleep, so he got out of bed and slowly trudged into the bathroom, brushing his teeth and wincing at how heavy he felt physically. Much like before, he silently told himself he brushed his teeth, he could get dressed, he could go eat breakfast. He did get dressed, picking a green shirt with a cartoon character on it, grey sweatpants, and his usual slippers and headed to the cafeteria, surprised to see Hiyoko there.

She had her hair down and wore a long carnation dress that resembled a kimono, staring down at her tray. Hajime looked around and finally sat in front of her, making her give him a dirty look.

"What? You gonna make fun of me? Gonna tell me I wasn't actually sick last night?" She stabbed.

"No, I....I just thought you'd want company," Hajime responded, suddenly feeling dumbfounded.

"Because you feel sorry for me! You'll never replace Big Sister Mahiru in my heart!"

"I don't want to!" He held out his hands. "I just want to give you company,"

"Hmph," Hiyoko stirred her oatmeal around in her bowl as the others walked in and avoided her, sitting in other areas. Hajime just sighed and stared at his own food, finally stomaching a few bites of the pancakes he got and a few sips of milk. His arm felt heavy, but it was progress. Progress was important. He subtly kept an eye on Hiyoko, wondering if she'd break down again, but she ate her breakfast without trouble and walked off to the Goals Group area. Hajime put his own tray up and followed her, just sitting where-ever.

As expected, he wrote down the same two goals and hoped Ishimaru wouldn't call on him.

"I have to make new goals now," Hiyoko pouted.

"Well, I managed to play a game of basketball with everyone yesterday," Nagito spoke up.

"Wonderful news! Did you win?" Ishimaru praised.

"Not really. There weren't any teams or anything, we mainly tried to make baskets. But it was still fun,"

"You get better by the day!"

Nagito caught Hajime's eye at that and smiled in a way Hajime decided he didn't like at all.

"Oranges! I had some!" Chihiro smiled. "I tried to stick a straw through one but the straw got bent....all of my silverware gets bent...."

"Good job! It's rewarding to eat our favourite things, isn't it?" Ishimaru said.

"I like oranges. And fruit. They're nice," Chihiro said instead, glancing down at his whiteboard.

"I'm really tryin', but I got real sick last night. I didn't hurl like I did the other night, but it still wasn't fun. I know my therapist says it's okay but still," Akane sighed.

"So what's your current goal?" Ishimaru pressed.

"To understand that my issues come from food security," She recited.

"Food security? But you have an eating disorder," Hajime said in confusion. "You don't starve yourself,"

"No, I don't," Akane stared at him levelly.

He was even more confused and tried to press the issue, only to hear Ishimaru loudly clearing his throat.

"This is not a group therapy session, this is just for sharing goals, so I have to ask you two to refrain and continue this talk on a later date!" He scolded.

"Yes Sir!" Akane nodded in agreement, while Hajime just nodded.

"Whatever," He'd have to ask Akane about her situation later though, hopefully during exercise hour if they weren't separated again. He was just way too curious about what exactly her issue was. If she had food security issues, then why did she puke everything up? Was it some sort of trauma he didn't know about?

So many questions.

***

Once they were dismissed for gaming hour, Hajime tried to make note of where everyone was. Everyone seemed to be there aside from Mahiru, obviously. He saw Hiyoko sitting by herself, pouting, in one of the chairs, and briefly thought about going over there before Taeko and Junko pulled him away into another direction.

"Play with us!" Junko asked cutely, smiling.

"Yet another moodswing," Hajime predicted, making her nod.

"Yuppity-yup!" She giggled. "Don't tell the others, but we're gonna play a card game!"

"A card game?" He asked in slight interest as they took their seats. Taeko slipped something out from the front of her robe and Hajime briefly recalled Mondo saying on his first day that she was banned from card games. Because she had a gambling addiction.

Oh no.

"Let us take bets, shall we? The winner gets the nail set I hid under my bed this week," Taeko smiled slyly.

"Where do you get this stuff?" Hajime asked instead as he was handed his cards.

"I know some people,"

"As do I!" Junko rearranged the cards in her hand.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask," Hajime directed at her, trying to ignore Taeko as she started drawing more cards. "What's Komaeda-san's deal? He's always staring at me and I don't remember what mental disorder he has,"

"I don't blame ya! His is a mouthful! It just means he acts out for attention so if you start getting a lot of people paying attention to you, he'll start doing crazy things to get focus back on him," She stared at her deck.

That....was troubling.

"Let us start this game! I am already predicting I shall win, so that nail set is mine! Throw some money into it too? You're getting out soon, you could very easily supply me with the funds I need if I win," Taeko continued to smile at Hajime.

"Aren't you in trouble because of gambling?" He asked instead, making her narrow her eyes.

"I do not understand why everyone says it is an issue. Gambling is fun, it is my whole life! So what if I stopped attending school to continue my virtual slots....I kept winning, did I not? My parents are fools and just want to inconvenience me because they do not understand me. I could have stopped when I wanted!" Taeko sighed. "And here I am kept from my beloved cards and slots and whatnot....but not anymore,"

Hajime just swallowed and listened to the girls explain the game, putting in his cards and drawing when necessary. He snuck a peek over at Yukizome who was gently tying a bow up into Hiyoko's hair.

"I won!" Taeko laughed. "Let us play another match,"

"If ya say so," Junko sighed, bored already.

"And just what are you three doing?" A cold voice reached them.

"Togami-kun!"

Hajime glanced up to see Byakuya standing there in a silver jacket and white pants, looking fancy somehow, arms crossed in front of his chest, glaring down at them.

"What is it? Are you going against your strict orders, Yasuhiro?" He continued, glaring at Taeko in particular.

"We're playing Go Fish," She all but snapped, staring at her deck.

"I highly doubt that you are. Let me see those cards,"

"No! Mind your own business!" She held her cards protectively against her chest.

"If you do not show me, I will report you,"

"Who made you the boss?" Junko cut in. "Stop being such a tightwad!"

"Everyone here, aside from Hinata I suppose, knows that Yasuhiro is not allowed to play cards and if we see her doing so, to report it,"

"But what does that gotta do with you?"

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted her," Byakuya said simply.

"I was not gambling. I was simply playing a fun game. What do you have against some intellectual enrichment?" Taeko spoke slowly.

"Because that is not what you were doing,"

"Fuck off!" Taeko finally yelled. "You wanna see my cards? Then see 'em!" She stood up and threw them at Byakuya, shoving one of them into his face. They all clattered to the floor. "I just wanted to play cards and you're harassing me!"

"What's going on?" Yukizome asked sternly, finally walking over.

"Our resident tightwads are having a fight," Junko laughed.

"I wasn't asking you,"

"I just wanted to play a game of cards!" Taeko tried to calm herself down.

"I think she was trying to gamble," Byakuya adjusted his glasses.

"Was she?" Yukizome asked him instead. He looked from her, to Taeko, to Byakuya, to Junko, and finally back to Yukizome.

"Well, she was trying to get money out of me if she won," He finally answered.

"Jerk," Taeko mumbled under her breath.

"I see. Miss Yasuhiro, pick up these cards and return to your room, and if you keep giving anyone trouble about it, you will be sedated," Yukizome scolded. Taeko said nothing and stooped down, giving both Byakuya and Hajime dirty looks as she did so.

"I was just telling the truth," Hajime sighed.

"Yeah, people don't like it when you do that here," Junko played with a strand of her hair. "Well, the staff do, but patients, not so much,"

"Are there any staff here with...issues like us?" He spoke lowly as Taeko stood up and angrily handed the deck of cards back to Yukizome.

"Thank you!" She smiled, but Taeko just glared as she was escorted out of the room by Kirigiri.

"Well Tsumiki-san and Mitarai-sensei both have anxiety, and I've heard Ishimaru-sensei is OCD like hell. Not sure on the others though," Junko answered.

"Isn't it, like, bad for them to work in a place like this? Wouldn't it trigger them?" Hajime continued.

"Nah. Kirigiri-san says it's good for them, it helps them build better connections with us because we know what we're all going through,"

Hajime just sighed and sat back in his seat, letting Junko walk around and finally come back with a random board-game. He played it numbly, sighing again when it was time for therapy. No, he could get through this. He could. He had been there for four days and made little progress. He needed something to show for himself.

So, he took his seat in front of Kirigiri again, who nodded at him.

"Halfway point, how do you feel?" She asked.

"Bad. I've done nothing of worth but floated around, basically. I can't eat, I can't sleep without medicine, and I feel I just barely participate in all of the group activities," He threw up his hands.

"And what do you want to do?"

"Anything! I want to eat like a normal person does, for once!" He quickly changed his words. "I mean, everyone else is able to eat without problems. I want to be like that instead of just eating a few bites to survive the day,"

Kirigiri nodded again. "What do you think will help you achieve that?"

"Not having medicine," He answered instantly. It was a risky choice, but one he was willing to make if needed. "I want to try sleeping without taking my medicine at least tonight. If it's really making me feel nauseous and have little appetite, I want it gone,"

"It may take a few days of adjustment,"

"I'm ready,"

"We'll make note of that then," She wrote it down.

***

Lunch was a relatively quiet affair, and Hajime as usual just grabbed whatever and sat next to Makoto and Chihiro, who both greeted him nicely.

"Yeah," Hajime nodded and stared down at his food. He had no desire to eat and then looked at the two in front of him, who were both eating normally. Well, Makoto was. Chihiro had started staring intensely at his green bowl, a vacant expression on his face.

"How have you been? You're here for a week, right? Halfway point!" Makoto smiled.

"Yeah," Hajime just nodded again. "I have no idea what to think...I still feel exactly the same as I did when I first came here,"

"You're just adjusting. Some people take a while," Makoto reassured him. "I think you've made a lot of progress,"

"Thanks," He sighed and looked at Makoto's clothes; a green jersey, green gym shorts, and he bet four-leaf-clover socks again. "What's with the green?"

"It's my lucky colour!" Makoto smiled. "As long as I wear green, I'll have a good day!"

He stared back down at his food and drank some of his water before Yukizome arrived to tell everyone it was time for exercise hour, which Hajime stood up and stretched for. He headed outside and found several people already there and looked around to see who was doing what.

"Let's play baseball, I think we have enough people for it," Nagito suggested.

"No way, you need like five people in the outfield alone," Junko shook her head.

"There's twelve of us here, we could do it,"

"I don't wanna do sports! I just wanna jump-rope!" Hiyoko threw up her hands happily.

"I wouldn't mind tennis," Taeko suggested yet again. "I would need doubles though,"

Hajime eventually threw his hands up, knowing they wouldn't be able to come to a decision, and wandered off, looking for Akane specifically. He had to talk to her specifically. Strangely enough, he found her at the playground, keeping an eye on a girl as she climbed up a ladder.

"You and kids?" He asked in surprise, making Akane grin.

"Yup! I love 'em! I have a lot of little siblings back home so little kids grow on me, you know?" She looked back at the girl and clapped. "Good job climbing!"

"Okay, how do you have an eating disorder? Do you throw up after you eat?" Hajime asked bluntly. "Sweat it out? If you have food security issues, why do you do it?"

"What?" Akane crossed her arms under her chest. "You think I got bulimia?" She sat down on one of the large swings and started swinging back and forth, and Hajime sat down too but didn't swing. "No I don't have bulimia. Geezh Hinata-kun, I thought you were a smart guy!"

"I am! There's just anorexia and bulimia, right?"

"Nope," She continued to swing. "Growing up, food was always scarce. You got what you got, basically. I started going to school, things got a bit better, but then I started eating all of the time. I was afraid of the food goin' missing, you know?! Just because it's there today don't mean it'll be there tomorrow! So I binged every chance I got when there was enough in the house. I love eatin' and all so I figured there was no problem but I guess one of my teachers got sneaky and signed me up here. Don't even know how they knew but whatever. Now I gotta learn to take it easy and stop going into survival mode as my therapist calls it. But it's cool because I can still eat whatever I want!"

"So....not bulimia," Hajime finished.

"Binge-eating-disorder. My therapist says it's when someone eats a huge amount of food in a short amount of time and doesn't puke on purpose. And other stuff. She's the smart one, not me, but I guess there's books on it you could read if you wanna,"

"Geezh..."

"Like I said, I love eatin'. The food here is the greatest I've ever eaten! When I leave here, I'll be missing the food the most. It's great!"

Hajime swung a bit slowly, keeping his feet off the ground as he mulled over what he was just told. Another eating disorder than anorexia and bulimia? Health classes never used the words, of course, but it was an open secret a lot of girls starved themselves to the point of being skeletons, and a few other girls puked or sweat or did other things to remove their excess food. This was...he had no idea what to think of it. Who would eat so much food? Why? Well, he supposed Akane just told him her reason why, but still.

The last thing he ever expected to be while staying at a mental hospital was schooled on the nature of various eating disorders, and yet here he was.

"Yahoo!" Akane suddenly cheered, leaping right off her swing and landing in the grass, tumbling for a bit before she landed. "That was fun!"

"Miss Owari!" Nidai hurried over. "While I admire courage and spunk in my patients, I have to say that was dangerous!"

"And? I'm fine!"

"You could've sprained something or hit somebody!"

"But I didn't," She stood up. "I wanna do it again!" She rushed right back to her swing and stood on top, holding onto the chains.

"Absolutely not!" Nidai ran after her.

Hajime felt something bubble up in his chest, letting a small chuckle escape from his lips. Akane looked over at him with a grin.

"Was that a laugh I heard? I think you're finally starting to love us!" She jumped from her swing again and landed on her feet, swaying a bit. Hiyoko gave her a dirty look.

"Stupid oaf! You almost knocked me over!" She cried.

Hajime swung himself slowly, watching Nidai run back over to Akane to scold her. That small bit of laughter...felt good. While he knew just laughing wasn't going to automatically make the depression go away, to laugh after such a long time of feeling gloomy....really did feel good. He picked his feet up and swung a little bit faster.

***

After their daily hour outside, Hajime looked around his room, shuffling through his bag.

"What are ya lookin' for?" Mondo asked curiously, standing in the doorway.

"Cards. Or any of the games I packed. Can I play with other people? I feel you're just going to take a nap again,"

"Nah, I feel fine today. And no, you can't. That's only for nighttime," Mondo answered. "What game were ya thinkin'?"

"Monopoly," Hajime deadpanned, sitting on the floor.

"Fuck no,"

He pulled out a set of cards. "Play Go Fish? You know how to play that?"

"Course I know how to play Go Fish, I ain't stupid! My brother and I....we used to play it sometimes," He swallowed heavily. "So yeah, let's play,"

Hajime got out his seven cards, shuffled some more, and then handed Mondo his own set. He looked at his and saw he already had some twos, so he'd go after those.

"Have any eights?" Mondo asked, and Hajime handed him his one green eight. "Any sixes?"

"Go Fish," Hajime rubbed his nose as Mondo did that. "So, why no nap today?"

"I don't sleep every day, you know!" Mondo stated. "I just tend to cuz I ain't much of a readin' guy or a talkin' guy. It's why I like ya. You respect my space,"

"Of course I do, I don't like people in my space either," Hajime looked at his deck. "Got any twos?"

"Go Fish," Mondo responded, and Hajime did so.

"Did you have any roommates before me?"

"Nah. I mean, one or two but they ain't worth talkin' about. They were kinda like you, only in for a week at the most so I didn't spend much time with them,"

"Well, I'm only here for a week and you're spending time with me,"

"Touché," Mondo grinned at that. "You're cooler than those other guys were,"

The two played their game for the remainder of the hour, Hajime eventually winning and putting his cards down.

"Guess I won,"

"I was so close," Mondo shook his head. "See ya at....whatever we end up doing,"

"Where are you going?" Hajime started picking up the cards.

"To therapy. I got a bunch more sessions because my therapist says I'm not coping properly or something. Whatever. Anything they say is bullshit anyway,"

Mondo left after that and Hajime neatly picked up the cards and wrapped them up again, slipping them into his bag and heading to discharge discussion, taking a random seat. He figured that's what was on the schedule for that day.

Everyone else walked in and took their seats, and Ishimaru walked in last, looking at Hajime.

"Mister Hinata! You are still our newest member, and also the next to be discharged! What are your plans?" He asked instantly.

"Uh....same as last time? Hope things will go back to normal?" He said, making Ishimaru nod.

"A good goal! Miss Saionji! You're going to be shortly after him, what are your plans?"

"I don't know..." Hiyoko pouted. "Big Sister Mahiru was the one person rooting for me and now I have nobody! It doesn't matter whether I leave or not, it won't be the same without her!"

"She promised to stay in contact with you, maybe you could find out her number or social media stuff and talk to her after you get discharged," Hajime surprised himself by speaking up. "I don't think she wanted your friendship to be meaningless,"

"So? She hasn't called me!"

"Not yet...." He sighed. "Maybe she's having a rough adjustment period too, she was here for several weeks or something. Give her a day,"

Hiyoko continued to pout and looked away from Hajime, though her stance noticeably relaxed slightly. If it kept her from freaking out like she did at dinner the previous night, it was for the best.

***

After more therapy with Kirigiri, Hajime went into the same sunny room he had art therapy in, instead finding all of the art stuff fully cleared out and instead replaced with colorful chairs and instruments of any imaginable kind. Near one of the windows was a woman who had her rainbow-dyed hair pulled into tight pigtails and then styled into horn-like structures, likely kept in place by copious amounts of hairspray. Her outfit consisted of a tye-dyed shirt, jelly and candy bracelets on both arms, a neon-yellow tulle skirt with colourful layers, neon green striped tights, black combat boots, and a black leather jacket. Around her neck were pink headphones.

"Oh no," Hajime said out-loud after he finished assessing her appearance, making her look over.

"Heya! You must be the new patient, huh? Good to meet ya! I am your music therapy person, Mioda-sensei!" She grinned. "Good to see a new face!"

"Isn't music therapy like....listening to music and playing a guitar?"

"It can be whatever you want it to be! Ibuki usually just lets her patients do whatever suits them, but today she'll be leading a sing-along thing if you wanna join!"

"Uhhhhh...."

She moved him out of the way and hurried over to the chairs, waving eagerly. "Hi everyone! Welcome to music therapy! This week, we're just gonna do whatever! Fun, right?!"

Hajime instantly decided she was in the same vein that Mitarai was in; absolutely hands-off with their patients, but where Mitarai clearly only did it out of nerves, Mioda did it because....peanuts.

"Music therapy!" Hiyoko beamed. "Can I dance to stuff like last week?"

"You can do whatever you want! If you need structure, Ibuki will be doing some sing-alongs and playing instruments so just follow her...." She motioned over to the windows and sat on a large stool, taking an acoustic guitar out of its corner and strumming it slightly. "Who do we have this week...."

Hajime glanced around and saw Hiyoko and Taeko dancing, not together, but still dancing. Hiyoko had a small paper fan and was spinning around slowly, fanning herself with it, while Taeko was pretending to waltz with an invisible partner. A small radio was playing classical piano music. He looked around at his own group and found pretty much everyone else there, sitting or kneeling, aside from Makoto, who was awkwardly standing around.

"Pretty much everyone! That's great!" Mioda praised. "What song should we start with today?"

"Surprise us. You always let us pick so how about, this week, you choose for us?" Sakura suggested calmly.

"I agree, I don't know anything," Mondo shrugged.

"I'm already bored, when do we get to play instruments?!" Akane asked, pressing her fists together.

"Does your brain process nothing but loud noise?" Byakuya demanded. "Slow down for once in your mundane life,"

"Rich of you to complain about that in music therapy!" Junko laughed.

"D-Don't get on his case like that!" Touko scolded.

"Ibuki thinks she'll play a rock song! Sing along if you know the lyrics!" Mioda interrupted them, strumming the cords. "Hmmm..." She strummed some more and then started playing, humming the words along. Hajime racked his brain, but couldn't think of any part that sounded familiar to him. Much to his surprise, Makoto's face lit up.

"I know this song! My sister used to sing it all the time...." He smiled a bit. "She used to have this music player and this song was the first one she had downloaded onto it. When she had to get a new one after losing it, it was the first song on it again,"

"Your sister likes rock?" Mondo asked, making Makoto nod.

"Yeah, she doesn't like it as much as pop, but she's into a few girl rock groups,"

"Likewise, I also know it," Nagito didn't elaborate, just continued to listen, sitting on the floor.

"And how does this song make you feel?" Mioda continued to strum.

"Happy because it reminds me of my sister! I hope I get to see her again," Makoto exclaimed.

"I don't know....relaxed," Nagito shrugged. "I don't feel much when it comes to music,"

"That's valid too! Sometimes music just makes us feel relaxed because that's what it does!" Mioda said. She switched gears and started strumming and humming a different song, tapping her foot to the beat. Makoto and Nagito didn't show any recognition, but Chihiro clasped his hands together.

"It's a theme song! It's the theme song to my favourite cartoon as a kid!" He smiled.

"Right! How does that make you feel?" Mioda kept tapping her foot.

"Nostalgic....I wish they still aired it,"

"You've never had a friend as close as Big Sister Mahiru and I were, so shut up!" Hiyoko suddenly shouted, making Mioda pause in her strumming.

"I was merely making an observation that you seem to have moved on rather quickly. Perhaps you two weren't so close after all," Taeko tittered.

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!" She pointed her fan at her.

"Oh no, trouble! Ibuki will be right back, until then, start playing with instruments!" She put her guitar on her seat and walked over to where the others were, making Hajime sigh.

"What instrument am I supposed to play? I don't know how to play anything," He asked.

"That's the fun part! You can just play whatever you want and not get judged!" Makoto smiled. "Just pick something!"

Hajime looked around at all of the different instruments on display and finally just picked some bongos, hitting one at random.

"Those are fun! Drums in general are though. I just love making noise!" Akane praised, hitting her own set of practice drums. Chihiro had an xylophone and was running the stick up and down it.

"We could form our own little band!" Junko pulled a guitar off the wall and slid it over her head, strumming to it and swaying her body in time. "We just need a frontman!"

Touko trembled a bit and got a small triangle, hitting it rapidly. She still remained in one corner, keeping to herself. Sakura got a binzasara while Nagito turned on the keyboard.

"I'll be the frontman!" He suggested, playing some chords on the piano.

"Wow, you know how to play!" Junko nodded in approval.

"I took lessons as a kid,"

"Okay Togami-kun, you join in! You could play the finger cymbals!"

"Absolutely not. I refuse to do something as childish as play music," He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Awww, come on! It'll be fun!" Junko coaxed.

"No,"

"Oowada-kun can play the finger cymbals!" Akane suggested, hitting the cymbal.

"Fuck no, I ain't doing that!" Mondo declined.

"Then you can be our singer!" Junko suggested, still strumming her guitar and swaying her hips around. Hajime just kept hitting his bongos, unsure of what the others were trying to do. Chihiro slid his stick along the colourful keys. Nagito and Junko were attempting to play a pop song, while Akane just clashed against her cymbal and Touko beat her triangle with all her might. Sakura kept the beat the best she could with her binzasara. It shouldn't have sounded nice or even coherent at all, and yet, despite everyone doing their own things, it did sound nice, to his ears at least. Everyone had their own rhythm they were playing to and they all had the same harmony. Hajime kept playing his bongos, trying to keep the beat of the others. Junko continued to sway her body to the tune, spinning around. Makoto still didn't have an instrument so instead he clapped his hands to encourage the others, getting into it. Hajime felt himself starting to smile a bit.

"Good job! You're all feeling the rhythm!" Mioda cheered, twirling back over.

"What about Saionji-san, is she okay?" Hajime asked instead, pausing in his music-playing.

"Hm? Oh they're both fine! Mioda made them solve their issues peacefully!"

Hajime doubted that, but when he looked over the two seemed to be dancing normally, so maybe there was truth to that. He shouldn't be so mean to Mioda, she was clearly trained and licensed to do her job, otherwise she wouldn't be there now would she?

"What did you all learn from making music together?" Mioda continued.

"We're good at it!" Akane offered.

"It's hard to get people to participate," Junko said.

"It's fun!" Chihiro stood up.

"That...because we were all playing together, we kept to the same beat and rhythm even though we were doing different things and playing different instruments," Hajime surprised himself by speaking, making Mioda nod.

"Yes! And how do you all feel?"

"Good," Nagito smiled. "For once, we put our differences aside and just focused on sounding good together,"

"Right!" Mioda continued to praise. "That's the beauty of music!" She clasped her hands together. "Sadly, it's time to go, so put your instruments up and Ibuki will see you next week!"

"Awww!" Chihiro pouted a bit, pushing the xylophone over to the drumset. Hajime just put his bongos up in the corner and stretched a bit, wondering how much longer until he could go back to bed. If he remembered correctly, there was still more therapy to go to, then dinner, then television, then showering and using the phones. Then he could go to bed.

He just walked to the group therapy room again, finding Tsumiki in there as usual. He took a random seat and watched everyone else file in, and Tsumiki smiled her usual nervous smile.

"H-Hello! Today, we're going to start a-another conversation similar to the one w-we had last time. Today, it's going to be on self-care. Sometimes, our mental states make it hard for us to care for ourselves. How do we break ourselves out of that funk? How do we still do what needs to be done even if we aren't feeling up to it?" She spoke up. "L-Let's start from the left of me,"

Sitting to Tsumiki's left was Byakuya, who just rolled his eyes.

"I do not need to worry about such things, I am not in the same state as the rest of you. I can get dressed, eat, and whatever else like a normal person," He scoffed. "I am mentally sound,"

"That ain't fair! Not everyone here is nuts, ya know!" Mondo shouted at him.

"Aren't they though? You cannot speak without shouting,"

"I'm workin' on my issues!" He beat his fist into his palm. "But you aren't!"

"How do you know what I am or am not doing?" Byakuya adjusted his glasses.

Tsumiki paled. "U-Um....well, that's good. Sometimes we can push through our mental state and do what needs to be done! W-Who's next?"

"Well....I'm like that too," Hiyoko pouted. "I can eat and shower and get dressed and whatever else. I guess....if I feel sick, then I don't because I could be sick, you know?! Why bother brushing my teeth if I'm gonna puke?"

"Your anxiety doesn't affect daily living though?" Sakura asked curiously. "Please forgive my intrusion. I read a lot of people with anxiety have trouble properly living their lives in certain scenarios,"

"Sometimes..." She blushed. "I mean I'm not a genuine whackjob like some other people here so I can take care of myself! My anxiety is just like....sometimes I can't go to the store, but that makes sense, you know? I know where I am and everything!"

"I brush my teeth," Chihiro offered. "I program a lot so sometimes I get super absorbed in what I'm doing and forget...but back home Mama usually reminded me to get off the computer and bathe or something. It was good for my health, you know?"

"B-But how about...when you're having an episode?" Tsumiki asked.

"I don't know..." Chihiro admitted. "Do people take care of me when I'm like that? I don't know,"

"Honestly this is bullshit to talk about. Most of us don't do that stuff when we're having episodes, that's like the whole point!" Mondo complained. "Sure, some of us are fine, but the rest of us aren't!"

"T-That doesn't mean you can't make an attempt," Tsumiki trembled.

"I agree. I take care of myself the way a normal person does," Taeko smiled. "Because I have no actual mental issue and can function as a human being,"

"Well, I think I do a good job! Even if the thought of sharing a bathroom kinda squicks me out..." Makoto laughed awkwardly. "I almost missed school a few times before because I'd just stand in the shower, making sure I was super clean!"

Hajime realized he was next and tried to think of a good answer. Most days, even here, he hadn't really showered because he didn't feel much need to. He only had once purely because he had thrown up. He always changed his clothes though, and brushed his teeth a few times. What was the thing that kept him going through it all?

"I tell myself....if I can get up and do one thing, then I can do the next thing, and the next thing....it's a process. Like I got out of bed, so I can brush my teeth, so I can change my clothes, so I can eat breakfast..." He trailed off. "That's how I get through it,"

"T-That's wonderful! And so inspiring!" Tsumiki praised. "And he's right. Sometimes breaking things down into a process like that can be very helpful with everyday tasks,"

"I agree. Sometimes, giving yourself that small amount of motivation is enough," Sakura nodded.

"I dunno, I just kinda...do! Sometimes Yasuhiro-san threatens to kick me out of bed if I don't and that's a huge motivator!" Junko laughed.

"S-Sometimes, people close to us can be very motivating," Tsumiki nodded, choosing to ignore the remainder of that phrase.

After their group therapy session came dinner, and Hajime got whatever as usual and finally sat down in front of Byakuya, staring at him.

"What?" Byakuya demanded, also staring him down. "I do not have to entertain whatever whims you wish of me,"

"No, you don't," Hajime admitted. "I just thought you might want company,"

"I don't. Leave me alone," He carefully cut his meal of sushi into even smaller pieces, intricate and tiny.

"I feel bad for you. Having a life like yours must suck," He offered, making Byakuya pause and look up.

"What is your point? I do not want sympathy or to be coddled. Besides, who even told you?"

"Uh....a doctor,"

"They are not allowed to share information on other patients,"

"I can't just ask how you're doing?"

"No," Byakuya put his silverware down. "Stop acting as if you do not have ulterior motives. You want to get inside my head, you want to give me sympathy, you want something from me,"

"Maybe I just wanted to sit with you," Hajime snapped. "Not everything has an ulterior motive,"

To his surprise, Byakuya was silent after that. He picked his silverware back up and began eating, not saying anything. Hajime took a few bites too, mainly drinking his tea.

"Hey, you're getting through to our resident hardass! So fuckin' proud of ya!" Junko laughed, sticking out her tongue. Hajime assumed it was yet another moodswing of hers and wondered how many moods she had. "Fuckin' great! The rest of us couldn't!"

"Get your dirty mouth away from here and sit at the main table." Byakuya scoffed. "Would you prefer to get in trouble?"

"I won't get in trouble because I'm not even doing anything," Junko insisted. "I could be looking for a seat,"

"You are not,"

Junko slammed her tray down and took the seat next to him, smirking. "Yeah I am!"

Hajime looked around and still saw no staff, just like he had on his first day. He was still sure there were some around, just hidden, because again, no way was it a good idea to have so many people like this in one place without proper supervision.

Byakuya simply stood up and walked away, putting his food in the trash and going somewhere else. Junko sighed dramatically.

"Still a hardass,"

"You said he's paranoid, maybe you constantly butting into conversations isn't helping him," Hajime narrowed his eyes at her.

"And? Maybe he should totes get over himself. He's far from the most insane person here," She picked up her grapes and dropped them all onto her plate.

Hajime said nothing, he just stood up and put his tray away just as Yukizome came in to announce television hour. At least it was a chance to wind down.

He wandered into the usual lounge and sat down, making Akane walk over to him.

"You wanna pick our show tonight?" She asked eagerly, grinning.

"I'm sorry I assumed you had bulimia or anorexia. That was unfair of me," Hajime apologized instead as she sat down next to him.

"You think I'm mad at that? Nah. Honest mistake I guess," She shrugged. "It's not like ya know what I do during my talks,"

"No, but still,"

"What should we watch today?" Yukizome asked nicely.

"For the love of God not another animated movie! I'm so sick of those!" Hiyoko whined. "It's all we watch and I hate them!"

"We could watch sports!" Akane shouted. "Right Hinata-kun?!"

"I don't really care...leave me out of it," He just sighed.

"We are just going to end up settling on another animated movie," Taeko said. "A shame. I would not mind watching a movie, if it were a historical drama,"

"Can we listen to music like last time?" Hiyoko asked.

"I don't think it'd be a good idea to just listen to music all of the time," Makoto said.

"What about a game show? Everyone enjoys those," Nagito suggested, and Yukizome nodded.

"A wonderful idea, Mister Komaeda!" She turned the television on to an old game show, making a few of the patients groan.

"I am already bored," Taeko sighed. "I would have preferred music to this,"

"It's a rerun too," Mondo noticed.

"Can we watch sports after this?" Akane asked.

"I specifically picked an hour-long episode," Yukizome smiled an apologetic smile.

"Darn it!"

Hajime just leaned back in his seat, trying to get absorbed into the show. A few times he'd randomly look around the room and catch Nagito's eye, which would make the other male smile in a way Hajime decided he really didn't like.

***

After their hour was up, Nevermind walked into the room, as regal as ever, and announced the schedule, which was the same as his second night there. He stood and walked over to the phone lounge, sitting down and eyeing the phone, willing for it to ring. Hiyoko and Nagito were also talking on their lines, energetic, while Sakura spoke quietly into her line. Byakuya and Taeko continued to sit there, looking in any other direction but the phone.

He wanted to talk to his parents for a while now, so this was the best chance, right?

He stole a glance at Nevermind, still standing guard by the door, then picked up the phone and slowly began dialing, putting it up to his ear and hearing it ring. And ring, and ring, and ring...

"Hello?" His mother's voice answered, and Hajime sat up a bit straighter.

"Uh, Mom? Hi?" He asked nervously.

"Hajime-chan? Is that you?"

"Yeah,"

"Oh, we didn't expect you to call us. You're only in there for three more days, right? So why bother...?"

"I just wanted to see how things were going," He looked around and saw Hiyoko hanging up her phone, then glanced back down at the table so he wouldn't be accused of staring or something.

"I'm really busy right now, did you have to call me at this hour?" She scolded.

"Yeah, it's the only time they'll let us use the phones," He frowned.

"You should try to convince them to change it. Most of us work later in the evening,"

"There's nothing I can do,"

"I have to go." She hung up the phone then, leading the dial-tone ringing in Hajime's ear before he slowly placed the phone back. He just sat there and stared at the phone for a few minutes before he walked over to Nevermind and asked to take a shower, which she nodded at and let Yukizome escort him to the living area.

He walked into his room and found Mondo in the bathroom, shaving, with Kirigiri keeping a close eye on him.

"It's been a while, I wanted to keep puttin' it off but..." Mondo explained. "It's just annoyin' to have someone, especially a chick, watch me do this,"

"There's worse things they could watch you do," Hajime offered, scoping out the scene in the hallway. Everyone else seemed to be in their rooms and doing their own things, such as Junko brushing her hair and Chihiro reading a book. He wouldn't bother them then.

He went back into his room and got out a pair of pajamas and looked around, finally throwing his hands up and starting to undress in his room, quickly slipping on his pajamas. At the very least, he had to brush his teeth. He nudged Mondo out of the way and did so, looking at himself in the mirror before he got into bed. Kirigiri watched him.

"Medicine?" She asked, her hand behind her back. Hajime thought about it. He needed to eat something, and if the medicine was holding him back from that goal....not to mention, he promised he'd at least try one night and go from there.

"No," He shook his head, and she nodded in understanding.

"Alright. Good night," She watched Mondo finish shaving, then stepped out of their room. Hajime covered himself up thoroughly in the blankets and laid flat on his back, closing his eyes and listening to the noise in the hallways, recognizing several voices talking to each other and footsteps running and walking past. He heard Mondo get into his own bed and groan slightly before he must've fallen asleep, snoring loudly. Hajime covered his ears with his pillow, groaning himself.

It was going to be a long night. He kept his eyes shut tightly and prayed for sleep to overtake him.

***

When Hajime woke, it was still dark and silent. No light poured out from under the door, Mondo snored away, and there was a radiance of warmth in his own bed. In a panic, he tried to sit up and felt a tight grip on him, pulling him close.

"Oowada-kun?" He whispered, knowing that was silly. Mondo was far bigger than him, this person felt thin and lithe in comparison. He rolled over and squinted, making out a white robe and messy pale hair. "What the hell?!" He shouted, thrashing around in bed and finally making the person let go of him, sitting up. "Get away from me!"

"I was having a pleasant sleep," Nagito sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Why'd you ruin it?"

"Because you disturbed mine! Get the hell out of my bed!"

"You were an awfully nice sleeping partner, you know,"

"Get out!" Hajime continued to shout, making the door to his room flood with light as Yukizome, Sakakura, and Munakata all stormed in, looking frazzled despite still wearing their uniforms.

"Mister Komaeda, this again?" Yukizome sighed sadly. "I thought you learned your lesson,"

"Patients aren't allowed to touch other patients," Munakata yanked Nagito out of bed by the collar of his robe, making him gasp slightly as he thrust him to his feet. "You're in trouble,"

"He's a super crazy person, you know!" Sakakura glared at Hajime, making him hold out his hands.

"I-I didn't do this!" He insisted. "I woke up and he was in my bed!"

"I know. You're not the first person he's done this with," Yukizome said. "Hence why you're not the one in trouble,"

"Come on," Munakata pushed Nagito along, and he managed to wave to Hajime before the three ushered him out of the room and closed the door. Hajime blinked a few times to properly process what had happened before laying back down in his bed.

He had no clue if not taking his medicine was a good or bad thing anymore.

Chapter Text

In the morning, he was awoken by Makoto knocking nicely on his door, making him stretch and climb out of bed, eyeing himself in the mirror. He looked the same as always, just a bit more tired. He used the bathroom and changed into more casual clothes, heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. He watched the others file in and noticed Nagito was not among them and wondered where he was. He was in trouble, but what did that entail, exactly? Solitary confinement in his room? The others mentioned being tied to your bed....he shuddered. Also noticeable was the lack of Chihiro, but surely that was more normal, right? He likely just slept in or was doing some kind of additional therapy.

For once, his stomach growled and he got a bowl of cereal, taking a few bites and widening his eyes at how the flavour popped in his mouth. He took a few more bites, then some more, and then some more before the entire bowl was gone. He wiped the milk off his mouth and stared into it in awe, wondering what had happened.

"Someone is the talk of the hospital today," Taeko tittered, sitting across from him.

"What did I do?" He asked in genuine confusion.

"Playing dumb? Everyone knows how Komaeda-kun snuck into your bedroom to snuggle with you. It was a breakdown, I am assuming, but still,"

"But what does that have to do with me?"

She shrugged. "He chose to snuggle with you,"

At least he didn't have to deal with Nagito's creepy smiles for at least one day, that was good enough for him.

"Heya, is that an empty bowl I see?!" Akane boasted. "Feelin' hungry for once?!"

"Uhhh..." Hajime put his tray up and slipped away, not liking the sudden attention. He sat by himself in Goals Group and just waited for everyone else to file in, staring down at his whiteboard.

"Morning!" Ishimaru greeted in his usual loud tone. "Let's get started!"

Hajime started to write down his two usual goals, pausing when he recalled he ate his entire breakfast. That was one meal. If he finished either lunch or dinner, he would've completed his first goal he had for the past few days. And as for the other one....

No, he wouldn't count it, not yet. Nagito woke him up in the middle of the night so he didn't want to count it yet.

"Who would like to share? Anyone at all?" Ishimaru looked around the room for the first person to speak.

"Me!" Makoto raised his hand. "Last night I brushed my teeth alongside Fujisaki-kun at the same time! It was a weird feeling but super effective!" He smiled.

"Fine work! Hygiene is an important thing to work on especially together!"

"I got one...I slept through the whole night," Mondo offered, shrugging. "I guess it ain't that big of a deal,"

"Of course it is! Having a night of uninterrupted sleep is important for someone like you! Especially with distractions!"

Mondo just shrugged while everyone turned their attention to Hajime, who pretended to not notice. Was he really that loud over Nagito? Maybe he should've just gone straight to a staff instead of possibly waking up the whole hall like everyone was acting like.

After Goals Group, it was time for personal therapy, which Hajime walked into feeling oddly eager for once. He took his usual seat in front of Kirigiri, watching her.

"Morning," She greeted. "How have you been doing today?"

"Good? I ate all of my cereal,"

"And how do you feel about that?"

"Good? I mean, I'm happy I finally managed to eat something. Maybe it was the medicine. But my goal is to finish two meals,"

"But it's still praise-worthy you completed one half of a goal. How about your other one?"

"I didn't count it since I was woken up in the middle of the night,"

"Mister Komaeda's little scene has landed him in a lot of trouble," Kirigiri explained. "We keep hoping he'll stop, but.."

"What was even the point of that?" Hajime asked.

"Some sort of strange test he does to new patients. Or most of them, anyway. It's more of an annoyance for us because we have to forcefully remove him from their beds,"

"His mental disorder..." He trailed off.

"Yes," Kirigiri answered simply.

"I didn't tell him to do that,"

"We know. You aren't the one in trouble,"

After their discussion, it was time for gaming hour, which Hajime still had little interest in despite everything else. His last few sessions tended to just end in some kind of disaster, so he just sat in a chair and waited for someone to approach him. Much to his surprise, Chihiro was there, but instead of being dressed in his usual clothes, he instead wore a green sweater with a white pleated skirt that went to his knees, trembling slightly.

"Fujisaki-kun?" He tried to offer, holding out a hand. "Do you want to play cards?"

Chihiro barely looked in his direction and instead hugged himself, trembling more. "I-I'm not a girl...they call me a girl but I'm not, they're so mean to me, why c-can't they just leave m-me alone?"

"Fujisaki-kun?" He reached out a hand and gently touched Chihiro's, making him freeze up and take a few steps back.

"Don't touch me! You hate me! I'm not a girl, I'm not! Everything calls me a girl but I'm not!" He kept trembling and pulled on his hair. "They won't be quiet I can't get them to be quiet! Make them stop!" He burst into tears and Hajime shivered at his eyes; vacant and glazed-over. He was clearly no longer with them.

"Mister Fujisaki!" Yukizome hurried over. "Do you know who I am?" She asked gently, holding out her hands.

"Don't make fun of me, I can't take it!" He sobbed.

"Okay," She pulled a small phone out of her pocket. "Kyosuke-kun, Juuzou-kun, you're needed again,"

The other patients in the room subtly watched, wide-eyed, as Yukizome slowly approached Chihiro.

"I'm not going to make fun of you. Do you know where you are? Who are you?" She asked carefully.

"Stop s-s-smiling at me. I hate it! Creepy robots, you always smile at me!" He rubbed at his tears. "I want to go away!"

Munakata and Sakakura walked in then, Sakakura sighing.

"Not this again, he's gotta be one of the worst ones to sedate," He snuck up behind Chihiro and put his arms behind his back, making him gasp and thrash.

"Don't touch me! I'm being killed! Make them stop!" He cried as Munakata stuck a needle in his side, making him go limp. Yukizome nodded and looked back at everyone.

"Another nurse will be with you shortly! I'm sorry for the disturbance!" She smiled before walking out.

Hajime suppressed yet another shiver. That must've been one of Chihiro's episodes, the ones Junko described as 'cuckoo'. Well, she wasn't wrong in that area. What was he supposed to make of that?

"Hey, you wanna play with us again? We're playing Apples to Apples," Junko interrupted his thoughts, standing on one side of his chair. "Or don't join us, I really don't care. Just thought I'd ask,"

"Uh....who's 'us'?" He asked instead.

"The usual whackjobs, me, Touko-san, Togami-kun, Taeko-san..."

"Sure," He just shrugged and followed her over to the group, watching her doll out the cards.

"I refuse to play," Byakuya said, tossing his cards down on the table. "I will not play such a nonsensical game,"

"Don't be that way, we need four people!" Junko pouted.

"And you have plenty,"

"N-No, I'm not playing either," Unlike last time, Touko did throw her cards down and crossed her arms over her chest, glancing away.

"What a pity, I guess we cannot play," Taeko shrugged carelessly. "Whatever shall we do?"

"I shall join," Sakura offered, walking over. "You need one more, correct? Then I should suffice,"

"Why do you want to be over here? We're freaks," Touko jabbed.

"You are no more strange than I am," Sakura said, taking her own deck. "Besides, we are all here to recover and grow, so I see little point in insulting each other,"

"We may all be here for recovery, but it is clear some of us need it more than others," Byakuya jabbed. "Like Fujisaki. That boy didn't even know where he was,"

"Poor thing will be here for the remainder of his life," Taeko swooned and her eyes glittered.

"Uh, what was with the dress?" Hajime cut in. "He doesn't wear them,"

"Oh yeah! When he freaks out, he thinks inanimate objects mock him because he's tiny and call him a girl! He dresses that way to make them stop but it doesn't help, duh. It's all in his head," Junko explained.

"Oh," He tried to imagine what that would be like and came up with nothing. Having things mock you endlessly even when you gave into their demands? All of it not even being real? He really couldn't even begin to imagine such a state.

"Are we gonna play this game or not?"

"We were waiting for you," Sakura replied calmly, making Junko laugh.

"Oh, right, duh! Okay...." She set down a random card. "At the beach!"

Hajime looked through his own cards, finally setting down 'Driving'. The others set down theirs; 'Volcano', 'Windshield Wipers', and 'Ramen Noodles'. Junko eyed them all and pouted.

"I swear, they took out all of the good cards! These aren't funny at all!"

"B-Because it's a baby game," Touko said.

"Fine, ramen noodles,"

"Ooooh, that was mine!" Taeko squealed in delight.

"Is Fujisaki-kun going to be alright?" Hajime asked, making Sakura smile a bit at him.

"You have a good heart, worrying like that. He will be alright. Sad to say, he has frequent moments like those, but he also recovers from them. He is in a controlled environment,"

"I see....he just looked super out-of-it,"

"Yeah, his disorder be like that," Junko laughed.

"What will happen to him?"

"I believe they usually tie people to their beds when they have episodes. Ghastly, is it not?" Taeko smiled. "We might not see him for the remainder of the day,"

"And better for it. He is a genuinely insane person," Byakuya said.

"No....he's sweet," Hajime surprised himself by saying. "Eccentric but sweet,"

"Do not act so mighty about it. You are terrified of him! I see it in your eyes, everytime you are reminded of his condition, you freak out," Taeko smiled more.

"Well....his disorder is like that, I can't help but to be a bit nervous. You all saw how he acted earlier! And he writes word salad!"

"But he is still a sweet person," Sakura reminded him gently. "Never forget that part of it,"

Hajime nodded. "Yeah....he is,"

***

The group continued to play until Kirigiri announced it was time for lunch, and Hajime watched as everyone aside from Sakura bailed on him, leaving him to clean up the mess. He sighed and started putting the cards away, making her chuckle a bit.

"Forgive me, I just enjoy seeing people so lively," She helped him.

"So, uh....why are you here?"

"Steroid use," She said bluntly. "It was a moment of weakness, I will freely admit. I do not even know why I first thought of using them, but once I became more clear-minded, I signed myself up here. Everyone here has been nothing but helpful in supportive in my journey to recovery,"

Hajime nodded. "Is that why, you're....you know," He gestured to her appearance.

"Believe it or not, this was natural. I trained naturally for years to achieve this appearance,"

"Oh," He shrugged and put the box away, following her to the cafeteria. "Uh, mind if we sit together?"

"No." She nodded and got her lunch of miso soup and fish, while Hajime got grilled cheese and tomato soup, sitting across from her.

"You just seem...." He trailed off, trying to think of the best way to phrase it. "...Distant," He finally offered.

"Yes, I suppose I do." Sakura smiled a bit. "Sometimes I do not mind it, but other times....people are intimidated by me, I suppose. I appreciate you going out of your way to spend time with me,"

"I've spent time with nearly everyone else," Hajime shrugged.

"And yet you did not have to. You chose to," She began eating and Hajime mulled over that. While it's true some of them deliberately seemed to seek him out, like Akane and Junko, others he approached first, like Mondo and Chihiro. He didn't have to do that, he wasn't owed anything, and even though each passing day confirmed for him more and more that a lot of the people there were genuinely...well, not crazy, but still, he felt like he should try to talk to some of them if for no other reason than to get advice for how to deal with his own episodes.

Some staff were busying themselves with various tasks; Hajime tried to crane his neck to subtly listen in on what they were doing, but most just seemed to be worried over Chihiro's breakdown and were debating whether he was mentally stable enough to attempt eating. Yukizome and Munakata walked in, each holding Nagito's arms, forcefully sitting him down at a table far away from Hajime.

"Afternoon!" Nagito greeted anyway, a big smile on his face, making Munakata stare at him.

"What do you want? There's grilled cheese, lasagna, and miso soup." Yukizome asked, leaning in close to him.

"Oh, just surprise me. I don't mind," Nagito kept staring at Hajime, making the staff eye him wearily.

"I expected him to be locked in his room all day or something," He finally said.

"No. That is primarily for patients who have strong breakdowns or cause issues with the staff. He is just to be separated from you for the remainder of your stay. Boundaries," Sakura shook her head.

"Oh," Hajime just stared down at his food, polishing off the remainder of his tea and eating one of his sandwiches, staring at the second one but not feeling hungry enough for it. He shook his head. One was good. He was making progress. Maybe at this rate, he'd finally eat all of his dinner.

Once lunch was finished, Hajime just followed Sakura outside and looked around for something to do. Akane was playing with the little kids again, while Byakuya and Touko sat on the benches in the shade, several feet away from each other. Hiyoko took out one of the jump-ropes and started to skip while using it, keeping her rhythm.

"Well, I suppose I am still open to tennis, if anyone else would like to play," Taeko eventually sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "I will play doubles as usual,"

"Great! Hinata-kun and I can be on a team!" Junko swooped right in and wrapped her arm around his, grinning. "But who will be on yours? The nutcase is still in his room,"

"As if I would have picked him anyway," Taeko looked around and found Makoto on the basketball court, dribbling a ball with Mondo, and beckoned him over. "Naegi-kun! Would you fancy a game of tennis with us?"

"Sure!" Makoto smiled easily and apologized to Mondo before hurrying over. "I'm not very good at it though,"

"That is alright, I can score enough for both of us," She headed down to the court while Hajime and Makoto got the rackets and ball out of the shed, tossing the girls their rackets. "Let us get started," She tossed the ball and hit it hard with her racket, sending it flying on the other side.

Before Hajime had much of a chance to react, Junko had rushed over, slapping the ball back and sending it sailing across the net, and soon they had a rhythm where primarily the girls hit it back and forth.

"Well I feel useless," He quipped, making Junko laugh as she hit the ball hard and sent it sailing above Taeko's and Makoto's heads, making Makoto run after it.

"You'll be useful if Naegi-kun hits it!" She insisted.

Makoto did indeed hit it, so Hajime ran over and slapped it, leaving the girls to start hitting it back and forth again.

"So, why are you here?" Hajime just asked Makoto casually. The girls had already spilled why they were, basically without even being prompted, but he felt like he knew very little about Makoto aside from the fact wearing green gave him a good day and he also evidently didn't like the thought of dirt much.

"My family signed me up and I agreed it'd be for the best! I've been here for a few months but everyone has been very helpful! Fujisaki-kun and I just clicked instantly," Makoto smiled nicely. Touko's words suddenly echoed in his mind.

"Doesn't it bother you that you've been here for a while?" He smacked the ball when it sailed near him.

"Not really? I mean, people just want to help me," He shrugged. "It's better to be here than to close a door five times in a row so your sister won't die,"

"What?!"

Makoto just smiled.

"Heads up!" Junko called, and Hajime was aware of the ball slapping him in the face, making him sputter at the plastic taste. "Whoops!"

"Who is currently in the lead?" Taeko asked.

"I think it's us?" Junko thought about it. Hajime bounced the ball and smacked it, making it go long over Taeko's and Makoto's heads. "Yup, totes us!"

The four continued to play for a time before Nidai called for the end, making Taeko and Junko bail, dropping their rackets and running off. Hajime sighed.

"This keeps happening to me," He grumbled, picking everything up. Makoto laughed a bit.

"Maybe because you're new? The others like to pick on new members,"

"I'm going to be gone in two days anyway,"

He headed back to his room after putting the rackets and ball away, looking through his bag again. Just the usual games and books he brought. Mondo walked in and instantly collapsed on the bed as Hajime looked, making him assume he wouldn't be up for the remainder of the hour. He got out a set of cards and randomly shuffled them, deciding to play Memory with them again, shuffling them again before neatly setting them out on his bed. He stared at them for a long time, unsure of which one to start with, just staring. He slowly reached out for a random one, flipping it over.

"Maybe I should sleep too..." He wondered out-loud, staring at Mondo. No, he shouldn't do that. He came here to get better and taking a random nap in the middle of the day would undo all of his progress. Playing cards didn't appeal to him though, and neither did reading. He just wanted to fall asleep and not worry about anything ever again. Was his treatment even working, or was he such a hopeless case? He clenched his fists and shoved all of the cards off his bed, laying down.

He truly was a hopeless case. He hadn't learned anything new, he hadn't done anything differently! No, that wasn't true. He learned about different mental disorders and how they manifested in people, and he was actively trying to interact with others and eat. He was genuinely getting better. Why, he ate a whole bowl of cereal that morning! He was improving!

He shook his head. He couldn't let the negative thoughts win.

***

After his usual therapy, he went into the homework room, sitting down in a random spot and taking out the remainder of his work. Maybe tomorrow he'd tell Kirigiri he was out of schoolwork and ask if she had anything he could work on during the hour. Everyone he expected to be there was there, aside from Chihiro. He scooted a bit closer to Makoto, who was tapping his pencil against his desk.

"Uh, how is Fujisaki-san doing?" He asked in a low voice as Ishimaru watched everyone.

"I feel so bad for him...he hasn't had an episode in a while," Makoto looked down. "After lunch they were considering moving him to a room by himself, he spat out all of his food because he was convinced they were trying to poison him,"

"Geezh,"

"Yeah....he gets paranoid and thinks everyone hates him and are out to get him. Uh, I shouldn't go into detail though. After all, it's not really my place to say anything!"

Hajime just turned his focus to his work, still thinking about it. He knew he secretly kept giving Chihiro a hard time because how could he not, that disorder was associated with freaky stuff, but that didn't mean he actually wished for Chihiro to go through any of that. He hoped he would feel better by the next day, but he also didn't know how long an episode could last.

Makoto wrote beside him, and Hajime waited for Ishimaru to turn the music on like he did the last two times, but despite walking over to the music player several times, it became clear that was just part of his pacing area and they would have no music that day. Well, that was just fine with him. He continued working on his work, closing up his books once he was finished and sneaking glances around the room.

Makoto was still focusing on his work, tapping his pencil rhythmically against his desk, Sakura was quietly discussing something with Hiyoko, Taeko was reading, Mondo, Byakuya, and Touko were missing, obviously Chihiro was still gone, and Junko was reciting something to herself as she paced back and forth around the room. Akane was also working, writing something really fast. He also noticed Nagito wasn't there and figured he was still being put on boundaries. Hajime put his head down on his desk, sighing a bit. He rested that way until Ishimaru cleared his throat.

"Good work as usual, everyone! Head to your group therapy location!"

Hajime gathered himself up and walked there, just following Makoto since they sat next to each other and took a seat next to him, finding Tsumiki nervously running a hand through her braid. Everyone else filed in, Mondo, Byakuya, and Touko also among them, but still no Chihiro. Hajime swallowed nervously; he really was going to be kept in his room all day and night it seemed.

Once everyone had sat down, Tsumiki smiled anxiously and stood up. "H-Hello! I see everyone is here, except for one...where is Mister Fujisaki?"

"He freaked out and got put in his room all day or something!" Junko responded.

"He was thoroughly convinced everyone were robots coming to destroy him or something," Byakuya added with a huff.

"Oh, h-he'll miss out..." She pouted a bit. "W-Well, nothing for it....today, let's talk about our families. Different from a few days ago where we spoke of role-models, this t-time it'll be our families. Who is in our families? How do they inspire us? How do we feel about them? P-Person right in front of me!"

Taeko looked up at being addressed before rolling her eyes. "My parents? Useless. As I've said before, I was basically checked in here against my will because they say gambling is an addiction. If I had won a good jackpot they wouldn't be saying that! I have no patience for people like that,"

"S-Sometimes parents do what they think is right for their kids..."

"Locking me up in a place like this isn't it!" Taeko snapped. "I've hated it here since day one and you all know it! I'm mentally sound,"

Tsumiki smiled awkwardly.

"Likewise, I hate my family. My mom and grandma are total bitches and hate me just as much. Only good thing about my grandma is at least she has a shred of talent. I have my dad though, he's really nice. He's actually the reason I agreed to come here..." Hiyoko blushed a bit. "I wanted him to see how much progress I was making...."

"You guys all know my family!" Makoto announced. "My parents and my sister. We all love each other so much! We're also a pretty normal family....they convinced me I should get better care,"

"Yes, we all know about your perfect family," Taeko rolled her eyes a bit. "Makes me wish my parents were as understanding as your own,"

"They could be! You just have to give them a chance!"

"Pass," Byakuya said when it was his turn. "I have absolutely nothing to say,"

"Because you hate your family and it sucks," Junko scoffed.

"U-Um....we're not supposed to talk over others," Tsumiki scolded shyly.

"So? It's the truth,"

"If we can pass, then I wanna pass too! I don't have anything to say on mine!" Touko said. "They suck! They suck majorly! More than a-anyone else's here, I-I bet!"

Hiyoko pouted. "No way, mine are pretty terrible!"

"G-Guys...!" Tsumiki held out her hands.

"My parents are totes okay, I guess, I dunno. Basically the only person I'm close to is my older sister, and she's the one who signed me up for this place." Junko looked at her nails. "I guess it could be worse, but overall this place is mainly boring,"

Hajime realized it was his turn and sat up straighter, determined to say something and get it over with. "I just live with my parents, and they're...typical? They're really busy so I rarely see them. It was actually my idea to sign myself up for this place. They just kinda signed the parental permission forms and whatnot,"

"Will they see you on Visitors' Day though?" Akane suddenly asked, making Hajime look over at her in surprise. "I mean even the busiest parent takes time outta their schedule to see their kid, I hope!"

His heart sunk down to his knees. If his previous phone-call was any indication, they likely wouldn't come at all. He had completely forgot about Visitors' Day. Was it while he was still admitted?

"My mom is amazing!" Mondo said. "Nobody holds a candle to her! She taught me and my brother everything we know! Dad's a total asshole though. And my big bro...he was pretty cool too," His voice lowered at that, making Hajime raise an eyebrow. That was the second time Mondo seemed weird on the topic of his brother. Maybe he'd ask about it later. Could he even ask about it? Mondo had PTSD and if it was involving his brother....maybe it would be best not to.

***

After that therapy session ended, Hajime had to go to some more with Kirigiri, and then walked in the middle of the television hour, where the chosen entertainment seemed to be some old sports game. It looked like baseball, or maybe cricket. He sat down by himself as usual and was surprised nobody took the incentive to sit next to him like they usually did. Maybe the sport was just that engaging. He snuck a peek at Nagito and found him to be sitting with Taeko and Hiyoko, calmly watching the sport while the two girls glared daggers at each other as he sat between them. He kept subtly staring to see if Nagito would ever look back, but after nearly a minute he turned his attention back to the television.

Was Nagito just done with him after getting caught in his bed the previous night? A part of Hajime said he was, he had elicited the proper response he had wanted and was now done 'sizing up the new kid' as Mondo had put it, but the other part said he wasn't. He had been staring at him and acting weird since day one, and Hajime felt something bigger was going to happen, but what?

After the show was over, Hajime followed Nagito back to the dorms and called after him, not wanting to tap him and get in trouble for ruining the boundaries. Nagito turned around.

"What is it? Could it wait until I showered?" He asked politely, smiling that off little smile of his.

"What's your game? Why do you keep bothering me?" Hajime asked bluntly.

"I'm not bothering you, I'm just fascinated by you, you could say. Not every day we get people like you who are only here for a week yet utterly change the mood of everyone so much. Everyone here loves you! You just have a way of making people open up!" Nagito exclaimed. "How could I not take advantage of such an opportunity?"

"You're deranged," Hajime spat before he fully processed the implications of what he was saying. Nagito laughed.

"Of course I am! I'm in a mental hospital! I've been in here for six months and I see no sign of getting released any time soon!" He smiled again. "We're all deranged in here, and you're in here too, so aren't you deranged?"

Hajime just backed away after that, instead heading to Makoto's room, where he was staring at a laptop left closed on the bed.

"Not here, huh?" He asked, making Makoto shake his head.

"He didn't recognize me so he's being kept somewhere else,"

"Wanna play cards or something?" From what he could tell, Chihiro and Makoto were super close and while he still didn't know all of the details about that, he could tell Makoto was distressed by seeing his best friend like that.

"No, I have to shower...right now I'm waiting for Yukizome-san to arrive so she can monitor me and maybe give me medicine,"

"Good night then..." Hajime awkwardly waved and walked away, checking the hallway for Nagito, sighing in relief when he seemed to be gone. Taeko and Junko were in their rooms, but Hajime didn't fancy going over to them. Instead, he walked into his room and got undressed, letting the shower rinse him off and changing into pajamas to brush his teeth just as Mondo got back from using the phone.

"Hey, ya showered! Good job!" Mondo grinned and slapped him on the back. "Finally gettin' adjusted, huh?"

Kirigiri walked in then, eyeing the two. "Medicine?" She asked Hajime, making him shake his head.

"No...last night was a fluke. I want to try again tonight without it," If Nagito was being better watched, that meant he wouldn't try to sneak into his room and Hajime would get a full night of sleep and see if the pills would still be useful or not.

"Alright," She nodded and instead kept an eye on Mondo as Hajime crawled into his bed, covering himself up and placing the pillow over his ears. He remembered Mondo loudly snoring the previous night and didn't want to listen to that again. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to drown out the noise from the hallway and the light in his own room.

Eventually, everything quieted down and darkened and he tried to relax himself and fall asleep, even if he was going to have to deal with Mondo's snores all night long.

Chapter Text

Hajime wasn't sure how long he slept for, but when he woke up, there was some light in his room, and he was woken up by a scream piercing the air.

He sat up with a jolt, looking around in a panic to try and figure out what had happened. Screaming was to be expected, but Makoto promised nobody there screamed at night. He was out-cold for every other night he was there though, so what did he know? Makoto could've been lying to make him feel safer.

"No! No! Not you! It's not my fault, I swear, I-" The scream reigned out again, and Hajime covered his ears and looked over at his roommate, who was sweating and thrashing around in bed, looking distressed. Hajime got out of his own bed and hurried over, unsure of what to do. He finally grabbed Mondo's shoulder and shook him roughly, that being the first idea he had.

"Wake up!" He yelled, and finally Mondo opened his eyes and looked around wildly, his eyes settling on Hajime.

"Get off of me! Fuck ya tryin' to do?! Touch me or somethin'?!" He instantly demanded, yelling.

"You were having a nightmare," Hajime responded, dumbfounded. He sat back down on his bed.

"No shit I was! What else you gonna do, crawl into bed with me?!"

"What?! No! I was just trying to wake you up!" He threw his hands up and threw one of his sweatshirts and slippers on over his striped pajamas. "I'm going to breakfast,"

Mondo was silent after that, which Hajime took to mean he was finished having a conversation. When he arrived at the cafeteria, most of the others were there already; Nagito was still sitting at another table, though he wasn't aware of his presence yet, but the biggest surprise was seeing Chihiro again, also sitting at his own table. Tsumiki was sitting with him, carefully stirring up his oatmeal and serving him bite-sized spoonfuls.

"Fujisaki-kun!" He tried to greet, but Chihiro didn't look at him. He still had a dazed expression in his eyes.

"P-Please don't overwhelm him, he's s-still coming down from his hallucinations," Tsumiki gently scolded. "He's only eating because I put medicine in it and it calmed him down,"

Maybe that was where the expression came from. Now that Hajime thought about it, Chihiro did sometimes look dazed when he ate. Did they often drug his food? He supposed it made sense, but it was still disturbing to think about.

He awkwardly walked away and looked at the options, it suddenly dawning on him he slept for an entire night. A whole night of interrupted sleep! He actually managed to do it! He took another small bowl of cereal again and sat where-ever, finding himself with Touko that time.

Should he attempt a conversation with her? She always brushed off attempts made in the past, but he also told himself he'd try talking to her at least once before he left.

"Hey," He finally said, noticing she had a bowl of oatmeal too.

"G-Go away," She snapped, not looking up. "G-Go sit somewhere e-else..."

"No. I want to sit with you and talk to you,"

"Why? You feel sorry for me?"

"No! It's just...you never talk to people. Aren't you lonely?"

"I-I don't mind....t-they all think I'm a freak anyway. T-They stay away from me because I have different personalities, but I haven't had one resurge since I came here...b-but whatever. I don't want to hang around them anyway, they're all freaks,"

Hajime just ate his cereal, feeling hungry and being able to finish everything. He stared down at the empty bowl in disbelief again, unsure of what to think. He ate all of his breakfast and part of his lunch the previous day, so that was....two meals finished, and he slept through the whole night without needing medicine.

That means he finally finished all of his goals!

"Some of them are nice," He answered her, thinking of Akane and Makoto. "They're not all bad,"

"Hmph," She resumed stirring her oatmeal. "Y-You think they put pills in mine to dope me up? I-I'm just as crazy as Fujisaki is, you know!"

He ignored that and decided to leave early for Goals Group, putting his tray away and picking a random seat. He looked down at the whiteboard and mulled over the fact for the first time that week, he'd have to write down two completely new goals and he had no clue what they should even be.

Once everyone else came in, Ishimaru walked in and shut the door. "Morning! Let's get right into it!"

Hajime remained silent for a few seconds, wondering if anyone else would comment, and when it became apparent they wouldn't, he finally spoke up.

"I ate an entire bowl of cereal yesterday and today, and I also fell asleep and slept for the whole night last night without medicine," He said, making Ishimaru beam.

"Congratulations! It took a while, but you knocked two out at once! How do you feel about that?"

"Uh, good?" He answered nervously.

"Yes! Who's next?" Ishimaru looked around at the others, who were busying themselves with whatever was in their hands. "Visitors' Day is tomorrow, so how about we talk about goals related to our families?"

"What?!" If Hajime had anything in his mouth, he would've spat it out. "It is?!"

"You okay?" Akane asked. "Man, I thought they told ya when you signed up,"

"No," He shook his head.

Ishimaru cleared his throat. "No idle chit-chat! Goals about family members, please!"

"All of us hate our families, we ain't gonna write feel-good goals about them!" Junko rolled her eyes.

"Aside from stuff like 'don't yell at them or give them a hard time'," Hiyoko pouted. "I'd still do that stuff anyway if my mom or someone like that came, my mom's a bitch and deserves it!"

"Miss Saionji!" Ishimaru scolded.

Visitors' Day....what was he going to do? He didn't want to admit it, but the thought of it made a lump form in his throat he couldn't properly swallow down.

***

During gaming hour, he just sat by himself, curling up on one of the chairs and hiding his face. His parents wouldn't come to visit him, the one time he tried to call it was awkward and his mom wanted nothing to do with him. Why did it upset him as much as it did? Could he get discharged early, like for good behavior? He hadn't freaked out and was doing a good job so they'd let him, right? Was that even possible? He really hoped it was. He looked around at the others playing games and saw Nagito playing a board game with Akane, Taeko, and Hiyoko, getting into it. A weird combination of people for sure. He remembered Nagito always talked super excitedly and energetically into the phones when it was his turn and figured even someone like him had someone he was close to. He saw Chihiro, still a bit dazed, watching Makoto, Mondo, and Junko argue over what board-game they wanted to play. Even Chihiro had parents who loved him, he talked about them all of the time. If even they had people they were close to, what did that say about his own parents?

"Wanna play with us? I think we finally decided on Monopoly!" Junko laughed, coming over to him. Hajime just looked at her before shaking his head and looking away. She just shrugged. "Suit yourself," She then walked away. Hajime could feel Yukizome's eyes on him, but he figured he wouldn't get in trouble unless he was actively being a disruption, and he wasn't. He just felt like a heavy sack of bricks again. He buried his face in his knees and prayed for the hour to fly by quickly so he wouldn't have to associate with anyone.

***

No therapy for him, and instead of having lunch after gaming hour everyone was told to take a mat from the storage shed and head outside for a special outdoor session. Hajime just shrugged, grabbing a red one and slapping it on the basketball court where everyone else was, most of them looking just as confused as him.

"You look like shit!" Hiyoko laughed when she laid her eyes on him. "Finally too depressed to put some real clothes on?"

"You wear pajamas almost every day," Hajime snapped at her, briefly thinking if Mahiru was still there she would've scolded him for yelling at Hiyoko. He had a sudden pang in his chest he couldn't explain. Mahiru was definitely the most normal of the gang and she left before he had much of a chance to properly spend time with her. And he was an anchor for some of these people. What would they think once he left? Just another patient who came and went?

"So? At least I look cute when I do it and not lazy!" She shot back.

"You do look awful!" Junko laughed, placing her mat next to him. "Who wears a sweatshirt and pajamas?"

"Lots of people here," He looked around. "What are we doing today?"

"Beats me,"

Nidai walked out at that point, throwing his own mat down on the ground. "Good to see everyone here! Today, I thought we could do something a bit different. Yoga!"

"That sounds delightful," Taeko clasped her hands together. "Something nice and relaxing,"

"Hell no, I ain't doin' something as girly as yoga!" Mondo yelled.

"There's nothing girly about yoga in the slightest! It's to hep you build better balance and coordination as well as relaxing you and helping you find your center!" Nidai said. "Let's begin with some simple moves!" He clasped his hands together and put one leg on the other, keeping his balance. Hajime tried to follow, wobbling and feeling silly.

"I don't see what's super relaxing about this," He finally admitted to Junko when they laid down, lifting their backs in the air.

"Again, totes beats me. It's like he said," Junko shrugged the best she could from her position.

Hajime just sighed.

"I-I don't wanna do this," Touko announced, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest. "I-It's demeaning, everyone is staring at me,"

"They're looking at you because you reek," Byakuya huffed. "And posing in ways that makes that fact more obvious. Maybe if you bathed more-"

"It has nothing to do with that!" She trembled. "I-I'm just terrible at yoga! I don't want to do it anymore!"

"I agree, this is bullshit!" Mondo kicked his mat away. "It ain't doin' anything for us and is girly as hell!"

"Then what do ya suggest we do instead?" Akane asked.

"Anythin' but this! Shit!"

"Mister Oowada! Calm yourself!" Nidai yelled back.

"No! Fuck you! I don't gotta do shit!" He stormed over to the other side of the court, crossing his arms in front of his chest and just watching.

"Do I need to call someone?"

Mondo remained silent after that, glaring at everyone else. Byakuya and Touko just stood on their mats, still refusing to participate. Hajime wondered if Mondo's sudden mood shift had to do with the nightmare he was having....he remembered one of his goals was a night of uninterrupted sleep. Did he often have those nightmares and Hajime just never noticed because of his medicine? His first day there, Mondo even told him he slept like the dead so he didn't realize he had a roommate....

He couldn't suppress the shivers that came as a result of that thought. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he still felt selfish in a way. Mondo was clearly not alright, he showed many signs of it before, and Hajime merely thought he was just irritable. But was it a good idea to approach him about it?

Hajime just decided he'd deal with that as it came and switched his position, trying to put one leg behind his head as he kept his balance. He wobbled again before slipping and falling flat on his butt, making the others giggle and laugh at him.

"It was a good attempt!" Nidai praised, making his face burn slightly. He pulled his knees up to his chest and just continued to sit out the rest of the hour, watching everyone else.

***

During lunch, Hajime had to decide who would have the better reaction to being asked if they were okay; Mondo or Chihiro, before realizing it was an easy question and sat next to Chihiro, who also had Kirigiri sitting across from him. Hajime wondered if she would feed him too, but she just remained sitting, watching him, and he noticed Chihiro slowly eating his chicken noddle soup, still staring vacantly.

"Are you okay?" Hajime tried, only to get no answer. He looked at Kirigiri.

"It takes him some time to recover after episodes," She said. "We still need to monitor him to make sure he won't relapse,"

Hajime shivered at that and stared down at his own meal of pork udon, stirring it before he took a few sips of the noodles. Maybe coming over to bother Chihiro was a bad idea. He looked around and subtly scooted over to Akane and Hiyoko instead; Akane eating two whole bowls of ravioli as usual.

"What brings ya over here?" She asked happily, eating. Hajime stared at her food for a while before snapping himself out of it. It was part of her healing process and thus he shouldn't find it strange anymore.

"Fujisaki-kun is...not in a state for talking," He finally said, making Hiyoko snort-laugh.

"Ha! Course he's not, he's a literal basketcase! I'm surprised he even knows his own name at this point!" She laughed.

"Come on, don't be so rude!" Akane laughed.

"It's the truth! He's a certified freak! He says things talk to him and did you not see how he acted yesterday? He thought robots were out to get him!"

"I mean, he can't help it, like you can't help your anxiety," Hajime said, eating more noodles.

"So? I'm at least aware of where I am and who I am!" She huffed, calming down slightly and eating her own meal of udon.

Hajime sipped some more noodles, noticing almost all of his meal was gone. He awkwardly pushed the bowl away, still unsure of how to feel about that.

Once everyone else had finished eating, Hajime went to his room and decided instead of playing cards like he had for the past few days he'd go back to the boring fantasy novel and try to make more of a dent in it, halfway through a page when Mondo trudged in and collapsed on his bed.

"Uh, you okay?" He asked nervously, receiving a groan in response. "Are you okay....in general?"

"Shit, I ain't one to talk about my feelings or some crap like that," Mondo rolled over onto his side. "That's for chicks,"

"I wasn't asking for a heart-to-heart! I just want to know...what's your PTSD about?" He asked carefully, trying not to upset Mondo but also wanting to have a conversation about it.

"You're smart, ain't you figured it out yet?" Mondo snapped.

"No," Hajime turned another page in his book. "I mean...." He thought over all of Mondo's reactions towards certain things. "Your brother...something happened and you feel guilty about it?"

Mondo was silent.

"Am I right?"

"Yeah...." Mondo sighed. "Look, don't think I'm still gonna be open about that kinda crap, I still think a lot of what they tell me is bullshit. They want me to be open about my feelings which ain't gonna happen! I'm not like a bunch of these other nutcases, I can take care of myself! I just gotta wait until they finally release me,"

Hajime nodded. "I'm sorry I made you talk about it,"

"Nah, you're good. Now can I take my nap?"

"You don't get much sleep?"

"No. Is that a problem?!"

"No! Good night?"

Mondo grunted and rolled back over and once he was silent for a time, Hajime went back to his reading, indeed making a huge chunk before it was time for discharge discussion. He realized he was having a lot less therapy sessions as the days went on and wondered if that was normal or if he was just running out of things to work on.

He took his usual seat, waiting for everyone else and finally Ishimaru, who stood in the center. "Who would like to begin? Mister Hinata has shared twice already so I would like someone else to start us off!"

Nobody offered.

"Bet it's gonna suck for you once Hinata-kun leaves and you won't have anyone to keep picking on, huh?" Hiyoko laughed. "Since he's the most normal of us and also has the shortest stay,"

"No way, then he'll just start picking on you!" Junko stuck out her tongue. "That'd be fucking hilarious too!"

"Miss Enoshima!" Ishimaru scolded.

"I shall begin then," Taeko said, folding her hands in front of herself. "When I get discharged, I plan on going my own way. Move out of my parents' place and live on my own in some elusive estate somewhere and only care for myself. I think it would be very quaint,"

"A good goal! Sometimes a push for independence can be very beneficial in helping us recover!" Ishimaru praised.

"I dunno, I guess just try to be a better sister to my sister? She sucks though," Junko shrugged. "Why are you tryna to put me on the spot?!"

"What about things you all have learned from your therapies and group talks? Anything you want to put into practice?" Ishimaru said, trying to stir the conversation somewhere more productive.

"Nah, a lot of what they tell you to do is bullshit," Mondo grumbled.

"I totes agree!" Junko laughed. "And what about someone like Fujisaki-kun? He's never better unless he's on medicine!"

Hajime looked over at Chihiro, who was just fingering the buttons on his jacket, not paying attention to anything being said.

"I think some of it is useful," Nagito said. "It's about applying yourself. Some of what I've been told I can't wait to use in my everyday life!"

"Same here," Sakura nodded. "Just because it does not work for some people does not automatically mean it won't work for everyone,"

"Yeah," Hajime tried to speak up. "Already some of you seem to be doing better than when I first got here,"

"And what difference does that make to you? You'll be gone tomorrow." Byakuya jabbed.

"I'm just saying," He leaned back in his chair, suddenly feeling awkward. Byakuya was right, what did he know about the mental status of the other patients? He shouldn't just be praising progress he couldn't properly see.

***

Hajime spoke too soon about therapy, as he had an hour after discharge discussion with Kirigiri, then was told to make his way to the activity room again, wondering what they'd do that day. They already had art and music, so was pet next? He assumed he'd find out as soon as he walked in, and indeed when he did, all of the music stuff had been cleared out and instead replaced by all sorts of animals, mainly cats and dogs but Hajime could also see others like birds, snakes, and rodents. The man in the room, much like Mioda, didn't look like any sort of pet therapy expert he had ever seen before, with a long black cape and purple scarf, dark purple suit-vest, and heavy black boots, with mismatched eyes and a scar he couldn't tell was real or fake, but Hajime had to remind himself that also like Mioda, this guy was a professional who got his license and everything so he clearly knew what he was talking about even if he looked eccentric and likely acted as such too.

"Pet therapy," Nagito nodded in interest as he walked in, shortly followed by the rest.

"Welcome mortals, to my domain of beasts!" The man announced once everyone was there, making Hajime decide that this guy was definitely also very eccentric. "I see a new victim has entered the liar, so welcome, I am the purveyor of darkness, Master Tanaka!"

"He's nuts," Hajime finally said to himself, making Hiyoko laugh.

"Well duh! I think it's like a rule you can't work here unless you're as nutso as the patients!"

"Today we will be focusing our attention on the four-legged canine beasts, but if another beast summons you, do not be afraid to heed that call!" Tanaka motioned to several dogs he had on leashes, all calmly sitting or standing, waiting for instructions.

"Dogs!" Chihiro suddenly gasped, the first words he had said all day, and wandered over to a very fluffy small dog and held out his hands. The dog woofed and walked over, letting Chihiro pet it gently. "It's so soft and fluffy!"

"Is it really?" Mondo asked slowly, walking over too. Chihiro nodded and Mondo held out his hands, also petting the dog. "It's so soft....reminds me of a dog I had when I was a kid,"

"You had a dog too?!" Chihiro asked in disbelief. "Mine was a Pomeranian,"

"Maltese,"

Junko was sitting down, petting a small Pomeranian that was panting at her, and Taeko was curled up with a long black cat, letting her fingers gracefully brush its fur, looking as dainty as a queen. Hiyoko had somehow found a snake and was carefully letting it slither around on her hands, holding it out for Akane to look at. Makoto didn't pet anything and instead looked at some birds in a cage, trying to whistle with them. Sakura was admiring some huge rabbits in a specially-sized cage, Nagito was also by himself, petting another dog, and Byakuya and Touko stood in their own respective corners, not doing anything.

Hajime looked around for an animal he could try to bond with before a huge dog suddenly ran over and bowled him over, panting in excitement. He hit the ground and groaned, feeling the dog's warmth.

"Are you okay?!" Mondo asked in surprise, but the other patients snickered a bit at the sight.

"He seems to really like you!" Chihiro smiled.

The dog kept panting and Hajime felt a small smile form on his own face, gently petting the dog. It had shorter fur and wasn't as fluffy, likely owing to its size, but Hajime didn't mind. He kept petting it for a time before he groaned, patting the dog to make it move.

"Okay, get off me," He patted again and the dog finally seemed to get the hint, walking off and letting Hajime finally sit up.

"They may be beasts, but they are also very helpful in calming the minds of lesser men," Tanaka explained.

"Look at these little guys!" Akane gasped, and Hajime wandered over to see her looking at some hamsters kept in a cage, one of them running on its wheel. "Can we eat them?! I'm kidding!"

He didn't think they looked appetizing in the slightest, but they were awfully cute, even he had to admit.

"My prized pupils, the Four Dark Devas of Destruction! Careful their auras don't overwhelm you!" Tanaka walked over, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "They are very good at detecting distraught and dispairful mortals,"

"They look squishy," Hiyoko snickered, poking her finger through the bars in the cage before sobering a bit. "Big Sister Mahiru would've loved these....pet therapy was always her favourite because she liked holding animals,"

Hajime looked at her, sensing her softer nature.

"Hmph....whatever. Animals suck and they stink like shit anyway!" She pulled her finger out of the cage and basically skipped away, going back over to the snake she was holding earlier.

"What exactly is the point of this?" He asked, seeing nobody around who would be able to answer his question in a non-weird way.

"They may be beasts, but they are incredibly entuned to the auras of mortals. If mortals are having meltdowns or depressive episodes, these beasts release their own dark energy to comfort them!" Tanaka explained.

"Right...." Hajime nodded as if he understand perfectly what the man was saying. Well, he supposed he did in a way. Looking around, Mondo and Chihiro were happily conversing with each other as they continued to pet the fluffy dog, Mondo smiling genuinely and Chihiro as perky as Hajime remembered him being. It was clearly helping them.

"You do not like animals?" Taeko asked in surprise, walking over, still stroking the cat, who was contently purring in her arms.

"I do, just not super big on holding them,"

"They seem far more fond of you," She smirked, referring to the dog incident earlier. He turned his attention back to the hamsters in the cage, watching a different one take its turn on the wheel.

"And have your spirits calmed from being in the absorbing dark aura of these beasts?" Tanaka asked, his voice booming throughout the room.

"That's why I like it. It's when you can really unwind and just sit on the floor and play with a dog," Nagito commented.

"I agree. It is quite relaxing," Taeko nodded in agreement.

"Pets have very wonderous comforting qualities," Sakura said.

"I am very pleased you mortals got pleasure out of interaction with my beasts. They may strike fear into the hearts of mortals, but for mortals like you, who are closer to their mindsets and posses similar auras, they are content to spend time," Tanaka said.

"I still can't understand anything he says," Hajime said, making Taeko snicker.

"None of us really can. We just tolerate it for the animals,"

He left early, not having an animal he needed to give back, finding Tsumiki sitting in her usual spot. He sat down at random and waited for everyone else to arrive.

"Hi everyone!" She clasped her hands together. "T-Today I thought we could do something a bit different...." She reached into her bag and pulled out a blue plastic wand. "This is my Feeling Stick! W-When you hold it, you can say whatever you want and not get judged! W-Who wants it first?" She looked around but nobody held out their hands for it. "N-Nobody...?"

"Nobody wants to entertain your childish ways of making us talk," Taeko covered her mouth with her hand daintily. "So kindly stop it,"

"E-Even though I'm giving you a free pass to talk about whatever you want?"

"You'll just report whatever we say to the staff anyway," Hiyoko huffed. "So why should I even bother?"

"Let me have it!" Junko held out her hand for it and Tsumiki brightened, handing her the stick. Junko looked at it carefully for a few seconds before she broke it in half over her knee, holding the two pieces up.

"H-How could you?!" Tsumiki sobbed, turning pale and looking ready to faint. Some of the patients laughed while others looked horrified. "I-I'm reporting you!"

"Do it!" Junko laughed and tossed the pieces at Tsumiki's feet. "At least now we can't do that bogus talking time anymore!"

"I-I was afraid of something like that happening....s-so...I brought a spare," She pulled out a smaller but otherwise identical stick from her bag, making Junko's face fall slightly.

"What?!"

"W-Who wants to go now?"

Hajime just slumped down in his seat and covered his face.

***

He had to go to more therapy before dinner and since he didn't mind showing up a bit late to that, asked Kirigiri how he was doing and if Visitors' Day was truly tomorrow like the others said.

"Yes." She answered bluntly. "I assume they didn't tell you when you signed up,"

"No, not at all,"

"Is that an issue?"

"I have less therapy sessions with you now," He quickly changed the subject, and though she raised an eyebrow at the subject change, she still nodded.

"Yes. The closer you are to discharge, the fewer therapy sessions you have. Just a general rule because it is assumed by then you are recovering and need less help,"

"I see," He had little to add because it made perfect sense to him.

"Now go to dinner," She ushered him out gently and he went into the cafeteria, getting a random meal of a sushi plate and taking a seat where-ever, feeling he had talked to basically anyone he could manage to talk to. He found himself sitting across from Makoto and Chihiro, the latter of whom was slowly eating his food but had a clear look on his face. Hajime didn't engage in conversation with them, just picked at his sushi, choosing more vegetable-centered ones instead of ones that had primarily fish ingredients, listening to the two boys talk. Or mainly just Makoto talk, since he was more energetic that night and talked happily about seeing his family again to Chihiro. His heart suddenly panged and he scooted a bit further away, finishing up his meal in silence. He stared at the almost-empty plate before putting everything away and sitting on a couch for television time, bracing himself for the usual arguments.

"What would you like today?" Yukizome asked politely, smiling.

"Why do you keep asking us? You're just going to pick some stupid childish shlock like you always do!" Hiyoko whined. "Maybe I wanna watch a historical drama!"

"I agree. I see nothing wrong with a good number of them and think they would be very appropriate for our situation," Taeko nodded.

"Well, any suggestions? We could watch a Disney movie-" Yukizome suggested before getting cut off by Junko gagging.

"Barf! Nobody wants to watch that! Besides, I'd totes not consider those to be 'historical dramas'," She made air-quotes before leaning back in her seat.

"They are the best I can offer! Unless anyone else has any other suggestions?"

"Don't look at me, I'm just gonna suggest sports again," Akane sighed.

"Then Disney movie it is!" Yukizome clasped her hands together and randomly put one on, standing by the door. Much to Hajime's surprise, Taeko started getting super into it, perfectly lip-synching to the songs and grading the dresses on style and accuracy to Sakura, who nodded in agreement. Out of all the girls there, Taeko was the last person he expected to be into Disney movies. She was just as much an enigma as Nagito was.

He watched the movie passively until Sonia came in and announced it was time for phones, using the same schedule he had on his second and fourth days. He took a seat at a phone, just staring at it. Byakuya and Taeko continued their usual act of staring at the phones suspiciously while the others talked eagerly, evenmoreso considering Visitors' Day was coming, but Hajime just sat.

Eventually, he slowly reached for the receiver and dialed, listening to the tone until someone picked it up.

"Hello?" This time it was his father who answered. "Who is this?"

"Hey Dad," He smiled nervously.

"Why are you calling at this hour? Isn't it a bit too late? I literally just got home from work,"

"This is the only time they let us use the phones," He just as quickly frowned. "But if you want a better time....uh, Visitors' Day is tomorrow and I think it's in the afternoon, so you can-"

"Out of the question. Maybe your mom will drop by," His father interrupted sharply. "But really, you're only there for one more day, they might even discharge you early tomorrow morning, so what's the point? You'll be back home before you even realize,"

"Yeah, but-"

"I have to go," Just as quickly as his mother had prior, his father also hung up super quickly, leaving the loud dial-tone ringing in Hajime's ears. He sat there for a few seconds in disbelief before he put the phone up. He trudged over to Nevermind and asked to be escorted to his room, and once he was, he just collapsed into bed, not changing, not scoping out the hallway scene, not showering, not doing anything. He couldn't figure out where Mondo was, and when Kirigiri did her rounds he just shook his head to indicate he didn't need nor want medicine.

Visitors' Day....why did it depress him, genuinely make him feel sad, that his parents wouldn't come? Was there any way to get discharged early on account of good behavior, or because you had genuinely improved, or something?

He groaned and planted his face into his pillow, burying himself in there for the rest of the night.

Maybe he would just die in his sleep or something.

Chapter Text

He awoke to eager knocks on the door, groaning slightly. Mondo remained asleep and he could tell the energy of the place in general had changed. He rubbed at his eyes and winced, throwing on something random and opening the door to Makoto, who was dressed in green jeans, a green polo shirt, and the usual four-leaf-clover socks.

"You don't want to get a bit dressy for today?" He asked in surprise as they walked to the cafeteria together.

"It's only for like an hour, they can see me in my pajamas," Hajime shrugged and got a small stack of pancakes, sitting alone. He noticed Nagito also sitting at his own table, wearing a black jacket and pants, and kept away from him because of their boundaries. He looked at the main table and found the others sitting there also dressed as nicely as they could've managed with the comfortable clothing they brought. He ate a few pancakes and functioned on autopilot, not making any new goals and barely listening to the others discuss theirs, though most seemed too excited to properly focus on anything.

Instead of having their usual game hour, Yukizome walked in and announced as a special treat, everyone would be allowed in the kitchen to bake something special for their visitors, under very strict supervision obviously.

"That sounds delightful," Taeko smiled, and even Hajime felt himself starting to perk up a little. Making a small cake wasn't something bad, and maybe he was overthinking things. Maybe his parents would come after all.

Or maybe not...

No. He had to remain positive.

Yukizome led everyone into the kitchen where Kirigiri, Tsumiki, and Ishimaru were also standing, keeping to themselves but Hajime knew all of them would be ready in a moment to deal with any issues that arose. She handed everyone pristine white aprons and started getting out ingredients.

"Can we just make anything or are there rules?" Akane asked.

"Make whatever you think your visitor would like! My only rule is nothing super huge, like no eight-tiered cakes," Yukizome smiled nicely. "I would be glad to help anyone who needs some extra encouragement!"

"Hell yeah! I'm going to make some cookies in funky shapes!" She cheered, taking one of the big sheets and randomly throwing ingredients into a bowl at random.

"Watch what you're doing, you stupid cow! Otherwise you'll give your family food poisoning!" Hiyoko mocked.

"They can eat anything!"

"That's not a shock,"

"Wanna help me?" Junko asked, pulling Hajime over to her own counter before he could respond, showing off a bowl. "I totes can't decide on what to make for Big Sis! Cookies or a cake?"

"Uh, what do you think she'd like the most?" He asked.

"Nothing! She hates sweets with a passion! Hence why I wanted to make her one!"

He just stared at her.

"It's a game we like to play! Don't look at me like that!"

"What about a pie? They're not overly sweet and it will set you apart from the others," He finally suggested, making her gasp.

"That's brilliant! I could even tell her it was, like, meat or something! The look on her face when she bites into it!" She laughed. "What filling?"

"Cherry,"

"It looks like blood!" She put away several of her ingredients and took out some other ones, including pie filling. She started making the crust, pouring the filling in and laughing at the squishy sound the cherries made. She plucked one out and placed it on her tongue, then teasingly ran her sticky finger down Hajime's cheek, making him step back. "Now you totes got blood on you!"

He rubbed it off his face, walking away from Junko and instead checking on Akane again, who was stirring her mixture really quickly. He took a peek and nearly balked; it was a brownish-grey lump he decided looked nothing like dough, but what did he know? Hiyoko was across from her, dropping some water carefully into her bowl using an eyedropper.

Maybe he should make something too, just in case his parents did decide to show up. Better safe than sorry, right? What could he make though?

Hajime walked over to the one empty counter and got out a few basic ingredients, finally waving Yukizome over.

"What is it?"

"Uh, I don't know what to make," He admitted.

"What do you think your visitors would like?" She clasped her hands together.

"Something simple,"

"How about chocolate brownies then?"

"Sounds good,"

She nodded and carefully got out some more ingredients such as coco powder and chocolate chips, helping Hajime mix up the ingredients and stir them all up.

"I have one question....if there's leftovers, can we have them?!" Akane spoke up suddenly, making some of the others laugh. "Nothing is even done and yet it looks good!"

"If anyone wants to share their leftovers, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that!" Ishimaru answered.

"My mom's coming, but baking is girly," Mondo huffed. "You won't catch me making a cake for her!"

"How about muffins? Those aren't girly in the slightest," Nagito suggested. "Look, I'm making blueberry,"

"Nah, she wants something girly,"

"Perhaps if you help me with my own, I will let you share and give some to your mother," Sakura said, motioning to her own bowl. "I am making some cupcakes,"

Mondo walked over, nodding. "Muffins, cupcakes, ain't that shit the same?"

"Actually, they are made using different types of batter. Cupcakes have a sweeter mix and do not have extra ingredients such as blueberries mixed in," Taeko chimed in.

"W-Who asked you?!" Touko asked, trembling. She kept to a different corner of the kitchen, not making anything.

"Oowada-kun did," She tittered. "I do hope you won't keep that tone for the remainder of the day, your poor family does not want to see you in such a state,"

"As i-if they're going to visit me...they never have and never will,"

A pang shot Hajime's heart and he winced but still tried to keep his focus on his work, pouring the batter mix into a prepared pan. He stared at the brown goop as it went into the oven courtesy of Yukizome.

"So now we have to sit around and wait for our desserts to be done?! That's boring!" Hiyoko whined.

"W-Well, maybe we could go outside in shifts to p-pass the time?" Tsumiki offered. "T-Then when your dessert is done, you c-can come back in and frost it or w-whatever else,"

"I like that idea!" Makoto smiled. "That way we get our outside time too!"

"But it's a lot shorter than normal!" Akane protested.

"Indeed, but today we get to see our loved ones, and isn't that reward enough?" Sakura reminded her, making Akane nod.

"You're right, but still. I like exercising!"

"W-Who needs the first shift?" Tsumiki looked over the various stages of everyone's baking. "I-I see....ummmm...Hinata, Owari, Enoshima, Saionji, and Togami!"

"Yes, we're together again!" Junko cheered, following the group outside. Byakuya took his usual seat on a bench right outside while the others ran ahead. "But what are we supposed to be doing?"

"Who says we have to do anything in particular today? Can't we just sit and enjoy the fresh air?" Hajime asked.

"No way! I'm not having grass stains on my clothes,"

Hajime looked and saw she was wearing a lacy white dress that was normally short but made to look long with a longer pleated skirt underneath, black tights, and soft white flats with her hair in a bun with a lacy bow. He felt his face suddenly heat up; he never expected her to look that good. Who the heck was she even expecting, her boyfriend?

"I wanna run laps again! Wanna join me, Hinata-kun?" Akane pulled Hajime close to her. "I only got like half an hour to do so so I want to make the most of it!"

"You know I'm not the best at running, and I can't keep up with you,"

"Awwww, don't be like that!" She laughed and jokingly slapped his back, but ran off for the track anyway.

"Maybe we can jump rope," He finally suggested. "That won't make your clothes dirty,"

"I don't wanna jump rope with a stupid boy," Hiyoko pouted.

"I'll totes trip on my skirt!" Junko also declined.

"Fine then!" He threw up his hands and looked around, finally settling on just walking around the track. It wasn't for a full hour anyway so he could handle it. Akane would run past him sometimes, grinning, but he didn't attempt to challenge her to anything. Junko walked over to one of the swings and started swinging herself super high, and Hiyoko started hula-hooping by herself, almost never dropping it and losing her balance. He continued to walk along the track until Tsumiki wandered over, telling everyone their desserts were finished.

"Great! Now I can frost these bad boys!" Akane cheered as they walked back into the kitchen. She got out every colour available as well as every kind of sprinkle she could find. Hajime took a peek and saw none of the shapes matched with each other and were clearly cut from every single cookie cutter the kitchen had. She took the frosting bags from Yukizome and squeezed super hard, making the frosting pop everywhere and get on both her and Hajime. "Hey, this kinda looks like cum, you know? Wanna give me the real thing?"

"Miss Owari!" Ishimaru scolded.

"As if he'd want to spray you, you stupid oaf!" Hiyoko gasped. "And that's gross anyway! Don't ruin desserts like that!"

Hajime blinked and licked some of it off, noticing it was just typical vanilla frosting. He rubbed some of it off to the best of his ability, looking down at his clothes and seeing they were somehow spared.

"Come on, it's just a joke!" Akane laughed, trying to go slower with her bag. "I wouldn't mind if he wanted to give me some of his frosting!"

"Shut up and stop being gross!" Hiyoko said.

"I agree, stop with this immature conversation. I have little clue what prompted it, but it is unseemly," Byakuya chimed in.

"Hey, you joined in a conversation for once!" Junko laughed. "Miracles do happen!"

"H-Here," Tsumiki offered Hajime a damp washcloth and he took it with a nod, carefully but quickly wiping the frosting off his face. "How are your brownies coming?"

"Good?" He was just following what Yukizome told him to do and had just finished frosting them with chocolate icing and sprinkled a few chocolate chips here and there for extra taste and texture. "I worry I might've made too much,"

"I-I'm sure the others would love to help you with any leftovers!" She giggled a bit and smiled.

He carefully peeled each brownie out of the pan and stacked them up nearly on a blue plastic plate he found, making a small tower out of them. He blinked and pushed the plate away, and Yukizome gave him a small card which he wrote his name on and placed in front of the plate.

"Just so it's easier to keep track of who has what when it's time to get them!" Yukizome explained. "Since you're done, you can head to lunch!"

"We still get lunch?" He asked in surprise, making her laugh.

"Of course! Visiting hours will commence after everyone has eaten,"

He hung around for a bit longer, watching the other four put the finishing touches on their own desserts before heading out. Hiyoko had a nice assortment of wagashi such as sakura and kusa mochi, konpeito, botamochi, ichigo daifuku, and yokan. It was very cute and almost unlike Hiyoko. Akane's were all the mismatched cookies, which had been coated in random sprinkle assortments. Junko's was the cherry pie, steaming nicely and smelling strongly of cherries. How she'd even attempt to pass that off as meat, he'd never know. Much to his surprise, Byakuya did make something, fanciful strawberry tarts with a small dab of icing and sugar on top. He wondered who Byakuya was expecting. He also realized he was weirdly excited to see what everyone else was going to make.

Not wanting to idle any longer, he headed into the cafeteria and got a bowl of macaroni and cheese, sitting with the three girls because Byakuya was off sitting by himself, again. Akane had her usual two bowls alongside a large salad, Junko had ramen noodles, and Hiyoko had barbecued chicken. What a strange array of food.

"So, who's totally coming to see you?" Junko asked as he began eating.

"Uh, my parents, probably. Maybe," He answered, caught off-guard. He could only hope so, anyway.

"Lame!" She laughed.

"Rich of you to laugh when you're expecting your family too!" Hiyoko said.

"Yeah, but not my parents!"

Hajime just continued to eat, listening to their conversation. He figured Hiyoko's mom and dad might come, Junko's was obviously her sister, and Akane mentioned loving kids so maybe she had some younger siblings who were going to come. He figured he'd find out soon enough.

He ate the entire bowl of macaroni and cheese and headed back into his room, Kirigiri escorting him, and looked over his outfit.

"Do I have time to change before they arrive?"

"Yes. Not everyone arrives right on the dot,"

His parents would to make the whole visit as short as possible, but still. He opened his bag and searched through it, pulling out all kinds of clothes to find something even remotely presentable but most of it were tracksuits and sweatshirts. He finally settled on a plain blue shirt and black trackpants, a sweatshirt over it all. That looked good, right? At the very least it looked like he put more effort into his appearance than just wearing pajamas. He quickly slipped it all on in the bathroom and put the others clothes away, nodding to Kirigiri. She escorted him back into a large meeting room filled with tables and chairs, not unlike the lounge they used for playing games in. He took a seat at random and then just waited.

Taeko walked in shortly afterwards, wearing a full-skirted black dress with lots of white lace and ruffles on it, a matching hairpiece on her head with flats in black, looking just as elegant as Junko. She had a small cake in the same style and colours as her dress, placing it in the center of her table and sitting calmly, waiting. Junko and Hiyoko walked in as well.

Kirigiri stood next to the door and a few other people walked in, then a huge majority of the staff came in as well, standing in random spots around the room. There were the ones he expected, but Sakakura and Munakata were there as well, eyeing everyone who was there. He supposed it made sense, but their eyes felt heavy and intrusive on him.

Once everyone was in, Nevermind walked in and smiled. "Welcome to Visitors' Day! I will start sending your loved ones in in just a moment, I just wanted to make sure everyone was here! I love all your desserts! Remember your manners and the rules, and also remember you can end your visit at any time, don't feel pressured!"

After a few seconds of anticipation, the door opened up and a bunch of unfamiliar people streamed in, running over to different tables and hugging or holding or crying with whoever was sitting there. Hajime tried to subtly crane his neck to listen to who was visiting who.

"Big Brother! How have you been doing?" A teenage girl asked Makoto eagerly, sitting with people who must've been his parents.

"Good! I'm so happy to see you again!" He smiled. "Look, sugar cookies! They let us bake stuff for our visitors today,"

"Awww, thinking of us?" The girl smiled back and took a bite out of one. "Uh, do you still....you know, shut doors and stuff? I promise I'm still alive, see!"

"Sometimes I do....it's really hard especially when I can't see you," He sighed. "I'm really trying to though,"

"You're making progress and that's all that matters," Makoto's dad put his hands on his son's. "You could be here for a year and we wouldn't mind so long as you were making progress and getting the help you needed,"

Hajime's throat felt tight and he quickly coughed a few times to get rid of the sensation. It figured Makoto would have a completely normal, nice, average family, he just seemed like the kind of person who would.

He looked around some more and found Junko sitting across from an older-looking girl who had very similar facial features to her aside from black hair and a very plain wardrobe. The girl took a hesitant bite of the pie before her eyes widened and she stared at Junko, who laughed.

"Good, isn't it?! I made it all myself!"

"It's cherry." The girl sighed and pushed it away from her. "How do you feel? Still have manic moodswings?"

"Well duh! I'm making friends here though!" She stabbed her own fork into her pie slice.

"Guys! I'm so glad to see you here!" Akane shouted, trying to hug as many little kids she could, a woman dressed in a teacher's outfit eyeing them. "You bein' good at home?"

"We sure are!" One of the boys nodded in happiness.

"Look what I made!" Akane showed off her tray of cookies, making the children all cheer in excitement. "Take as much as you want!"

"They've all been asking about you. I promised I'd see you as soon as I could," The woman added.

"They'll love ya forever for it!"

He looked around on his other side and found Chihiro quickly putting the finishing touches on the white frosted flowers on his cake before he got hugged tightly by two adults.

"Sweetheart! How have you been?" His mom asked him before they took a seat next to him.

"Good! I-I...had an episode yesterday so you might not be allowed to stay for long today...I'm sorry..." Chihiro hanged his head sadly.

"That's alright. Today is about you and if you feel uncomfortable for any reason, just let us know!" His dad tried to smile. "Is that cake for us? It looks nice,"

"Y-Yeah! We got to bake for our visitors and I made a vanilla c-cake!" Chihiro spun it around slightly. "I put flowers on it,"

"It looks delicious," His mom praised.

On his other side, Taeko's parents, who looked completely normal, were eating her cake and praising her while she looked at her nails, bored.

"We can't wait for you to come home with us! It's been lonely without you," Her mom pouted. "Everyone asks about you,"

"It was your idea to lock me up in a facility in the first place. If you had just let me live my life, I would still be there," Taeko sighed.

"Still denying your disorder....it's okay. Healing isn't easy," Her dad tried to gently touch her shoulder but she shrugged him off.

They were normal, nice folk, just as Hajime figured despite Taeko endlessly complaining about them.

Those were the more normal people of the hospital, but Hajime was more curious about people who didn't speak very often about their families.

Sakura was sharing a quiet moment holding the hands of a man just as big and buff as she was, which made him do a double-take. Hiyoko was having a tea ceremony with a man with fluffy blond hair who was smiling nicely at her, and much to Hajime's surprise, she looked pleasant and nice too, talking about Mahiru and her sessions. Mondo was eagerly explaining stuff to his mom, a delicate-looking woman with the same eyes as her son. She ate one of Sakura's cupcakes calmly as Mondo spoke fervently, pounding his hand into his fist. Byakuya was sitting in a corner, not speaking, with an older gentleman and a girl who had Byakuya's hair colour. She was the one who was eating one of the tarts, praising him on his baking ability. As he expected, Touko was nowhere to be seen, but she kept complaining about how nobody cared about her.

He looked at his own plate of brownies, still stacked up neatly, and gently touched one, finding it lukewarm. He leaned back in his seat, trying to look nonchalant, figuring his parents might've gotten lost on the way or something. He could wait.

And so wait he did.

Byakuya's and Taeko's visitors left first, Taeko's parents taking the remainder of the cake with them. They smiled at their daughter, but she just rolled her eyes at them. Akane's siblings and teacher left next, the kids arguing over who got which cookie when they got home. Hiyoko's dad then left, giving his daughter a gentle hug, then Sakura's left, nodding at her on the way. Junko flicked her older sister on the forehead with a laugh before her sister trudged out. Makoto and Chihiro got big hugs by all their family members, and despite Mondo looking embarrassed, he still hugged his mom before she left.

He glanced at the clock and slammed his head down on the table, feeling utterly defeated. His brownies no longer radiated heat. Nobody was coming to see him.

"No visitors either, huh?"

He looked up to see Nagito standing there, his plate of blueberry muffins completely untouched.

"Go away," Hajime snapped, but Nagito sat down across from him.

"Those brownies look really good,"

"Why the hell did nobody visit you? You're always talking super happily on the phone to someone whenever I see you,"

"Spying on me? I'm touched you think I have people who care about me, I really am," Nagito smiled. "It's all an act. Nobody but the staff listen in on your calls anyway, and they already know I'm crazy, so!"

"You're deranged," Hajime sighed tiredly, looking away.

"But you are too, otherwise you wouldn't be here," He took one of Hajime's brownies and took a bite. "These are good, you have a real skill with baking. Have one of mine," He pushed the plate over and Hajime eyed it before slowly taking one and having a bite, the real blueberries melting in his mouth. He widened his eyes before he caught himself. "Good, are they not?"

Hajime just glared at him, not wanting to give him a proper answer.

"I wasn't expecting us to have this one thing in common! How does it feel to have nobody you care about like me?"

He remained silent.

"But thing is, you still have some friends here. Maybe once they get discharged they'll come visit you," Nagito eyed the brownies. "I shouldn't take more than one...they're good but rich. I'll stick to my own muffins, thank you very much,"

"Time for you two to leave," Kirigiri gently pushed them out of their chairs, looking at the full plates. "I can put these in the fridge, unless you'd like to keep yours, Mister Hinata?"

"Whatever," He shrugged and trudged back to his room, having no clue what was even on the schedule. Mondo was in there, hanging up yet another poster. "I saw your mom,"

"You did?! Well, what'd you think? She's cool, right?" Mondo jumped off his bed.

"She looked....not like I expected."

"How'd you think a chick would look?! Of course they're always super delicate and soft just like her!"

Hajime knew that to not be the case, even here that wasn't the case, but he wasn't about to argue.

"Wish I coulda introduced ya...nobody came and that sucked,"

"Yeah, it did,"

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that,"

"It doesn't matter, I'm getting discharged today. Uh, do you know anything about that?" He looked around his room for anything he could start shoving into his bag.

"Shit, why you askin' me? I ain't been discharged. I don't know about my old roommates either. They tended to leave when I was doin' something else," Mondo shrugged.

"Of course," Hajime checked the time and found it to be nearly two in the afternoon. The others would be getting ready to do their usual homework time, most likely. Did he still have to attend sessions like that until it was time for him to leave, or just do his own thing? He remembered Mahiru did everything expected of her until she left so maybe it'd be the same for him too.

He went into the homework room with his fantasy book and just randomly took a seat to read, not paying attention to the others around him. There was cheeriness to the room that wasn't normally there and Ishimaru had to keep scolding the others for giggling, talking too loudly, or otherwise not focusing on their work. He peeked out from the top of his book and found himself sitting at a table all alone; most of the others chose to sit at the same desk with the usual loners by themselves at their own seats. He watched Ishimaru pace around as usual, going over to the music player and seemingly debate what he wanted to play that day before walking off.

Hajime just went back to his reading, making another big chunk in the boring novel before it was time for another group therapy. Tsumiki was there, smiling and jumping out of her seat once everyone else had arrived.

"T-Today was a big day! Let's talk about who you saw and how you felt interacting with your loved o-ones!" She clasped her hands together. "W-Who'd like to start?"

"It was nice seeing Komaru again. She really loved my sugar cookies and wished me luck in my recovery! I just wish I'd be there for her birthday..." Makoto pouted a bit. "This is going to be my first year away from home for a lot of that stuff,"

"B-But you're still recovering. And think of it like this! This time next year, you might be able to celebrate with your family again!"

"Yeah, that's a good way of thinking about it!"

"My mother is pregnant," Taeko sighed.

"Congratulations! Y-You must be so happy to get a new sibling!" Mikan smiled.

"No. It just means my parents are reckless and probably want a better child to replace me,"

"I know that feeling..." Touko smiled her weird off smile again.

"My dad and I had a nice little tea party....it was fun.....I got to see him again and tell him how my therapies are going. He's proud of me and can't wait to see me home in a few weeks," Hiyoko blushed softly, looking down at the ground.

"It was totes fun seeing Big Sis again! I gave her a cherry pie and told her it was meat! The look on her face!" Junko laughed.

"U-Uh-huh...." Mikan nodded nervously, unsure of what to say.

"Heck yeah I had fun! Seein' all those little ones again?! I couldn't be happier!" Akane pounded her hands together. "Can't wait until I'm outta here for good so I can actually see them!"

"Likewise. My partner visited and it was a moment of genuine serenity with him," Sakura nodded. "I am lucky to have such a faithful and strong person by my side,"

"My mom came and it was whatever," Mondo shrugged. "Of course I enjoyed it, she's my mom, ya know?! We didn't talk 'bout much though,"

"I loved seeing Mama and Papa again!" Chihiro beamed. "We just talked about normal stuff....I got to show them my latest coding project though so that was fun!"

"My sister came. She appreciated my strawberry tarts and wonder how I became so good at baking," Byakuya spoke up. "It was merely a familial obligation though, to not inquire about the well-being of the heir would reflect poorly,"

"I mean, they still didn't have to come," Hajime said. "They chose to come, and you didn't have to receive them either,"

Byakuya glared at him sharply, but Mikan smiled.

"Mister Hinata is r-right! Choosing to see your visitor and spend time with them is a very important step forward in your recovery, one that shouldn't be overlooked!" She took her seat. "The same can be said for a-all of you. It means you're in a good mental state to receive people and talk to them like you used to!" She gasped. "T-Time for dinner! S-See you tomorrow!"

Hajime stood and followed everyone to the cafeteria as usual before Kirigiri stopped him in the hallway, motioning him over. Nevermind was with her, who handed him his packed duffel bag.

"It's time to go already?" He asked in surprise. "I thought I'd stay an extra day or-"

"Why? You have made very good progress since you first arrived. Do you think you need to stay an extra day?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then you don't need to," Kirigiri said firmly. "Would you like to change into the outfit you arrived in? You have time,"

"Want your brownies?" Nevermind asked, and Hajime nodded at her. She smiled and left, coming back a minute later with the plate neatly wrapped up. "Please wait in the lobby for your parents to arrive, it may take a bit but it is for safety and security reasons!"

He nodded, following her into the lobby he saw only once at the start of the crazy week. He sat down and thumbed through the belongings in his bag, seeing everything still there. Kirigiri left to do her own things, but Nevermind took her place at the front desk again, managing everything.

"Uh, do I really have to leave right now? Without anyone knowing?" He asked, swallowing. He thought of Mahiru again and how she basically up and left without any warning or notice.

"We try to release you close to your admission date!" She smiled and continued working. He slumped back in his chair. He didn't have his phone or anything of the sort, so he amused himself by watching the clock in the room slowly tick and inch forward, ticking quietly at a rhythm. Nevermind started typing at several points too, her professional but quick clacking of the keys adding to the maddening pattern. He closed his eyes and tried to tune out the noise, smelling the dinner just a few rooms away being cooked. What would it be that day, he wondered. He hated to admit it, but the few times he was able to stomach it, the food did taste really good. Akane had a point and he wondered if the others would miss any of the food. Did Mahiru miss the food? Was she glad she was gone? Did she ever think of Hiyoko at least? Did she think of him? Was he really destined to just be another patient who came and went, not remembered by anyone?

After maddening minutes of listening to typing and ticking, someone roughly shook Hajime, making him open his eyes and sit up in a rush, staring at his parents.

"Oh-!"

"We don't have a lot of time, so let's go," His father said sternly, his mother finishing up the paperwork. Hajime just nodded and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, grabbing the plate of brownies and following his father out. Nevermind caught his eye and waved politely.

"Goodbye! Hope your time at Hope's Peak Behavioral Center was beneficial to you!"

"Y-Yeah..." He waved back and continued to follow his dad outside, past the fountain still merrily spraying water, past the old-fashioned iron gate and fence.

"You make those?" His mother asked, catching up to him, pointing to his brownies.

"Yes, earlier today we could bake things for our visitors-"

"That's nice," His parents walked on ahead, lamenting how busy the trains will be that time of night and Hajime slowly followed, staring down at his plate. What a waste. Maybe he'd just throw them all away when he got home, he should've just left them at the hospital-

"Oh," A flat female voice reached his ears as he collided with something soft, gasping and stepping back. In front of him was a girl dressed in all pastel pink, her focus entirely trained on the pink handheld console in her hands.

"I'm sorry I ran into you," His brownies were a bit smushed.

"Huh?" She finally looked up, revealing hair and eyes the same shade as her clothing. "Oh, it's okay. I probably ran into you at first. It happens sometimes when I'm deep in a game," She lowered her console slightly. "Who are those brownies for?"

"They're for....nobody, really. I just had one," He shrugged.

"Mind if I have one? They look good. Sorry, I haven't eaten much today...."

"Uh, sure," He pulled the wrapping off and watched as she picked one of the ones on top, taking a small bite and smiling a small smile.

"It's good...chocolate."

"I baked them myself," He awkwardly wrapped the brownies back up and bowed. "Hinata Hajime,"

The girl was silent for a few seconds before also bowing. "Nanami Chiaki,"

"Nice to meet you....."

"Hajime-chan! We have to go!" His mother called him, and Hajime nodded.

"Uh, coming! I hope I....see you around?"

"Yeah. Maybe we could play multiplayer stuff together. Well, bye," She walked off, firmly engrossed in her game again, and Hajime felt his face burning. Unsure of what he thought about that, he just ran off and rejoined his parents, thinking about Chiaki all the way home.

***

"Someone sent you all a package!" Nevermind gasped several nights later, carrying a large box into the lounge during television hour. "I promise I will not take up too much of your time!"

"A present? Who's it from?" Chihiro asked nervously. "For all of us?"

"Don't worry, we checked it thoroughly! It is not dangerous!" She peeled it open and revealed several colourful cards, all decorated in things the recipient liked.

"Cards? Who the fuck sent us cards?!" Junko demanded, pulling hers out.

"There are even a couple for the activity therapy staff," Sakura noticed in surprise.

"This is from...Hinata-kun! What?! But how?!" Hiyoko gasped. "Why does he care about us nutcases?!"

"He is obsessed, clearly," Byakuya huffed.

"Perhaps this place had more of an impact on him than he first realized," Kirigiri suggested with a small smile. "It's possible he wanted to return the favour and not be forgotten by you,"

"As if we'd ever forget a standup guy like him!" Akane laughed.

***

"And...stand there! You two look perfect!" Mahiru smiled a bit as she snapped a picture of Hajime and Chiaki together on the boardwalk. As usual, the moment she was allowed, Chiaki returned her attention to her handheld game, not paying attention to Mahiru fussing over her shots.

"Come on, they look great," Hajime tried to reassure her, seeing her hands starting to tremble a bit. She took a deep breath and nodded.

"Right...sorry. It's a habit." She sighed. "Do you guys want to see the beach now?"

"Only if you're ready,"

"I am,"

"Then let's go," Hajime gently took Chiaki's hand, making her look up from her system and give him a smile. The two walked ahead of Mahiru, their feet touching the soft warm sand first. Mahiru fiddled with her camera slightly, watching Chiaki lay down a towel and then plop herself down under the umbrella. Hajime laughed and placed Mahiru's camera with her. "She made her choice. Race you?"

Mahiru gave a small competitive smirk at that, stretching a bit. "Do you have to ask?"

Hajime took off running and Mahiru was close behind, the two laughing as they raced towards the water together.