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Hajime could see his breath in the cold.
They'd been standing in line waiting for the tech store to open for ages now. Today was Black Friday, and they were planning to take full advantage of it, school be damned. Well, Nagito and Chiaki were anyway. He was just tagging along... against his will.
"Hey, Komaeda, how much longer until they open again?" His usual annoyed tone came off as whiny in the cold.
"Haha, someone's impatient." Nagito's voice was annoyingly cheerful this early in the morning. "Luckily, it seems there's only about 15 minutes left!" Hajime wasn't particularly happy about having to wait even one more minute outside, but Chiaki became even more excited.
"I can't wait! I'm gonna buy so much-"
"You mean Komaeda's gonna buy so much for you." Hajime interrupted.
"Komaeda-kun's gonna buy so much for me-"
At that, Nagito laughed, and Hajime couldn't help but snicker a little. It was certainly true though: their main goal today was to buy all the items on Chiaki's exhaustive Christmas-but-actually-just-Black-Friday wishlist, which mostly consisted of gaming consoles and video games. She certainly didn't need any of it however, especially not a new OLED Switch when her other one works perfectly fine...
Even after he'd finished laughing, Hajime noticed Nagito's shoulders were still shaking. Actually. the entirety of his body was.
He'd been worried about this. Both Chiaki and Nagito had some problems when it came to extreme temperatures. They were both pretty pale, so they burned easily, but Nagito's issues continued into the winter. He seemed to be so frail and skinny that the cold got to him pretty quickly.
"Dude, are you okay?"
"Hmm? Depends, you'll have to be more specific."
"You're shivering. A lot."
"Ohhh, don't worry about me! I'd gladly freeze to death for an Ultimate! Besides, the store's opening really soon-"
"Please don't die. I want you to be alive." Chiaki's soft voice was tinged with concern.
"Ah, right, I wouldn't be able to buy you games if I'm dead, huh?" Nagito stared at his gloved hand as he usually does. "Just as expected of trash like me, not updating my will before I came here."
"You aren't trash. Stop saying that." Chiaki's cheeks puffed up. "You're more important than video games."
"Besides," Hajime jumped in again, "your mistake was not wearing warmer clothes. Or maybe it was playing hooky for the chance to buy shit for 50% off."
"Oh, I'm already wearing four layers-"
"Caught you."
That was a different voice.
All three of them turned towards the source of the sound. A figure was standing by one of the odd, meter-tall pillar thingies that were outside the store (Hajime still wasn't sure what those were).
Their long flowy hair was tied up in a ponytail, and the small section illuminated by the light outside the store revealed that it was orange. As they started walking towards them, Hajime had a sneaking suspicion he knew who it was.
Luckily, Nagito was there to cheerfully confirm it.
"Oh, good morning Yukizome-sensei- ah... oops."
Chiaki pulled her hood over her face, as if to conceal it. "Mission failed. We'll get 'em next time boys." Their teacher had a smug look on her face.
"Mission failed indeed. Looks like I caught some oranges rotting... ah, but you're already rotten though. Maybe this is like a really dangerous mold..." She closed her eyes as she worked through the semantics of her odd terms for them. "Anyway! Young people like you should be in school learning with your friends! This behavior is completely unacceptable. I did not raise delinquents!" You didn't raise us either way, Hajime wanted to say, but with detention on the line he really didn't think it was the time for sass.
"Sorry Sensei..."
"Sorry Sensei..." Both Nagito and Chiaki bowed their heads apologetically. Simply apologizing shouldn't work, but this was the Main Course they were talking about, and Chisa seemed to have a soft spot for her students anyway, so anything was possible.
Or not. Chisa's response immediately shot down that possibility.
"Sorry doesn't cut it! You're skipping school you rotten oranges!" Nope, it didn't work. Why did he think that would work? "I can't believe this, playing hooky to buy things on Black Friday... That's not something high school students should be doing!" At this, their heads bowed lower, and Hajime started to apologize as well. However...
"If you're here doesn't it also mean that YOU are playing hooky as well?" he shot back.
Hajime watched as Chisa's lips pressed together into a straight line. Suddenly she could no longer look them in the eyes.
"Erm... well... that's..." She could feel three pairs of eyes boring into her.
Chiaki spoke up. "Hey, wouldn't Sensei get in more trouble for skipping? Since she's a teacher now and not a student?"
Nodding his head, Nagito added more fuel to the fire. "That's true... actually, since both you and I are Main Course students, we don't actually have to attend school outside of tests and assessments, so really the only ones in trouble are Yukizome-sensei and Hinata-kun..." Hajime stiffened. He's right... but it's also their fault he's here in the first place.
"...Listen, I need this job, so promise me you won't snitch and I won't snitch on you." Chisa stuck out her pinky. Nobody took it. Instead, Nagito spoke again.
"Snitching on me and Nanami-san won't do anything..."
"Then I'll snitch on Hinata-kun. You don't want him to get in trouble right?"
"Actually, he doesn't know his place, so getting kicked out of the Reserve Course would be good for him!"
"Komaeda!" Hajime's angry exclamation sounded whiny again.
"Haha, sorry~"
"Pleeeaaase don't tell them... I'm begging you-"
"Everyone should shut up... I think." Chiaki's quiet voice managed to make everyone go silent. "None of us are supposed to be here, Main Course student or not, so we should probably just work together... if we help each other with shopping and cover for one another, we might be able to get away with it..."
"Nanami's right. We're too far in to turn back now. School's started already." Hajime tried to sound more confident to offset Chiaki second-guessing herself.
Nagito managed to make him less confident, as he usually does.
"Interesting. I thought you wanted to turn back all this time."
"S-Shut up!"
"So, how long until this store opens?" Chisa had already cut the line and stood in front of them, something all three students decided to ignore.
"Only two more minutes!" Nagito exclaimed.
"Okay, we don't have much time." Chisa pulled out a fucking map of the store, showing exactly where everything was. "Hinata-kun and I make a beeline for the TVs. Komaeda-kun, Nanami-san, you two grab baskets, not a cart, and put everything you can fit in there into them."
"Wait, why do I have to help you with the TV? Why can't the other two do it?" His eyes lowered in confusion.
"Yeah, I'd love to help an amazing Ultimate like Sensei!"
"They'll drop it."
"Ah..." Cue Nagito staring at his hand in disappointment again. Chisa immediately seemed to regret what she'd said, and tried to backtrack.
"I-It's not that they can't help carry it... It's just that... um... especially today... say someone bumps into me, that's gonna mess me up, right? So the other person might have to carry more weight... and... I..."
"No no, it's okay... I understand."
Looking at the boy in the eyes, Chisa hesitantly continued explaining her plan.
"...We need to be as fast as possible. The more time we spend looking around, the more time people have to grab things first, or worse, grab things out of our hands." Chiaki raised her hand. "Yes, Nanami-san?"
"Why can't we take a cart? Wouldn't it be easier to carry things that way... since we're so weak?" Hajime saw the teacher flinch. She was really regretting that now.
"Uh- People are hostile on Black Friday... they could grab stuff from your cart!"
"Is that really a thing?" Her head tilted in its usual fashion. This had nothing to do with the current topic, but Hajime thought it was cute. Though, most things Chiaki did were cute.
"Yep! I see it in YouTube videos all the time! Just search it up!"
"...I don't think YouTubers like that can be considered your average person..."
Nagito ended their conversation with two simple words:
"It's time."
All four of them advanced to the doorway along with the crowd, trying their best to be the first ones in. The store technically hadn't even opened yet, and yet there were already people pushing and shoving each other.
People pressed against the door, pounding on the glass with their gloved hands. As the store doors opened, people started pouring into the shop. It was like someone had opened floodgates.
Hajime felt lost within the mob of people already. He couldn't even see Nagito's white head of hair within the crowd anymore, and if he couldn't see him there'd be no way he would be able to spot Chiaki or Chisa.
And then suddenly he found himself falling onto metal bars.
He hissed as he landed on his arm, which had landed on a cold orange bar of metal. Someone moved his legs- so they wouldn't hit things?- and then they started moving.
This was some kind of cart.
They rolled past the cheap movies...
Past the insurance section (insurance section?)...
And straight to the massive collection of televisions.
It was only then that Hajime got the idea to look at who'd pushed him there. Of course, it didn't matter anyway, as he'd heard her voice before he'd even turned his head.
"Quick, this one's 70% off, and it's the latest model!"
"...Yukizome-sensei?"
"Hmm? What?"
"...How did you find me?"
"...It was the antenna." Hajime stared at her. Suddenly, the teacher starts laughing, as if it was the funniest joke she'd ever told in her life. "Just kidding! I had my eyes on you the entire time! Can't lose my TV buddy."
"Not funny."
"You sure? Pretty sure that's a smile I see on your face."
"I-It wasn't funny."
"Okay, then help me lift this and we can watch all the comedy shows we want on a new, high-definition curved TV."
"...That guy got it first."
Chisa whipped around to see a burly looking man carrying the new high-definition curved TV and placing it on a cart.
Noticing the two people staring at him, he stuck his tongue out.
"...Childish fuck."
"I don't know, that kind of behavior seems pretty up your alley, Sensei."
She ignored him. "Anyway, this one's pretty good as well." She started picking it up, and Hajime joined her. "50% off... I love Black Friday..."
Hajime cocked his head to the side. "Y'know, I get the feeling it's way past Black Friday at this point... not sure why though. Is it just me?" Considering how Chisa was staring at him like he'd spoken gibberish, it was definitely just him.
Chisa opted to ignore him again. "Hopefully this TV will take way less out of my salary... though this is still gonna set me back a bit..." She grunted as they placed the TV on their cart. "If only I could get someone else to buy it for me..."
"You mean like Komaeda?"
"Hm? What about him?"
"You wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at him, but he's like, really rich. Part of it is inheritance money and the other is lottery winnings. I think it's related to his talent." Hajime's casual tone wavered a little when he saw Chisa's mouth form an odd smile. "I-It's the reason we're here today in the first place. Nanami wants games and stuff, and Komaeda wants to spoil her. Probably because she's an Ultimate. I guess buying a gamer games makes you a 'stepping stone for their hope' or something."
"...You sound jealous."
"W-What?"
"So, Komaeda-kun can pay for my TV without any sort of financial setback... I see. Let's find him then."
Connected by the handle of the cart, the two of them made their way into the crowd.
***
"Wow, it's so busy today!" His cheerful voice was somehow audible above the chaos in the store.
"...Mm-hm," Chiaki responded absentmindedly, being preoccupied with clinging onto his arm. It felt like the crowd was moving out of the way for her classmate, and that if she dared to let go she'd be swallowed up by it. Nagito had noticed though, and turned his head to face her.
"Haha, Nanami-san, you don't have to hold on so tight, I'm not going anywhere!"
"..." No response, and no change in grip either. Nagito tilted his head, and continued to push the cart.
Ah yes, the cart.
Both Nagito and Chiaki had agreed that while they loved their teacher very much and greatly valued her expertise, her advice to not get a cart was utterly ridiculous. Besides, baskets are annoying when dealing with anything heavier than a box of crackers, so it was in their best interest to get a cart, thieving YouTubers or not.
"So, do you see anything you want?" He spoke up again, hoping he'd get a response this time.
"...Um... I was hoping to find an OLED Switch... my Animal Crossing Island would look really nice, and it'd also be nice to play my Collector's Edition Shin Megami Tensei V on it."
"Didn't you already finish that game?"
"Yeah, but I wanna play it again! I want to see his long blue hair on an OLED screen-" Her sentence cut off midway, and her eyes widened in shock. Nagito's eyes looked to see what she was staring at.
"That's..."
A PS5.
"A PS5."
For a few seconds, both of them stood silently, frozen in place by utter surprise.
Chiaki's voice dropped to an urgent whisper-shout. "What are we waiting for?! Let's get it before someone else takes it!" Letting go of Nagito's arm, she made a beeline for the elusive console.
Or at least, tried to. Her path was cut off by a sudden influx of people passing through the area. So, letting go of his arm wasn't such a good idea after all.
"K-Komaeda-kun? Where are you?" Her cries seemed to go unheard. It was oddly dramatic, like she was at a critical part of an adventure RPG, and needed her companion, Nagito, to save her for once.
It would be fun, starring in a game with Nagito. It'd be chaotic, that's for sure, but that made things fun in video games. She didn't want to leave Hajime out though, so maybe they should be a troublesome trio rather than a disastrous duo. Their classmates could be important side characters that are needed to complete their journey. And Chisa could be the character you return to to rest, like the player's mother from Pokémon! Yep, this was a great concept.
It wasn't important right now though, because she was still being pushed around by the crowd, like a seahorse being carried by the current. She really shouldn't have let go of that seaweed...
But it was okay, because Seaweed Head came to her.
"Nanami-san? There you are! I thought I'd lost you!" His cart bumped into her, which seemed to suddenly disperse the crowd. Odd. "Oops! Sorry. Anyway, look what I have~"
Rubbing the side he'd bumped into, Chiaki peered into the shopping cart. Her small frown became a wide smile (which, in turn, made Nagito's smile even wider.).
"The PS5! We really got one!" Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Thank you Komaeda-kun!"
The boy giggled. Seeing Chiaki this happy made the trip worth it, even if they somehow all got expelled from school for skipping!
Chiaki wrapped her arm around his again, pulling him towards the other consoles. "Come on, let's get that Switch! And then we can look for video games. There should still be lots... I think..."
Hajime and Chisa had been watching.
It was hard to find the two students at first in the crowd, so they'd only seen the last bit, but they'd seen enough to come to a conclusion. Chisa glanced towards the Reserve Course student, a surprisingly serious look on her face.
"Hinata-kun... It looks like..."
"Yeah..."
"Komaeda-kun has a crush on Nanami-san!"
"Yeah- Wait, WHAT?! That's not it at all!" That came out a bit too loud, but he was too shocked to care.
"Is too! What, do you not want to accept that truth? Are you jealous? You're jealous! You like her too don't you?"
"N-NO! I do not! How'd you even get that idea?!"
Chisa's smug smile suggested she didn't believe him. Which was fair, honestly. His pink face was not helping him.
"The lad doth protest too much."
"And you doth talk too much. Stop seeing romance where there isn't any."
"Ah... so you like Komaeda-kun instead then."
"...HUH?!"
"You'd be cute together actually! Sometimes I get the feeling he likes you more than he lets on~"
Hajime's face was now bright red. "...Shut up..."
"Heeheehee~ I'm just teasing you!" Her cheerful response was admittedly pissing him off. "You know, you're adorable when you're angry... Is that why Komaeda-kun likes messing with you like that? I wonder..."
Hajime cleared his throat, trying his best to regain his composure. "Anyway, I was going to say that he's definitely just spoiling her at this point. I thought it was just because she's an Ultimate, and that part's clearly important, but I don't think he'd act like this with any of their other classmates..."
"So he likes her."
"No... I think there's something with Nanami herself that makes him want to do this."
"He likes her."
"No. I'm saying that Nanami being Nanami led to him doing this for her." Hajime's mouth pressed into a straight line when he saw how Chisa was staring at him, confused. "Sigh... since Nanami's adorable, Komaeda can't resist buying her everything she wants."
"...I'm sorry but that still sounds like a crush to me."
"Wha- Ugh, never mind. We're here to ask them something, not theorize about their love lives! Come on."
Chisa was one step ahead of him, moving her TV cart through the crowd masterfully. She's definitely done this before...
They found the two Main Course students in the video game section, their cart stuffed with various gadgets, including an Xbox Series X and a gaming computer with a very long name. Chiaki was busy deciding whether she wanted Pokémon Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl.
They watched as she put them both in.
"I see you've been busy. And you ignored my advice and got a cart too..." Chisa spoke up, making the girl jump a little. She turned around, smiling when she saw who it was.
"Hinata-kun! Sensei!" Her attention was immediately caught by the TV. "Oh, you found one. Why did you bring it over here? It'd be more convenient to buy it first and then take it to the car I think."
"Mmm, that so?"
"Yeah... I mean, it makes sense, right?" Chiaki looked like she was thinking hard about it. Then, she decided to change the topic. "Oh yeah, we didn't see any weird Youtubers Sensei. I think all those videos you watch are staged..."
Chisa didn't answer. Instead, she put her plan into action. "Hey, Komaeda-kun?"
"Hmm?" The boy's attention was pulled away from the games he was looking at.
"Do you like Nanami-san?"
Hajime immediately started to protest. "What are you doing?! I'm telling you, it's not that at all!"
Nagito, however, didn't seem upset. "Haha, of course I do! How could I not?".
"...Really?" Chiaki's cheeks were pink.
"Yep! Why would you think otherwise?"
"...Huh?.. HUH?!" Hajime's cheeks were pinker.
"I like all the Ultimates! What amazing symbols of hope!" he exclaimed. His bright smile started to fade when nobody responded. "Um... t-that was what you were asking... right?.. That wasn't it at all, huh..." Now his cheeks were also tinged pink.
"...N-Never mind," their teacher managed to say, struggling to hold back her laughter. "Nanami-san, Hinata-kun, can you leave us alone for a bit? I want to have a private talk with your friend here real quick."
Confused, the two of them try to walk off, getting swept away by the suddenly reappearing crowd in the process.
"I forgot about this," Chiaki deadpanned, sounding like she was already used to it anyway.
Chisa watched Hajime and Chiaki get pulled away to another aisle a ways away for a little longer, before suddenly approaching Nagito.
"Hey, you know," Her voice had reduced to a whisper, "You're probably my favorite student."
"...Sensei?"
"I worry about you a lot... Are you eating well? How are your classmates treating you? How's life at home for you right now?"
"...I live alone."
"Sigh... that's what I feared..." She sounded concerned, but seemed to exude an even higher level of confidence than normal. "You know you can always come to me for anything, right? I'll always be here to support you..." Suddenly their faces were much closer than before... Nagito's face began to flush.
"You don't have to be lonely. It's such an awful feeling... I want to be there for you, so whenever you're lonely, just come to me, okay~?" Eyelids lowered, Chisa pulled at his scarf a bit to expose more of his neck. Her hand slipped under his chin and began to scratch, making Nagito giggle and scrunch up his neck. Cupping his face with her hand, her thumb stroked his cheek as she gazed into his eyes.
Quite a bit of time passed. Chisa's stare was clearly affecting him, as he seemed to grow more and more flustered. Chisa had almost said it was cute, but it felt like that might scare him off.
"Um... Sensei..." As he said that, he started nervously playing with his scarf.
"Yes?"
"S-Sensei... do... do you want me to pay for your TV?"
Success. She'd just won a free TV.
She also suddenly felt like complete shit.
"I...I'd love that, Komaeda-kun."
Pulling away from her student, she couldn't seem to look him in the eyes anymore.
While still a little flustered, Nagito seemed to have quickly recovered from the... event, and was back to his usual, Ultimate-praising ways.
"You know, you don't have to pretend to care about me, or do... whatever you just did, to get me to buy you stuff. Just ask! I'll gladly buy anything for an Ultimate, especially one that's such a nice teacher!"
Nice teacher her ass.
"Uh... I see. Thank you." She subconsciously dusted off her coat, like she'd just finished cleaning a particularly dusty room.
It didn't help. She still felt dirty.
Nagito had gone quiet again. Of course, it wouldn't be for long, but the look on his face suggested he was thinking about something.
...Actually, he looked a little shy. Chisa was about to ask why, but he spoke up again (as he usually did).
"...This is silly, of course, as the idea that you'd genuinely like scum like me is ridiculous, but... I was hoping it was at least a little true."
Chisa's heart felt like it'd just shattered. Like Nagito's depressing words had shot into a glass pane, and instead of it leaving tons of cracks it blew apart the entire thing in slow motion. Like something out of a murder mystery visual novel series.
"It is true though! I worry about you a lot! You never actually interact with your classmates and you're always saying horrible things about yourself and you live alone and it's a wonder you're even here going out with Hinata-kun and Nanami-san-"
"Woah woah woah! Slow down... you don't need to worry about someone like me!"
"Yes I do! Because you're someone worth caring about!" The teacher sounded almost angry now. "What I said was true! You can always come to me if you're lonely! Always! Me twisting those feelings to get something from you doesn't make them-"
"What are you two talking about?"
A third voice came in. Both of them looked towards the source of the voice.
It was Hajime, with Chiaki not far behind.
"We finally made it out of the Black Friday mob labyrinth." Chiaki was all too happy to compare whatever hell they just went through to a video game.
"That's great Nanami-san! I knew you could do it!" Nagito exclaimed.
Hajime ignored Chiaki's comparison and went straight back to questioning. "So, what were you discussing with Komaeda anyway?"
"I'm buying Sensei this TV!" Nagito was oddly cheerful all of a sudden.
"Yeah... that's all it was really," Chisa said. It was obvious to her that it wasn't convincing when she noticed Hajime staring at her intently.
Thankfully, he seemed to let it go. "I think we're done here anyway. Let's get out of here." Hajime turned on his heel and started forward, before stopping suddenly. "Actually, maybe Komaeda should lead the way..." He turned around again and huddled near the aforementioned student, who looked like he was about to protest.
It was too late though, because Chiaki was already nearly hugging his other side, and Chisa was trying to figure out how to get as close as possible while pushing her own cart.
"If we all stay close to Komaeda-kun, we'll be safe maybe, since I only got swept away when I wasn't beside him..." Chiaki's proposal was met with sounds of affirmation from both Hajime and Chisa.
Begrudgingly accepting his new role as leader- though happy to help Ultimates (and a reserve course student he supposed)- Nagito led the way to the checkout.
Past the video game consoles.
Past the computers.
And all the way to the checkout.
Nagito, Chiaki, and Chisa all stood in line. It'd take a while for it to be their turn, but their trip was finally coming to an end.
"Wow, what an adventure," Chisa sighed. "It's only about noon right? What do you say we go out for lunch? It'd be a bad idea to go back to the school anyway, and I'd like to browse some other stores..."
"Mhmm... sleepy." Chiaki was rubbing her eyes. She looked like she could fall asleep right there. Which was right, she could. She's fallen asleep while standing in noisier places than this. Nobody knows how she pulled off that nap at that concert Ibuki held that one time...
"Haha, already? Hang on a little longer. If we are eating out, then you could just sleep there and save your food for later." Nagito proposed. His idea seemed to please her, as Chiaki nodded sleepily and started slapping her cheeks in an attempt to wake herself up.
They were spending a lot of money here (well, Nagito was anyway), but all three of them seemed to agree that it was worthwhile. Chisa, Chiaki, and Nagito inched forward with the extremely long line as one person had finished paying.
...Wait, where the fuck is Hajime?
"Uh, have either of you two seen Hinata-kun?" Nagito asked.
"Zzz... mmm... mhmm? Um... no..." Chiaki didn't sound particularly concerned.
"...Huh. He isn't here..." Chisa was moreso perplexed. "That's weird. He was just beside us a minute ago... wait, do you think he got lost? Maybe we should call him and tell him to meet us outside instead."
"But it's really cold outside! He'd hate that! Ugh, It's just like a reserve course student to keep Ultimates waiting like this." Despite his words, Nagito couldn't prevent the tone of worry from entering his voice. "I'm going to go find him, you two wait in line okay?"
"Okay." Chiaki's response was quick.
"Okay!.. Wait a second, you're the one that's paying though! I CAN'T AFFORD ALL OF THIS!" Chisa's cries went unheard (or maybe just ignored) by the boy, who was already running into the crowd.
***
"Hinata-kun! Where are you?" Nagito shouted over the buzz of the crowd, causing some people to look at him funny. While his luck sure made going to places easy, it was still surprisingly hard to find Hajime.
He'd already checked all the aisles near the video game consoles... and he'd also checked the insurance section (insurance section?), in case he'd gotten pulled over there by the crowd.
He was passing by the oddly empty computer section again when he noticed a brown, pointy strand of hair sticking up from behind one of the laptops on display.
"...Hinata-kun?"
At the sound of that name, the antenna shot up. It was just hair, but it almost looked like it'd been spooked.
Its owner shot up as well half a second later, also looking spooked.
"O-Oh, Komaeda. It's just you." Hajime let out a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that." He bent down again, focused on whatever he was looking at.
"...What are you doing?"
Nagito's question seemed to surprise him again, as he suddenly shot back up and turned away, embarrassed.
"Nothing important. You're here because you were looking for me, right? Sorry about wandering off. Let's go."
"No, it's okay, the line's really long anyway. What were you looking at?"
"I said it was nothing."
"No, you said it was nothing important, which means it's still something." Nagito was being very persistent.
"It's nothing, let's go!" Hajime's words came out a little harsher than intended.
"..."
"...Fine, I did want to talk to you anyway."
Clapping his hands together in success, Nagito headed over to the aisle Hajime was in.
"So, what did you want to talk about? Have you finally realized that you're just an insignificant, talentless stepping stone like me and that you should stop trying to be greater than that to boost your own ego?"
"What?! No, of course not! What kind of realization is that anyway? Not everyone is you, you know."
"Maybe not, but we're pretty similar. You're not nearly as worthless I suppose, but-"
"Anyway, I was going to ask you about what you actually think of me."
"...Huh?" Now Nagito looked confused.
"What... are we? Like are we friends? Acquaintances? I don't know."
"..."
"You're so confusing, I don't know what you want. The things you say to me make it sound like you hate me, but then you're always going out of your way to talk to me when you get the chance."
"..."
"And then you'll gladly hang out with me and Nanami whenever she invites you, even though you make it sound like neither of us deserve to have her as a friend."
"...I'm not friends with Nanami-san..." he muttered under his breath.
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Hajime just rolled his eyes. He wouldn't bother to argue with him about this today. "Anyway, you were the one who invited me to this! I should be in school right now, but you, not Nanami, YOU insisted I come. I don't need to be here. I'm not paying, and I'm probably not getting anything out of it either. So you inviting me must mean you want to have me around."
"...I..."
"So what do you actually think about me? How do you actually feel about me? Because these mixed messages are getting annoying."
"..." Nagito was still silent, but he seemed... shyer than before.
"Phew... It... feels nice, actually, finally expressing those feelings..." Hajime sighed, feeling relieved.
"...Feelings..." Nagito's voice was barely a whisper. Hajime turned his attention towards him again.
His face was red.
"K-Komaeda? Are you okay?" Feelings... that's what he'd just said... Despite himself, Hajime could feel his face heating up as well.
Nagito didn't respond. Instead, he started playing with his scarf nervously.
"U-Um... if it helps... I-I wouldn't mind being friends with you..." Great. Now Hajime was nervous too. "I-I'd like it, actually..." This just made Nagito go even more red.
"Friends... I..."
Hajime was getting more and more embarrassed by the second. God, how was this guy making becoming friends feel like a love confession?.. Wait, was that what was going on? Was their teacher right? And why was that idea making his heart pound a mile a minute?!
"Hinata-kun... I..."
Don't say it. He wasn't ready. What would he do? Did he even like him back? How would a relationship between them work? What would he say to his parents?!
"...No... I'm... I'm not... it's not..." Nagito seemed to be calming himself down, blinking rapidly and shaking his head. "...Let's go."
Hajime didn't protest. He didn't really need an answer to his question anyway. It was nothing important. Nothing at all actually. They should get going.
Nagito began walking towards the checkout.
Hajime only took two steps before he stopped again.
Looking over his shoulder, he was fixated on a particular laptop. One that he certainly couldn't afford, Black Friday or not.
"...You want that laptop, don't you?" Hajime was startled by Nagito's voice once more.
"H-Huh? N-No, I just-"
"You sure that's the one you want? Not asking to discourage you from buying it or anything, it'd just suck if you end up not liking it."
"...Is... is it really okay? I mean, you're spending how much already?"
"It's okay, I'll win it back anyway. If you promise to play with Nanami-san, it's yours."
"...Well, if you promise to join us..."
"Ah... I don't really deserve that, but... I suppose if it's you and Nanami-san, I can't really say no, can I..."
"We have a deal then." Hajime stuck out his hand for a handshake, and Nagito hesitantly took it. It was awkward, but it felt like it was the answer to the question he'd been asking.
What it meant exactly was a question for another day.
Laptop in tow, the two of them headed towards the checkout.
"...Hey, Komaeda?"
"Hmm?"
"...Thank you."
***
"Zzzzz..." Chiaki was snoring softly.
It was about lunchtime, so they'd gone out to eat at a restaurant nearby. Chisa planned to foot the bill, as a way to make it up to Nagito. It wasn't much, since it was just a cheap ramen shop, and he could definitely afford it anyway, but it's the thought that counts.
"That was fun! We should do that again sometime!" Chisa managed to say in between bites of ramen.
"You weren't supposed to be here! And you were threatening to report us." Hajime pointed out.
"Yes, but the past is the past, Hinata-kun! And you didn't even have a way of transporting what you'd brought back home anyway! You needed my car!" Chisa paused to eat some more ramen. "Besides, while rotten oranges can be made into marmalade, you need someone who's really skilled to do it for you, or there's no point!"
"What?! That makes no sense! I swear, you just make up random bullshit and pass it off as a metaphor! How is that one even related to what we're talking about?"
Nagito chuckled, finding their conversation very amusing. "Haha, I can't say Hinata-kun's entirely wrong there Sensei."
"Don't butt into this, Rotten Orange No. 2! You've barely touched your ramen!" Chisa was pulling out the odd nicknames now.
"Sorry, sorry."
"Mhmm..." Chiaki scooched over and put her cheek on Chisa's shoulder. "Sensei's warm... zzz..."
"...It looks like our argument's over, Rotten Orange No. 1 and Rotten Orange No. 2." Chisa put her arm around Chiaki as she said this. "Rotten Orange No. 3's made me her pillow it seems. Let's be quiet, okay?"
"...Please do not call us that." Hajime had his head in his hands.
"Hahaha! Rotten Oranges No. 1, 2, and 3... is it in order of how rotten the oranges are?"
"Komaeda, don't entertain her!"
"Nope!" Chisa answered cheerfully. "Hinata-kun's way less rotten than you. Silly rotten orange~"
Nagito giggled some more. "Ehehehe, Sensei's such a nice teacher! I've never been called a nickname before!"
"That's not a good nickname!! Ugh... it feels like I'll never be able to understand the Main Course. You're all just so... weird." Hajime shook his head, sighing. He couldn't stop the smile appearing on his face though. "Not... in a bad way, though. Actually... I like it."
"...I think... your hair antenna is weird." Chiaki suddenly woke up. "Why does it emote like they do in video games?"
"H-Hey!"
"She's right Hinata-kun. It is weird." Nagito popped in again.
"...Komaeda-kun... Yours is weird too."
"...Ouch." Nagito's almost looked like it had drooped.
"Anyway, should we stop here? Or should we keep shopping?" Chisa was now drinking her cup of water. "The car's pretty full, so we might have to head back to my place and drop the TV off, but after that we can always come back!"
"...I don't really want to, but what else am I going to do today? I don't think I'd be able to study after all of this." Hajime slurped up the rest of his food and sighed. "I suppose we could."
"Looks like someone's having fun! You know, I didn't think playing hooky as a teacher would be this exciting. I was just scared to lose my job. Not as scared as I was to miss out on a sweet deal for a TV though!" Chisa smiled, now patting a once again sleeping Chiaki on the head. "First, I think we should buy Komaeda-kun a sweater." She turned to face him. "You shiver so much! Dress warmly next time!"
"But... I already wear four layers-"
"Caught you."
That was a different voice.
All four of them turned towards the source of the sound. A figure was standing a ways away from their table, in the dark, holding several shopping bags. Their short spiky hair wasn't particularly special, but the small section illuminated by the light revealed that it was purple. As they started walking towards them, Hajime had a sneaking suspicion he knew who it was.
Luckily, Nagito was there to cheerfully confirm it.
"Oh, good afternoon Headmaster Kirigiri-ah... oops."
"Sigh... You four are in big trouble. Did you think we wouldn't notice that you didn't show up to school on Black Friday?" The man shook his head in disappointment. "And you, Yukizome-san... you're a teacher now. You should be setting an example for these kids."
"I-I'm so, so sorry Headmaster Kirigiri! It won't happen again, I swear!" Chisa sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
"Sorry Headmaster Kirigiri..."
"Sorry Headmaster Kirigiri..." Both Nagito and Chiaki bowed their heads apologetically. Hajime started to apologize as well.
However...
"...If you're here doesn't it also mean that YOU are playing hooky as well?" he shot back.
Everyone went silent. The headmaster suddenly had four pairs of eyes boring into him.
"...Listen, promise you won't snitch on me and I won't snitch on you-"