Nagito strolled into the chamber, where Chiaki's data was.
It had been about a week since Hajime started isolating from everyone. Until yesterday, Hajime had only spent time with him, but now Hajime wasn't even doing that. It tore Nagito apart, watching Hajime become so upset and distraught over the last week.
"Hey Chiaki..." Nagito muttered, fiddling with the computer data. As the 'Ultimate Lucky Student', he trusted that he wouldn't break her data, and Kazuichi had been giving him some lessons with the machine her data is attached to. With Hajime being... how he currently is, Nagito decided he had to do his best to fill Hajime's spot, and try to help Chiaki.
"Chiaki..." Nagito repeated. "Hajime's still going at it. I hope to fix you soon, so you can come back and knock some sense into him. I don't want to ruin what we have, and I don't want to upset him further, so I'm not sure I can talk to him... I know that sounds selfish, but I really don't want any harm to come to him, whether he needs the harm or not..."
He sighed, wringing his hands together exasperatedly. "I guess I should first focus on getting you out, then we can both worry about Hajime..." Nagito trailed off and continued to search on the computer into the darkest hours of the night.
---TimeSkip---
At 3AM, Nagito stumbled into the bedroom that he shared with Hajime, Hiyoko kicking him out after his incessant rambling woke her, Mahiru and Peko up. He was incredibly frustrated - he had just found a major breakthrough with Chiaki, but no one seemed to care, and just wanted him to shut up...
Oh well, Chiaki will be waiting for him to fix tomorrow.
Hajime shifted in the bed, waking up slightly.
"Nagito...?" Hajime whispered, bringing a small smile to Nagito's face.
"Yeah, Hajime, it's me, don't worry."
Hajime rolled to one side of the bed, giving space for Nagito to crawl onto the bed and fall asleep. Nagito quickly got into his pyjamas and joined Hajime under the covers.
"Sorry for waking you Hajime."
"Don' worry 'bout it." Hajime slurred, already falling back asleep. Nagito's hand wormed under the covers, and grasped Hajime's hand tightly, not wanting him to go to sleep yet.
Right now is the only time I can talk to him... without risking him becoming incredibly upset... Nagito thought to himself. I must be really lucky to get a situation like this without needing to do anything...
"Hajime, we need to talk..." Nagito muttered, sitting back up in the bed.
"Wha...? 'Bout what...?" Hajime replied, sitting up with him and rubbing his eyes.
Nagito gently placed his hands on Hajime's shoulders. "Hajime. You've been avoiding the others. You've been avoiding me. What's going on?"
"I... I..." Hajime turned his head away from Nagito's piercing stare, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Izuru... I can't... I see so much... I've done so much..."
As Hajime breaks down, Nagito tightened his grip on his shoulders, and brought him in closer for a hug.
"Hajime, you're not at fault for this, and neither is Izuru. The people at Hope's Peak who allowed your experimentation and mind-washing are the ones who committed the despair ridden acts that allowed you both to reach that state in the first place. I'm certain that if you had free will, that you wouldn't have done any of it, so it's not your fault, okay?"
"Nagito... I can't..."
"You can't what, Hajime?" While remaining in the hug, Nagito swept away the hair that was clinging to Hajime's neck, and began to fiddle with it, in a hopefully comforting way.
"I can't spend time with anyone. I've killed-"
"Not your fault Hajime."
"I'VE KILLED so many people, that whenever I see anyone's face I just can't help but..."
Nagito paused, realising what Hajime meant.
"Y - You have PTSD?" He asked, stopping fiddling with Hajime's hair to instead rub his back.
"I... I guess?" Hajime admitted. "I... I'm a monster, Nagito! I look at anything and it reminds me of the awful things I've done in the past. I should just..."
Hajime trailed off and took a deep breath. The next words he spoke shattered Nagito's heart.
"... I should just die."
"Hajime!" Quick as a flash, Nagito broke out of the hug, and forced Hajime to maintain eye contact with him. "I will be the one to die before you. I care about everyone - but you're the one whose most important to me. If it came to be a choice between 'you or someone else', or even 'you or me', regardless, I would always choose you." He felt his resolve harden. "If you died, I'd follow you."
Hajime gasped, tears springing to his eyes. "Nagito... no, don't..."
"I won't - because neither will you, right?"
Hajime finally broke out of the intense stare Nagito had put him under and looked away.
"N... No, I - I won't..."
Nagito sighed, not entirely believing Hajime. There's not really much else I can do... he thought to himself.
He gave Hajime a warm kiss.
"Just remember, I deeply care about you, Hajime."
"I - I know, Nagito..." Hajime said, a small blush bursting on his face. Nagito smiled in return and they both went to bed.
New chapter is out! We've almost made it to 3K guys, this is amazing!! Thank you all for your support. 😊
Hajime's falling...
We just have to hope Nagito is ready to catch him.
I don't want to spoil the big climax that's going to happen next chapter, so I'll leave the author's note here. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!!!
But for now...
Peachy out! 😊