Hajime: 'I like you... I really like you... I really, really like you... I love you?' It was morning, and Hajime was just getting back from his night shift at the control room. This was only his first shift, and he spent it thinking about how he would confess.
All the information that Hajime and the others learned about the research facility was true, a small building was located where the ranch used to be. Every single member of the group that didn't escape alongside Hajime and the others were currently comatose in the control room, showing absolutely no signs of waking up... besides what Kazuichi said about Nagito.
Hajime: "Why does this have to be so hard?" Hajime smacked himself as he walked through his cottage door.
Pure nervousness. His body shook just out of pure nervousness. Even if he had wanted to, he couldn't fall asleep right now. Especially after deciding that today was the day, he was planning to go for it. Rejection was anticipated, and to be honest, feared.
Hajime: "All right... I'm going to... I'm really doing this." He said to himself as he took note of his deteriorating condition. From the bathroom mirror, he could see that he was sweating profusely, and that his hands wouldn't stop shaking. Hajime had never confessed his feelings to a girl before, so being nervous is understandable. His eyes shot away from his reflection as he cursed out loud. Clearly, he was being a bit too hasty in making his decision, but he had made up his mind.
He still planned on doing it today, but he thought it would be best if he at least got some sleep. He moved over to his bed, flopping onto it in a single motion. He stared at the ceiling, slowing his breathing, trying as hard as he could to relax. He didn't sleep as he had intended, continuing to stare upwards as he laid on his back.
Trying to relax only put him more on edge, he knew he had something to be anxious about, and staring at nothing would do nothing to make that feeling go away. And as intelligent as he was at this point in time, he couldn't think of anything that would stop his heart from racing.
He decided to close his eyes, a yawn escaped his mouth once, and then another one followed. He rolled out of bed quickly, not wanting to succumb to sleep after all. He yawned again when he stood up, stretching his arms over his head. He threw off his clothes without a second thought, deciding spontaneously to take a shower. As the ice-cold water spewed out from above him, he breathed in a calming rhythm. He would use this time to try and rid himself of his nervousness.
Hajime: 'Is this the right thing to do? What's more important? Am I good enough for her? No, I can't answer that myself. But... what would you say? Would you be annoyed with me?... Or would you cheer me on?'
===========Meanwhile===========
Akane: "Ah." Akane winced when she saw the state of her hands, her knuckles were cut up and bruised, trickles of blood dripping from her wounds. She had been at the beach since she woke up that morning and had been venting her accumulated anger by punching one of the scattered palm trees.
*Crack!*
The joints in her hand popped when her fist came down on the tree trunk again, the entire tree rattled and shook as she continued slamming her fists against it again and again. Her wounds were now producing even more blood, staining the tree as she kept assaulting it.
Akane: "Ah crap..." She stopped her odd form of training when she noticed a slip of white paper on the ground. She bent over and picked it up, shaking the grains of sand off it while straightening it out. "Idiot..."
She licked the back of the paper and slapped it onto the tree again. On the beaten sheet of parchment was a name, written quickly and crudely, it was the name of her green and red-eyed friend. In her mind, she wasn't taking her anger out on a tree, she was taking it out on him.
She was preparing herself for what she thought was something she would have to do. He had been avoiding her, so she had to find a way to force him to talk. She planned on fighting him, forcing him to say something, anything. Today was the day she would get answers from him.
But all this thinking just reminded her of the one who introduced her to Hajime in the first place, and sadly... that person isn't around anymore.
Akane: 'What would you tell me to do? Surely, you'd help me if you were here right now... Chiaki.'
===========Flashback===========
Hope's Peak Academy
The sun was setting, signalling the end of the day. Today was very eventful, no one could help but feel depressed. Why was this such a depressing day? Because somebody was murdered, and on school grounds nonetheless. The victim was a Reserve Course student named Sato, and she was killed by a blow to the head with a metal bat. Of course, the other students don't know the details of what happened, all they did know was that Sato was a very close friend of someone from class 1-B. Nearly everyone in the class had to watch their friend cry after hearing about Sato's death, that friend was Mahiru Koizumi.
Akane: 'Damn, poor Mahiru.' Akane was currently heading down the stairs of the main building and heading to her dorm, school for the day was officially over after all. 'What the hell is going on here? Mahiru's friend is killed, and the one responsible is still on the loose. If I didn't know any better, I could've sworn that Fuyuhiko has been rather distant lately... well, more than usual.' As she continued walking, Akane found herself walking towards a water fountain in the middle of the school grounds. Somebody was sitting on a bench, waiting for something... or someone. 'Wait, is that Chiaki?'
The Ultimate Gymnast was correct. Chiaki, her classmate, was sitting by the water fountain by herself. From the looks of it, Chiaki looked very eager to do something, but if that's the case, then why is she waiting around and doing nothing? From where Akane was standing, Chiaki couldn't see her, which gave Akane the opportunity to see what exactly Chiaki was waiting for. In the distance, Akane can hear footsteps approaching Chiaki, when she looked towards the one responsible... she was met with a young boy from the Reserve Course, his expression showed that he was depressed and deep in thought about something.
Akane: 'Huh? Who's that?'
Chiaki: "Hey, Hajime. Look, I picked up a new game for us to play." Hajime, so that was his name. Akane didn't really know what to think about this guy but seeing him is making Chiaki smile. In response, Hajime shook his head side to side.
Hajime: "I can't, it's just I have to go somewhere today. Sorry, it's really important and I can't miss it."
Chiaki: "Oh... okay." That response made Chiaki look all depressed too, which made Akane slightly angry.
Akane: 'What the hell!? Who the hell does this guy think he is!? She wants to hang out with him, and he says no!?' She watched Hajime begin to walk away, about to leave Chiaki on her own again. But that's when Chiaki spoke up, regaining Hajime's attention.
Chiaki: "Hajime, wait!"
Hajime: "Yeah? What's up?" Now Akane was very confused, she's never heard Chiaki raise her voice before.
Chiaki: "I... nothing..." There was a long uncomfortable silence between them, Akane almost wanted to join in on their conversation just to break the tension. "It was nothing."
Hajime: "Chiaki..."
Chiaki: "Huh?"
Hajime: "Are you making memories at Hope's Peak?"
Chiaki: "Uh... yeah, I think so. Why?"
Hajime: "I want you to make a bunch of them for me. There's more to you than just the Ultimate Gamer, your character stats are off the charts." What he said made Chiaki blush, something Akane couldn't help but notice.
Akane: 'What!? She's blushing!? No way, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing!? Does Chiaki... like this guy!?'
Hajime: "Well then... see you later."
Chiaki: "Yeah, see you tomorrow." Without another word, Hajime turned around and walked away. With the coast clear, Akane thought it would be best to leave without anyone noticing her. "Huh? Akane?"
Akane: "Ah!" She was spotted, the cat's out of the bag. "Uh... hey, Chiaki. Fancy seeing you here, hehehe."
Chiaki: "Did you... see anything?"
Akane: "Uh... yeah, I saw everything. Sorry for eavesdropping, I was on my way home, and I guess I came through here at the wrong time."
Chiaki: "It's okay, there's nothing to apologize for. I guess you're wondering who I was talking to, right?"
Akane: "Well... yeah, I heard his name was Hajime, right?"
Chiaki: "Yes, he's a part of the Reserve Course. We meet up here after school and play games together, it's been that way since we all started going to class together." Just thinking about when she first met Hajime made her blush, a smile was always present on her face while she was talking to Akane.
Akane: "Damn, never thought I'd see something like this. He must really be a nice guy if he makes you this happy." The blush on Chiaki's face went a deeper shade as she tried covering her face, Akane couldn't help but giggle in response. "Hahaha, I'm just teasing. Don't worry, I won't say a word to anyone else in the class. I guess it would be a little awkward to bring this up with the others, so I'll keep my mouth shut."
Chiaki: "Thank you, Akane." They smiled at each other as Akane wrapped her right arm around Chiaki's neck, embracing her in a one-armed hug.
Akane: 'Hajime, huh? Maybe if I stick around long enough... Chiaki might introduce me to him.'
===========Timeskip===========
Present
Akane: 'Dammit, I can't believe this.' She was so frustrated with herself, she almost felt like crying as she continued punching the palm tree in front of her. 'Chiaki... I'm so sorry, but I can't help but feel this way about him. I'm sorry, I know how you felt about him... but even so, I can't just move on. Please forgive me... but I like him too.'
===========Timeskip===========
Hajime: "What's this?" Hajime stepped out of his cottage and was met with a crumbled-up piece of paper on his doorstep. Curiosity took hold of him, the scrap finding its way to his hands. He smoothed it out as best he could, flinching when his hands found that part of it was damp. His name was written sloppily in the middle of the paper. Among that, he noticed that there were many small, yet very noticeable smears all along the surface. The parchment reeked of copper, the red stains covering the paper were clearly blood. "Meet me at the beach, we have to talk." Now he was slightly worried, the message was very poorly written, now dried blood substituted for a pen or pencil. He crumpled the paper up again and shoved it in his pocket, and with quick feet, he decided to head for the beach. He hated to do it, but for now, his plans with Akane had to go on the back burner.
Was someone hurt? Did Nagito wake up after all? Maybe he hurt someone, it certainly wouldn't be beyond him. As the theoretical scenarios began getting worse and worse, his pace quickly turned into a jog, and then a sprint. The more he thought, the more he panicked, and the faster he ran. He didn't expect to see her waiting at the beach, standing near the shore's edge. Akane had her back turned to him. From where he stood, he could see her blood-stained knuckles, wrapped up in stained bandages.
Hajime: "Akane!" He shouted before running to her side. She turned as his words met her ears, her eyes sending chills down his spine. Never had she looked at him so angrily. "Who... what happened to your hands?"
Akane: "Don't worry about that." She said while crossing her arms.
Still worried, he reached out towards one of her palms, his hand was slapped away almost immediately. She shot him another angry look as she let her arms hang down, grinding her teeth together while her fists were curling up at her sides.
Hajime: "How can't I? You're bleeding! Just tell me what happened!"
Akane: "You can't do that!"
Hajime: "Ah!" She swung at him with her left, following with a right. Missing, she continued throwing punches wildly. He walked backwards, narrowly avoiding her attacks one after another. "H-Hey! What are you-"
Akane: "You can't avoid me and then act like you wanna talk! You wanna talk to me!? Then beat me in a fight!" Her plan had changed once he sought her out, now she wasn't so eager to speak to him. In her boiling anger, she had decided that she would make him work for it. He would have to fight her before she would listen to anything he had to say.
Either Hajime talks to her... or nothing will ever change between them.