Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The beach was nice.

Probably the nicest place he’d ever been, not that he had ever been anywhere else. That didn’t matter, though, at least he didn’t think it did. His friend would talk about other places sometimes, they didn’t stay on the beach like he did. Just hearing about the places they went was good enough for him.

It was nice here, he didn’t mind staying.

The warm wind blew through his hair, he was sitting in the sand just like he always did. 

The sky was pink, it was always pink, the water reflected it back with shades of yellows and oranges muddling in. His friend talked about other places, how the sky was blue, how the sand felt different, how sometimes you could go somewhere and not even be able to see the water.

They should be here soon, they always met here.

They had talked about… feelings yesterday. They talked about the water the day before. They had been talking to each other for awhile, as long as he could remember.

The wind was blowing harder now, it ruffled through his hair and he lazily moved a hand to brush his bangs from his face.

His hair was easier to manage now that it was-

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A low rumbling shook him from his thoughts- whatever those thoughts even were. The sound of thunder echoed across the water… That was new. 

That had never happened before.

The wind whipped across his face with a new force, it felt… cold. He had never been cold before. Why was it cold? He should go back inside.

… there was only the beach around him. There weren’t any buildings here. But there must’ve been something, right? He had somewhere to stay, didn’t he?

He stood, the wind nearly knocked him off his feet. Had it ever rained here before? He couldn’t remember ever seeing rain.

“Hey!”

Her voice made him jolt, turning to find nothing but the endless expanse of beach to his left. Hadn’t he heard his friend? He was pretty sure he had heard her voice.

“Can you… can you hear me?”

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“Hey, I think something is-“

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He was choking-

The gasp he took was entirely instinctual, a sharp inhale that happened before his brain even fully registered he was awake. He was awake? That first breath was punctuated by thick liquid filling his mouth instead of air- he couldn’t breathe.

His head knocked against something cold, hard enough it sent a dull thud of pain through his head and made him aware of just how… strange every part of him felt.

He could feel every part of his body, he could feel things touching his skin, warm and wet and uncomfortable- was he in water? Warm feeling liquid drained away from him, leaving goosebumps prickling down his arms and a chill shaking through his spine as he tried to blink open his eyes against the stinging sensation sticking to them and seeing…. Nothing? Where was he? Where the hell was he?

He reached a hand up, slow and sluggish, it felt delayed. His whole body felt like lead and his knuckles knocked against the same cold surface he had hit before before suddenly it all fell away.

He was blinded, light pouring into wherever he was, his arms automatically lifting up to shield his eyes. Something sharp stung as he bent his arm, a strangled and choked grunt of pain escaping him as he blindly pulled it out. 

There were more things stuck to him- stuck in him- and every inch of his skin buzzed like fire as he tried to pull them off, out, away. There was something stuck to his chest, his forehead, something sharp and cold going into one of his wrists that stung as he  pulled it out with his teeth- his movements automatic, instinctive, he just had to get it off. Get the sticky things off, the sharp things out. Get it out. Get all of this out of him-

He pulled something from the side of his head, with a quiet click his vision flashed from a blinding white to a duller, fuzzy gray. His still hazy and half formed thoughts all shorting out and fizzling like an electric shock as he doubled over. 

He coughed again, gagged, dropping to his knees as all the water that had been around his waist gushed out around him. He gagged again, warm water sticking through his throat and his forehead touching the floor as he curled down and vomited, spitting up watery foam till it splattered across the ground in front of him. He took in one ragged breath after another, breathing was the only thing he could focus on.

He just needed to breathe, breathe… breathe… A few more coughs wracked through his already sore throat before he finally managed to open his eyes.

Or maybe they were already open- he just wasn’t really seeing, his vision was so blurred. In slow, shaking movements he lifted his head from the floor, trying to brace himself and stay up while his vision shifted and cleared, all he could make out was the slate color of the floor and…

Dark hands, tan? Tan was probably the word. That sounded right. These… these were his hands. He was moving them, they were part of his body and he could feel them. His fingers curled against cold cement, rough cement, a gritty texture that he wasn’t sure he liked. He slowly lifted one to stare at his palm, opening and closing it a few times before it really registered in his mind that a this was his hand.

This was his hand, his body… he was awake. Why did that feel weird?

Why did that feel wrong-

“Can you… hear me now?”

He lifted his head at the sound of a voice. Blinking his blurred vision into focus and trying to look around. It was… dark wherever he was. Dark, and cold- or maybe he was just cold because of the water. Why was he in water? Where… where was the water now? Had he even been in the water?

“Hey, Hajime.”

There was a girl sitting nearby, cross legged on the floor in front of him. Light, almost pink colored hair framed her face and fanned out around her shoulders, a sleepy look to her droopy pink eyes. Her hands fidgeted in her lap, she intertwined her fingers together and tilted her head to look at him.

“I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” She smiled, “How are you feeling?”

“H-“ His first attempt at speaking devolved into a choked cough, curling in on himself as the girl made a quiet humming sound.

“Don’t rush yourself.” She was closer now, he could see her kneeling right next to him. “This is probably…. A lot.”

It was a lot, yeah. That was a good way to put it. He nodded, almost embarrassed by how much he was still trembling. He slowly pushed himself up to sit on his knees, squinting slightly and doing his best to look up at her again.

“Hi.” Her smile grew, her gaze trailing down slightly to watch the rise and fall of his chest- to watch him breathing, he was breathing. That was weird to think about, for some reason, why wouldn’t he be breathing? 

“Hajime?” She tried again, “Are you okay?”

“H- Hajime…” He repeated, each syllable stumbling across his tongue like he had never used it before, every muscle in his body still felt like he was underwater, “Is… that me?”

She nodded, “That’s you.”

“Oh…” Hajime nodded again, looking back down at his hands and staring at where his palms were sitting limply in his lap. “What’s your name?”

“Chiaki Nanami.”

“…Two names?”

“You have two names, too.” She leaned forward, hands folded in her lap, “You’re Hajime Hinata.”

“Hinata.” He repeated. Two names. Okay.

“But you can just call me Chiaki.” She amended, “And I’ll just call you Hajime. Is that okay?”

“Okay.”

She paused again, watching him slowly move his hands, opening and closing them again and trying to get used to the feeling of his fingers moving. It felt weird. His hands felt weird. Slow. He bent his arms at the elbows- he had elbows, nice- he rolled his shoulders, he reached his hands up and touched his face.

… what did his face look like?

“You’re probably cold, you can put on new clothes if you want.” She gestured to her own clothes- the fabric covering most of her body, that’s what clothes were. Good to know. The dark green jacket and pale colored skirt didn’t look wet at all, maybe she already changed. “They’re over there on that table.”

She pointed, his head slowly turned to follow. There was a table off to the side- a table?- with some kind of… computer on top of it, long wires connecting it to something he couldn’t see without turning his head further. But there was something next to it, a stack of white and darker colored fabric. Clothes, yeah, he knew what clothes were. Was he wearing clothes now?

He looked down at himself again, finding he was wearing… something. A faded, almost translucent looking white shirt, ripped and hanging off of him awkwardly, boxer shorts beneath them. He should be wearing more clothes, he didn’t want to be in just underwear-

“Chiaki?” He said her name for the first time, it felt easier to say than Hajime, for some reason, “Where… are we?”

He didn’t get an answer, turning back to where she’d just been kneeling and finding the space empty.

“Do you think you can stand up?” Her voice startled him, she was standing right behind him now, he craned his neck back to look up at her.

“Where are we?” He repeated, bracing his hands on the floor again and trying to push himself… up. He could stand, he could do that, he just didn’t know why his legs felt so weak.

“I’m not exactly sure… I think I woke up a little bit before you did.” She watched him stand in stilted and wobbly movements, tilting her head with an almost amused smile, “I don’t think anybody else really knows what’s going on, either.”

“Anybody- woah-“ He nearly fell back down to the floor, pinwheeling his arms a little to try and stay upright, “Who else?”

“There are other people here, probably still back in the…” She paused to yawn, gesturing vaguely, “Bigger room.”

Hajime just nodded, other people were here, okay. He could deal with that in a second- he had another problem now, the table of clothes seemed… really far away.

It wasn’t, it was only a meter at most, but he… wasn’t quite sure how to move his legs. He thought about asking for help, to ask for Chiaki to step a little closer so he could lean on her till he got the hang of it. But he should know how to do this, its just walking, he knew how to walk.

He was pretty sure he knew how to walk.

“Chiaki?”

“Hajime.” She gave him another small smile, watching him cross the room towards the pile of clothes on the table.

“How did you know my name?” He reached for the shirt, it was the same color as the one he was wearing, but with shorter sleeves- and the fact that it was actually dry instead of the soaking wet one he was wearing now. “I… I don’t think I told you my name.”

Her lazy smile faded, her expression becoming a little more serious.

“It makes sense that I’d know your name, we’re friends.” She shrugged, “I just wanted to make sure you remembered it.”

Why wouldn’t he remember his own name?

… he was still a little confused.

He let himself lean against the table, fumbling hands moving to take off his shirt while Chiaki turned on her heel to face the other way, like she was giving him privacy. She faced… some kind of cylinder. Larger than her, larger than him for that matter, with a few dents along the side and a door slid open to reveal several tubes and wires dangling on the inside, and the scattered blinking of small lights along the walls as leftover droplets of water dripped down to the floor.

He had been inside that, he was pretty sure. Just the thought of it made his stomach twist up for some reason.

He slipped his arms into his new shirt, his muscles strange and stiff feeling, listening to Chiaki hum something as he moved to change and put on the pants as well. He didn’t have shoes, did he need those? Chiaki was wearing shoes, maybe he could get some later.

“Are you done?” Chiaki peered over her shoulder to check, turning again and stepping towards him as he smoothed out the shirt with his hands. “It’s sorta plain, but it looks comfy. Do you like it?”

“You said there were other people here, right?” He wasn’t really interested in whether or not the clothes were comfortable. Just being dry was good enough for now, “Can we… shouldn’t we go meet them?”

She nodded, walking past him towards the door, “Right. I think they’re all still nearby, I hope they are, anyway. We can go out this way.”

He followed her, in steps much more confident than his previous ones despite the fact that he still felt a little shaky. This all felt so weird, this all felt… wrong. Why were they here? Why did Chiaki seem so calm about this?

Chiaki stepped to the side to let him open the door. He reached up to run a hand across the rough metal surface of it, first. Every sensation felt… new. Sharp. There was a handle on the door, cold and metal, just like the rest of it, he pushed it down and slid the door to the side to open it.

He was met with a hallway, rusted metal walls and a dirty concrete floor. This building didn’t look…. Finished. Something about it seemed incomplete, or maybe abandoned. It was too blank. Maybe it was all the exposed pipes and support beams on the ceiling? Why was he in a place like-

With a loud thud the door shut behind him, startling him to the point he gasped and turned on his heel to face the metal door again. “What? Chiaki?”

He reached for the handle- there was no handle on this side? How was he supposed to open this door? How had it closed in the first place? He pounded his fist against the metal, the dull force tingling through his hand bringing a new tactile sensation he couldn’t focus on at the moment. Was Chiaki still in there? She had to be- why wasn’t she opening the door-

“Hey, are you alright?”

The new voice made him jolt again, turning and pressing his back against the door before embarrassment won out over his fear. He needed to calm down, get ahold of himself, panicking wasn’t gonna do him much good, was it?

There was someone standing down the hall, thin and gangly, with white hair that seemed to curl in wild different directions. He was wearing what looking like a plain t-shirt and pants, identical to the ones Hajime had been given, the only difference was the well worn looking green jacket over his slouching shoulders.

He seemed just as confused to see Hajime as he was to see him, eyes widening at his sudden movement before he nervously laughed and held his hands up in surrender-

Hand. He only had one hand. The other arm seemed to stop a little past the elbow, his jacket sleeve hung limply down over it.

“Woah, it’s alright.” He chuckled, “I get that you’re probably confused, I think all of us are, but there’s no need to have that kind of reaction over someone like me.”

“Someone…” Hajime almost stuttered, speaking still felt weird, “What do you mean, someone like you?”

“I’m not exactly the most intimidating presence, am I?” He smiled, maybe a little uncomfortable, his eyes flicking down to amputated- amputated? Was that the right word?- arm for a second before he looked back to Hajime. “I’m Nagito, by the way. Nagito Komaeda, but considering the situation we’re in, I don’t think we need to use any kind of formalities.”

“Formalities?” Hajime parroted, like he had done for his entire conversation with Chiaki, he couldn’t help it, this was all- oh, Chiaki- “Hey, I- someone’s still in here- and I can’t get the door open.”

“Huh?” Nagito’s easygoing smile disappeared, walking closer to stand next to Hajime by the door. “Really? How many people are still in there?”

“Just one.” Hajime pushed against the door- like that would even do anything. “Why would you ask that?”

Nagito bent over slightly, holding his ear up to the door like he could somehow hear inside, “Well, there were a lot of us in the other room, so I just assumed… why would only two people be separated?”

He let out a nervous hum, “I guess nobody’s checked the entire building, yet. Maybe there’s more people in other rooms, too. Sort of a scary thought, honestly.”

Hajime mimicked his movements, leaning forward to press his ear against the door-

Tink!

“Ow-“ He recoiled slightly, one hand bracing against the door while he reached up to touch his temple. His hand found something… odd.

He could feel his skin, and the damp hair still sticking to his forehead, but his fingers brushed against something cold and smooth and… different. It felt like the door next to him, it felt like metal, why was there metal on his head?

“Oh, woah.” Nagito moved away from the door, as well, eyes widening in concern as he reached up to touch Hajime’s head. His pale hand was warmer than Hajime’s own, fingers brushing his hair back and tracing the strange foreign object stuck to his head- stuck… in his head?

He hadn’t even seen his own face yet. He didn’t know what he looked like.

“What… what happened to you?” Nagito muttered worriedly, his fingers leaving the metal that Hajime could barely feel and tracing along his forehead instead. His fingers were warm, the sensation they left behind was like a low burn beneath his skin. Everything new that touched his skin felt like too much.

“Don’t do that.” Hajime blurted out as he pulled back, Nagito’s interest faltered into an embarrassed grin as he retracted his hand.

“I- right, sorry. That was weird, ha…” He averted his eyes, taking a moment to clear his throat before he continued, “So much for first impressions, huh?”

Hajime didn’t say anything, he didn’t exactly know what to say to that, Nagito continued in a more nervous voice. “We should go back to the others. Maybe one of them can help us get this door open. One of those guys looked pretty strong.”

“But… Chiaki is-“

“It doesn’t sound like anyone is panicking in there.” Nagito tried to placate him, worried eyes moving towards the door instead, “If there’s no handle on the door, I don’t really see a way the two of us can open it, do you?”

Hajime frowned, looking back at the door and pulling his hand away from it finally, “I guess not.”

“We can come right back.” Nagito smiled encouragingly, “I’m sure the others will help, they’ve all been really nice so far.”

He took a step back and gestured for Hajime to follow, he couldn’t help but look back at the door one last time.

“We’ll get your friend out of there.” Nagito assured him, holding his hand out in an attempt to herd Hajime towards him again. “I promise. Let’s go get some help.”

Hajime relented, following Nagito and glancing around his surroundings again while the white haired boy kept talking.

“We all woke up in the same room… I think I was the last one up, so I’m not sure what happened, exactly.”

Most of the overhead lights in this place were broken, shattered and covered in cobwebs, hanging down from the exposed metal rafters of the ceiling. The lights that did work flickered sporadically, it gave the whole place an… eerie feel.

“Everyone’s been… pretty confused. But I guess that’s to be expected in a situation like this, right? None of us even know how we got here. But it’s important to stay optimistic, right?” Nagito hummed, it drew Hajime’s attention back to him, “I don’t suppose you remember how you ended up here, do you?”

He remembered waking up, and being cold, and…

“I don’t really remember… anything.” Hajime muttered, abruptly stopping in front of a set of heavy looking double doors. Was that bad? How much was he supposed to be remembering, exactly? How much did Nagito remember?

“Well, I guess that makes sense.” Nagito sighed, pausing as well and looking back to give Hajime another encouraging smile, “Hey, don’t look so worried. I’m sure we’ll figure this out soon enough.”

“You seem awfully calm about this.” Hajime couldn’t help but comment, his own unease showing in his voice like annoyance, “You sound like this doesn’t bother you at all-“

“Aha! See? See?” A new voice excitedly cut in from beyond the double doors, they were pushed open with a loud grunt to reveal the room on the other side- and a very excited girl standing in the center. “New voice! I knew I didn’t recognize that one! Ibuki has great hearing, I told you!”

She had black hair that fell well past her shoulders, with choppy, slanted bangs, and streaks of other colors that seemed to have faded over time- leaving all the stripes with pale remnants of color. She grinned enthusiastically, sticking her chin up proudly and holding her arms out like she was showing off. She was in the same clothes Hajime and Nagito seemed to be dressed in, plain shirt and gray pants… the others scattered around the room behind her all seemed to be dressed the same.

“None of us were doubting you.” Another girl came to stand beside her, short red hair that framed her face and freckles dotted across her cheeks, “You don’t have to shout everything you say.”

“A new voice means a new person, right?” A softer voice responded from inside, a pale girl with long blonde hair leaning around the doorway with a worried frown. Her voice sounded… different than the others, some kind of accent laced her words, “How many of us are stuck here?”

“A better question would be why are all of us here?” Another voice spoke as Nagito finally just took Hajime’s arm and starting leading him towards the girls in the doorway. The excited one hurried to shake his other hand as they approached.

“Where’d you come from, huh?” She asked, her hand shaking his with so much force he felt it buzzing through his veins, “Why’d they keep you in a different room? Did you wander off? Are you-“

She stopped short, looking up above his eyes and gasping. “Oh, man, what’d they do to your head?”

“Don’t be rude.” The redhead slapped her arm, though her eyes glanced up above Hajime’s eyes as well, “You can’t go asking personal questions like that if you haven’t even introduced yourself! What, were you raised in a barn?”

“A barn is a good place to be raised,” A deeper voice spoke up from further inside the room, Hajime glanced over and found someone with slicked back hair  leaning against the wall a little ways away, his arms folded around him like he was cold. “Infinitely more so than an accursed location such as this.”

“You’re still acting super weird.” Someone with pink hair and an anxious expression cut in from where he sat cross legged in front of a weird cylinder on the ground, one hand still resting on the side of it. “Can’t even blame it on being disoriented, anymore. You’re just like that, huh?”

“Okay, I’ll introduce myself, then.” The excited girl didn’t seem put off by the others’ commentary at all, grinning at Hajime, “Ibuki Mioda! That’s I-b-u-k-i!”

She punched the air with each letter, chanting them off like it was the beginning of a cheer, doing a little spin and gesturing to the redhead next to her. “This is Mahiru!”

“Mahiru Koizumi.” Mahiru’s own introduction was much calmer, an almost apologetic smile, “Just Mahiru is fine, though. What were you doing somewhere by yourself?”

Nagito nudged Hajime, an expectant smile on his face like he was waiting for something- oh right. He should say his name too, like Chiaki did.

“I’m Hajime…” He started, pausing for a moment- two names, Chiaki said, everyone else had two names. “Hajime Hinata.”

Someone scoffed across the room, Hajime looked away from the pair in front of him to try and find the source. His eyes found another person instead- and she immediately cowered.

“Ah- am I supposed t-to go next? Is that why you’re staring?” She stuttered out, “I- I’m sorry, I’m not good with introductions.”

“Take your time.” Nagito assured her with a smile, “We can wait.”

“Ah… okay.” She took a deep breath, “My name is M-Mikan Tsumiki, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” Hajime couldn’t hide the confusion at that reaction, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Y-you don’t have to just say that-“

“Oh my god.” A shorter girl came and shoved Mikan with her shoulder, “You’ve been stuttering this whole time! Just cut it out and talk normally!”

“I- I’m sorry!”

She rolled her eyes in response, stepping up close to Hajime and standing on her toes to better see his face, “Wow, you look super creepy, what’s with that scar on your head, Frankenstein?”

“Hiyoko.” Mahiru turned fully to face her, hands on her hips, “I know you’re probably scared, but you can’t just call everybody names like that.”

“Yeah, we’re all pretty freaked out right now.” New voices seemed to be popping up all over the place, this one from a shorter boy with curly brown hair that he was struggling to keep from his eyes, “But I’m… sure it’s fine. It’s probably nothing, I’m choosing to believe that we’re safe.”

“So you’re in denial, then?” Mahiru raised an eyebrow, he let out an overdramatic whine.

“W-well, there’s no proof we’re in any danger, yet, right?” He weakly chuckled as Hajime finally took the time to observe their surroundings. “So it’s not denial it’s… living in the moment.”

This room was strange, somehow even stranger than the one Hajime woke up in. A circle of strange cylindrical caskets were arranged on the floor, all opened now, all connected to a pillar of mind boggling technology in the center of the room. Wires ran from the tubes to the pillar and disappeared behind all the circuits and still humming machinery into the ceiling above, the small blinking lights along the center pillar blinked from red to pink intermittently. 

The cylinders themselves were different than the one Hajime saw in the room he woke up in, slightly smaller, sleeker, less dented and scuffed. They resembled coffins more than anything- strange, futuristic, light blue coffins lit from the inside by whatever machinery was inside.

“Were you all… inside these?” He asked before he thought better of it, slowly looking around the room at everyone else gathered here.

Everyone was dressed more or less the same, white shirt and plain gray pants, with just a few exceptions in the way of how they had already styled them. Nagito had a jacket- somehow- Hajime wasn’t sure where he got that. One girl with dark brown skin and curly hair had tied her own shirt up at the waist, revealing faded scars like claw marks across her stomach. Hiyoko had rolled up the bottom ends of her gray pants to avoid tripping over them. She wasn’t the only one to have to do that, another boy stood further away from the group, almost backed into the corner, his pants cuffed in a messier way as he stood and glared from person to person across the room. 

He kept one eye closed, the one that was open met Hajime’s and he borderline snarled at the eye contact.

“That’s right.” A gruff voice stole Hajime’s attention away from the weird staring contest he’d become an unwilling participant in, looking over to find a much larger man still sitting on the edge of one of the cylinders, sort of hunched over and keeping a hand braced against one of his legs. There was a huge scar on one of his arms, a bruise-like pattern traveling like veins from a scar across his bicep. There were other scars too, thin lines small gashes and-

He noticed Hajime’s staring and cleared his throat, directing his attention back to his face instead of just staring at his arm. “We all woke up with these… pod things sliding open. I figure you came out of a similar one, huh?”

Hajime nodded numbly, the girl with the accent tilted her head, “It seems odd that you would be all alone in a different room.”

“Not alone.” Nagito corrected before Hajime could, “He said there was another person in there with him. We were coming to see if someone could help us get the door open again.”

“You two losers can’t get a door open by yourself?” Hiyoko sneered, “Talk about pathetic.”

“The door didn’t have a handle.” Hajime tried to explain, “We couldn’t-“

“Oh my stars! You’re really all awake now!”

A very high and enthusiastic voice still everyone’s attention, several people’s expressions going slack with shock at the sight behind Hajime before he turned to face the door again.

“Wh- what the hell?” The pink haired guy screeched, scooting back on his hands till he bumped against the tube behind him, “What is that, some kind of stuffed animal?”

“That’s right! I’m a huggable, soft, stuffed animal!” The stuffed animal in question- a small white… rabbit? A rabbit. There was a little white rabbit standing in the doorway. With a little spin she held her arms out like she was showing herself off.

But movement behind her caught Hajime’s next- as difficult as it was to pull his focus from the walking talking rabbit doing something of a dance in front of him- Chiaki poked her head in the door next, locking eyes with Hajime immediately and smiling before stepping behind the rabbit and beginning to make her way across the room.

“There she is.” Hajime muttered to Nagito, nodding in Chiaki’s direction slightly as the rabbit continued speaking in a singsong voice.

“I’m the Magical Miracle Girl Usami! AKA… Usami! We can just go with that.” She giggled, “I’ll be looking after you while you all settle in!”

“Settle in?” A girl with gray hair and sharp red eyes questioned, taking a step forward from where she’d been standing tensely towards the back of the room, “You expect us to ‘settle in’ after you’ve kidnapped us?”

“No, no, no! Not kidnap! I know you just woke up, but there’s no need to be cranky!” Usami held her hands- paws?- to her face, “I’m sure you’re all still a little confused, waking up in this place all alone after everything that happened must’ve been so scary! I admit you’re all up… earlier than I had planned. I wanted to be more prepared…”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” The blonde from the back of the room snapped next, Usami faltered.

“But even so- that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a good time!” She tried to regain the cheery tone she’d had before, “You’re all very, very special! I’m here to make sure you can be anything you want to be!”

“Where is… ‘here’, exactly?” Mahiru asked with a frown, “You… haven’t told us where we are.”

“Oh, that’s right! That’s right, that’s probably important.” Usami did another little spin, holding her arms above her head, “You’re on a magical, wonderful, private island resort! A fantastic place to heal and start again!”

“Heal?” Nagito’s face scrunched up in confusion, glancing down to his severed arm again, “Heal from what, exactly?”

“Yeah, and how the hell did we get out here?” The muscular girl added, quickly followed by the gray haired girl nodding seriously.

“You aren’t actually answering our questions. You have kidnapped and… changed us.” She paused, one of her hands going to hold up one of the strands of hair she’d loosely braided, “We deserve some kind of explanation.”

Usami paused, almost frozen, her joyful demeanor shifting into what seemed like genuine confusion.

“Changed you?”

“This is not what I looked like before.”

“You… you don’t remember why you look like that?” She asked, “You don’t know why you’re here? You don’t… oh no, oh no, oh no-“

Usami began to pace, borderline waddling in a little circle while they all watched in confusion and quickly growing frustration. She used the little stick she was holding to scratch at her head, letting out a worried hum before turning on her heel to face them again.

“Well that is just no good, no good at all!” She lamented, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with your heads! Do you really not remember anything?”

“I remember going to the doctor.” The bigger guy offered, a hand still resting over his stomach, “I’ve been having some awful shits lately-“

“Ew.” Mahiru wrinkled her nose up in disgust, “How can you talk about something like that at a time like this?”

“I’m just telling the truth!”

“The last thing I remember is a concert!” Ibuki offered, rocking back and forth on her feet, “An awesome one! I think, anyway, I can’t remember any of the songs we played.”

“I believe… I was at school…” The girl with the accent tapped a finger to her chin, “Perhaps I went back to my dorm? I can’t quite remember…”

Usami looked almost panicked now, shaking her head slightly with all of their explanations and whining, “Well- that’s, um-“

“Were we involved in some kind of… accident?” Nagito offered, “Why are we-“

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Usami cut him off with a wail, “I can’t tell you that, I’m not supposed to talk about any of this! Oh, this is not good, very very not good. I wanted your first day on the island to be super special!”

“Well, maybe I don’t wanna be on a fuckin’ island.” The blonde in the back snapped, arms still crossed, “How do we get outta here, huh? Can you tell us that?”

“Oh.” Usami’s panic seemed to stop instantly, “Yes! That I can do! You’ll all get to leave once your magical healing island vacation is finished!”

“That didn’t answer the question at all.” The gray haired girl frowned.

“It did, it did!” Usami insisted, “I can explain it in more detail in just an itty bitty minute, but I think we should get out of this nasty basement first, don’t you? We can go see the beach! And the sunshine! The healing can begin!”

“I don’t think I wanna listen to some creepy stuffed animal.” The pink haired guy scratched his chin with a nervous hum, “What if you’re like… leading us to get killed or something?”

“Wha- killed?” Usami jolted, “No, no, no, violence is a big no no on this island! You’re all supposed to get along!”

“Violence is a ‘no no?’” He echoed, a nervous smile quirking up on his face and revealing surprisingly pointed teeth, “But kidnapping is allowed?”

“No!” Usami protested again, “Also not allowed! Only nice things are allowed! Like swimming, or talking about feelings, or baking a cake!”

“Baking a cake is… nice, I guess.” The shorter guy mumbled, still stuck with a look of disbelief on his face. Usami clapped.

“See? We’re all getting to know each other better already!” She turned around again, motioning for all of them to follow her out, “I’ll explain more upstairs! Let’s all head this way.”

There was a long pause before anyone moved, Chiaki cleared her throat to get Hajime’s attention, having moved at some point to come stand beside him.

“We should go.” She suggested, nodding in the direction of the door, “There’s really… nothing left to do here.”

“Oh, uh… okay.” He followed her towards the door, earning a surprised noise from Nagito and muttering from the others.

“Alright, whatever. Let’s just go.”

“I suppose we have no choice but to follow the white metal beast…”

“Hey.” Nagito fell into step beside him, giving him an amused looking smile, “You didn’t mention before that your friend was a ra-“

“Perhaps we should do introductions!” The girl with the accent suggested, accidentally talking over him as she raised her voice slightly to get everyone’s attention, “I’ll go first! My name is Sonia Nevermind.”

“Nevermind?” Hiyoko scrunched her nose up, another comment at the ready when Mahiru spoke over her.

“You’re not from Japan, are you?”

“Ah- is it that obvious? I thought I had been doing well speaking the language-“

“Oh, no, it’s not that.” Mahiru smiled as she shook her head, “Just the name, and you still kind of have an accent, you don’t really look Japanese.”

“I see.” Sonia nodded very seriously, apparently taking this information to heart, “I’ve been japan for almost a year now, I started attending University here last spring.”

They came to a set of stairs, the one Nagito and Hajime had passed earlier, Chiaki walking up after Usami as she hopped from step to step. The introductions continued behind him as he followed her.

“The name’s Akane Owari.” The dark skinned girl from before said with a grin, large canine teeth glinting a little from the fluorescent lights above them. “I’m gonna do my best to remember all you guys’ names too, but uh… there’s a lot of you. I might need a couple tries.”

“That’s understandable.” Mikan offered quietly, “I- It can take time to actually commit things to long term memory, did you know-“

“Someone else introduce themselves now!” Hiyoko talked over her, taking a few quick steps up so she could be taller than Mikan, “You- creepy pink guy! Go!”

“Wh- Hey! I’m not creepy!” The ‘pink guy’ in question huffed, “Kazuichi Souda. It’s uh… nice to meet you guys? Despite all this… whatever this is.”

“My name,” The shorter guy from before stood up a little straighter, tried again to push his hair back into something presentable, “Is Teruteru Hanamura, maybe you’ve beard of my family’s restaurant? It’s-“

“Oh! My turn!” Ibuki held her hand up excitedly, cutting off whatever Teruteru was going to say, Nagito chuckled.

“Ibuki, you’ve already introduced yourself to everyone.”

“Yeah, but not, like, officially.”

“I’m Nekomaru Nidai.” The biggest guy went next, arms crossed and a proud smile crossing his face- and now that they were in better lighting Hajime could see what looked like more scars traveling down the sides of it. Old and faded, but definitely noticeable, traveling from the sides of his jaw and up to his eyes, fading a little once they crossed above them… 

Didn’t Hiyoko say that Hajime had scars? What did his look like?

“And you better not forget my name!” He nudged Akane with his elbow, chuckling as she huffed and swatted at him, “Not even in hell.”

“No promises.” She mumbled, turning her attention to the bunny still hopping up the steps, “She’s really slow.”

“What about you?” Sonia seemed to be picking up the duty of introducing everyone again, pointing at the gray haired girl lingering at the back of the group, “You have not said your name.”

“Peko Pekoyama.” She answered quietly, red eyes shifting to the side. Sonia tried to give her a chance to say more, but when all she was met with was silence she gave up and turned to someone else. 

“What about you?”

“You are asking me to reveal my accursed title?” The intensity of this voice almost startled Hajime as they reached the top of the stairs, pausing before following Usami to where she was beckoning them all over to a large elevator, “Do you truly think you can even fathom-“

“Seriously, dude, what’s with you?” Kazuichi shuffled further away from him as they all stood outside the elevator, Sonia clasped her hands together excitedly.

“An accursed title sounds very exciting.” She grinned, “I would be very interested in learning this.”

“Tch. Very well.” He scoffed, one of his hands reaching up to smooth back his black and white streaked hair, “Others may see your courage as recklessness… however I welcome it. In honor of your courage, I shall reveal to you my name: Gundham Tanaka! Remember it well.”

“Gundham?” Hajime couldn’t help but echo, Sonia clapped her hands.

“That is an unusual name!” She praised, like it was a compliment, “Very good, who’s next?”

“What’s the point of all this?” The shorter blonde interrupted instead of answering, crossing his arms where he lingered at the edge of the group, “Why the fuck should we bother getting to know each other? I’m not introducing myself like this is some stupid meet and greet.”

“You don’t have to be so defensive.” Nagito almost chuckled, though his smile looked a little uncomfortable, “We’re just trying to make the best of a bad situation.”

He stared Nagito down, face shifting from it’s scowl into an uncomfortable frown as he averted his eye.

“Why are you all so damn calm about this?” He asked, his tone almost suspicious, “Don’t you think it’s weird that none of us remember a damn thing about how we got here and what happened to us? Like you-“

He pointed to Nagito, who flinched at the sudden movement, “You’re missing your whole fucking arm! Do you really not remember how that happened?”

“I… really have no idea.” Nagito shrugged, shoulders tense and smile strained, “It doesn’t hurt or anything, though, I guess I should be grateful about that, right?”

He stared at Nagito a moment more, eye squinted and mouth twitching, before his focus shifted to Hajime, “And you? You don’t have any questions for the stupid rabbit about why you look like a damn Halloween mascot?”

“Like a what?” Hajime blinked, eyes shifting around the group, “Listen, I get that you’re freaked out and all, but-“

“Now, now, Fuyuhiko, there’s no need for name calling!” Usami scolded, hands on her hips, “Those are not very nice words you’re using!”

“How the hell did you know my name?” He snapped next, taking a step forward and nearly opening the eye he’d been squeezing shut this entire time, “What the hell is going on-“

“She said she will explain more when we get upstairs.” Peko turned from the elevator to face him, “If it’s really making you so nervous-“

“I’m not fucking nervous.” Fuyuhiko raised his voice, pausing for a moment as he seemed to catch himself and took a breath, “I’m just not gonna blindly go along with this.”

“He makes a good point.” Hajime couldn’t help but agree, he was certainly feeling uneasy about all of this, “It is weird that none of us know who we are.”

“Well, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration.” Mahiru put her hands on her hips, “Look, we’re never gonna get any new information if we’re not willing to at least play along with this for now. Come on, be a man and be brave already.”

Fuyuhiko’s mouth twitched back into an agitated frown, an angry retort no doubt at the ready when Akane spoke first.

“Tch. I’m not waitin’ on any dudes to be brave.” She cracked her knuckles, “I’m super brave, I’ll go on the elevator first.”

“We can all go together!” Usami assured her, waving her wand and letting the large metal doors to the elevator creak open behind her, “This will take us right up to the top! Your relaxing, magical healing island vacation is about to begin!”

“Wooooh.” Kazuichi let out a weak excuse for a cheer, tugging on a strand of his hair a little, “What’s really up there? Are we gonna meet the psychopath who dragged us all here?”

“No, no, silly.” Usami laughed, like this was a joke and not a legitimate concern, “It’s just us here! No need to worry!”

Akane pushed her way to the front of the group, apparently determined to prove her bravery and enter the old rusted looking elevator first. Chiaki stepped on soon after, motioning for Hajime to come forward after her while he nudged Nagito to bring him too.

Chiaki hadn’t introduced herself, he realized as he glanced around the group slowly piling in. Then again, Fuyuhiko’s arguing pretty much ended the friendly energy Sonia had been trying to usher in. Someone else hadn’t introduced themselves either- a taller, heavyset blonde with sharp eyes that moved from person to person as they boarded the elevator. Hajime didn’t really care much for introductions, but knowing everybody’s names would probably be… nice? Helpful?

Could a situation like this be called nice? This was a hostage situation, essentially.

“Okay!” Usami hopped in last, letting the doors close behind her and the elevator begin its creaking descent upwards, “Now, like I said before: you’re all up a liiiiiiittle bit earlier than I expected, but that’s just fine! We’ll still have a great time!”

She paused, maybe she was waiting for someone to agree, when she was met by wary silence she just sighed.

“Listen, I know this is scary.” Her sweet toned voice turned serious, head tilting slightly as she looked up at them, “This is a new place, your memories aren’t… all there, and your bodies all probably feel… pretty different, don’t they?”

He wasn’t sure what she meant by different, but from the way everyone’s faces scrunched up in discomfort or confusion he thought maybe they had some idea.

“I- I promise I’m here to help you with that. I’m here to help you all grow!” She tried to regain some of her previous enthusiasm, “Grow, and heal! Let hope for the future blossom inside of you!”

The elevator doors opened, Usami held her hands up to stop the others from walking out, “Even though things are different now, we’re all still going to get along and do our best, okay? This whole place has been lovingly fixed up so you can have the best chance at recovery that you can!”

She turned then, leading them down an old wooden hallway.

“This place is dusty.” Akane mumbled as they walked, Usami nodded.

“This is an older building, unfortunately it hasn’t really been renovated yet.” She explained, before gasping excitedly, “Maybe that could be a fun group project for us! We can fix this place up together and have a party!”

Parties were…. Celebrations, right? Didn’t you have parties for good things? Was this a good thing?

“It… seems kinda weird to have a party in a place like this.” Hajime muttered, earning a quiet hum of agreement from Peko where she walked behind him.

If Usami heard him, she didn’t comment, continuing through the hall to a wooden door.

“So, once we go out these doors, you can see the cabins you’ll be staying in for awhile.” She explained cheerily, “They should all have your names on them, your key will be in the mailbox- don’t lose it! Your privacy is valued here. You’ll find a nice comfy bed, a bathroom, and some clothes inside! Something that should suit better than these silly old pajamas you’re all in now.”

“How do you have clothes for us already?” Mahiru asked, “How long have you- or… whoever else- been planning this, exactly?”

“A bit!” Usami answered vaguely, “I’ve also been making super special little handbooks for each of you! It’s something to help you find your way around the island and… um, learn about yourselves, but I’ll have to adjust some of the stuff on there, I think. I don’t want to freak any of you out!”

“It’s a little late for that.” Teruteru whined, “What do you mean learn about ourselves? Are we about to get ‘the talk’ from-”

“No, no! Nothing like that! Oh, dear…” Usami seemed nervous, “Tell you what- how about you all be good kids and go get changed and stuff first, then we can all meet in the hotel restaurant and have a nice serious talk! I’ll answer any questions I can then, okay? Just…. Um…”

She paused, shuffled, finally letting out a defeated sounding sigh. “I’m going to do my absolute best to keep you safe, okay? I promise! Cross my love filled heart and hope to, well you know. I’m going to help you all be safe and happy! Even if things… aren’t quite going to plan.”

Safe and happy on an island, surrounded by strangers, after waking up in weird creepy tubes. Hajime was still having a hard time getting a handle on how exactly he felt after waking up, but ‘safe and happy’ were certainly not either of the words he’d pick.

“Okay, but… Why should we trust you?” Hajime questioned, “This is still really… suspicious. Why should we believe you’re telling the truth?”

“Wh- what?” Usami looked genuinely heart broken, “You don’t trust me? I would never lie! It’s against my programming!”

“Hajime,” Nagito nudged him with his elbow, “Don’t be mean to the bunny, not cool.”

“Huh? I’m not being mean-”

“So you are a robot, huh?” Kazuichi’s previous worry was overshadowed by interest, bending forward some to tilt his head at Usami, “Yeah, you look like a stuffed animal, but I figured you had to be some kinda remote control robot or something, do you-“

“I am not controlled by a remote!” Usami protested, stomping her foot, “I’m not a toy, either! I- oh dear, that was too loud. I’m sorry.”

Kazuichi had flinched and recoiled slightly at her outburst, Usami hung her head in shame, “I’m sorry, I guess I’m just used to getting picked on a lot.”

“Who picks on you?” Hajime asked, trying to be a little less blunt now to avoid Nagito reprimanding him again, “I thought you said it was just us here.”

“It is.” Usami turned to face him instead, “You didn’t think I just popped up out of the ground, did you? I came from somewhere else- somewhere with people- just like all of you!”

Somewhere else?

“So did your, uh… creator pick on you?” Kazuichi asked while Hajime was suddenly struck by another realization.

Somewhere else, with people. He didn’t really… remember what other people looked like. 

Was that bad?

“No, no, they would never!” Usami shook her head, “It’s my… coworker who picked on me, and called me names, and pulled on my ears-”

“Can we, like, stop talking to the rabbit now?” Hiyoko whined, “I’m getting booooored!”

Hajime knew…. He wasn’t from here, he had been somewhere else before this, right? Had he been at school, like Sonia? He couldn’t remember. What… what had he been doing before he woke up here? Where did he come from?

“You said you had new clothes for us to change into?” The blonde who hadn’t introduced themselves yet asked, “Where would we find those? I want to get out of… this.”

“Oh! Right, right!” Usami waved her wand again, opening the thick metal doors separating them from the outside.

And it was bright- it reminded of Hajime of waking up, shielding his eyes for a second before looking out the newly opened doors.

There was another building- a large one, with a half circle entryway with the words ‘Hotel Mirai’ along the front of it, and columns to support it. Red bricks along the ground that they all stepped onto as everyone began nervously milling around outside, Hajime stepped off the wooden porch of the old building and tried to get a handle on his surroundings like everyone else.

The bricks below him brought a new texture- gritty and so warm it was almost uncomfortable against his feet. But the sun felt nice, the sun felt amazing, Hajime closed his eyes to tilt his head up towards it.

“Now remember!” Usami called from the steps as they all began to walk around this new location, “After you get changed and get a little settled in, we really need to talk about some things!”

She gestured to the larger building, specifically to the stairs leading up the side of the building, “We can talk up there! I’ll have some yummy food for you! I just have to um… check on something first, mmhm, I’ll see you all in a minute! Love, love!”

She hurried away, heading up the aforementioned stairs herself, Chiaki chuckled as she left.

There was a moment where everyone stood still, all looking around like they were expecting someone else to make the first move. The wind picked up, rustling Hajime’s hair and carrying in a salty smell that was…. familiar-

“Oh! They have a pool!” Teruteru noted, gesturing to a large white… pit in the middle of the ground filled with water. “That’s nice, though I suppose since we don’t have swimsuits here we may have to go in… all natural-“

“Are you implying you want to be nude in a hostage situation?” The unnamed blonde narrowed their eyes, staring down at Teruteru over the rim of their glasses, “Do you understand how idiotic that sounds?”

“Idiotic and gross.” Mahiru added, Hajime could see her putting her hands on her hips through her reflection in the water. This water was different than the water he came out of- he thought so, anyway. It looked different. It was different than…. The other water, too. Where was the other water?

… where the hell were they?

“What uh…” Hajime frowned, trying to shrug off the cloudy feeling still sticking throughout his mind, “What’s a pool?”

He could see his reflection in the water, too, rippling and distorted, a mess of tan and dark brown hair and a face he couldn’t quite make out. The breeze picked up, almost seeming to punctuate the snicker Hiyoko let out behind him, it disturbed the surface of the water too much for him to see his face clearly.

“Oh my god, you don’t know what a pool is?” She jeered as he turned back to face her, Akane flicked the back of her head.

“Hey! Not everyone has the money to go places with pools! You don’t have to be a jerk about it.”

“Wh- I wasn’t trying to be mean.” Hiyoko recoiled dramatically, eyes welling up with tears that Hajime didn’t think were genuine, “I was just asking a question! You’re the one being mean!”

“So you’ve… never heard of a pool before?” Chiaki asked from her spot beside Hajime, looking up at him and tilting her head, “Not ever?”

“I don’t think so.” He muttered, staring down at the water again, “I don’t uh… I think I’m still sorta waking up, I don’t-“

“Hey,” Nagito came and nudged his arm, a worried edge to the smile on his face, “Did you wanna go check out the cabins?”

“Oh, sure.” Hajime shrugged, looking back to see if Chiaki wanted to come and finding she had wandered around to the other end of the pool. She’d be fine out here, maybe she’d go ahead and talk to some of the others while he was gone.

“So are you uh…” Nagito began, a little uncertain, “Alright?”

“As alright as I can be, since we’re apparently being held hostage here.”

Nagito chuckled, glancing around at the bright blue skies around them before continuing, “Right, yeah. I guess we are. You just seem a little… out of it.”

“Out of it?” Hajime questioned, Nagito held his hand up in surrender.

“I- I don’t mean that like an insult,” He tried to explained, “I guess we’re all still adjusting.”

“Yeah.” They stepped onto a stone walkway, connected to something like a wooden pier that led to all the little houses, following along behind Akane and Ibuki as they investigated their new surroundings as well. The wood wasn’t as warm as the rocks had been, he finally felt like the soles of his feet weren’t burning- and speaking of that, actually, “I’m not wearing shoes.”

He had meant for that to be a question, he wasn’t sure why it came out so bluntly, Nagito looked down at his feet.

“Oh, that’s true.” He seemed a little surprised, looking down at his own plain white shoes, “I uh, think we all had a pair down there, did you forget to grab yours?”

“I guess so.”

“Well… maybe there’s another pair in your cabin.” Nagito suggested, trying to usher him along again, over the wooden piers with clear water trickling through beneath them, “Usami did say we had other clothes, these places seem… nice, so far. Don’t you think?”

“You seem really calm about all this.” Hajime couldn’t help but note, “Aren’t you nervous? Don’t you think it’s weird that none of us know how we got here?”

“I’m trying to stay positive.” Nagito’s smile turned almost sad, shoving his hand into his jacket pocket with a sigh, “It might not be ideal, but it’s certainly better than anything I should expect for someone like me.”

Hajime paused at that, watching Nagito walk ahead with that same smile stuck on his face, “Someone like you? What does that-“

“Oh, here’s your cabin.”

Nagito was pointing to a mailbox, directing Hajime’s attention to the little… drawing done on each of the mailboxes around them. It was almost cartoonish- what was a cartoon? How did he know that word?- a little doodle of a somewhat neutral looking face staring back at them. Hajime looked from the mailbox to Nagito, his amused expression faltering slightly at the confusion that must’ve been more apparent than Hajime thought.

“This one?” He asked, pointing at the plain white door.

“Uh… yeah?”

“How do you know this is mine?” He looked back at the mailbox again, the little tan face with choppy looking hair and a piece sticking up in the back. It was nice, maybe even cute, the other mailboxes around them had similar faces decorating them.

“That’s… that’s your face.” Nagito tried, carefully, brows furrowing slightly, “That’s a drawing of you. Hajime, do you not, um…”

He trailed off, lips pressing into a thin line, Hajime tilted his head, “Do I not what?”

“Do you feel okay?” Nagito asked the same kind of question he had before, a more nervous edge to it now. “You seem really disoriented, still.”

“I feel fine.” Hajime shrugged, “I’m freaked out, I guess, and confused- but all of us are, right?”

Nagito nodded, shifting awkwardly on his feet. “Right, all of us are confused, but do you… remember anything?”

“Nagito, what are you getting at?”

Nagito paused, glancing off to the side as Fuyuhiko came to investigate the cottages- only to immediately turn and stomp away in another direction once he spotted them.

“Do you not remember what you look like?” He finally asked, his expression almost pitying, Hajime couldn’t help the slight indignation that rose up inside him at the expression.

But to be perfectly honest… he couldn’t picture his own face.

He could think about the little drawing, the one his eyes shifted automatically too while Nagito waited in silence for an answer, or his blurry reflection in the pool, or…

If he tried to picture a mirror, there was nothing inside. Just an empty slate blue reflection of nothing at all. He didn’t know what he looked like.

“Do you know what you look like?” Hajime asked instead of directly answering, Nagito nodded.

“For the most part, yeah.”

“For the most part?”

“I uh… don’t remember my hair being this white.” Nagito admitted, pulling at a strand of his curly hair to stretch it out and look at it closer. The ends were a faded looking brown, but the closer to Nagito’s scalp it got the more bleached and faded it became, “And there is… something I’m obviously missing, now.”

He was talking about his hand, about the arm that ended just past the elbow. Hajime frowned.

“Are you… okay with that?” He found himself staring at Nagito again, trying to make sense of that still way too calm expression. “You said you don’t remember how it happened.”

“That’s…” Nagito’s smile faltered, “You sure like looking at the pessimistic side of things, huh?”

“That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“It’s scary, honestly.” Nagito relented, the worry in his expression quickly replaced by another easygoing smile, “But it could be worse, I’m pretty lucky to still have the rest of my body be okay, right? This just means that something good must be coming my way, soon.”

Hajime wasn’t entirely sure what to say that, watching Nagito’s expression shift up towards the bright blue skies above them with nothing more than an ‘uh-huh’ coming out in response.

Usami said the key was in the mailbox, right?

His reaching for the key seemed to snap Nagito out of whatever he was thinking about, nodding along like he was somehow agreeing with Hajime’s actions as he pulled the surprisingly simple looking key out of the little box. It was like a house key, almost, his name written on the little tag that was marked by a small drawing of an orange.

“We should probably go ahead and check out our cabins.” Nagito spoke like he was deciding this for the both of them, “Maybe getting settled in will help clear your head a little.”

Hajime almost nodded, but he couldn’t help but frown again when he really processed what was being said, “We… we shouldn’t be ‘settling in’ here, should we?”

“What?”

“I- this is crazy.” Hajime huffed, looking around like taking in their surroundings might help him make sense of this, “This is all crazy, we can’t just stay here because a stuffed rabbit told us too, right?”

“Until we figure out what’s going on, it’s our only option.” Nagito’s expression was more serious than it had been since Hajime first met him- which… wasn’t long ago, all things considered- “There’s clearly a lot happening we don’t really… understand yet.”

Hajime huffed, looking back down at the key in his hands as Nagito cracked a smile again.

“I thought you said Usami was your friend, earlier- are you starting to doubt her already?”

“What?” Hajime whipped his head back up to face him, “No I didn’t.”

“Yeah you did, back down in the room we woke up in.” Nagito frowned, “You said that was your friend from the-“

“Oh, I was talking about Chiaki.” Hajime corrected, and at the confusion on Nagito’s face elaborated, “The uh, the girl with the pink hair- the one in the jacket that was standing by me before.”

Naigto’s confusion only increased, shifting into something more like concern as he nodded slowly. “Is that… who you were talking to at the pool?”

“… Why are you making that face?”

“I’m not making a face.”

“Yeah, you are.”

“Listen, um,” Nagito held his arms up in surrender again, “I think I’m gonna go get Mikan, she said something about going to nursing school earlier, I think maybe she should check on you.”

“Why?” Hajime frowned, “What are you-“

“Why don’t you just go sit down?” Nagito’s tone was weirdly insistent, a hand on his shoulder to try and be reassuring that only led to a weird sensation prickling through his nerves again. “Go ahead and check out your cabin, I’ll uh…. I’ll be right back.”

Hajime didn’t say anything to that, his hand going to rest over where Nagito’s left as he walked quickly back towards pool and hotel. The uncomfortable prickling feeling buzzing through him faded, he huffed out a sigh and finally moved to unlock his door.

“He seems nice.”

Chiaki’s voice nearly made him jump out of his skin, spinning back around and finding her standing directly behind him now. She gave him a lazy smile, a little bit of a shrug accompanying her words as she apologized, “Sorry about that, I thought you heard me walk up.”

“I… no, I didn’t.” Hajime took a second to let his heart get back to beating normally, “Did you see Nagito just now?”

“I saw him talking to you.” She shrugged again, “…I don’t think he saw me, though, if that’s what you’re asking. Are you gonna go in your cottage?”

Hajime turned his head back to the cracked open door he’d just unlocked, “Uh, yeah. I guess. Have you looked in your’s yet?”

“Mind if I come in, too?” She asked instead of answering, head tilting to one side like she was trying to look in, “I’m kinda tired, I wanna sit down.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Hajime held the door open more, letting her walk in ahead and pausing to glance at where Teruteru seemed to be staring at him from the door of his own cottage. He tilted his head in confusion, the wind made it look like the lilies planted by his door moved with it, Hajime awkwardly waved back. “No problem.”

He entered and shut the door behind him, reaching automatically for a light switch even though the light from the window seemed to be enough to light the room.

The cottage was really just one large bedroom, but he supposed that made sense for the size of it, the only furniture was a dresser, an empty shelf, the plain white bed Chiaki was moving to sit down on, and a full length mirror leaning against a door that he assumed went to some kind of bathroom. A bathroom would make the most sense, rooms were supposed to have those, right?

It almost looked like it wasn’t finished being set up, yet. The place lacked any kind of personal touches, but no matter how hard Hajime wracked his brain he couldn’t think of what else might go in a bedroom. Bedrooms were for… beds. That was it. What else was supposed to go in there?

“What are you making that face for?” Chiaki asked from where shed taken the liberty of lying down on her back across the foot of the bed- his bed, apparently, if he was really going to have to stay here- craning her neck to see him still standing in front of the door. “Don’t you wanna come have a look?”

“Have a look at what?” He asked, “I can see everything from here.”

“There’s probably clothes in the dresser, that’s what Usami said.” Chiaki pointed towards the wooden piece of furniture, and for the first time Hajime noticed a pair of shoes placed on the floor next to it, “You can go ahead and change into some better clothes.”

Hajime took a few tentative steps forward, towards the shoes, mostly- making his way to the dresser and opening one of the drawers to find neatly folded shirts. He grabbed one at random, soft white material between his hands that still felt so strange, he ran his thumb along one of the buttons on it before he turned back to Chiaki.

“I can’t change with you in here.” He said a little more bluntly than he meant to, Chiaki propped herself up on her elbows.

“Why not?”

“Because… that’s weird?” Hajime thought that would be obvious, “You… we don’t know each other. I can’t change with you in here.”

“You changed with me in the room while we were downstairs.”

“That was different.”

Chiaki just hummed at first, an amused looking smile on her face again, “You didn’t know what a pool was but you know about social rules like changing clothes in private?”

Hajime was about to protest again, ignore the comment to ask her to leave when she finally sighed and rolled over onto her stomach.

“Okay.” She gave him a thumbs up, her voice surprisingly clear despite being face down in the blanket, “Go ahead, I won’t look.”

He stared at her a moment more, finally sighing and changing into the new clothes. There were rolled up pairs of pants and shorts in another drawer, socks and underwear in another. These clothes weren’t too different than one Chiaki had shown him when he first woke up. The shirts were all plain, solid colors, some had buttons, some didn’t. The shorts and pants were all made of different materials, all of them felt different, he found himself mindlessly running his hand over them before he finally caught movement in the mirror.

Oh, right. A mirror. He could finally see what he looked like.

He approached that next, after he had finally changed, finding his eyes drawn to his clothes before his face, to the plain white button up shirt and blue pants. But he could see his hands too, tan and square and sort of rough looking, with faint scars around both his wrists. He raised one of them and followed it’s movement in the reflection till it found the side of his face. He did look a little like the picture on the mailbox, he had the same hair- though the piece in the back sticking up was a lot smaller than it looked in the drawing, even when he pulled it and tilted his head forward to look at it better. His hair looked recently cut, it was short and choppy and different lengths in different places, did he cut his own hair?

He pushed his bangs aside, revealing a thin, jagged line of scar tissue that spanned across his forehead. That must’ve been what everyone had been talking about before, what Nagito had touched earlier… was it really scary? He didn’t think he looked that scary. The eyes staring back at him in the reflection weren’t scary, but they were definitely interesting. One red and one a duller green, blinking back at him as he tilted his head slightly.

His hand traced the scar till it met with something… else. Something cold and metal, in the side of his head. It was…. definitely in his skin, the line where his skin met metal was almost numb- but it didn’t hurt, that was probably good. He ran his fingers along the side of it, where it moved from his temple and curved down slightly to take up more space behind his ear, tilting his head to stare at the small, faintly blinking light and series of… holes? What were those?

Discomfort buzzed from the tips of his fingers through his nerves, a worried hum escaping him as the reality of this really set in: he had no idea what the hell that was. He didn’t put it there, he certainly didn’t remember having… any of this happen. Someone else put something in his head.

“Chiaki.” He managed to get out around the slowly building tightness creeping from his chest to his throat, “Can you, uh… come look at this?”

He didn’t hear her getting off the bed, maybe that was because his heartbeat sounded so much louder in his own head now. He moved his hand further back, pushed his hair out of the way, tried to crane his neck to an angle to reveal more of it in the mirror.

“Hm.” Chiaki’s reaction was not at all what he was hoping for. “Are you okay?”

“Wha- am I-“ He couldn’t help but stare, how could she talk about this so casually? “Does this look okay to you?”

“Oh, I guess I just mean… are you hurt? Is that hurting you?” She looked back at his reflection, that now featured her next to him, as well, “Sorry, it can take me a minute to put my thoughts into words sometimes.”

Hajime took a second to calm down, try to stop the sudden rise of panic and frustration that surged up in him. How was she being so calm about this? How was almost everyone being calm about the situation they were in?

“No… it doesn’t hurt.”

“Well, that’s one good thing, right?”

He didn’t have anything to say to that, he just frowned at the metal he could see in the mirror. Chiaki motioned for him to bend over. She put her hands on either side of his face, just short of actually holding it, fingers a centimeter away from his skin while she inspected the metal herself.

“It sorta looks like it has USB ports.” She noted, “Or… maybe not USB, something else.”

“What would those uh… be for?” Hajime asked as her hands moved away, staying slightly bent over while he looked again, “What is this thing?”

Chiaki tilted her head slightly, staring up at him while he looked at the reflection.

“Do you remember how you got that?”

He wasn’t sure why he expected her to answer his question, she was probably just as confused about it as he was. He didn’t remember how he got that, when he tried to think of anything before waking up his mind just… stopped. Like turning a page in a book and finding it blank, he couldn’t think of anything.

“Uh… no.” He answered slowly, unease worming it’s way through his stomach, “Do you remember anything before we got here?”

“Hm. Not really.” She shrugged, she shrugged- what kind of reaction was that? “I remember the beach. Do you remember that?”

The beach? 

…That did sound familiar, actually.

He nodded, despite how frustrated and confused he still was. A weird, hazy idea of a place forming in his mind. Chiaki gave him a concerned frown before nodding towards the door.

“We should probably meet up with the others, right? Don’t you wanna see what Usami wanted to say?”

“Not really.” He huffed, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt one more time and hoping he did it right, “I’m not super interested in what a rabbit has to say.”

“Well, she’s a mechanical rabbit.” Chiaki pointed out, leaning against the wall and waiting for him to open the door, “She’s probably got more to say than a normal rabbit might.”

He just hummed, processing through what she said as he closed the door behind them. Mechanical meant… a machine. Machines were made out of metal, right? The thing in his head was metal, was he-

“Am I like Usami is?” He asked, reaching up to touch his forehead again, Chiaki chuckled.

“A rabbit?”

“A… machine.”

“Oh. No, I don’t think so.” She fell into step beside him, towards where he could see Gundham waiting for Nekomaru to reach the stairs on the side of the hotel, it looked like Nekomaru was limping a little. “You seem like a pretty normal human guy to me.”

“Normal.” He echoed, about to say something else when Chiaki hummed again.

“As normal as any of us are, anyway.”

He paused at the bottom of the stairs, both to face her and to give Nekomaru a chance to catch his breath at the top of the stairs. He must still be out of it from waking up, Hajime certainly still felt odd, Nagito had said a lot of them were.

“Are you… scared about any of this?” He asked quietly, eyes flicking around a bit, “You said you didn’t remember anything before this either, right? Aren’t you… I mean isn’t this bad? Aren’t you worried?”

Chiaki blinked, clearly not expecting that question. She put a hand to her chin for a second.

“I guess I am worried.” She admitted, pink eyes shifting towards the old building again, “I’m more worried about all of you, about how you’ll… you know, adjust to this. It’s kind of a lot, you know?”

“Yeah. It is a lot.” Hajime frowned, “I guess we have no choice but to go in there, huh?”

“Probably.” Chiaki yawned, “I think we’re the last two out here.”

He turned to walk up the steps, the growing noise from the room he was approaching drowned out their footsteps as he reached the door. Almost everyone was here, all dressed in different outfits- different from the plain clothes they’d all woken up in and different from each other. From Kazuichi’s bright yellow jumpsuit to the sundress and cardigan Sonia was wearing while she followed Peko across the room to the table, everyone seemed to have vastly different wardrobes.

He spotted Nagito quickly, the only one who apparently hadn’t changed, speaking to Mikan and gesturing to the side of his head. She just nodded, gripping the hem of her skirt while her eyes flitted between Hajime and the loud crunch that suddenly rose up from the table across the room.

Akane was already eating.

“I told you, if you wait a minute I’ll make something better!” Teruteru’s voice bordered on whining, rounding a table covered in different fruits and food to where Akane was gnawing on an apple. She snapped him when he came close, surprisingly sharp canine teeth clicking as she bit down at nothing and made Teruteru jump back.

“Back off, man- I’m starving. Who knows how long it’s been since we’ve eaten, I need this.” She took another bite of the apple, “Try to take this from me again and I’ll eat you next.”

Teru raised his eyebrows at that, an almost interested look on his face now, “Oh, really? That sounds- hey!“

Akane’s next move was to kick at him, halfheartedly, swatting him away with her foot in a movement that resulted in her plopping down into the chair next to her at the table. Her eyes glanced around all the food.

“I don’t see why you wanna cook so bad, anyway.” She muttered, “There’s plenty here. Just eat.”

“It’s all… plain food. Basic fruits or that ‘ready made’ garbage.” Teruteru scrunched his nose up, “I’m a chef, you know. I can make great food! Way better than cereal and fruit and… what are these, just granola bars?”

“I did the best I could!” Usami squeaked from across the room, coming up another set of stairs and holding a stack of something in her hands that wobbled precariously as she stumbled forward, “I don’t have any fingers! It’s hard to be precise with paws! I got you all the yummy food I could possibly reach!”

“Where did this food even come from?” Peko asked from where she was standing by an empty seat at the table, “This fruit all looks fresh, it must’ve been brought here recently.”

“Mm-hm! That’s right!” Usami struggled to keep the stack she was holding upright, a nervous giggle escaping her as her attempts to straighten it only skewed it more, “Oh- oh dear-“

“I’ll take those.” The blonde who still hadn’t introduced themselves crossed the room quickly- dressed in a nicer shirt and white pants now and- were they taller now? They looked taller than before. Maybe he was imagining that.

“Oh, thank you so much!” Usami cheered as they lifted them from her hands, immediately inspecting them and holding one up to look closer, “That’s so nice of you to want to help-“

“What are these, exactly?” They cut her off, apparently more interested in information than being helpful. 

Hajime stepped closer as they held up what looked like a small screen that displayed a little bunny symbol and a name. Kazuichi’s name, the letters for ‘Souda’ blinking beneath the pink and white logo.

“Hm?” Usami tilted her head back to look up at them, “Oh! Those are the handbooks I told you about! There’s one for each of you! Would you be a lamb and pass them out for me?”

They hesitated, shifting through the stack a little before Hiyoko snickered, “Yeah, come on, be a little lamb. Be a little piggy and trot on over here-“

“Hiyoko.” Mahiru elbowed her, “Don’t be mean.”

“Pigs are cool!” Ibuki interjected, smiling wide as she was given her handbook, “They have cute little tails and floppy ears.”

… Hajime didn’t know what a pig was, or a lamb.

“They’re also extremely intelligent creatures.” Gundham added, pausing where he seemed to be pacing along the back of the room by one of the windows, “Far more intelligent than most ignorant humans care to give them credit for. They’re seen as nothing more than food to be eaten.”

Pig. Smart animal. Okay, he was learning.

“Which reminds me, I think I saw some bacon in the freezer in that kitchen.” Teru didn’t seem to notice the glare Gundham leveled at him after he spoke, scratching his chin thoughtfully before turning back to the kitchen. “I’ll get started on something for everyone to eat- believe me you won’t want any of this stupid dry cereal once you’ve had my cooking.”

“Don’t you wanna wait and see what’s on your handbook?” Nagito asked as he started walking towards the kitchen door, taking a step forward from where he was standing talking to Mikan, “It might be important-“

“No, no, no,” Teruteru waved him off, a nervous edge to his voice as he laughed, “I’m sure it’s fine, everything is okay. I’m choosing to believe this is all just some weird vacation, mmhm. We’ll hang out, have a nice, possibly sexy beach day, and then we’ll go home. Everything’s fine.”

He disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Nekomaru to sigh as he was given his handbook. Teruteru’s was set on the table, the name ‘Hanamura’ blinking before the screen went dark. Kazuichi took his next, turning it over in his hands before investigating the screen itself. Mahiru was already tapping on her’s, Hiyoko electing to look over her shoulder at it instead of investigating her own. Mikan flinched as she was handed her’s, holding awkwardly and squeaking out a thank you before putting it in her skirt pocket.

“So it seems like Teru’s uh… in denial about this situation.” Nekomaru frowned, “But I guess we don’t exactly know what the situation is either, do we?”

“Usami still hasn’t given us any concrete information.” Peko pointed out, red eyes shifting towards Fuyuhiko as he was given his handbook and scowled down at it. “You still haven’t actually told us why you’re keeping us here.”

“Ah, right.” Usami’s cheerful attitude deflated, shuffling awkwardly on her feet, “That is the big thing, isn’t it? You all don’t remember why you’re here… I really thought you’d remember, i- it really doesn’t make any sense that you don’t!”

“There’s very little about this situation that makes sense.” The unnamed blonde approached her again, holding up the last handbook they hadn’t distributed, “Is this mine, or Hinata’s?”

“Huh?” Hajime couldn’t help but step forward again, realizing as they held the handbook up that he was the only one in the room who hadn’t been given one. Well Chiaki hadn’t, either, but it seemed she had wandered off again.

Where was she, anyway?

“This is the only handbook left, it has no name.” They continued explaining, more to Usami than Hajime, though they tilted the handbook for him to see anyway. “It’s either mine or his-“

“Ooooh, that one is yours!” Usami assured them, before continuing in a softer voice, “I wasn’t sure what your real name was, so I thought you could tell me and I’ll put it in there in a jiffy!”

They hesitated, eyes widening slightly as they stared back down at the handbook, Hajime cleared his throat.

“So… if that’s the last one, why don’t I get one?” He tilted his head, “Did you just uh… run out?”

“Oh, um,” She tapped her paws together, “Well, like I said already, you’re all up earlier than we- I thought, ha ha… I didn’t have all the information on you I needed to fill out your handbook!”

“What information?” Hajime couldn’t stop the suspicion from creeping into his tone, “Why were you trying to get information on me?”

“Oh, we’ll get to that in just a minute!” Usami nervously tried to wave him off, turning to face the person next to him instead, “So! What’s your name? I can fill it out right now!”

“Togami.” They answered, finally. “Byakuya Togami.”

Usami stilled, no movement or sound came from her at all for a moment, she finally tilted her head.

“Hajime, can you excuse us for a teeny tiny second?” She asked sweetly, “Go sit at the table, I’m about to give my big presentation!”

“Does a presentation mean answers?” Fuyuhiko asked, dropping his handbook down on the table dismissively, “The only reason I’m here is to figure out what the hell you’re trying to pull.”

“In just a second!” She repeated, giving Hajime’s legs a little push, “Go, go! Sit sit! Be right there!”

He finally relented, stepping towards the table and moving to sit by Kazuichi, he could barely hear Usami talking to Byakuya behind him.

“I’m not so sure that’s the truth.” She whispered, so quiet Hajime barely heard her, it seemed nobody else in here did, “Is that really the name you want to use?”

“Why are you questioning me?” They asked just as quietly, tone growing hostile, “You just said you didn’t know my name.”

Usami just sighed, Hajime tried to turn his focus back to where Kazuichi was tapping at his handbook. There was a lock signal flashing on the screen, the words ‘Restricted Information’ repeating every time Kazuichi tried to open whatever file or application he was trying to open. He huffed, flipping his tablet to be face down on the table and looking up as Usami hopped over to them.

“Can everyone come sit down at the big table here? I think you all deserve an explanation.” She pushed one of the chairs over from the taller tables, letting out a sigh of relief when Nekomaru awkwardly moved to grab it and bring it over for her.

“I’ll fuckin’ say.” Fuyuhiko grumbled, coming to stand behind a chair instead of actually sitting down. “Who the hell is keeping us here?”

Teru reluctantly emerged from the kitchen, looking tense and worried, his hands shoved in the pockets of the apron he must’ve found and put on in the kitchen. Sonia sat down at the head of the table, a smile on her face but an anxious sounding hum escaping her as she kept her hands clasped in her lap. Mahiru and Hiyoko came and sat down together, Hiyoko kicking one of her legs up in a seat to prevent Mikan from sitting next to her- she came and sat on the other side of Hajime instead. Nagito came up to stand behind him, tapping the back of Hajime’s chair in a mindless way, like his hand just needed something to do.

There was a good ten seconds where they all just watched Usami struggle to get up in the tall chair she’d picked out for herself. The bunny swung her legs, grappled with the seat, struggling like someone trying to pull themselves up a cliff face, grunting and panting like she was out of breath even though she… wouldn’t need to breathe, right? Machines don’t need to breathe.

Hajime was breathing, another point to Chiaki’s argument that he must just be a human… even if that perfectly reasonable explanation felt… 

Wrong, somehow.

“Okay!” Usami put her paws on her hips, “First I want to say: I’m so sorry for all the confusion! This is my first big job, I really want it to go right! I want to give all of you the best chance at a better life you could possibly have!”

Fuyuhiko scoffed, “You’re telling me you kept us locked down in that stupid basement to try and give us a better life?”

“Not just locked us away, but kidnapped us, too.” Peko added on from her seat at the other end of the table, “You still haven’t answered how we got here in the first place.”

“Oh, well-“

“And why are these handbooks locked?” Kazuichi asked next, flipping his back over to open it again, “All I could see was part of a map, all these other apps say they’re restricted. Why give us something we can’t even look at?”

“Okay, one question at a time!” Usami covered her face with her paws, “I’m just one little bunny! I can’t answer all these at once…”

“Answer mine first, then.” Peko kept her tone leveled, hands folded on the table in front of her, “Why are we here at all?”

“Ah, okay… okay…” Usami seemed to be trying to calm herself down. “I can answer that, mostly. There’s some stuff I just can’t tell you kids yet, I’m sorry. I’ll do my best, though! I-“

“You’re stalling.” Byakuya noted, “Just answer the question.”

Usami’s ears drooped, nodding reluctantly before straightening up again, “Oh, okay. Just please remember that I’m not lying- and that I really am here to help you through this!”

Nobody responded, no one even nodded, Hajime gave the rest of the table a quick glance before he settled his focus back on Usami.

“You all… Oh, it’s going to sound unbelievable, if none of you really remember it...” Usami broke off into muttering, Byakuya cleared their throat to try and keep things on track, she hesitantly nodded before speaking again.

“I’m afraid you were all the victims of some… rather mean and ugly, um… human experimentation.”

Chapter Text

“Ha… yeah. Okay. Right.”

Kazuichi looked nervous. Incredibly nervous. More nervous than Hajime had ever seen him in the extremely brief time he’d known him- which was saying something, because Kazuichi had been nervous this entire time.

“I- I’m not buying that.” He stuttered over his response a little, tugging on his hat so it covered a little more of his face, “This is a joke or something, right?”

There was a dull pain through the side of Hajime’s head, with a quiet grunt he traced the pain to the metal port behind his ear. Human experimentation would certainly explain that- but why was it hurting all of a sudden? It hadn’t hurt before.

“Aha, of course. Of course it’s a joke.” Teruteru’s denial was much more confident, combing back his hair with his fingers like he was physically shaking off Usami’s statement. It was a stark contrast to how Kazuichi had gone tense and quiet, staring wide eyed at the table cloth in front of him. “It’s a joke, this is all some big practical joke. There’s probably cameras around, right? This is a prank show or something-“

“Well, there are cameras around…” Usami admitted, sympathy creeping into her tone as she looked around the table at the others’ nervous faces- and why did so many people seem nervous? “But those are just for me, in case something bad happens- oh! Which it won’t. Nothing bad will happen! A-and I’m sorry, but I was telling the truth.”

“You really expect us to believe that?” Mahiru’s face scrunched up in either confusion or disbelief, maybe both, “That sounds insane.”

“I don’t so much expect you to believe it as I… know it’s the truth.” Usami amended, “And you all do too- oh, I know this is scary, but you have to accept this. It’s the only way we can all move forward.”

“What do you mean we all do too?” Hajime asked, “I- I don’t remember getting ‘experimented on’ or anything like-“

He broke off in a wince, the metal in his head felt hot- it felt like it was burning now. Pain seared through the side of his head as Kazuichi abruptly stood from the table.

“I’m getting a drink.” He muttered under his breath, Hiyoko let out a huff as he passed.

“Well freaky experiments would certainly explain his looks.” She nodded in the pink haired boy’s direction before turning towards Hajime, “It would explain Mr. Robot’s freaky appearance, too.”

Hajime tried to stop from gritting his teeth, the pain in his head had subsided, the burn went down to an ache as he frowned at Hiyoko.

“I- I’m not a robot.” He protested, watching her eyes flit towards the side of his head, “I don’t know what this thing is.”

“A freaky robot part, duh.” Hiyoko retorted, Nagito’s quiet request for her to lay off partially drowned out by Akane speaking up.

“I mean I guess it…” She huffed, “I don’t wanna say it makes sense, but I definitely didn’t have teeth like these before.”

She used a finger to stretch back one side of her mouth, like she was showing off her abnormally large canine teeth to everyone before holding that same hand out in front of her.

“And when I woke up, my hands looked like… uh… this.”

At first nothing happened, Akane grunted a little and stared down at her nails and scarred knuckles.

“…It was happening earlier, I’m not crazy, I know I saw-“

“Shit!”

There were a couple screams across the table- punctuated by Nekomaru’s exclamation as he took a large step back from his spot next to her- Akane’s nails suddenly seemed to stretch and darken. They resembled something more like claws now than actual fingernails, pointed and almost jagged looking as she flexed her hand.

“I knew something was different.” Ibuki added next, apparently not too put off by Akane’s claws as she struggled to find some way to make them recede again, “I could tell the second I woke up!”

“How?” Mahiru tilted her head, a look of disbelief still plastered on her face from Akane’s display, “What… what can you do?”

“Hm? No idea.” Ibuki shrugged with a nervous looking smile, “But when I was trying to climb out of that coffin-pod thing, I slipped and cut my knee, look.”

She put her foot up on the table, earning an irritated hum from Byakuya and a a squeak of panic from Mikan sitting beside her. She rolled down one of her knee high socks- that were already cut up in several places, she must’ve done that on purpose- to reveal a small cut.

It was hardly anything, maybe the length of her thumb, shallow and already scabbed over a bright pink color.

“See? Ibuki knows that’s not normal.” She pointed out like she was giving a presentation, pulling her sock back up and plopping back down in her seat. “I just didn’t know what it meant at first.”

But… that didn’t really answer anything, did it? 

“What’s weird about that?” Hajime asked when it seemed nobody else was going to, “I mean it’s just a cut, right?”

“I- It was pink.” Mikan explained, sounding a little shocked still, “That’s what was strange about it.”

Hajime… still didn’t see what the big deal was. Nagito placed a hand on his shoulder, Hajime’s skin felt like it was practically bristling at the contact. His skin still felt so sensitive, every touch sent a weird new sensation through his nerves and across his skin.

“Blood is… supposed to be red.” He explained in a little more detail, “Do you remember your blood being pink before this?”

Before this. 

Right.

There still wasn’t a before this in his head. Empty pages.

“… I don’t know.” He mumbled. “Is everyone else’s blood pink?”

“Mine’s definitely not.” Teru disagreed, though his resolve faltered when he noticed Usami nodding her head seriously, “I- no. No, I’m not believing this. I won’t believe it. I don’t have a weird freaky blood color or some weird… whatever that thing was that Akane did.”

“Yes, you do.” Usami protested in poorly concealed pity, “All of you do, but it’s not supposed to be scary! It’s not scary anymore, this is a place for you all to heal, remember?”

“I suppose it is not so scary…” Sonia muttered to herself, finally removing her hands from where they’d been clasped beneath the table this entire time. “It was at first, but… if I am truly not the only one experiencing this, then…”

She opened her clasped hands, revealing white and light blue frost spreading across her palms. Hiyoko and Ibuki both leaned forward to get a better look, Sonia let out a nervous hum before folding her hands back in front of her on the table.

“When I first woke up there was frost on the inside of the pod, and when I was in my cabin everywhere I stepped left little… frost marks like this.” She began to explain, opening her hands again to stare down at them, “And I’ve been feeling rather chilly this entire time- or, almost the entire time. It felt nice outdoors, but… hm.”

She paused, expression furrowing like she was lost in thought, “I could certainly never do anything like this before, but would I not remember being… forced into some kind of experimentation?”

“It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you could just forget.” Mahiru muttered, turning towards Usami again. “So if all of this… is somehow true, then why don’t we remember what happened to us?”

“Well that’s the big question- isn’t it?” Usami huffed, paws on her hips and a worried whine escaping her, “I have no idea! There’s no reason for you all not to remember anything, even if the stuff you remembered would probably be… no fun.”

“No fun?” Byakuya questioned in an almost mocking tone, Nagito let out an anxious chuckle.

“Well does ‘human experimentation’ sound like something that could ever be fun?”

“But you can’t move forward if you just forget the past completely…” Usami tapped a paw to her chin, “At least, I wouldn’t think. This sounds like a very unhealthy way of dealing with things, avoidance is not a good long term coping mechanism.”

“What are you, a therapist?” Fuyuhiko scoffed, Usami nodded excitedly.

“I am! I’m here to help you all get back your on feet.” She seemed to perk up, “Whatever the reason for your memory troubles are, I’m sure we can all figure them out together! I actually have some experience working with someone with long term memory issues, so I’m sure-“

“I’m not letting a fuckin’ wind up rabbit try to play psychiatrist.” Fuyuhiko interrupted, “I only came in here so I could learn why the hell we’re all being kept here. I don’t care about all this other stuff, I just want to know who the hell is responsible for this.”

Usami’s good mood shattered, she tapped her paws together nervously, “I- I’m really sorry you’re upset, but… I can’t tell you that.”

“Bullshit.”

“I really can’t! It’s a security issue!” She insisted, “I can’t talk about it yet, just… oh, please trust that I’m really trying to help you. I want you all to have the best future possible!”

Something clattered in the kitchen, something metallic hitting the floor and a muffled yelp from Kazuichi. There was a quiet pause, a few of the others turning to look at the kitchen door while Hajime focused on Usami.

“So you can’t tell us anything else about who’s keeping us here?” He asked, leaning forward in his seat a little to rest his elbows on the table. “You said you really want to help us, how do we know whoever you uh… work for does?”

“Oh, geez,” Usami tilted her head, her voice growing more serious than it had been since they woke up, “That’s still getting awfully close to the confidential side of things, but... Yes. I can say with absolute certainty they want to help you all.”

“Help us… what?” He pressed further, still very uneasy about this entire… situation. Human experimentation sounded bizarre, unbelievable… upsetting? Maybe that was the word. He needed more information before he could trust this. “And why do they want to help us?”

“That’s a teeny bit complicated.” Usami fidgeted, Byakuya crossed their arms.

“Simplify it, then.”

“Well, to put it simply, they… know where you’re coming from.” Usami settled on, “They’re like all of you- ooh! That should be nice, right? Now you know you’re not alone in this!”

“What do you mean they’re like us?” Peko’s already intense expression grew even more grim, hands folded tensely in front of her, “Does that mean whoever it is has been… ‘experimented on’ as well?”

“A- and what exactly do you mean by experiments?” Mikan’s quiet voice finally spoke up, “I mean… clearly there are some, um, m-medically impossible things going on. But ‘experiments’ is such a vague term. H- how are we supposed to know if we’re-“

“Okay- okay!”

Kazuichi’s voice was muffled by the kitchen door, a worried whine and almost metallic sounding clatter rising up in the kitchen as he screamed and stumbled through the door- it flew open and nearly collided into Gundham where he’d taken to pacing back and forth along the length of the table. Kazuichi’s eyes were wide with terror, tripping over one of his feet and swaying to the side enough Hajime could see a room in an absolute mess behind him.

The metal cabinet- fridge, that was a refrigerator- was left with a door half open, revealing glass water bottles and soda cans inside. There were utensils lying scattered on the floor, the metallic looking counter on wheels was in the center of the kitchen at an odd angle, one that didn’t seem to match the organized stacks of rice bags and other food on top of it.

And Kazuichi was holding a pan, waving an arm wildly as he yelled and pointed an accusatory finger in Usami’s direction.

“What is this?” His voice sounded more terrified than demanding, “What- I, okay- I can’t take this anymore-”

He waved the arm still holding the pan, the palm of his hand laid flat to the bottom of it, Teru ducked to avoid getting hit while Kazuichi borderline screamed.

“Why is this happening?! What did you do to me?!”

“Woah, woah!” Usami waved her paws above her head, “Stay calm! You have to relax!”

“How am I supposed to relax?!”

“Just let go of the stupid pan.” Hiyoko scrunched her face, “Why are you waving it around like that?”

“Wh- you think I’m doing it on purpose?” Kazuichi snapped back, teeth clenched together as he tried to use his other hand to pry the pan off.  “This just- ugh- It keeps happening! It keeps happening- when I woke up I couldn’t get my hand off the side of that freaky coffin, I- things kept moving in the kitchen, it’s- okay the pan is getting hot! It’s getting hot! What am I supposed to do?!”

The pan wasn’t the only thing getting hot, the pain was returning to Hajime’s head with a low burn, an uncomfortable heat radiating from behind his ear and through the side of his head. He must’ve tensed up, or grunted or something without realizing it, Fuyuhiko’s annoyed glare towards Kazuichi turned towards Hajime with an intense focus.

“You just need to breathe!” Usami was trying to coach, “In and out, nice and slow! Like this!”

Her pantomimed breathing was entirely ignored, Kazuichi’s struggling to remove the pan joined by Akane as she got up to grip the pan’s handle and pull as hard as she could.

Kazuichi was yanked roughly forward, nearly colliding into Teruteru again, before he tried to steady his stance with a rushed string of: “It’s burning- it’s starting to burn. Okay- Get it off! Get it off-“

“Shut up! I’m pulling as hard as I can!”

“W-well, try harder!”

“No! No, no, no!” Usami hopped from her chair to the table, hurrying over to be as close to the two as possible, “No tugging! You’ll hurt your friend’s arm! You don’t want that! Kazuichi just needs to calm down and he can let go of it!”

“Why is he- ow!” Akane yanked her hands back, teeth grit and eyes wide with shock, “It burns! What the hell?”

“I’m sorry!” Kazuichi looked a second away from a panic attack- Hajime wasn’t sure how he knew what that was- letting the pan hang from his hand again while he stumbled over his words, “I don’t know what’s going on-“

“The small metal demon said you must breathe.” Gundham reminded him putting a hand on Kazuichi’s back that made him yelp. The noise seemed to further punctuate the pain in Hajime’s head, he couldn’t stop a hand from reaching up to claw at the metal behind his ear, Nagito’s colder hand grabbed his wrist to stop it.

“Hey- don’t touch me, man! What are you-“ Kazuichi stopped short, jaw going slack as Gundham held up what looked like a kitchen knife- it’s blade dented and bent like it was almost curling in on itself. “Wh- What the hell…?”

“It was stuck to your back.” Gundham seemed just as confused by this as Kazuichi was, his scowl furrowing more as he looked down at it, “I watched it bend while you were shrieking like a cowering fool.”

Kazuichi’s panicked face scrunched up into something more indignant, whatever response he has planned cut off by Sonia chiming in.

“Just try to calm down a little.” She urged, standing up and worriedly folding her hands together, “I could try to cool the pan down, if that would help- my hands are um, rather cold now.”

“Wh- I- uh…” Kazuichi’s previous shock and confusion returned, cheeks flushing as his eyes flicked from Sonia’s face to her hands as her stuttered, “I- I mean, uh, that might-“

The pan hit the floor with a loud metallic clatter, Kazuichi jolted and stumbled back a few paces before perking up.

“It’s off!” He let out a relieved and nervous laugh, a look of disbelief stuck on his face as he stared down at the pan, the anxious smile quickly fell back into fear as he turned back to Usami, “I- what… so what the hell was that?!” 

“So this is actually what I was trying to explain before. I think a good term for your ability would be… metalkinesis.” Usami answered with a head tilt, “You’re like a walking magnet! You can move metal with your smart little noggin!”

“No, no way.” Teruteru answered before Kazuichi could even formulate some kind of response, firmly shaking his head, “Nope, no, I’m not… I’m not gonna believe any of this! I don’t believe any of this. None of this is happening.”

He put his hands over his eyes, like covering them up would somehow make all of this go away, “I’m just still asleep, I’ll wake up back in bed, and mama will be making breakfast. No weird bent metal, no ice, no sexy claws-“

“Of course you think the freaky claws were sexy.” Mahiru rolled her eyes, Akane let out an indignant huff.

“They’re not freaky. Those are my hands you’re talking about!”

“We’re getting off topic. Again.” Byakuya spoke over the two of them, cold stare fixated on Usami, “Are you going to give us more information, or not? You’re trying to do  anything possible to avoid actually answering any of our questions.”

“That’s not true at all!” Usami gasped in shock, “That would be such a mean thing to do! I told you already- I just want to help you!”

“You can help us by answering.” Nekomaru suggested gruffly, scratching at one of the faded looking scars running down his face, “What the hell happened to us? And the thing Kazuichi just did, do we… does this mean we all have something like that?”

Usami nodded, the rabbit’s movements stopping for a moment till a beeping sound echoed around the table. Everyone reached for the tablets Usami had passed out earlier- the kind of tablet Hajime still hadn’t received. He awkwardly fidgeted with his hands while almost everyone frowned down at the screens.

“I just gave you all access to a little more information on you handbooks.” Usami informed them, her cheery tone returning once again, “This should let you know a little bit more about what you’re capable of now! The further into this healing trip we go, the more I can share with you, I just need to check on a couple teensy tiny things first. Sound good?”

Nobody really responded, all absorbed in reading information about themselves- information about things that had apparently been done to them without their knowledge or consent. The thought of it made Hajime’s skin crawl, discomfort prickling across his skin like needles-

He needed to focus on something else.

“Usami.” He spoke softer than he meant to, but the bunny’s attention was still taken from where she was watching Gundham scowl down in confusion at his handbook, she made her way across the table to stand in front of him and tilted her head, “Do I… still not get a handbook? How am I supposed to learn what happened to me?”

“Ah! Right, right.” She nodded very seriously, looking around at everyone else before leaning in a little more, “The way you’ll be learning things might need to be a little bit different, but I can still get you a handbook if you want to be like everyone else!”

“What does that mean?” Hajime frowned, “Why am I different?”

“I didn’t say you were different, silly.” Usami gently corrected, Hajime could’ve sworn Fuyuhiko scoffed under his breath from where he was still standing a ways away, “I said the way you might need to learn about yourself is different, but don’t worry! I can help… right after I check on something.”

“Check on what?” He asked next, Usami shook her head.

“Ah- there’s a lot of things I don’t feel very comfortable talking about, you kids are way too focused on the behind the scenes stuff, you should be relaxing!”

“We’ve been kidnapped by a talking rabbit and we don’t have any idea who we are or what’s happened to us.” Hajime pointed out, “This isn’t a relaxing sort of environment.”

Nagito’s hand was on his shoulder again, he couldn’t help but jolt at the contact, peering back and finding the white haired boy staring down at him with his mouth pressed into a worried smile.

“You really don’t have any idea who you are, do you?” He asked the same kind of question he had already asked back at Hajime’s cabin, Hajime wasn’t sure why he wanted to get into this now.

He shook his head anyway, even if he was pretty sure Nagito already knew that, Nagito’s gaze moved to Usami instead.

“Is that normal? Is it okay that he doesn’t really… remember anything at all yet?” he let out a nervous hum, Hajime glanced around at where everyone was staring down at their handbooks, “Nobody else here has forgotten themselves completely, did something go wrong when he woke up? Mikan said it could be shock or something.”

“Th-that’s true.” Mikan was watching him now, too, looking up from her own handbook and holding it close to her chest as she bit her lip, “Usually people in shock are not as um… coherent as you seem to be, though. So I don’t know if I would necessarily diagnose you with that.“

“So you don’t have any idea, then?” Hajime tried to clarify, Nagito nudged him.

“Don’t bully her, Hajime.” He muttered, Hajime stuttered over his response.

“Wh- I wasn’t bullying her, I was just saying-“

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Mikan squeaked, lowering her head, “I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.”

“Not cool, Hajime.” Nagito shook his head, Hajime opened his mouth to say something else when Usami’s paw touched his cheek.

“Oh dear,” Usami hummed worriedly, leaning a little closer to Hajime’s face, “You don’t remember… anything? I know everyone seems to be having some problems, but you don’t have any memories of before this?”

“Uh…” Hajime fidgeted, a few of the others were looking up at him now, “No.”

“No childhood? No… school memories? Birthdays?”

“I, uh, I don’t think I know what that is-“

“Holidays? Friends?”

Didn’t Chiaki say they were friends? Did that count? Did any of them count?

“Uh… didn’t you say… these guys are my friends?” Hajime tried uncertainly, not entirely sure what he was supposed to be saying, what did she want him to say? “I mean, I don’t remember any of them, but, I don’t… uh…”

“You don’t remember anything from before waking up down in that basement?” Mahiru joined the conversation, leaning forward slightly with a worried frown of her own while Hajime shook his head.

What did they want him to say? How much did they all remember? Did they know more about all of this than him?

“Anything at all?” Usami pried a little more when he didn’t respond, leaning closer so she could look Hajime in the eyes better, it looked like she was focusing more on his red eye than his green.

But he didn’t really have an answer- not a clear answer, anyway. The only thing he remembered was waking up with Chiaki, and maybe… maybe a beach. That didn’t sound like the right answer, for some reason, it didn’t feel like something he should say.

“Nothing.” He finally mumbled, uncomfortable with the attention for reasons he couldn’t quite put into words, “I remember water, I remember waking up… I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything you don’t wanna say.” Usami’s worry was masked by her usual sweet tone, patting his cheek slightly before she finally backed away again to give him a little space, “But this is not good… very, very not good. Oh, I really wanted my first big job to go so well…”

She hung her head, whimpering for a moment before perking back up, “I’m not gonna let a little roadblock like this stand in our way! I’ll go make a call, I’m sure we can get all these problems straightened up!”

“Who are you calling?” Mahiru asked, “You can make calls to other places?”

“Are you calling the people who locked us away here?” Peko asked in a much more guarded tone, “I doubt it’s in our best interest to contact them.”

“One question at a time,” Usami reminded them, “And like I said before: you’re here to get better! To be helped! This is a relaxing, healing, tropical vacation! I’ll be right back!”

There were a few quiet protests as Usami quickly hopped off the table and hurried from the restaurant and downstairs, but most of the other’s focus was still fixed on their tablets. All worried frowns and confused scowls, the only people other than Hajime that didn’t seem absorbed in reading again were Nagito and Fuyuhiko.

Nagito had his handbook out, his hand holding it like he had been reading before the conversation shifted to Hajime’s apparently significant lack of memory. Fuyuhiko had never even picked his handbook back up from the table, standing further back with his arms crossed and glancing from person to person at the table with his one open eye.

Byakuya was the first one to put their handbook down, a serious frown fixed on their face as they cleared their throat to try and get everyone’s attention.

“Since Usami is apparently so insistent on being unhelpful, there’s truly only one thing for us to do now.” They began, pausing to make sure everyone was looking at them, “If she won’t give us information, we’ll have to share it with each other.”

“Are you… saying you want to know what our handbooks say?” Nekomaru guessed with a raised eyebrow, an almost uncomfortable tone to the question. Hajime couldn’t help but notice the way he seemed to grip his own tablet even tighter.

“That’s right.” Byakuya nodded, “We need all the information we can, whoever Usami’s taking orders from clearly knows far more about us than we do about them.”

“More than we do about ourselves.” Mahiru muttered, “I… this is pretty unbelievable.”

“It’s completely unbelievable.” Teru agreed, a little louder, more desperate sounding, “I- there’s no way this is real.”

“Repeating yourself over and over again is pointless.” Byakuya reprimanded, “Whether or not you want to believe what it says is irrelevant, if it’s the truth.”

“You believe it’s the truth?” Nagito asked, “All of the… experiment stuff? You really believe it?”

“I’ve seen enough proof.” Byakuya’s eyes glanced away as they answered, eyes that were… okay- were they a different color now? Hajime could’ve sworn they were a darker blue a minute ago. “We’ve already been informed of Sonia, Akane, and Kazuichi’s abilities to some extent, who’s going next?”

“I’m not doing any of this shit.” 

Fuyuhiko’s venomous tone nearly startled Hajime- not nearly as much as it seemed to startle Mikan, though- he kept a glare leveled at Byakuya a moment more before he turned away from the table. “I only came in here to see if the damn rabbit would say who’s holding us hostage. I’m not sticking around for any of this sharing crap, I’m gettin’ out of here.”

“Wh- you’re just leaving?” Hajime questioned, partially drowned out by Byakuya speaking over him.

“Do you honestly think you can survive a situation like this on your own? Don’t be stupid, come sit down and-“

“I’ll be just fine on my own.” Fuyuhiko snapped in return, visibly agitated, “You can all do whatever kinda bullshit show and tell you want, but count me out. I don’t need any of you.”

“A small dog shouldn’t bark so loud.” Byakuya commented, pausing Fuyuhiko’s angry stalking towards the restaurant door in it’s tracks.

“You wanna repeat that?”

“You’re clearly just as afraid as everyone else.” Byakuya challenged, slowly standing up and pressing their palms against the table. A levelheadedness to their tone that Fuyuhiko was lacking as he grit his teeth and turned back to face him, “You’re overcompensating, trying to act bigger than you are-“

“You don’t know what you’re fucking talking about!” Fuyuhiko’s voice bordered on shouting, so worked up the eye he’d been squinting shut this entire time nearly opened- his hand immediately moved up to cover it, “You don’t know a damn thing about me-“

“Why do you keep doing that?”

Peko’s voice cut through his argument, her genuine confusion seeming to catch Fuyuhiko off guard enough his anger wavered.

“What?”

“You haven’t opened that eye since we all met downstairs.” She pointed to her own eye as if to demonstrate, her gaze flicking from the blonde to where he left his handbook on the table, “Does it have something to do with your… experiment?”

“…How the fuck would I know? I haven’t looked at the stupid report the bunny gave us.” He retorted, “And why do you care?”

“It’s just… odd.” She narrowed her eyes, “Why won’t you open it?”

“Wh- it just hurts, okay?” His anger came back full force, lowering his hand to leave the eye squinted shut like it was before, “You should all just mind your own damn business. All this teamwork shit isn’t gonna change anything about our situation.”

He opened the door, letting in a breeze of salty air as he paused one last time, “It might just make everything worse.”

Teru almost laughed as the door closed behind him, “Kind of dramatic, isn’t he?”

“You’ll go first.” Byakuya decided, sitting back in their seat and staring expectantly as Teru fidgeted.

“Wh-what?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” They pointed to the tablet Teru was trying to subtly slip into his apron pocket, “What did your handbook say?”

“Wh- I… It was stupid.” He huffed, glancing away nervously, “It was trying to say I could like… make plants grow, or something. It was nonsense.”

“You can.. make plants grow?” Sonia tilted her head, “How does that work?”

“How am I supposed to know how it works?”

“It could’ve explained that in your handbook.” Byakuya’s tone was getting impatient, “Weren’t you reading it?”

“He was too busy being a pervert.” Hiyoko suddenly spoke up from where she’d gone strangely quiet, setting her own handbook face down on the table and letting out a half hearted scoff, “He was totally staring at Akane’s chest again instead of reading.”

Akane made a noise like a growl, pointedly turning away from the chef while Hiyoko continued, “It makes total sense that the guy who’s a dirty perv can make things grow in the dirt.”

“Jealous that you don’t have anything worth looking at?” Teru tilted his head, his fear over what the handbook said apparently drowned out by a need to be petty, Nekomaru cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“I feel like we’re sorta… getting off topic.” His voice still sounded uncertain, very different than the confidence he’d had back downstairs, “I think we should focus on figuring all of this out, this whole… experiment and mutation stuff still isn’t making much sense to me.”

“The plant thing sort of does make sense for you, actually.” Mahiru turned from Nekomaru back to Teruteru, “I noticed when we first came out of the old building, there were some flowers planted along the walkway that didn’t really bloom till you walked past them. I thought I was just seeing things at first, but…”

“Well- I-“ Teru faltered, fussing with his hair again, “That’s just because I have such a blossoming personality, that doesn’t mean it’s a mutation.”

“Mine said something pretty unbelievable, too.” Mahiru continued speaking, ignoring him to address the group instead, “Something about… teleporting? Or being able to move fast? It said ‘data entry incomplete’ in mine.”

“Mine said that, too.” Nekomaru crossed his arms, “Apparently I’ve got adrenaline like electricity or something, there wasn’t too much info other than that.”

“Wh-what does that mean?” Mikan leaned forward a little, “There’s no way you just h-have actually electricity flowing through your adrenal systems, that would be… that would be impossible.”

Nekomaru shrugged, “A lot of the medical stuff sort of went over my head, I think I just… could be stronger now than I used to be? Maybe i should have more energy?”

He glanced away at the end of his sentence, further contributing to Hajime’s nagging suspicion that something… might be wrong there. Then again everyone looked uncomfortable, there were a lot of things wrong with this situation.

“If it’s adrenaline, maybe you’ll feel stronger if you get your blood pumping.” Akane suggested, punching her fist into her open palm, “Maybe we could spar or something later, see what you can really do! I’ll keep the claws in- it’ll be a fair fight!”

“Testing these things might actually be an interesting idea.” Byakuya commented, “It would be in our best interest to know what our capabilities are.”

“And what are your capabilities, exactly?” Peko questioned, her tone almost suspicious, “You seem awfully comfortable having everyone else share information, what did your handbook say?”

“Well, there’s no need to be hostile.” Nagito nervously laughed, apparently picking up on Peko’s suspicion as well, “In situations like this its good to have a leader, Byakuya’s just stepping in to fill that role.”

“What if I don’t want Mr. Ham Hands filling in that role?” Hiyoko retorted, “Shouldn’t we like vote on a leader or something? Do we even have time to decide something like that before someone comes in and starts dissecting us like frogs?”

“Please don’t talk about dissection like that.” Mikan flinched, “A-and actually, if we were alive while being dissected, it would be vivisection.”

“That… doesn’t make it any better.” Kazuichi nervously drummed his fingers on the table, “Nobody’s gonna do anything like that to us, right?”

“It isn’t going to do us any good to worry about that right now.” Byakuya took control of the conversation again, “Nagito is correct, from now on I’ll be acting as the leader, there’s no need to thank me.”

“We weren’t planning on thanking you.” Mahiru muttered, Byakuya continued as though she hadn’t spoken.

“To answer Pekoyama’s question, this handbooks suggests that I can alter my physical appearance and mass to mimic other humans.” They paused for a moment, glancing around the more confused expressions at the table, “I believe the colloquial term would be shapeshifting.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding.” Kazuichi’s voice hitched, “There’s no way!”

“Do you really think you can… do that?” Mikan tried, Byakuya nodded.

“I’ve seen enough evidence to support it.”

“Do it now! Do it now!” Ibuki stood up excitedly, “Copy me! Can you copy me?”

“What do you mean you’ve… seen enough evidence to support it?” Hajime frowned, “Does that mean you’ve done something like that already?”

“I think we should stick to the topic at hand for now, there will be more time for actually testing these things later.” They didn’t answer Hajime’s question, but he already felt like he had seen enough evidence to support it, too.

Byakuya had looked different in subtle ways almost every time Hajime saw them. Different eye color, height, hair length, little changes that honestly had him thinking he was going crazy at first.

… shapeshifting didn’t really sound any less crazy though, did it?

“My thing said something about pure force!” Ibuki informed everyone with an air guitar gesture, “It was saying a lot of stuff about decibels- I thought maybe it meant I could scream really loud, but then it went into a bunch of stuff about like… earthquakes and ‘seismic waves,’ and that all sort of went over my head…”

“You think you could make earthquakes?” Nekomaru raised his eyebrows, not seeming to reassured by Ibuki’s shrug. “Wouldn’t that uh… be kinda dangerous if we’re actually on an island?”

“I promise not to do it on purpose.” Ibuki waved off that concern a little too quickly, “I’m not even sure how I like… could do that.”

“It’s not like the handbook came with clear instructions, I guess.” Mahiru looked back down at her own handbook, Peko let out a thoughtful hum.

“Usami seemed to be under the impression we would know how to use these… new abilities already.” She folded her hands on the table, “In fact, I think the entries were based more on… observation than actually knowing what we can do.”

“That’s a good point.” Nagito looked down at his own, his usual smile looking strained, “Mine literally says they don’t know the ‘full scope’ of what I can do, these are all sort of… half complete notes.”

“Which could be good, right?” Mikan’s tone was a weak attempt at optimism, “Wouldn’t that mean that the people keeping us here, um… aren’t the ones that… you know, changed us? Maybe they’ll be nicer?”

“What kind of ‘nice’ person kidnaps someone and keeps them on a stupid island?” Hiyoko retorted, “None of this is ‘nice’- this sucks!”

“Didn’t your handbook say you could fly?” Mahiru tried to diffuse Hiyoko’s quickly building anger, “That’s, um… that’s pretty cool, right?”

Hiyoko huffed, rolling her eyes and dropping her tablet screen up on the table.

“Something about wind. I dunno. It said I can ‘manipulate wind’ using… some stupid science stuff. It’s probably just fake.”

“It… could be real.” Hajime thought back to the pool, how the wind blew every time Hiyoko had laughed while they were all outside, “I think I saw you doing something like that.”

“Everything else has been real so far.” Nagito sounded almost disheartened, “It doesn’t seem like the handbooks are lying at all.”

“Mine definitely wasn’t.” Akane shrugged, “Got new teeth, the claw thing, my sense of smell is a loooooot stronger than before.”

She paused, sniffing the air, “We all still kinda smell like chemical-y, you know? I think it’s from the pods.”

“M-my handbook said I can heal people.” Mikan smiled, “So that’s good, right? That means I can take care of all of you-“

“Literally nobody asked.” Hiyoko rolled her eyes again, Byakuya cleared their throat.

“I actually asked for everyone’s ability earlier.” They corrected, “Stop acting like a child.”

Hiyoko stuttered out some response, halfway between angry and embarrassed looking while Nagito tried to pick the conversation back up.

“So, that’s kinda fitting, right?” He asked with a smile, “Didn’t you say you were a nurse, earlier?”

“Not a nurse, not yet.” Mikan shook her head, “I- I was going to nursing school, before… you know, this.”

“How would ‘healing powers’ even work?” Hajime couldn’t help but be curious, “Does that mean you could help Ibuki’s knee?”

Ibuki’s face lit up at the suggestion, Mikan fidgeted, “I, um, I suppose I could… if I knew what I was doing, the handbook mentioned something about um, energy transference that didn’t really… make sense.”

“So you’re a cleric, then…” Gundham seemed lost in thought from where he stood behind the table, “Or perhaps it’s some sort of necromancy. This would certainly be dark magic they’ve used to change us.”

“And how exactly did they change you?” Byakuya tried to keep the conversation moving, tried to keep some kind of normalcy. It was almost impressive- Hajime would’ve given up on this conversation long before they reached this point. “What did your handbook say?”

Gundham smirked, the long coat he was wearing swishing with his movements as he turned to face the table fully, “As would be expected of a lord of darkness such as myself, I have been accursed with an ability most befitting my demonic nature.”

Kazuichi nudged Hajime, an exasperated look of ‘Can you believe this guy?’ crossing his face as Gundham continued.

“The rabbit’s tome has prophesied that I can command shadows themselves! Bending their shape to my will and transforming them.”

There was an awkward pause, Byakuya slowly nodded, “What does that mean, exactly?”

Now it was Gundham’s turn to pause, the pose he’d struck with his hands raised in the air faltered slightly.

“I am… not entirely certain yet.” He admitted quietly, before clearing his throat and crossing his arms, “However I am sure the answer will make itself known to me, I have already observed my own shadow moving as though possessed.”

Ibuki and Akane both leaned back in their seats to look down at Gundham’s shadow, faces scrunched up in confusion at whatever they were seeing.

“Pekoyama, you next.” Byakuya nodded in her direction, hands folded in front of them.

“Density shifting.” She answered bluntly, moving a hand to rest on the table, and then right through it. It almost looked fake, like her arm just… stopped as soon as it came in contact with the table, like her hand was just gone.

A few people gasped, Kazuichi muttered something in disbelief under his breath, Peko pulled her hand back out like the table was made of nothing at all. “When I… first woke up downstairs, I got out of my pod before it had even opened. I just passed right through it.”

“Like a ghost?” Akane muttered nervously, Peko shrugged.

“I guess so. I didn’t even notice till I had already crawled out of it. I was a little too busy trying to get the water out of my lungs.” She glanced back down at where she’d set her handbook next to Fuyuhiko’s abandoned one, “I wouldn’t have believed any of this if I hadn’t experienced that already.”

“Why didn’t you say something about it earlier?” Nekomaru asked, “I probably would’ve freaked out if something like that happened to me.”

Peko hesitated, shrugged, “There was a lot going on at the time.”

Byakuya seemed satisfied with that answer, nodding and turning to face Nagito and Hajime instead. “Komaeda, your turn.”

“Oh, uh,” Nagito fidgeted, his hand going up to scratch the back of his head, “Mine didn’t have much to say, honestly. Maybe Hajime should go first.”

“Hajime can’t exactly share what he doesn’t know.” Byakuya pointed out before Hajime could even think of what to say, “He wasn’t given a handbook like the rest of us, he has no information.”

“Maybe robots don’t need handbooks.” Hiyoko interjected, Hajime couldn’t help but huff again.

“I’m not a robot.”

“Then what are you?”

“I…” Hajime paused, a hand absentmindedly reaching up to touch the scar on his forehead again, “I don’t know.”

“Hey now, go a little easier on him.” Nekomaru’s tone sounded a little too much like pity, Hajime shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “He’s getting an even slower start to all of this then the rest of us, give him some more time to adjust to things.”

“I’m adjusting just fine.” He mumbled, glancing around the table, “Do you all really remember where you came from? Am I the only one… like this?”

“We’ve all apparently forgotten some things.” Nekomaru answered sympathetically, Hajime frowned.

“But am I the only one missing everything?”

He didn’t get an actual response, just sympathetic and uncomfortable glances and nods, Byakuya averting their eyes when Hajime tried to look at them, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m gonna go find Usami.” He muttered to no one in particular, accidentally bumping into Nagito as he pushed out of his seat to stand. “I- sorry.”

“No worries.” Nagito tried to smile, “Why are you looking for Usami?”

“I just need to talk to her.” She might have answers, she might have any scrap of information to help him make sense of this situation. He needed to talk to her, he needed to know something more concrete.

“Should someone go with him?” Sonia asked the table as he headed towards the stairs down into the hotel, “Is it wise for him to wander off in his condition?”

“He’s not helpless.” Byakuya answered dismissively as Hajime started descending the stairs, “Nagito, sit down. You still haven’t told us what your handbook said.”

“Oh, right.” Nagito’s faded behind him, “Like I said, it really didn’t say much…”

The hotel was… odd.

It looked old, he couldn’t exactly put his finger on why, maybe the dusty carpet, or the cobwebs still gathered on the ceiling. It was old, but clearly disturbed, people had definitely been in here recently. Tables had been wiped down, chairs lacking the same dusty appearance as the decorations on the wall, blankets and a few boxes stacked on a counter by the stairs. A book had fallen onto the ground, some kind of art book about a… piggy princess? What was that?

If other people had been here, then… where were they now? Was it the from people who trapped them here? Did other people used to live on this island?

“I just- I don’t know what to do! I can’t get a signal out…”

Usami’s voice stole his attention away from his surroundings, finding the little rabbit pacing around by the hotel’s front doors. She was walking in a little circle again, maybe that was a nervous habit- do robots have nervous habits?- as she talked to Chiaki.

She noticed him immediately, looking up from where she’d been watching Usami pace to smile at him.

“Hey, hey.” Her greeting seemed to be for Usami as much as it was for him, nodding in his direction so the bunny could spin around to face him. “What are you doing down here?”

“Just, uh…” Hajime stepped forward, meeting them halfway as the two of them crossed the room, “I wanted to ask Usami something.”

“Yes, there are bathrooms in here.” Usami nodded, like this was somehow relevant at all,“But the ones in your cabins are much nicer, I’d use those.”

“That’s- I mean, thanks, I guess. But that’s not what I was gonna ask.”

“Oh.” Usami tilted her head, “Is everything okay?”

“I really… don’t know.” Hajime didn’t know if he was worried, or… scared. He felt like he should be, certainly, who wouldn’t be scared in a situation like this? He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt yet, though, he needed to know more before he let himself decide that. “I guess I just wanted to ask about, uh… myself.”

“Maybe we should sit down?” Chiaki suggested, already making her way towards a little trio of chairs around a game table before she stopped, “Or should I give you privacy?”

“No,” Hajime shook his head, following her over to the table, and frowning down at the screen built into it, “I don’t mind if you stay. It’s not really private, I just… I still don’t know who I am.”

“Yeah.” Chiaki’s voice didn’t have any pity, he found himself strangely appreciative of that. She definitely cared, he could tell that much from the concerned look on her face, but it didn’t look like she felt bad for him.

“I guess you’re a pretty special situation, even here.” Usami climbed up on the chair next to Hajime as he sat, opting to stand up in it instead of sitting down, “I wish I could help you more right now.”

That didn’t exactly sound promising, “Does that mean you won’t tell me anything else right now?”

“I really can’t! I wish I could.” She lamented, “I wish I could tell you a lot of things, but… it really is better for you to figure out who you are on your own- and I can’t do anything that would go against what’s best for you.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Those two things are sort of the same to me, to be honest.” Usami shrugged, for once seeming to forego the theatrics she’d been prone to so far, “I really want to help you, and that’s my purpose, too! I can’t do something to go against that.”

“Purpose?” The word felt weird to say, for some reason, almost uncomfortable.

“My prime directive, the reason I’m here on this island with you at all.” Usami nodded along with her own explanation, “Just because I’m supposed to do that doesn’t mean I’m being forced or anything, my enthusiasm is genuine- I can promise you that!”

Hajime didn’t know what to say to that, he turned to watch Chiaki play her game instead. He had no idea what she was doing, pressing buttons faster than he could really keep up with, brows furrowed in determination and a slight frown on her face.

“Can you tell me if I have uh… a thing like everyone else?” He asked after a minute, Usami’s ears straightened up.

“A thing?”

Hajime wasn’t sure what to call it, he didn’t know what he was supposed to call this- any of this. Everything he had seen and heard upstairs still seemed unreal.

“Like… what Kazuichi had.” He finally settled, face scrunching up in concentration, “All the others have-“

“Mutations.” Usami finished for him, somehow managing a sympathetic looking expression despite her face barely being able to emote, “They all have genetic mutations, that’s all I can really say on that right now.”

“So do I have one of those?” Hajime pressed, a hand going up to touch his forehead, “I mean, this- this has to be from something, right?”

Usami was quiet, a paw tapping on her wand nervously, Chiaki finally glanced up from her game, “I don’t think she can tell you that.”

“I really can’t, I’m so sorry!” Usami patted Hajime’s shoulder, “I promise to make it up to you, though! I’m still here to help you!”

“Could you actually answer my question then?” Hajime couldn’t help being a bit stiff as Usami continued patting him, “Do I have one of those mutation things like everyone else?”

“Oh, that I can tell you!” Usami perked up, “Yes you do! I just can’t give you any details. Yet.”

“Yet?”

“Not yet.” Usami sighed, “But soon, hopefully- Once I know a little more about you. I want you to be on track with everyone else, and you’ll have to work together with a lot of them to learn how your own works.”

Hajime just frowned, still confused, not sure he trusted this, “So then… what is it?”

“Well, whatever you want it to be!”

“That’s still not an answer.”

“Ah-“ Usami faltered, looking to Chiaki like she might receive back up, Chiaki didn’t look up from her game, “You’re very ‘to the point,’ Hajime. Very, um… straight forward.”

“I just want to know what’s going on.” Hajime couldn’t help the frustration seeping into his voice, “I- Usami I don’t know who I am. I don’t know anything about what’s going on or why I’m here. I didn’t even get a stupid paragraph in a handbook like everyone else-“

“Don’t call them stupid, that’s not nice.” Usami reprimanded with a huff, “I worked very hard to get all of that ready for all of you.”

“Not me.” Hajime pointed out, Chiaki chuckled from her spot across from him.

Usami wilted, ears drooping down while she slid down off the chair. “Oh, I know, I know. I don’t want you to feel left out, I just-“

Someone clearing their throat stole her attention, Hajime jolting a little and turning to find Byakuya standing on the bottom step. They were leaning forward, one hand still on the railing, eyes glancing around the lobby before settling on Hajime.

“Is everything alright down here?”

“Everything’s good!” Usami answered even though the question was definitely directed towards Hajime, she hurried over to Byakuya and waved her wand, “How are things upstairs? Are you all getting along?”

“You could say that.” Byakuya shrugged noncommittally, “Akane is attempting to convince Nekomaru to arm wrestle her, I believe Teruteru went back into the kitchen.”

“That sounds fun.” Usami encouraged, like she was hyping this up for Byakuya and Hajime, “That sounds nice! Right?”

“And I believe,” Byakuya continued, crossing their arms, “That everyone else was waiting to see if you intend to actually answer our questions from before.”

“She won’t.” Hajime mumbled as he stood up as well, he wasn’t sure anyone other than Chiaki heard.

“Oh! I know what will help everyone feel welcome.” Usami moved towards the counter, towards the boxes Hajime had noticed before, she patted the counter and looked up at them, “You two look big and strong- and tall- taller than me, anyway.” She giggled, “Can you take these boxes upstairs to the others for me?”

“What’s in them?” Byakuya stepped down from the last step as Hajime came closer, reaching for the top one and already going to open it when Usami shook her head and tapped their leg with her wand.

“It’s a surprise! A fun surprise! Let’s bring them upstairs to everyone else!”

“I’ve had enough surprises.” Byakuya muttered, taking the box anyway and nodding for Hajime to take the other.

The box was light, Hajime shifted in his hands and looked back at Chiaki as Usami started hopping up the stairs towards the others. She smiled at him, waving him off before getting back to her game. She didn’t seem super keen on interacting with the others, but Byakuya didn’t seem to be making a big deal about her not participating in any of the discussion upstairs. Maybe after Fuyuhiko freaked out they decided to let that sort of thing go.

“Hajime.” Byakuya waited for him at the bottom step, only beginning to walk up when Hajime followed, speaking in a softer voice, “Did you learn anything?”

“Oh, not really.” He could already hear Ibuki laughing about something upstairs, “She said I have an ability like the rest of you, but she didn’t really say what it is.”

“What did she say?”

“She said it could be whatever I wanted it to be.”

Byakuya huffed, an almost bitter look in their eyes as they reached the top of the stairs, “How freeing.”

“Come on, come on, you can do it!” Ibuki was cheering Gundham on, while he stood in the center of the room with his palms pressed together, eyes closed and face furrowed in concentration.

There was already food on the table, mostly things he… didn’t recognize. That should stop shocking him, probably- there was a lot about the world he didn’t know yet, apparently. Kazuichi was nervously picking at one of the plates of food, like he was debating trying it, glancing from the table to where Gundham was still doing… whatever it was he was doing. Sonia watched with great interest, some kind of drink clasped between her hands while she tilted her head to peer around where Mikan was trying to focus on not spilling what she was scooping into her bowl.

“Come on!” Ibuki cheered again, clapping her hands loudly while Nekomaru stepped closer to walk around Gundham, “You can do it! Make it move again!”

“I think you’re going about it the wrong way.” Nekomaru scratched his chin, “I think ya need to loosen up a little.”

He grabbed Gundham by the shoulders, his eyes going wide with alarm as he was shaken around. Nekomaru laughed, “You said it was instinctive, yeah? Like it was moving around on it’s own earlier?”

“Wh- Unhand me!” Gundham tried to squirm away, Nekomaru held tighter.

“Come on, come on, just relax a little!” He shook him a little more, “Maybe like, visualize it, you know? Imagine it stretching out. Don’t focus on ‘building power’ or whatever, just try to feel it!”

Gundham finally freed himself, huffing and adjusting his coat and scarf, “You should count yourself lucky you were not struck down for this transgression!”

“I’m just trying to help you out, buddy.” Nekomaru encouraged, “Even pro athletes need coaching sometimes, no shame in getting some help.”

“You’re comparing the ability to move and manipulate shadows,” Peko began, resting her chin on one of her hands and watching with an expression somewhere between concern and confusion, “To an athlete training in a sport?”

“Well, sure.” Nekomaru shrugged, “Even if we’re dealing with freaky mutant stuff, we should still try to… ya know, handle it. Right?”

“What are you, a motivational speaker?” Hiyoko rolled her eyes as she fixed her hair, pulling it back in a ponytail, Nekomaru laughed.

“I like to think I could be!” He scratched the back of his head, “I used to do some motivational stuff, I used to be the team manager of my high school’s-“

“Oh- look!” Ibuki cut him off, excitedly pointing to the ground by Gundham’s feet.

Hajime nearly dropped the box in his hand, a little two shocked by the fact that Gundham’s shadow seemed to be moving on it’s own. It didn’t move much, just a flicker of movement and a stretch into a far less natural shape before it settled, rippling like a wave before it shifted back into it’s natural position.

“See? Told ya you could do it!” Nekomaru moved to pat Gundham on the shoulder, this time he ducked out of the way and scoffed.

“I require no wretched physical contact in congratulations!” He crossed his arms, tilting his head down to look at his shadow again, “Though, I suppose your cryptic metaphor was right… it did feel like stretching something… perhaps like a snake.”

“A snake?” Hajime couldn’t stop the question from leaving his mouth, Byakuya hummed.

“Are you asking just because that’s a strange comparison, or because you don’t know what a snake is?” They asked quietly, eyes focused on where Gundham was staring down at his shadow and watching it move more- stretch further, ripple like water while Mahiru nearly dropped a chopstick in shock.

Hajime didn’t know why the question made him feel so… put on the spot. Should he know what a snake is?

“I take it it’s the second option?” They pressed, Hajime just nodded, “You made a face earlier when Hiyoko mentioned a pig. I got the impression you were a little confused.”

“This whole situation has been pretty confusing for me.” Hajime huffed, “I knew what a rabbit was without being told, so… that’s something.”

Byakuya almost smirked, they almost seemed to be trying to keep the smile from their face, “That certainly is something.”

“What’s in the boxes?” Akane asked from the table, tilting her head slightly to try and get a better look while Usami worked her way up into the chair she had been speaking from earlier.

“More gifts!” The bunny announced, smoothing out her frilly skirt after climbing, “Something to get this fun, tropical vacation started! Our first group activity is going to be going to the beach!”

Now the beach was something Hajime could actually picture- at least vaguely. This was the first thing that had been mentioned that didn’t leave him feeling left out or unbelievably confused. He couldn’t help but be relieved, at the beach things were safe, right?

… why did the beach make him feel safe?

“So in these boxes I have some swim suits for all of you!” Usami clapped her paws together, trying to singlehandedly hype up the group of wary people sitting around the table, “We have a couple different sizes and styles- oh you can go ahead open those up!”

 She pointed to Byakuya and Hajime as she said that, Hajime awkwardly fumbled to open the box on his way to set it on the table while she continued speaking.

“If you don’t see something you like- or maybe if something doesn’t quite fit- we can always run down to the old store on the island and find you something else!” Usami encouraged as a few of the others stood to peer in the box of… clothes? Swimsuits, apparently. “I’ll admit, we sort of had to guess on a lot of your clothing sizes, it’s not like we could really measure any of you while you were sleeping.”

“That would be super creepy.” Hiyoko scrunched her nose up, her comment nearly drowned out by Peko’s own question.

“You said ‘we?’”

“Hm?”

“You said ‘we couldn’t measure you while you were sleeping.’” Peko pointed out with a frown, “Are you talking about the people who brought us here?”

Usami shook her head, an almost disappointed sounding sigh escaping her, “You kids really need to stop trying to get information out of me, just enjoy yourselves! But no, the people I’m talking about- the people who want to help you- are not the ones that brought you here. Does that make you feel better?”

“No.” Peko frowned, apparently giving up on questioning in favor of looking in the box Byakuya was opening.

Nagito let out a thoughtful hum, “If they aren’t the ones that brought us here, can you tell us who did?”

Usami went still, a quiet pause that a few of the others seemed to preoccupied to notice.

“No.” She answered after a moment, her voice apologetic as she shook her head, “No, I don’t think we need to discuss that right now.”

“Oh!” Teruteru, either oblivious or purposefully ignoring the tense conversation behind him, held up what looked like underwear. A black pair of underwear made of the same material all the other clothes Hajime saw in this box was made of, he held it up to Nekomaru. “You would look fantastic in this.”

Nekomaru almost laughed, shaking his head and glancing off to the side, “Think that uh… might be a little too small for me, buddy.”

“That’s the point.” Teruteru held it out towards him anyway, raising his eyebrows up and down till Mahiru snatched the swimsuit out of his hands.

“Would you cut that out?”

“I’m just trying to make the best of a bad situation!”

She rolled her eyes, tossing the swimsuit at his face and reaching into the box for something else, “Boys are always so gross.”

“I am very excited we are going to the beach.” Sonia clapped her hands a little, “I’ve never been to a tropical beach before. Where I am from, beaches are more rocky, and I’ve never been to a beach with a group of people like this before.”

“Really?” Kazuichi looked up from where he was eyeing an obnoxiously bright colored pair of shorts, “You never like… went to the beach with your friends or anything like that?”

Sonia made a noise like a worried hum, as Hajime moved an arm to take one of the swimsuits out of the box as well he could’ve sworn the air around her grew colder. A low chill prickled up his forearm as it brushed against her hands.

“I fear I may have said something odd. Never mind any of that.” She shook her head like she was dismissing the conversation, ignoring Kazuichi’s nervous stuttering to turn back towards Usami. “Where can we change clothes before heading out to the beach?”

Hajime picked up a pair of shorts like Kazuichi’s, a duller gray color instead of the bright green ones. All of these felt the same,Hajime rubbed the hem of the shorts between his fingers, swimsuits must be… similar, then. They must all be made out of the same material. Were the clothes he woke up in downstairs a swimsuit, too? They hadn’t felt like this… he was pretty sure anyway, he had been a little unfocused, he felt out of it…

He still felt out of it. He felt like he still barely understood what was happening at all.

He let out a huff of indignation without meaning to, vaguely aware of the concerned glance Nekomaru sent his way in his periphery. This all still felt so… wrong- it felt like his brain was running in slow motion, every movement still felt like he was under water… was anyone else still having this feeling? Was he really the only person that still felt like he was struggling to figure things out?

Everyone else seemed fine, was something wrong with him?

“You can just go back to your cabins.” The bunny answered cheerfully, “I’ll go unlock the hotel gate so you can all head out to the beach when you’re done! I have aaaaall sorts of fun things for you to play with out there, beach balls, volleyballs, oh- and sunscreen! I don’t want any of you getting burned-“

“Wait a second.” Hajime looked up from the box of swimsuits, his temporary distraction forgotten entirely,“This means you aren’t going to tell us any more about why we’re here?”

“Not right now.” For the first time, Usami almost sounded annoyed- or maybe exasperated was a better word- she hopped down off the chair and nearly lost her balance as she landed. “I’m gonna go open the gates really quick! I’ll see you all at the beach for our first official fun group activity!”

She hurried back to the stairs, pausing once more to turn and face them.

“And I… I know all of this is scary, scary and brand new,” She held her wand in front of her, clasping her paws and nodding sincerely, “But I promise- it’s all gonna be okay soon! I’m gonna do my very very best to make sure you all feel safe and comfortable… and I’ll try to answer more of your questions as soon as I can, okay?”

She didn’t wait for a response, everyone’s confused staring seemed to be enough for her as she turned and descended the stairs. There was an awkward pause, everyone glancing at each other, unsure of what to do next. Hajime half expected Byakuya to be the one to break the silence, they seemed intent on leading so far, but Akane was the first one to move, heading towards the door to the outside stairs and waving her newly acquired swimsuit above her head.

“Alright, forget all this freaky power stuff. I’ve never been to a beach before, I’m gonna try to enjoy this.”

“That’s the spirit.” Nekomaru quickly agreed, seeming to bury his own uncertainty in favor of loudly laughing and putting his hands on his hips, “I think we’ve made enough progress today, yeah? We should try to take it easy for the rest of the day.”

“Take it easy?” Hajime questioned, take it easy meant… relax, right? “In a situation like this?”

“There’s nothing more to be done at the moment.” Byakuya quietly relented, “Perhaps humoring Usami is our best move, until we can learn more about the place we’re trapped in.”

“That means beach time.” Ibuki winked, holding up a pair of finger guns in Byakuya’s direction and tilting her head, “Right? Isn’t that what you’re saying? Beach time?”

Byakuya hesitated, glancing down at the box of clothes again before nodding, “Yes, beach time. It won’t do us any good to wear ourselves thin with paranoia.”

Ibuki cheered, holding her hands up triumphantly before she followed where Teruteru and Sonia were heading towards the door. Hajime shook his head, watching the rest of the crowd start to drift downstairs like this wasn’t crazy.

“We’re all just gonna… go to the beach, huh?” He asked no one in particular, it seemed like he was being ignored anyway, “Gonna ignore the fact we were all kidnapped and experimented on?”

“You should try to relax a little too.”

Mikan’s voice made him jump, a cold hand resting on his shoulder that felt like it sent ice through bones. His reaction made her squeak in fear, moving her hand and shrinking away slightly.

“N- not that it’s my place to give you advice, or anything like that.” She quickly tried to clarify, eyes darting around like she was afraid to look at him, “I just, um, stress… isn’t good for your body. You should- medically speaking, I mean- you should try to-“

“Mikan.” He didn’t mean to cut her off, her voice broke off immediately when he spoke, he tried to continue in a more gentle tone, “Uh, thanks. I appreciate it.”

Mikan flinched before she actually seemed to process what he said, blinking a few times like she needed to confirm what she heard, “R- really?”

“Yeah, thanks for the advice.” He certainly wasn’t going to listen to that advice, not right now, but she was… trying to be nice, right? He should be nice back.

Mikan didn’t say anything else, nothing else he understood, anyway, stuttering out something and turning away like she was flustered while he went ahead and walked towards the door.

It was getting darker now, the sky a strangely familiar mix of pink and orange. Hajime had assumed it was morning, just based on… he wasn’t sure what he was basing it on, just the fact that Teru talked about ‘breakfast’ and people… usually woke up at the beginning of the day, right? What time was it, anyway?

Nagito was walking ahead of him, already halfway down the stairs by the time Hajime walked out the door. He didn’t have a swimsuit with him, and Hajime only just now realized he had forgotten to grab one as well… not that he was going to swim, anyway, not in a situation like this- whatever this situation even was.

Kidnapped, experimented on, forced to hang out at a beach and pretend things were normal.

… he didn’t know what normal was. Maybe he was being too tense about all of this.

Nagito’s hand was flexing by his side as he walked towards the cabins, fingers curling and uncurling like he needed to stretch them, maybe that was a nervous tick or something. He paused on the wooden boardwalk that led to everyone’s cottages, staring ahead towards the gate for a moment before heading to his own cabin.

Fuyuhiko was by the gate, talking to Usami with a… surprisingly worried expression.

The blonde’s one visible eye was wide, jaw tense, arms crossed and tensed, fingers digging into his arm as he listened to whatever Usami was saying. It was too soft for Hajime to make any sense of, if he got closer Fuyuhiko would probably-

“What do you think they’re talkin’ about?”

Hajime half expected that to be Chiaki, she certainly seemed fond of sneaking up on him, but he was met by Kazuichi’s nervous smile instead.

“Huh?”

Kazuichi nodded in Fuyuhiko’s direction, “What do you think they’re talking about?”

“How would I know?” Hajime asked, blunter than he really meant to, Kazuichi didn’t seem too put off by it.

“I dunno. Figured maybe you could have ‘super hearing’ or something.” He chuckled, and at Hajime’s continued staring faltered, “That uh, that was supposed to be a joke.”

“Oh.” Hajime shook his head, feeling a little stupid for being so on edge about everything, “Sorry-“

“Don’t be, man. I guess it was kind of in poor taste, considering what’s been going on.” He scratched at the back of his neck for a second, “Here, got you this, by the way.”

He held out a pair of shorts- the ones Hajime had been looking at back in the restaurant. Hajime tilted his head as he took them.

“Oh, thanks, man.” He glanced back over to where Usami and Fuyuhiko were talking, though it looked like Fuyuhiko was leaving now that a few of the girls were heading towards the now open gate. Mahiru and Peko walking side by side in their swimsuits while Chiaki trailed a ways behind them. “I don’t know if I’m gonna swim, though.”

“Oh, yeah.” Kazuichi perked up a little suddenly, looking more to the side of Hajime’s head, “I guess we don’t really know if that thing can handle saltwater, huh?”

“This thing?” Hajime held a hand to his temple, fingers grazing against metal, Kazuichi raised his empty hand towards Hajime’s head.

‘Yeah, the computer port.” He hesitated, “Is it uh… would it be weird if I looked at it? I’m pretty good with machines and stuff.”

Hajime almost flinched, he was entirely sure why. “I’m not a machine.”

Kazuichi’s thoughtful expression faltered back into a nervous smile again, “I didn’t say you were, man. Just… that little part of you is. I might be able to help you out with it, if you want?”

Hajime couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable, a worried feeling worming it’s way through his gut as he bent forward to let Kazuichi take a better look anyway. “I don’t know if I’m-“

Kazuichi’s hand brushed against his forehead, barely any contact at all, an electric pulse felt like it shot through his mind at the contact. He pulled back with a gasp he didn’t mean to let out, already stuttering out an apology while Kazuichi held his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry man, I wasn’t- uh-“ He stuttered, “Your eye looked kinda weird for a second, you good?”

“My eye?” Hajime blinked, trying to fight off the tingling that still buzzed through his brain and was slowly traveling down to the tips of his fingers, “Uh… I would appreciate some help with this thing, yeah, just… maybe later.”

“Later?”

“Maybe once we’ve known each other for more than half a day.”

Kazuichi was quiet for a second, Hajime was worried he may have offended him, but it wasn’t long before the pink haired boy started snickering, sharp teeth glinting in the evening sun as he grinned.

“I get it, I get it.” He waved Hajime’s worries off, “I gotta earn your trust before you let me mess around with your cool robot stuff.”

“I- I’m not a-“

“I’ll wait till your comfortable, no worries.” Kazuichi gave him a thumbs up, walking ahead towards where Usami was smoothing her skirt out by the gate. “I’ll find out if you can swim or not, go put your trunks on!”

Hajime just stood there when he left, watching him walk ahead till he noticed Chiaki waving him over from where she was waiting out past the gate.

He passed by Kazuichi and Usami- who was saying something about respecting people’s personal space, something about not hooking up to computers- to where Chiaki was waiting by the side of a… road?

There were roads here? How big was this place?

“Fuyuhiko wandered off.” She commented as he took in their new surroundings, ‘I’m kinda worried about him being on his own, you know?”

“Do you wanna go find him?” He asked, she shook her head with a yawn.

“I don’t think he’d like it very much if we did…” She sighed, “We should probably leave him alone for now. He’ll come around eventually.”

“If you say so.”

She smiled, nodding towards the beach and walking ahead for him to follow. This was… beginning to feel familiar. The steps he took out on to the sand more confident than any of the steps he’d taken so far- even if his shoes didn’t have the best traction, or the heat was already making him sweat a little despite the sun being nearly on the verge of setting already. The salt in the air was welcoming, almost, the sound of the waves felt… 

…

“Hey, have we…” He trailed off, watching as Ibuki flopped over into the waves with a loud laugh and splashed water all over Hiyoko, “Have we been here before?”

“I don’t think so.” Nagito’s voice answered in place of Chiaki’s, Hajime turned and found the white haired boy standing next to him with his hand in his pocket, “I don’t think any of us have met before today, I think I would’ve remembered you.”

Hajime saw Chiaki nearby still, she always moved so quietly, she had wandered closer to the water while Hajime was lost in thought.

“Sorry.” Hajime awkwardly chuckled, “I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.”

Nagito smiled encouragingly, “No worries. I know you’re still figuring things out.”

He stood next to Hajime, watching everyone mill around the beach, letting Hajime get caught up in the sound of the waves again.

“You know, all in all, this place isn’t all that bad.” Nagito commented, pulling Hajime out of his thoughts again, “What did Usami say we were supposed to do here again?”

“I dunno,” Hajime shrugged, “Heal and grow, or something.”

“That sounds nice, don’t you think?”

Hajime couldn’t help but frown, turning away from the ocean to look at the out of place smile on Nagito’s expression.

“You want to stay here?” He asked, almost suspicious, “You want to like… play along with all of this?”

“Not play along.” Nagito shrugged, walking forward, “But it might be interesting to see what all of you ‘grow’ into, don’t you think?”

Hajime’s frown only deepened, walking a little closer to where Nagito squatted down to sit in the sand. “No, not really.”

Nagito just hummed, waiting for Hajime to sit down so he could smile at him again, “Well, I look forward to seeing what you grow into.”

“That’s kind of a creepy thing to say.”

“I- I meant for it to be encouraging.” Nagito chuckled nervously, “Sorry. Just… trying to make this best of this.”

Hajime almost scoffed at that, shifting to lean back on his hands and staring out into the water again. It was hard to hang on to any stress out of here, looking at the ocean like this. The sound of the waves was nearly enough to put him to sleep, the sound of the others talking and laughing falling into the background as he stifled a yawn and laid back further to prop himself up on his elbows. He realized, absentmindedly, that he hadn’t actually responded to Nagito yet, he could see him staring out of the corner of his eye.

He didn’t know about ‘making the best’ of a situation like this, not with so much stuff still unknown.

“Good luck with that.”

Chapter Text

He opened his eyes somewhere completely different than the first place he woke up in.

Sunlight was streaming through the window- and sunlight was already a strange new development. His head wasn’t throbbing, there we was nothing sticking to his temples or pricking his skin, no rushing water or machinery.

He was warm, he felt safe, and someone was speaking softly nearby.

“Hey… waking up yet?”

“… you’re a heavier sleeper than I thought.”

He rolled over onto his side, burying his face into his pillow slightly, he really didn’t feel like waking up right now. What time was it, anyway?

“Sorry about this.”

There was a buzz through his head- a small electric zap that had him gasping and sitting upright in bed, stiff as a board as he tried to take in his surroundings. Panic surged through him like a tidal wave before he came to his senses and realized he was… right where he expected to be.

He was in bed, in his new cottage. He was safe… as safe as you can be in a hostage situation, anyway.

He had fallen asleep at the beach yesterday, after kicking off his shoes and standing in the shallow water for awhile, watching everyone else mill around and enjoy themselves. He had been… way more tired than he would’ve thought he should be, but Usami said that was to be expected.

Or at least, Mikan said that Usami said it was to be expected- that’s what she told him when she stopped by to check on him around eleven pm last night. A few of the others had been experiencing some lingering exhaustion from… whatever they had awoken from yesterday as well- mostly Kazuichi and Nekomaru. Usami had said that she was anticipating something like that, they were asleep for awhile, apparently- no exact time frame, of course, she wasn’t just going to give them helpful information- but she said it could take a day or two till everyone had a normal sleep schedule again.

Nekomaru had carried him back to his cabin, another thing Mikan had told him, and Ibuki had dug the key from his pocket to help get him inside.

There was sand in his bed, a rough texture grating against his skin as he moved his legs. He hadn’t showered or anything, when he woke up last night he had basically just kicked off his jeans and crawled right back into bed. He was gonna need to change his sheets now, was there even a place to do that on this island-

“Hey, hey.”

He nearly jolted again, snapping out of his thoughts to find Chiaki standing right next to his bed, an almost amused look on her face from his terror.

“Oh, sorry.” She tilted her head, “I thought you knew I was here.”

“Wh- I-“ He gripped his sheets tighter, looking all around his room for any sign of how she got inside, “Chiaki, why the hell are you in here?”

“I was waking you up.” She shrugged, sitting at the foot of his bed like this was normal, either oblivious or purposefully ignoring how uncomfortable he was, “Someone’s knocking on your door.”

Hajime paused, his own head tilting slightly and listening to a faint knock coming from the cottage’s front door, he slowly dragged himself out of bed and huffed.

“How’d you get in here, Chiaki?”

“Are you gonna answer the door like that?”

“Answer my question first.” Hajime insisted, Chiaki’s amused smile fell slightly.

“We’re gonna need to talk about something later, I think.” She glanced to the side, “I wanted to explain this before, but… you seemed sort of overwhelmed.”

The knocking continued, she looked past him to the door.

“You should probably answer that.”

“I… sure. Whatever.” He rubbed his temples, trying not to get too frustrated, “We’re talking about this later, though.”

“Sounds fair.”

“And I want you to stop sneaking in here.”

Chiaki hesitated, the knocking on the door started up again. By the time she opened her mouth to respond Hajime was already shaking his head.

“We’ll talk later.” His voice bordered on grumbling, he tried to clear his throat and stand up a little straighter, finally moving to unlock his door and opening it to find Teruteru waiting outside.

“Ah, I was hoping I’d catch you like this.” His tone was already teasing, adding another spike of frustration shooting through Hajime as the shorter boy openly eyed him up and down, “Nice pajamas, a classic look, feel free to lose the shirt next time I come to wake you u-“

“What do you want, Teru?” Hajime kept his stare as deadpan as possible, he wasn’t playing along with this… whatever this was. Flirting? Was this flirting? It didn’t feel like it, wasn’t flirting supposed to be fun for both people?

“I get a nickname from you already, huh? How endearing.” Teruteru didn’t seem at all bothered by Hajime’s morning grouchiness, finally moving his eyes from Hajime’s chest to look him in the eyes again, “I’ll have to think of one for you too, then.”

“What do you want?”

“Oh, right, right.” He waved his hand, like he was dismissing the conversation, “I know it’s a little bit early, but after… what I learned about you yesterday, I thought it was only right that I step in to teach you how to appreciate the finer culinary delights in life.”

Hajime blinked, trying to get to the root of what the hell he was trying to say. Teru fidgeted as the staring continued.

“If I had known you were this grumpy in the morning, I would’ve just waited till breakfast.” He huffed, crossing his arms, “I should’ve sent someone else to wake you up.”

“You didn’t wake me up, Chiaki was already doing that.” Hajime yawned, trying to shake off the last of his grogginess, “So no worries I guess. I’m not like, trying to be rude or anything, I guess I just don’t know what you’re asking me to… what? Why are you staring like that?”

Teruteru’s posture had tensed slightly, a polite smile on his face barely covering a look of worry before he laughed and moved a hand to fix his hair.

“Sorry, nothing.” He tried to shrug it off, “Just forgot you were kind of crazy, is all.”

“Excuse me-“

“Go ahead and get dressed, I have a lot to show you in the kitchen!” Teru snapped his fingers, like this would somehow encourage Hajime to move faster. Hajime didn’t budge, about to ask what he meant by crazy when Teru suddenly snickered instead, “If you really insist on going without pants, though, I suppose I could make my peace with-“

“Okay, yep, I’m gonna change.” Hajime rolled his eyes, turning to go back in his cabin and sticking a hand out to stop where Teru stepped forward to follow him, “Alone. I’m gonna go change alone.”

“Well fine then, prude.” Teru put his hands on his hips, “I’ll be right out here, don’t take too long, I need to get started on breakfast soon.”

Hajime just nodded, closing the door behind him- and making sure to lock it, because apparently people were quite comfortable just barging into his room whenever they wanted.

“How’s Teruteru?”

Speaking of that, actually, Chiaki was still sitting at the foot of his bed.

“He’s uh, fine.” Hajime faltered slightly, glancing from her to the mirror, “I’m gonna change clothes, so…”

“Got it.” She nodded seriously, turning in her cross legged position till she was facing the wall behind her, “I won’t look, go ahead.”

He sighed, shaking his head again and moving towards the mirror, “You could just… leave, you know.”

“You want me to go?”

“I…” He almost said yes, pausing in the middle of taking his shirt off and looking back at her in the reflection, “I didn’t say that.”

“I wanna stay.” She responded, quieter. Hajime just continued changing. He should probably shower, he wanted to be actually clean, but he still didn’t know for sure if this thing in his head was waterproof.

It should be, he woke up in water, didn’t he? As he slipped his clean shirt over his head he paused to inspect the metal port in the mirror again. He should check with Usami, or maybe Kazuichi, just make sure getting his hair and face wet wouldn’t end up… electrocuting him or something.

The last thing he needed was for his brain to be even more scrambled, apparently some people here already thought he was crazy.

He huffed as he remembered Teru’s comment, zipping up his clean pair of pants and glancing back at Chiaki in the reflection again. Did he… did Teruteru not know Chiaki? Had they not introduced themselves to each other? 

“Hey, Chiaki?”

“Hey, Hajime.”

“Have you… spoken to Teruteru yet?” He turned back to face her, watching her pause before turning away from the wall.

“No.” She answered softly, pink eyes staring back at him, “I haven’t talked to anyone but you and Usami.”

Hajime hesitated, his hands idly fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. “Why not?”

“You shouldn’t keep him waiting.” Chiaki nodded back towards the door, shifting to face him fully with a sigh. “We can talk about this in a little while.”

“It kinda sounds like you’re avoiding the question.”

She smiled, a little chuckle escaping her while she shook her head. “I can’t avoid you, Hajime. I think you’re sorta stuck with me.”

He wasn’t entirely sure how to take that, and if Teru wasn’t still waiting outside his door he probably would’ve pressed for her to explain herself.

But… they could talk in a little while, sure. What’s thirty more minutes of not having a single clue of what the hell was happening around him?

He slipped his shoes on by the front door, making sure his key was in his pocket before opening it again and stepping out to find Teru rocking slightly on his feet. He trusted Chiaki to lock the door behind her when she left, she must’ve locked it when she broke in to wake him up earlier.

It’s not like she could snoop through his stuff or anything, he didn’t have anything to snoop through aside from his clothes and the seashell Sonia gave him yesterday.

“Feeling better now, sleeping beauty?” Teru asked with a snicker, Hajime just shrugged in response, “Well I know just what’ll fix this sultry attitude, you’re gonna get the private chef experience~”

“What’s the ‘private chef experience?’” Hajime couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose a little as he followed Teru towards the hotel, “That’s not like… a weird sex thing, right?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“I really, really don’t.”

“Then no, not this time.” Teru sighed, a dramatic and put upon sigh as they passed the pool. There was a beat of silence before he spoke again.

“You didn’t eat yesterday.” The tone of it almost sounded accusatory, if the chef’s demeanor hadn’t remained so nonchalant Hajime might’ve thought he was actually upset about this. “Byakuya was talking about it last night, said we need to make sure you do this morning.”

“You don’t need to worry about me.” Hajime protested immediately, “Just because I’m having trouble remembering stuff doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”

“Nobody said you were helpless,” Teru waved off his protests as he started walking up the stairs, “Don’t be so dramatic. It just occurred to me after they said that, that you… might not remember what your favorite food is.”

“… So?”

“So???” Teru asked incredulously, pausing at the top of the stairs, “My mama always says food is a window into the soul- how are you supposed to remember who you are if you don’t even remember what kind of food you like-”

His rambling was cut short as he opened the door to the hotel restaurant, jolting slightly at the sight of whatever was inside. Hajime leaned forward to look in as well, finding nothing but Fuyuhiko sitting at the table with a half eaten piece of a toast.

The blonde immediately glared at the sight of them, grabbing the remaining food off his plate and slowly standing up.

“What the hell do you bastards want?”

“Uh… nice eyepatch.” Hajime tried to deflect all the venom being sent his way, gesturing to the black cloth now covering the eye Fuyuhiko had kept closed all day yesterday. “It looks cool.”

“I don’t give two shits if you think it’s cool.” The deflection tactic was not working, Fuyuhiko scoffed, “The rabbit gave it to me. ‘Said I should keep my eye covered.”

“That was nice of her.”

“Yeah. She’s a peach.” Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes- the visible one, anyway- and took another bite of his toast, “If you like it so much maybe you can get one to cover your freak ass prosthetic.”

“Prosthetic?” Hajime blinked in surprise, he didn’t have a prosthetic… did he? 

Fuyuhiko was staring pointedly at Hajime’s eye. Was that- was that what his red eye was? He reached a hand up to touch it, maybe it did feel… different? “How do you know this is a prosthetic?”

“People’s eyes aren’t usually bright red, are they?” He asked like it was obvious, taking another bite before pointing the toast accusingly at Teruteru, “Now answer my question. What are you two doing in here?”

“It’s a kitchen.” Teru answered like it was obvious, “I’m gonna cook breakfast. It’ll be way better than that burnt bread you’re trying to choke down.”

“I’m not eating your damn food.” Fuyuhiko spat back, Teru rolled his eyes and headed towards the kitchen door. “What about you?”

“Teru’s uh… making me food, I think?” Hajime shrugged, “Honestly I’m just kinda going along with this, he said he wants me to pick a favorite food. I don’t… remember what food tastes like.”

Fuyuhiko stared at him for a moment, jaw clenched while he looked Hajime up and down.

“You ‘don’t remember’ what food tastes like?”

“I can’t really remember eating.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not-“ Hajime huffed, “Why am I even arguing this? Why are you in here before everyone else?”

“I gotta eat something, don’t I?” He held the toast up again, “I’m not sitting around waiting for the rest of you to come in here and act all buddy-buddy again.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to.” Fuyuhiko glanced away, “I don’t have to explain anything to you.”

Hajime frowned at that, while he certainly wouldn’t say he and any of the others are necessarily close friends or anything- they still don’t warrant the kind of hostility Fuyuhiko was constantly hurling at them. “You know it might actually be easier to figure out what’s going on here if we all work together.”

Fuyuhiko’s mouth twitched- either into a smile or a snarl, it was hard to tell- before he shook his head. “That’s a cute sentiment, Hinata. Let’s see how far that gets you.”

“Dude, what’s your problem-“

Hajime almost reached out to touch his arm- he wasn’t sure what drove him to it, just instinct- but the few inches his hand had raised in the blonde’s direction had him taking a large step back and glaring once again.

“Just stay away from me, alright?” He snapped, “Pass that message along to the rest of your ‘friends,’ too. I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

He turned to walk back down into the hotel, leaving Hajime standing there alone and lost in confusion.

“Okay? Whatever.” He called out to someone he knew wasn’t listening anymore. This… really wasn’t his problem. If this was how Fuyuhiko needed to deal with everything going on, then whatever. He wasn’t gonna worry about it.

Maybe he’d come around eventually, maybe they’d… get rescued or something and none of them would have to worry about it, maybe it didn’t really matter.

… none of that sounded very likely.

“Gooooood morning!” Ibuki’s footsteps into the room were almost thunderous- Hajime could’ve sworn the lights hanging from the ceiling shook slightly as she ran in through the door he’d left open. “You’re up early! What are you doing in here all by yourself? Get hungry?”

“I’m hungry.” Akane was right behind her, less energetic, yawning her way through a stretch. Her shirt was tied at the waist, it rose slightly as she stretched and gave Hajime a brief view of shallow scarring across her stomach. “Hanamura up, yet? He said something about making breakfast?”

“He’s in the kitchen.” Hajime answered, making a point to look her in the eyes now, “I don’t think he’s really started cooking yet, we sorta just got up here.”

“We can help.” Ibuki offered, “I can be pretty handy in the kitchen- I know the best ways to season instant ramen!”

“I’d kill for some instant ramen right now.” Akane added as she sniffed the air, “Something smells kinda like… citrusy, though-“

“Alright! First course is- oh, we have guests already.” Teru stopped short as he exited the kitchen, holding a small tray with three different glasses of colored liquid. “Good morning ladies, dream about me last night?”

“I dreamt about a dog.” Ibuki answered, either not picking up on the flirtatious tone or purposefully ignoring it, “It was my old neighbor’s dog, but he was like… waaaaay bigger than normal. He couldn’t even fit through their front door! Isn’t that crazy?.”

Hajime followed the girls to the table, where Teru had set the cups down and was currently beckoning him over, “You.. ‘dream’ when you sleep, right?”

“Oh, totally. They’re like little movies in your head. Did you dream last night?” Ibuki pointed to her own head with one hand and to Hajime with the other, when he muttered out a confused no in response she turned her pointing to Akane instead.

He didn’t see any movies in his head last night. He wasn’t entirely sure what a movie was, actually. He didn’t see anything in his head while he slept. 

“Eh, I didn’t really sleep good.” Akane shrugged as she walked past their table to where a bowl of fruit from yesterday had been placed on another, “I wasn’t used to how like… quiet everything is out here, ya know? My folk’s place is a lot louder than this… gonna take some getting used to.”

She paused, her tired expression sinking into more of a frown as she dug a sharp nail into the orange she’d picked up to start peeling it.

“Ya know, there were a couple times…” She began softly, face furrowed in concentration, “I kept thinking I heard someone talking in my room.”

The tray in Teru’s hands clattered back onto the table, nearly taking out one of the glasses he’d set down before he quickly fumbled to keep it steady. He was already trying to recover his previous attitude by the time the others even fully looked at him, that brief flash of panic that had crossed his face completely masked by a laugh and a little mumble about ‘butter fingers’ before he smiled at Hajime.

“Teru, are you-“

“We’re gonna ease you into things,” He pushed one of the glasses forward, pointedly talking over Hajime beginning to check on him. “Try these and pick your favorite.”

Pick a favorite? Was this a test or something?

“What… what are these?” Hajime asked uncertainly, reaching for white filled glass and letting his fingers brush against the cold surface, “I’m not drinking something if I don’t know what it is.”

Teru rolled his eyes, Ibuki stood up from her seat to answer for him. “The white stuff’s milk- it’s like juice from a cow. It’s pretty good! It’s better with chocolate, though.”

That made… little sense to Hajime, but okay. If Ibuki wasn’t afraid of it then it probably wouldn’t hurt him-

… how would a drink hurt him?

He picked up the cup, taking a small sip and frowning down at it.

“This doesn’t really… taste like anything.” He muttered, was he supposed to be describing the flavor? What exactly was Teru wanting from him right now?

Teru frowned back, just nodding and pushing the next glass forward- this one half filled with something pale yellow.

“Lemon juice?” Akane asked with a sniff as she came closer, Teru shook his head.

“Lemonade, I’m not giving someone who’s never tasted anything a straight shot of lemon juice.”

“When did you have time to make lemonade?”

“I made it last night, I was trying to get Sonia to-“

“I want lemonade.” Akane leaned forward more, bracing her empty hand on the back of Hajime’s chair and eating another orange slice, “Hey, if you don’t like it, I call dibs.”

Hajime begrudgingly took a sip from this cup as well, this was starting to feel sort of demeaning, why were they just…. Watching him drink things? Why did they care so much, was this supposed to be funny or something?

This flavor was different- much stronger. The word sour sprang to mind immediately, he made a quiet hum as he tried to figure out whether the faint sweetness that followed the initial rush of sour across his tongue was worth it.

“This one’s not bad. I like it.” He decided on, feeling like he was almost being prompted to say something with the way the others were staring at him. “You can have the rest, though.”

Akane grinned, setting her orange down on the table and taking the glass from him.

“Your face scrunched up.” Ibuki pointed out, mimicking the facial expression he’d apparently been making, “Too sour?”

Teru gasped, “How dare you-“

“I just uh… wasn’t expecting it.” Hajime tried to placate him, “I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like that before, it was just uh… different.”

Teru paused, reaching a hand up to fuss with his hair for a second while he thought over Hajime’s response. He finally just shrugged and pushed the final glass towards him.

“You might like this one more, then.”

“That’s orange juice.” Akane had already downed half of the lemonade, licking her lips and pointing to the fruit she’d set on the table, “Same thing as this right here.”

The door to the restaurant opened again, Nekomaru entering with a wide grin, Mikan trailing in not far behind him.

“Look at you guys! Already gearing up to get started today, huh?” Hajime had almost forgotten how loud his voice was, it nearly rivaled Ibuki’s, his enthusiasm wasn’t too far behind her’s either.

“Are you ready to get started? We’re gonna fight today, right?” Akane cracked her knuckles, her excited grin only growing wider as Nekomaru chuckled.

“At least give me till after breakfast,” He moved to sit in the seat beside Hajime, letting out a quiet grunt as he settled into the chair, “Don’t wanna spar on an empty stomach.”

“Oh, right.” Teru straightened up from where he’d been leaning on the table, “I should go ahead and get started on that. What kind of chef would I be if I kept everyone waiting?”

“Do you, um, do you need help?” Mikan’s offer rose up from where she was still standing back by the door, “It d-doesn’t seem fair for you to do it all by yourself.”

“Absolutely not.” Teru shook his head dramatically, “I don’t need anyone getting in the way while I work. If you want to just come stand in the corner and look pretty, that’s one thing, but I don’t need any help.”

“Oh.” Was all Mikan could muster in response while he went through the door into the kitchen, “That… that makes sense.”

“You think he’s actually a chef?” Nekomaru asked no one in particular, reaching for the glass of milk and glancing between Ibuki and Hajime like he was trying to see if it belonged to either of them, “Seems a little young to be working at a restaurant.”

“You seem a little old to still be in college.” Akane retorted with a smirk, he laughed again.

“I get that a lot, actually. I think it’s my voice.”

It could also be the fact that he was huge. Hajime absentmindedly noted as he finally took a sip of the orange drink Teru had given him. The deep voice probably added to that, maybe people thought the scars were wrinkles, there were a lot of possibilities-

This drink was pretty good.

“Ooh! You liked that one! I can tell!” Ibuki seemed to echo his thoughts out loud, beating her hands on the table a few times, “We found something Hajime likes! We’re helping Hajime be a real boy!”

“I didn’t even know robots could drink stuff.” Akane commented, tapping the metal on his temple and causing him to jolt in his seat, “Can you eat, too?”

“I’m not-“

“He’s not a robot.” Nekomaru defended him before he could even finish letting out his little huff of frustration. “He’s just a human guy with some… extra stuff. That doesn’t mean he’s a robot, I’m sure he stills eats and drinks and shits just like everyone else.”

“Ha ha, ew.” Ibuki wrinkled her nose up that, Hajime took another drink as Mikan finally started approaching the table.

“Actually, Nekomaru- I- or Nidai, sorry, I shouldn’t just say-“

“I don’t care if you call me Nekomaru, it’s fine.” He tried to encourage her as she sat across from him, she hesitantly nodded.

“N-Nekomaru, then, I-“

“You gotta speak up when you say it, though! Use your whole chest to talk!”

“Ah- I-“ Mikan flinched, aggressive support was apparently not her thing, Nekomaru’s expectant expression and the others staring only seemed to make things worse. She shrunk down in her seat, grabbing at a strand of her hair to tug it in front of her.

“You mentioned something yesterday, um,” Her voice was hardly any louder than it had been before, Hajime half expected Nekomaru to interrupt again, “About having… bowel issues?”

“Yeah?”

“You should probably… not be drinking dairy products, then. Not that I’m trying to tell you what to do or anything, b-but-“

Hajime got up when he finished his drink, leaving Mikan stumbling through an explanation of how certain foods apparently irritated certain stomach conditions. It didn’t make much sense to him- he wasn’t entirely sure what ‘greasy food’ or ‘dairy’ was- and from the looks on the others’ faces, the impromptu biology lesson was going over their heads, as well.

He pushed open the kitchen door, actually entering for the first time and glancing around at all the equipment before he found Teru across the room. He was at the counter, cutting something on a wooden block, barely looking up at Hajime when he entered.

“You just can’t get enough of me, can you, Hajime?”

“Whatever voice that is you’re trying to do- it’s really not doing anything for me.” Hajime couldn’t help but grumble, “I just uh… came in here to say I liked the juice.”

“Really?” Teru looked up at that, a smug grin creeping across his face, “See? I knew I’d find something you liked, next we can- ow!”

He flinched, his head whipping back to face what he was doing as he held his finger up. There was a small cut, Hajime could barely see it till he walked closer, already bubbling up light pink blood as Teru gave a weak laugh.

“Guess I’m… out of practice.” He mumbled, trailing off slightly as he frowned down at his hand, “This still feels unbelievable.”

“What does?”

“This.” Teru gestured with his knife- which didn’t seem smart, actually- to the blood. “I- it’s- this whole situation… I need to wash my hands.”

He set his knife down, trudging towards the kitchen sink and putting his cut finger in his mouth. Which… seemed odd to Hajime, did people do that? Did that help stop the bleeding or something?

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Teru freezing mid-step on his way to the sink. He’d gone completely stiff, slowly staring down at his finger and muttering something Hajime couldn’t hear.

“…Teru?” He tried after another beat of silence, Teruteru jolted like he’d forgotten Hajime was there at all, “You okay?”

“Ha, of course.” He seemed to recover almost magically, smug expression masking whatever that other emotion had been as he waved his cut hand like he was shooing Hajime away, “Can you do me a favor and see if Mikan has a bandaid? I don’t want to get this cut… near the food.”

His smile twitched again after that, eyes flicking from Hajime to the sink before he finally moved to wash his hands off. Hajime stood there a moment more, a little confused, but… yeah getting blood in the food was probably bad, he could get Teru a bandaid.

Whatever that was.

There were more people around the table now, it seemed like almost everyone was awake now. No sign of Fuyuhiko, obviously, and it looked like Nagito and Chiaki weren’t here either.

Sonia and Gundham were just walking in, both sweaty and chatting about something while Gundham fiddled with his scarf. Sonia smiled brightly when she noticed Hajime staring- he hadn’t meant to stare, honestly, it just looked like something was moving inside Gundham’s scarf for a second.

“Hajime! Tomorrow you absolutely must come to the farm with us!” Sonia excitedly crossed the room to meet him, looking positively giddy, “I did physical labor! This was my first time working on a farm!”

“He might not know what a farm is.” Byakuya’s voice made him jump, the blonde stepping over to stand beside him with as neutral an expression as usual. “You should explain it before you drag him out to play in the dirt.”

“Wh- I don’t need everything explained to me.” Hajime protested, embarrassment rising up in his chest like a physical heat. “You don’t have to treat me like a little kid or something.”

“Ah, so you do know what a farm is?” Sonia tilted her head with an expectant smile, Hajime faltered.

His silence stretched on for too long, Sonia’s smile softened with a kind of pity he was entirely uncomfortable with. He should know this, right? He really should know these things-

“There’s a little farm on the island, Usami showed it to Gundham this morning.” Sonia started explaining for him, and despite the fact that her face was still way too sympathetic looking her tone wasn’t anywhere as demeaning as he expected it to be. “A farm is a place where you raise animals, Usami said the animals were already here… ‘for the most part’ she said.”

She hummed, her expression turning thoughtful as she brought a hand to her chin, “I wonder why they were here already, Usami would not tell us what this island was for before it became abandoned.”

“That’s… interesting.” Byakuya commented quietly, “It seems odd that someone would just keep livestock around after abandoning a place like this.”

“A lot of things about this situation seems odd.” Hajime grumbled, “Did Usami say anything useful? Anything about how to maybe get out of here?”

“Ah, I’m afraid I was a little distracted.” She glanced back at where Gundham was talking with Peko- ‘talking with’ might be a stretch, he was pacing around her in a slow circle and talking while she silently glared and held her glass of water. “Gundham knows so much about animals, he says he wants to be a…  ah, what’s a doctor for animals?”

“Veterinarian?” Hajime tried, Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

“You didn’t know what a farm was, but you know the basic definition of a veterinarian?”

“That’s the word!” Sonia snapped her fingers, “I can never remember how to say that in this language, thank you, Hajime.”

“No worries, I guess.” He shrugged, turning to Byakuya, “I wanted to talk to you about that, actually.”

Byakuya turned to face him more, giving him a nod like they were giving him permission to speak.

“A couple people have mentioned that you were uh… talking about me yesterday?”

“Is that a problem?”

“They made it sound like you think I need help doing literally anything.” Hajime elaborated, glancing to where Sonia seemed in no rush to leave and let this conversation be private, “Teru said-“

“I didn’t suggest anything meant to be demeaning.” Byakuya cut him off, like this should’ve been obvious, “I was only reminding the others that while we’re stuck here together we need to cooperate.”

“They just mentioned that you may need help being reminded of things.” Sonia tried to be more assuring, folding her hands in front of her, “I am also new to a lot of these things, so I hope you’re not offended by any of us trying to help.”

“Until we understand more about what’s going on, we need to…” They paused, adjusted the collar of their button up shirt, “-Look out for each other. I’m just looking out for you.”

“Sounds more like you’re babying me.” Hajime grumbled, Byakuya frowned, “I get that you’re trying to help me or whatever, I just don’t want to be singled out. I’m not trying to… cause problems.”

He really wasn’t. He would love it if he could just keep up with how quickly everyone else seemed to be adjusting to things. He’d love it if he understood half of what they were talking about. 

“I’m not just looking out for you.” They corrected, like once again whatever they meant should be obvious, “I’m trying to make sure the whole group has what they need. Sometimes that means extra help.”

“I don’t want to need extra help.” Hajime was getting frustrated now, he couldn’t quite figure out why, taking a deep breath before he tried to push past this increasingly upsetting topic, “I mean I guess it’s… it’s nice, that you want to look out for everybody. Thanks, I guess.”

Byakuya’s eyes widened slightly at that, for just a second, they scoffed and glanced off to the side before Hajime could even really notice it.

“Someone has to be the leader around here, and I seem to be the only one with the mental capacity to do it.”

Sonia giggled at that, “I’ve found it’s very rare for leaders to have any actual notable intelligence, charisma is more important for them. It’s usually a group of people working behind the leader really calling the shots. They’re just figureheads.”

There was an awkward pause, Sonia nervously shifted under their stares, “Ah, I didn’t mean to say something odd-“

“Hey! Miss Sonia!” Kazuichi broke away from where he’d been trapped in a headlock by Nekomaru, his pink hair had been ruffled, it poked out in all directions before he tucked it all back under his hat, “I wanted to talk to you about the skating thing you mentioned yesterday! I think I can make you some ice skates after all, I found something in the store I think I can… um- why are you frowning? Did I do something wrong?“

Sonia was frowning, an almost uncomfortable frown that she quickly hid behind a polite- if not slightly strained- smile, “I just… Yesterday I asked that you refer to me as just Sonia, you do not have to add any title before or after it. I would prefer if you didn’t, actually.”

Oh, uh,” Kazuichi faltered, looking almost nervous now, “Okay, sorry. I didn’t realize it bothered you.”

“It is not a big deal.” Sonia shook her head, her smile straining even more, “I’m not trying to be high maintenance, I promise, this is just a personal preference.”

Kazuichi opened his mouth to respond again, Sonia beat him to it.

“I think I am going to go talk to Mahiru now.” She smiled wide once more, turning to give Hajime and Byakuya the same smile before she quickly crossed the room.

“That was almost physically painful to watch.” Byakuya’s comment snapped Kazuichi out of his sulking, gritting his teeth and pointing up at them.

“I don’t exactly need that pointed out to me, man-“

“Don’t call me that.”

Kazuichi faltered even more at that, tugging his beanie further down and mumbling out another apology before he looked to Hajime.

“What about you, huh?” He mumbled out, quiet and defeated,  “Anything I can do to make you mad at me, too?”

Hajime tried to smile, “If I think of something, I’ll let you know.”

Kazuichi smiled back, barely, finally standing up a little straighter where he’d slouched. “I think you’re the only person I haven’t pissed off this morning. Nagito straight up told me to get lost earlier.”

“Nagito?” Hajime almost found that hard to believe, Nagito had been… nice yesterday, Kind of weird, maybe, but it’s not like Hajime had any room to judge. “What happened?”

“I asked him how he slept last night.” Kazuichi huffed, “He got all intense and told me he didn’t have time for small talk. He totally blew me off! Guy’s kind of a weirdo, if you ask me.”

“He is also the only one not here,” Byakuya noted as he looked around the room, “Aside from Fuyuhiko, but apparently Peko’s attempts at a friendly interaction on the way here were… unsuccessful.”

Chiaki wasn’t in here either, Hajime couldn’t help but note, but Byakuya didn’t seem to care whether or not she was included yesterday either. Maybe he should go find her, try to make her actually introduce herself to people.

“I saw Fuyuhiko earlier this morning, he definitely wasn’t in the mood for any friendly interactions.” Hajime sighed, “That’s… kinda weird about Nagito though. He seemed pretty laid back yesterday.”

“I think he’s a creep.” Kazuichi narrowed his eyes, “He was looking at your head all weird yesterday while you were sleeping on the beach.”

Hajime almost stiffened at that, Kazuichi snapped his fingers like he suddenly remembered something, “Speaking of that, actually- I talked to Usami about you yesterday. She said you’re totally waterproof, you just gotta make sure you clean the ports out after so there’s no sand or anything from the ocean.”

“Clean them?” Hajime raised a hand to his temple, acutely aware of how Byakuya and Kazuichi both leaned slightly to look at the side of his head, “How am I supposed to do that?”

“I can show ya, if you want.” Kazuichi grinned, “It’d be really simple, it just might be hard for you to do with it being, ya know… in your head.”

“Weren’t you just calling Nagito a creep for being curious about Hajime’s head?” Byakuya’s tone was almost teasing, Kazuichi huffed.

“It’s different, I’d be able to help! I wouldn’t just be poking around for no reason.” He argued, turning from Byakuya to Hajime, “It wouldn’t be weird, I swear, I’m great at stuff like this- I’ve got actual experience! My family owned a mechanic shop.”

“That’s a little ironic.” Byakuya commented before Hajime could, “You’re from a family of mechanics and you have an ability related to metal.”

Kazuichi frowned again at the mention of his ‘ability’- which was an incredibly mild way to put it- rolling his eyes and tugging on his hat again. “Yeah, it’s hilarious.”

“Why are you getting upset?”

“Wh- I’m not, I just-“ He hesitated, his face shifting through several emotions before he finally just sighed, “I dunno, it’s weird but… I guess it’s an acceptable kinda weird, ya know?”

“No.” Hajime answered honestly, Kazuichi chuckled before he continued.

“It’s just kinda weird to think about being able to… uh.” He raised a hand, holding his palm towards the table till a metal chopstick by Hiyoko suddenly slid across the wooden surface and zipped through the air into his hand. The blonde jolted, a startled squeak escaping her before she turned to glare at Kazuichi as he caught the chopstick.

“Do stuff like this.” He finished, moving it to floating in the air over his finger, it shook and wavered precariously, “I was practicing a little last night, I couldn’t really sleep, Usami left me some little magnets in my cottage to practice with. Did you guys get anything like that?”

“I still don’t know what my ‘ability’ is.” Hajime reminded him, stuffing his hands in his pockets and feeling a little awkward. “I’m not sure what she could give me to practice with if she won’t even tell me what i’m supposed to do.”

“I’m not certain she could give me anything to help with my ability either.” Byakuya rolled their eyes- “She had been… rather insistent on me trying ‘new looks’ this morning, though.”

“Is that why your eye color’s different?” Hajime asked, noticing for the first time that Byakuya’s eyes were brown today, they had been blue yesterday (Several different shades of blue). Their hair was a slightly darker color as well.

Byakuya didn’t respond, relaxed posture tensing as they suddenly looked back towards the others at the table. “We should go ahead and start the meeting, we’ve been wasting enough time.”

“Meeting?” Hajime asked, “What are we meeting about-“

“I was going to ask if maybe you’d go fetch Nagito.” Byakuya spoke over his question, nodding in the direction of the door, “I would send Kazuichi, but it seems he is not doing the best at social interactions today.”

“Hey!”

“Oh, uh, alright?” Hajime shrugged, “I can go find him, I guess. I was supposed to get a bandaid for Teru, though.”

“I’ll see to that.” Byakuya nodded again, like they were deciding plan for the both of them, “Go get Nagito… and I suppose just leave Fuyuhiko alone for now, I’ll try to talk to him later.”

“Good luck with that.” Hajime mumbled, “He really doesn’t want to be around any of us.”

Byakuya’s only acknowledgment of that was a hum before they turned away, heading towards where Mikan was still nervously playing with her hair by the table.

“You want some back up when you go find Nagito?” Kazuichi asked, letting the chopstick fall back down into his hand.

“No, I don’t think so.” Hajime frowned, “Why would I need back up?”

“Because he’s creepy.” Kazuichi said like he was reminding him, “He’s almost as freaky as that Tanaka guy.”

“I think I’ll be fine.” Hajime almost laughed, he really didn’t find Nagito or Gundham all that creepy. Maybe a little off putting, in different ways, but both harmless enough. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m gonna bring Chiaki back here, too. So she can be my ‘backup’ or whatever.”

Kazuichi paused, mouth twitching up into a nervous smile, “… who?”

“Chiaki,” Hajime repeated, his previous confusion with Teruteru suddenly springing back to mind, “Chiaki Nanami. The pink haired girl?”

“Uh, Hajime,”

“I know she hasn’t like, introduced herself to a lot of people,” Hajime shook his head, “But you must’ve at least seen her, right? She was at the beach yesterday.”

“Hajime, buddy.” Kazuichi looked openly nervous now, his hand coming to rest on Hajime shoulders and sending an electric sort of buzz through his body, “There uh… there weren’t any pink haired girls on the beach yesterday.”

“How could you not…” Hajime started to argue again, but the more he thought about it…

Teru hadn’t heard of her, even though he definitely should’ve seen her yesterday. Nagito acted weird when he mentioned her, too, he didn’t even see her when she walked right past him. Byakuya didn’t notice her in the lobby, nobody… nobody talked to her at the beach…

“She… she’s real.” Hajime muttered, mostly to himself, only vaguely aware of the fact that Kazuichi was sort of gently pulling him further away from the group at the table, turning him so his distressed expression was facing the wall instead of where Nekomaru and Akane were talking. “She’s… she keeps showing up, she’s not… she seems real.”

She had to be real. He wasn’t imagining her. She felt real. She had woken him up this morning, right? She even woke him up for the first time yesterday- for the first time? 

She knew his name, she had told him his name. That had to be real.

What did it mean for him if that wasn’t real?

“I’m not… doubting you.” Kazuichi tried to respond, Hajime couldn’t help but glare.

“Yes, you are.”

“Take it easy.” Kazuichi held his hands up apologetically, “I don’t doubt that you think she’s real, it just- ya know, I dunno how to handle this, honestly.”

He paused, looking almost scared for a second, his eyes glanced back towards the table before he spoke again in a lower voice. “Hey, Hajime, did this imaginary chick talk to you last night?”

Hajime blinked, the confusion and dread swirling through his head like a wildfire slowing a bit to try and make sense of that reaction.

“No? Why?”

“Never mind, then. This is supposed to be about you and… whatever this is.” He weakly laughed, Hajime noticed the chopstick he’d been twirling through his fingers was slowly bending in on itself, curling up like a corkscrew. “It wouldn’t even make sense for this to be like a ghost or anything, heh heh-“

“What’s a ghost?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Hajime had plenty to worry about already, every interaction he’d had with Chiaki replaying through his head while he tried to rationalize this. Chiaki had to be real. She had to be, even if she hadn’t spoken to anyone else-

“Usami saw her.” Hajime blurted out the moment he thought of it, at least something of an answer finally springing to mind, “I saw Usami talking to her yesterday, so that… that has to mean Chiaki’s real, right?”

Kazuichi didn’t look convinced, if anything he looked even more freaked out than before. Hajime couldn’t take this, he pushed past him towards the door.

“I’m going to find Usami.”

“Wh- hey, hang on a second!”

Kazuichi’s voice was drowned out by the others asking what was going on, all of that ignored while Hajime hurried down the outside steps so fast he nearly tripped on the bottom one.

He needed to find Usami, she spoke to Chiaki, she could explain what was going on. He’d get information from her somehow, he had to. Chiaki was the only person who had made any sort of sense to him so far, she had to be real.

He passed the cottages, ignoring Fuyuhiko and his question of “Where the fuck are you going, Frankenstein?”

The beach seemed mostly empty, and with no other idea of where to go he started following the road that traveled through the island. He should be more cautious, maybe, of just wandering this island where they’re being held hostage all on his own. If he wasn’t so worked up he wouldn’t be doing this, but he needed answers.

God, no wonder everyone was treating him like he was so fragile, they probably all thought he was insane. He already didn’t know over half the things all of them seemed to, and now he’s talking to people that don’t exist-

Chiaki had to exist. She had to.

He didn’t have to walk for long. He spotted Usami standing in the middle of the road not far away. She was standing by the wooden gate of a structure he hadn’t seen yesterday, the words ‘Usami Corral’ painted across the top sign and a weird grassy smell hitting Hajime’s senses as he came closer.

Usami was talking to Nagito, her high pitched voice pleading something while the white haired boy looked on with an expression that could’ve been annoyance, maybe even anger- which Hajime should’ve noticed, it looked almost wrong on his face, somehow.

But he hardly registered that at all, because Chiaki was standing right between them.

Her eyes met his before anyone else noticed him running over- an apologetic, knowing look in her eyes as his footsteps finally alerted the other two to his arrival.

“Hajime!” Usami greeted cheerily, “Good morning! Ready for another tropical day in day paradi-“

“Can you see her?” Hajime talked over Usami, he didn’t mean to, he really didn’t, but his focus was just on Nagito as he pointed right at Chiaki. The white haired boy stuttered out something in confusion, looking from Hajime to where he was pointing and back again.

Chiaki was still smiling apologetically, her hands sort of clasped in front of her now as her brows furrowed at his question, “Hajime, this isn’t the best way to do this, I don’t think.”

“Can you- can you not hear her?” Hajime’s voice wavered, the discomfort on Nagito’s face was answer enough, “Oh my god. Oh my god, you can’t see Chiaki-“

“Hajime,” Usami tugged on his pants leg, “Sweet Pea, you need to calm down-“

“What’s going on?” He demanded, the harshness to his tone startling himself almost as much as it seemed to startle the others, “Why can’t anyone else see her? Why are you the only one that can see her? I- am I…”

He paused, trying to catch his breath, his eyes met Chiaki’s again.

She was in the same clothes she was in yesterday. She looked exactly the same as yesterday. She wasn’t…

“You’re not casting a shadow.” Hajime stared at her feet, “You… You aren’t-“

He shook his head, he refused to say that. He refused to think that.

“I know you’re real.” He insisted, clenching his hands into fists by his sides, “Why can’t anyone else see you?”

“Thank you.” She smiled again, softly, worry still evident in the way she stared back at him. Worry that looked so real and no one else could see it. “I think we… have something we need to explain to you.”

“Oh, gosh. I guess so.” Usami scratched her head with her wand, finally acknowledging Chiaki again and helping Hajime feel just a fraction less insane.

“What’s… going on?” Nagito had taken a large step back at some point during Hajime’s panic, glancing from Usami to Hajime with an almost fearful look he was trying to hide behind a smile, “Are you feeling alright, Hajime?”

Hajime forced himself to take a breath, nodding uncertainly before he tried to speak again.

“Nagito, can you not see Chiaki?” He asked again, much calmer than he had asked the first time. “I know this sounds crazy, I’m just trying to figure something out here.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Nagito admitted quietly, his smile forced and uncomfortable still, “It really isn’t my place to say anything like this, but you really… uh…”

He trailed off, the discomfort on his face diminishing slightly as he leaned a little closer, the change in demeanor sudden enough it caught Hajime off guard in the middle of his panic.

“Wh-what? What are you staring at?”

“Your eye is kinda glowing.” Nagito commented, like he wasn’t staring way too intently at Hajime’s red eye- prosthetic eye?- whatever it was. “I don’t think it’s done that before.”

“That’s because you’re too worked up!” Usami interjected suddenly, hopping up in the air in between them to get their attention, “You need to take a deep breath! Getting too agitated will not help anything!”

“Then tell me what’s going on.” Hajime countered, voice raising, “Why can’t anyone else-“

“I am not answering a single question till you calm down!” Usami’s voice was borderline shrill, her wand pointing up towards his face with such speed Hajime reflexively slapped it away, she gasped.

“I’m so sorry! That was mean of me! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” She immediately crumbled, her paws going to cover her face in shame, “Oh, I’m a terrible guardian! I yelled at one of my kids!”

“Usami,”

“Oh, he was right, I am just a dumb bunny-“

“Usami.” Hajime squatted to be eye level with her, to his surprise Nagito mimicked his movement to stay a part of this absolutely bizarre conversation. “I’m not… I’m not mad or anything. I just need answers.”

Chiaki was still standing beside him, quiet and almost remorseful looking, Hajime looked up at her before speaking again, “I really need answers. I need to understand something about what’s going on here.”

Usami sniffled, even though Hajime was almost certain she couldn’t actually cry.

“Okay.” She lowered her paws away from her face, shifting to pat his shoulder instead, “Okay, I’m sorry, I really meant to tell you more about yourself, I was just… nervous. I didn’t know how you’d react, none of this is exactly going to plan.”

“Why am I the only one that can see Chiaki?” Hajime tried his hardest to keep his voice calm, “You can see her, but nobody else can. I’m the only human that can so far-“

“Is Hajime human?” Nagito asked out of the blue, his focus solely on Usami as she turned to face him instead, not on the shock and hurt that Hajime was sure he was unable to keep off his face.

It really was… it bothered him when the others said he wasn’t human, he couldn’t quite place way, it was feeling like dread deep in his gut.

“Yeah, you’re human.” Chiaki answered before Usami did, just to Hajime, because Nagito didn’t know she existed, “You’re a human, and you’re not crazy, in case you were wondering that.”

“Then maybe you should explain all of this to me.” he muttered back, a comment that Nagito didn’t seem to hear as Usami answered him.

“Of course he is, Hajime’s just like any other person here.” Usami was patting his shoulder again, like she was showing him off to Nagito, “He’s just… a special kind of human- just like the rest of you! You’re all unique… including Chiaki.”

She hummed, turning to face Chiaki herself, Hajime noted the disbelief from before returning to Nagito’s thoughtful expression. “Though she’s not technically human like the rest of you, she’s still a unique kid.”

“We’re in our twenties, we’re not exactly kids.” Nagito pointed out, Hajime blinked in surprise.

“We’re in our twenties?”

“I am, at least, I’m twenty years old. You look around my age.”

“Hajime.” Chiaki got his attention, he stood up from where he’d been squatting down, “I wanted to tell you sooner too, I should apologize, I think.”

“I don’t… I don’t need an apology.” Hajime shook his head, “I just need you to explain things. And I need Usami to tell everyone I’m not insane.”

“You’re not.” Usami assured him, her sweet tone already returning full force, “Nagito, Hajime is not insane, he’s just got a lot going on right now. He needs patience.”

Nagito smiled uncertainly, paying Usami little mind as he watched Hajime talk to… nothing- that must be what it looked like to him, to everyone who had caught him talking to her so far.

This was all too confusing for him.

“You were there when I woke up.” He said for lack of anything else to say, “I- you knew my name. You’re the only reason I know my name.”

“Of course I did.” Chiaki nodded, “I wasn’t lying before, we’re friends, Hajime.”

“Why are we friends?” Hajime asked quietly, “I mean- I- how do I know you?”

Usami made a worried noise, tapping her paws together, “You know, a lot of things on this vacation are not going how I thought they would go, a lot of… unexpected things have been happening, Chiaki is one of those unexpected things.”

“What does that even mean? Why am I the only one that can see her?”

“Because of this.” Chiaki’s hand was on the side of his head, fingers brushing against the metal- actually brushing it this time, not just getting close and not touching like when he asked her to look yesterday.

And he felt it- not a physical touch, it felt nothing like when the others touched him. There was no weird sensation in his nerves, no actual physical reaction at all. It felt like a wave of energy through his mind, calm and slowly rolling through his head. Like the beach, like a real wave, one crackling with static electricity.

Something flickered across his vision, down in the corner, a string of almost transparent words and numbers he didn’t get the chance to actually comprehend by the time they were gone.

“There’s a lot fo things I need to explain to you.” She continued, smiling apologetically, “And I’m… sorry it took me so long. I didn’t know how to say it without being, um, overwhelming. It takes me awhile to get my thoughts into words.”

“Sure.” Was all Hajime could say in response, blinking the weird feeling from his head completely.

“I’ll help you out, now, though.” She promised, holding her hands up with the most casual determination he could imagine, “That’s what I’m here for, I’m going to help you get the hang of things.”

“Your eye is like a camera.” Usami explained, probably just to keep Nagito in the loop, Hajime kept forgetting that he literally couldn’t hear anything Chiaki said. “It’s connected to that little device in your head that’s… sorta tapped right into your brain.”

She tapped the side of her own head, “So it can see some things that normal, squishy human eyes can’t. You can use that to connect to different kinds of technology- once you get more used to it, I mean, that’s not something you should just do willy-nilly!”

“I don’t know what ‘willy-nilly’ means.” Hajime frowned, Usami sighed.

“Carelessly. Nothing about you should be handled carelessly.”

“So is that… Hajime’s ‘enhancement’ then?” Nagito tilted his head, looking more intrigued than uncomfortable, “He can do something with computers and machines? That’s interesting.”

“Not really.” Chiaki responded like he could hear her, Hajime almost asked why she did that while Usami shook her head in response.

“No no, that’s not it at all.” She tapped a paw to her chin, “Or it is, I guess, in the way that it’s him doing it, but-“

“So this eye,” He pointed to his red eye, desperate to keep Usami on the right subject, despite how impossible that usually proved to be, “Is a machine.”

“Correct!” Usami nodded.

“In… in my head?”

“Very good!”

“So then…. What is Chiaki?” Hajime’s head felt like it was spinning, none of this was helping to make this situation any less bizarre, “Why can I see her with this eye? Why can’t anybody else see her.”

“She’s a computer program.” Usami answered, tilting her head, “An artificial intelligence, like me!”

“So she’s… not real.” Nagito tapped a finger to his chin, completely unaware of how Chiaki shoulders seemed to droop at his commentary. “Why has she been talking to Hajime so much, then? Why not tell him this already?”

“I really meant to tell you yesterday, honestly, I just wanted to have time to ease you into it.” Usami clasped her paws together apologetically, “But so much has gone wrong, I got a little flustered, oh I hope you don’t think I’m an awful guardian for not telling you!”

“It would’ve been better if you’d told him.” Nagito filled the silence Hajime couldn’t find the words to fill yet, still trying to wrap his mind around this, “Everyone’s noticed him talking to no one, it would’ve been nice to know he wasn’t…”

He trailed off, eyes glancing back up towards Hajime like he just remembered he could hear him, “… Everyone’s been worried about him, is all. Mikan was starting to think those pods we were in may have seriously messed up his head.”

“Is this another one of those things you all talked about in your little meeting I missed last night?” Hajime found his voice again, bitter enough that Nagito flinched.

“It wasn’t a meeting, we just… mentioned you a few times.” He smiled apologetically, “Like I said, people were worried. You seem a little… worse off than the rest of us.”

“I dunno about that.” Chiaki mumbled beside him, shuffling a little closer like she was defending him, almost, “I think you’re doing just fine.”

Defending him from someone who couldn’t see her. Nobody could see her except him and Usami.

“That’s not to say you actually are worse off,” Nagito was still talking, “I’ve got no room to say something like that, you’re still leagues ahead of me. Even without any memories, you’ve still got such determination about you. I can’t imagine having courage like you… I’m such a coward, it’s pathetic-“

“Hey now!” Usami spun on her heel, picking her little wand back up with a speed neither of them were expecting and whacking Nagito’s leg with it, “What did we just get done talking about, you are not allowed to say mean things about yourself.”

“Even if it’s the truth?” He asked like he was challenging her, a look in his eyes that made Hajime’s skin crawl for a second. “Even if it’s-“

“Be nice to yourself!” Usami swung her wand again, and this time Nagito had the common sense to step out of the way. “You know, you’re never going to feel any better about yourself if you keep saying things like that.”

“Another therapy session already?” That unsettling look in Nagito’s eyes settled into one of irritation, Hajime could identify that emotion easier.

He was still having his own crisis, and it seemed that with the two of them doing… whatever the hell this interaction was he’d have to get his answers straight from the source.

“So you’re… a computer program?” He turned to face Chiaki more, tried to block out Usami’s shrill response to whatever Nagito had said, “A living computer program.”

“Mmhm.” She smiled at that last sentence, “I’ve been with you since you were asleep, I’m just trying to help you out.”

“Why?” He couldn’t help but ask, “I mean are you… is that what you were made to do?”

“No, not exactly,” She paused, looking up towards the sky like she was thinking, “But it’s what I want to do, so that’s what I’m doing. That makes sense, right?”

It did, maybe, Hajime felt like he was beginning to understand the smallest possible fraction of all of this.

“So are you…” He hesitated, unsure of how to phrase this considering how… insane it sounded, “In my head? In this thing?”

“Kinda, yeah.”

“What’s ‘kinda’ supposed to mean?”

Chiaki cast a glance at Usami, where the little white rabbit was patting Nagito’s knee and trying to assure him that he was ‘a very good boy’ for whatever reason.

“I can explain it in more detail later.” She looked from Usami to him, “Somewhere private, when we have more time.”

Words appeared in the corner of his vision again, small and light pink and almost transparent, scrolling across his sight at a slower pace than before.

She can hear me right now, and I don’t want to stress her out anymore.

Hajime’s mouth hung open for a moment, too confused by that to form any words other than a quiet, stuttered, “I- that- that was you?”

She nodded, pointing to her own eye while referring to his, “Your eye’s like a camera. It’s transmitting things to your brain, that’s how you can see me.”

“What’s… what’s a camera?” Hajime tilted his head, covering his red eye and watching Chiaki completely disappear from his vision.

Oh god, that was weird.

He opened and closed that eye, watching Chiaki essentially blink in and out of sight while she watched him with an amused expression. So he really couldn’t see her out of his real eye, that… should’ve been obvious, maybe, but it was still strange. How could Usami see her then, if she was connected to Hajime’s head somehow?

“Mahiru can probably explain what a camera is.” Chiaki suggested, “I think I remember saying something about liking those, yesterday.”

“When were you with Mahiru yesterday?”

“With you. At the beach.” She shrugged, “I can’t go anywhere without you or Usami right now, I have to be connected to something.”

“Oh…” Hajime frowned, thinking about Mahiru reminded him that everyone was still waiting on them back in the restaurant.

Everyone back at the restaurant still thought he was crazy, and helpless, everyone thought he was ‘behind’ the rest of them.

“Usami.” He got the rabbit’s attention again, waiting for her to turn from facing Nagito and tilt her head up at him, “Can you… help me explain this Chiaki situation to everyone else?”

“Hm?” She tilted her head, “Are you sure?”

“I don’t want to keep secrets from them.” He tried, stretching the truth a little, and maybe he should feel bad about that- but Usami was still keeping so many secrets from everyone, why should he feel bad about one lie? “They’re my… friends. I want to let them know she’s real.”

“They’re your friends?” Usami perked up, “You really think of them as your friends already?”

“Yeah?” He didn’t sound nearly as confident as he hoped. Was he a good liar before he lost his memory? Did the old Hajime lie a lot? “Sure. They’re all really… nice.”

“Oh, yay!” She clapped her hands, walking quickly towards the hotel and expecting the rest of them to follow, “I’m so glad! You sounded so uncertain yesterday, it’s really important that you make social connections, that’s a crucial part of being a person! I’ve been worried about how your development in that area would go.”

The whiplash between Usami’s overly bubbly attitude and occasional weird psychology speak still caught him off guard. She said something yesterday about being a therapist, right? Did she actually know what she was talking about with this stuff?

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before.” Nagito spoke up where he’d fallen into step beside Hajime, “I should’ve tried to help.”

“You’re fine.” Hajime sighed, “I didn’t know you couldn’t see her, or else I would’ve… tried to explain this more. Not that I really could, I guess. I still can’t.”

Nagito hummed, staring at the side of Hajime’s head for a moment before speaking, “Is she nice?”

“Chiaki?” Hajime tried to clarify, Nagito nodded, turning to where she was walking on the other side of him. Nagito followed his gaze despite not being able to see her, his eyes searching around the side of the road like she wasn’t there at all. “Yeah. She’s really nice.”

“Tell her I said hi.”

“She can hear you.” Hajime almost smiled at that, “I’m pretty sure, anyway.”

“I hear everything you hear, when I’m with you.” She answered quietly, like she didn’t want to interrupt the conversation, “Tell him I said hi back.”

“Is this how it’s gonna be with everyone? I’m just gonna have to be the middle man?”

“Tell him,” Chiaki urged, “I don’t wanna be rude.”

“Chiaki says hi.” He turned back to Nagito, frowning at the openly amused look on the other’s face, “She was worried you’d think she’s rude if I didn’t say that.”

“I’m not gonna blame her for your lack of manners.”

“Hey-“

Peko exited the hotel gate just as they were approaching it- or rather, she walked right through it- a sight so bizarre Hajime felt like his mind literally had to buffer for a second. Her tense and serious expression slipping into shock as she saw them.

“There you are.” She let herself relax, at least a fraction, “I was just coming to look for you, some of the others were worried after you left.”

“Why?” Hajime raised an eyebrow, only met by a noncommittal shrug in response from Peko while Usami tried to be more assuring.

“Because they’re your friends! Friends care about each other.” She spoke like she was reminding him of this, like this was a lesson she was trying to teach. “You care about them, don’t you?”

Something about being put on the spot, being prompted like this, made Hajime nervous every time it happened. He must not perform well under pressure, maybe that was something he needed to learn about himself.

But Usami wanted a response, he should answer.

“Yeah.” He finally decided on, making sure not to look at Chiaki nodding in approval in his periphery, “Of course I do.”

“Good, good.” Usami sounded almost relieved, “You’re a sweet boy, Hajime.”

Peko’s brows furrowed at Usami’s antics, stepping to the side to let the bunny struggle to open the gate on her own till Hajime moved to help her. The gray haired girl stared him up and down for a moment, like she was trying to figure something out, once the gate was open Hajime finally faced her fully.

“What?”

“Just observing.” She answered bluntly, like it wasn’t weird for her to be staring, “You made a lot of people nervous earlier. I don’t think it’s out of line for me to want to keep an eye on you.”

There was a weird weight to those words, a meaning Hajime didn’t feel like he was fully getting. Did he make her nervous, or uncomfortable? He didn’t think his reaction was that bad earlier, all he did was walk out in the middle of breakfast. Why would that make anyone nervous?

… did they really care about him enough for it to make them nervous? Was that normal?

“What’d he do to make everyone nervous?” Nagito asked as Peko followed them back through the gate, “He doesn’t strike me as the type to garner much attention.”

“I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be insulting or not.” Hajime grumbled, earning an amused glance from Peko as she walked a few steps behind him.

“Hey, hey.” Chiaki’s voice was soft in Hajime’s ear, like she needed to keep quiet so they didn’t hear her. He was tempted to point that out, but… Peko already thought he was crazy, he probably shouldn’t do anything to add to that belief till Usami helped clear things up.

“Hm?” He answered as quietly as he could back, Peko’s explanation of how he ‘scared Souda and ran’ continued behind him uninterrupted.

“Fuyuhiko’s still not interacting with anyone, is he?” She asked, not waiting for him to respond as she turned her head to look back at the cabins. 

He followed her gaze, suddenly struck with the question of whether or not Chiaki… could even see them. How could see if she was a computer program? Computers can’t see without… cameras, right?

Oh god, was she looking out of his eye?

“I think you should try to talk to him later.” She suggested, “It might help him get a little more comfortable.”

He made a face as they approached the hotel steps, a noncommittal hum leaving him instead of a verbal response. Chiaki sighed.

“I just think it would be nice for him to… get to know people. It’s not good for people to be on their own in a situation like this.”

“There you are.” Mahiru’s voice nearly startled him, looking up to find her with a plate in one hand and the other resting on her hip as she frowned, “It’s rude to just run out in the middle of a meal, you know.”

“We hadn’t started eating.” Hajime sort of stumbled over his defense, Mahiru just rolled her eyes and continued to her seat. “But… sorry. I guess. I didn’t realize it would bother all of you.”

“It wasn’t a bother.” Sonia tried to assure him, “We are just glad you’re okay, right?”

She looked around the table for confirmation, making eye contact with Akane as she shoveled more food in her mouth.

“Mm- Huh? We’re what?”

“It is good that you are back in one piece.” Gundham’s deep voice agreed, he was still standing off to the side, away from the table, “Someone still adjusting to their mortal form should not be left to face the wild on their own. You certainly do not possess the fortitude to withstand any kind of battle you may stumble across.”

“… yeah, man.” Hajime numbly nodded, barely noticing the encouraging nod Usami was giving him like she was trying to coach him through this interaction, “Thanks for uh… looking out for me.”

Gundham gave him a curt nod, and Hajime was certain something in his scarf was moving now. Maybe he was doing that with his shadow things? Was that a possibility? Would it be weird if he asked?

“So, you found Usami.” Hiyoko piped up from her seat as Hajime approached the table, sitting in the seat left open next to Kazuichi, Nagito sat down beside him. “Did she tell you that you were crazy after all?”

“I would never say something that mean.” Usami protested from where she was making her way back to the head of the table, right towards the tall seat she stood in yesterday. “And you shouldn’t say such mean things, either. Why don’t you apologize?”

“Wh- apologize?” Hiyoko sounded genuinely shocked, but Hajime’s focus was fully stolen by a glass full of orange juice sliding right in front of him.

Ibuki grinned at him as she pushed it across the table, pointing from the glass to his face in case there was any confusion on who that drink should be for. He gave her an awkward smile and nodded, she returned the gesture with a thumbs up and a wink.

“I was just telling the truth!” Hiyoko continued, sounding almost offended by the idea of apologizing to him, “He’s been talking to someone who doesn’t exist! He’s-“

“That’s enough.” Byakuya cut her off, getting up from their seat to lift Usami from where she was struggling to climb into her seat to set her up in it fully, “I’m getting tired of listening to your whining.”

Hiyoko’s jaw dropped, giving the rest of the table a quick glance like she couldn’t believe she was the only one reacting to this. Usami very quickly tried to gather everyone’s attention.

“Okay! I see we all have some very big feelings right now!” She waved her wand in the air, “You know what’s a great thing to do when you have big feelings building up inside you?”

“Scream it out!” Ibuki raised her hand as she answered, holding up her pointer and pinky finger, “Let it all out!”

“No, no,” Usami quickly shook her head, “You especially- we don’t scream indoors. That’s a no no. When you have big feelings, it helps to take a nice deep breath and let it out slowly! Let aaaaall those bad feelings out, let’s do it now!”

“What are we, babies?” Akane huffed, Mikan nervously shifted in her seat on the other side of Nagito.

“Actually, there can be some, um, legitimate benefits to breathing exercises, they can trigger physical responses in the b-body to help you relax-“

“There you are.” Teru’s loud outburst as he threw open the kitchen door certainly didn’t help Mikan relax, her sentence cutting off into a squeak as he sauntered out with a plate of food in his hands. “I was wondering when you’d actually be coming back, Hajime. I was starting to think you were desperate to avoid actually eating something.”

He came and set the plate in front of him, it looked nearly identical to everyone else’s, he… didn’t recognize anything on it.

It smelled good, though. It looked… warm. That was nice.

“Thanks.” He tilted his head as he stared down at it, Teru waved him off.

“I guess I should go get your’s too.” He turned his attention to Nagito, “I made sure everyone got a plate before I let Akane and Nekomaru get seconds.”

“It’s good stuff!” Nekomaru encouraged, leaning from his spot to hand Hajime a pair of chopsticks, “Go ahead, give it a try.”

“You… made food for me?” Nagito sounded shocked, an almost disbelieving look on his face, “You didn’t have to bother with that, I wouldn’t want you to trouble yourself over someone like me.”

“He literally just put food on a plate.” Mahiru pointed out with an almost confused expression, “That’s not troublesome, that’s like… the bare minimum.”

Nagito almost laughed, “Even so, I don’t think I warrant that.”

“… okay.” Teru’s usual smug smile looked a tad uncomfortable, “Well I made food for everyone so you get some too.”

“You brought Fuyuhiko his food, right?” Byakuya asked Peko as she sat down across from them, she silently nodded.

“Oh, that’s what she was doing.” Chiaki’s voice behind Hajime made him jump. “That makes sense, I guess.”

He tilted his head back to face her, opening his mouth to ask what she meant while she peered over his shoulder to look at the food in front of him instead.

“Are you gonna eat?” She asked, “I think Teruteru’s waiting to see your reaction.”

“He’s being weird again.” Hiyoko called from her end of the table, Hajime huffed.

“I’m not-“ He stopped himself before he sounded a little too annoyed, adjusting the way he was holding the chopsticks form Nekomaru to try and match how Kazuichi was holding his, “Usami, can you please explain this to them now?”

“Good manners!” She cheered, Hajime couldn’t help but frown. That ‘please’ was exasperated, not polite, but whatever, “I can definitely say for a fact that Hajime is not weird, or crazy, or any other not nice word that goes along with that.”

“Then what is he, exactly?” Byakuya pressed, casting Hajime a glance as he let Nagito adjust his grip on the chopsticks more. “Does his… unorthodox behavior have anything to do with his ‘enhancement?’”

“I don’t think I’d call these enhancements.” Nekomaru huffed, “Even if that is what the handbooks called them.”

“Perhaps it’s not an imaginary friend he’s been talking to.” Sonia suggested, “Maybe Gundham’s theory from yesterday was right, maybe he can talk to the dead!”

“Hajime, if you can talk to ghosts,” Akane pointed her chopsticks at him,  “Do me a favor and never ever tell me.”

“I still don’t know what a ghost is.” Hajime looked to Kazuichi, he had mentioned that word earlier, right? “Chiaki’s not a ghost, she’s a computer program.”

There was an awkward silence around the table, Hiyoko’s eyes squinting for a second while she seemed to process this. Kazuichi was staring at Hajime now, eyes fixated on the metal he could probably barely see from where he was sitting.

“A computer program… that he can see?” He tried to clarify, glancing back towards Usami, “Is it because of uh… the thing in his head?”

“So I was right!” Hiyoko stood up from her seat, looking to Usami for confirmation instead of letting her actually answer Kazuichi’s question, “He is a robot!”

“Not a robot.” Hajime grumbled, watching Usami shake her head, he finally tried to move his new utensils towards the food on his plate while Teruteru brought out two more plates.

He set one in front of Nagito, though his focus was clearly still on Hajime as he hesitantly lifted whatever the heck this was to his mouth to try it. He felt put on the spot again, this felt almost performative, but he had a feeling Teru wasn’t going to sit down with his own meal until he watched Hajime take the first bite of his.

It was good.

Hajime tuned out Usami saying something about the port on his head. He should’ve been paying attention- even if it was just repeating the information she had already told him back outside- but this food was good. This was different than the drinks, this tasted like multiple things all at once. It was weird, in a good way, it was… this was nice.

His mind raced to fill in the blanks for the weird feeling on his tongue, like when he tried those drinks earlier. This was… savory? It tasted good, he was pretty sure he liked it. Those were the only words he could think of right now, taking another bite and barely registering Teru’s satisfied hum behind him.

He hadn’t eaten anything this good in a long time, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had food that tasted like this…

He couldn't remember ever eating at all.

“I think he likes it.” Sonia was almost whispering to the rest of the table, that snapped Hajime out of his third bite of food. Everyone was staring at him again, an uncomfortable heat rose to his cheeks at the realization.

“… I wasn’t trying to be weird.” He mumbled, setting his chopsticks down and shifting in his seat. Usami quickly shook her head.

“Nobody said you were being weird!” She assured him, even though Hiyoko definitely said he was being weird- and Peko made it sound like a lot of the others thought he was weird already. “They’re happy for you, you looked excited.”

Hajime couldn’t help the way his face scrunched up, “I uh… yeah. I guess. It’s good.”

He cleared his throat, still sort of hoping he could get everyone’s attention away from him somehow, “Weren’t you gonna tell them about Chiaki?”

“She told us a little while you were… distracted, that this Chiaki apparently exists.” Byakuya informed him, glancing around like he was looking for her, “And that you’re really the only one that can see her.”

“Is she here right now?” Mahiru asked Usami instead of Hajime, he nodded anyway, gesturing to where Chiaki was rocking on her feet behind him, looking somewhat amused by all of this. “Oh, this is so weird.”

“Maybe we can uh… get her on an actual screen, or something?” Kazuichi suggested uncertainly, trying to smile while he tilted his head at Hajime, “If you’re really talking to an AI, it might be cool for the rest of us to talk to it, too. Right?”

“He’s just hoping it looks like a cute girl.” Hiyoko rolled her eyes, picking at her food a little before a thought seemed to occur to her, “Does it look like a cute girl?”

“Uh,” He turned back to face Chiaki again, getting a lazy smile and wave that brought a small smile to his own face, “Yeah. She’s cute I guess, she’s really nice, too.”

“Hajime’s got a robot girlfriend.” Teru snickered, Byakuya elbowed him.

“Girlfriend?” Hajime tried to clarify.

“Hm?”

“Why did you… specify that she’s a girl?”

“Oh, Hajime,”

Teru’s borderline giggling was cut off by Byakuya standing to face Usami better, their expression more serious than it had been all morning.

“I want more information from you, now.” They began, paying no mind to how Usami seemed startled by the movement, “You were purposefully vague all day yesterday, you’re actually going to answer our questions now.”

“Well, now, there’s no need to be demanding.” Usami deflected, fidgeting slightly in her seat, “I know you’re all very confused… some of you probably more than others, but-“

Byakuya almost looked anger at that last statement, a brief flicker of some emotion across their face before it settled back into their more put together stoicism. “Usami. We are being kept here against our will. You claim to be on our side, and yet you haven’t been helping us.”

“I- I’ve been trying to help-“

“We are all missing… significant parts of our memory, things about us have been changed without our consent, there have been… unnerving things happening since the moment we awoke downstairs.” They continued on, everyone at the table beginning to look a little more uncomfortable, “We were under the impression Hajime was talking to no one, and it turned out to be from the machine that you and whoever it is you’re working for more than likely put in him.”

“We didn’t do that!” Usami gasped in horror, “I would never let something like that happen to anyone! I just-“

“Usami.” Byakuya’s tone was growing harsher, “You can either tell us what’s going on, or you can keep your mouth shut.”

“Jesus, dude.” Kazuichi flinched, “You don’t have to bully her.”

“You…” Usami’s ears drooped, glancing around he rest of the table, “…I don’t blame you all for being mad at me.”

 There was a tense pause, for everyone but Hajime, the uncomfortable silence filled for him by Chiaki whispering in his ear.

“She’d say something if she could.” She told him quietly, a hand on his shoulder as she bent over that he could almost feel, an electric fuzz around his skin like static. “I don’t think… I really don’t think any of this was supposed to happen this way, I don’t think she can say anything else.”

“What wasn’t supposed to happen this way?” He whispered back, before speaking up when he realized nobody else was going to say anything, “Guys, I don’t think Usami is-“

“I- I’ll keep trying.” Usami cut him off, her voice quiet and determined, “I promise. I’m doing everything I can to make sure this turns out okay for all of you.”

Byakuya’s expression softened, barely, Usami tried to stop from curling in on herself as she continued, “I… I’ve been trying to call for help. Nobody’s answering- the call’s not… it’s not even going through. I don’t know why we can’t reach out to-“

She stopped, twitched, the light in one of her eyes flickering as she shook her head, “I want to tell you what’s going on so badly, I just… I can’t.”

“But I’ll keep trying, I promise, there’s… there’s other ways I can try to call for help. I’ll get you all out of this, I- I swear from the bottom of my heart!”

She paused, looking around the table like she was waiting for something, for someone else to say something, for anything to happen, she was met with empty and confused stares.

“… You should all enjoy your breakfast.” She concluded, sliding down out of her seat, “Do your best to… be friends… stay hopeful, all that good stuff.”

She trudged towards the door, ears still drooped downwards, nobody moved till she had left the restaurant.

“You broke the metal demon’s spirit.” Gundham commented as Byakuya rubbed their temples, “Your words shattered all of her pleasantry coated defenses and-“

Byakuya raised a hand to silence him, not unkindly, Gundham’s sentence trailed off into a perturbed sounding hum.

“I lost my temper.” Byakuya finally stated, eyes still squeezed shut as they slowly moved one of their other hand to pinch the bridge of their nose, “I shouldn’t have…  I’m not sure what came over me there. We’re supposed to be cooperating.”

“You’re uh… you’re fine, buddy.” Nekomaru gave them as encouraging a smile he could muster, with how uncomfortable he looked, “We’re all still a little worked up about all of this, it makes sense that you’re on edge.”

“I’m not-“ Byakuya’s eyes opened, a darker brown than they had been before, a slightly different shape, Hajime still wasn’t used to their constantly shifting appearance. They took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m not on edge, I just haven’t… this morning has been hard.”

“Not quite feeling like yourself?”

Nagito’s voice cut through the tension like a guillotine, like a weight dropping into the middle of everything and shattering it.

“Hajime.” Chiaki was talking to him again, while Byakuya stared at Nagito with an expression somewhere between suspicion and fear. 

He hummed, quietly, not quite willing to actually break the silence and respond, Chiaki took a step away from him to stand behind Nagito instead.

“Did uh… did Nagito say anything weird when you first met him yesterday?”

“C-Can we just… have a normal breakfast, please?” Mikan stuttered out, gripping the edge of the table and keeping her head sort of bowed like she expected people to protest, “I don’t want t-to listen to anymore fighting, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, come on.” Akane nodded along, pointing towards Hajime with her chopsticks, “It’s his first breakfast ever, let’s not make it all tense. You gonna finish that food, Hajime?”

“Why?” Hajime asked, poking at his food with his own chopsticks, “You want it?”

“I want you to eat it.” She corrected, “If you got any leftovers then sure, whatever. But you need to eat too.”

“Hajime’s first breakfast!” Ibuki sang, tapping her finger against her glass of water to try and make a beat, “It’s gonna be nice, it’s gonna be normal, we’re gonna have a good… vacation.”

Her impromptu song fell apart at the end, she awkwardly smiled and went back to looking at her food while Byakuya sighed.

“In regards to… having a good ‘vacation,’” they began, finally sitting back down at the table, “I originally wanted us to meet together to discuss something to… increase morale. Keep things feeling as normal as possible.”

“Normal sounds… nice.” Mahiru hesitantly encouraged, “What’d you have in mind?”

“We,” Byakuya began, seeming to get back a small amount of their previous confidence as they sat up straighter, “Are going to have a party.”

Chapter Text

He’d gotten to explore some more of the island today, mostly against his will.

Hajime hadn’t really been paying attention to… well, any of his surroundings yesterday. Outside of the hotel and the beach he hadn’t really gone anywhere.

That changed today, thanks to almost everyone pulling him in different directions and demanding his attention. They wanted to talk, show him things, teach him stuff that apparently everyone else on the island but him knew already.

It was kinda nice, though, all things considered. Usami said they cared for him.

The others had accepted the news about Chiaki’s existence surprisingly easily- but maybe that shouldn’t have surprised him, considering how quickly they were adjusting to this whole ‘kidnapped and experimented on’ thing. There had been questions, of course, and a lot of work on Hajime’s part to relay what Chiaki was saying to the others whenever he couldn’t answer the questions they asked.

Mahiru had asked what she looked like, specifically if she looked human. Chiaki had given him a slightly lazy pose to show off her appearance while he described it, even pulling up the hood of her jacket to reveal an embroidered face and ears to resemble a cat.

Gundham had to explain what a cat was, when Hajime tried to describe the hoodie and Chiaki’s urging him to “Tell them it’s got kitty ears.” went over his head.

Which had also led the self proclaimed ‘lord of darkness’ to stand and announce he was taking Hajime under his wing- and that first thing in the morning he would begin learning about ‘beasts and demons’ and how to ‘bond’ with them.

Kazuichi whispered that he should call in sick for that, Hajime was too busy trying to figure out what half of those words were to respond.

But the day was going… well. He’d been pulled to the store by Ibuki after breakfast, a few of the others tagging along and helping explain what various things in the store were for him. Ibuki showed off all the different types of snack foods, ignoring Nagito’s comment that the food products here ranged from older stocked canned goods to newer kinds of candies and drinks.

Half of the products here were covered in dust, floors mopped or swept (two new terms he learned, when Hiyoko pointed out how dirty things were) in ways that left streaks in places. Someone had tried to clean, they had just either been in a rush or not really paying attention, but someone still tried to clean.

Someone cleaned, stocked food, enough food to last them awhile- things that would keep in a freezer, enough rice and non-perishables to last them even if the fresh food failed, clean water that was safely stored, the evidence went on and on. 

Someone built their cottages, they looked so much newer than everything else, so much care went into the relatively simple set up of each of them, as opposed to the hotel. Not that Hajime had really gotten to investigate that any more, Chiaki seemed somewhat determined to keep him away from that, suggesting literally anything else when he brought up checking out the older building to Nagito.

She was chattier now that some of the truth was out there, he guessed she wasn’t as worried about accidentally spilling some secret now, but that was besides the point.

The point was, as far as Hajime could tell, someone had been here recently. Someone had done all of this for them. Someone cared enough to see that they’d be somewhat comfortable here.

That felt strange, it felt… not good, being kept hostage still wasn’t good- but maybe Usami really was telling the truth when she said that the people who kept them here wanted them to be okay. Maybe.

If those mystery people really cared they should’ve left more information.

Kazuichi and Nagito taught him what an airport was, and showed him the planes that had been gutted and left to rust long ago. Kazuichi said he could tell just from looking at them that they weren’t in any condition to fly, half of them didn’t even look fully finished. But after some slightly nagging encouragement from Nagito and curiosity from Hajime, Kazuichi had used his power to pry open the old metal hatches to reveal the engines and the door to look in one of the larger planes. 

But all of that was aside the point- the airport also showed signs that someone had tried cleaning it, and more evidence that someone had been here recently.

There was a backpack, green and plain looking, left on one of the seats by an old mop. It was relatively empty aside from some generic cleaning supplies and a sticky note written in wiggly handwriting for someone to remember to take medicine.

Nagito had suggested bringing this up at the next group meal, but that ended up being a little too busy.

It started with Akane, talking through a mouthful of onigiri and demanding that Nekomaru go to the beach with her and spar.

“You avoided me all morning!” She snapped, standing and putting one foot up on her chair while she pointed across the room at him, “You wanna find out how your weird mutation works, don’t ya?”

“Of course I do,” He had responded with an amused laugh, before his expression got a little more serious, “I just don’t want you getting hurt while I’m trying to figure that out.”

Akane scoffed, a hand on her hip as she rolled her eyes, “I don’t need ya looking out for me, old man. If anything you should be worried about yourself!”

She raised her now empty hand- empty aside from the bits of rice still stuck to it, anyway- and flashed her claws. Long, jagged points flexing out inches away from where Mahiru was reaching for the pitcher of water on the table.

“Oh my god- okay.” She swatted at Akane’s hand, setting the pitcher down closer to her and huffing, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but new rule: no more using weird super powers at the table.”

“Ah-“ Sonia paused her attempts to completely frost her drink over, looking up from where she’d been focused on the task for the past few seconds while Ibuki watched in awe, “Does that include me?”

“It includes everyone.” Mahiru sent a pointed look towards where Hiyoko was skipping to sit next to her, the blonde stopped short.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She held a hand to her chest in offense, “I didn’t even do anything!”

“You made a breeze blow up Mikan’s skirt when you came in.”

“Hey- that was just the normal wind! You can’t prove that was me.”

“I saw your hand move.” Mahiru rolled her eyes, gesturing vaguely with one hand, “You’ve gotten really good at doing that… wind stuff.”

Her expression softened slightly as Hiyoko huffed and sat down next to her, something less stern and more amused.

“It would be really impressive if you used it for something nice instead of, ya know, stuff like that.”

Hiyoko opened her mouth to respond to that, only for it to hang open while she fumbled to think of a response. She finally settled for just a grumbled, “Whatever.” crossing her arms and pouting down at the table while Mahiru poured her drink.

“Alright, alright, no claws during meals.” Akane relented, sitting back down in her own seat and watching Nekomaru claim what was becoming his usual seat at the end of the table, “But the beach is still fair play- come on, man! You said you’ve done some martial arts stuff before! You can train me!”

Nekomaru sat down with a grunt- a noise that struck Hajime as more of a groan, like it had when they met yesterday… like it had every time Nekomaru sat down, actually.

“I just think we should ease into things like that.” He shrugged, “The last thing I want is any of you getting hurt, Usami said we all might have some weird… side effects from whatever those pods downstairs were.”

Hajime was still wary about fully believing Usami on most things, but that seemed to be proving to be true. Nobody was sleeping well, apparently, and Kazuichi had been so out of breath after walking around the island earlier that he went to lay down instead of joining everyone for lunch.

Usami said that would fade, that they’d get better, Chiaki seemed to think so too.

Chiaki wasn’t here right now, Hajime assumed she left to visit Usami, she had said she needed to be connected to one of them to see anything. Nobody had seen the rabbit since breakfast, maybe Chiaki was just checking on her.

“I’m not experiencing any side effects.” Akane leaned forward on the table on her elbows, “Sounds to me like you’re scared, Nidai.”

That got Nekomaru to smirk, leaning forward some as well to better look her in the eye as he responded, “Alright, fine then, you’re on.”

“Yes!”

“Give me one more day, though.”

“No! What?”

“I’m afraid the delay may be my fault.” Byakuya interjected as they sat down with a plate of food, already lifting a piece with their chopsticks (They were much better at using them than Hajime, Mahiru had said something about him not having ‘muscle memory’ about these things yet) before continuing to speak. “I asked Nekomaru to help me move some tables into the old building next door.”

“Is this for your stupid party?” Hiyoko asked as Hajime finally started eating his own food. He had onigiri- Mahiru had made it, she showed him what it was, there were a couple other foods he couldn’t identify yet. “Why are we doing it in the old building?”

“I would assume it’s because Byakuya wants some privacy.” Nagito guessed as he sat down, casting a quick glance at the cameras, “I guess it might be nice to be somewhere without constant surveillance.”

“There’s not cameras in the cottages.” Mahiru pointed out, “Why not just have it in one of those? That old building was so dirty.”

“The cottages would be too small.” Byakuya shook their head, “And Nagito is right, the older building does have more privacy than most other places on either island-“

“W-we could just have it in the park on the central island, couldn’t we?” Mikan suggested, doing little more than just pushing her food around on her plate, “That.. might be nice, fresh air, a-and we could set up some picnic blankets by that strange statue.”

“Lame.” Hiyoko rolled her eyes, Sonia continued in a much nicer tone.

“I’m not sure an outdoor party would be ideal, I do not remember seeing many lights when I went to the central island earlier today…”

Hajime hadn’t been to the ‘center island’ yet, he’d been distracted- getting yanked around and taught about a million different mundane things was pretty time consuming. But he had seen it, he’d walked past the bridge that led to it, he knew it led to a couple other islands further away, he could sort of see them across the water.

Most of the others seemed to have seen it by now, even Nagito had wandered off the investigate it at one point while Ibuki was trying to convince Hajime to learn the drums (drums were round objects that made music, she’d told him that much, apparently you beat them with sticks for fun). He’d have to check that out later to see for himself.

“I have already decided the party’s location, it’s not up for debate.” Byakuya put that argument to rest quickly, pausing to take another bite before they hummed thoughtfully, “However Mahiru brings up a good point, that building is filthy. Someone will have to clean it.”

“What do you mean by someone?” Mahiru huffed, “It’s your idea, you clean it.”

“I have other matters I’ll need to attend to.” Byakuya shook their head, Nekomaru let out an awkward laugh.

“I’m already moving things for ya, don’t tell me you’re gonna try to make me clean too.”

“I’m not doing it either.” Teru butted in, holding his hands up and shaking his head with such force it nearly shook his hair out of it’s curled back position, “I already offered to cook- the chef never has to clean, that’s the rule.”

“That’s not a rule.” Peko was looking at Hajime as she spoke, like she was letting him specifically know this, “Don’t let him lie to you about things.”

“How about we decide randomly?” Nagito suggested, “We can all… draw straws or something, let fate decide. Fate’s never wrong.”

“Can we not just have the party here?” Sonia asked again as Nagito stood to head towards the kitchen, “This seems like a fine place to have a hostage party.”

Gundham hummed, moving his hand from where it had been fiddling with his scarf to point across the table at Byakuya, “I agree with the chameleon mage’s sentiments- a break from metal demon’s watchful eyes could be invigorating for the fragile morale of this group.”

“I’m… pretty sure that means you agree with Byakuya, right?” Hajime tried, receiving a curt nod in return. “Will Usami even let us do that?”

“Do you think it being… closer to where we all woke up might mean it’s off limits?” Mikan asked warily, “I mean that would make sense, I’m sure she doesn’t want us… poking around down there.”

“There’s nothing interesting in the building itself, I’m sure. I don’t intend to try going back down beneath the island.” Byakuya dismissed her worries, “She’d have no reason to have a problem with us being in there, right, Peko?”

Peko stilled, glancing back up at them over the rim of her glasses with intense red eyes.

“Why are you asking me?”

“There’s no need to be hostile.” Byakuya rolled their eyes, “I saw you go in to investigate earlier, you slipped right through the locked door.”

Peko was quiet, completely still for a moment before Hajime decided to break the silence.

“It’s not like you did anything wrong.” He shrugged, “I don’t blame you for wanting to know what’s going on, I probably would’ve snuck in there if I could.”

“Really?” Chiaki’s voice was suddenly right behind him, he jolted in his seat and ended up dropping one of his chopsticks to the floor.

“Is your phantasmal companion speaking to you again?” Gundham guessed as Chiaki softly laughed behind Hajime. He nodded.

“Yeah. Chiaki’s here now.” He sighed and bent down to pick up the utensil he dropped,  “Oh, uh, she’s waving by the way.”

“She doesn’t have a problem with this plan, does she?” Byakuya asked in an almost guarded tone, “If she was made by the people who made Usami, would she not be on their side in these kind of decisions?”

“I don’t care.” Chiaki shrugged, “Me and Usami don’t agree on everything, as long as you guys are being safe I think it’s good if we try to have fun.”

Hajime relayed that to the group as best he could, still a little confused on Chiaki’s relationship to Usami to be honest. It wasn’t long before Nagito came back out of the kitchen with a bundle of small wooden sticks in his hand.

“Okay, I went ahead and cut up some chopsticks I found in the kitchen.” He smiled at the group, “We can all pick one, the shortest stick gets cleaning duty.”

“I’m not cleaning.” Hiyoko crossed her arms, “I don’t even wanna have this dumb party, I’m not gonna clean up the gross old building for it.”

Nagito held the bundle out towards Hajime first, he took one despite not really knowing what was happening. The chopstick he pulled out didn’t look cut at all, it seemed to match the length of the metal ones he’d been attempting to pick up food with.

“Well, look at that.” Nagito grinned a little wider, seeming amused by Hajime’s confusion over this whole ‘drawing straws’ thing, “You must be lucky.”

Hiyoko continued to complain as Mikan drew next, Sonia, then Gundham, then Ibuki- her sentiments getting louder as the choice came closer to her.

“There are literally sooo many other places we can have this stupid party.” She whined, refusing to budge as Nagito held his hand out for her to take one, “Oh my god- Kazuichi and the eyepatch guy didn’t even bother to show up to lunch, make one of them do the cleaning!”

“I highly doubt Fuyuhiko is going anywhere near this party.” Peko mumbled, “And if Kazuichi’s really having… breathing issues, it probably wouldn’t be good for him to be inhaling dust all day.”

“He’s probably faking it.” Hiyoko huffed, glaring up at Nagito while he refused to move on till she picked, “Probably just hoping someone will give him mouth to mouth if he sounds desperate enough for air. Probably the only way he’d ever get kissed-“

“You’re doing an awful lot of stalling.” Nagito interrupted, a casual tone to his voice despite the forcefulness of it, “Is the idea of cleaning a room really that offensive to you?”

Hiyoko opened her mouth to respond, he beat her to it.

“Are you afraid of being in there by yourself?” He asked, tilting his head slightly, “Does being that close to the place we woke up in scare you?”

Hiyoko’s expression screwed up in anger- or maybe disgust, some weird combination of both- she finally snatched a chopstick from Nagito’s hand.

“Fine! Creep. Just get the hell away from me.” She snapped, and despite the windows all being closed Hajime could’ve sworn he felt the wind pick up with her words. 

Hiyoko looked down at her stick, much shorter than the one Hajime was still awkwardly fidgeting with, her eyes flicking around the table to see how it measured up against everyone who had drawn so far.

Nagito did end up skipping Teru, maybe the rule about the chef not cleaning was real after all, though Hajime doubted it. Akane’s stick ended up being even shorter than Hiyoko’s, and Byakuya’s even shorter than that, but by the time Nagito was left with just one in his hand he already had a slightly disappointed smile on his face.

“Ah, I guess I’m the winner.” He announced with a sigh, opening his palm to reveal a small piece of wood left in the center, “That’s just my luck. I guess it’s about time I actually make myself useful here.”

“Ha ha!” Hiyoko jeered, tossing her own chopstick at him, “Now you’re the one who’s gonna be stuck in the creepy old building all by yourself!”

“I don’t mind.” Nagito seemed unfazed, “I’m happy to help out, and it’s not like I’ll be completely alone. Nekomaru and Byakuya will be moving some things in, right? And I assume Teru will be bringing in food at some point.”

“This really would be so much easier if we just had the party in here.” Teru muttered under his breath, finally heaving a dramatic sigh and shrugging, “I suppose, yes, I’ll moving food down there at some point.”

“I can help with that.” Akane offered with a grin, “What kinda food are we talkin’ about?”

“Sort of your typical party food, but a million times better.” Teru’s exasperated tone immediately switched to boastful, “There was plenty of meat in the freezer, I thought about doing some barbecue. I’m sure you all can appreciate a nice cut of meat when you see it, right?”

“I will not partake in anything of the sort.” Gundham suddenly muttered, frowning down at his rice. “I do not consume the flesh of any living beings.”

“Well, you’re no fun.” Teru started to roll his eyes, before blinking in surprise and frowning, “Wait- you ate something with eggs in it this morning.”

“Chickens lay eggs regardless. There are no roosters on this island, the eggs are unfertilized.” He fidgeted with his scarf, “I know the chickens here are well cared for and satisfied, I have no issue with consuming what they have no use for.”

“Is that your way of saying you’re vegetarian, not vegan?” Mahiru guessed, waiting for Gundham to solemnly nod before continuing, “I’m sure Hanamura won’t mind accommodating for that, right?”

“Aw, what’s with the formal treatment? Are we not friends?”

“I tend to not be on a first name basis with people who try to look up my skirt.”

“Interesting.” Teru shrugged, “Well you’re right, I was going to have things without meat in it anyway. The ‘dark lord’ should be pleased about that, hm?”

“I think it’s admirable how much you care about animals.” Sonia commented, leaning forward a little while Gundham gave Teru a curt nod, “You seem very nurturing for a demon lord, Gundham.”

Gundham froze, chopsticks clicking slightly in his hand as he cleared his throat and glanced back at her. He just hummed in response, tucking his head down slightly and staring back down at his food, Sonia’s smile wavered.

“Ah, I hope I didn’t say anything insulting-“

“You did not.” Gundham cut her off quickly, the lower half of his face basically buried in his scarf now. “Nothing insulting at all, you have… no reason to worry.”

“With the way he talks it’s not like he’d have any room to judge, anyway.” Hiyoko muttered, Hajime almost didn’t hear her, Mahiru elbowed her.

“So… what time is this party, anyway?” Hajime tried to get a conversation going again, that’s what you were supposed to do while eating, right? Make conversation?

“Eight hours.” Byakuya responded, pushing their empty plate aside and addressing the table again, “That should give you all plenty of time to attend to any personal affairs before the festivities start. I won’t tolerate anyone being late.”

“What… what is a party, anyway?” Hajime asked next, still a little confused on that despite Chiaki explaining it some earlier. “I know we’re all gonna ‘hang out’ and eat but… how is that any different than what we’re doing now?”

“Oh, I see what you’re saying!” Ibuki clapped her hands, “Everywhere is a party to Hajime! That’s the spirit!”

“This is not a party.” Byakuya shook their head, effectively putting an end to the air guitar Ibuki had devolved into doing, “To have a party you must have the intention to have a party. There would be… activities, perhaps some music, a game-“

“Oh, and at every party- you have to make out with someone.” Teru took over the explanation, pointing at Hajime and nodding to stress it’s importance. “It’s one of the most important social rules at any party.”

Nagito let out a slightly forced sounding chuckle next to Hajime, about to speak when Sonia tilted her head and spoke first.

“Is that some kind of Japanese tradition? I have been to many events where that was not the norm.” She frowned, “Kissing the hand, maybe, but not a full on ‘make out’ by any means.”

“Oh, yes, very traditional, very important to our culture.”  Teru agreed, Nagito’s forced laugh got a little louder.

“That’s funny, Teru, really.” He smiled, “You should let them know you’re just kidding. I’d hate for someone to think you’re trying to take advantage of either of them.”

“What’s making out?” Hajime asked Nagito a little quieter, beginning to feel self conscious about how much he needed explained to him still.

Nagito’s smile twitched, he shook his head a little, “Not something you have to worry about, Teruteru was just joking.”

“It’s kissing.” Chiaki supplied instead, leaning forward slightly to lean on the back of Nagito’s chair while he remained completely unaware. “You know what kissing is?”

Hajime shook his head, as subtly as possible, speaking to Chiaki when no one else could see her still was another thing he felt still self conscious about.

“It’s like a way to tell someone you like them. A lot.” She shrugged, “Nagito’s right, probably not something to be worried about at this party.”

“Are you going to the party?” Hajime ignored his embarrassment about talking to ‘no one,’ and tried to ignore the confused glance Nagito gave him before he saw Hajime’s focus was behind him instead. “I mean… I guess you’re stuck with me.”

“I might stick with Usami for it, I think.” She tapped a finger to her chin, “Maybe, anyway. There’s something I wanted to ask her about, and that way I could keep her distracted.”

“Why do you need to keep Usami distracted?”

“She’s… offering to distract Usami?” Nagito asked Hajime, a few others at the table were looking up now, too, “Why?”

“I just don’t want her being, ya know, in the way.” Chiaki shrugged, “I don’t think she’s trying to be frustrating or anything, she’s just worried. She might get a little anxious about you guys being somewhere without cameras like that, I think.”

Hajime nodded, glancing back at the table to relay this to them like some bizarre kinda of translator, “Chiaki says Usami might not like us being in the old building because there’s no cameras.”

“There’s cameras in here.” Peko pointed out, “Can she not hear us making all these plans already? Why hasn’t she tried to stop us, then?”

“I don’t think she’s spying on you constantly.” Chiaki tilted her head, “Between you and me, I think she’s so focused on trying to call for help she hasn’t been watching you guys as much as she was originally supposed to.”

“Chiaki says she isn’t watching us constantly.” Hajime repeated for her, “Usami’s been trying to call for help, she hasn’t been watching that much-“

“That part was between you and me.” She made a gesture with her hands, “That means secret.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She smiled, shaking her head a little, “… Also, between you and me, there’s something I might need your help with.”

“Why does that have to be…” Hajime trailed off, tried to think through his words a little more carefully if she wanted privacy, “What is it?”

“You want to learn more about what’s going on, right?” She asked tentatively, her usual lax and tired expression growing more serious, “And about yourself?”

He nodded, a little confused as to where this was going, she sighed.

“I want to know more, too. I might know how we can do that, but…” She paused, “It’s risky, I think.”

“You think?”

“I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

Hajime just frowned at that, glancing back around the table and finding everyone waiting for him to fill them in.

Chiaki noticed them, too, her hands fidgeting with her hoodie before she spoke again, “Tell them I mentioned keeping Usami off your case again, that’s all… oh, and we should probably bring some food to Kazuichi.”

“Now?”

“There’s something I think you should ask him.”

Hajime just nodded, turned his attention fully back to the others and scratching the back of his neck, “Uh, Chiaki said she’ll keep Usami distracted- just in case she doesn’t like us being somewhere without cameras.”

“Is that all?” Peko’s tone wasn’t exactly suspicious, but it wasn’t casual either. Hajime wasn’t entirely sure why Chiaki was being secretive- especially considering how enigmatic she was to everyone else already- but Hajime wasn’t about to just blurt out all the vague things she said… not until he understood it more, anyway.

“She was also asking about food for Kazuichi, she thinks I should bring him something.” He shrugged, he wasn’t really keeping secrets if he had no idea what the heck Chiaki was talking about either, right?

For some reasons the thought of keeping secrets from the others felt… wrong.

“How kind of her.” Byakuya’s tone was suspicious, looking vaguely in the direction Chiaki was standing in Hajime’s vision, but definitely just guessing, “I suppose it would be best for someone to check on him and inform him of tonight’s plans.”

“I’ll get you a plate to take to him.” Mahiru offered, standing up out of her seat and heading towards the kitchen. She had something new around her waist now, a small bag attached to a belt with a zipper, he wasn’t sure what that was.

“So does Chiaki, uh… tell you what to do?” Nagito asked, a little confused sounding- but not nearly as confused as Hajime must’ve looked when he turned to face him again.

“What? Why would she do that?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Nagito chuckled nervously, “I guess I’m just a little in the dark on how this whole… situation works.”

He gestured to Hajime’s head, his hand reaching up slightly and then stopping, “I guess I just can’t really imagine someone being… in my head like that. I didn’t know if maybe she was- ah, well, I guess I don’t know what I’m saying. I tend to ramble sometimes, you can just ignore me.”

Hajime frowned, “But what did you-“

“Really, I wasn’t saying anything worthwhile.” Nagito’s words made a weird kind of discomfort stick to the back of Hajime’s throat- both from the bizarre starting point to the weird depreciative turn it took at the end.

Chiaki wasn’t really… telling him what to do, right? It wasn’t like he had to listen to her, she said she was just helping him out. It’s not like this was any kind of testing-

“Okay, here ya go.” Mahiru emerged from the kitchen, two small bentos stacked in her hands, “I packed one for Fuyuhiko too, I don’t think I’ve seen him eat the whole time we’ve been here.”

“I doubt he’ll eat food you bring him.” Nekomaru sighed, “You shoulda’ heard what he snapped at me this morning when I tried to invite him to breakfast.”

“He said he wouldn’t eat any of my food.” Teru huffed, Hiyoko rolled her eyes as she reached for her drink.

“Let him starve to death, then.” She commented dismissively, “He’s been an ugly little bitch this whole time.”

“And you’ve just been an absolute ray of sunshine.” Akane retorted just as Hajime was opening his mouth to make a similar comment- but it was better that she beat him to it, the words he planned to use weren’t nearly as civil as sarcasm.

“Give it a shot anyway.” Mahiru just sighed, placing the bentos next to Hajime as she rounded the table again to get to her seat. “It’s just rice, fish, and some sauces I found in there. It’s not like it’s poison.”

“No, it most certainly is not.” Gundham commented, “The distrust the one eyed warrior holds toward the rest of us is impressive, for so much hatred to build after just one day truly takes quite a vengeful soul.”

“I really don’t get why he doesn’t trust us.” Ibuki leaned on her elbows on the table, almost pouting, “We haven’t even done anything! I tried really really hard to be nice yesterday, he practically ran away from me! I offered to write a song for him and everything!”

“He literally flinched when I tried to wave at him.” Nagito added with a sad smile, “I couldn’t believe someone with an actual super power would be afraid of someone like me.”

“We still don’t know what his ‘super power’ is.” Byakuya noted, “Usami confiscated his handbook yesterday after he left it on the table, so I wasn’t able to look and see what it might be.”

“He did not look at his tablet, either.” Sonia pointed out, “Do you think that means he doesn’t even know what it is?”

 Nekomaru leaned back in his seat, “I dunno how he could, unless Usami just told him. But I doubt he woulda talked to her, he’s been avoiding everyone so much.”

“I saw them talking yesterday, actually.” Hajime thought back to when he’d caught them standing by the gate, “I dunno what she told him, but they’ve uh… interacted, I guess.”

He shrugged as he got out of his seat, picking up the two boxes Mahiru had packed and sighing, “I’ll give it a shot, anyway, maybe he’ll eat something.”

“Oh, um,” Mikan stood as well, nearly tripping as she pushed her seat back enough for her to sidle out, “Can I come, too? I mean, if that’s not too much trouble. I don’t wanna impose or anything-“

“I don’t care.” Hajime answered, only realizing that might be too dismissive when he noticed Chiaki gesturing for him to smile off to the side. He gave it a shot, trying to mimic the lazy smile she was showing him, “You can come, I don’t mind.”

Mikan smiled back, muttering out a thank you and following him back out into the sun outside.

He liked the sun, the immediate wave of warmth against his skin made him feel strangely calm. Maybe it was just because waking up in the cold, dark… whatever that was below the island was still fresh in his mind, or maybe he was naturally a colder person- but the sun still felt nice, it felt warm-

Mikan let out a gasp, tripping over the bottom step behind Hajime and reaching out to grab his arm for support- a jolt like ice struck through his nerves the second her hand made contact with his forearm.

He couldn’t stop himself from gasping too, struggling to keep the bentos in his hands from spilling as Mikan tried to stand back up and stuttered out a quick string of apologies.

“Ah! I’m so sorry I’m sorry!” She released his arm, the feeling in his nerves lingered, less sharp but still cold, like cold water settling in between his muscles, it was so distracting he almost missed what she was saying, “I- didn’t mean t-to bump into you like that!”

“Mikan, it’s fine-“

“You can hit me back, I- I won’t be mad!”

“Mikan.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Hey.” Hajime grabbed her shoulder with his empty hand, shaking it a little and watching Mikan flinch and tense up, “Hey, I’m… I’m not mad. Okay? You just surprised me.”

Mikan blinked, eyes wide and shocked, “You… but I… I didn’t hurt you?”

Hajime frowned, more confused than anything now and shaking his head, “No? You’re not that heavy. I was more worried about spilling the food than anything.”

Mikan stared at him a second more, mouth still slightly opened like she wanted to say something, her hands fidgeting together for a moment as Hajime removed his hand from her shoulder.

“Can I, um…” She started, then stopped, shaking her head, “N-never mind. We should get that food to Kazuichi, right? I wanted to um… to check on him, too.”

He really didn’t know what to say to that, he gave Chiaki a quick glance for some kind of guidance and was met by a shrug in return. He turned to head back towards the cottages, Mikan quickly shuffled to keep in step beside him.

“Does your implant hurt?”

She was staring at the side of his head, he could feel her eyes on him, “No.”

“Do you know what part of the brain it’s supposed to be connected to?” She asked next, quiet and nervous, like he might get mad at her for even speaking. “I can, um, I can guess, based on where it’s located, but I didn’t know if you’d know for sure.”

Hajime hesitated, a purposeful pause to make sure his words weren’t going to come out as mean as they would’ve if he had just blurted them out. Mikan seemed… sensitive. He didn’t want to risk setting her off again.

“I don’t remember anything.” He finally settled on just reminding her of his current predicament, “I’m the same as the rest of you, I don’t know anything about how I got this or… what I’m supposed to be able to do.”

Mikan looked embarrassed, “I- right, I’m sorry. I knew that. I just, um,”

“You’re curious or whatever, I get it.” He shrugged, “It really doesn’t bother me that you wanna know, I just can’t help you- oh, Kazuichi?”

Kazuichi was sitting in front of his cottage, leaning back against his door with his head tilted back towards the sun. His jumpsuit was pulled down and tied around his waist, and Hajime could already hear the weird raspiness to his breath from a few feet away.

He jumped slightly at Hajime’s voice, opening his eyes and coughing as they came closer.

“I- hey man, hey.” He gave them each an awkward smile, taking in another breath that seemed a little harder to get in than it should be, “What’s going on?”

“Why are you… sitting outside?” Hajime came and squatted in front of him, already holding out one of Mahiru’s boxes while Mikan lingered back. “I thought you said you wanted to take a nap.”

“Eh, I was gonna,” Kazuichi took the bento from his hand, inspecting it for a second before he shrugged, “I couldn’t uh… I couldn’t sleep. I thought fresh air might be good.”

“That could p-probably be beneficial.” Mikan nodded, “Fresh air can be good for people with respiratory issues. Have you um, decided to let me examine you yet?”

The weak smile on Kazuichi’s face dropped, he glanced off to the side and tugged on a strand of his hair, “Oh, I don’t really think I need it. I’m not like sick or anything.”

There was a gravelly cough behind the words he said, and a frustrated huff that came out more like a wheeze than anything, “I’m just… kinda sore. And tired. It’s fine, I don’t need to play doctor or whatever.”

A chill ran down Hajime’s spine at that, he couldn’t… figure out why.

“Play… doctor?” He questioned, watching Kazuichi make a face like he had said something he shouldn’t, “What’s that? Is that like a game? Chiaki mentioned games.”

“A doctor is someone who takes care of you.” Mikan gave him a sympathetic smile, tilting her head slightly, “When you’re sick or not feeling well, you need someone with medical expertise to look after you and find the problem.”

Doctors meant… fixing sick people. Okay.

Why did he feel nauseous?

“I thought that’s what nurses did?” Hajime tried to clarify further, he was starting to hate needing to have things explained to him, he didn’t like feeling so… behind everyone else, but he didn’t know what to make of this. “Nagito said earlier that you were a nurse?”

“Nurses and doctors are very similar.” Mikan explained, sounding a little more sure of herself now that the topic was something she was so familiar with, “But I’m… not a nurse, not yet, I was in school to learn how to be one.”

“Oh.” Hajime slowly nodded, “So you can… help Kazuichi?”

“I don’t need help.” Kazuichi’s tone was almost whiny, “I’m fine, I swear. Usami said we were gonna have some problems from the weird tubes or whatever, right? This is probably just-“

He broke off onto coughing, a wet and sickly sound that made Hajime flinch. He rolled his eyes and finished his sentence. “It’s probably just that.”

Mikan’s worried expression had only increased with Kazuichi’s coughing fit. She shifted her weight from foot to foot for a moment before she could spoke again.

“I- I don’t have to touch you when I do it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Kazuichi shook his head, “It’s not- don’t take it personally-“

“I don’t why it keeps happening…” Mikan absolutely seemed to be taking it personally, blinking hard to keep the tears that were forming in her eyes at bay, “It seems like every time I touch someone they just… I don’t know why I’m hurting them. I don’t mean to hurt anyone!”

“Woah, okay,” Hajime stood back up, ending up putting Fuyuhiko’s lunch on Kazuichi’s lap as well and turning to Mikan, “Don’t- you don’t need to cry. What’s going on?”

Mikan tried even harder to blink back her tears, shaking her slightly and holding her hands out like she was letting Hajime see them, “I- Usami said my power’s supposed to heal people, but I… I keep hurting them.”

Hajime had honestly forgotten about her power being healing or whatever, he wasn’t even entirely sure how that would work, “What do you mean you’re hurting them?”

“Yesterday at the beach,” She started, speaking quietly like she was admitting some terrible secret, “I tried to help Ibuki put on her sunscreen, I barely touched her and she- she just yelped and moved away. She said it felt like I shocked her.”

“That… doesn’t mean you hurt her.” Hajime tried to argue, she shook her head.

“I- I’m not finished. Sorry. I was the reason Nekomaru was so tired yesterday. He had… I noticed he had this awful scar on his back, and when I was looking- I- with his permission of course, I wouldn’t just touch someone’s scars without their consent. Ha…” Mikan’s story got a rambling towards the end, Hajime nodded regardless, “Um, but he… He sort of flinched when I touched him, and he said my hands were cold, and then he… when he was carrying you back to your cabin after you fell asleep, he kept talking about being exhausted. I think I… I think I did it to him.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Hajime was stuck halfway through trying to assure her and trying to make any logical sense of this- then again very little of what happened here seemed logical… he wasn’t even sure he knew what that meant, really. “Maybe those were just coincidences.”

“I dunno.” Kazuichi’s voice butted in, he awkwardly scratched at the back of his neck, “Earlier when I first uh… got tired, she tried to check on me and…”

He stopped, glancing at Mikan like he was worried about how she’d react, she just nodded and buried her face in her hands.

“It won’t hurt my feelings.” Her voice came out squeaky and muffled, “Go ahead.”

Kazuichi hesitated a moment more, his fear over upsetting morphing into confusion at why she was doing… that, before he shook his head and continued speaking to Hajime.

“It was weird, I dunno how to explain it other than it kinda just made me feel… worse.”

“I’m sorry!”

Hajime ignored Mikan’s squeaked out apology, “Worse how?”

“I was already feeling kinda dizzy,” Kazuichi shrugged, “And I was… kinda sore, I dunno. But she said she wanted to check my pulse or whatever and her hand felt like, cold. Really cold!”

“Like Sonia?” Hajime tried, Kazuichi shook his head, “Nothing like that, this was like… when wind is cold, but inside my… veins? Uh, does that make any sense?”

Hajime shook his head, Kazuichi coughed again.

“Nothing like Sonia, way worse- oh, sorry. It kinda felt like a shock, too. I’ve been zapped by plenty of live wires, none of them went through me like that.”

Hajime frowned, turning back to Mikan where she was peering out at them through her fingers, “It didn’t really feel like that with me.”

“Wh- really?” Mikan lifted her head, Hajime hesitantly nodded.

“I mean, I felt something, I guess, but it didn’t hurt.” He tried to explain, “It was cold, not… really cold, not like Sonia felt for me. I guess it kind of… tingled, too. but everybody feels that way, right?”

Mikan and Kazuichi were both staring at him now, Hajime was getting unfortunately used to the looks people gave him when they didn’t understand what he was trying to say.

Chiaki said he should try to communicate his feelings better, so… whatever. He’d try.

“Whenever someone touches me I… feel it in my uh, veins?” He tried, not entirely sure how to explain this, his mind racing a million miles an hour to try and find the words he needed, “Or nerves, maybe. Everybody has felt a little different so far, but it all just feels… weird.”

“Weird how?” Kazuichi seemed interested, leaning forward a little, “You know when I touched you yesterday, your prosthetic eye did kind of a weird thing, you think this has something to do with… you know, whatever happened to you?”

Hajime shrugged, he knew so little about all the ‘enhancements’ and experiments Usami had alluded to that it was starting to drive him a little crazy, honestly. The fact that he was just supposed to accept all of this without knowing what was going on or how any of this happened was crazy- the fact that all of the others were apparently just going along with it was even crazier to him.

“I don’t really know how to say this.” He mumbled, trying to search for better ways to describe what it felt like, “It just… buzzes, and sticks around sometimes, and everyone feels a different- Hey!”

Mikan’s hand suddenly smacked down right on his head, cold fingers in his hair and her palm slapping on his forehead before he tried to duck away from her.

“Don’t just- what happened to not touching someone’s scars without permission?” He tried not to snap, he really did, but he did not enjoy the feeling that flowed through his nerves at the contact.

Mikan seemed less remorseful now, more interested, brows knit together in concentration as she tilted her head at him. “So that… that didn’t hurt? It didn’t… do you not feel bad?”

“No?”

“Tired? Exhausted?”

“No.”

“Any kind of negative feeling at all?”

“I’m starting to get a little irritated.”

That seemed to snap Mikan out of whatever investigation she was caught up in, straightening back up and stuttering out a soft apology before Hajime could even realize he’d been snippy again. Kazuichi chuckled beside him, more uncomfortable sounding than amused, Hajime sighed.

“If it does have something to do with my ‘power’ or whatever, I don’t know what it’s supposed to be.” He leaned back on his hands, staring down at the faint scars that wrapped one of his wrists, “But I don’t know anything, I guess, so this shouldn’t be surprising.”

“We gotta figure out how you work, man.” Kazuichi commented, his gaze moving from Hajime’s eyes to the metal in his head and back, “I don’t really know anything about how genetics and biology and stuff works, but maybe we can figure out what this thing’s supposed to do.”

“I- I can help, too.” Mikan offered, “The fact that I’m not… hurting you is definitely interesting. I really think it could be something related to all these mutations.”

“I don’t even know if I have one of those.” Hajime shrugged, Kazuichi nervously laughed again.

“Look at ya, man. You gotta have something up with you.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“Well I think it’s worth looking into, maybe.” Mikan tried to continue, “I- if you’re okay with it, of course.”

“I dunno.” Hajime decided to be noncommittal, he didn’t like the idea of anyone trying to… examine him like that. “Maybe. Not uh… not today, though.”

“Right, sure.” Mikan nodded quickly, Hajime couldn’t help but suspect she was mostly just agreeing to keep him from getting upset with her, “Um, what about you, Souda?”

“I’m still gonna pass.” Kazuichi scratched at the back of his neck, “I don’t think really need any healing stuff or whatever.”

“Oh, you were gonna try to… heal him?” Hajime tried to guess, Mikan’s shoulders drooped.

“I figured I could use the practice…”

Kazuichi almost scoffed, “So what, I’m a test dummy for you?”

“Th-that’s not what I’m saying at all!” She protested, flinching at how her voice raised before she sighed and started to fidget with a strand of her hair.

“I don’t want to hurt everyone I touch.” She mumbled, “I- I want to take care of people, I want to be someone you can all rely on. So, I need practice.”

“That’s uh… that’s nice, I guess. I’m really feeling better, though.” Kazuichi’s nervous smile quirked up more to one side than the other, turning to Hajime with another cough, “So what’s up with the second box? Did ya think I’d be that hungry?”

“Oh, that’s for Fuyuhiko.” Hajime had forgotten all about that, Kazuichi handed it back to him, “I don’t think he’ll eat it, but I thought I’d try anyway… Is he in his cottage?”

Kazuichi shrugged, settling back against his door and letting out another wheezing breath, “I dunno, haven’t seen him since I came out here.”

Hajime decided to leave Kazuichi alone for now, let him pick at his food and continue resting. Mikan hesitated a little longer, rocking on her feet and looking like maybe she wanted to say more before she finally gave up and walked to her own cottage.

Hajime spared Kazuichi one more glance as he knocked on Fuyuhiko’s door.

There wasn’t a response, he wasn’t sure why he expected one.

“Hey, it’s uh, it’s Hajime.” He called, knocking again, “Just wanted to let you know I’m leaving some food out here for you. Mahiru made it, it’s pretty good. It’s like… rice with stuff inside of it. It’s not poisoned, either, she wanted me to tell you that.”

Kazuichi chuckled, apparently still listening, Hajime huffed.

“I’m just gonna set outside your door… if you’re even in there.”

He caught Chiaki in his periphery as he bent down to set the bento in front of the door, heaving a sigh and watching her tilt her head at his reaction while he stood back up.

“That was nice of you.” She commented, he just shrugged in response, she smiled, “Wanna go inside for a second? I wanted to ask you something.”

Hajime raised an eyebrow, watching Chiaki walk towards his cabin door and wait for him to follow, “Sure, I guess. I thought you wanted to talk to-”

“Let’s… leave him alone for now.” Chiaki cut him off, looking at Kazuichi while Hajime followed her gaze and saw him tilting his head up towards the sun, eyes closed. “I think we can do this just the two of us.”

“… Okay. Sure.”

He fumbled to get his key out of his pocket, stepping over to open his door and heading inside. Chiaki blinked into view on his bed before he even closed the door, sitting cross legged there like she usually did.

“So you don’t actually walk, right?” He asked, “You don’t technically have a body.”

“No, not a physical one.” She sighed, leaning back on her hands and looking down at his blanket, “I like this body though, even if it isn’t like your’s.”

“So why do you walk places? When you can just, ya know,” Hajime held up his hands to try and illustrate his point, moving one finger quickly from his door to his bed, “Appear places.”

“I wanted to seem normal for you, I guess.” Chiaki’s tone was strangely sincere, her eyes following him as he crossed the room to sit next to her, “You seemed like you were… struggling a little, I didn’t want to add anything else confusing to all of this.”

“So you thought it’d be better to just keep a secret from me?” He blurted out before he thought better of it, snapping his jaw shut while Chiaki’s eyebrows raised slightly.

There was an awkward second of silence, Chiaki finally huffed.

“I was supposed to be asking you the question.”

“Fine, I guess. What’s up?” Hajime didn’t know whether he was relieved she was changing the subject or not. He definitely didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he did want answers-

“You said you want to know more about yourself, right? About everything that’s going on?”

Oh.

He stayed quiet for a second, mouth opening to respond but falling short of what to say. He did, he really, really did. He was tired of the empty pages, and the pitying looks, and the gaps in his knowledge that he couldn’t cross but everyone else seemed to bridge just fine. He needed to know more, he really did.

But why was she bringing this up right now?

“Uh… yeah?” He finally settled on, “More than… just about anything, I think.”

“Me too.” Chiaki agreed, the small smile on her face tense and worried, “I think you deserve to know more, I think it’d be good for you… for both of us.”

“Both of us?”

“I don’t know that much more about everything than you.” She elaborated, he almost huffed at that.

“I think everyone here seems to know more about everything than me.” He retorted, Chiaki rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be whiny, I’m trying to help you out.”

“How?” Hajime turned to face her more, not that it really mattered, now that he thought about it. It was so weird to think that he was technically talking to empty space- that this person was just… in his head.

Kazuichi said AI’s were lines of code, programs of almost never ending numbers that could react to things.

Was all that in his head? How did Chiaki even feel about all of this? Did she feel stuck like he did?

Chiaki was quiet for a second, staring off at the far wall with a small frown on her face. She was concentrating, Hajime was getting used to that look, she liked to take a minute to think about her words before she said them. Nagito had joked that maybe Hajime should try to mimic that habit from her.

“We could hook you up to one of the island’s main computer systems, and get more information that way.” Chiaki finally spoke again, and Hajime could hardly understand what she was even saying. “I think.”

“You think we could… what? Hook me up to what?”

“Well, obviously we should like, test it first.” She tilted her head, a hand tapping her chin, “I was thinking we try it with someone’s handbook, maybe see if I can access that data while you’re plugged into it.”

“Plugged in…” Hajime was trying to keep up with a few words he didn’t recognize, “Oh, you mean with the port thing?”

“With the port thing.” She nodded in confirmation, also turning to face him better, “You can’t just use a normal USB for it, or else anyone would be able to hook up to you, that would be… dangerous.”

“What would happen if someone does that?” He hadn’t even known that was a possibility, what did that even mean?

Chiaki shrugged, which was not at all reassuring for Hajime, “We can find out together, on your terms. We can get more information together.”

Now it was Hajime’s turn to fall quiet, to try and think through this as best he can.

“You said… it would be good for both of us.” He pointed out with a frown, “How does this… I mean, what do you need to know? What are you trying to figure out?”

“A lot of things.” Chiaki’s answer was vague, another thing that was not at all reassuring. “So… do you wanna try it? Would you be willing to give that a shot?”

He hesitated again, his eyes glancing off to the side and catching his reflection in the mirror. His reflection that was covered in scars, that had mismatched eyes and metal sticking out of him. A reflection that was his, that he liked, but knew next to nothing about.

“Yeah. Okay.” He finally answered, “I… we can give that a shot.”

She nodded seriously, adjusting how she was sitting again and holding her fists in front of her in determination.

“So, I think we only have two options…”

—————————————————-

The center island wasn’t exactly was Hajime was expecting. It was fine, one of the nicest places he’d been out of the very short list of places he’d been. He just sort of thought there’d be… more.

More than a park, and some weird old statue, and a water stained old sticky note stuck to the base claiming this was a ‘cesspool of tetanus’ and needed to be removed.

There were also the bridges- long, wooden, and mostly undamaged… mostly- and locked behind giant gates.

Peko could go right through those, she was good at… phasing through things, or whatever. They looked like they were at least partially metal, Kazuichi could probably break through them. He wouldn’t be surprised if Akane or Nekomaru could just climb or punch their way through this problem. Hell, Mahiru was supposed to be able to teleport, this should be no problem for someone like her.

“It’s not that far, I don’t think.” Chiaki was trying to be reassuring during this idiotic plan, “You’re probably a strong swimmer, right?”

Hajime didn’t have any advantage like the others, if he wanted to go to another island he was gonna have to swim there.

Chiaki said they needed a certain kind of cable, the only place she knew where one was would be… back below the island, back in the room they woke up in, but she had no idea how to get down there without Usami knowing. She was pretty sure there would be one on another island, if they could just get over there, and Chiaki seemed to think that the sooner they got this cable, the better.

He wasn’t sure why they couldn’t just ask Usami for one. She probably had one, right? It had to be a better idea than this.

“I’ve uh… never swam before.” He informed her, standing by the edge of a bridge towards one of the other islands, less than a meter away from the sand and the ocean that she expected him to just… go in. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Oh, yeah.” She tilted her head, looking up towards the sky and letting out a hum, “Maybe we should wait, then.”

“Wait?”

“So you can practice swimming.” She sighed, “This isn’t going to work if you… drown halfway there.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what drowning was, he was going to assume it wasn’t fun. “Can’t we just ask Usami to let us over there?”

“Oh, um,” She looked back at him again, a more serious look on her face, “I’m not sure she’d want to do that just yet, we might-“

“Hajime!”

Nagito’s voice startled both of them, Hajime jolting while he turned and Chiaki letting out another hum in surprise. Nagito was waving at him while he walked over, his hair pulled back to keep it from his face and some kind of… green ribbon hanging from his arm.

“I’ve been looking for you.” he smiled, “I didn’t want you to be late to the party or anything.”

“It’s still kind of early, isn’t it?” Hajime stepped away from the beach, away from where the evening sun was turning the water a deep purple and the sand a pale orange, “I thought Byakuya said we weren’t meeting till it got dark.”

“I was kind of worried it would take longer to find you.” Nagito explained with a nervous chuckle, “I looked all over the first island, I didn’t know you’d be out here. To be honest I was kind of worried Usami may have dragged you off somewhere.”

“Speaking of, I should go.” Chiaki sighed, “I’ll try to keep her occupied so she doesn’t wonder what you guys are doing. Try to make friends with everyone, okay?”

“I don’t need you to talk to me like I’m a little kid.” Hajime mumbled, it only got another laugh Nagito despite not hearing what Chiaki had said.

Chiaki smiled anyway, but it wavered as she gave Nagito a nervous glance, “Try not to get into any trouble either, okay? I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure, whatever.” Hajime just huffed, watching Chiaki blink away from his vision before turning to Nagito, “Chiaki just left.”

“Ah. I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” Nagito looked worried, Hajime shrugged.

He did technically interrupt, but he interrupted a plan that would’ve almost definitely resulted in Hajime making a fool himself or drowning, so that was honestly fine by him. He’d just… have to find some other way around the bridge. Maybe Chiaki would talk to Usami about it tonight.

“No, not really.” He finally settled on, “She was just asking me if I knew how to swim.”

“I’d assume you don’t.” Nagito’s tone carried a hint of pity, Hajime shook his head, “That’s fine. Maybe one of the others can show you.”

“Can you not swim either?” Hajime asked, following Nagito as he started walking back towards the bridge to the first island.

“I can, just not well.” He sighed, lifting up his remaining hand to stare at it, “ I’m probably even worse at it now, I haven’t tried since I sorta… lost an appendage.”

His eyes flicked down to the green thing around his arm, he gasped, “Oh, I almost forgot, I got you something.”

He stopped their walk, Hajime nearly bumped into him at the sudden pause. Nagito smiled and shook the ribbon till it was in his palm instead of around his wrist.

“I figured it might nice for you to have something new to wear to the party. Can I put this on you?” He smiled expectantly, holding it up for Hajime to inspect. It was an olive green color, there were some striped of lighter colors around the bottom of it, the thinner part seemed to be shaped like a loop, with the end hanging down getting wider.

Hajime finally just nodded, it seemed harmless enough, Nagito’s smile only got wider.

“It’s a tie, you wear it on your shirt. It uh… needs to go over your head first.” He explained, Hajime bent his head forward slightly so Nagito would have an easier time, “So we’ll just… slip it around your neck, you can fix it so it’s under the shirt collar, like this, there we go.”

Hajime just stared while he worked, not entirely sure why… Nagito was even giving him this in the first place. He helped Nagito fix his shirt collar, he didn’t really like having it sticking up in the back.

“So I just… wear it?” Hajime asked, smiling a little as Nagito stepped back to look at it, “Like this?”

“Just like that.” Nagito nodded in approval, “I think it looks good, green suits you.”

“Oh.” Hajime looked back down at the tie, a weird kind of heat rising up to his face. Did it look good? That was nice, he hadn’t really thought much about the clothes he was wearing. “That’s uh.. that’s cool. Thanks, man.”

“Of course.” Nagito nodded again, continuing their walk up onto the bridge over the ocean, looking back to making sure Hajime was walking with him.

Which effectively snapped Hajime out of just staring at the tie, out of realizing that this was a gift. Sonia told him what a gift was yesterday, she had given him a seashell on the beach and he kept it on the dresser in his cottage. Maybe… he should get gifts for everyone? He should definitely get Nagito something, he went out of his way- literally- to give this to him.

“Where did you get this, anyway?”

“Oh, I had stopped back by that old store on the island earlier.” He shrugged, I went in there to get water at first, I was sort of worn out from cleaning, but while I was walking around I saw that and… thought of you.”

“Oh, right.” Hajime frowned, “You had to clean everything by yourself, right?”

“Don’t make that face, I don’t mind.”

“It still seems kind of unfair, I should’ve offered to help.” Hajime couldn’t help but glance down at Nagito’s arm- where his jacket sleeve had been rolled up and pinned by Mikan during breakfast. “It was probably… was it harder for you?”

“I can still sweep and dust with one hand.” Nagito assured him, “It hasn’t been… too much of hindrance. I think this was good practice for learning how to get by without it.”

“You really like ‘looking on the positive side’ don’t you?” Hajime commented, Nagito chuckled again.

“What other choice do I have?” His smile fell slightly as they reached the other end of the bridge, “To be honest, it’s been a bit of an adjustment, it’s sort of weird not even remembering how I lost it. I keep moving my arm and expecting the rest of it to still be there.”

He lifted it, staring down at the stump where a hand must’ve once been, “It’s nice that it’s healed completely, I keep expecting it to hurt.”

Hajime wasn’t sure what to say to that, Nagito eventually sighed and kept moving towards the hotel.

“Enough about all that, though, I shouldn’t bother you with my problems.”

“I don’t mind listening to you.” Hajime blurted out before he thought better of it, watching Nagito pause and turn to face him again, “You keep… saying weird stuff like that. You’re not like… bothering me by talking about stuff, you know.”

Nagito was quiet, his eyes flicked from Hajime down to the tie, he finally smiled again.

“Let’s go to the party, yeah? This will be your first one, after all. We shouldn’t be late.”

Hajime just sighed, following him past the cottages and the pool to where Byakuya was waiting by the front door to the old building.

Waiting and… arguing with Gundham.

“If you won’t consent to the search, you do not get to participate in the party.” They had their arms crossed, tapping their food impatiently while Gundham scoffed and tossed the end of his scarf back over his shoulder.

“You think you can lay your pathetic, mortal hands upon me without first earning my trust? Why would a search like this even be necessary?”

Byakuya just sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose over their glasses, “I have explained this over five times tonight, why must all of you be argumentative?”

“What’s uh… what’s going on?” Hajime asked as they approached, taking a moment to look at Byakuya up and down. “Nice shirt by the way.”

Byakuya was wearing a floral printed button up, light pink and yellow, with khaki shorts to match. It was a bit of a difference from the more formal clothes Hajime had seen them in up till now.

“These are my party clothes.” Byakuya nodded, like they were approving of Hajime’s compliment. “Ibuki helped me pick them out earlier. We are all having fun tonight, so I will dress appropriately.”

“It doesn’t seem like you’re having much fun right now.” Nagito commented with an awkward laugh, “What’s the problem?”

“I’m trying to ensure tonight will be as safe as possible, that way if Usami does come she’ll have one less reason to… freak out about this.” Byakuya informed them, “Which means ensuring no one has anything dangerous on them. Tanaka, however-“

“I have the powers to command the very shadows themselves,” Gundham scoffed, striking a pose and raising a hand to his forehead, “And you think I would stoop to menial weapons in order to exact chaos?”

“There will be no chaos exacting at this party.” Byakuya snapped back, “I’m just trying to make sure it’s safe.”

They looked almost nervous, Hajime wasn’t sure why, were parties usually dangerous?

“You’re not going in till you empty your pockets and let me check you for anything dangerous.” Byakuya got to tapping their foot again, Gundham finally let out a groan of frustration.

He ran his hands through his hair, slicking it back even more than it already was, glaring at the three of them before clicking his tongue.

“I suppose I must concede to your petty test of wills, chameleon mage.”

“What do I have to do to make you address me like a normal human being?”

“Therefore, I must reveal my dark secret,” Gundham continued as though Byakuya hadn’t spoken, taking a step forward and motioning for Hajime to step closer, “Approach, fresh soul, you have been deemed worthy to help present my new devas!”

Hajime glanced from Nagito to Byakuya, hesitantly taking a step forward, “Is this gonna be weird?”

“Almost certainly.” Byakuya muttered while Nagito gave him a thumb up, Hajime walked up to Gundham and shrugged.

Gundham seemed the slightest bit annoyed by Hajime’s lack of enthusiasm (intense confusion) letting out a sigh as he took Hajime’s hands and lifted them up like he was holding something. The sensation made a cool, liquid feeling pour through Hajime’s muscles, like cold water seeping through him and running down his spine. It was over as quickly as it began, and Gundham stood up straighter and reached into his scarf fro something while Hajime kept his hands where they’d been moved.

“Behold- if you can even fathom- the four dark devas of destruction!”

Gundham put an animal in his hands.

A small, gray and white animal, with little paws that immediately gripped onto Hajime’s finger as they began sniffing every inch of his hand.

“What… what is this?” He looked up to find Gundham smiling proudly, another animal on his shoulder, another in his hand that he was holding out for it to crawl onto Hajime as well, and another one peeking out from his scarf.

From the looks Nagito and Byakuya were giving them, Hajime could guess it maybe wasn’t normal to keep small animals on your body.

“This is the dark warrior Jum-P, and it would appear they have already taken quite a liking to you!” Gundham pointed to the animal in his hand, as it looked up at Hajime like it was actually investigating him… or maybe it was just still sniffing, that was probably more accurate. “Consider yourself fortunate the devas have approved of you, Hinata, you have been spared from a most fiery demise.”

“Yeah, cool, man.” Hajime just kinda blinked at that, letting the next animal, a much fatter orangish brown one, crawl from Gundham’s hand into his own, “But what are they?”

“Hamsters.” Nagito supplied from where he was watching with a mix of confusion and amusement on his face.

“Small, nocturnal rodents.” Gundham elaborated, nodding in approval as Hajime hesitantly moved his thumb to try and pet the gray one. “Quite intelligent creatures, I’ve been allowing them to refuge and nest within my scarf to better attune themselves to my energy.”

“You’ve been keeping hamsters in your scarf.” Byakuya echoed flatly, a long, almost tired sounding sigh escaping them, “You have just… had hamsters in there. In your scarf. All day.”

“They prefer to burrow.” Gundham took the fat one back, leaving Jum-P- Jumpy? Did it jump? It would be kind of cute if hamsters jumped… “I have not finished making them a suitable habitat in my dark domain yet, and I did not intend to leave them in the abysmal conditions I found them in.”

“You found these on the island?” Hajime asked again, moving his hands closer to his chest as the hamster started crawling around his hands more, “Is that… normal?”

“They were being kept in incredibly bare cages.” Gundham shook his said, holding the fat hamster close to him as well, “Based on what I had seen in Usami’s ‘corral’- all of the creatures here predate our arrival, I recovered documents left behind in the barn suggesting they were used for inhumane testing of chemicals and other vile things.”

That meant this place wasn’t just a ‘resort,’ that was something to stuck out to Hajime as he let Jumpy start to crawl it’s way up his arm towards his face. He had to go to that other island soon, he needed to figure out more about what was going on here.

Byakuya shook their head, finally stepping aside to let Gundham in the door. “Rodents don’t count as weapons, I suppose. Just go on ahead. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, don’t let those near the food.”

Gundham just scoffed, reaching over to hold his hand out to the hamster currently chewing on Hajime’s hair from it’s perch on his shoulder. It quickly scurried into his hand, Gundham marched past Byakuya into the old building.

Nagito moved to follow, Byakuya’s hand stuck out to block him.

“I haven’t searched you yet.” They snapped their fingers, “Raise your arms, let me check your pockets.”

“Ah, okay.” Nagito did as he was told, chuckling some as Byakuya quickly checked Nagito’s jacket pockets and patted down his sides, “I was in here cleaning almost all afternoon, don’t you trust me by now?”

Byakuya didn’t respond to that, just looked Nagito up and down and motioning for him to go inside. “Hajime. Your turn.”

“I… really don’t like being touched.” Hajime mumbled, taking an anxious step forward, Nagito waited in the doorway for a second before continuing on, “I promise I don’t have anything on me, I don’t-“

“I wasn’t going to make any kind of skin to skin contact.” Byakuya cut him off, their tone less annoyed than he was expecting it to be after watching what happened after Gundham’s refusal. “I know it’s skin that makes you uncomfortable.”

“Wh- How did you know that?”

“I pay attention to people.”

“… yeah.” Hajime wasn’t sure what to say to that, patting down his own pockets and holding his arms up to show he didn’t have anything on him, “I- I promise I’m not dangerous or anything.”

“I didn’t say you were.” Byakuya stared at Hajime a moment more, clearly thinking, “Anyone can be dangerous, if given the opportunity.”

He really didn’t know what to say to that, he nervously cleared his throat, “Byakuya, are you… okay? You seem kinda-“

“We should go enjoy the party.” Byakuya herded him towards the door, true to their word, they placed a hand on Hajime’s back and not anywhere near any exposed skin. “Wait, stop.”

They made him pause in the doorway, turning him by the shoulder to face him again and squinting down at Hajime’s tie.

“What is this?”

“Nagito said it was a tie.” Hajime shrugged, Byakuya shook their head.

They leaned closer, holding up the end of Hajime’s tie and turning it over to inspect the back and clicking their tongue. “It looks like you already spilled something on it, what’s this stain?”

“Oh, really?” Hajime couldn’t help but frown at that, looking down and finding a splotch of discoloration on the back and bottom edge of his tie where Byakuya was holding it, he hadn’t noticed it outside, “I- I just got it. Nagito gave it to me.”

“It’s probably his fault it’s stained, then.” Byakuya rolled their eyes as they wiped their hand on their shirt, like they were worried they may somehow get some of Nagito’s germs by touching it. “He’s proven to be a bit unreliable as far as cleanliness goes. You should’ve seen the mess he made while trying to clean up this place-”

“Hey! Hajime’s here!” Ibuki’s happy greeting got both of their attention, hurrying over form where she had bent talking to Mikan to jump up and down in front of him, “Hajime’s first party! Come on, come on! We have to party hard!”

The ground shook- it legitimately shook beneath them as Ibuki jumped, the moment she noticed this she stilled, eyes going wide in surprise as she braced herself and listened to all the others’ exclaim actions of confusion from the room behind them.

“Huh.” She smiled again, a nervous, strained smile, trying to brush it off as she glanced between the two of them, “Guess my excitement is uh… pretty contagious, huh?”

“It would appear so.” Byakuya agreed with a small smile, adjusting their glasses before they walked ahead, “You two should be careful tonight.”

“No more jumping!” Ibuki saluted them as they passed, “I’ll be careful, I’ll play it cool from now on!”

“You too, Hajime,” They continued, and for some reason it felt like a warning, “Try to be careful.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, either.

“Come on!” Ibuki practically sang as she took his hand and ran ahead to the room where everyone else seemed to be gathered. Her touch sent a rumble through his nerves, a vibration like what he had felt through the floor when she had been jumping before.

… what did that mean? What did any of these feelings mean? These weren’t normal.

“Mahiru’s taking pictures!” Ibuki informed him as she led him into the room, grinning big as she showed off everything, “I want to make sure she gets some good ones of you, too!”

The room looked far different than it had when he’d passed by yesterday, There was colored paper hanging from the ceiling, the floor was clean and dust free, a large part of it was covered by an older looking rug across the wooden boards. There were several tables, all covered in either food or decorations or both, a few chairs off to the side that everyone seemed to be ignoring in favor of just standing around-

K-chick!

There was also a blinding flash of light, Hajime shielded his eyes on instinct.

“Surprise!” Mahiru laughed, coming up beside him and holding up a small black and brown box, “Sorry about the flash, I’m still getting used to this camera, it’s a little different than the ones I’m used to.”

A small piece of paper came out of the box- the camera- and Mahiru took it in her hands and shook it out, an amused smile on her face as Hajime watched her movements.

“So, cameras are these really cool inventions that let you take a picture of a moment.” She explained without him asking, something he was equal parts embarrassed and appreciative of, “It’d take awhile to explain, I’ll go into more detail later, but basically it makes a copy of whatever the lens here is pointed at, does that make sense?”

“Uh… yeah?” Hajime tried, it was sort of hard to hear her explanation over the sounds coming from the other machine in the corner of the room.

Mahiru held the paper out for him, a quiet instruction for him to only touch the white parts following him taking it as he looked down at a copy of his own face staring at everything in the room.

“Oh woah,” Ibuki looked over his shoulder with a laugh, “Both your eyes kinda look red in that picture!”

“That’s probably just the glare from the camera.” Mahiru shrugged, “Can’t be helped, not on one this old…. My mom has one like this, she doesn’t use it much, I’ve never gotten to mess with it.”

“What’s that sound?” Hajime asked next, choosing to skip over the words in Mahiru’s explanation he didn’t quite get, “That uh… the rhythmic stuff coming from that.”

He pointed to the box sitting in a chair by where Hiyoko was dancing, Ibuki and Mahiru exchanged a look before answering him.

“Man, you kinda are like a robot, huh?” Ibuki tilted her head, only to be elbowed by Mahiru right after, “I mean, uh, that’s okay! You’re okay, it’s just music. Music is good!”

Music did seem good, he liked… whatever this was. It sounded good.

“Oh, you play music.” Hajime suddenly remembered, pointing at Ibuki while she grinned, “You said you wanted me to play… bass?”

“Drums!” She corrected, mimicking the motion of playing them the same way she had during their previous conversation, “You’d be awesome at it- probably. If not you can always fake it till ya make it!”

“This music’s not really my thing, honestly.” Mahiru shrugged, “I don’t super like just… dance music. Hiyoko likes it, I think, but she’d dance to just about anything. Let me know if you need help with anything, okay Hajime?”

He didn’t really want to need help, he said thank you anyway.

The party was pretty fun. He was enjoying himself.

Apparently parties were actually really similar to what everyone seemed to do every time they hung out- which was just… talk and laugh. Teru was in the little kitchen, mostly, because as it turns out this older building did have one. Most of the others just milled around, or tried to dance- with consequences that ranged from Kazuichi accidentally stepping on Akane’s foot while trying to show Hajime how to dance, to Mikan completely tripping over a part of the rug and falling onto her back.

Her skirt had come up, Teru had tried to pull Mahiru’s camera off from around her neck, Nekomaru had smacked him upside the head so hard he fell into the table next to him. Hajime was informed by Ibuki this was typical party behavior. 

Nekomaru had also arm wrestled Akane, a ‘two out of three’ fight that Akane was so desperate to win she ended up trying to bite Nekomaru’s wrist to break his concentration. He had just laughed, loudly, announcing it would take more than a couple bite marks to knock him down.

Hajime had mostly stuck by Nagito throughout the first half hour of the party, even though the white haired boy had been… really quiet. He stood by Hajime, politely smiled at everyone who came up to start conversations, mostly just nodded along on the rare occasions Hajime managed to think of something to try and say to him. He eventually excused himself, walking into the kitchen for awhile and moving to the other side of the room once he eventually came back out.

Maybe he hadn’t said thank you well enough for the tie? Maybe he wasn’t doing this party stuff right… either way, he was beginning to worry he may have upset Nagito somehow.

If he did, why wouldn’t he just say something? It didn’t really make sense to keep that to himself if he was mad.

“You look like you’re thinkin’ hard about something.” Kazuichi commented, his finger coming up to poke Hajime in between the eyes, “Quit scrunching your face up, it looks like you’re trying to send a death glare to the lamp over there.”

Hajime ducked away from his touch, huffing as Kazuichi snickered and he straightened up, “I wasn’t.. scrunching.”

“You totally were. You looked like this.” Kazuichi scowled, as best he could while still grinning, letting out another snicker that broke into a cough again.

“Are you feeling any better?” Hajime couldn’t help but frown, offering his drink for Kazuichi to take if he needed something- Mikan had said that sometimes that could help coughs, right? Or was it the opposite?

“Yeah, man.” Kazuichi nodded, “I told ya earlier, you don’t need to worry about me. I dunno what that was earlier, but I’m really feeling fine…”

He trailed off, eyes moving past Hajime to stare at something out the double doors behind him into the hallway, “Looks like I’m doing better than Nekomaru, at least,”

Hajime turned to see what he was staring at, finding Nekomaru pacing the hall with a hand clutching his stomach. Hajime wasn’t sure he had ever seen an expression that angry on Nekomaru’s face before.

“Should we uh… check on that?” Hajime asked, Kazuichi shrugged, following behind Hajime as he approached Nekomaru’s nervous pacing.

“Hey, Nekomaru.” Hajime awkwardly tried to get his attention, a little put off by the way he was just scowling at one of the doors down the hall, “Is uh… is everything okay?”

Nekomaru made a grunt, tearing his eyes away from the door to look down at Hajime with a clenched jaw. “I think… I think I need to go back to my cabin.”

“What, leaving the party already?” Kazuichi was trying too hard to sound casual, “You said you’d dance with me-“

“I need to go, Kaz.” Nekomaru stressed, the hand clutching his stomach tightening to the point it looked painful, “Ugh… I should’ve listen to Mikan earlier, I- I really need to go.”

It took Hajime a second to catch up with what was happening, to realize why Kazuichi’s eyebrows were raising with a quiet “oh” and Nekomaru was starting to look sick.

“Your stomach hurts?” He guessed, glancing back at the door Nekomaru had been glaring at and realizing it was the bathroom Sonia had pointed out to him earlier, “Are you gonna like… be sick? Why don’t you just go-“

“Pekoyama’s in there.” Nekomaru practically groaned, taking a few steps forward to bang on the bathroom door again, “She’s been in there for like twenty minutes! I- I’m just gonna go back to my cabin, I’m not about to shit my pants in front of everyone-“

“Nobody’s going back to their cabin.” Byakuya’s voice cut in, rounding the corner from the party room to cross their arms and frown disapprovingly, “There’s a perfectly good bathroom in here, nobody needs to go back to the cottages tonight.”

“She won’t come out of the bathroom!” Nekomaru argued, “Byakuya, come on, I’ll come back when I’m feeling better, but I really gotta-“

“Uh… I don’t think she’s in here.” Kazuichi had his ear pressed up to the door, his hat pushed up on his head slightly from leaning against it, “She woulda’ said something when you knocked if she was, right?”

He stood back up, Hajime hardly had the chance to ask what he was doing before he held his hand up to the door and twisted his wrist. The lock made a clicking sound, and the door opened on it’s own without Kazuichi even touching it.

A smile twitched up on his face, looking up at Hajime like he was proud of himself, “Heh heh, I kinda didn’t think that would work, this metal thing is pretty-“

Nekomaru bolted past him, moving into the apparently empty bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him. Kazuichi pulled Hajime away from the door.

“It was locked with nobody in there?” Byakuya questioned with a frown, Hajime shrugged.

“Nekomaru said Peko was in there, but…” He paused, Peko’s power suddenly came back to his mind, “She must’ve just walked through the door.”

“Why would she do that?” Kazuichi’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Why not just open it?”

Byakuya made a worried hum, turning back to the rest of the party, “More importantly, where is she now?”

She hadn’t been in the party for… awhile, actually. Hajime hadn’t seen her since they first started, when Mahiru started snapping a bunch of pictures and Peko was lingering by the food and trying to cover her face with her cup. She had told Hajime she didn’t like having her picture taken… she liked it even less now that she looked different. That was the last time he had really seen her.

“We need to find her.” Byakuya was still talking, snapping Hajime out of his thoughts, “Kazuichi, you go check the office, since apparently you can just unlock all the doors I tried to lock already. Hajime, you check around outside, I’ll go ask and see if anyone else has seen her.”

“Uh… okay, whatever.” Kazuichi shrugged, “Maybe she just went back to her cottage? She didn’t seem like much of a party girl to me.”

“Also unacceptable.” Byakuya shook their head, “I already said nobody’s going back till the party is over.”

“Okay.” Kazuichi sighed, walking past Byakuya towards the office, muttering something Hajime didn’t catch and making Byakuya roll their eyes.

“Be careful outside, okay? Come right back.” Byakuya warned, Hajime just nodded.

“Is… everything okay? What are you so worried about?”

Byakuya paused, opening their mouth to speak and then shaking their head, “Just find Peko first, please. Then we can talk. I’ll explain it later.”

Hajime had gotten a little too used to hearing that and receiving nothing in return, he huffed, “Are you actually going to explain, or do you just want me to listen now?”

Byakuya almost looked annoyed, brows furrowing before they let out a sigh. “I will, I swear. I need you to trust me, Hajime, I’m just trying to keep everyone safe right now.”

They walked away at that, leaving Hajime to stand there in silence for a second before he remembered he was supposed to be looking outside.

That was… weird. This whole situation was weird.

What were they so afraid of?

The front door was still locked, but he knew that wouldn’t really stop Peko from getting where she wanted to go. She had passed through the locked door to get inside here twice already- once to unlock it for Byakuya and Nagito, and once when she was snooping around herself.

Maybe she was trying to investigate this like Hajime and Chiaki were, maybe she was just looking around for answers, he couldn’t blame her for that.

“Can you just not make a big fuckin’ deal about this?”

He heard Fuyuhiko’s voice the moment he opened the door, the cool night air brushing across his face as he scanned the front of the building for any sign of him. It was dark now, much darker than it had been when Hajime first went inside, the last light of the sun was barely visible out over the ocean anymore. It made it hard to see anything clearly while his adjusted to-

To… what was that?

Something glowing caught Hajime’s eye, just below his field of vision, looking down and finding his tie was… glowing? He lifted it to inspect it further, finding the splotch on the end of it, the stain Byakuya had pointed out before, was giving off a faint green glow in the dim lighting.

That was weird. What had Nagito spilled on that?

“I am not trying to make this a big deal.” That was Peko’s voice, much softer, drifting from around the side of the building, it managed to snap Hajime back to the situation at hand. “I… I didn’t mean to upset you, I was speaking out of place-“

“You weren’t-“ Fuyuhiko’s voice was definitely louder, Hajime heard a long sigh escape him before it dropped down to Peko’s volume, “You weren’t ‘speaking out of turn’ or whatever. We aren’t back home, quit talking like that. No places, no turns, no master, none of that.”

“… Alright.” Peko’s tone grew a little sharper, Hajime crept over to the side of the building to listen in, “I want you to tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-“

“Yes. Yes you do.” Peko insisted, voice quiet and tense, “Fuyuhiko, you won’t even look me in the eyes. I… I have played along, I’ve done as you asked, I understood your desire to keep your life private from the others, but you won’t even look at me when we’re alone.”

“So?”

“So?” Peko echoed like she couldn’t believe it, “Fuyuhiko-“

There was a pause, a silence that stretched on just long enough for Hajime to worry they had somehow heard him.

“You flinched.” Peko’s voice came back, unbelieving, Fuyuhiko scoffed.

“No I didn’t, Peko.”

“Yes you did, you flinched when I tried to-“

“I don’t wanna fucking talk about this right now, alright?” He snapped, voice raising up to it’s previous volume, there were a few seconds of silence before he spoke again, “Look, just… sorry, okay? This whole night’s been a bust, why don’t you just go enjoy the stupid party. Someone’s gonna realize you’re gone if we’re out here much longer.”

“Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”

“Peko.”

There was another beat of silence, broken by a long, irritated sigh from Peko before she spoke again.

“Very well, then. Let me know if you need my help again, Master.”

The last word was spoken with so much contempt Hajime almost flinched, finally forcing himself to be brave enough to peer around the corner just in time for Peko to phase right through the wooden wall of the building like it was nothing-

And just in time for Fuyuhiko to catch sight of him before he ducked away again.

“What the fuck?“

Fuyuhiko was faster than he looked, Hajime’s stumbling steps back towards the door were cut off by the blonde coming up behind him and ramming his whole body weight into Hajime.

He knocked him against the front of the building, grabbing Hajime by the throat and snarling up at him. The sensation sent a fire directly to his brain, a heat behind his eyes and a feeling of pure dread rushing through him as he stared in shock down at Fuyuhiko.

“I am so fuckin’ sick of this stupid act.” He growled out, squeezing tight around Hajime’s throat while he tried to push him back by the shoulders, too caught off guard to think of anything else for a second, “You got everyone convinced, huh? The perfect cover? No slip ups for something like you.”

“I- I don’t-” Hajime gasped in a breath, finally having the thought to kick Fuyuhiko back and get the pressure of his throat.

He didn’t kick him hard by any means, he wasn’t trying to fight this guy right here on the front porch. Fuyuhiko stumbled back into the building’s wooden railing, bracing himself against it with one hand like he was preparing for Hajime to attack again while his other hand reached up towards his eyepatch.

Hajime didn’t even get to ask what he was doing before the lights shut off.

The yellow light from the doorway- that had been illuminating this spontaneous fight so far- went out completely. Hajime’s eyes had to adjust quickly, barely able to make out a faint pink light coming from underneath the barely lifted eyepatch on Fuyuhiko before he turned and tried to make break for the door.

He could already hear the others screaming inside, shouts of confusion and fear seeming to echo around the pitch black space while Hajime fumbled his way towards them. What the hell was going on? Why had the lights gone out, what was-

A new noise rose above the screaming- a noise he had never heard before, not like this, anyway.

Someone was laughing.

It sounded like it echoed in the air above him, weird and distorted and loud- so loud he almost moved to cover his ears.

The ground beneath him shook, like it had when Ibuki jumped earlier. A panicked, stuttering string of expletives coming from Fuyuhiko behind him as Hajime tried to steady himself. Someone screamed in terror further away, he couldn’t tell who’s voice it was, there was another whimper closer to him that he blindly tried to stumble towards.

There was another cacophonous sound, something creaking and breaking, another voice screaming out, everyone crying out in confusion again, the laughter finally stopped.

The lights came back on, Hajime was face with to face with Akane standing in the doorway he’d been looking for.

“Wh- what the hell was that??” She practically shrieked, rushing forward and grabbing Hajime by the arm, rough buzzing through his skin at the contact, “Where were you? What- what’s he doing here?”

Hajime turned to see her staring at Fuyuhiko, who was still in the door way, his one eye wide with terror and a hand clasped over his mouth. His gaze hardened as soon he seemed to process them looking at him, turning around and sprinting back out of the building before Hajime could even think to call out to him.

“Do you,.. do you smell that?” Akane asked, sniffing slightly, “It… It kinda smells g-“

“Oh my god!” Hiyoko’s shriek from the party room kicked Hajime’s brain into a panic, he dragged Akane along with him as he sprinted in to see what was happening.

The place was a disaster- tables were knocked over, food spilled everywhere, the rug  askew and crumpled up to make room for the things breaking through the floor.

They looked like… plants? Roots? Hajime wasn’t sure how he knew that. They were thick and a sickly looking white color, covered in rough, thorny bark and breaking through the now splintered hardwood of the floor beneath them. They curled out in a dozen different directions, all of them facing away from where Teru was on his knees in the corner of the room. 

His hands were clasped over his ears, he trembled and shook as a terrified sob escaped him and mixed into the terrified gasps and screams of the others. But as upsetting at that was- as this whole situation was- that wasn’t what stole Hajime’s focus.

Byakuya was writhing on the floor, a hand over their chest, and bright pink blood bubbling out between their fingers.

Chapter Text

“Okay we need uh- we need bandages!”

“Shouldn’t we stop the bleeding the first?! How do we do that?”

“Do we still have to elevate their feet if the wound is like in their heart? Because then how does that help stop bleeding-“

“E- Everyone cut it out!”

Mikan’s shriek rose above everyone else’s panicked yelling, the nurse pulling at the roots of her hair and screaming at the top of her lungs to regain everyone’s attention-

-Attention she immediately faltered under, covering her mouth with her hands and shaking her head for a second before speaking again.

“I- I’m sorry for shouting, but if we all try to talk over each other we can’t-“

“Hng-“ Byakuya let out a garbled sounding grunt from the floor, letting out a gasping breath and trying to move the hand not currently keeping pressure over the stab wound spilling blood in the side of their chest. Pink slowly gurgled around their hand and stained their floral print shirt. “Some- gh- someone help me up-“

“Don’t strain yourself right now!” Mikan cried immediately, moving to help brace them but flinching before she touched them. “I- I’ll do everything I can to help you, please just- just calm down!”

“Calm down?” Byakuya managed to huff out, tears streaking out of mismatched eyes that glared up at her, “At what point… of this… am I allowed to be- ha- angry, then?”

“You’re still crackin’ jokes.” Nekomaru muttered, coming up behind Byakuya to let them lean back against him, “Must not be too serious, heh. T-try to take it easy, pal. We’ll get ya sorted out.”

“Ibuki’s gonna stop the bleeding!” Ibuki’s shout was accompanied by her grabbing the edge of one of the tablecloths, ripping it out from under Teruteru’s assortment of appetizer platters and causing all of them to begin falling towards the floor.

Shadows shot out from around Gundham’s feet, slithering out like snakes at unnatural speeds to cushion the platters and food rapid descent to the floor. They sank into the black material like water, settling down to the bottom and hitting the rug silently as the tendrils receded back around Gundham’s shadow.

Hajime would’ve commented on that if he wasn’t so distracted by the blood everywhere.

Byakuya was trying to move again, groaning and finally lifting their hand- coated and dripping pink- when Mikan had taken the tablecloth from Ibuki and began trying to cover up their bleeding wound as quickly as possible. She gave the cloth a slightly messy folding job before applying pressure over their chest- an action met by Byakuya crying out in pain-

In a voice that seemed to shift between three different voices at once.

It startled Hajime, and maybe it shouldn’t have, but this situation already had him so on edge the sudden strange sounds coming from his friend made him physically jolt.

“What the hell was that?” Kazuichi nearly tripped into the room as he ran inside, a terrified scream leaving his mouth as he skid to a stop at the sight before him. Peko was just behind him, her reaction a much quieter but no less shocked gasp as Byakuya tried to grab Mikan’s hand and make her let them sit up more.

“Wait, no- don’t touch me!” Mikan pulled her hands back quickly, another pained groaned escaped Byakuya as she stuttered out an apology and put pressure around the wound again. “I- I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I don’t want to hurt you anymore! I’ve been hurting everyone I touch!”

“I thought your power was supposed to heal people?!” Hiyoko asked where her face was half buried in her kimono, still, “Do the stupid healing thing! Don’t let ham hands die!”

“You don’t gotta insult them right now!” Nekomaru barked back, Byakuya managed to choke out another sentence.

“I- I like Ham Hands.” They sputtered, and Hajime couldn’t help but notice their hair getting longer, and darker, a slow and subtle change that made him feel like he was losing his mind, “It’s- gh- it’s a genuine nickname.”

“Mikan, you need to try to heal them.” Mahiru instructed, trying to sound serious despite how her voice was wavering, “You have to do something, didn’t that… didn’t that go through their heart?”

“No, actually, that would’ve killed the much quicker.” Mikan shook her head, “The heart is actually closer to the center of the chest than most people think, this missed it by a few inches- b-but it’s still very serious!”

“Then you need to heal him!” Mahiru repeated, before tearing her eyes away from the pink slowly seeping through the table cloth to look at Hajime, “And you need to call Usami.”

“Wh- how am I supposed to do that?”

“However you like… call Chiaki.” She waved him off, trying not to panic while she thought of what to do, “She might actually have some way to help! We can’t just sit around and let them bleed out! Mikan, do something!”

“I- I can’t!” Mikan covered her ears, “I’ll just hurt them!”

“What even happened in here?” Peko tried to get some kind of handle on the situation, “Who stabbed Byakuya?”

“We need to focus on making sure they’re not dying before we move on to the whodunnit.” Nekomaru tried to get everyone’s attention again, stop the everyone’s eyes from drifting to where Teru was still panicking in the corner behind the gnarled roots that had torn up through the floor, he reached out and put a hand on Mikan’s shoulder.

“Listen, I know you… I know you don’t exactly know what you’re doing, none of us do, but you really gotta give it a shot, okay? Do it for them?”

“Wh-what if I kill them?” Mikan squeaked out, sounding horrified, “What if I’m the reason they die?”

“What if they bleed out because we did nothing?” Nekomaru’s tone was deathly serious, “You gotta try something.”

“Hajime!” Mahiru’s voice stole Hajime’s attention again, “Call Usami!”

“I- fine. Okay. Uh-“

He took a step back, completely unsure of what he was doing, stumbling back towards the front of the building like he could physically find her somehow. It wasn’t even conscious choice, he was just panicked he wasn’t thinking straight.

“I- Chiaki!” He called, a hand to the side of his head like that would help, “Chiaki! Can you-“

“Hey, hey.”

Hajime jumped, turning to the side and finding Chiaki standing there in what looked like pink star print pajamas.

“You… you can change clothes?”

“I can make myself look however I want.” She smiled, “Me and Usami were having a pajama party. What’s up? You look stressed.”

Stressed was an understatement, he needed to calm down to get back to a level that could be considered stressed.

“I- Byakuya’s been stabbed.” Hajime tried to get back to the situation at hand, hearing everyone else freaking out in the next room. “Can you tell Usami to come here? We don’t know what to do-“

“Who stabbed them?” Chiaki asked, her tired expression shifting into a deadly serious one, Hajime shook his head.

“I- I have no idea.” He admitted, “Nobody’s said anything. Teru was- I guess he’s acting weird, but-“

 Chiaki’s image seemed to flicker, “I just let her know. You said Teru was acting weird?”

“You already let her know?” Hajime couldn’t stop himself from asking, walking back towards the party room with her.

“Talking to her can be a lot different than talking to you.” Chiaki had a gift for explaining things in ways that explained absolutely nothing to Hajime, a quiet gasp escaped her as Hajime looked back at where Byakuya was still slumped on the floor.

The table cloth was steadily shifting from white to a dark pink, Mikan’s shaking hands stained with pink as well as she looked up at Nekomaru in tears while he tried to encourage her.

“Listen, I know ya got it in you.” He had a hand on her shoulder, “You just gotta visualize it, I bet if you focus hard enough you can kick whatever this healing thing is supposed to be into gear.”

“I don’t think visualizing things works that way, man.” Kazuichi mumbled, Mahiru shushed him.

“I… I-“ Mikan gulped down whatever she had been about to say, her voice barely above a whisper when she finally made herself continue, “What if I kill them? I- I wouldn’t be able to live with myself-“

“Just do it.” Byakuya was borderline unrecognizable, their hair was longer, a darker brown instead of blonde, skin paler- though maybe that was the blood loss? Hajime didn’t know. He could barely even make out their face anymore, it was… blurry, almost, impossible to focus on, shifting. Their voice oscillated between two different ones that were so unlike their own as they grunted in pain spoke again, “I- I don’t care if it hurts, just do something. Ha…. I am not going to bleed out… in this disgusting building.”

“We could always carry you outside, if that makes you feel better.” Akane suggested, a hand held over her nose, Hajime honestly couldn’t tell if that was supposed to be a joke or not.

Mikan lifted her hands from Byakuya’s chest, clasping them in front of her and biting her lip.

“O- Okay.” She whispered, “Okay. I can try to help.”

“Attagirl.” Nekomaru nodded, sparing a brief moment to smile as encouragingly as he could before, “What do we need to do?”

“Um, uh- Move the tablecloth.” She instructed uncertainly, letting out a shaky breath and readjusting how she was sitting, “I- I’ll try. I’ll visualize, I know how…. Muscle tissue works. I can visualize.”

“Don’t mess it up.” Hiyoko muttered from behind her Kimono sleeve, switching from peeking over it to covering her entire face once Nekomaru lifted the cloth.

Akane suddenly groaned, shaking her head and cupping a hand over her mouth completely, “I gotta get outta here.”

She pushed past Hajime on her way out, her hand pushing against his bare arm and sending a jolt through his skin.

And an incredibly unpleasant surge through another one of his senses.

It smelled so much like blood in here- Hajime wasn’t even sure how he knew that smell, he had never smelled that before… as far as he remembered, anyway, which wasn’t far. But it was metallic, it was distinct, it was…

Oh god, why was he feeling hungry?

Chiaki’s hand touching his other arm- in the only way that she could, like a wave of low energy coursing through him- snapped him out of that incredibly morbid and upsetting train of thought. Horrible time to be hungry, why couldn’t he focus on the situation at hand? Someone was bleeding out in front of him and he was-

“Reach out and touch someone else real quick.” Chiaki suggested, staring up at him seriously, “Just barely, it’ll probably help.”

“I- What?”

“I said back up a little, Hajime.”

Peko’s voice interrupted their conversation, not that she could’ve known it was happening, her hand reaching out to pull Hajime back some where he’d been standing near Byakuya’s feet. The touch sent a completely new feeling through him, a cool tingling through his skin, Hajime found that much easier to focus on than the smell right now.

Mikan was still shaking as she placed a hand over Byakuya’s wound- open and pink and moving in a way Hajime couldn’t bring himself to stare at for longer than a second. Her hand pressed down over it, an action that had Byakuya once again letting out a strangled sound cry, like they were doing everything they could to muffle it.

Her brows furrowed in concentration, nearly squeezing her eyes shut as Byakuya huffed and groaned and tried to writhe till they suddenly just… froze.

Completely froze, no moving at all other than shallow breathing and their now brown eyes suddenly coming into focus again.

Mikan kept her hand there, fingers flexing slightly as she took a deep breath and continued… whatever the hell this was. Her face flushed, the brief flicker of determination across her face was already wavering, she kept her eyes focused solely on Byakuya while she pressed her hand down further.

The blood that had been steadily running down the side of their stomach began to slow to a trickle, the faint trace of something dark pink and almost writhing between Mikan’s fingers seemed to close itself back up as Hajime blinked in confusion.

It was by no means a quick and easy process- whatever it even was- and from the tears Byakuya was still begrudgingly let slip as they lay there unmoving and gasping in breaths is didn’t seem entirely painless.

Mikan’s face had lost color quickly, her hand clenching even more around the blood soaked fabric of Byakuya’s shirt while she pressed her eyes shut and grit her teeth.

Nekomaru’s own eyes were wide with shock, mouth hanging slightly open as he looked down at Mikan’s work. He had a much better view of whatever was happening than Hajime, whatever it looked like had him rendered speechless.

Mikan let out a deep, ragged breath as she pulled back her hand, clutching her own chest- despite the blood still coating her palm- to try and catch her breath like she was exhausted.

Once her hand was removed Byakuya moved again, writhed, reached their own hand up to feel were the wound had been- where it wasn’t anymore.

“Holy shit!” Kazuichi gasped, leaning forward over Hajime’s shoulder to look, “I- she- Mikan you did it!”

Byakuya still seemed to need a minute to collect themselves, slowing their own shallow breathing down and glancing around everyone with panicked, borderline suspicious eyes.

“That’s right.” Nekomaru clasped a hand on Mikan’s shoulder, she flinched at the contact, “I knew ya could do it! You saved their life!”

“Stab wounds actually… have a very high survival rate.” She muttered in return, shaking her head like she was trying to negate the praise, “If it weren’t for how much they were bleeding, I wouldn’t have been nearly as worried.”

“I mean, but still!” Nekomaru persisted, removing his hand from Mikan and flexing it a little like he was in pain- right, Mikan thought touching people hurt them, maybe there was more truth to that than Hajime originally thought. “You still did it- you still healed up that wound like it was nothing. Be proud of yourself!”

Mikan let out an uncertain hum, still out of breath, the smallest of smiles appearing on her face as she looked up at him, “I… I guess I did.”

“There really should be a first aid kit somewhere on this island.” Nagito spoke up for the first time, where he was lingering back behind one of the tables, nervously gripping the tablecloth in his hand like a lifeline, “If we didn’t have Mikan, we’d be sort of… stuck if there were any other accidents like this one.”

“Accident?” Sonia turned to face him, tearing her eyes away from Byakuya for the first time. “You think this was not done intentionally?”

“I mean, it seems obvious what happened to me.” He nervously chuckled, “Teru must’ve gotten scared by something, he made all those plants come up, and one of them stabbed Byakuya, right? Just… unlucky.”

“That’s not possible.” Peko countered, eyes flicking from him to the roots, “There’s no blood on any of those plants.”

“Speaking of the Botanical Warlock,” Gundham’s nicknames were something Hajime was going to have to get used to, it took Gundham nodding in the chef’s direction for him to get who was being referred to, “Someone should… more than likely tend to him.”

Teru was still in the corner, looking no less calm than he had when Hajime first came in here, with all the bleeding and yelling his condition had been sort of… pushed aside. That probably wasn’t good.

“Hajime, go check.” Kazuichi nudged him forward, forcing Hajime to take a step before he locked his legs to keep from moving.

“What? Why me?”

“I dunno, you’re closer.” Kazuichi shrugged stiffly, looking like he wanted nothing more than to not be here right now. Hajime couldn’t exactly blame him.

Sonia was already heading towards Teru, though, slow and nervous looking, biting her lip as she sidestepped past the roots that had broken through the floor and tried to kneel down in front of him.

“Teruteru, are you alri-“

“St- stay away from me!” Teru shrieked immediately, scrambling back till he was pressed against the corner and holding his hands over his ears, “Don’t- don’t touch me! Stay the hell away!”

There was more rumbling through the ground below them, small green vines starting curl up through the cracks in the old wooden floor, the roots that had already invaded sprouted thorns that made Sonia shrink back some herself.

“T- Teru, please calm down-“

“I said get away!”

“What the hell happened to him?” Hiyoko’s tone was more worried than annoyed, surprisingly, stepping back herself and bumping into Mahiru, “Why is he freaking out?”

“I’d freak out too if I stabbed someone.” Kazuichi muttered, Peko shook her head again.

“It couldn’t have been those roots.”

“She’s right.” Mikan looked up them as Byakuya began to sit up, shaking their head at Nekomaru’s offer to let them wear his jacket, “This wasn’t the right shape to have come from something like that. Plus- if they had been stabbed by one of those plants, i- it’s more than likely they would’ve been speared straight through. They couldn’t have just fallen over without breaking off the root with them when they fell.”

“Then some other dark weapon was used in the chameleon mage’s assassination attempt.” Gundham tapped a finger to his chin, Mahiru took a deep breath and shook her head.

“Let’s… not call it an assassination attempt, it could’ve been an accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident.” Byakuya cut in with narrowed eyes, their completely new appearance- and the fact that it was slowly shifting again- adding another layer of surreality to this whole thing. “Someone grabbed me. This was intentional.”

“Th-there’s no way.” Nekomaru started to argue, about to say something else when Teru’s crying in the corner picked up again. He turned to look, worry and pity seeping into his expression, “But we should… I guess we should deal with him first.”

“He won’t let me any closer.” Sonia was backing past the now much more dangerous looking roots, “I- I’m not sure what the problem is, he doesn’t look injured.”

“Maybe the… freaky sounds from before scared him?” Ibuki guessed, looking up from where she’d squatted down by Byakuya to try cleaning off their hand with a clean section of the table cloth, “Those were preeeeetty weird-“

“Oh my stars above!!”

Usami’s panicked cry behind him made Hajime jolt- turning to find Akane pointing in their direction with the bunny already running past her into the room with a small, pink first aid kit in one hand.

“Oh dear, oh geez, oh goodness,” She looked nervous, she looked scared- Hajime wasn’t sure how she was doing either of those things when her face barely emoted at all, “What happened here?! This is not normal party behavior!”

“You knew we were having a party?” Peko questioned instead of answering, Usami frantically nodded.

“Of course, of course, you talked about it in the kitchen! I thought it was a nice idea!” She let out a whine, setting the first aid kid down at Ibuki’s feet and covering her eyes with her paws, “Oh, this is just terrible! Your first attempt at having fun and this happens? I thought we were starting to do better!”

“We’re doing a little better.” Ibuki seemed like she was trying to placate the rabbit, smiling and pointing at Byakuya’s chest, “Look look! No more stabby spot! That’s better, right?

“No more… huh?” Usami came closer, standing on her tiptoes to look at where Byakuya once again moved their hand to show off their somehow healed chest.

She paused, head tilting slightly while she seemed to process this, “Well… that’s…”

“That’s great!” Usami spun around on her heel, opening the tiny first aid kit and pulling out a pink heart shaped sticker, “Mikan, I’m so so proud of you! Love love! You did such a good job helping your friend!”

“Ah- um-“ Mikan flinched at the sudden movement, very hesitantly smiling and reaching for the sticker Usami was trying to force into her hands, “Thank you, I- I really didn’t do much. Are there no… actual medical supplies in that first aid kit?”

“I have bandages! Little ones!” She reached in and held up a bandage with little stars printed on it, holding it out to Byakuya while they frowned and made no move to accept this gift.

“What would you have done if I was still bleeding out, then?” They questioned dryly, apparently already recovering their former demeanor, “Just leave me to die?”

Usami quickly shook her head, “No, no, no! That wouldn’t be nice. We do have something of a hospital on one of the islands… it was just never properly fixed up, this is the only island that’s been fully restored to a nice, livable, tropical paradise.”

“Yeah, some paradise.” Hiyoko muttered, her eyes flicking over to watch Nekomaru approach Teru, only for the floorboards to start trembling before Nekomaru could even get a word out.

“S-stay away.” Teru’s voice came out like it was choked, Hajime shifted his feet as the green plants began their steady creep through the old wood again. Usami made a worried hum, taking a few quick steps forward and waving her free arm frantically.

“Um, Nekomaru, why don’t you back up for now? Pretty please?” Her fear was seeping through the sweet voice she was desperately trying to keep up, waving the first aid kit now as well, “You can have a sticker if you do! Let’s uh- let’s give Teruteru some space.”

She turned back to the group, visibly anxious, “Is he hurt too? Chiaki said she thought something was… wrong.”

“We don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Nagito muttered, still gripping the tablecloth in his hand, “He just… started freaking out when the lights cut off.”

“He won’t let anyone near him.” Sonia added, rejoining the group and giving the thorn covered roots as wide a perimeter as she could, “He is behaving… somewhat hostilely.”

“Did… did he stab Byakuya?” Usami asked worriedly, casting another glance at where Teru once again covered his ears and pressed his head back down against the floorboards.

Mikan was shaking her head while Nagito and Hiyoko were nodding, “I- I really don’t think so, it wasn’t a big enough wound, the angle was wrong, I really don’t see how that could’ve been… possible.”

“I dunno who else could’ve done it though.” Hiyoko countered, placing her hands on her hips despite the somewhat queasy look on her face as she stared down at all the blood on the floor, “Unless Akane stabbed him with her freaky werewolf claws.”

“Hey!” Akane snapped back, Teru whimpered from the corner, curling further in on himself, Akane was too caught up in pointing a finger at Hiyoko to notice, “I wasn’t even in here when he got stabbed! Hajime saw me out in the hall once the lights came back on! Don’t try to pin this on me!”

“Her claws would match the size of that kind of stab wound, would they not?” Peko asked Mikan, putting a hand to her chin, “But, if Hajime truly saw her in the hall, I suppose that would make it… slightly harder for her to have done this.”

“Not ‘slightly harder-’” Akane mocked her voice, stomping a foot, “Impossible! I wouldn’t just stab somebody for no reason!”

“I- I did see her out in the hallway once the lights came on, i think she was yelling out there when it was dark, too.” Hajime tried to explain, scratching at the back of his head, “I don’t think it would’ve been possible for her to do that.”

“Does that camera eye of your’s have night vision?” Peko asked, Hajime just blinked.

“If it does I uh… don’t know how to use it.”

“Then I’d say she can’t be ruled out as a suspect.”

“Suspect?” Mahiru scrunched her nose up, “This isn’t like an investigation or anything. It’s not like anyone died, right?”

Nekomaru came back over to the weird little circle around Byakuya, scratching at his jaw, “Knowing who would just attack like this would still be… good info to have.”

“I guess we really… do not know each other all that well yet.” Sonia murmured, Usami quickly shook her head.

“No no no! You guys are friends! Friends shouldn’t hurt each other!” She argued, almost desperate sounding, “Maybe this was just an accident? Sometimes friends can hurt each other on accident- but you can apologize and-“

“It wasn’t an accident.” Byakuya cut her off, their breathing finally back to normal, their hair slowly shifting and reverting back to the normal color and length Hajime was used to, as well. “Someone intentionally grabbed onto me once the lights went out.”

“Seriously?” Kazuichi blinked in surprise, “Well who was it?”

Byakuya shook their head, “I have no way of knowing, it was pitch black in here.”

“Can you at least guess?” Ibuki tried, “Like…. Big hand or small hand? Did they make any noises? What did their foot steps sound like?”

“No… notable noise, I really didn’t comprehend what was happening till they had already let me go- then I was a little too busy being impaled to really take any notes.” They sighed, “I almost brought a pair of night vision goggles from the store, Mahiru talked me out of it.”

“Because wearing those during a party would’ve been insane.” Mahiru immediately defended herself, her frown faltering as she looked around the scene they found themselves in again, “But I guess… this isn’t any less crazy.”

Gundham let out a thoughtful hum, tugging at the edge of his scarf and looking down at Byakuya, “They… released you, and then stabbed you?”

“What?”

“You claim they grabbed you,” Gundham elaborated, reaching out and grabbing Kazuichi by the shoulder and making him squeak, “Relinquished their hold on you, and then stabbed.”

He mimed these movements, pulling his hand back and stabbing it towards Kazuichi while he shrank back and clung to Hajime’s arm, “St- stop that! What’s your point?”

“If I were to stab someone- which I did not.” Gundham made a point to clarify, “Stabbing in the darkness like that would be a cowardly act unbefitting of my demonic nature. However, I would hold the target of my assassination in place to attack them… would you not?”

“I guess… that makes sense.” Mahiru narrowed her eyes, “So why would someone do that?”

“If they were holding something else?” Ibuki guessed, “Oh! Maybe whoever stabbed him had night vision goggles- and they were holding those!”

Byakuya didn’t answer, staring down at their shirt and seeming lost in thought. Their eyes shifted from blue to brown and back again, Hajime’s staring at it was interrupted by Chiaki touching his arm.

“Hey, I think you should check on Teruteru.”

Me?” Hajime asked, noting Usami turning towards him as well, he had forgotten she could hear Chiaki too. “Wh- he doesn’t want anyone near him-“

“I think you should give it a shot, too!” Usami encouraged, hopping over Ibuki’s feet to come stare up at Hajime, “Please? He needs help- it would be kind of you to help him.”

“I don’t wanna get stabbed by vines.” Hajime protested quietly, Usami clicked open her useless first aid kid again.

“If you did, I’d hop right on over to patch you up.” Her assurance was not exactly encouraging, neither was the little sticker of a star that said ‘stellar friend!’ She handed up to him.

He took it anyway, Sonia said it was nice to accept gifts, and tucked into his shirt pocket with a mumbled thank you and heavy sigh.

“Alright.” He muttered finally, ignoring Usami’s clapping and Kazuichi’s warning to be careful.

He gave the group one last glance as he approached the gnarled roots, making eye contact with Nagito and noticing his expression set in a deeply worried frown. He gave Hajime a little nod as he shuffled sideways past the roots, it was probably wide enough he could walk through normally, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

Teru tensed as he approached, fingers curling tighter where they were tangled in his hair, a shaky breath escaping him before he borderline growled out another, “Stay away from me-“

“It’s uh, it’s Hajime.” He blurted out, unsure of what else to say, really. “It’s just me, nobody else.”

Teru was still- as still as someone trembling in a heap on the floor could really be- not moving at all while Hajime slowly knelt down.

“Are you uh… are you hurt?” He tried, waiting for a response and only getting more shallow breathing. “Are you… can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Teru gulped, another choked sounding noise, lifting his head slightly to look at Hajime with wide, terrified eyes. “N- not… in here.”

Hajime frowned, watching Teru’s panicked and hazy gaze flick from Hajime to the others and back again. The green foliage began to creep through the floorboards again, Hajime shifted a little closer to try and regain Teru’s attention.

“Do you want… to go back to your cabin?” He asked softly, “You can… lock your door, it’ll be safer in there, right? Why don’t I take you there?”

Teru’s eyes snapped back over to him, one of his hands leaving his hair to rest on the side of his head- either over his ear or… where Hajime’s port would be on his own head.

“Just you?” He voice was a panicked whisper, that terrified look in his eyes hardening into something more like suspicion, “Just… Hajime?”

“Just me.” Hajime nodded, “I don’t know how to be anyone else, sorry.”

Teru’s mouth twitched up at that, barely, a split second of a smile the closest thing to any emotion other than fear. He nodded back, slow and shaky, pulling himself up into a hunched over sitting position and keeping his hands over his ears.

“I heard her.” He whispered, eyes growing unfocused again, mouthing twitching up like a smile again before it melted back into horror, “I- I know I heard her.”

“Let’s… get out of here, then.” Hajime started to stand, nearly flinching himself at the way Teru seemed panicked again at the sudden movement. He tried to move slower, take two steps towards Teru and reach out his hand to help him up.

Teru latched onto him like he was drowning, pulling himself to his feet with Hajime’s arm and nearly making him topple over. A new feeling spread through Hajime’s veins, a low warmth rolling through his blood and spreading out to his fingertips, but that wasn’t something he could focus on right now.

He started to lead Teru with shaking steps past the roots, all too aware of how they seemed to react to Teru’s proximity, shuddering and shifting and almost curling out away from them.

Teru only clung harder when they passed the others, fingers digging into Hajime’s arm, his head buried against his back while he mumbled out another grumble for them to stay away from him.

Nobody said anything, Hajime was left with Teru shaking against him and the confused and worried stares of everyone else as he led him outside.

“Okay, we’re good.” Hajime assured him, reaching his other hand over to pat one of Teru’s in a way that was probably too stiff and awkward. “Can you uh… can you tell me what’s wrong now?”

Teru shook his head, shaking harder and gripping Hajime so tight he was sure this would leave bruises.

“Y- you’re the only one that’s… different.” He finally choked out, not looking up at Hajime, not elaborating at all other than, “I- I don’t know what I’m saying. I don’t know why…. Why…”

“Why what?”

“I feel so… horrible.”

Hajime didn’t say anything, what was he supposed to say to that? He took Teru towards the cottages, not exactly content with this uncomfortable silence but willing to endure it anyway. There was movement along the pier that made up the walkway between cottages, Fuyuhiko’s silhouette coming into focus as they approached where he was pacing back and forth and keeping a hand cupped over his mouth. His head snapped up to face them, glaring from Hajime to Teru and back before he stomped towards them.

“What the hell happened in there?” He demanded, ignoring how Teru flinched and death gripped Hajime’s arm, “What’s wrong with this idiot? Why was everyone screaming?”

“I- someone stabbed Byakuya.” Hajime explained, “I- I can talk more in a minute, can you just back up?”

“Why?” Fuyuhiko glared down at Teru, openly suspicious, “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

A chill ran through Hajime’s spine as Teru lifted his hair to glare back, angry eyes peering out beneath his disheveled hair, “What happened to your eye?”

Fuyuhiko stiffened, taking a large step back and opening his mouth to say something when Hajime intervened.

“Can you just… help me get him to his room for now?” He felt like he was borderline begging, “Please? I’ll explain more once he’s settled in.”

There was a beat of uncomfortable silence, Fuyuhiko staring down Teru a moment longer before turning silently on his heel and stalking towards the cottages.

“Okay.” Hajime wasn’t sure what he was expecting, he tugged Teru forward as something more like a laugh than a whimper came out of him, “You alright, buddy?”

“Did you… hear her?” Teru asked as they stepped onto the pier, voice low and terrified sounding “That voice, the one on the speakers? In the rooms?”

“W- in the rooms?”

“I feel like I’m losing my mind.” Teru whispered, “I just want her to shut up-“

His voice hitched, Hajime approached Teru’s cottage and patted his hand again.

“I’m gonna need your key.”

“I- I can do it myself.” Teru mumbled, shaking a little as he dug around his apron pocket for his key and opened his door, his hands finally leaving their death grip on Hajime. “Are you… um….”

He looked like he wanted to say something, glancing behind Hajime for a second and shaking his head. “Never mind. I- I’m gonna get some sleep.”

“Yeah, alright.” Hajime scratched at his arm where Teru’s nails had been digging into his skin, “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?”

“I think I just need- Uh- sleep.” He fidgeted, “I- I didn’t.. I didn’t stab anybody. I just…”

“I know.” Hajime assured him, “I don’t think you did, either.”

Teru stared at him a little longer, red and puffy eyes scanning over every inch of his face like he was trying to figure something out before he finally gave up.

“My… head hurts. I’m going to bed.”

Hajime didn’t say anything as he closed the door. Finally allowing himself to let loose of a little bit of the tension that had been tangling it’s way into a knotted mess in his chest. 

There was still a lot to figure out- someone had still been stabbed, someone had still stabbed Byakuya for some reason, this whole situation still didn’t make any sense at all, and-

“So what the fuck happened?”

And he still had to deal with Fuyuhiko.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Fuyuhiko’s voice sounded right behind him, spinning around to face him and earning nothing but a slight shake of the head.

“What the- Don’t just sneak up on me like that.”

“Maybe you should be more aware of your surroundings.” Fuyuhiko snapped back instead, “You said someone stabbed the shifter? Who did it?”

“I don’t know yet.” Hajime admitted, Fuyuhiko scoffed, “I’m being serious. I was outside with you, remember?”

Fuyuhiko’s eyebrows raised slightly at that, finally easing up a little bit of his aggressive stance, “Can’t even make a guess?”

“No?” Hajime shrugged, “How would I be able to do that?”

“I dunno, collecting evidence or some shit, I don't know how your freak ass brain works.”

Hajime frowned at that, scratching at the back of his head, “Yeah. I don’t either.”

Fuyuhiko stared back at him, eye narrowing slightly, he looked from Hajime’s face down to his tie and back again, “What the hell is that for?”

“I- the tie? Nagito gave it to me-“

“The glowing shit, you idiot.”

“Oh.” Hajime looked back down at it, touching the tie and causing a little pit of the paint to rub off on his hand. It was still damp, it must not have fully dried yet. “I don’t know, I guess Nagito spilled something on it.”

Fuyuhiko didn’t say anything to that, letting out a huff and shoving his hands in his pockets, “So are they dead?”

“Who? Byakuya?” Hajime waited for him to nod, half expecting another insult at all his requests for clarification, “No, Mikan healed them. They’re alright.”

Fuyuhiko just hummed at that, a weird sense of unease prickled across Hajime’s skin.

“You don’t seem… surprised.” He noted, watching Fuyuhiko’s demeanor immediately become guarded once again, “Someone got stabbed, and you don’t… you don’t even look like you care-“

“There’s a difference between ‘not caring’ and seeing the shit coming, isn’t there?” Fuyuhiko countered, “Of course we were all gonna start killing each other at some point.”

“Why?” Hajime argued, “How can you just say something like that-“

“This is a waste of time.” Fuyuhiko shook his head, sounding more frustrated than angry now, “Just… go do whatever the hell you want.”

Hajime watched him walk back towards his own cottage, taking a step back towards the hotel before he paused again.

“What’s under your eyepatch?” He asked, unable to get Fuyuhiko’s reaction to Teru a few minutes ago to stop looping through his mind. This felt… important for some reason. He needed to know what was going on.

Fuyuhiko continued to ignore him, trying to get his door open and tensing as Hajime walked closer.

“Why do you keep your eye closed?” He didn’t mean for his tone to get sharper, Fuyuhiko just… really put him on edge right now, he was acting so weird all the time, “Why are you keeping so many things a secret-“

“Am I the one keeping secrets?” Fuyuhiko turned on his heel before Hajime could blink, snarling up at him, teeth grit, taking a step closer and grabbing Hajime by the tie to pull him down, “Am I the one lying to everyone? Are you sure you don’t got something to hide either?”

“Everything alright?”

Peko’s voice startled both of them, both whipping their heads over to stare at her while she stood a few feet away in an almost defensive position- like she was ready to fight, break them apart somehow.

“Everything’s fine.” Fuyuhiko answered in a low voice as he shoved Hajime away.

Hajime made no move to resist it, still staring at Peko while Fuyuhiko turned and stomped into his cottage. He couldn’t help but flinch when the door slammed, tearing his eyes away from Peko for a second to stare at the door as it audibly locked.

“… Sorry.” He finally sighed, watching Peko’s posture relax a fraction, “I think I made him mad.”

“What happened?” She asked, almost sounding cautious, not relaxing anymore as he started walking towards her, “Why were you two fighting?”

“I was… being stupid, I guess.” Hajime huffed, starting to walk back towards the hotel and waiting for her to follow, “I told him what happened to Byakuya, he got… weird about it, and then he wouldn’t answer my questions. I guess I kinda got mad, too.”

Peko didn’t say anything, but he could feel her staring, walking just out of his line of sight, barely any gray in his periphery. He couldn’t help the way he tensed the further their walk went, muscles tightening, fists trying to clench no matter how much he tried to keep them open, a tightness in his chest, and a voice in his head repeating over and over that he was about to be attacked-

“I think he has a hard time handling his emotions.” She finally said, an almost exhausted tone to her voice, “If I were you, I would just avoid him.”

“… yeah.” He muttered, coming up to the old building’s wooden steps and pausing, “Hey, I want to be honest with you, um…”

He hesitated, was it smart to tell her this? If Fuyuhiko had reacted by trying to strangle him, who knows what Peko might do. She already seemed on edge, it wouldn’t be smart to get her any angrier…

… it wouldn’t be smart to keep secrets in this kind of situation either, though. This was the… logical thing to do, right?

“I heard you and Fuyuhiko talking outside earlier.” He admitted, watching her jaw clench as he ran a hand through his hair, “I didn’t mean to, I swear, I just came outside to see where you were, people were looking for you.”

“Did you tell anybody?” She asked in a low monotone voice, raising one eyebrow, only relaxing again when Hajime shook his head.

“I- no, I haven’t. It’s not really… anybody’s business I guess, if you two know each other… it’s not a big deal.” He was trying to figure out how to go about this without agitating her. It sort of felt like a big deal, nobody else here knew each other, it seemed odd that the two of them already did before getting stuck here.

… Unless the others were lying. Unless more people were keeping secrets.

Everyone else already knew so much more than him, who’s to say they weren’t lying to him from the start?

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone.” Peko continued, taking a step closer to him, “There are… some things that are better kept a secret for now, I’m afraid.”

Hajime stood his ground, it felt like the right thing to do- even if he wasn’t entirely sure this was an interrogation-

What was an interrogation?

“I don’t know if I agree with that.” He couldn’t help but stiffen as she narrowed her eyes, “I think we should all be honest with each other, considering everything that’s going on. Right?”

“Hajime-“

“But… like I said a second ago,” He started, honestly sort of wishing he could just move past this conversation already, this whole situation was getting too tense. “It’s none of my business. It’s just between the two of you, nobody else needs to know.”

She paused, looking him up and down, “Is this supposed to be blackmail or something?”

Hajime just blinked, Peko’s suspicious gaze softened.

“You don’t even know what blackmail is, do you?”

“I don’t know what mail is to begin with… why does the color matter?”

Peko just shook her head, moving past him into the old building and leaving him to follow her back to where all the others were still talking.

Nagito was by the door now, his hand in his pocket and a tired looking grin forming on his face as Hajime came in and stopped next to him. His eyes flicked down to Hajime’s tie for a second, but his smile didn’t waver, Hajime would have to remember to ask him about the glowing stuff. It was barely noticeable now that there was light on it, he wondered if Nagito could even see it, maybe he was just… admiring it. He said it looked good on Hajime, right?

Byakuya was back up on their feet, still soaked in their own blood and keeping a hand over the part of their shirt that was ripped. Nekomaru was patting their shoulder, saying they can handle things from now on while Ibuki enthusiastically agreed. Sonia was talking to Peko now that she was back, something about the lights going out that he couldn’t quite hear, both of them occasionally glancing at where Gundham was on his knees scowling at the floor.

“He’s looking for his earring.” Nagito’s voice made him jolt, his explanation apparently prompted by Hajime’s staring, “He says he thinks he lost it when the lights went out.”

Hajime nodded, muttering a quiet thanks and giving everyone else a quick glance as well. Kazuichi was back over by the vines, walking around them in a slow, nervous circle and looking over them. Mikan was watching him, head tilted slightly, her quiet reminder to be careful met with a half hearted nod. Mahiru and Hiyoko were talking with Akane in the corner of the room, where she was keeping a hand over her mouth and nose and shaking her head to whatever Mahiru was trying to say.

“Hajime,” Byakuya took a shaky step forward, Hajime realized now that their appearance had shifted back completely to what he’s used to, “Be a gentleman and walk me to the door, I’m… feeling lightheaded.”

Mikan spun around, hair falling across her face while she clasped her hands together, “Ah- that’s a symptom of blood loss. You said you were still, um- feeling tingling in your hands? That could be a symptom too, are you feeling cold or anything?”

“I’m alright, Mikan,” Byakuya waved her concerns off coming and turning Hajime back towards the front of the building with a hand on his shoulder- still not touching bare skin, which he appreciated, “I’m just going to lie down.”

“I- I wish I could’ve made you new blood too! I’m sorry!” She pleaded, “Please forgive me, I-“

“Mikan.” Byakuya turned to face her, their voice a little more forceful to cut her off, “You saved my life. You have nothing to apologize for. If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t even be standing right now.”

Her mouth hung open slightly, stuttering out some whisper of something while Usami hopped over and stuck a heart shaped sticker on her knee.

Hajime let Byakuya nudge him towards the door again, making his peace with walking all the way out to the cottages and back again, when the hand on his shoulder gripped tighter. Byakuya’s steps stumbled slightly, as soon as they were out of sight of everyone else they let out a shaking breath.

“I’m… I’m okay.” They assured him, voice soft and wavering, “I doubt the blood loss is serious.”

Hajime moved to support more of their weight as they reached the front door, looping an arm around their waist and pulling them along more. He shuddered as he felt Byakuya’s blood against his palm, he couldn’t help it. It was blood, and more of it than he had ever remembered seeing. If it hadn’t been for Byakuya’s shaky breath he may have pulled away- but that may have meant Byakuya stumbling again, or falling- he couldn’t leave someone alone like this. He didn’t know anything about blood loss, if Byakuya said it wasn’t serious he’d just have to take their word for it… even if they weren’t being very convincing right now.

“I wanted to… warn you.” Their voice caught him off guard, soft and quiet, the hand squeezing his shoulder again made him look up to where Byakuya was staring him down over the rim of their glasses.

“Warn me?” Hajime asked, “About what?”

Byakuya pulled him further out the door and onto the dark porch, moving the hand they’d had braced over their chest. Their shirt was soaked in blood down one side, it streamed across the floral print pattern and left magenta stains down their shorts.

But there was something else, barely visible through the dark pink stains around their chest, a slight green glow on the torn fabric Byakuya was holding up to show him.

“When I touched your tie, I wiped the paint on my shirt.” They were still whispering, low and serious, “Hajime, it glows in the dark. I noticed it just before I was attacked.”

“What…. What does that mean?” Hajime couldn’t think of anything else to say, Byakuya cleaner hand (though not by much) reached out and gingerly lifted the end of Hajime’s tie. “I thought you said the stain was just… a spill?”

Byakuya looked back up at him, eyes flicking up from where they’d been inspecting the faint glow on his tie. The blue in their eyes almost seemed to shift, turning a slightly darker gray as they stared at Hajime with something like pity and straightened up again.

“It could very well be.” Their tone wasn’t exactly assuring, “But just in case… I want you to be careful. Don’t go… anywhere alone with just one person. Not till we figure this out.”

They sighed, leaning back against one of the beams of the porch before they turned to head towards the cottages alone, “I need to lie down… maybe shower. Come knock on my door to let me know you made it to your cottage safely.”

“Uh… okay.” It was a little belittling, Hajime couldn’t help but huff, “You know, I can take care of myself-“

“I’m just looking out for you.” Byakuya cut him off, glancing back over their shoulder, “I’ve been stabbed, you’re not allowed to argue with me and make me feel even worse.”

“I don’t think that’s a rule.”

“It is now.” They gave him a small, tired looking smile for a moment, before it dropped back town into that same serious expression they’d had before, “Just be on guard. Don’t get hurt.”

Hajime just stood there for a second, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. What was Byakuya even trying to say?

“So I should not leave you alone then?” Chiaki’s sudden appearances were beginning to scare him less, but he still startled as she popped into view right beside him, once again in the green jacket and brown skirt he was used to seeing her in.

It took Hajime another second to actually process what she said, taking a step to the side and huffing, “Were you listening to us?”

“Mmhm,” She answered with no hesitation, “Just a little bit.”

“Just a little bit.” He copied sarcastically, starting to roll his eyes before he stopped, “Do you… can you always hear what I hear?”

She tilted her head, eyes glancing up while she thought over her answer, “I probably could, if I wanted to. But I don’t listen in to everything, that would upset you, right?”

Hajime had to think about that, like he… had to do with a lot of feelings. Yes? The idea of someone always listening or watching him was upsetting, but it’s not like Chiaki could really help it if she was sort of stuck to the machine part of his head sometimes. 

“I wouldn’t like it if you listened all the time.” He finally settled on saying, not at all pleased with how uncertain he sounded. How did people like Byakuya or Gundham sound so confident all the time? How were they so sure of how they were feeling? “But… I wouldn’t mind if you just you let me when know you’re here.”

A small smile crossed Chiaki’s face, like she was almost proud of him, why was she proud of him?

“I can do that.” She assured him with a nod, the smile on her face getting a little more determined, “Thanks for letting me know. Did you want to-“

“Hey, uh, Hajime?”

Nekomaru was standing back in the hallway of the building, one hand on his hip and the other one- still sporting a pink splatter of blood across the palm- gesturing for him to come closer.

“We were just trying to figure some stuff out in here, mind coming back inside for a second?” He smiled as Hajime nodded, eyes flicking from Hajime to Chiaki- or, a little too far to the left of Chiaki- as he started walking closer, “You talkin’ to your friend?”

“Yeah,” Hajime nodded as he met Nekomaru back in the hall, “What are you guys talking about? Did you figure out who did it?”

Nekomaru sighed, “Nobody’s admitting to anything yet. It just seems…. Unbelievable.”

There was a pause, Hajime glancing up and finding Nekomaru’s jaw clenched while he slowed his walk down.

“Nekomaru?”

“It’s cowardly.” He finally mumbled, eyes staring angrily at the metal doors to the elevator at the other end of the building, “Stabbing someone in the dark, while they can’t fight back. It’s… kind of a pathetic thing to do, huh?”

Hajime had no idea what to say that, unease prickled up the back of his neck as Chiaki made a worried hum beside him. He finally made himself ask, “What… why does that matter?”

“I hate cowards.” Nekomaru’s voice sounded gravelly, almost like a growl, before he seemed to realize what he was saying, blinking his eyes back into focus and smiling down at Hajime again, “Oh- uh, ha ha… I guess that was a little dramatic, huh? Sorry about that. Let’s go in.”

He put a hand on Hajime’s back, squeezing his shoulder a little and leading him around the corner to where the others were all standing in a circle- aside from Nagito, who had moved from his spot by the door to start removing the cloth off the table.

Usami was watching him, glancing back as Nekomaru led Hajime in before turning her attention back to trying to beckon Nagito back over to the group.

“Come on, come on,” She clapped her hands like she was trying to get his attention, “We don’t have to clean right now, we need to talk! We can all help clean up tomorrow, tonight we need to talk about what happened.”

“I’m just helping.” Nagito smiled back, not stopping what he was doing, a pile of a couple tablecloths already strung over his shoulder while he struggled to pull another one off with just the one hand, “I wouldn’t be able to contribute much to your investigation anyway, you guys are all practically superheroes! You’re definitely smarter than me.”

“Dude, what are you talking about?” Kazuichi’s face scrunched up in confusion, “We’re trying to figure out who stabbed someone, don’t start acting all weird again right now.”

“Just come over here so we can figure this out.” Mahiru tried to be a little more demanding, hands on her hips as she motioned for him to come over with her finger, “We can’t just stand around all night, and if nobody’s going to confess, we’ll have to figure out who’s lying.”

“We will?” Hajime asked, glancing around at the group. “How… how are we gonna do that?”

“We don’t know yet!” Ibuki winked at him, “But we can figure it out, probably. Oh! This is gonna be just like the Ace Attorney games! We’re all detectives now!”

“Ace attorney is a video game reference.” Chiaki explained to Hajime, not clearing anything up at all, “It’s about two lawyers I think, they might be in love? I haven’t played it… yet.”

He wasn’t sure what lawyers were, but good for them.

He wasn’t sure what detectives were either, the word sounded familiar, clouded and barely formed information sifting around in his mind while he tried to contextualize things. Maybe detectives uh… investigated? That’s what the others were saying, anyway, that they would figure things out.

They needed to figure out who stabbed Byakuya, Hajime needed to help, he needed to figure out what was going on. If someone really was so… violent, they needed to know.

“Okay let’s… start at the beginning, I guess?” Kazuichi tried as Nagito approached the group with the tablecloth still bundled up in his hands. “Or, maybe the end.”

“The end?” Hiyoko’s face scrunched up in confusion, Kazuichi nodded.

“Like the stuff with Teruteru- that was suspicious, right?”

Mikan shook her head, “I- I agree that how he reacted was worrying, but he couldn’t have been the one to stab Byakuya, there wasn’t any b-blood on any of those roots.”

“Who said he used a root to stab them?” Peko countered, “He calls himself a chef, there’s a kitchen right over there, he could’ve taken a knife from there and stabbed Byakuya before he laid down and started wailing.”

“I don’t think I like this conversation much at all…” Usami muttered with a worried shake of her head, she was ultimately ignored as Nagito tilted his head.

“Oh, there weren’t any knives in the kitchen when Teru went in there.” He shrugged, “I mean, at least I don’t think there were, but what does someone like me know, anyway-“

“No, that’s right.” Nekomaru agreed with a thoughtful hum, “All the kitchen knives got brought into the hotel kitchen, Byakuya didn’t want any weapons in the building.”

“That… might be another topic to discuss.” Gundham pointed out, one eye closed and the small, fuzzy ears of a hamster poking out of his scarf before burrowing back into it again, “The chameleon mage seemed especially agitated, fear had settled around them like a thick, poisonous fog…”

“Woah…” Ibuki’s eyes went wide, she started bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, “Gundham! You should write music! You’d be great at writing lyrics for like a freaky wizard band or something!”

“We should probably try to focus.” Hajime put a hand on Ibuki’s shoulder to stop her bouncing, he didn’t want the building to shake again, he was sort of acting without thinking, “Ibuki, weren’t you with… what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Ibuki was grinning, looking even more excited now, trying desperately to hide her smile and glancing from Hajime’s hand back up to him.

“You touched me!” She pointed to her shoulder with a snap, where Hajime automatically retreated his hand, “You touched me and didn’t flinch or get weird! Good job, Hajime!”

She reached up like she was going to pat his head- something he absolutely did not want happening- he heard Mikan quietly clear her throat as Hajime leaned away from Ibuki’s hand.

“Ibuki, you need to go slow.” She whispered, like Hajime wasn’t standing right there.

Hajime made no attempt to hide that he didn’t like that, brows furrowing and jaw setting in a frown as he cleared his throat at made both girls smile apologetically.

“I’m not like… afraid of touch- actually, you know what? We don’t have time for this.” He shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose and realizing absentmindedly that he had picked up that habit from Byakuya, “Ibuki you uh… you were with Byakuya earlier today, right? Did they say anything about why they wanted to have this party be like… safe? Did they seem weird while you guys were hanging out?”

“Hmmmmm,” Ibuki put a finger to her chin, leaning her head far enough back she nearly lost her balance as she thought, “Not weird, I don’t think. But they did talk about it being safe a lot.”

“They were definitely being weird.” Mahiru interjected, “I was there too, I was getting this.”

She held up her camera, taking another picture of Hajime while he blinked against the light and made a grunt of protest, “They kept talking about making sure nothing bad can happen. They were trying to take all these weird precautions, they wanted like… night vision goggles, poked around some boxes to see if there was some kind of metal detector or something, even talked about making everybody but their stuff in like… an aluminum case of something-“

“Duralumin!” Ibuki snapped her fingers to point over at Mahiru, “I remember that! I wrote a little rap about it!”

“Don’t do the rap right now.” Peko warned as Ibuki took a deep breath, cutting off whatever music she’d been about to unleash. Ibuki hung her head down as Peko continued, “This level of paranoia seems sort of… uncharacteristic of them, just based on what we’ve seen the past few days.”

“They literally emptied all my pockets before I came in here.” Kazuichi added with a huff, “Wouldn’t let me bring in a wrench or anything, I had to take it all the way back to my room. They kept saying they weren’t making any ‘slip ups.’”

Hajime thought back to when he was talking to Byakuya outside, before the party started, when Byakuya mentioned wanting to keep everyone safe. They mentioned being careful, about… anyone being dangerous if they had the opportunity…

“They really thought something bad was going to happen, didn’t they?” Hajime finally muttered, “Byakuya must’ve been really worried about something.”

Ibuki’s previous smile faltered, she awkwardly tapped her fingers together while she thought, “Yeah, ha, I think they were… I’m not sure why, they didn’t really… mention any specifics, but I think they were worried.”

“Then why not just say that?” Hiyoko scoffed, “We could’ve like… just talked about that instead of having this dumb murder party.”

“Not a murder party!” Usami corrected, waving her wand up in the air, “No murder! Not allowed!”

“Someone was stabbed, Usami.” Peko reminded her, the rabbit’s ears drooped and she hung her head down.

“Talking about Byakuya being paranoid and stuff might not help us get much closer to figuring out who stabbed them.” Nekomaru interjected, a hand rubbing his stomach, “Maybe we should focus on that part first, we can always just ask why they were worried, right?”

“We shouldn’t have to figure out who stabbed them!” Kazuichi interjected, hands going up to tug at his beanie, “That’s an insane thing to do! This whole thing is crazy!”

“Crazier than waking up on a deserted island and being told you were experimented on while you slept?” Hiyoko asked bitterly, Usami nervously peeked up at her.

“I- I never said that last part, technically, but um-“ She waved her wand around again, pointing to everyone in their weird little circle as she spoke, “Alright everyone! Let’s get this solved now, whoever made the mistake of stabbing their friend can speak up now! You won’t get in trouble, I promise! We just need to know what happened!”

“Murderers rarely confess to their crimes that easily.” Sonia let out a disappointed sounding sigh, “The thrill of hiding their crimes is usually part of the reason people become serial killers.”

Kazuichi let out an anxious laugh at that, “Why do you… know that, Sonia?”

“We might be neglecting the biggest key to solving this.” Peko pointed out, glancing over at Mikan, “If Teru’s vines weren’t what stabbed him, we need to figure out what did.”

“O- Oh, right… of course.” Mikan stammered, nodding along, “Um, well the roots were too thick, a-and the wound wasn’t angled enough for Byakuya to have been stabbed by them,”

“There’s no blood on em either, right?” Akane spoke up from where she was lingering on the outside of the group, one hand still sort of covering her face and the other holding what looked like a piece of meat from one of the tables.

“Oh my god, how can you be eating right now?” Hiyoko scrunched her nose up, “There’s literally still blood all over the-“

“I’m hungry.” Akane growled out, the seriousness in her tone made Hiyoko jolt.

There was an awkward beat of silence, the only sound a worried whine from Usami, Akane swallowed what she was chewing and huffed.

“Let’s just… keep going.” She glanced away, an uncomfortable frown stretching across her face, “So we’re looking for a knife, or what?”

“Ah, I think we already established Byakuya took all the knives from the kitchen here earlier today.” Nagito supplied with a smile, this seemed like a weird situation to be smiling through, “So I doubt that’s the weapon, unless one of you snuck something in here past Byakuya.”

“That wouldn’t be possible.” Mahiru shook her head, “They were… way too thorough with checking everyone. Nobody could’ve gotten something like that in here.”

Kazuichi made a nervous hum, looking at Mahiru with an expression somewhere between fear and suspicion.

“I mean uh… can’t you teleport?” He asked, cautiously, Mahiru’s eyes widened slightly, “So… you could’ve gotten a knife in here whenever you wanted, right?”

“Wh- are you accusing me?” She snapped back, hands going to her hips, “You can move metal with your mind! Couldn’t you have made a knife just float right through the air to stab someone?”

“I wasn’t even in the room when it happened!” Kazuichi protested, voice raising, “I was in the office with Peko when the lights went out!”

“Ew, were you guys making out?” Hiyoko made a fake gagging noise, ignoring how Mahiru still seemed angry beside her. Kazuichi and Peko each took a large step away from each other, to the point Kazuichi bumped against Hajime’s arm again.

“Don’t… joke about that.” Peko’s monotone expression and voice did not hide her disdain very well, Kazuichi almost looked offended for a second, “But I did see Souda in the office, it would’ve been much harder to stab someone accurately from a completely different room.

“You… you were in the office?” Hajime asked, tilting his head, only remembering he told Peko he would keep her spontaneous outing a secret when her intense gaze cut over to him, “Why?”

“I needed a break from people.” She answered curtly, but Hajime could… sort of piece together the real reason.

When she was done talking to Fuyuhiko, she had walked right through the wall, it made sense she’d rather do that in a room she thought nobody was in.

“She was just sitting underneath the desk.” Kazuichi elaborated, backing up Peko’s story even if he didn’t know the truth of it, “I didn’t even see her at first, she scared me half to death.”

He let out a whine, tugging his hat down more, “And then the lights went out, and scared me the rest of the way to the grave…”

“Oh, we still do not know why the lights went off, right?” Sonia spoke up, clasping her hands together again, “That and the… strange noise couldn’t have just been random, right?”

Usami stiffened, shifting anxiously on her feet, “Well that… um… might be just a teensy itty bitty bit of a problem on my part. N- not that it’s anything to worry about! It’s just um… a security issue.”

“Security issue?” Hajime tilted his head, “Security from… what?”

“Um, okay…” Usami took a little step forward, smoothing out her skirt, “I want to say, first of all, you’re all still totally safe here.”

Nekomaru glanced from Usami down to the blood still splattered across the floor, “Sure, right.”

“There was something of a teeny tiny issue around the time Byakuya got stabbed, just a little… itty bitty hiccup in my ability to monitor things.”

“What does that mean?” Hajime turned to Chiaki instead of Usami, she opened her mouth to answer only for the bunny to cut her off.

“I- It’s not a big deal! Oh, I hope it’s not, anyway.” She nervously fidgeted, “I monitor every area of the island, it’s one of my jobs, I’m supposed to keep all of you safe while you learn to live with each other and with your powers, which means I need to be on the lookout for threats, both… external, and internal.”

“Internal.” Nagito echoed with a frown, brows furrowing, “As in… us?”

“Or just something on the island.” Usami quickly corrected, “There’s no need to jump right to worst case scenario.”

“So you’re saying there’s something on the island?” Ibuki’s eyes went wide, it was hard to tell if it was fear or excitement, “Like a monster? A ghost? Weird zombie people?”

“No, no, no! That’s all bad! Only good things on the island!” Usami’s tone was more stern, whipping her wand over to point at Ibuki instead, “We’re the only ones on the island, don’t worry.”

“Which means one of us did this.” Peko tried to get everyone back on topic, “Someone knocked out the power, and stabbed Byakuya-“

“Please don’t doubt your friends!” Usami interjected again, Mahiru finally knelt down to face her.

“Usami.” She started, her voice serious, “We really, really need you to actually be honest with us right now, okay? You need to tell exactly what happened to make the power go out so we can figure out who did this, and…. Why, I guess.”

Usami hesitated, ears drooping again, putting her hands together pleadingly, “I… I don’t want you to have to think about bad things…”

“The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can move on.” Nekomaru assured her, “And uh… I’d prefer if we wrap it up soon, to be honest. I gotta go again.”

“Oh, are you sleepy?” Usami tilted her head to look back at him, Nekomaru’s answer cut off by Mahiru tapping Usami’s hands to make her focus.

“The power went out, you said it was a security issue.”

Hajime.

He nearly jolted, small letters running across his vision pulling his focus from the conversation for a second. Chiaki was staring at him, the same sleepy expression on her face as usual but a more focused look in her eyes. Usami continued talking, the text in the bottom of his eyesight changed.

“It registered as just…. Everything in this building- or actually, the facility under it,” Usami began, Kazuichi interrupting to ask a question as Hajime tried to subtly read what Chiaki was putting in front of him.

“The freaky place we woke up in?”

We really, really, need to find a way to connect to the island’s systems.

“It seemed like a full on power outage, which… doesn’t really make sense.” Usami tilted her head again, worriedly tapping her chin, “And it barely lasted any time at all! By the time Chiaki told me you were all having a problem, the system alert had already come and gone! I had no idea it would even affect this building above it, they’re not even supposed to be on the same line, they’re just… close. I guess.”

Usami probably won’t admit to this, but…

“Then you… don’t really know what happened?” Nagito asked, adjusting his hold on the tablecloths again. “Is that all you’re saying?”

I think there’s something a little more serious happening than she’s letting on.

“I’m… just saying we need to work together to figure this out.” Usami was certainly an expert on not saying what they needed her to, Hajime was picking up on that, “You all said you heard a weird noise, right? Was it like an alarm, or…. Um… what was it?”

There was another beat of silence, everyone glancing at each other, an unease settling over them so thick Hajime thought he could feel it in his lungs as he breathed in. Kazuichi tugged his hat down further, Akane had stopped eating, glaring away at the wall, fists clenched, Ibuki’s expression was almost… blank, staring at the floor, the only real emotion a growing frown that she was trying to hide. Sonia was staring down at her own hands, gripping her skirt, posture stiff and scared, Nagito gripped the tablecloth in his arm so tight his knuckles were turning white, Nekomaru was so still and tense it didn’t even look like he was breathing. Peko was staring down at the floor, jaw clenched, Mahiru glanced anywhere but towards where Usami was tilting her head to try and look at her better, Hiyoko was staring down at her feet, or maybe Mahiru’s it didn’t seem to matter. Gundham was the only one looking around, glancing from person to person, eyes filled with some emotion Hajime wasn’t sure how to identify.

Mikan had her mouth covered, eyes locked on the blood on the floor, she almost looked like she was mouthing something beneath her hand.

“Um… are you guys okay?” Usami tried to laugh, sounding more nervous by the second, “Help me out here, please, what was the sound?”

When there was still nobody answering, Hajime finally cleared his throat, “It was like… a laugh, right?”

Everyone glanced over at him all at once, all with some level of fear and confusion on their face that he didn’t quite understand.

“It was… weird.” he continued uncertainly, squatting down to talk to Usami. “Like a… fuzzy sounding noise? Like, uh-“

“Static?” Chiaki guessed, he nodded.

“Static, yeah. It didn’t last very long. It sounded like it was… echoing.”

“There are no cameras in here.” Gundham spoke up next, the anxious glare he’d kept leveled at Hajime while he spoke shifting towards the ceiling, “However there appear to still be… the other infernal monitoring devices.”

Nagito blinked, glancing from Gundham to what he was staring at, “Oh, the speakers?”

Gundham just nodded, Usami did not seem at all comforted by this news.

“This laugh… came through the speakers?” She tilted her head, “That doesn’t… well that doesn’t make any sense at all. I’m the only one that can use the speaker system here, it’s just so I can tell you important stuff.”

“The laughing also… does not really have anything to do with the stabbing, right?” Sonia shifted the subject again, a forced and tense smile on her face. “We do need to figure out what exactly was used to stab Byakuya, right?”

Mikan hesitantly nodded, shaking herself out of the silence that was still hanging on everyone else, “Um, it would’ve… been something thin, like I said earlier, something sharp, too.”

“Like freaky claws.” Hiyoko interjected, pointing at Akane while she snarled enough to show teeth.

“Or maybe… um… ice?” Mikan suggested hesitantly, eyes drifting back towards Sonia.

“Hm?” Sonia didn’t seem to get the implication right away, frowning for a moment before she gasped, “I- I did no such thing!”

“There had to have been a reason for someone to stab them.” Nekomaru stepped forward, like he was ready to put himself between everyone if they kept arguing, “It doesn’t make sense to just kill for no reason.”

Nagito laughed.

It was quiet, short, like he was trying to cover it up. A smile quirked up on his face and he hesitantly shook his head.

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” His strange smile- one that sent a chill down Hajime’s spine when he looked at it- was masked by an apologetic one, “Just ignore me, I’m not saying anything important.”

“Why did you laugh?” Hajime questioned uneasily, standing back up, “What… that wasn’t a joke or anything, why would you laugh?”

“Wasn’t it?” He blinked, he looked almost as confused as Hajime, “Ah, I guess I’m just tired, I probably just didn’t understand that right.”

“What part about that seemed like a joke?” Kazuichi asked incredulously, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Just tired.” Nagito smiled, holding up the pile of tablecloths in his hand, “I’m gonna go put this stuff up.”

He started to walk away, Mahiru stood up and called after him, “Wh- you can’t just go! We’re supposed to be figuring this out!”

“Maybe we should all talk again together tomorrow.” Usami suggested, “That way everyone can be together- even Teruteru and Byakuya. I should go check on them, anyway. How about we all get out of this nasty building and I can clean this all up for you?”

There was some grumbling, some arguing, Hajime had already turned to follow after Nagito as he walked out of the room and started down the hall. If Nagito noticed him, he didn’t react, walking to a small door and opening it to reveal a mess of items inside.

It smelled stuffy in here, old, a different kind of stuffy than the place Hajime had woken up in. Nagito finally turned to face him as he dumped the tablecloths in a large bin.

“You probably shouldn’t be in here.” He smiled, the tablecloths made a rattling sound as the landed in the container, “It’s really dusty, I don’t want you getting sick.”

Hajime didn’t answer at first, he couldn’t help it, there were a lot of things he had never seen in here before. There were lots of boxes, more folded tablecloths and a rolled up… rug- that was the word, and three metal things set on top of a little table, all of them cords dangling down below them, none of them had been plugged in, it looked like. There were also round cans, bigger than the cans of food he had seen in the store, one of them smeared across the top with a faint green color.

That one… looked newer than the others-

“You really study your surroundings.” Nagito was much closer now, his eyes scanning over every inch of Hajime’s face, “It’s… you’re really interesting.”

Hajime couldn’t help but blink, “I- I am?”

Nagito nodded, “I hope this doesn’t come across as creepy or anything, but I… I like watching you think.”

Hajime didn’t know what to say to that, his hands flexed by his sides, Nagito let out a weak chuckle.

“Yeah, that was probably too weird. I meant it as a compliment, though.” He took another step closer, Hajime instinctively took a smaller one back as Nagito leaned against the doorframe, “I like people watching in general, I’ve been trying to pay attention to everyone here, but it’s been really neat watching you learn stuff. You’re really smart.”

“No I’m not.” Hajime protested without thinking, watching Nagito’s eyebrows raise slightly, “I mean, I don’t know if I’m smart just because I’m catching up to you guys fast, I still never know what any of you are ever talking about.”

“And yet you keep up just fine.” Nagito smiled, “With the others at least, I don’t think I’m quite on any of your level.”

“What… what is that supposed to mean?” Hajime’s face scrunched up in confusion, the weird warm feeling that had been spreading through his chest was choked out by discomfort, “Why do you keep saying things like that?”

“Hey, hey.” Chiaki appeared beside him, nodding back in the direction of the hall, “Everyone is heading out, Usami asked me to let you know.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks.” Nagito was watching as Hajime responded to her, eyes flicking from Hajime to where Chiaki would’ve been standing if he could see her while Hajime repeated what she said, “Chiaki says everyone is going, we should too.”

“Sounds good,” Nagito nodded along, flicking off the light in the apparent storage room behind him and moving to follow as Hajime took a step back.

The paint was glowing.

The paint on the can he had seen was glowing.

… huh.

Nagito nudged him forward before he could really comment on it, heading towards the front door where the others were all walking out. Hajime followed along, mind rushing to connect information that didn’t seem to want to connect. There were too many things he didn’t really understand, still, but there were too many coincidences to really be coincidences.

But it didn’t make sense for this to be true, there was no… there had to be a reason if that was the case.

He followed Nagito outside, walking beside him while he hummed and stared ahead as the group made their way past the pool, staring down at his tie that was glowing- like the paint, like Byakuya’s shirt- the tie Nagito gave him. The first big gift he could ever remember getting-

“I am missing one of my warriors, I must go back.” Gundham’s voice snapped Hajime from his thoughts, his hand on Hajime’s arm as he moved past them sending a rush of cool liquid through his muscles.

“Wait, wait!” Usami tried to run after him, waddling forward some and waving her arms frantically, “Nobody should go places alone right now! We’re trying to stay safe, remember? Why are you going back?”

Gundham turned, for just a second, calling back over his shoulder as he flipped the end of his scarf back into place, “Maga-Z, one of the Dark Devas of Destruction I have sworn to guard, is missing. I am going to retrieve them and your peppy wiles will not hinder me, metal beast!”

“… Uh, I’ll follow him.” Hajime offered, just as Nekomaru opened his mouth to presumably offer the same thing. “I’ll be right back.”

He jogged back over to the steps after Gundham, walking up and going back into the party room to find Gundham searching one of the tables already. His shadow seemed to stretch out from around his feet, looping and growing into something almost like a vine to lift the end of the table cloth while he bent down to check.

Right, moving shadows… That probably isn’t normal.

“Any sign of them?” He shook himself out of his confusion, earning a wary glance and a scoff from Gundham.

“I appreciate you accompanying me on my quest, fresh soul, but there is no need for pointless questions.” His tone wasn’t… unkind, even if the words he was saying weren’t normal. Hajime was still trying to figure out how to understand Gundham. “You will be informed when I locate my missing deva.”

He gave up his search under that table, switching to look under one without the table cloth instead. Nagito hadn’t finished cleaning when Mahiru stopped him, he had only taken two of the five tablecloths out of the room.

… why had he even been doing that?

“I’ll… I’m gonna check back here.” Hajime muttered, even though he wasn’t even sure Gundham was listening.

This was weird. This was all weird, this wasn’t adding up. Something buzzed at the back of his head, a weird, cold feeling. Maybe dread?

It didn’t matter, he opened the storage room door and turned on the light.

The first thing he did was squat in front of the paint can, a small one that was definitely newer than the other cans around it- or at the very least had been moved and touched- it lacked the same thing film of dust over it that everything else had. The label on it was for glow in the dark paint ‘safety’ paint, a ‘neon’ color that was supposed to show up in the dark. It had been on his tie, Nagito had given him his tie, Nagito had been in here.

He stood, fists clenched, stomach churning, moving towards the bin of tablecloths next.

Chiaki appeared in his periphery, he didn’t stop pulling out the cloth.

“You… seem kinda upset.” She noted, tilting her head like she could look at him- or maybe she could, he still had no idea how she really perceived things. “Everything okay?”

“I…” His words stuck in his throat as he held the white fabric up, face to face with a collection of pink smears, one almost like a hand print, a small group of stains that looked like… someone was wiping their hand. “I think Nagito-“

Something clattered to the floor, Hajime froze completely at the sight of it.

It was a needle-

No, not a needle, too large to be a needle, he tried to quiet the rush of panic that suddenly flooded his brain. It was… thin, and long, it had a wooden handle at one end, and absolutely coated in drying pink liquid- in blood, Byakuya’s blood. It coated the tip of it, Hajime could see where it smeared a larger bloodstain on a lower part of the table cloth.

It… could be a knife, just a thin one, he had something sort of like this in the hotel kitchen. It was longer and thinner than the knife Teru had used to chop vegetables last time Hajime watched, but it was… enough like a knife. This could be the weapon used to stab Byakuya.

The blood was probably a better indicator of that than the shape of it, now that he thought about it.

There were small specks of something around the wooden handle too- little dots, intentionally placed and barely noticeable with the light on, but Hajime knew it was the same green paint as his tie. The same paint that Byakuya had wiped on their shirt.

So this… this meant that….

This didn’t make sense. There was no reason for this to make sense, there was no reason for Nagito to do this.

“I found them!” Gundham’s deep voice shook Hajime from his thoughts, from where he’d been frozen stiff by the sight of the knife. He whipped his head up to the doorway just as Gundham came in and held the little hamster up triumphantly.

“Rest assured, fresh soul, I have located my missing deva of destruction! We may now- Wha- what is that?!” His excitement shattered into horror in a split second, quickly tucking the hamster back into his scarf and taking an uncertain step forward, “Where did you get-“

“I- Nagito did this.” Hajime cut him off, his voice came out more monotone than he meant, he was just still having a hard time putting this together, “Nagito stabbed them.”

Gundham’s eyes were still wide, still alarmed. He looked from Hajime to the weapon and back again as he tried to figure out some response.

Hajime didn’t wait around for him to, with a shaking hand he lifted the knife and hurried past Gundham out of the room. Gundham took a large step back as Hajime passed, but he ran to catch up with the quick pace Hajime was setting out of here.

He said something- something about confrontation, or helping? Hajime honestly didn’t hear it, his thoughts were racing too much.

Nagito stabbed Byakuya, he just didn’t know why. There was literally no reason for it, there was no… how could Nagito have even done any of this? How could he have known the power would go out? How could he have had this when Byakuya was checking people for weapons?

Why would anybody stab someone that was supposed to be their friend?

He marched right up to the pier, where most of the others were still standing around talking, Sonia turned to smile at him as he stepped onto the wood.

“I just wanted to wish you goodnight- Hajime!” She gasped, eyes wide as she jumped back a little, frost swirled across the wood beneath her feet as she noticed what he was holding, a string of words he had never heard escaping her in a rush before she managed to get out something coherent, “Hajime, what is that!?”

He ignored her too, ignored Mikan’s gasp of terror and Kazuichi’s surprised yelp, he walked right up to where Nagito was standing by Teru’s door, watching Usami struggling to reach the doorknob and making no move to help.

He turned to smile at Hajime, but that smile dropped when he saw what was in his hand.

“… I almost went back with you.” He muttered, eyes locked on Hajime’s hand, “I was hoping you’d moved on... You really are smart, Hajime.”

“You stabbed Byakuya.” Hajime couldn’t even bring himself to sound accusatory, he was just confused. There were gasps and exclamations of confusion all around them, he dropped the knife at his feet.

Nagito flinched at the metallic clanging sound, almost smiling as he finally looked back up at Hajime.

“I did.”

Hajime could hear the others talking, none of it was coming through clearly over the roar of his own heartbeat in his ears. This was…. This was so messed up, how was he being so casual about this? He hurt someone- he could’ve killed someone- and he was… almost smiling?

Maybe not a happy smile, but any smile in this situation was beyond strange to Hajime.

“… Why?” Hajime finally forced himself to speak again, taking half a step back as Nagito turned to fully face him.

Nagito noticed him moving, the sad smile on his face wavered, “Oh, Hajime, is someone like you really afraid of someone like me?”

“Why did you stab Byakuya?” Hajime repeated, harsher, the footsteps getting closer to him set his nerves into overdrive, he couldn’t help but tense even further. The cool, liquid feeling that had been lingering through his muscles since Gundham touched him was so much stronger now. He couldn’t stand it. 

It was like every cell in his body was hyper aware of what was happening, every single molecule that made up who he was was tense and ready for… something. Ready to be attacked, waiting for something that wouldn’t come- he wouldn’t let anything like that come.

“It was an accident, Hajime.” Nagito’s tone was somewhere short of remorseful, almost pitying, a burning sensation clawed it’s way into Hajime’s throat.

“Bullshit.” Fuyuhiko’s voice managed to rise above the background buzzing in Hajime’s head, he ignored it.

“H-how do you accidentally stab someone, you can’t-“

“I accidentally stabbed Byakuya.” Nagito clarified, pulling his hand out of his pocket for the first time and gesturing to his chest with a sad smile. “I was trying to stab someone else, I just…. Failed. I messed up.”

And he chuckled again, a nervous, almost embarrassed sound as Hajime’s eyes flicked down to where Nagito was gesturing, looking at his own chest. At the faintly glowing smudge on his tie.

“I’m… I’m really sorry, Hajime.”

“What the hell…” Was all Hajime could get out for a second, barely a whisper as he processed everything he was being told.

Nagito wanted to stab him, probably wanted to kill him- and Hajime wasn’t even fully sure what that meant yet- he wasn’t sure he understood killing, or death, or… any of this. Why would Nagito want to do anything like this?

“If it’s any consolation, I didn’t really want to do that, either.” Nagito was taking a step closer, Hajime didn’t want him any closer, Hajime didn’t want anyone any closer, “I didn’t really have a choice-“

“J- Just shut up!” Hajime snapped out the first thing that came to mind, though it was partially drowned out by other sounds, other feelings- the others all yelling or gasping in shock behind him and something cold and different shooting out from beneath his feet.

It looked like… nothing, almost, pure shadows, black matter- lashing out like a whip when Nagito tried to take a step closer. There were other tendrils too, wobbly and writing sporadically, flopping around the ground by Hajime like a fish that had just been dumped in the sand.

Everyone was stunned silent, the only noise other than Hajime’s hitching breath was Usami’s terrified gasp as she exited Teru’s room and saw what was happening. The shadows sputtered and died out, twitching and fizzling into nothing as Hajime tore his focus from Nagito’s shocked expression to what was happening around him. The shadows wrapped around his feet as they died out, warm fuzz brushing against his pants and collapsing into smoke as they vanished.

“Hajime?”

What… what the hell was that? How did he do that?

“Hajime.”

His whole body still felt…. Unreal. Even as the shadows went away, receded and faded back into something normal, Hajime still felt wrong. Unnatural. How… how had he done that? What was that?

“Hey, buddy-“

Nekomaru tried to put a hand on his shoulder, it went right through it. Hajime didn’t want to be touched, he couldn’t stand the thought of being touched right now-

But having Nekomaru’s hand pass through his shoulder was almost worse.

Nekomaru’s hand retracted, just as shocked and confused as Hajime was for a moment before he switched back to trying to comfort him. “Listen, buddy, I know this is bad, but can you try to stay-“

“So I guess I was…. Wrong.” Nagito’s voice cut Nekomaru off, his jaw setting and eyes narrowing at Hajime turned back to face where Nagito was letting out a breathy laugh, “I thought… I could’ve sworn it was supposed to be you…”

His smile looked almost painful, his eyes blinked back tears that still managed to find a way to spill down his cheeks, “Hajime, I’m-“

“Silence.” Sonia stepped in front of Hajime, a loud and commanding edge to her voice that Hajime hadn’t heard before “Nagito, I want you to return to your room this instant. You are not permitted to speak to Hajime anymore.”

Nagito’s mouth hung open for a second, he looked like he might protest, his hand clenched into a fist by his side before it raised a little-

Then lowered, he hung his head down like he was ashamed, it was hard for Hajime to find it sincere.

“Can I just say that I’m sorry? To all of you-“

“Your room.” Sonia pointed to Nagito’s cottage, the warm air around them dropped to a chill that made Hajime’s already short and shallow breathing puff out in front of him. Sonia was… mad? She must be mad, Hajime couldn’t process why, it’s not like she was the one who was supposed to be stabbed.

Nagito huffed, finally relenting, his eyes trying hard to meet Hajime’s past Sonia’s protective glaring and tense body language. He didn’t get the opportunity to, as soon as he had taken a step towards his cottage Kazuichi’s hand had found it’s way into Hajime’s, a quiet mumble of “It’s just me.” Preventing Hajime from pulling away as his shaky hands guided Hajime back behind Nekomaru. Kazuichi’s touch sent electric buzzing through his already jumbled mind, he didn’t know what that meant, he didn’t know what any of this meant.

“You- I-“ Kazuichi started, eyes looking Hajime up and down as he ran a hand through his hair, his beanie had fallen off at some point, it made it easier for Kazuichi to grip the roots of his hair and pull too hard as he tried to think of what to say. “How were you… doing all that?”

“Okay, okay! We really all need to calm down!” Usami’s yelling was punctuated by a door closing, Nagito must’ve gone inside, he must be… gone. For now. “Everyone please give Hajime some space!”

Nobody moved, Sonia kept her eyes on Nagito’s door, Nekomaru only turned to the side enough for the bunny to push past him to come see Hajime.

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” She muttered worriedly, shaking her head and reaching up a paw to hold Hajime’s other hand, “When I said you should discover your enhancement on your own… this is not at all what I had in mind! Are you okay?”

Hajime opened his mouth to answer, then stopped, a wave of nausea churning his stomach as he tried in vain to make any sense of this, “I… That was Gundham’s power.”

Usami nodded, patient as ever, “Yes, you… copied it.”

“Copy.” Hajime echoed- copied- it was something he did a lot of, now that he tried to think of it, “How did I do that?”

“Well, you know, the details of human biology kind of go over my little head.” Usami nervously laughed, “But your enhancement is um… adaptability, in a way. You’re great at mimicking things you learn… including other mutations.”

“What?!” Hiyoko’s jaw went slack, “So he can like… copy anyone’s power? That’s insane!”

“That seems… dangerous.” Peko added, lingering towards the edge of the group, “For us, and for him. He didn’t seem to have good control over what he was doing.”

“Don’t scare him.” Usami gently reprimanded, patting Hajime’s hand, “Why don’t we… rest for now? We can get aaaaaall this straightened out in the morning”

“You expect us to rest after all that?” Kazuichi squeaked out, “What about Komaeda? What if he goes on another stabbing spree?”

“I’ll keep an eye on him.” Usami promised, “If he leaves to do something mean, I’ll set off every alarm on this island to wake you all up, I promise.”

Kazuichi didn’t look convinced, an anxious glance shifting from Hajime to Nekomaru and back, “Are you… gonna be okay by yourself, man? You can bunk with me if you need to.”

Hajime didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know if he felt okay by himself- well, he wouldn’t be completely by himself, he had Chiaki. She was lingering by his door right now, waiting for him.

“I’ll… I’ll be okay.” He finally got out, wishing his voice was stronger than it had been, he looked back down at Usami, “You’ll make sure he doesn’t leave his room?”

“Cross my battery and hope to- well, you know.” She gave him a worried smile, “And I promise I’ll check on you, too. I can explain more of this to you if you need me too.”

“That would be nice, for once.” Mahiru muttered under her breath, “So what? We’re just… going to sleep now?”

Nekomaru sighed, apparently deciding for the group and nodding, “Yeah. Let’s all go to bed for now, we can talk this through and figure out what to do about… all this in the morning. I guess. Everyone be sure to lock their doors tonight.”

Kazuichi’s hand squeezed Hajime’s one more time before he let go, his quiet goodnight to Hajime blending in with everyone else’s as he picked up his hat and trudged towards his own cottage.

Usami started guiding Hajime towards his door, he numbly followed, mind still racing a million miles an hour and his stomach still rolling like the waves he could hear crashing up from the beach.

“Try to rest, okay?” Usami patted his hand again before she let go, “I’ll be right out here if you need me, Hajime… and remember- you’re a good boy, okay? You’re doing just fine.”

He didn’t respond to that, he dug his keys from his pocket and let Chiaki into his room before he followed.

“That was a lot.” She commented, tone filled with sympathy despite the casualness of her statement, “Are you okay?”

Hajime didn’t answer, he locked his door and walked past her towards his bathroom.

“Are you… are you alright?”

There was a burning in his stomach, a pain that churned like ocean water. He grabbed his stomach and tried to take a deep breath, the burning rose up in his throat and he dropped to his knees by the bathroom’s little waste bin. 

“Hajime?”

He gagged, the burning against his throat stung even worse, he didn’t know why it was happening, the pain in his stomach wasn’t leaving, the buzzing in his brain and the feel of Gundham’s power under his skin still swarmed. It was overwhelming, it was too much-

He gagged again, and heard Chiaki sighing from the doorway behind him.

“Want me to ask if Usami can bring you some water?”

“… yeah. Thanks.”

”Just try to breathe, okay?”

”… Okay.”

Chapter Text

The sun was barely up when he had dragged himself out of bed. He hadn’t slept much last night.

When he had gotten done leaning over the toilet- at Chiaki’s suggestion, because he learned fast that sometimes human bodies have weird and painful reactions to stress and fear- and feeling so sick he coughed up the food he’d eaten, he had spent most of the night curled up on top of his blanket, his face half buried in his pillow and just his red eye opened so he could see Chiaki sitting at the foot of his bed while they talked.

While she talked, mostly, and he occasionally grunted or asked a quiet question.

He still didn’t understand this whole…. Copying thing- ‘adaptability’ or whatever Usami had called it. He hoped she would explain it more when they talked today, but he wasn’t getting his hopes up just yet.

Chiaki had tried to explain it, her knowledge of it was at least a little bit better than his.

“It’s based on touch, I think.” She had said, running a hand along his blanket like she could actually feel it, “You touch someone who has an enhancement, and your body just sort of automatically… changes to accommodate it. Like a data transfer, almost.”

“I don’t know what that is.” He mumbled into his pillow, mentally and physically exhausted but not willing to close his eyes, “How do I… do that?”

Chiaki hummed, eyes looking up at his ceiling while she thought, “I don’t know for sure, I don’t have access to a lot of that information. I’m telling you what I can.”

That had gotten him to roll onto his back, looking down at her with what he hoped wasn’t too annoyed of an expression, “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Her shoulders drooped a little, an action that reminded him of Usami when it was coupled with secret keeping like this. “Do you know what programming is?”

He did, somehow, the definition almost seemed to scroll through his mind as he spoke, “Yeah, it’s like… rules, kind of.”

“Kind of-” She agreed, about to continue speaking when a more precise meaning tumbled out of his mouth without him really meaning for it to.

“A sequence of coded instructions,” He frowned, trying to find context for what was already in his brain, “Parameters for tasks that can be preformed.”

She paused, her expression thoughtful as she seemed to study him for a second, “I don’t get how your mind works.”

“That makes two of us.” He huffed, trying to return the smile she gave him but falling of short of actually bringing one to his face, “So you have programming?”

“Mmhm.”

“… Do I?”

“Hm.” She hummed again, her eyebrows scrunching up slightly as she thought, “I don’t think you should, most humans don’t… but… I guess some do, in a way.”

“That’s kind of vague.”

“It’s also kind of off topic.” She tilted her head to look at him better, “My programming prevents me from saying certain things. Not… often, just when there’s a chance it might endanger you. I’m supposed to be looking out for you.”

Hajime frowned at that, some of the tightness that had slowly receded from his chest since all the chaos outside was beginning to return. “So you… have to talk to me?”

“What?”

“Does your programming like… force you to hang around me?” He asked worriedly, “I don’t want you to just be here because you have to-“

“Hajime.” She smiled, “I’m only here because you’re my friend, I like you.”

“But are you… forced to like me?” He tried to clarify, uncomfortable guilt settling on his chest as he looked down at her, she determinedly shook her head.

“I could do my ‘job’ without being your friend, I could monitor how all of you are doing without actually interacting with you.” She leaned forward a little, a more serious expression on her face, “The only reason I’m here with you- talking to you, visible to you- is because I want us to be friends.”

“… Alright.” Hajime finally relented, still confused, “I want that, too.”

She relaxed a little at that, sitting back up and sighing, “But like I was saying, there are some things I can’t tell you because it may ‘endanger’ your safety, learning about your powers while you’re still in… something of a developmental phase mentally was considered a risk.”

Those were odd words to hear from Chiaki’s mouth, for some reason something so clinical just didn’t sound right in her voice, but she continued, “If we can connect to the island’s system, we can change that.”

“Right.” He nodded, blinking hard to try and stop the way his eyes drooped involuntarily, “So you’re… not part of the system already?”

Chiaki hesitated, no more than a second, but enough he noticed, “Nope.”

“Does Usami know that?”

“No.”

“Huh.” Hajime wasn’t sure what to say to that, Chiaki shrugged.

“It’s not a big deal, it doesn’t really change what I’m doing here.” She shifted how she was sitting, drawing Hajime’s attention again to how the blanket underneath her legs didn’t move or indent the way it did when he moved his own body. She looked so real to him, it was hard to imagine she was just… in his head. “I’m more connected to you than I am to the island’s security system itself.”

Hajime was blinking slower now, it took him a second to make his eyes focus, “Why is that? You… you were there when I first woke up, why were you with me this whole time?”

Chiaki’s determined expression fell slightly, “I… can’t answer that.”

“Like you… don’t know, or you can’t say?”

“A little bit of both.”

He hummed, unable to shake off the frustration of another answer that explained nothing, “You’ll tell me once we get this… programming thing out of the way though, right?”

Chiaki’s focus returned from where it had drifted down to looking at the barely noticeable pattern on his blanket, she nodded, “I promise, so many more things will make sense once we know more about what’s happening.”

“Alright.” He sighed, “I’ll… try to figure out how to swim or something in the morning, then.”

He really didn’t know how to swim, that was one of the first thoughts he’d had when he’d woken up that morning. He needed a solution other than swimming.

Chiaki hadn’t woken him up, like he half expected her to at this point, and she hadn’t appeared at any point while he was dragging himself out of bed and getting ready for the day. He had no idea what the day would even bring, not after everything that had happened yesterday.

Not when he knew Nagito wanted to kill him, for some reason. That Teru was… not okay right now, when Byakuya had been so worried and then nearly died because they had tried to help Hajime learn something.

The tie Nagito gave him was on the bathroom floor, he had taken it off and left it beside the toilet. He… didn’t need a tie. Whatever. It probably only ‘suited’ him because it made him a target. He didn’t actually look nice in it.

He paused in front of the mirror before he went outside, running a hand over his scars and realizing he probably… didn’t look nice at all.

He should’ve known better.

Chiaki had been with Usami, he learned that when he finally swallowed all his unease and frustration and opened the door to step outside. It was still dark, mostly, the sky muddled with different shades of blues. A light mist still lingered over everything from the ocean, his lungs bringing in salty air as he took a deep breath and prepared himself to deal with Usami- who was already waving enthusiastically at him the second she saw his door open.

“Goooood morning, sleepy head!” Her voice was quiet- she probably didn’t want to wake anyone up- but it was no less chipper than usual. “How did you sleep? I know you had a rough time last night.”

“Yeah, rough is a good word for it.” He squatted down in front of her, jerking his head away on instinct when she reached up a paw to fix his bangs. He still felt weird about being touched, after yesterday he didn’t know if anyone should touch him at all anymore. “You said we could talk this morning, right?”

“Ah, right to business.” She let out a nervous chuckle, awkwardly fidgeting with the hem of her little skirt, “Well, I meant more as a group, but… sure! We can talk about some things now. Was it about your power?”

He was… a little surprised this was actually working so far, he had half expected for her to ignore his question, “Uh, yeah, actually. Can you tell me more about it?”

“Sure, sure.” She motioned for him to sit completely, he decided he’s rather just stay how he is, “I thought it was important you learn about it on your own, you’ve been having to learn a lot of new information, I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”

Overwhelmed was a very good way to describe how he felt after yesterday, honestly that could sum up how he’s felt this entire ‘healing trip.’

“It’s a lot.” He copied how Chiaki had described this whole situation last night, “Last night was a lot.”

Usami just nodded, listening intently and apparently waiting for him to continue, “Uh… I guess I want to know what exactly I’m supposed to do?”

“What do you mean?” Usami tilted her head, Hajime could only shrug.

“Like, this whole… copying thing, isn’t that what you called it?” He waited for her to nod again, “I just copy people’s mutation or whatever? How do I… how am I supposed to use that?”

“Well… however you want to, silly.” She smiled, “You don’t have to use it to do anything you don’t want to do.”

For some reason that… didn’t sound right. There had to be something, right? Things didn’t just happen for no reason. He felt like there should be a reason for him to have a power this… weird.

There had to be a reason any of them had the powers they did, it wasn’t like this just happened- Usami still never explained why they were really here in the first place.

But he probably couldn’t get any big answers from Usami, anyways, he should get all the ‘small’ answers he could while she was actually being helpful.

“So how can I stop using it?” Hajime asked next, more blunt than he meant to, almost flinching when Usami’s ears suddenly drooped.

“Stop?”

“I don’t… want this power.” He mumbled, feeling weirdly exposed all of sudden, “It’s weird, I don’t really know what I’m doing with it, I can’t even touch people without my whole body feeling like it’s…”

He didn’t know what to say to finish that sentence, he settled for sort of shaking one of his hands in the air like he was trying to shake something off of it, “You know what I mean?”

“Um, no, not exactly.” Usami tried sympathetically, “I know a lot about feelings, but I’ve never heard of this.”

She mimicked his hand movement, it managed to tug a smile up on his face without him really meaning for it to, she giggled before continuing, “Buuuuuuut I’m gonna assume you mean it feels bad.”

“It’s not… always bad.” He finally sat down, nobody else seemed to be awake yet, he may as well sit for a second, “It feels different every time I touch someone new, but it still has my whole body… changing. I don’t like it.”

“Maybe you just need to get used to it?” Usami tried at first, and when he opened his mouth to say something she took a step forward to put a paw on his knee, “There’s not really a way to… stop using this power, sorry. It’s not a problem that can be fixed like that.”

He huffed, wasn’t Usami supposed to be a therapist or something? Weren’t therapists supposed to fix problems? Wasn’t that their job?

“We don’t always get to decide what happens to us on our lives,” She continued, patting his knee, “Sometimes things happen that are out of our control, the only thing we can always control is how we’re going to respond.”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that, glancing back at where Chiaki was still watching from a little further behind Usami, “How am I supposed to respond to this?”

“Well, how do you think you can make things better?” Usami turned the questioning around to him, “For yourself, I mean. How can you make this situation you’re in better?”

“I don’t even actually know what kind of situation I’m in.” He reminded her, a little exasperated, “I just found what all the weird feelings were yesterday, I still don’t know why I’m on this island, and I…”

He trailed off, looking over at Nagito’s door and feeling last night’s nausea rise back up in him. “I already have someone who wants me dead, apparently. I don’t know how to make things better there.”

“You’re doing a good job talking about what you’re feeling!” She praised, patting his leg again, “That’s an important first step!”

“You don’t have to talk to me like I’m stupid.”

“I’m just trying to help you!” Usami protested, “Okay, let’s keep going- what would make you feel better right now? What’s one thing that might help you feel better?”

Hajime paused, cast another glance at Chiaki while she… actually looked like she might by nodding off while standing up. Could AIs even sleep? Did holograms or whatever Kazuichi had called her need sleep?

“Information.” He finally settled on as his answer. “I- I want to know more about what’s going on here. That would make me feel… less overwhelmed.”

“Huh.” Usami hesitated, her paw slipped off Hajime’s knee, “Information about what?”

“Myself.” He started, pointed at his chest and realizing with a pang of guilt he was pointing around where Byakuya was stabbed, “And… what happened yesterday. It was my fault-“

“Woah, woah, woah,” Usami shook her head, “No no, none of that was your fault, Hajime. You had no idea any of that would happen, right? You can’t blame yourself for other people’s actions.”

Hajime frowned, “So who’s fault is it, then? Nagito’s?”

“Ah.” She tensed, “I’m still… trying to figure that out.”

He paused, let the wind from the ocean rustle his hair, “Do you… do you know anything about what happened last night?”

“Well, um, a lot of things happened last night.” Usami was starting to deflect, Hajime almost thought he could feel her starting to think of ways around answering questions, “What do you mean?”

A lot of things did happen last night, too many things happened last night. Hajime had barely gotten used to how things were and it already felt so different.

But he needed information.

“Did you talk to Teru?” Hajime decided to focus in on, “Do you know what… what scared him? Why was he acting like that?”

“Oh, not really, sorry.” She sighed sadly, “I only got to see him once when he opened the door. He didn’t feel like talking.”

“Was he… okay?”

“Hm.” Usami hesitated again, Hajime was starting to feel like his luck was running out in regards to her actually answering questions. “I’m not entirely sure yet, I’m going to talk to him before he comes out to see you all again, make sure he’s still himself-“

Usami went rigid, such a stark change it actually made Hajime jump a little, the rabbit very quickly shook her head. “Um, I mean that he’s okay, of course, that’s what I meant- ha ha, silly bunny.”

“Wait.” Hajime reached out to grab her as she started to turn away, why was that weird? Why was she… what was the problem here? “What do you mean? What did you mean by that?”

“I just meant that he’s feeling more like himself, you know? Feeling um… normal. Good.” Usami was visibly nervous- which was honestly impressive considering how little she could actually emote, “It’s just my job to make sure you’re all happy and healthy.”

“Right…” Hajime could tell this wasn’t… entirely the truth. Usami was good at keeping secrets but she wasn’t good at lying, apparently.

But she wouldn’t just tell him, he had picked up on that much by now, he had to be smart about this.

“I just wanted to check on him,” he started carefully, trying to weigh his options, Usami seemed to like it when she saw them caring about each other, maybe she’d be more willing to talk if he showed he… cared. “I wanted to make sure he was okay, he seemed really uh… upset last night, I just wanted to know more so I didn’t have to worry.”

Sneaky. Chiaki’s text scrolled through the bottom of his vision, he looked up and saw her cracking open an eye to look at him from where she was standing behind Usami.

Was sneaky bad? What did that mean?

“Awwww,” Usami’s tense posture relaxed slightly, “See? you are a sweet boy, Hajime. I promise Teru’s gonna be just fine, I think he just had um…. A bad dream last night. He got confused.”

That didn’t explain much, Hajime pressed on, “Confused? What confused him?”

“You don’t need to worry about that too much,” She tried to wave him off, “It’s gonna be-“

“I am worried.” Hajime cut her off, his voice quiet and serious, “I… he kept saying things were different- what did that mean?”

“Hajime,”

“He kept saying he heard ‘her.’” he emphasized, and Usami flinched, “What… what does that mean? Who was he talking about?”

Usami hesitated, fidgeted, gripping onto the fabric of her dress while she shook her head, “Oh, sweet pea, I don’t think this is something you should be hearing while your little head is still adjusting to things-“

Another cottage door opened- and Hajime couldn’t help the sudden jolt of fear through his body as his eyes glanced to Nagito’s door. He didn’t want to see Nagito outside right now. He didn’t want to talk to him right now. What would he even do if they were outside alone together?

It wasn’t Nagito’s door that opened, it was Byakuya’s, standing as tall and proud as usually carried themselves, not a trace of their shakiness or pain from the night before left in their demeanor at all. It was like it had never happened, like they had never been stabbed because they were nice enough to spend a minute talking about Hajime’s tie- the tie he hated now, the tie that nearly got him killed. 

Mikan’s ‘healing’ ability was still something of a mystery to Hajime, another thing on his endlessly growing list of questions he needed answered, but it was definitely something to be thankful for. Maybe he should thank her later.

“Good morning!” Usami’s previous nervousness disappeared without a trace, arms held up above her head and waving excitedly as Byakuya approached where she and Hajime were sitting in the middle of the pier. “How are you feeling? How did you sleep?”

Byakuya almost smiled at that, despite a seriousness in their eyes that wouldn’t let their expression relax fully, “I’m far better than I logically should be, all things considered.”

“That’s good!” Usami cheered, “No more pains? Do you need another sticker?”

“I think I’m all set.” Their assurance sounded more like sarcasm, “Ibuki seemed to enjoy them, maybe you should ask her, instead.”

“You can both have stickers- everyone can have stickers!” Usami’s enthusiasm didn’t falter, “But really- are you sure you’re okay? I got worried when you didn’t answer the door last night… I could still sense you’re little heart beating in there, but I wanted to check on you.”

“You can… ‘sense’ heartbeats?” Hajime asked, even though he wasn’t exactly part of this conversation. Byakuya walked closer as Usami twirled around to face Hajime again and nodded.

“It’s proprietary technology.” She answered, like he should know what that means, “I’m supposed to look after the mental well being of all you kids, and mental health and physical health are closely related! I just have to be close enough to you for me to actually detect it.”

“I was probably already asleep.” Byakuya answered Usami’s previous question as they brushed their hair from their eyes, it looked longer today. “Believe it or not bleeding out on the floor of a party is a somewhat exhausting ordeal.”

They paused, crossing their arms instead, a thoughtful look appearing on their face, “I did sleep… better than I have, though. That was the first time I slept soundly through the night since we’ve gotten stuck here.”

“Oh, that’s great news!” Usami clapped, “That must mean you’re getting used to things.”

“A more likely answer is the blood loss.” Byakuya reminded her dryly, Usami giggled.

“Well still, I’m glad. I’ve been worried about you kids…” She trailed off, fidgeting again before she continued quieter, “For a lot of reasons, obviously. Um, did you need anything else, though? Water? A real bandage instead of a sticker? A banana?”

Hajime didn’t even have the chance to question her choices for helping, Byakuya had already raised their eyebrows slightly when she offered.

“Water would be… helpful.” They commented, “My throat’s dry.”

“I’m on it!” Usami gave them a little salute, hurrying down past them down the pier and turning the corner, “Be right back! Love, love!”

“Alright, Hajime.” Byakuya had squatted down in front of him before he could even fully register the movement. They were faster than they looked, the movement so startling Hajime nearly shoved them back on instinct, he was still a little too jumpy right now. “What happened last night? Did you figure out who did it?”

“I- what-“

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” Their tone wasn’t as sharp as it normally was when Hajime heard them say that phrase- something they’d done quite a bit with how confusing things tended to be in any group discussion, “Usami won’t be occupied for long. Did you figure out who stabbed me?”

Hajime’s confused train of thought screeched to a halt, his frustration and… everything else from last night rolled back into his head like a fog.

“Yeah,” He answered, guilt scratching against the back of his throat while he spoke, “Nagito stabbed you.”

Byakuya didn’t react nearly as much as Hajime was expecting, just a curt nod, a slight softening of the way they were staring him down. “I… began to assume that much myself.”

“Really?”

“When Gundham pointed out the way I was accosted,” They elaborated, glancing off to the side, “I realized it was odd that someone would reach out like that to touch me before pulling back to stab me. Tanaka made a good point, beneath his all his rambling, it would’ve made more sense for them to try and hold me in place while they attacked.”

“Oh, I get it.” Unease trickled through Hajime’s veins much like it had last night, even if he knew the truth now- knew for a fact that Nagito had wanted him dead- “He only has one hand. He couldn’t hold you in place… I should’ve thought of that, I guess.”

“There was also the tie.” Byakuya’s expression softened into something more like pity, “You said he gave you that tie, and the more I thought about it the less likely it seemed that even someone like Nagito would be able to spill paint that had no reason to even be open on a tie from a completely different location on the island by accident. Not… impossible, not for an idiot like him, but not likely.”

“The paint.” Hajime blinked, reaching up to adjust his shirt collar, “Then you know he was… aiming for me?”

“I suspected.”

 “Why didn’t you… say something?”

“I had been stabbed in the chest. I was busy.” Byakuya answered like this should be obvious, and maybe it should’ve been, “I imagine learning that was a difficult thing to deal with.”

“Kinda.” Hajime huffed. “He was… it was weird. Overwhelming. Everything that happened last night was overwhelming.”

Byakuya’s eyebrows raised at that, “What… what else happened? Did he try to attack you again?”

“No, I- nothing like that, I don’t think he would’ve done anything like that with people around.” Hajime couldn’t stop his mind from wandering to what he should do if Nagito ever did- “He actually… apologized. He said he ‘messed up.’”

“I expect a much better apology than that for all the grief he’s caused.” Byakuya huffed, adjusting their glasses, “I’d file a lawsuit against him immediately if we weren’t stuck on this island, he’s fortunate I’m unable to contact my lawyers.”

Hajime hesitated, not entirely sure how to respond to that at first, trying to think it over, “That was a joke, right?”

“…Of course, clearly comedy has always been a strong suit of mine.” Byakuya rolled their eyes, “What did he mean by ‘messed up?’ Was he just referring to stabbing me instead?”

“I… I don’t think so.” Hajime shook his head, “He said he thought- I- I don’t know. He thought I was something, he never finished his stupid sentence.”

He sighed, letting his head drop down slightly as he ran a hand through his hair, “It was just… a rough night. A lot happened.”

Byakuya was quiet, turning to look back over their shoulder before speaking again, “Did he say he thought you were a traitor?”

Hajime looked back up at that, blinking in confusion while Byakuya avoided making eye contact. “A… what?”

“A traitor is someone who-“

“I- I know. I know the definition.” Hajime quietly corrected, and he did- the definition sprang to mind almost as soon as he had heard the word, he knew what it was he just… didn’t have the context for it.

A traitor was someone who betrayed someone or something- a person or a cause. Someone who was actively working against you, a threat-

He had the definition, but that didn’t mean it made sense- not in this situation, anyway.

“But why would he think that I’m a traitor?” Hajime asked, Byakuya’s mouth pulled back in a tight frown as they shook their head.

“There is… something else about Nagito’s attack I was starting to wonder about. Something happened before the party, I was going to mention it at breakfast, there was-“

“I’m back!” Usami cheered, probably too loud, as she ran back towards them, a water bottle from the kitchen held proudly above her head. “Super sorry for the wait- Chiaki needed me to answer a couple questions for her, and it’s my job to help you kids!”

You’re welcome scrolled across the bottom of Hajime’s vision, he had to stop himself from letting out a huff of a laugh.

“Hajime told me Nagito is responsible for what happened last night.” Byakuya turned to her instead, bending down to take the water from her, “How do you intend to deal with him?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about all that.” Usami nervously laughed, “Remember: it’s nice to say ‘thank you’ when someone does something nice for you.”

“You need thanks for helping us? Isn’t that your job?”

“It’s just a nice habit to be in, it’s nice to thank everyone who’s nice to you.” She shifted her weight from foot to foot, “Manners are an important part of making friends.”

Mahiru’s door opened next, the redhead coming outside in a pair of dark green shorts and white button up- her new camera hanging around her neck and some kind of bag clipped around her waist like a belt again. She smiled over at them, waving more to Byakuya than Hajime, he was pretty sure, and holding up the camera to take a picture before she actually greeted any of them.

Hajime didn’t like cameras, he was learning something new about himself. The flash and click were annoying.

“Glad to see you’re back up on your feet.” She commented to Byakuya, “How are you feeling after everything?”

“Adequate.” Byakuya answered vaguely, watching Mahiru examine the film that rolled out of her camera, “Why do you insist on taking so many photographs?”

Mahiru huffed, rolling her eyes a little and unzipping the little bag around her waist to slide the photo in, “I just wanted to document a nice moment, you’re alive, you should be happy, might as well remember it, right?”

She glanced down at Hajime, a small smile working it’s way onto her face, “I’m working on a uh… special project, too, for you.”

“Me?” Hajime tilted his head, “Why?”

“Well, it’s…” She paused, her smile looking uncertain as she shook her head, her bangs shaking across her face a little, “It’d be a little hard to explain without showing you. You’ll just have to wait till I’m done.”

“You know the last surprise I got really didn’t work out too well for me.” Hajime couldn’t help but mutter, watching Byakuya try to hide a smirk in the corner of his eye.

Mahiru’s smile dropped into something more serious, realizing what he was talking about before she rolled her eyes, “It’s not gonna be… like that.”

She paused, glancing from Hajime to Nagito’s cabin, “How are you handling all of that, by the way?”

“Fine.” Hajime shrugged, “It’s not like I’m the one who got stabbed or anything.”

“I meant like, emotionally.” Mahiru tried to explain, “How are you feeling about all of that?”

He felt like he had talked about feelings enough today already, and he hadn’t even been awake for half an hour yet.

“Uh… Overwhelmed.” Hajime finally decided on answering, this wasn’t the kind of question he could ignore with Usami still right there, “I feel overwhelmed. I’m fine, though.”

“That’s fair.” Mahiru sighed, still staring at Nagito’s cabin, “I’ll feel a little better once we figure out what the heck to do about that creep.”

“Now, now, there’s no need for name calling.” Usami shook her head, “Nagito’s not a creep, he was just… um… well he must dealing with some sort of problem, but we can help him with it.”

“How, exactly?” Byakuya raised an eyebrow, Usami’s ears drooped slightly- glancing from Byakuya to Hajime and back before she straightened up again.

“Oh! That actually reminds me- I need to check on something real quick! I’ll be back in juuuuuust a minute!”

“You’re leaving?” Mahiru stepped in front of Usami before she could make her escape, hands on her hips as she frowned down at the rabbit, “What about Nagito? Didn’t you say you were going to guard his door?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he’s still asleep right now.” Usami tried to assure her, “He’s only had a resting heart rate for about an hour now, the poor thing must’ve been tossing and turning all night. I doubt he’ll wake up while I’m gone.”

Mahiru didn’t seem convinced in the slightest, but with a frustrated sigh she stepped back to the side and let the rabbit hurry past her back towards the hotel.

“The ‘poor thing.’” Mahiru almost scoffed, “Not exactly the phrase I’d use to describe someone who attempted murder.”

“Not in most circumstances.” Byakuya agreed, a more thoughtful than frustrated expression crossing their face, “But I suppose there can always be exceptions.”

Hajime didn’t get to ask what he meant by that, the conversation cut short as Gundham’s cabin door swung open and the cottage’s resident stepped into view with his arms posed dramatically.

“Fresh soul! Do not think I have forgotten our arrangement!” His voice was loud, nearly shouting, he ignored Mahiru and Byakuya shushing him as he pointed a hand at Hajime, “Today you will assist me in tending to the beasts of the island! Do not try to resist your destiny.”

Hajime opened his mouth to respond, then closed it, blinking a little in confusion and looking to Byakuya for help handling this.

The only response he got was Byakuya shaking their head, leaving Hajime on his own as they walked towards the hotel, “I’m going to start breakfast for everyone. Attendance is mandatory, don’t be late.”

————————————

‘Tending to beasts’ meant talking down to him like a child, apparently.

… But he didn’t mean it that way, Hajime kept trying to remind himself of that, there was no way Gundham really thought he was as stupid as he was beginning to feel while he showed him around the little farm. None of the others meant to talk down to him, they were all too nice for that.

They were… weird, each in their own way, but they were nice.

It had been impossible for Hajime escape his ‘destiny,’ despite the much more pressing matters of finding a way to access the island’s security system like Chiaki said. Nothing stopped Gundham from bringing Hajime with him to feed the animals- not Hajime saying he wanted to help Byakuya instead, not lying and saying he had a headache, or saying he needed to use the bathroom, not even his last ditch effort to go completely limp. Gundham was stronger than he looked, apparently, and with his bizarre shadows swirling up under Hajime’s back and forcing him up to his feet he really didn’t have a choice in whether or not he wanted to go.

Usami’s Corral something Hajime had only ever really walked by until today, his initial tour of the island with Nagito hadn’t brought him here. It was… good, the wooden fence posts were nice, the barn was neat, the animals were… new.

Very new. They were all very different.

Gundham had eased him into things, dropping a hamster- deva, whichever one was the normal name- into his hands and instructing him to feed them sunflower seeds- just as a ‘treat,’ something extra, Gundham promised to show him the proper food for the hamsters soon. San-D was cute, he liked them, Jum-P was probably still his favorite, but having San-D lick his fingers after the seeds were all gone was kind of funny.

Then he’d seen the chickens, and it raised so many more questions.

Not from Hajime, from Gundham.

Hajime had lots of questions, always, about almost everything he came in contact with, but he had learned by now to just… try and figure it out if he could, investigate things for himself. So when he’d been a handful of grain to toss out to feed to a small amount of new creatures, he figured he would just… check them out and hope Gundham explained things a little more clearly.

He started to, explained that chickens were usually raised for their eggs, people used those to cook- Hajime knew that already, from watching Teru in the kitchen before. Gundham went on about what they ate, how they all slept in this little coop together, how if they weren’t living on this island they might have to worry about other animals coming to try and eat them.

Then Gundham had stopped, trailed off, adjusted his arms till they were crossed around his chest and leaned forward to watch as Hajime tossed some more of the feed Gundham had given him into the grass for the chickens.

“Hajime,” He had mumbled after a few heavy seconds of silence, and Hajime couldn’t help but feel uneasy at Gundham actually using his name- this may have been the first time, he’d been exclusively called ‘fresh soul’ by Gundham for days now. “Do you truly… Do you not remember anything from your life before… this?”

It was a weird shift in topic, Hajime straightened up where he’d bent down to look at one of the birds better. He wasn’t sure what to say at first, wasn’t sure why Gundham looked almost… uncomfortable.

“What brings that up?” Hajime asked instead of answering, trying to read Gundham’s expression for any more information, “I mean, I don’t really mind, I guess, it’s not like I have anything to hide. I don’t remember anything before meeting you guys.”

Gundham averted his eyes, watched where the only cow on the island was grazing nearby.

“I had been ruminating on how your demonic power revealed itself after the bloodbath last night.” Gundham finally continued, “About the abundance of evidence of how you… are exceptional.”

“Exceptional?” Hajime echoed with a frown, “Doesn’t that just mean different?”

“Not different in a negative way.” Gundham quickly corrected, pointing a finger at Hajime, “Differences are what separate the mundane and monotony form the extraordinary- there are no two living beings that are the same.”

“… okay.” Hajime still didn’t understand where this was going, “So what made you think about that?”

“You do not remember anything, including some… basic information most mortals have.” Gundham elaborated, looking almost… concerned, “You are, essentially, a new life- a life that started once you were freed from the watery coffins in which we all awoke.”

Gundham was basically calling him a baby, that’s what that all boiled down to in Hajime’s mind. He once again tried to remind himself that nobody meant any offense by what they were doing. They were just looking out for him, like Byakuya said. They were trying to help him out, like Nagito-

Hm.

… most of them were probably trying to help him out. Most of them were looking out for him. Probably.

“I’m still not seeing any kind of connection here.” Hajime pressed, if for no other reason than to stop the unease and suspicion from creeping back into his mind. He shouldn’t start doubting the others just because of what happened, he couldn’t think like that, he didn’t want to end up as paranoid as Fuyuhiko.

“You have forgotten everything, fate has chosen to have you start completely anew.” Gundham was visibly tense now, arms crossed tight around him, head tucking into his scarf slightly as he lowered his gaze to look at the chickens, “And it has only dared to take… some things from me. I am simply curious as to… why.”

“Some things.” Hajime copied next, working through that, “You… you’ve forgotten some things, is that what you’re saying?”

Gundham nodded, a shadow reaching out and sliding across the grass to herd one of the chickens away from the open gate towards the rest of the island, “This is not normal. This is not one of the many dark powers I possessed before, and I have no memory of receiving these abilities.”

“They… happened to us in the pods, right?” Hajime asked, even though for some reason the logic didn’t sit right with him, the suggestion already weaving an uneasy feeling through his chest, “Didn’t Usami say that? Whatever those pods were changed us, that’s why we’re all… exceptional.”

“Those are not the exact words the metal demon used.” Gundham’s voice was low, like he was worried someone might overhear, even though they weren’t anywhere near the cameras situated around the barn, “Using this ability feels… easy. I struggled briefly while I was still regaining my strength after being freed from my accursed imprisonment in that pod, but it’s… instinctual. It’s like I’ve been doing it for years, watching you… struggle briefly with this power last night only furthered this suspicion.”

Hajime wasn’t entirely sure what to say, his eyes flicking from Gundham’s stare to the brief glimpse of one of the hamsters poking out from his scarf, “Maybe you’re just a fast learner.”

That made Gundham laugh, a quick huff of a laugh that didn’t seem to alleviate any of his worry, “I fear it is far different. It feels familiar, I know this power. I just… there are so many things about my corporeal form now that I can no longer remember clearly.”

He stared down at one of his hands while he said this, one wrapped in bandages, Hajime remembered seeing it uncovered back when they first woke up below the island. It hadn’t seemed bad then, just faded discoloration, like a burn or something.

Did Gundham not remember how he got that? Is that what he was trying to say? How could he not remember where he got a scar like that-

… Well, maybe Hajime shouldn’t judge.

“There you two are!”

Sonia’s voice was carried on the salty wind that blowed past them, smiling wide as she hurried down the road from the beach and towards where them. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a bow in her hair that glittered in the morning sunlight. Hajime had thought it might be sequins at first, Ibuki had shown him a sequined jacket in the store yesterday, they seemed uh… flashy.

It looked more like frost, ice crystals swirling over the dark blue fabric of the bow in little looping patterns. Did Sonia have the same feeling about her power as Gundham?

“Breakfast is beginning in twelve minutes!” She informed them, head held high as she raised her hands to clap slightly, “I have been tasked with the important duty of gathering everyone for our usual morning meeting.”

“How incredibly bold of you,” Gundham raised an eyebrow, an air of confidence replacing the discomfort Hajime had just witnessed, he couldn’t tell how much of it was forced and how much of this just came naturally to Gundham, “To think you can command a demon of pure darkness such as I?”

“I fear nothing!” Sonia responded with just as much theatrics, before it faltered into a barely held back snicker, “Ah, or at the very least I don’t fear someone as nice as you.”

Hajime awkwardly glanced between the two, not… entirely sure what was going on here. Gundham’s cheeks flushed a slight pink, he tucked his face back into his scarf as Sonia laughed a little louder.

“I think it’s very fun to talk that.” She grinned, “Normally I try to be mindful of how I speak, I need to be… what’s the word… proper? I’ve enjoyed getting to relax and speak freely with all of you… despite the circumstances, of course.”

Gundham and Hajime slowly made their way to follow her back to the road, where she started walking towards the beach instead of back to the hotel, Gundham pausing to close the gate behind them, glancing around at the few animals that had been abandoned at this ‘farm’ and nodding in approval, before moving on.

 Hajime tried to find a way to fill the silence, normally he would’ve preferred just listening to the waves but… he didn’t need his mind wandering right now. Conversation would be nice, maybe, so he stepped a little quicker to walk beside Sonia.

“Why would you need to be proper?”

“Hm?”

“You said you ‘need’ to proper.” Hajime repeated her words from earlier, watching Sonia’s eyebrows raise slightly as she kept her eyes on the road ahead, “I was just… wondering you why you felt like you needed to do that.”

“Ah, it’s nothing serious.” She smiled reassuringly, “I just come from a… family of high expectations, does that make sense?”

It… didn’t. Expectations made sense, the definition for that was lodged somewhere in his brain, there was another word in that sentence he had heard a few times and still didn’t quite understand.

“Why are you making that face?” Sonia’s tone turned worried as they reached the beach, the old cracked road fading into the sand as they walked further, “Your face is… scrunched? Is that the right word, Gundham?”

“It is somewhat wrinkled with the burden of human emotion.” He agreed, leaning forward to look at Hajime’s face, “Much like a pug, perhaps an exceptionally frustrated sphinx cat.”

“I don’t know what either of those are.” Hajime nearly rolled his eyes, trying to undo whatever ‘scrunching’ he was apparently doing, “And I don’t know what that other word meant, exactly. What’s a ‘family’ got to do with how you’re supposed to talk?”

Sonia’s eyes went wide, her mouth slightly open in shock, Hajime could’ve sworn the warm air around them grew slightly colder as Sonia glanced from Hajime to Gundham and back again.

“I- Hajime-“ She took a half a step forward, her hands grabbing his and holding them tight- filling him with an unnatural chill that rolled through his veins like ice water, his attempt to pull his hands away ignored as she continued, “Do you not know what a family is?”

“I just said that, Sonia.” He tried one more time to tug his hands free, Sonia’s hands were still cold, even as his body ‘adjusted’ or whatever it is it did when it copied someone else’s power without him wanting to. “Why are you making that face? What’s wrong?”

She retracted her hands finally, a few different kinds of emotions flicking through her face before it settled into a reserved kind of worry. She bit her bottom lip as she shook her head.

“I knew you… did not remember your own family, that sounded sad enough on it’s own,” She made a worried noise, tilting her head a little as she looked him over, “I cannot decide if it’s better or worse you don’t know what a family is at all.”

Hajime tried to process that- process the information that this was apparently something he was missing out on, whatever it is. He scratched at the back of his neck and shrugged, “You… can tell me what it is, I’m asking to know. It’s not going to bother me if it’s bad.”

“It isn’t bad.” Sonia shook her head, a quiet grunt from Gundham had her fidget and amend her statement, “It is not… always bad. The idea is good, family as a… concept is a very good thing. Sometimes people are just, hm, well this is difficult to explain, actually-“

“YEAH!”

Ibuki’s voice rattled Hajime to his core, a booming sound that carried through the air like a physical force, one he could feel shake his bones and made the ground beneath them rumble and the palm trees shake.

“Do another flip like that!” Her voice continued at a slightly lower volume- bit just slightly, the shaking beneath their feet continued to the point that Hajime nearly lost his footing- not able to steady himself with shadows like Gundham currently was and not comfortable reaching out to brace himself against Sonia’s arm. “Come on! Try aga- uh oh.”

The shaking stopped, Ibuki’s volume seemed to quiet down to normal human levels of way too loud instead of one that vibrated everything around them, “My bad! Ibuki’s fault, sorry! Keep going!”

There were other sounds too, now that the tremors had stopped, Akane letting out a loud yelp and Nekomaru’s laughter.

Sonia started moving again as soon as the shaking had stopped, walking out across the sand towards the source of the noise and leaving behind swirling patterns of frost sparkling in the sand where she had been standing. Gundham followed, Hajime a few steps behind as he looked down to check his own feet for any frost like Sonia’s.

How did she… use her power? If he had just copied it, could he freeze things like she did?

But that was a problem for later, the commotion coming from ahead on the beach seemed to need his attention more than the possibility of ice right now.

The first thing he saw was Akane, skidding across the sand and rolling over into a fighting stance on all fours before she snarled- her canine teeth were sharp, almost as sharp as the claws that dug into the sand as she prepared to charge forward, only pausing when Nekomaru’s voice cut over the continued sounds of Ibuki cheering.

“Hey now- you said you’d play fair.” He reprimanded, still in something of a defensive position himself, arms raised and ready to block an attack, “No claws, come on.”

“You have an unfair advantage!” Akane argued, “You’ve probably got your adrenaline power or whatever all hopped up right now, you threw me like ten feet away from you just now! Me using my claws is fair game if you’re gonna show up to the fight all hopped up on freaky mutant stuff!”

Nekomaru’s stance wavered, his previous smirk faltering as her huffed, “I didn’t mean to… throw you. If that was too rough, we can-“

“No way!” Akane charged, rushing straight towards Nekomaru and rolling out of the way just as he tried to grab her. “We’re finishing this fight- and I’m giving it everything I’ve got!”

Akane was fast- what she lacked in strength and size against Nekomaru she made up for in just being impossible to catch. She ducked under swipes and punches, diving into a roll to the side to avoid being grabbed, jumped out of the way of a kick.

Hajime had to admit, though… it looked like Nekomaru was moving slow on purpose. His eyes followed Akane faster than his hands did, there were twitches to each of his movements a second before he actually tried to land a hit on her. He was hesitating, for some reason, maybe he didn’t want to risk hurting her like that toss across the sand surely must’ve hurt.

Nekomaru was also… favoring one side more than the other, Hajime couldn’t help but tilt his head as he noticed, there was something wrong with one of his hands, almost like burn marks.

Akane was impatient, she was getting bored of just dodging- despite Ibuki’s enthusiasm where she was cheering off to the side next to a concerned and confused Mahiru. Akane quickly closed the distance she had been keeping between herself and Nekomaru, her feet kicking up sand as she shoved past his next punch and ducked behind him. Her hand swiped up- from Hajime’s angle he couldn’t see much else- but Nekomaru’s pained shout and the quick splatter of pink that followed Akane’s hand as she pulled back left a pretty clear idea of what happened.

Nekomaru turned faster than Hajime could even blink, and far faster than Akane could dodge after Nekomaru’s outcry made her lose her focus- his foot swung up and kicked Akane in the stomach, a solid thud sending her flying back into he shallow ocean water as Ibuki and Mahiru both screamed from where they were watching on the sidelines.

Akane hit the ground with a splash and a yelp, already trying to get back to her feet and holding a hand over her ribs as a little wave crashed against her. Sonia and Mahiru both rushed towards her, Hajime took a few quick steps forward but found himself stopping short next to Nekomaru.

His mouth was covered, staring at Akane with his eyes wide in shock- his hand was definitely burned somehow, it looked recent- but that wasn’t what made Hajime freeze.

Nekomaru had smiled, just for a second, a quick twitch on his face before it settled back into the concern and shock it was in now as he hurried to go check on Akane as well.

“Ah-“ Akane hissed out a wince as Sonia tried to help her up, gritting her teeth and keeping a hand pressed over the side Nekomaru had kicked. She didn’t look angry, she almost looked worried, forcing herself to stand and leaning on Sonia more as she looked up at Nekomaru.

“Hey, I’m sorry I scratched ya up, you okay?” She started apologizing, partially drowned out by Nekomaru’s own apology tumbling out of his mouth as he came to check on her.

“I- I don’t know what came over me, I’m so sorry.” He bowed his head to apologize, looking almost sheepish, “I’ve got… I’m still getting used to all this extra energy stuff, I had no idea it would-“

“I was literally asking for it.” Akane almost laughed, shaking her head a little and moving her hand from where it was pressed on her side to push his forehead back up to look at her. “Literally. I asked ya to fight me- I’m not mad just because you beat me this time.”

He didn’t look certain, staring at where he had kicked her with a worried frown while she tried to wink.

“Next time I won’t go easy on ya, old man.”

That got Nekomaru to smile again, weakly chuckling as he shook his head, “I think you’ve still got a lot of work to do before you can start that kinda trash talk.”

“Hey I- ah-“ She winced again, Sonia made a worried hum as she helped Akane walk out of the shallow water and back up onto the sand with them, “I got a couple hits on ya.”

“And he literally threw you across the beach.” Mahiru interjected, coming up and slapping Nekomaru’s arm, “What were you thinking? You were way too rough with her!”

“I’m fine!” Akane tried to snap back, Sonia shushed her and muttered something about taking her to Mikan while Nekomaru scratched at the back of his neck.

“I didn’t mean to, I was trying to take it easy on her.” He mumbled, and luckily Akane was too busy insisting she was fine to Sonia and Ibuki to hear him, “I really don’t… I dunno where that came from, I guess it was instinct.”

Hajime hadn’t noticed before, he hadn’t really been up close to Nekomaru for any long stretch of time, but now that he was standing right beside him it was easy to see more scars than just the ones on his face.

There were the two on his face, trailing down from under his eyes till they faded, thin and straight and precise, almost like surgical scars (what was a surgery?) But there were some along his neck and back Hajime hadn’t noticed before.

But the ones on his arm were especially prominent, Hajime had seen those when they first woke up below the island, less like cuts more like… Hajime wasn’t sure what to call it. It almost looked like burn marks, but it followed the shape of Nekomaru’s veins, it almost looked like it was-

“Well the least you could do is carry her back to the hotel.” Mahiru’s scolding snapped Hajime out of his confusing train of thought, from trying his hardest to match words to contextless definitions and trying to make sense of them.”If you really want her to be okay you shouldn’t make her walk that far on her own.”

“I’m seriously fine.” Akane snapped back, Nekomaru coming forward and holding his arms out like he planned to lift her anyway. She just huffed, looking him up and down with an almost annoyed expression before shaking her head, “I don’t need you babying me, old man.”

“I’m not.” Nekomaru shrugged, “Just, uh- consider this my way of apologizing, again. For the kick and for tossing you, I really… I dunno what came over me, I’ve got a lot more…energy than I’m used to.”

His mouth twitched up a little at the end of that sentence, in a way that probably shouldn’t worry Hajime as much as it did.

He was probably just on edge, after everything with Nagito and Teru yesterday he felt just as lost about social stuff as he did when he first woke up. Who knows if he could really trust any of these people?

… He said he wasn’t going to doubt them. He was not going to start doubting these people who had been nothing but nice and just a little bit weird this entire time. Most of the time, at least, maybe not the entire time.

Akane’s face scrunched up in a pout while she considered his offer, moving her hand away from her ribs to clench and unclench her fist by her side, “I don’t need you to carry me.”

“I know ya don’t.” Nekomaru tried to smile, “Just offering.”

“… Fine.” Akane huffed, patting Sonia’s shoulders where she was still trying to support her weight to signal to the blonde that she could move, “But only because it’ll get me to breakfast faster. You better run fast.”

“Do not run with her.” Mahiru shot that idea down before Nekomaru could even start to consider it, shaking her head slightly as she watched Nekomaru try to gently lift Akane up into his arms.

Ibuki clapped a little when Akane was lifted, walking in a quick circle around the two of them and letting out a low whistle at the sight of Nekomaru’s back, “Those scratch marks are big!”

Akane almost flinched at her words, looking more embarrassed than pained as Ibuki continued, “It looks really cool! Like you’ve been fighting a tiger shark or something. Does it hurt?”

“Tiger sharks… do not have claws.” Gundham narrowed his eyes slightly, “And they would not attack in such a frivolous way.”

“No, no,” Ibuki shook her head, “Not the actual tiger shark, like a thing that’s half tiger, half shark.”

“You are speaking of an unholy amalgamation of a creature.”

“I’m talking about a striped shark with four legs and fur! That’s not unholy, that’s rad!”

“It doesn’t hurt.” Nekomaru answered Ibuki’s previous question, starting to walk back to the road and pausing for a second to straighten up his posture- like he was feeling the scratches on his back move, “It uh… kinda felt…”

He trailed off, a flash of discomfort and disgust crossing his face before he shook his head and continued on, “We should go, yeah? Don’t wanna be late for the breakfast meeting! I’m sure everyone else is waiting already.”

“Probably.” Mahiru sighed, “Do you think Usami decided what to do about Nagito yet? He’s not like… gonna be there, is he? I don’t feel like letting him back around anymore knives.”

Nekomaru shook his head, “You don’t got worry about him anymore, trust me.”

He froze mid-step, like he realized he’d said something shouldn’t, shaking his head again and picking up the pace as he carried Akane back to the road, “Let’s go let Mikan check ya out, yeah? I’m sure she can fix you right up, I’ll even fix your plate for you while she’s helping you.”

“It’s the least you could do.” Akane huffed, back, arms crossed while she tried to keep pressure over her stomach, “My side’s really starting to hurt…”

“Let’s go! Byakuya said they’re making something yummy- that’ll make you feel better!” Ibuki picked up the pace, multicolored hair- that she had recolored yesterday afternoon, spent a good five minutes explaining hair dye and it’s appeal and how it worked to Hajime yesterday while she let the colors set and sat with him by the hotel pool. “Since Nekomaru can’t run, Ibuki will run for him- I’ll see you guys there!”

Hajime stayed on the beach as Gundham and Sonia each began walking back after Nekomaru too, glancing at Mahiru as she shook her head.

“We all… really need to start being more careful.” She commented under her breath, “We’re gonna end up getting somebody killed.”

“Someone almost got killed last night.” Hajime grimly reminded her, acid burning against the back of his throat as he remembered it was supposed to be him that got killed last night, “You really think be careful is gonna help?”

“Well you don’t have to be so negative.” Mahiru’s scowl softened, a quiet sigh escaping her as she shook her head again, “Being careful wouldn’t… hurt. I guess. We should try to do our best while we’re stuck here.”

Hajime hummed his agreement, he didn’t really have anything else to add, listening to the waves rolling against the sand behind them and watching as the others walked further away down the road.

Mahiru glanced from him to the others, a small smile on her face as she nudged his side with her elbow, “Wanna beat them to the hotel?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve been practicing my whole… you know.” She gestured vaguely, “I could probably get us to the hotel before they could.”

“Oh, your… enhancement?” Hajime tried to clarify, Mahiru shrugged.

“I don’t know if I’d call it that, but yeah.” Her smile wavered, “It’s been weird to… try and wrap my head around, it feels so weird… this whole situation feels pretty unbelievable though, I guess. None of this feels normal.”

Hajime wasn’t entirely sure he knew what normal was supposed to be, but Mahiru was right, this situation definitely didn’t feel normal. All of this felt… wrong, somehow, he wasn’t sure why- he didn’t really have the context for what an alternative could be, but something about this just… didn’t feel right. He had’t felt right since he first woke up.

Maybe that was normal? He wasn’t sure.

“So?” Mahiru said when he had stayed quiet too long, holding up her hand like she was offering it to him, “I feel like I can probably, you know… blink us to the kitchen.”

Hajime didn’t take the hand, now that he knew what all the random shocks and jolts through his body meant he was even less sure about touching people than before, “Blink? You mean the whole… teleporting thing?”

Mahiru could teleport. Hajime had nearly forgotten about that.

His eyes glanced back towards to the bridge to the center island, mind already racing as he tried to think of how he could make this work. If he could teleport, he could get to the other island, he could past the gate, he could finally get some answers.

“Yeah, that’s what Hiyoko was calling it.” Mahiru chuckled, “I guess blink is kind of a weird thing to call it, she just said that’s what it looks like, I was practicing going back and forth on either side of her room last night.”

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Not… really.” She sighed, shaking her head and getting back to her story, “It kinda makes like… a flash. Like a camera, you know?”

He did know, he didn’t like the camera flash, he knew it very well.

“But that’s just me, Hiyoko said she didn’t really notice a flash. I was just there and then… I wasn’t.” She looked down at the camera hanging around her neck, expression furrowing in thought, “It’s really… so weird to think about.”

“So you can just… go anywhere?” Hajime asked next, trying to get more information on how this worked, “Like… could you leave?”

“Leave the island?” Mahiru clarified, an almost defeated tone to her voice as she shook her head, “Trust me, I’ve thought about it, it was the first thing I thought about. I… I don’t think I can. I have to know where I’m going, I have to like… see it in my head, I think. I know that doesn’t make any sense, I don’t really know how to explain it, I just… I can feel it. I feel how it works.”

Hajime slowly nodded, thinking back to what Gundham said, about how he knew his power, knew more about it almost instinctively, better than he thought he should.

“I tried thinking about… my bedroom.” Mahiru continued softer, turning over her shoulder to look out at the ocean behind them, “My actual bedroom, off this stupid island, back home. I just can’t… I don’t know if I’m not picturing it clear or enough, or… or what- but I just can’t make it happen. Maybe it’s got a limit or something.”

Hajime just nodded, a pang of sympathy ringing through his chest at the remorseful look that crossed Mahiru’s face as she turned back to the road and sighed again.

“Ready to head back?” She put her hands on her hips, trying to smile again, “I wasn’t kidding before, I can probably get us there quick.”

“Uh, yeah.” Hajime still didn’t take her hand, he balled his own into fists by his side, “Could we maybe… do you think you could go somewhere else?”

Mahiru blinked, not exactly frowning but definitely confused, “Like… back to your cottage?”

“I’m… uh,” Hajime raised one of his hands, the thought of just touching her arm and moving on with his plans crossed his mind- but he dismissed that quickly. He wouldn’t know what he was doing, this was a power he didn’t understand at all, he needed to see how it worked first.

And Mahiru was his friend, he shouldn’t just… do that.

“I’m trying to get to one of the other islands.” He finally admitted, speaking softer, there were cameras scattered all over the island. “It’s… It’s important, I’m trying to get more information on… on all of this- why we’re all here.”

Mahiru just stared, slowly looking over his face like she was trying to tell if she was lying, “How… How are you going to do that?”

“Um, Chiaki thinks I can… connect to the security system somehow?” He gestured to the side of his head, fingers barely brushing against the metal,  “I’m not sure… how, exactly. Not yet. But Chiaki says there’s something on the other island I need to get to figure this out.”

Mahiru glanced around, “Is Chiaki… here right now?”

“No.” Hajime shook his head, looking around himself, “We talked about it last night, after… everything.”

“Everything. Right.” Mahiru looked almost nervous, staring back up at Hajime, her focus shifting from his red eye to his green eye, “You… are you sure you can figure this out? I mean you…”

She paused, “You trust Chiaki?”

“Yes.” Hajime answered without any hesitation, and he meant it, he had… no reason not to. She was telling him what she could, she had explained why she couldn’t tell him other things, she was trying, he needed to try too. “I trust her, I have to try and figure this out.”

Mahiru hesitated, glancing around again, like she was worried someone might see, finally she sighed and shook her head.

“Okay.” She looked back up at him, “Let’s give it a shot.”

Her hand reached out and grabbed his- Hajime hadn’t even had the chance to pull it back from where he had left it half raised, the second she made contact there was a blinding flash and a weird snapping sound.

He was standing right in front of the statue in the park.

“So which island do we need to go to?” Mahiru’s voice snapped out of his shock, out of the focus on the warm fuzz that felt like it lingered through his skin like a wash of static as Mahiru’s hand left his. “I can’t… get us there. I don’t know what any of them look like, but I can get us on the other side of the gate, at least.”

“I- you… want to go?” Hajime asked, he had honestly been planning on going alone. He just needed Mahiru to help him across the bridge, he didn’t want to drag her into this situation when he still had no idea what to expect. “You really don’t have to, I don’t want you getting hurt-“

“I don’t need you looking out for me, Hajime.” She shook her head slightly, “You don’t need to go on your own, either. After everything that happened yesterday, I don’t want anymore… incidents.”

“There’s no one to stab me if I’m over there.” He tried to joke, Mahiru huffed.

“Be serious about this, okay? Where do we need to go?”

He looked out to the island Chiaki showed him, to the abandoned looking buildings across the wooden bridge and the imposing gate matching the one on their side. 

Mahiru followed his gaze, staring out across the water for a minute before grabbing him by the shirt sleeve and pulling him towards the bridge to that island.

“We’re… gonna be safe about this, okay?” She muttered, “I meant what I said before, we have to start being more careful, that’s the only reason I’m helping you with this.”

“Sure.” Hajime agreed with a quick nod, “I just want to understand what’s going on, that can probably help us stay safe, right?”

Mahiru stared at him another moment, she didn’t seem entirely convinced, finally shaking her head and looking at the gate beside them, “Whatever you’re looking for over here… you really think it can help us figure out what’s going on here?”

“I- I think it can.” Hajime faltered slightly, pink words scrolled across the bottom of his vision.

It will, I promise. Oh, I’m gonna be helping you btw :3

That was a kitty cat face.

“I’m sure it can.” He amended, nodding and seriously to try and seem more certain than he felt. He was copying Byakuya, in a way, trying to borrow some of the confidence they carried themselves with. “This is the only way forward I can think of.”

Mahiru just nodded, moving her hand from her sleeve to his arm, “Sorry I’m touching you so much, I know you don’t like it, I just have to touch you to bring you with me.”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Hajime shrugged, bracing himself for another bizarre flash like what he had experienced before, “How does that work? Why do you have to touch people to take them with you?”

She shrugged, the determined look on her face wavering into discomfort, “I… I don’t know. Maybe I don’t have to, it’s just easier. I’m still not really sure how this… works. It just feels easier this way.”

“Sure.” Hajime glanced back at the gate, “So uh… let’s go.”

She nodded, and in another blinding flash and strange snapping sound ringing in his ears he found himself in the middle of a wooden bridge.

He blinked, tried to clear the fuzz from his vision that the flash had left, already getting tugged along by Mahiru towards the next island while he took in his surroundings. She had brought them to the center of the bridge, probably as far as she could see clearly, since she had to… picture the location in her mind, or whatever.

The bridge was mostly wooden, with metal support beams sticking out from beneath all the woods. It looked like maybe these bridges used to be metal, used to be different, maybe wood was placed over them at some point. The wood looked old two, faded marks and.. strange black track marks running through the center of it. Metal poles stuck out of the water too, attacked the sides of the bridge, cameras and speakers mounted on tall poles. He and Mahiru continued walking forward, she finally released his arm and let him walk beside her instead of just tugging him behind her.

They had almost made it to the gate when Usami started talking over the speakers.

“Oh no, oh dear,” Her voice crackled out of the speakers, as shrill and nervous as ever, “Um, hi guys! I think you might be going the wrong way! Can you just, um, turn around? Please.”

Mahiru and Hajime glanced at each other, Mahiru almost froze before Hajime started walking forward again. He couldn’t stop here, he had to keep going, he had to know what was going on.

“Pretty please? Pretty please with um- a cherry on top? So many cherries! And sprinkles! Turn around, okay?” Usami’s voice seemed to move with them from speaker to speaker as they travelled to the gate, Hajime pulling ahead of Mahiru as Usami’s pleas got more desperate, “Really, guys, this island isn’t ready for you! Please turn around! Right now! I- I don’t want to be mean, but I- I-“

The voice cut out into static, a buzzing noise that drowned out the rolling waves beneath them, as they reached the last gate Mahiru made a worried hum.

“Hajime, I don’t… I don’t think this is a good idea.” Her voice gave away more concern than her face, glancing back at the speakers as Usami’s voice- at least it kind of sounded like Usami- tried to break through again, “I have a bad feeling about this, maybe we should go back.”

Hajime, maybe Mahiru should go, we need to keep moving forward.

Chiaki’s words moved along the bottom of his vision, Hajime shook his head at Mahiru, “We won’t be gone long, it’ll be-“

“Keep going.”

The voice that cut through the static was completely unfamiliar, Hajime’s eyes snapped up to the speakers as Mahiru went stiff.

“Keep going.” It repeated, monotone and warbled, but recognizable enough as a person’s voice. Hajime couldn’t place it, but it definitely wasn’t Usami, he looked to Mahiru again and found her trembling, one hand going to cover her ear and the other reaching out to grab him again.

“H- Hajime, we need to leave.” Her voice cracked as she spoke, a completely different tone to it than the usual sureness he was used to, “Come on, I’ll get us back-“

“Ma..hiru…” The voice droned, “Keep going.”

Hajime looked back to Mahiru, fear rushing through his veins like cold water at the pure terror that crossed her face as she reached out to grab him again.

“Hajime we have to go back, we have to go back we can’t-“

“Mahiru…”

“Hajime!” Mahiru looked almost angry now, reaching out to grab him as backed to the edge of the bridge. “Please! Let’s just go back-“

“You go.” He insisted, foot nearly slipping on the edge of the bridge “You go back, tell Usami I’ll be back soon.”

“I- I can’t leave you with-“

“I have your power copied.’ He talked over her, holding up his hand like he could show her somehow, “You go, tell the others I’ll be back, okay? I- I gotta do this.”

Mahiru tried to reach for him again, flinching and covering her ears as a new sound erupted from the speakers, and Hajime finally realized where he had this voice before.

It was laughing, just like it had last night, just like it had when Nagito tried to stab him.

“Mahiru?” He tried, watching her press down harder over her ears and speaking louder, “Mahiru, you should go.”

“I-“ She hesitated, almost trembling, “I don’t want to leave you alone-“

“Just go.” He nodded, backing up against the edge of the bridge, “I’ll come back, I promise. You need to leave.”

Mahiru’s face twisted up in something like horror, maybe disgust, after taking one more hesitant step forward she nodded and disappeared.

It was like a blink, a snapping sound like a camera clicking and she was gone. Hajime was alone- just him and the distorted laughing still coming through the speakers.

But he couldn’t just… turn back now. He could leave when he was done. He needed to find what Chiaki was talking about- this… whatever the hell this was- proved it more than anything, he needed to know what was going on.

There was no getting around the gate, so he did the only think he could think of- no matter how stupid he knew it would be.

He jumped into the water below him.

Chapter Text

He cried out before he comprehended that he shouldn’t breathe.

The sting of salt in his eyes and nose and flood of disgusting water choking through his throat left him with little other option.

Not breathing when submerged was instinctive, somewhere that fact rolled through his brain as he flailed against warm and forceful currents that spun him sideways, but his instincts were obviously just as screwed as the rest of his mind was.

He was gagging underwater, no relief in view- blurry, stinging sight the moment he opened his eyes and tried to find the light for the mid morning sky somewhere above him. It was bleary, tinted blueish green, but it was there.

“Hajime! Are you okay?” Hearing Chiaki’s voice crystal clear over the rushing water around him was surreal, but it was barely an afterthought at this point- his stupid, laggy body finally kicking in and pedaling him up above the surface of the water.

He coughed out salty foam and bile, hair hanging in front of his eyes and adrenaline lighting up his nerves as he frantically tried to keep his head above the water.

The waves weren’t huge, or even particularly rough, it was just unlike anything he had ever experienced. He was okay, he was okay- he could survive this. He had to survive this.

He wasn’t a strong swimmer, apparently, part of him had wondered yesterday if the old Hajime was. The waves knocked him back against one of the metal support beams that made up the underside of the bridge, he clung to it for dear life the moment his side hit the slick metal.

He was still coughing, suppressing another gag as he tried to get his bearings and realized how close to the shore he was.

He couldn’t touch the ground here, it was too deep, but the shore was close- he could swim there, he could do it.  He could do this. He had to.

“Hajime.” Chiaki’s voice was more insistent, still right in his ear despite her appearing on the beach he was frantically glancing around, “Can you breathe? Are you okay?”

Something about Chiaki on the beach… felt weird. Familiar. It made the back of his mind itch with something hazy he could barely remember… He couldn’t focus on that right now. He had to figure out how to swim before he drowned like some idiot.

God, imagine what Hiyoko would say when she heard about his death, he had to survive this.

“I’m-“ He gagged again, the salty sting in his throat scratching as he spoke, “I’m okay! I’m coming.”

“You need to stay calm, okay?” She called out again, hands cupped around her mouth like her voice wasn’t coming from inside his head, “You can do it! Just don’t panic, focus on keeping your head above the water.”

“O-okay.” He tried to call back, another wave splashing over his back and making his grip slip slightly.

He was so close to shore, this would be easy, he just had to stay calm.

He let a ragged breath fill his lungs before he pushed off the metal pole towards the direction of the beach. His arms flailed on either side of him, feet kick desperately below the water both to push him forward and find ground to stand on. He had been in the water before, his first day, he had gone in up to his ankles and smiled at Akane while she insisted she could catch a fish with her bare hands if she really tried. It wasn’t like this.

Another wave crashing over him sent his head under water for a second, this time he held his breath, he closed his eyes, let the water moving push him forward till his foot finally brushed against soft ground just below his toes.

Okay, okay, there was the ground, it was fine. He came back up with a gasp, pushed his arms out to the sides of him to force himself forward. He could stand, barely, he could reach the sand, he had made it.

The beach had always seemed… peaceful before this. In his- admittedly very brief- entire life he had never thought about water hurting, about waves knocking you down, or being painful.

He got to a place where he could finally fully stand, pausing to catch his breath as he wobbled a little and realized he was missing a shoe. That was a bummer. He started trudging towards Chiaki, grit teeth and dripping hair as he walked further and further up out of the water.

Just hearing the word beach had been enough to make him feel at peace. It was like… instinct, an instantaneous response. It made him think of pink skies, being warm, feeling safe-

Hajime didn’t… know why, exactly. He didn’t really have much experience with any of those things.

“Hey, hey.” Chiaki squatted down to sit as he tripped on his final step out of the water, kicking off his other shoe and letting out a sigh that quickly fell into a cough. “Why don’t you rest for a second?”

“What… what was that?” He sniffed in a painful, stinging breath of salt again, coughing a little and relenting to sit down on the beach next to her and kick off his other shoe.

“That was the ocean, Hajime.”

“Chiaki.” He turned back to face her, the tiniest trace of an apologetic smile on her face, “You know what I’m talking about.”

Her jaw tensed as she nodded, “Yeah, I do. Sorry.”

He took a few more deep breaths, looking back up at the bridge and how… normal it seemed. Like none of the weird noises or chaos had just happened.

“What was that voice?” He pressed, tearing his gaze away from the bridge to face her, “What… who’s voice was that?”

“I-“ Chiaki started, then paused- twitched, her whole body flickering in Hajime’s vision before she shook her head, “I… can’t tell you that till we get this security thing figured out.”

“Of course you can’t.” Hajime grumbled, pushing his hair back out of his eyes and sighing, “I- Sorry. I’m not mad.”

“I know.” Chiaki’s subtle smile returned, “You’re just freaked out. I understand. I was scared too.”

“I didn’t… say I was scared.” Hajime couldn’t help but mumble, he hadn’t even time to… process how he felt about that. Mahiru had been scared, that had been obvious. Had he felt scared? 

He had been…. Confused. Startled, maybe. The voice hadn’t given him the same feeling Byakuya bleeding had, or Nagito’s confrontation had, that had felt like fear. He had been worried for Mahiru, maybe he was scared for her.

“I don’t know if I was scared.” He finally settled on, “I still don’t really know what happened.”

“That makes sense.” Chiaki nodded along, and Hajime was a little relieved at least someone understood his half strung out thoughts, “Feelings can be kinda hard to name, I think. You gotta get used to him.”

Hajime just grunted, “Did the… old Hajime have trouble with feelings?”

Chiaki paused, her eyebrows scrunching in slightly as she tilted her head, “What?”

“I mean, you knew the old Hajime, right? We were friends?” He tried to clarify, “Were feelings weird for him back then, too? He had to have been better at it than I am now, right?”

“Feelings are weird for everyone, I think.” She shrugged, “I don’t think comparing yourself like that is a good idea.”

“You’re starting to sound like Usami.”

“Well, you were sorta starting to sound like Nagito.”

Hajime couldn’t help but frown at that, staring back over the waves for a minute before sighing, “Let’s stop comparing.”

“Sounds good.” Chiaki chuckled a little, it barely eased the discomfort that settled through him, “Ready to keep moving?”

Moving sounded good. Moving meant progress, information, figuring out what the hell was going on.

He just nodded, getting up and making a useless attempt to shake the sand off his pants before turning back to Chiaki. “Where do I need to go?”

“Okay, back this way,” She pointed up towards the overgrown looking grass further up the beach, Hajime hadn’t noticed before how sloped this beach was compared to the one on the first island. “We’ll need to get back on the road, probably, that would make things easier.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Hajime started trudging in that direction, getting a better look at his surroundings now that he wasn’t coughing up sea water, “So… why doesn’t Usami want us coming to this island?”

Chiaki shrugged, appearing up in the grass above him as he climbed his way up to stand beside her. His hand almost reached out to ask for help, just on instinct, he tried to put it back down before she could notice.

She couldn’t touch him, she wasn’t really standing there, that was just something she was doing to make this easier for him to understand… this was all still so weird.

“I don’t think this island is the one that’s a problem, honestly, I think she just wanted to make sure you guys were… gonna be doing okay before she let you roam around a lot.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hajime trudged back towards the road, noting one of the familiar cameras he could always see back on the first island. “If this island isn’t the problem, why couldn’t we come here?”

“Usami’s a little overwhelmed, I think.” Chiaki sighed, following his gaze to the camera before he started walking ahead down the road, “She’s supposed to have help during all this, nobody’s been answering any of her calls or distress signals.”

Hajime was quiet for a second, taking in his surroundings again, the slightly more cracked road beneath him, the paths that split into two different directions.

“Who’s she calling?” He finally asked, glancing from the smaller building in the distance to his right and the much larger structure looming right in front of him.

“I can’t tell you that yet.” Chiaki sighed, “I want to, I think it would help, but I…“

Hajime had started walking forward, Chiaki’s sentence trailed off into a worried hum. He could still hear her voice right in his ear as he kept moving towards a large building that looked… almost abandoned. It looked old, there were the bent and rusted remains of a fence around it, Hajime could see it from here, the building itself covered in what looked like old… plants? It almost looked like dead vines, or maybe roots, it looked like at one point they had encased the entire building, as he got closer he could see the entrance-

 “Hey, hey, I think we should go the other way.” Chiaki was urging, appearing in front of him suddenly and nodding back towards the road he passed, “There’s cooler stuff that way- a diner and a beach house.”

“I don’t know what a diner is.” He argued, glancing from her to the mystery building behind her, “And I’ve seen houses at the beach before, all of our houses are at the beach.”

“Beach houses and houses at beaches are different,” Chiaki insisted, “-and diners are neat- I can show you.”

“What’s that?” Hajime pointed behind her, to the building he was heading towards, “Is the cable we need in there?”

“No.” Chiaki shook her head, almost seeming to pout when Hajime took a few steps past her to get closer, “Hajime, I really don’t think we should go towards that. Let’s go to the library, it’s just past this.”

Hajime paused as the road reached the ruined building… it looked like it could’ve been nice, at one point, before all the windows were blown out and those weird vines had overtaken everything. It looked like a good chunk of the roof had been completely blown apart-

k-zap!

A shock fired through through his head- a buzz that shot through his brain and down his spine in an instant. His whole body jolted and froze, his grunt of pain drowned out by Chiaki’s agitated tone.

“Hajime, seriously, come this way.”

“Y-you need to stop doing that.” He turned to face her, his legs moving towards her automatically even though he really was curious about the ruins, “That hurts, Chiaki.”

Her serious expression softened, guilt creeping across her features and her shoulders dropping slightly as he started trudging alongside her again. “Oh, I didn’t know that, sorry. I thought it just… got your attention. I won’t do it again.”

“It’s… it’s fine.” He hesitated, “You couldn’t guess that a shock might hurt a little bit?”

“I don’t really feel physical pain.”

“Oh.” That made him pause his walking, turn to look at her again while stopped and tilted her head at him, “You don’t… how does that work?”

“I don’t actually have a body,” She reminded him, sticking her hand into- and through- his stomach, a faint buzz of electricity ghosting over his skin, “At least not the same way you do, I can move and dress myself however I want, fun stuff like that, but I can’t really touch things. I don’t physically feel stuff, I’m not physical.”

“That sounds, uh…” He struggled to think of the right word, sad seemed like it would almost be insensitive, he had started picking up on the fact that Chiaki didn’t like being referred to as fake or not real, he wasn’t gonna upset her when they were already in the middle of something so stressful. 

“Boring.” Is what he finally settled on, Chiaki slightly raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not so bad.” She shrugged, tilting her head again, “Boredom isn’t the worst thing in the world, right?”

He had to struggle to really know what boredom even was, it just sounded right, most words in his head only had half finished definitions and little to know context to help him. He got frustrated every time he had to think too hard about any of it. His life was a book of blank pages, no matter how far back he turned, and the rest of his mind felt like a book with most of it’s pages ripped out and destroyed.

How did normal people learn about the world? What did the others do to learn things? Did someone talk to them like they were an idiot till they understood things better? That seemed to be how they thought he needed to learn.

He was pretty sure boredom meant nothing exciting was happening, and after all the ‘excitement’ he’d just had getting here, boredom actually sounded pretty nice.

“You know Usami’s probably watching us.” Chiaki started walking again, leaving Hajime to follow, raising a hand to point at a camera set up in a palm tree for some stupid reason, “She could be talking to us through the little TVs, too. I wonder why she hasn’t said anything yet…”

Hajime didn’t know what to say to that at first, staring at the little monitor himself before an unnerving thought crossed his mind, “Is uh… Is Usami the only one that can watch through the cameras?”

“As far as I know.”

“Could somebody else?” Hajime pressed, “Would that be… possible? Maybe the people who left us here?

Chiaki was quiet, eyes going up to look at the clouded sky while she thought. Hajime knew by now it took her some time to think through how she was going to say things (Kazuichi had called it ‘lagging,’but Hajime didn’t know what that meant). He didn’t mind waiting for her to find the words she needed.

“Maybe.” She finally settled on,  “If Usami can’t get a signal out, they probably can’t get a signal in… That wasn’t them on the bridge earlier, if that’s what you were wondering.”

Hajime had sort of been wondering that, it was a half formed idea in his head before she shot it down. “Then… who was it?”

“I really don’t know.” Chiaki looked almost worried, “There shouldn’t be… anything else able to do something like that.”

The library was big, Hajime’s eyes scanned around the front of it while he thought about what Chiaki was saying. He still wasn’t quite sure what a library was, just that there would be books in here, somewhere.

“You said anything.” He realized, looking back over at her while she blinked at him.

“Huh?”

“You said thing. Not anyone, anything.”

“Oh.”

“So what does that mean?” He took a step towards the library, eyeing the monitor and camera mounted to a fake tree nearby, “A thing that could talk and get in the speakers like that… would be… like you?”

“I guess.” She glanced away, “Maybe.”

“But you’re not a thing.” He protested, her eyes immediately flicked back to him, “You’re alive, at least I think you are. You seem really alive to me.”

There was a pause, Chiaki’s pink eyes scanning around his face like she needed to be sure of what he was saying, but finally she smiled. The same little smile Hajime was used to by now, one of the first things he saw when he woke up.

“Thank you, Hajime. I appreciate that.”

Hajime just nodded, a little smile of his own tugging up on his face as a silent way to say it was no problem, but he had too much else on his mind right now. “So… are you gonna answer my question?”

“Oh, right.” Chiaki gave a nod of confirmation, blinking and getting a little more serious, “I can tell you more once we’ve gotten past all the security system stuff, I just think there might be something… wrong in the island’s systems.”

“What… what does that mean?”

“I don’t really know for sure yet.” Her expression softening into something apologetic, “We can figure it out together though, right?”

Hajime sighed, nodding along and taking a step forward, “Right, yeah.”

He half expected the door to be locked, he had already been trying to think of ways to get in without a key when the door opened easily. There was a faint musty scent wafting from the building, not… necessarily unpleasant, just old. Like saltwater and… some other smell he couldn’t think of the name of, but it smelled old.

“So we’re looking for a box of computer parts- um,” Chiaki cut her own explanation off, thankfully picking up on the need to explain that word to Hajime before he even had to ask, “You know, wires and stuff. Do you remember all the things attached to you when you first woke up below the hotel?”

He did, he could clearly remember coming out of the water, out of the… pod thing, and all the things attached to him and poking him and sticking to the side of his head.

“Yeah.” He answered shortly, a worried hum escaping him as he stepped into the library and looked around the entrance, “I didn’t like them.”

“That’s fair.” Chiaki tried a smile, letting him pause to feel the old carpet beneath his bare feet, “This will just be one, though. We won’t have to leave it in for very long.”

He took a few more steps in, noting the sets of stairs that went up in either direction with books just left in stacks along the edges of them. There were… so many books here.

He had never actually read a book, that was something that struck him as he bent down and investigated one of the stacks of books and found the pages stuck together and covered in fuzz. The cover of it looked damaged, it looked old and worn, he could barely make out the word “Odyssey” beneath all the water stains and green fuzz growing along the spine, he didn’t know what that meant.

“I think there was a little flood here, or something.” Chiaki commented, walking ahead as a way to urge Hajime forward into what he assumed was the main room, “Usami mentioned water damage in some of the buildings. There might be mold or something… maybe you shouldn’t breathe that in.”

“I can’t not breathe.” Hajime mumbled back, he was pretty sure breathing was mandatory, he hadn’t stopped breathing since he woke up. Chiaki chuckled.

“I just meant we maybe shouldn’t stay in here long.” She smiled, “I don’t want you getting sick.”

His only real frame of reference for getting sick was Kazuichi- unless blood loss counted as a sickness, than he had Byakuya too, but that didn’t feel like the same thing. Kazuichi didn’t seem like he was having a good time when he was sick, and Mikan said that being sick meant doctors had to help you.

He… didn’t like doctors. He should avoid getting sick.

“So you said there’s a box of wires?” He tried to change the subject, eyes flicking around the room and sort of reeling at the sheer amount of books inside of it.

The bottom sections of every shelf had been emptied, only discolored splotches staining the wood. There were tables situated around the room, all sporting thin layers of dust now but with obvious marks that someone had wiped them down and cleaned them at some point, the chairs lifted and set upside down on top of them. The rug and floor looked clean, as far as he could tell, maybe someone cleaned it, too.

Someone must’ve cleaned everything here, just like they had back in the hotel, a lot of things here still seemed… intentional. There were so many things about the island that made it clear someone had taken a lot of care in getting things ready. The cottages were all brand new, the kitchen was filled with food that would last and food that was fresh. The store was mostly full of long lasting food and… bizarre items, but it had been organized- hastily organized, but still. The little farm was fixed up, Gundham had attested to that, repaired and improved from what was just a glorified storage room for animals into some place for them to be somewhat comfortable. There was weird debris on the center island, but just remnants of things, remnants of things littering the streets on this island as well. It had been cleaned, someone cared to clean it, someone wanted this place to be… livable.

For them. They wanted this place to be nice for Hajime’s friends.

This was just another in the long list of evidence that someone really did put care into keeping them here. It wasn’t just an abandoned island, despite how… abandoned it was. There was intent, there was care.

Hajime still didn’t know how he felt about that- conflicted might be the right word for it.

“So the people that brought us here… cleaned up, right?” Hajime asked Chiaki, doing his best to look around for the box but finding himself distracted by everything. There were lots of books, about a lot of different things, most of them seemed to be related to… science. He tilted his head to read words that rang through his head with half formed definitions, thermodynamics, advanced metaphysics, DNA sequences and genetic cataloguing, neurological sciences-

He was starting to get a head ache, maybe there was mold in here.

“As best they could.” Chiaki answered, letting him investigate and occasionally casting the camera and monitor in the corner of the room an anxious glance. He wasn’t sure she could even see it if he wasn’t looking at it, was she just trying to get him to look at it too? Or maybe she could see, he still had no idea how Chiaki worked, really. “It’s a… really small group, I think. I honestly don’t know much about them, but I know they were trying to clean up and have things ready for you guys. The first island is only as good as it is because they cleaned it up. This place used to be completely abandoned, I think.”

“Completely abandoned.” He echoed, looking up from where he had run his finger down the spine of a book about marine biology, “Then why did they bring us here?”

Chiaki paused, looking up to think as she tended to do, Hajime followed her gaze and spied the balcony up above them. That must be where the stairs led to, it looked like there were even more books up there- books and boxes, a large pile of different sized boxes all left up in the corner.

“I don’t think they necessarily… wanted to.” She said carefully, and as he looked back down at her he felt like he could see her struggling to think around the programming hat was probably making this conversation next to impossible. Her face scrunched up in concentration, eyes shifting from looking up to look at him, “You were… in those pods, right? They probably couldn’t move you.”

“They didn’t put us in those?” He pressed his luck a little further, tried to get a little more information since Chiaki was really trying to give it. That hope died off when she just shrugged.

“I was with you, Hajime. I don’t know much about what happened while you were asleep.”

He just blinked, not sure what to say. Chiaki was with him while he was asleep, in the tube, she was with him. She was with him in… the other place too, right? The place where the sky was pink, and he felt… different. The place he could almost see if he closed his eyes and pressed his hands over them like he had last night after Chiaki finally ended their conversation in favor of staring out at the wall.

It wasn’t a dream, he still didn’t think he dreamt when he slept. There were no moving things in his head while he was sleeping.

“There’s boxes up there.” He changed the subject, left it alone for now. They’d get into the island’s system and then he could get all the information he wanted, this was his way forward, he was going to move forward. “Maybe the wire is in one of those?”

“Hm? Maybe.” Chiaki disappeared from his vision in a blink, reappearing a second later back up on the second floor leaning over the railing at him, “Let’s look, yeah?”

He just nodded, walking back out to the front and up the stairs towards the second floor. There were more books stacked along the edges, left in neat little piles, apparently based on how damaged they were. There was a little green sticky note left on top of one, instructing someone called ‘T’ to try and find a place that would maybe be interested in used books. That there was no sense in keeping these if they weren’t going to keep the library, but they shouldn’t just be thrown out if they weren’t ruined.

He wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but whatever.

He reached the second floor with little issue, marveling again at just how many books there were all in one place. Books, boxes, and thinner bundles of paper. Almost a book, but without the cover, held together by little pieces of metal that Hajime could see better when he got closer. One was open already, left on the table, discussing a ‘war’ in something Hajime had never heard of before. More things that didn’t quite make sense, he made a mental note to ask someone what that word was later.

Chiaki sat up on the railing while Hajime moved to the boxes, the little warning of “Be careful.” Spilling out of his mouth before he even comprehended he said it. Chiaki just smiled, thankfully not pointing out to Hajime that she couldn’t actually fall, he had just forgotten. It was just… habit at this point, everyone else was always asking the others to be careful if they did things that could get them hurt.

With a little of that familiar heat- that Chiaki had once helpfully identified as embarrassment for him- rising to his face he turned to the boxes, picking up the first one he found to set it on the wooden table with the war paper and open it up.

No wires inside, just a collection of… cards?

The box was full of little cards, but they were nothing like the playing cards Nekomaru and Ibuki had played with after lunch yesterday. No numbers and little symbols, just printed names and some string of different black and white lines along the bottom, all situated under a black and red logo that took up the center of the card.

“Chiaki?”

“Hajime.”

“What’s… Dangan Ronpa?”

There was a pause, he figured Chiaki saw what he did as he shuffled through all the names he didn’t recognize to see if the box held anything else.

“I’m not sure.” She mumbled, he paused his shuffling as he picked up a card. There was something dried and flaky staining a lot of these cards. Maybe paint? It was a dark reddish brown, almost dusty as he rubbed his thumb along it to reveal another name he didn’t recognize.

“Is it like… something you can’t tell me about?” Hajime asked, “Or do you actually not know?”

“I actually don’t know.” Chiaki responded easily, and he had no reason to doubt her. “I don’t know that much more than you, honestly. I think I just know more about the people keeping us here, I have a little information on them I can’t share unless I have permission.”

“Why wouldn’t they let you tell us?”

“I don’t think they meant for it to be kept from you.” She explained, he glanced back and saw her smiling sympathetically, “They wanted to be here, they wanted to help explain things. They were just making sure all the information about them- and all of you- was safe in case they weren’t here. Does that make sense?”

“Kinda.” He answered noncommittally, about to give up on this weird box when he noticed a name he did recognize.

“Tsu… miki?” he sounded out, because reading tended to be a little hard still, Usami said he needed to get used to it again, “Tsumiki. Isn’t that Mikan’s last name?”

Chiaki was quiet, he looked at the card that read ‘student’ right above her name, tilting his head like that would somehow help this make sense.

“Yeah.” She finally answered, “That’s…. Weird. Are you sure that’s what it says?”

“I think so.” He frowned, slowly letting it slip from his hand and back into the box as he put it aside, “What’s a student?”

“Someone who’s learning something.” Chiaki answered, voice a little less certain than it had sounded before, “Mikan said she was a nursing student, right?”

That felt a little like he was being prompted, he went with it anyway, “I think so.”

“Maybe you should ask her about it then.”

“Maybe.”

He closed that box and moved onto the next one, this one was larger, it took two hands to pick it up, it felt heavier, there was a note written in black marker to dispose of everything inside once it was checked out.

This one seemed more promising.

There were wires in this one, lots of wires, all rolled up and separated at one point but over time must’ve tangled back together slightly. His hand reached up to touch the port in his head without him even thinking about it, he didn’t quite know… what kind of wire he was looking for.

The reality that one of these was going to have to be plugged into his head was starting to set in. That felt weird- that felt so weird and unnatural- something about that made anxiety buzz up the skin on his back like static.

“Hajime…” Chiaki’s voice sounded worried, he was snapped out of his thoughts to listen and heard another sound.

The static wasn’t just from his own anxiety, there was actually static somewhere. Just like from the party, just like when Nagito stabbed Byakuya-

“No, it was that stupid Togami guy.”

That wasn’t a voice he recognized, it came from past Chiaki, laced with static and hitching a little before it came into view.

“What’s wrong?” Another voice responded, slightly softer, still not any voice Hajime recognized.

“Chihiro said the old guy tried to put another tracker in the boat.” Hajime came up to the edge of the railing, ignoring Chiaki’s concerned stare to look at the yellow Monitor in the corner of the library.

“Can’t complain about a free boat, I guess.”

“I fuckin’ guess. I don’t get why Byakuya puts up with him.”

Hajime leaned forward, investigated the screen closer, that was a name he knew. Togami was Byakuya’s last name, they were talking about Byakuya. These were…

Who were these people?

It was footage of the library, from one of the security cameras set up, slightly grainy footage showed someone in a white tank top and pants tossing a few presumably ruined books in a garbage bag. Red hair obscured most of their face, just an annoyed voice to give Hajime any kind of impression of who they were… well that, and the belt with what looked like weapons or tools strapped around their waist. There was another person standing almost out of frame, just the top of a brown ponytail and a hand reaching up to adjust it that was wrapped in bandages.

They were here, at some point, these people were. Hajime all but tripped over his own feet trying to get closer. These were completely new people, this was completely new information, this was new.

“I can’t wait to meet them.” The brown haired person had a feminine voice, taking a step further and seeing the bandages went a little further around their hand, around their wrist, some kind of injury. “Like… actually meet them. It still feels pretty unbelievable.”

“Yeah…” The redhead paused, finally looking up and letting Hajime get a view of their face. Something glitched across the screen for a second, a brief flicker of staticky words and a number in the corner, all he made out was the number four, “Did Taka say anything about them? Is he still down there?”

“I think so.” The other one responded, still just out of frame to where Hajime couldn’t learn anything else, he kept his focus on the redhead instead, on the way their face furrowed in discomfort and confusion as their companion continued, “He’s been trying to figure out… what’s happening in there still.”

“I wish we could just ask-“ Hajime jolted as the audio cut to static, a purposeful feeling blare of sound before it cut back in to the brown haired person speaking again.

“- don’t think that would be smart.”

“I know, Aoi.”

“Taka said we need to take it really slow with him, still.”

“I- I know. I’ve been doing my best, man.”

The redhead sighed, kicking at the garbage bag and shaking his head, “I guess we should keep cleaning, huh?”

“I’d rather do this then mess with all those freaky drones.” The brown haired person finally stepped into frame more, moving to put a hand on the red head’s shoulder, ”It’s gonna be worth it, right?”

“Yeah… it’ll be good.”

Hajime was so close to the screen now, as close as he could be without literally climbing over the railing to see better. He was leaning so far over it, head tilted at a bizarre angle to try and see the screen clearly, see anything he could, watching intently till the screen suddenly cut back to static.

“Wh… what?” The disappointment in his own voice was shocking, he had barely even had time to actually process that feeling before the another sound cut through the static, one that immediately sent a wave of dread crashing through him. Waves of fear crashing and soaking his bones as a monotone voice crawled it’s way through the monitor’s speaker.

“I… see…. You.”

Hajime had his confusion over what fear was and how it felt, he was afraid in different ways, and he was struggling to identify the differences between fear and anxiety and all the strange new overlapping terms that came with that.

This was fear. He was afraid.

It moved through him like electricity shooting through his nerves, like the shock Chiaki had sent through his head earlier, like how the waves had crashed over his head while he tried to swim and get away- but this was inside him. This was in his veins and washing through his brain and settling every nerve ending on fire while he stumbled backwards and tripped over one of the boxes.

The static stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The noise stopped all together, and Hajime’s own roaring heartbeat in his ears was the only sound he could hear while Chiaki came and knelt next to where he was frozen stiff.

It was five seconds before he moved again, he counted. Two seconds were spent expecting another noise, the next two tore his gaze from the back of the monitor he’d been watching to try and see if there were any cameras in this room he hadn’t identified yet. The last one was a glance at Chiaki, at the only person he had with him right now who wasn’t even physically here, technically.

“Hey, Hajime?” Her voice was quiet, like she didn’t want to be overheard, “I think… I think we should go.”

“Chiaki, what was that?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know or you can’t tell me?” His voice came out in a snippy whisper, his grit teeth and frozen stiff body only faltering once he glanced at her again and saw her flinch at his tone.

“I really don’t know.” She was scared too, that should’ve been more obvious, her hands were gripping the fabric of her skirt where she was sitting on her knees, her pink eyes staring back at him with more intensity than he could remember ever seeing on her, “I don’t know what any of this means. But I think we need to go, okay?”

“… Okay.” He whispered back, forcing himself to sit up.

He stared right at the camera in the corner, pointed down at an angle that would have them just barely in range, if even at all. It was angled to where he could’ve been seen while leaning to look at the monitor, that could’ve… been real.

That was the voice from the bridge, the voice from the party. That was the voice that… scared everyone. It did something to them, even more than it had scared Hajime just then. He didn’t know what this meant.

He slowly stood, his eyes shifted back to the box on the counter- he could figure out what this meant. His next step towards answers was… right here. He could do this.

The voice- whatever it was, whoever it was- was just a voice. Voices couldn’t do anything to hurt him.

It was still quiet while he stepped back towards the table, while he looked back into the box and forced himself to speak again just to be sure, he had to be sure. “The cable… is in this box, right?”

Chiaki was peering over his shoulder, he could almost feel her against him, in a weird buzz of warmth that didn’t quite feel real pressing against his arm where one of his hands was clenched by his side.

“I think so.” Chiaki quietly confirmed, either seeing for herself or seeing through his eye while he used his other hand to shuffle things around in the box. Mostly wires, some other small machines underneath. “Are you bringing that with us?”

He nodded, closing it up again without another word and listening for any other sounds in the library. It was so quiet now. It was so quiet he could just barely hear the wind and the waves outside, that had been comforting when he walked in. It felt wrong now, it felt like it shouldn’t be this quiet. Whatever that voice was didn’t just… stop before.

It hadn’t stopped on the bridge, at least it hadn’t till Hajime had already jumped off the bridge and nearly drowned himself, it hadn’t stopped at the party till after Byakuya had already been stabbed and Teru had already been… terrified. It hadn’t stopped before. Why was it stopping now? What the hell was it?

This felt too quiet.

He lifted the box, it wasn’t heavy, not exactly, holding it up against his chest and heading towards the stairs to go back down.

Chiaki said nothing, appearing at the bottom of the stairs as he nearly tripped down the last step and started trying to think through how he’d get back. He had Mahiru’s power, he could… use it. He didn’t know how to use it, really, but he could figure it out. Didn’t she say she just… thought about where she wanted to go? She said something about knowing what the place looked like, what was he supposed to-

“I- I promise- I promise I’ll do better this time-“

Kazuichi’s voice made him freeze mid step, crystal clear and terrified back in the main room of the library behind him. It broke off into an easy laugh, forced and panicked sounding, Hajime took a hesitant step back towards the room with the monitor, “I can do it, really, ha- I’ll make sure it’s-“

“Good.” Nekomaru’s voice cut in next the slightest hint of static to the words now, fainter sounds like mechanical whirring and hissing behind him, “It… feels…”

Nekomaru’s laugh- it couldn’t be Nekomaru’s laugh, it didn’t sound like him at all, it hardly even sounded human- chilled Hajime to the bone, arms curling around the box like they could bring him any sort of comfort.

“Everything… hurts-“ His voice cracked, hitched, another laugh came out, “It’s-“

“Amazing!” That was Hiyoko’s voice, Hajime stepping forward in a much shakier way to peer back at the monitor, only hesitating when he realized that would put him back in view of the camera, that it meant whoever- whatever- was possibly looking through the cameras would be able to see him too. “It was so amazing, she’s so amazing, I’ve never seen anything so perfect in my entire life. She even had it synchronized, all slit open at the same time! You should’ve heard how everyone else in the room was screaming when they-“

“Still can’t find him? You poor thing…” Sonia’s voice was low, unlike he’d ever heard it before, almost… demeaning, “If he’s still out there, I’m certain you’ll find him, don’t give up yet.”

It was like she was taunting someone, barely contained glee seeping out of the speakers with her words.

This wasn’t real. This was a trick, or something. It couldn’t be real.

Chiaki was saying something behind him, quiet and urgent, Hajime couldn’t even hear her over the static pouring out of the monitor’s speakers again as he forced himself to step back into the room, he had to see it was fake. He had to know what was happening.

“After all, I doubt he’d survive without having a tool-“

“-Like… you.”

Nagito’s voice interrupted Sonia’s, quiet and nearly drowned in the buzzing static that had been slowly raising with every unnerving clip of audio. The screen was just fuzz, just… nothing. Nothing for Hajime to scan over for any kind of information while he heard Nagito’s laugh come out like a choked breath.

“Because that’s what you are, right?” He sounded… scared? Or maybe excited, it was hard to tell, but there was some kind of emotion dripping off every whispered word. Hajime didn’t know which would be worse.  “I can’t believe… someone like me is even able to talk to something like you, K-“

“Hajime, move!”

Chiaki’s voice was accompanied by electricity shooting down his spine, forcing him to duck to the side just as a loud bang flooded his ears and something shattered and splintered the wood floor past him.

He snapped his head over to the doorway of the library to find…

What the hell was that?

It was flying, whatever it was, black and metallic and hovering in an uneven and sporadic way as it slowly floated closer into the room. A camera like the ones Usami used all over the islands was cracked,  but still trained on him, staring right at him, a small light next to it blinking sporadically and off rhythm. Something hung from the bottom of it, folded out and pointed right at Hajime as it smoked and shot off sparks.

That was a gun, something in his brain clicked, that was a gun and it could kill him.

“Hajime we have to run.” Chiaki’s urgent voice echoed his own idea, the sound of that stupid voice laughing back behind him forgotten as he braced himself against the wall with one hand and waited to see what this flying thing would do next.

The pink light seemed to focus on him, trained like a thin line across the dusty room till it was pointed directly at his chest. He needed to move.

He shot forward and dove behind one of the other tables, three loud bang, bang, bangs shooting against the shelves as he scrambled out from that hiding place to make a break for the door-

His hand slipped as he tried to push himself up to his feet, on ice- on the frost spreading from his hands in sporadic and jagged patterns all around where his palm was trying to steady himself against the now slick surface.

He… had held hands with Sonia before. He had her power too.

Bang!

 Something shot and splintered the leg of the table he was crouched under, flecks of woods slapping against his face and the heat from the shot so intense it melted the frost that had begin creeping up the table leg as well.

He needed to keep moving.

Making a direct move for the door would mean leaving himself open for a shot, he had nothing he could throw to try and cause a distraction, and he absolutely had no idea how to use Mahiru’s power to get out of this. He need some way to get this…thing to stop looking at him, stop laughing at him…

He had Gundham’s power too, right? Gundham touched his arm this morning, too.

Gundham said it was instinctive, that he knew his shadows like they were a part of him, that he could just think of how it would move and it would-

So Hajime looked back, at the shadow wavering and twitching beneath him and by his feet, how it stretched and shrunk back like it was being pulled, like a wave.

He tried to think of it surging out like a wave away from his feet, and in a small, twitching, disorienting mass of writing black matter a wave crashed out from the shadows around his feet with such force it shook the table and knocked one of the chairs off to the floor.

Hajime ran, and heard the machine shooting again behind him.

The frost made him slip, he hardly even registered it, something must’ve scraped against him but with the rapid fire shots booming through the air behind him he didn’t pay any attention to it. He just had to go, he had to get away from whatever this was.

He ran for the front door, nearly tripping over a stray book as the box tumbled from his hand and he spun around as fast as possible to close the door he’d left open behind him. He pulled it shut with a slam that rattled the door frame, and the frost spreading from his hands coated half the wooden surface of the door before he managed to yank his hands away.

“Are you okay?” Chiaki’s voice was right in his ear again, he couldn’t see her as he stumbled backwards into the box and bent down to pick it up without taking his eyes off the library door. “We need to go back, this isn’t safe.”

“I- I got that.” Hajime managed to huff out, hugging the box against his chest again and catching his breath for just one more second before he turned to run back towards the bridge. he was stumbling, he kept tripping to the left, his whole side felt like it was going numb.

“Use Mahiru’s power!” Chiaki was yelling, not demanding, just urgent, he turned to the side and saw her floating next to him. Not even bothering to make it look like she was running, no time to make herself look more real, just a worried stare and frantic glancing around as he ran and she followed.

“I- I can’t. I don’t know where to go.” He shook his head, he couldn’t focus, he didn’t… he didn’t know what to think about. His cottage? The statue on the center island? Just… just the bridge? Literally anywhere but here.

They passed the ruins again, Hajime’s already panicked heart rate spiking again as he saw more of those things flying around above the hollowed out building. Not many, three or four, rising up out of broken windows and the huge hole in the ceiling before they hovered in Hajime’s direction. He could see the pink light from here, and they were getting closer, fast. Much faster than the last one.

“Hajime-“

“I see them.” He couldn’t help but snap back, running and feeling sand splatter against his leg when the next shot missed his leg by inches. “I- Okay. I- We gotta get out of here.”

“Just use Mahiru’s power. You can do it.” Chiaki tried to encourage, “Think about where you want to be, picture being there.”

“I can’t think right now!” Hajime ducked to the side, avoiding another shot and turning and hurting a raw and jagged chunk of ice towards the machines flying towards him.

It hit, the machine sputtered and veered off course and away from him, and something about that was even more insane than the fact that he’d been stupid enough to think that was a good idea in the first place.

He could do this, he needed to think.

He ditched the road towards the bridge, sprinting back through the brush and weeds to the beach where he’d dragged himself up onto shore. He needed to think fast, because there were not many places left to run.

He wanted to go to the kitchen. The kitchen was where the others were. That meant he’d be safe, right? He wanted to be safe. He didn’t want to be shot. He wanted to go to sit in his seat and eat breakfast and he wanted to be away from here and-

The flash of light around him was completely disorienting, warm fuzz covering his skin in the brief second an ear ringing snap sounded and he found himself tripping face first into a wooden chair.

There was screaming all around him as he hit the ground, the cardboard box tumbling from his hands and getting partially crushed as he fell sideways onto it. His head spun, he gripped the sides of his head against the noise and tried to calm his breathing after sprinting across the island. Propping himself up on his elbows on the restaurant floor as he struggled to calm down.

But he… was in the restaurant. He was at the hotel.

Everyone was crowded in front of him. He was at the hotel. He was safe.

Relief flooded his lungs as he finally let himself relax, dropping back onto his back and letting a worried excuse of an out of breath laugh escape him while Akane pushed past Mikan to try and help him back up to a sitting position.

“What the hell happened to you?” She was pulling him up by the shoulders, bracing him still even though he was more than fine to sit up on his own, “Mahiru said-“

“Oh my god!” Mahiru slammed into his side, dropping to her knees and letting out a shaky sob against his shoulder. She pulled back just as he started to try and move an arm to hug her back, wiping her eyes and staring at him with a shuddering breath and face screwed up in a poor excuse for a scowl, “I- I can’t believe you just-“

She paused, huffed, wiped at her eyes again and held onto one of Hajime’s hands, “I was so worried about you, Hajime. I- I’m so sorry I just left.”

Hiyoko had stepped up behind Mahiru while she spoke, eyes flicking from the redhead to Hajime with an emotion he couldn’t quite identify. Her stare slowly moved from Hajime’s face down to his side, almost like she was looking behind him eyes going wide as she took a large step back and turned to the rest of the group.

“Mikan! Get over here.” Hajime jolted as she yelled, turning back to Mahiru and pushing her shoulder a little, “Mahiru, move-“

“What’s going on?” Hajime was genuinely confused, Mahiru too, her own question about what was happening cut off as her eyes followed Hiyoko’s down to what she was staring at.

Hajime was… injured.

“Oh my god.” Mahiru didn’t move completely, held onto Hajime’s hand tighter as she scooted to the side more and made room for where Hiyoko was actively dragging Mikan over when she had hesitated to get closer.

“You were injured?” Gundham’s voice made him flinch, why did it make him flinch? Hajime jolted as he stared down at the wound that had ripped through his sand covered and now singed white shirt. “What exactly happened on that accursed island?”

“I- I don’t know.” Hajime answered honestly, his free hand that was moving towards the wound stopped by Akane as she made a grunt of disapproval and held his wrist in place.

It was a weird pink color, it left his skin ripped, indented and… burned looking. Blistered and raw. Not… not a cut, not like Byakuya’s, he didn’t know what to think about it. It almost reminded him of the meat Teru had cooked the other day, when Hajime watched him pan sear something called bacon, was he seared? What… what did thing shoot him with?

It did hurt, a little… his whole side felt sort of numb. At least it wasn’t really bleeding, that was good, right?

Mikan was basically shoved down on her knees in front of him, her squeak of fear could’ve been from Hiyoko being rough or from the sight of Hajime’s side.

“It’s not bleeding.” Hajime said for lack of anything else, trying to pull his hand away from Akane while she grunted out another negative sound and kept her teeth grit as she stared at his side, too. She didn’t seem to handle injuries well, it must make her uncomfortable. “I.. I’m okay.”

“No, Hajime.” Mikan’s voice held more authority than usual for a second, the previous fear in her expression overridden by concern as she shook her head, “Th- this is a bad burn, what happened on that island?”

“We’ll get to that in a fuckin’ minute.” Hajime startled again at Fuyuhiko’s voice, looking away from Mikan to find the short blonde standing off to the side by Peko. Glaring, as always, but less angry and more… confused looking than anything. His eye flicking from Hajime’s side up to his eyes like he was having trouble believing what he was looking at. “Just heal the idiot first, then we can hear what the hell he was doing over there on his own.”

“Wh- What are you even doing here?” Hajime couldn’t help but ask, a little confused that nobody else seemed to be reacting to Fuyuhiko’s presence, everyone seemed more concerned about staring at Hajime’s side while Mikan took a closer look- Kazuichi even gagged, though he tried to hide it behind his hat as he quickly glanced away. “Why are you… with everyone else?”

Fuyuhiko scoffed, glancing around the room for a second before he shrugged, “I heard Koizumi screaming about you, she was yelling to everyone the second she clicked back to the pier where the cottages are. She had it in her head you were gonna get fuckin’ killed or something. Just thought I’d see what the fuss is about.”

Hajime almost smiled at that, just at how ridiculous that sounded, it didn’t have the chance to reach his face when Mikan suddenly placed a hand over his side.

Pain made his vision go white- he hadn’t felt it as much before but was rocketing through his nerves now. Akane’s hand pressed over his mouth when he let out a pained shout and tried to jerk to the side- his outcry cut off as a new sensation went through his body.

He couldn’t move, it was like cold liquid had formed through his muscles and frozen him in place, he was stuck.

He was stuck and Mikan was hurting him. Someone was hurting him and he couldn’t move-

“Hey, it’s okay.” Sonia’s hands were on him next, while Akane’s moved from his mouth and set to moving his hair from his eyes. Sonia was rubbing circles on his back that he could barely feel with the weird numbing feeling through his entire body. “Don’t… we do not need ice right now, you don’t need to be scared, it’s just Mikan. She’s helping.”

He didn’t even realize he’d been making ice, didn’t notice the frost spreading around his legs till Sonia was trying to calm him down. It wasn’t as pretty as Sonia’s, it didn’t swirl and branch out like her’s did. It was jagged, sporadic, like it didn’t know what it was supposed to do.

“Okay, okay,” Mikan finally moved her hand, a nervous sigh escaping her as she sat back on her knees, “I- um, h- how are you feeling? Is that… that didn’t hurt, right?”

It took a second for feeling to reignite through his nerves, pulling his hands away from Akane finally and shifting to look down at his side again.

The burn- that was what Mikan had called it- was… gone. A faint discolored line along where the deepest part had been, but… it was fine. He felt fine. It didn’t hurt at all. Not even really… a scar. Not like all his other scars.

Without really thinking he raised his shirt a little more, just to see the older, lighter patches of skin he assumed were scars since they sort of looked like the one on his face. The worst was on his hip, more towards the front than the burn Mikan had just healed. Did burns not leave scars? Was that just because Mikan saved him?

“I- It won’t scar, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Mikan smiled nervously, leaning forward slightly and raising a hand like she might touch him again before she clasped her hands together instead. “Um, is it okay? P- please say something, if I messed up I can-“

“It’s fine. Sorry.” Hajime finally let himself relax again, just a fraction, “I… thanks. I didn’t even know it hit me.”

“What hit you?” Byakuya asked, staring down at him over the rim of their glasses, and Hajime nearly stiffened again.

The people on the screen had said Byakuya’s name. Like they knew him.

The voice had… all of their voices. He had heard so many of them speaking through the screen.

“I… it was this… machine thing.” Hajime forced himself to speak, “I don’t know what it was, it chased me when I tried to take, uh, this.”

He shifted his leg so it wasn’t half over the box anymore, some of the cables had already spilled from it.

“Chiaki said I needed a cable so I can.. try to help us. Something about the security systems.”

Byakuya just nodded, though it didn’t quite seem like they understood. Glancing around before gesturing for Hajime to stand. “Help him up, we should talk about this.”

“Someone needs to get Nekomaru.” Akane pointed out, and for the first time Hajime noticed he wasn’t here, “He went to help Usami, someone should stop him before he gets to that other island, right?”

Already on it, Usami knows you’re back. Chiaki’s words moved along the bottom of his vision as he stood back up, Mikan fussing with his singed shirt as he nodded to seemingly no one.

“Chiaki said she told Usami,” he informed everyone else, “But maybe we should go check on them anyway.”

“I’ll go!” Ibuki offered with a grin, “Ibuki’s fast! I’ll be right ba-“

The door to the restaurant opened, cutting off her sentence into a quiet ‘oh’ as Hajime turned to look. He wasn’t alone in his shocked gasping at the sight of who peered inside.

Teru was standing there, slightly hunched and not nearly as put together as normal, his hair hanging down in front of his face and his eyes squinted like he was almost suspicious. He glanced around the room, seeming to check over every person, the hardened look on his face only softening after he had made a sweep of the room.

Finally he laughed, a smug chuckle like Hajime had grown used to before he sighed, “Rendered you all speechless with my good looks, huh?”

“H-hey, man.” Kazuichi broke the silence, nervous smile twitching up as Teru stepped inside and put his hands on his hips. “You uh… you feeling okay?”

Teru’s smile faltered, he glanced around the group again before he managed to pull it back up on his face, “I think so, yeah. I just… uh… I felt-”

He trailed off, his eyes landing on Hajime, “What happened to you?”

“I’ll go get Nekomaru.” Fuyuhiko finally decided instead of letting Hajime answer, surprisingly cooperative, Hajime still didn’t know why he was here at all, “Then we’re all gonna fucking talk about this. I don’t care if I gotta wring it outta that stupid bunny myself- we’re gonna find out what’s going on here.”

Chapter Text

“I’m going to be honest, I was not… entirely forthcoming about my reasons for insisting we have a party.”

Byakuya ‘officially’ started the meeting about a second after Usami frantically hopped through the restaurant doors, rushing towards Hajime as fast as she could and shrieking about how he’d been too reckless.

She had made him kneel down again, so she could look at him better, squish his cheeks with her paws and inspect him from every angle like that would help her determine he was okay more than Mikan’s assurances to back up his own. He was fine… as fine as he could be. Just tired, a little sore, (and maybe scared, maybe, he hadn’t figured that part out yet) but way better off than he probably would’ve been if Mikan hadn’t healed his burn.

He was also… very confused now, but when was he not confused?

Actually getting the meeting started proved to be a little difficult, with Usami in borderline hysterics, breakfast still on the table, and Teru’s hesitance to explain anything about his mental state other than that he was ‘fine now’ through a tense smile, everyone was slow to get back on the same page.

There was also another obvious issue, one that Hajime hesitated to bring up, but felt the need to despite how uncomfortable the idea made him.

“… Do we need to tell Nagito about this?” Hajime asked after Byakuya had pushed him down into his usual seat, watching the blonde head to their own spot at the end of the table to begin the meeting, “Like, I know he did something really bad, but is it smart to leave him on his own for this long?“

“Don’t… don’t worry about him.” Nekomaru grumbled, staring down at his food as he poked at it with his chopsticks, “He’s not gonna cause any problems.”

“You sound certain.” Peko commented with her eyes narrowed, Kazuichi awkwardly cleared his throat to get Hajime’s attention instead.

“Come on, man, after what he tried to do to you why are you even worried about him?” He tried to give a reassuring smile, “Let’s just move on, yeah?”

“What’re you getting at?” Fuyuhiko was joining in on Peko’s questioning, still not sitting at the table, but pacing back behind it so he could still hear what was being said, “You two are being fuckin’ weird.”

“N-no we’re not.” Nekomaru protested, before a pointed look from Kazuichi made him falter, “I mean, nobody is being weird. We should just… move on. Like Kaz said. Nagito’s fine. We’re moving on.”

Byakuya raised an eyebrow from their end of the table, glancing between the two and leaning forward to rest their palms on the table, “You two are almost certainly up to something.”

“Are we doing this meeting or not, huh?” Kazuichi was slightly better at lying than Nekomaru, but the fact that they were both nervous was obvious even to Hajime. The  metal in Hajime’s head getting warmer against his skin was another obvious indication, it really seemed like Kazuichi might be able to affect metal without realizing… maybe he should mention that at some point. Burns were bad, apparently, he probably didn’t need one around his face when it was already sort of messed up.

“Now, now,” Usami was sitting in the tall chair again, after Gundham had snaked a shadow- literally, it looked like a snake, just like the ones in the book Gundham had shown him on the farm- across the room for the rabbit to sit in, “We don’t need to act all suspicious of each other, I’m sure if we ask nicely, they’ll tell us what’s going on.”

She tilted her head as she looked from Kazuichi to Nekomaru, finally settling on the pink haired one despite the fact that Nekomaru was visibly nervous now.

“I asked you to keep an eye on Nagito’s cottage when I went to check on Hajime and Mahiru out on that… scary bridge.” She began carefully, “Did something happen?  Did Nagito say something mean?”

“Nothing happened.” Kazuichi insisted through a mouthful of food, pointedly looking down at the table, “Who cares?”

“You don’t actually expect us to believe that, do you?” Teru had his arms crossed in his seat, raising an eyebrow, “You’ve got the big guy here so hot under the collar I’d almost guess you two were-“

“We didn’t do anything bad!” Nekomaru’s nervous interjection cut off whatever Teru was going to say, his fist slamming down on the table and rattling the cups and plates. “We just… made sure he couldn’t go anywhere while we were all checking on-“

Kazuichi loudly coughed- fake and forced sounding- glaring in Nekomaru’s direction now before he caught Hajime’s stare and faltered. He hesitated, set his chopsticks down- or tried to, anyway- the small metal sticks stayed hovering an inch above the table while he huffed and slumped back against his seat.

“We tied him up, okay?” He admitted, pointedly avoiding everyone’s staring, “I- I don’t feel good about it or anything, but with Hajime on his own I didn’t want him to be able to sneak up on him and… you know…”

“You just tied him up and left him somewhere?” Mahiru asked in disbelief, opening her mouth again to say something else when Nekomaru’s loud sigh of relief interrupted.

“Man, I’m so glad we’re coming clean about this! I hate keeping secrets from people.” He visibly relaxed before his expression grew serious again, “I hate that we… had to do that, too. I’m not planning on keeping him like that forever. I just…”

He paused, his eyes flicking from Teruteru to Byakuya to Hajime, “After everything that happened, I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”

Teru perked up slightly, his expression furrowing in confusion as he glanced over at Hajime, “What happened to you at the party?”

Hajime blinked, unable to tell if the unease creeping down his spine was from the situation or the fact that Teru still seemed… weird. They still didn’t actually know what had happened to him, Hajime realized, and it looked like he still might not have fully bounced back to normal. This was a different kind of uncomfortable than how Teru usually left Hajime feeling.

And if it wasn’t for the borderline suspicion flashing across Teruteru’s face when Hajime hesitated to respond he may have laughed at that passing thought.

“I… Nagito was trying to kill me, not Byakuya.”

“That’s right.” Byakuya agreed, trying to take control of the conversation again, Teru’s stare lingered a second too long, “And we still have no idea why, do we?”

Usami sadly shook her head, looking back to where Kazuichi had gotten back to picking at his food, “Boys, you said you had him… tied up? Was he awake when you did that?? Was he scared? That was not a very nice thing to do.”

“He shanked a guy and you’re worried about how he feels?” Fuyuhiko grumbled under his breath as he returned to pacing, “That’s the least of what he deserves.”

Kazuichi slowly shook his head, looking uncomfortable now, “No. He was… ugh, he was like weirdly cooperative about it.”

“Didn’t seem to bother him at all.” Nekomaru added, scratching at one of the scars on his face, “Even tried to reassure me when I apologized for doing it.”

“There’s something seriously wrong with that guy,” Kazuichi spoke like it was a warning, voice low and serious, Hiyoko scoffed.

“That’s hilarious coming from the freak holding him hostage.”

“I didn’t want anyone getting hurt!” Kazuichi argued, a crack in his voice despite the resolve in his eyes, “He tried to kill Hajime! A- and he stabbed someone! He could try killing someone again! He said that himself!”

“He what?” Hajime’s question made him falter, Kazuichi reached up and tugged at his hat while one of his chopsticks started to curl in on itself. “Did he… actually say that?”

Nekomaru was the one to step in and explain, a worried hum escaping him before he spoke, “We… tied Nagito to his bed- don’t make that face, Teruteru- We just wanted to make sure he couldn’t get away and hurt someone while I went to help Usami and everyone else was… panicking.”

Hajime couldn’t help the weird mix of feelings in his chest at that, this whole situation felt so wrong still, but maybe it was a little comforting to know everyone panicked because he was missing. That meant they… cared, right? Was that what that meant? Or were they just worried he’d sneak off and do something horrible, too?

“He didn’t resist it all.” Nekomaru continued grimly, “But he wanted us to know he could.”

“‘I could kill you right now, if I wanted to’ he said.” Kazuichi did a poor impression of Nagito, “Those were his exact words, he looked me dead in the eye when he said it.”

There was an uncomfortable pause, the only sound was Mikan’s whimper from the other side of Hajime. After another beat of silence Peko spoke, eyes flicking back to where Fuyuhiko’s pacing had come to a halt.

“If he really thought he could, then… why didn’t he?” She asked quietly, the whole table silent while they waited for an answer.

“He said we had too much potential.” Nekomaru grumbled, and Hajime noticed Fuyuhiko’s hands curling up into fists in his periphery, “Tried to get me to agree with him, he said he wants to see what all of us will do... or what we could do, or something.”

Hajime wanted to ask another question, more for selfish reasons than the good of the group, it felt almost like an inappropriate thing to ask, considering what it sounded like Nagito was acting like while they were with him.

He wanted to know what Nagito thought of him now, so he would know he needed to think about a Nagito. He needed… parameters. He needed to know if the first person he met- first human person, the first person other than Chiaki- was… a threat.

He needed to know who was a threat, and who was still safe. All the conflicting things he’d seen and heard on the other island had him more unsure of where he stood with everyone than he had been before. These were literally the only people in his life- what was he supposed to do if he couldn’t trust them anymore?

Why was Teru still staring at him?

“Did he say anything about Hajime?” Ibuki ended up asking his question for him, leaning forward again to see Nekomaru’s face better, “Does he still want him dead? Or are they cool now?”

“Definitely not cool.” Hajime mumbled to himself, Nekomaru shook his head.

“Not… really.” He shrugged, his nervous gaze moving towards Hajime again “Just asked how you were feeling.”

“W-well that’s, um, nice.” Mikan tried with an uneasy smile, filling the silence Hajime left while he stared down at the table. “He’s checking on your health, that could be nice.”

“That’s the spirit.” Usami encouraged, Mikan’s barely present smile faltered into worry.

“Unless of course he was lying, he is in a… p-precarious situation. Lots of psychosis patients will try to lie to get out of restraints, you know-“

“So what are we supposed to do with him?” Akane cut off Mikan’s sentence, it devolved into a quiet whimper, “We can’t just leave him tied up forever, right?”

Byakuya frowned, adjusting their glasses before they spoke, “Based on what his… ‘enhancement’ might be, I doubt any kind of restraints or ‘house arrest’ like Usami attempted will have any lasting effect while we’re all stuck here.”

“Why not?” Hajime suddenly realized something else, he had no idea what Nagito’s power was, that had somehow just… never come up. “What… what can he do?”

He knew what Nagito’s power felt like- he had felt it briefly when Nagito touched him before the party, he just didn’t know what he was feeling at the time. It had been weird warm waves of something just under his skin, pressure around his fingertips, in his chest, his head.

He didn’t know Fuyuhiko’s power either, he wasn’t sure anybody here other than Usami did. Fuyuhiko had never even looked at his own handbook, right? Did he even know what he was able to do?

“He can, uh-“ Nekomaru seemed to be searching for the right word, “It’s something about energy? Or molecules?”

Usami shook her head a little, “Nagito does… manipulate energy in the air around him, and… energy stored in other things. It’s a little unstable, I don’t have a lot of data on how exactly it manifests, honestly. It is definitely more… on the dangerous side of things, a lot of things could go wrong if he’s not careful.”

She quickly tried to perk up, it looked almost forced, “But that’s okay- that’s what you’re all here to do, remember? Learn how to live with your powers in safe and healthy-“

“Usami.” Hajime spoke up without really meaning to, his exasperation and nerves getting the better of him, “Can you just… be honest, please?”

Usami was still for a second, ears drooping slightly, head tilting, “I- I wouldn’t lie to you, Hajime.”

“I didn’t say that.” He tried to think through his words carefully, conversations like this were exhausting, why couldn’t people just say what they mean? “I just meant… look, I know there’s some stuff you can’t tell us, your… programming won’t let you, or something-“

“How the hell do you know that?” Fuyuhiko’s one visible eye was immediately glaring at him, Hajime shrugged.

“Chiaki told me. That’s… that’s why I went to the other island.”

“Right… you just went there because she told you to.” Mahiru’’s voice was almost… pitying, “Hajime, are you really sure you should just be listening to her like that? You could’ve gotten killed.”

“I- I didn’t go just because she told me to.” Hajime protested, “I went so I could figure out what’s going on. Usami won’t tell us- or uh, can’t tell us. She legitimately can’t tell us some things, Chiaki said if I can connect to the island security system, I could find a way to figure out what we need to know.”

Okay, so we’re telling Usami now I guess?

Chiaki’s words across his vision made him stiffen, he had actually forgotten about this being a secret form Usami. Oh god. He tried to glance and see the rabbit’s reaction, his focus was stolen by Ibuki leaning across the table to get a better look at him.

“Hajime, are you suuuuure you’re not a robot?” She was leaning to look at his red eye, elbows on the table and her hair nearly falling into her food before Sonia moved to hold it all back for her, “That sounded like a lot of robot stuff to me. I’ve listened to a lot of sci-fi rock operas, I know robot stuff.”

“You mentioned programming, too.” Hiyoko looked like she was almost studying him, or more than likely judging him, “That’s a robot word.”

“It’s okay if you are!” Ibuki was trying to be assuring, it only made the indignation steadily igniting in Hajime’s chest burn brighter, “We can have a robot friend- we’ll still love you! I’ll even write a song about you-“

“We’re getting off topic.” Byakuya gently tapped a finger on the table like that may regain Ibuki’s attention, it seemed to work well enough, she glanced back and sheepishly smiled before sitting back in her seat and letting Sonia pull her hair back in a ponytail. “Hajime, you said you were getting more information?”

“I- I think I did, I think I can.” Hajime was a little uncertain now, eyes glancing from Byakuya to Usami and back, “I saw… some things that didn’t make sense over there. But I think if I can get past whatever security stuff is preventing Usami from… being completely open with us, it’ll help things make sense.”

He risked a glance at Usami, at her hesitant and borderline remorseful body language, “That… that would be good, right? I’m just trying to help.”

She hummed, shifting slightly on her feet before she nodded, “That… might be good. I’m trying to help you kids, too.”

“Yeah? You’re doing a crap job so far.” Hiyoko scoffed, Usami’s mood seemed to sink even more. The little rabbit stared down at her wand for a moment more before perking up and pointing it at Hajime.

“Oh! But if you tell me what you know already- I can talk about more things! I can talk about things you already know!” She seemed more excited now, almost beaming, “That way we can talk a little more before you try doing something as drastic as plugging your sweet little noggin into a computer… that doesn’t sound fun at all.”

“If you can do that, why haven’t you mentioned it before?” Byakuya questioned, Usami rocked on her feet some more.

“Well… it didn’t make much sense to before, you don’t really seem to remember anything.” Usami shrugged, “We’ve talked about things a little bit, I really have been doing everything I can, I just can’t break these rules!”

“Pacts are binding, including those already within us.” Gundham agreed solemnly, “Instincts are a kind of programming, we are all beholden to some mortal power in some way…”

“… yeah.” Akane blinked, not quite agreement, more like she was trying to decipher what Gundham said, “If she couldn’t really say anything, I guess it wasn’t… really her fault.”

Hajime was also trying to decipher Gundham’s words, he knew what instincts were and what programming was, it was interesting to know those things were related.

But that wasn’t exactly relevant, he turned his focus back to Usami while Kazuichi scooted back in his chair to face the box that Hajime had brought back from the second island.

“So I just need to… tell you what I know?” He tried to clarify, a little confused still, “And you can give me information based on that?”

“Right right! Gold star!” Usami cheered as she did a little bounce in her seat, “I’m really trying to work with you kids- let me prove it!”

Everyone was waiting for Hajime to speak, expectant stares mixed with Fuyuhiko’s tense glare, Teru’s obvious discomfort as he poked his chopsticks at the food he had only taken a few bites of, and Mahiru’s look of almost… fear.

Byakuya nodded, though, prompting him to speak where his nerves had prevented him from doing so. Okay, he could speak, he could do that.

“While I was on the island, uh, some weird things happened… I’m not really sure where to start?” He was less confident sounding then he would’ve liked, he folded his hands together on the table and tried to focus. “Uh, I went to the library to get that box, and while I was there the monitor started playing a video on it’s own. It was of two people I didn’t recognize, and they… uh…”

He hesitated, swallowed nothing, glanced from his hands up to Byakuya, “They mentioned you. I think. They mentioned a Togami.”

Byakuya was quiet, and tense, arms still folded across their chest as they tore their intense gaze from Hajime to Usami and back again, “There are a lot of Togamis. It’s a large family.”

They had also mentioned a Byakuya by name. They had to have been talking about them specifically, what were the odds that they would know someone else with he exact same name? Hajime hoped his internal struggle of whether or not he should bring that up didn’t show on his face.

“I guess.” He finally settled on, “It still seemed important. I don’t… really remember what their names were, they were just cleaning up and talking in the video.”

One of them was named Aoi.

Chiaki’s words scrolled along the bottom of his vision, he perked up a little. “Oh, uh, one of them was named Aoi, I think. They… they kept talking about people who were asleep, that had to be us, right?”

“Then they are part of the people keeping us here, yes?” Sonia tilted her head slightly, giving Hajime a worried frown before realization dawned on her face, “Oh- that means Usami can tell us about them, right? We know who they are now.”

“Mm,” Usami made a noncommittal little shrug, “That’s still… pretty secret information. That does sound like them, it does, they were here cleaning and getting everything ready for you. Um- why don’t you just continue, Hajime?”

“Don’t wanna give us any information?” Akane crossed her arms, Usami shook her head.

“The more you guys know, the more I can say.” She repeated, “But really, there are some things I just can’t talk about. All this information was kept secret for a reason! If bad people got ahold of everyone’s names and personal information that would be really, really bad! Not nice at all!”

“Then we’re back to Hajime’s plan, yeah?” Ibuki pointed to where Kazuichi was holding up a white cable and squinting at the usb connector on the end of it, “Plug him into a computer and let him do all the beep-boop stuff?”

Beep Boop… :]

Chiaki’s little pink text appeared in his vision again, along with the weird little smiley faces she liked to leave. It almost got a smile out of him… almost.

“Just keep going, Hajime.” It was Peko that urged him to continue that time, leaning forward towards the table and staring intently. “Any other information on these people?”

“… No.” He admitted, “Not really. They mentioned another guy, someone not on the screen, and they mentioned a Togami, but… That was all from that video.”

Peko did a good job of hiding her disappointment at that, but despite her face remaining stoic it was easy to see in her eyes that she was hoping for something more valuable than his vague names and paraphrasing.

“There were a couple other things I found.” Hajime continued, feeling more tense as everyone looked at him again, “Uh, a box of… cards. Chiaki said they were ID cards. All of them were for some place called ‘Dangan Ronpa.”

He paused, glanced around the table, “Do any of you… know what that is?”

“It… sorta sounds familiar.” Teru mumbled, so quiet Hajime wasn’t sure he was even supposed to hear him. He rubbed the sides of his head like he was in pain.

Mikan’s name was on that card specifically, she had to know what it was, right? She had to have information on it. He turned to face her, where she was fidgeting with a strand of her and looking around the table, he knew she really didn’t do well with being… put on the spot, but he needed to know-

“Usami.” Fuyuhiko’s voice cut him off, “You said if we know something, you can talk about it, yeah?”

Usami nodded, faltering a little when his squared his chest and glared.

“Then you should be able to say a shit ton more than you’ve been saying.”

“Woah, not nice words.” She reprimanded, holding her paws up like she was trying to calm him down, “Fuyuhiko, it’s based on what the group knows.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Peko turned in her chair to face him, confusion in her tone that matched the confusion on everyone’s faces, “Why ask that?”

There was a tense pause, no more than a second of silence, but long enough that all eyes had moved to the blonde where he kept his gaze locked on Peko. Akane looked up from her food, Kazuichi paused his rummaging to worriedly glance at them, Hajime fidgeted.

He knew they knew each other, somehow, he didn’t know what else Fuyuhiko knew.

“What do you mean?” He sounded equally confused, if it wasn’t for how tense his body language stayed Hajime might’ve believed it was genuine, “I was askin’ cause of Hinata. If he knows a bunch of new shit she shouldn’t make us wait for him to trip over all his sentences and say it.”

“It’s based on the group, on all of you together!” Usami insisted, voice getting more frantic, “I know I’m being frustrating, I know you’re all upset, I know I’m just some stupid dumb bunny wh- who can’t do her job right-“

“Usami,” Chiaki appeared by Usami’s side in a blink, Hajime had to remind himself he was the only one who could see her petting the rabbits back to try and comfort her. To everyone else it still looked like Usami was hanging her head down in shame.

“Your… your mental states, your development, that has to be my top priority.” Usami explained, her voice gravely serious as she looked back up at them, “I cannot do something or say something that might risk any of you… spiraling.”

“Spiraling?” Akane repeated, distracted by Teru flinching next to her.

“Is… what I’m doing spiraling?” He peeked up Usami through the messy hair he hadn’t fixed, some weird semblance of a smile quirking up on his face before it was masked by all the much more genuine looking worry.

“You’ve been acting really weird all morning.” Kazuichi muttered nervously, holding another cable up to Hajime’s head like he needed something to focus on instead of actually looking at Teru.

“Weirder than usual.” Hiyoko added under her breath, but she looked worried, too.

“I feel weird.” Teru admitted, “I- I can’t stop thinking about… something.”

“Something?” Mikan fidgeted in her seat, hands folding and unfolding and resetting a different way before she finally tried to still herself, “What, um… what something?”

“I don’t think I even know.” He kept a hand to the side of his head, a huff of a breath that sounded too much like a laugh escaping him, “It’s like… it’s static. It has been since the party.”

Static immediately brought the other things Hajime had seen on that stupid monitor to mind. The voice, whatever it was, the one that had done this to Teru and scared Mahiru and tried to… tried to kill him, somehow. He knew that voice had something to do with it.

There were the other voices too, the voices of the others, people he so desperately wanted to think of as friends, people who were literally his entire world right now. All of them sounded wrong, and different, and borderline scared.

They sounded a lot like Teru right now, like Nagito last night.

… damnit, he was gonna have to go get Nagito.

“I’ll be right back.” He stood up from his seat, the movement startling just about everyone.

“W- where are ya going?” Kazuichi blinked in surprise, holding up a dull red cable to show him, “I think I found the one to fit in the weird shaped port, the other two should be easy-“

“We are not plugging things in to our friends’ heads, that’s a no no!” Usami chided, “But really, Hajime, you don’t need to leave, if you’re upset we can talk about something else.”

“No,” He shook his head, “I’m not upset, I’m just… we need to figure this out, I wanna help figure this out and.. make it stop, whatever it is… I’m going to get Nagito.”

“Ew. Why?” Hiyoko wrinkled her nose up, Hajime paused on his way to the door, shrugging off Kazuichi trying to reach up and grab his sleeve.

“He clearly knows more about… about something than the rest of us do- I don’t know what yet, but…” He glanced at Fuyuhiko, who was pointedly staring away from him, “If we can get him to tell us what he knows about all this, that’s just more information we can get from Usami, right?”

There was an uncomfortable stretch of silence before anyone answered, a couple looking to Nekomaru and Byakuya for some sign of what to do when Nekomaru finally nodded.

“Yeah. We all need to be on the same page.” Nekomaru nodded, getting up from his seat, “We all need to know what’s going on, even if it means, ya know… being uncomfortable. Want someone to go with ya?”

“No, I’m good.” Hajime shook his head, a little confused when Nekomaru continued approaching him anyway. “Uh, what are you-“

Nekomaru took his hand, a rush like adrenaline shooting up his veins and directly through his heart as he jolted and looked back up at him.

“I don’t want him to hurt you, this should sorta help if he tries something.” He muttered, patting Hajime on the back with his other hand before he released him. “When he gets here I’ll keep him wrangled, he won’t get to pull any other stunts like he did at the party.”

“… okay.” Hajime mumbled, flexing the hand he had grabbed a couple times, “Uh, is the door locked?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Kazuichi made an apologetic face, “I locked it when we left.”

“That is not nice at all.” Usami was shaking her head, giving Kazuichi a stern look before looking back up to Hajime, “I’m not so sure you should be wandering around all on your own…”

“If he gets you alone he might try to kill you again.” Peko warned, pushing back her seat and getting to her feet as well, “I’ll accompany you-“

“I- that’s really okay.” Hajime stumbled over his answer, barely noticing the quiet cough from Fuyuhiko that seemed to steal her attention instead, “I want to go on my own, I want to… see what he’ll do.”

“There is a thin line between courage and recklessness.” Gundham’s own warning was far more cryptic, “You have been touched by death so many times today already, Fresh Soul, I would not actively seek it out.”

“He’s saying you’re being an idiot.” Hiyoko translated, Hajime shook his head.

“He said… Nagito said he didn’t want to kill me.” Hajime argued, hoping he sounded more certain than he currently felt, “After the party when I confronted him he said he didn’t want to kill me, he thought I… I don’t know what he thought.”

“He thought you were a traitor.” Byakuya finished for him, “If I were the sort of idiot who gambles, I’d bet money on it. He was trying to get rid of a traitor.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” Akane scrunched her nose up, Byakuya stared down at their plate instead of answering.

Peko took a few more steps closer to Hajime, extending her hand like she was going to shake it and giving him a serious stare, “Copy me, as well. Just in case.”

Hajime hesitated, hand lifting slightly before he shook his head, “I- I don’t know how to use your power.”

“It’s not difficult.” She assured him, “Imagine your body moving like air, imagine everything flowing through you and around you.”

She glanced to the side before continuing in a much quieter voice, “Imagine yourself being completely incapable of being hurt, and you won’t be.”

Peko closed the gap between their hands without giving him much time to think of it, the cool, smoky feeling rolling through his muscles a stark contrast to how Nekomaru’s power still felt like it was pulsing through his heart. Two very conflicting feelings, physically and… emotionally, in a weird way. He was riled up and calm, somehow, his body wanting to move more than anything and his mind racing like it needed to take in as much information as possible.

… or maybe he was just still nervous. The other island had been overwhelming.

He finally just nodded, muttered a quiet thank you to Peko as she silently went back to her seat and nodded to Usami, “I’ll be right back, you guys should keep talking. We need to get everything out in the open.”

The last thing he heard in the restaurant was Kazuichi asking Usami if there was any kind of computer or terminal he could borrow, reminding Hajime of the other thing he had to be worried about, he had still volunteered to plug the strange mystery device attacked to him into the island’s system.

Was that smart? Could he really trust that?

He made his way down the steps, half expecting to hear Chiaki speaking to him again, he had honestly been under the assumption he wouldn’t actually be alone, that she’d be with him, because he was never… actually alone, was he? Chiaki said she was connected to him, right?

He didn’t know how to feel about that either.

Chiaki didn’t show up on the way to Nagito’s cottage, nobody followed after him, despite muffled voices as he had descended the steps that he was fairly confident were a couple offering to follow him. He was standing in front of Nagito’s door alone.

… ah, Kazuichi had said it was locked, hadn’t he? He should’ve gotten the key- did Kazuichi even lock it with the key? He had been able to pick locks with his power at the party the other night, why wouldn’t he be able to lock in back the same way? That made sense.

He didn’t have Kazuichi’s power, he realized with a frown, staring down at the doorknob like it might somehow just open on it’s own.

He didn’t have Kazuichi’s power, at least he didn’t think he did, he wasn’t sure how this worked- but he knew he had Peko’s. She had just touched him, he could still do what she could do.

So he could… theoretically, walk right through that door.

… He could do that. Okay.

He approached the door feeling almost embarrassed, well aware that if this didn’t work he was just some weirdo pressing his body against a door for no reason at all. Peko said he needed to focus, imagine his body like air, like… nothing.

Imagining his body was nothing felt… wrong for some reason. He pressed his palms against the door a little harder. He closed his eyes and tried to picture something else- like… sand, maybe? Sand moved, sand shifted, it got everywhere, blown up all the way to the cottages from the beach by the wind, it just moved right-

He nearly pitched forward, stumbling slightly as he stepped through the door- through the door, he felt it move through him- and into Nagito’s cottage.

It was about as plain as Hajime’s… maybe even more so. The main difference was the pad of paper and pens left on the dresser.

And the rather obvious difference- Nagito tied to his bed in front of him. His eyes had been on Hajime the second he entered, shifting from where he’d been staring up at the ceiling to watch him hastily straighten up and try to appear normal despite this insane situation.

“Oh… Hajime.” He greeted him matter of factly, like this wasn’t one of the weirdest things that had ever happened to Hajime, “Are you here to feed me?”

His eyes drifted down, noting the frown that quirked up on Hajime’s face instinctively before he checked his hands, “Or… did you come to finish me off? I suppose it’s only fair that you be the one to do it.”

“Neither.” He couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice, he didn’t like the sound of either of those, they both sounded like something Teru might say in a different situation. “I came to to untie you, I want to talk about what’s been going on with you.”

“I see.” Nagito rolled onto his side to face Hajime, his arms bound to his sides by thick rope, to the point Hajime could hardly see his amputated one. His legs tied up in a similar way, tied to one of the bottom bed posts but revealing that Nagito was still in his pajamas. “Why? What’s going on with them?”

“I…” He hesitated, a little caught off guard by how calm Nagito seemed, shouldn’t he be like… freaking out? “A lot of things have happened since the party.”

Nagito nodded, like he was agreeing despite not actually knowing, watching Hajime a moment more before he spoke again, “Is Teruteru okay?”

Hajime hesitated again, frustration flickering in the foggy unease and nervousness occupying his mind, “I don’t know yet.”

Nagito tried to sit up, struggling a little with how he was restrained, “Can I uh… can I ask what that means, exactly?”

“… no.” Hajime settled on, clenching his hand by his side before shaking out his fingers, “Not… not right now. I don’t even know how to explain it. He just doesn’t sound like himself.”

Nagito nodded, calm, too calm for how insane this was, “So are you gonna let me go? Or did you want to keep me tied up for this?”

Right, right, he was here to get Nagito and get back so they could figure this out, he needed to keep moving, “I- yeah, I’m gonna let you go-“

He had taken two steps closer, than stopped, hesitated, “Are you…”

Nagito stared at him, almost expectantly, patiently awaiting either another move or for him to finish his sentence. Hajime hated what he was feeling right now, he hated this weird almost fear stirring in his chest. It wasn’t completely fear, he wasn’t afraid of Nagito, he knew he could get away or fight back or anything else he needed to do to survive, but…

Maybe he was a little angry, in a way, not even just at Nagito, he just didn’t want any of this to be happening.

Nagito was a threat, he didn’t want the only people in his world to be threats.

“Are you going to try to hurt me?” He finally finished, forcing his voice to be strong, steady, even despite the obvious implication that he was, at least partially, afraid. He let Nekomaru’s power course through his heart, felt Peko’s in his skin. He didn’t have to be scared, he didn’t want to be.

“What?” Nagito’s way too calm expression finally changed, surprised and confused before a nervous smile reached up on his face, “Hajime, are you really still afraid of me?”

“You tried to kill me.” Hajime retorted in borderline disbelief, this should be obvious. How could it not be obvious? “You wanted to stab me at the party, that’s why you gave me that tie-“

“Yeah… you’re not wearing it anymore, huh?”

“You tried to kill me.” Hajime enunciated the last two words, like somehow speaking clearly might get through this Nagito’s head, “How- I mean- no, I’m not wearing your stupid murder tie anymore. I thought it was a nice gift and it turns out it was a target.”

“Hm.” Nagito’s eyes flicked off to the side, he smiled sheepishly, “You thought it was a nice gift, huh? Your standards must be low-“

“What’s the matter with you?” Hajime was agitated now, he could feel Sonia’s power in his fingertips again, fainter than before, but coming back strong as he got more upset. “Is this some kind of joke to you? Byakuya could’ve died-“

“Mikan saved them.” Nagito reminded him, which only made the anger burning at the back of his throat a little warmer, “And… I did feel bad, of course,  I messed this whole thing up… but it’s not like I had a choice.”

“What does that even mean?” he snapped back, “You haven’t been making any sense since the party.”

“Well, I… I’ve been trying-“

“Seriously, is this supposed to be funny?” Hajime was louder than he meant to be, angrier, too many new and unpleasant emotions before he calmed himself down, “Are you just… messing with me because I’m stupid or something?”

“Oh.” Nagito’s expression dropped completely, into something far too close to pity, “Hajime, I don’t think you’re stupid. Even if you were, it’s not like I’d have any room for judgement. You’re just… new. I guess.”

“New?”

“I’ll be honest, I was beginning to wonder if you were… faking it.” Nagito scooted to the foot of the bed, messing up his sheets and nodding to the ropes around his legs like that should somehow prompt Hajime into action.

Hajime didn’t move, “Excuse me?”

“It was just… an idea. If you had been faking it, you would’ve been like the… ultimate actor, it’d be a very convincing performance.” He almost laughed, like he was making a joke, his smile faltering when Hajime still didn’t move, “After the party, I… I don’t think that anymore. I know you’re telling the truth.”

“Am I supposed to be relieved?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged to the best of his abilities, looking from Hajime to the ropes again, Hajime didn’t move, “I’m not going to try and kill you again, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Hajime was tense, he hadn’t even realized how tense he’d become till Nagito said that, he huffed out the breath he’d accidentally held a moment too long to speak again.

“I don’t want you to hurt anyone else either.” He warned, “I want you to go tell them why you did it.”

“Ah, good,” Nagito smiled again, encouraging, like when he’d wanted to test if Hajime could read their second day here and showed him different labels on drinks in the store, “Then we’re on the same page! I want to talk to them about that too, it’s important. Has Byakuya told you everything yet?”

“Maybe.” Hajime narrowed his eyes, “What… what do you mean by everything?”

“Can you untie me first?”

“You can talk while I untie you.”

“… Ah, I guess you’re right.” He smiled too warmly, Hajime fidgeted again, “There’s a knife in my top dresser drawer, if you need it.”

“Of course there is.” Hajime shook his head, going to take the knife from it’s spot and sighing in frustration as he turned back to face him, “Okay. Talk.”

“Very straightforward.” Nagito nervously chuckled, “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re interrogating me.”

“Nagito.”

“I think I might be… part of the reason they were inspired to have a party.” He finally admitted, looking down as Hajime knelt down by the bed post to start cutting into the rope, “They told you about the traitor?”

Hajime paused his cutting a second too long, “… kind of. Keep talking.”

“I may have sort of… brought that idea up to them. I didn’t think it would scare them into something like the party, but… it worked out how I thought it needed to.”

“So you lied?” Hajime looked up from his work as the rope frayed, holding one end of it his hand as he stood back up, “You… lied about there being a traitor to scare them?”

“No, no, I wasn’t lying.” Nagito’s voice grew more serious, he leaned forward, “Hajime, have you…”

He paused, his gaze flicking left to right on Hajime’s face, both his eyes, “Is Chiaki here right now?”

Hajime blinked in surprise, a slight shake to his head was all the answer Nagito needed to keep going.

“You haven’t heard the… voice everyone else has been hearing, have you?” He tilted his head, “The voice from the party? The laughing?”

Hajime hesitated, the knife in his hand growing heavy and uncomfortable to hold, “I did… today.”

Nagito looked surprised, he wasn’t expecting that answer, clearly, “Just today?”

“I… I went to the second island.” Hajime didn’t know why his voice suddenly got quiet, “It was talking through the monitor. It said it could see me.”

“It could see you.” He wasn’t sure if Nagito was just echoing him or confirming that, somehow, each option sent bristling discomfort through his nerves, “Well, you… seem like you’re doing okay, despite that.”

“I guess?” Hajime forced himself to move again, to take the next step in getting back to the others and move to hold the ropes around Nagito’s arms, “What does that have to do with a traitor?”

“I thought you wanted me to explain this to everyone?”

“You could at least explain something now.”

Nagito stayed quiet, his eyes drifted to his dresser again, where Hajime had found this stupid knife, to stare at his handbook lying face down on top of it.

“I think everyone has been hearing it at night, mostly.” He commented, too vague for Hajime to really understand at first, “I don’t sleep much, I’ve been hearing it a lot.”

“I…. You…” Hajime hesitated, his eyes followed Nagito’s gaze to his handbook till him shifting slightly against the ropes pulled his focus back. “What have you heard?”

“It mostly just… whispers.” Nagito’s voice was quiet, he grew still, Hajime cut through the rope, “I can’t understand her- it- even if I press my ear up against my handbook, even if I try my hardest… maybe the others have heard it more clearly, they’re smarter than me…”

Hajime didn’t answer, he finished cutting the rope and pulled them loose, Nagito’s gaze stayed on the handbook.

“But it does… sometimes it gets louder.” He almost laughed, it was more of a breath, uneven and shaky, “It was louder the first night here, I woke up in the middle of the night, and I thought….”

Hajime stood up straight again, away from Nagito. His hand began to move towards his belt, attempting to just slip the knife in between it and the waistband of his pants, but…

He held onto it. Just in case. He didn’t know what Nagito would do, and he hated that he thought he might need this to keep him away.

Not…. To actually use it. He couldn’t stab someone, he could never stab someone he was… at least sort of close to, as close as he was to anyone, one of the only people in his life. That phrase just kept rattling in his brain while he waited for Nagito to continue.

“What did it say?” Hajime prompted, finally, “You said the voice was louder then?”

Nagito was quite a second more, eyes flicking from Hajime’s face to the knife and back, “That someone here would betray us, would… try to hurt us again. That maybe this time I could… stop it.”

“Hurt us… Again?”

“That’s what it said. It kept repeating it.” Nagito paused, almost smiled, nervously, “I know I probably sound insane-“

“Not after what I’ve seen today.” His tone probably wasn’t assuring, Hajime wasn’t sure how to make his voice sound that way yet, not like Sonia’s or Chiaki’s, not quite soft enough. “I believe you, so far.”

“That’s a relief.” Nagito relaxed a little, “I really didn’t want to hurt you, Hajime.”

“That I’m not sure I believe.” He gripped the knife tighter, Nagito noticed.

“That’s understandable.”

“You tried to stab me.”

“I… I would’ve tried to make it painless.” Nagito’s voice was quiet, the anger that had been flickering in Hajime’s chest returned to spark in his throat, “But- I- I thought you were the traitor, it… I guess it made the most sense at the time, you know?”

Hajime just glared, he couldn’t help it, Nagito nervously chuckled.

“You were different, Hajime, you still are.” He tried to elaborate, smiling wider now, “You woke up in a different place, you’re… you woke up with no memories, you woke up with that thing in your head, with Chiaki- a connection to the people keeping us here, at the time I thought you didn’t even have an ‘enhancement’ like everyone else, it made sense that the traitor would be you.”

“So you wanted to kill me because I was different? That’s what it boils down to?” Hajime asked in a low voice, Nagito shook his head.

“I- I thought maybe you couldn’t be trusted-“

“So what changed? I have powers now? So you don’t have to kill me?”

“I- Hajime,” Nagito’s smile looked almost exasperated, “I… I just wanted to do the right thing.”

Hajime almost huffed, “By… by killing someone? By killing me?”

“That’s not-“

“So what do you think now?” Hajime cut him off, a quick inhale through his noise to try and keep himself calm, “You thought I was the traitor, because that… voice told you there was one, you thought you needed to kill me to… what? Save everyone?”

“Well, yes-“

“And then what?”

Nagito hummed, eyes drifting back to the handbook, “It… hadn’t said anything else.”

“You were just going to listen blindly?” Hajime honestly couldn’t wrap his head around that, to listen to a voice and not even know who it was.

… Chiaki was different. That was a different situation. He knew who Chiaki was.

“You said it’s been coming from your handbook, right?” He switched gears, only slightly irritated by Nagito visibly relaxing at the subject slightly changing, “Maybe… maybe you guys shouldn’t use those anymore.”

“I’m not sure Usami will like that.” Nagito pointed out, finally sliding off his bed and stretching slightly, too calm. How was he not more anxious about all of this? Hajime was sure anxious.

“Well,” Hajime started, and stopped, shook his head and moved back to Nagito’s dresser to grab his handbook and slip it in own pocket, “We should tell her about this, then. Tell the others.”

“Right, good idea, Hajime.” Nagito smiled, moving towards the door to hold it open for him, “I’m surprised you’re so comfortable in a leadership sort of position, I’d think the lack of world knowledge would make you sort of insecure.”

“… are you calling me stupid again?”

“Ah-“ Nagito’s smile faltered, he scratched at the back of his head while he held the door open with his foot for Hajime to exit first, “You take everything so personally, Hajime, I was trying to give you a compliment.”

“Sure.”

 He glanced around the piers and cottages outside, hearing Nagito close the door and begin to walk up behind him, he slipped the knife into his belt, the opposite side of where Nagito had fallen into step beside him. They walked towards the hotel in relative silence, Nagito pausing to look down into the pool and humming to himself again before following Hajime to the stairs.

“You first.” Hajime offered, or instructed, his tone fell somewhere in between, Nagito tilted his head.

“Are you… really afraid of me, Hajime?” He asked softly, Hajime clenched his jaw.

“I don’t know what to think of you.”

“Hm.” Nagito’s smile shrank, he looked almost… disappointed, “I hope I can earn your trust back somehow.”

He walked up the stairs, fidgeting with his usual jacket, trying to straighten out the half empty, pinned sleeve of it where it had gotten wrinkled and twisted while he was tied up.

Hajime could already hear the others talking, maybe arguing, quiet sounds he couldn’t quite make out slowing to a stop when Nagito walked through the doorway.

“Where the hell is-“ Kazuichi started, already getting up and practically bristling till Hajime peered around the door over Nagito’s shoulders. He stopped, huffed, sat back down in his seat and went back to rolling up one of the cables he’d pulled from the box. He must’ve been doing this since Hajime left, the table in front of him was covered in little rolls of cables in different colors.

Gundham chuckled, muttering something to Sonia under his breath, just barely heard by Hajime as Nagito finally stepped through the doorway so he could follow.

“He’s loyal, doggedly so.”

Sonia giggled, smiling as Kazuichi seemed to hear and sank further into his seat, “I think that’s sweet, like a little guard dog.”

“Wh- Hey! Don’t call me little, c-come on…” Kazuichi’s face turned a bright pink, he tugged his beanie down over his eyes and sank even further in his seat.

Nekomaru stood, actively stepping across the room towards Nagito, head already bowed a little as he started speaking, “I- I wanted to say sorry about the whole… tying you up thing. That was probably a little extreme.”

“Ah-“ Nagito shook his head, hand reaching out like it might touch Nekomaru’s shoulder and retracting, “Please, don’t bow to someone like me, ha. It’s really not a big deal, I understand why you did it.. I- I think I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

“Yes.” Byakuya’s voice was stern, leaning on their hands across the table, blue eyes flashing a bright brown for a moment as they looked at Nagito over the rim of their glasses, “You should.”

Nagito just nodded, sheepishly smiling and starting to bow his head towards Byakuya while Nekomaru straightened back up, “I’m truly so-“

“Apologize to Hajime, not me.” Byakuya corrected, pointing to where Hajime stuttered and looked around like he may be talking to someone else.

“What?” Nagito looked back up, surprised, “I already did, actually-“

“I want to hear it.” Byakuya cut him off again, their tone not unkind, but certainly demanding, “Apologize to Hajime, then to everyone else for ruining the party.”

“Wow… you really take partying seriously.” Ibuki commented, leaning on one of her hands while Byakuya nodded.

“I take everything seriously.”

“Even relaxing?”

“Especially relaxing.”

Nagito hesitated, glanced around the obviously uncomfortable faces at the table, and finally turned to face Hajime fully.

“I’m… really sorry.” He bowed his head, smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry I… did what I did, I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“You… you didn’t actually hurt me.” Hajime deflected, almost uncomfortable, everyone was staring.

“I hurt your feelings, I scared you.” Nagito stood up straight again, Hajime hesitated.

“Yeah, I guess. Does that matter?”

“Of course it does.” Usami’s almost gratingly sweet voice cut in, “Feelings matter, Hajime, remember to pay attention to your feelings. But that was a very nice apology, Nagito!”

“I- I’m also sorry for… everything that happened that happened at the party. For… scaring everyone, and uh, ya know.” Nagito was facing the table, he glanced towards Byakuya, “I… I wasn’t thinking straight, I was trying to do the right thing, I just… I was wrong.”

Hiyoko scoffed, arms crossed and her eyes glaring daggers back at him. Mahiru’s expression wasn’t much better, a distrusting frown and tensely folded hands. Mikan wouldn’t even look at his face, her eyes on his feet while she chewed on her nails and let out a worried hum. Gundham stared him down with clear scrutiny, like he could somehow figure out if he was being honest if he just looked long enough. Peko’s eyes were narrowed, Akane’s frown pulled back enough to show her teeth, Kazuichi still hadn’t looked up from his work, Sonia’s tense frown unwavering, Nekomaru shifted uncomfortably. Ibuki’s fingers slowed from their happy drumming to a nervous, repetitive tap, Fuyuhiko was so still and tense Hajime wasn’t sure he was even breathing.