New Hope

New Hope - Chapter Eight

The two of them were woken up to the sound of Hajime's door being loudly banged on.

"What...? What is it?" Hajime asked, lifting his head slightly from his pillow. When he left the room with Nagito before to brush his teeth and wash his face he had put on his dressing gown on top of his pyjamas and must've forgotten to remove it before going to bed - the rope belt digging into his sides. Careful not to wake Nagito, he slowly removed the gown and chucked it across the room, not really caring about where it landed.

Glancing upwards he met eyes with connected eyes with Kazuichi and Sonia as they opened his door. Sonia - who looked disgusted at even standing next to Kazuichi to begin with - started to speak.

"Hey Hajime, have you seen... oh wait, I forgot he was sleeping with you..." Her disgusted face somehow grew even more so, and recognising the anger beginning to form on Hajime's face, Kazuichi tried to step in.

"Hey, miss Sonia, try to get along with Nagito - he's changed..."

"Shut up, peasant!" Sonia shouted back at him, before turning to Hajime. Hajime flinched, accidentally bumping into - and waking up - Nagito.

"Mmmm... Hajime? Is it morning already...?" Nagito muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He stretched his arms while yawning, and then drooped them around Hajime's shoulders, leaning into Hajime's back and neck. "Are you sure we can't go back to sleep?"

Hajime's red face was proof enough to Nagito - even in his semi-delirious state - that he had overstepped some imaginary boundary in his eyes, and shot upright, a light blush on his cheeks. "Oh! I'm so sorry Hajime, I'm sure you wouldn't want my disgusting arms on your shoulders, I-"

"Nagito." Hajime's head rotated to face him. "Stop, I - I didn't mind." Hajime scratched his cheek, his face mirroring the light dusting of red that Nagito's had and turned back to Sonia and Kazuichi. "You were saying?"

"Mikan has woken up."

"What?!" Hajime gasped, happy another friend had awoken.

"What??" Nagito echoed, a concerned look upon his face.

"N - Nagito?" Hajime muttered, facing him once more. He took Nagito's hand in his, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I... I..." Nagito trailed off. "It's nothing - please, you shouldn't worry about trash like me."

That comment only reaffirmed Hajime's resolve, and he tightened his grip on Nagito's hand. "No, we're talking about this." He once again turned to Sonia and Kazuichi. "Would you guys head back to the others and let them know we'll be there in a bit?"

Sonia and Kazuichi agreed and left, leaving Hajime and Nagito alone once more.

"So..." Hajime muttered, moving to swing his legs off the side of the bed. Glancing at Nagito, his eyes looked so vulnerable, Hajime was nervous about even asking the question. "What's your problem with Mikan?"

Nagito flinched. "Hajime, you really shouldn't waste your time worrying about me. I'm really not someone worthy of your concern..."

Hajime thought for a moment, trying to decide what would convince him. "Hmm... well if you'd like, you could consider that I'm asking you simply to satisfy my own curiosity? Would you not want to tell me then?"

"I... I... Hajime!" Nagito said, pouting slightly. Hajime grinned slightly, happy he won their battle of wits.

"Come on Nagito... tell me! Please tell me?"

"Well when you put it like that..." Nagito whispered, sighing, and trying to stifle a smile as he swung his legs over the side of the bed also and joined Hajime.

He took a deep breath. "So... you remember the despair disease?" Hajime nodded. "Well, Mikan caught it too, and got the 'remembering disease'. Out of all of us - she'll be the only one that fully remembers her old self... she may still be vastly different than we knew her as..."

"I... I never thought of it like that..." Hajime muttered, considering what Nagito said.

"To be honest, I'm glad I told you Hajime. I know it's quite selfish to enjoy talking with you so much, but it's honestly the best parts of my day. You're really important to me, so I hope you take what I told you seriously." Nagito said, locking eye contact with Hajime.

"I - I know that! And I do take what you say seriously: I always have!" Hajime replied, turning his head away from Nagito's, breaking the contact. He didn't need to see Nagito to know he's blushing.

If he was blushing then Nagito must be.

Hi again - new chapter is out!

So I finished writing the entire story now - there should be (I think) a total of 32 chapters, so yeah. There'll be a new one everyday, so please continue to keep returning to read the new chapter.

It's almost a new year! I wonder how 2021 will be - I just hope it'll be better than this year, although I don't wanna jinx anything XD

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see ya tomorrow!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊