The Boy Who fell from the Sky

Chapter 21

A couple of days had passed since Jane and Hajime's disappointing trip to the Ivex research facility. Nagito didn't mind that they didn't find anything, he was in no hurry to get back to the School anyway.

Today was going to be Nagito's first day at school without Hajime since Hajime had a doctor's appointment to go to. It was a little lonely at first, but luckily, Kazuichi and the rest of the gang kept Nagito good company. He spent the day listening to Sonia talk about her new boyfriend, Gundham Tanaka, Kazuichi groaning and complaining about it, and getting an A on his French test (of course. He didn't know why he was taking French in the first place.)

After school ended, Nagito sat on a bench outside of school. Jane had said she might be 30-45 minutes late picking him up because of Hajime's health appointment. Nagito didn't mind. He happily pulled out a book and started reading it.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there until he looked up to see that 20 minutes had gone by, and most of the school was empty. Nagito smiled happily then went back to his book before he heard a voice. "Hey! Hey kid, are you by any chance, Nagito Komaeda?" Nagito looked up in confusion at the voice. It was a man probably in his late 20's with brown hair and the beginnings of a beard.

"Ummm, yes?" Nagito responded, fear instantly starting to build in his chest. How did this man know his name? Nagito started going through some self-defense tactics in his head as the man slowly approached him.

The man must have sensed Nagito's fear because he raised his hands to show that he meant no harm and he said, "My name is Peter. I'm a friend of Jane's. We work together." Nagito breathed a sigh of relief but was still a bit on edge.

"I've come to get you," Peter continued.

"No, Jane was going to get me," Nagito said, confused. Peter scratched the back of his head and stared at the ground. "Yes, that was the original plan Jane informed me about. But then... something happened." Something? What was something? "Look, I don't know how to sugarcoat this so," Peter looked in Nagito's eyes, "there's something wrong with Hajime."

"What?!" Alarm bells started ringing in Nagito's head. Something wrong? What could possibly be wrong? As worst-case scenarios started playing in Nagito's head Peter continued. "I don't know the details, but Jane said during the check-up they found some sort of brain tumor. They don't know the specifics; they're getting it investigated now. Oh, and he's been asking for you." Peter said. Everything in Nagito's body hurt. Hajime had a brain tumor? How was that possible? Was he going to die? Tears burned the edge of Nagito's vision as he imagined life without Hajime. If Hajime died, Nagito's life would be over.

"Come on, we don't have much time to delay," Peter said, gesturing for Nagito to follow him. Nagito nodded, grabbed his backpack, and followed Peter to his car. While his thoughts were racing and he tried not to break down sobbing, Peter tried to be comforting. He placed a hand on Nagito's back and said, "Hey it'll be alright. I'm sure it isn't serious. I've known Hajime for a while now so I'm worried too."

They approached Peter's car, which was apparently a large white van. Peter opened the back door for Nagito. Nagito stepped inside but right as he had one foot in the car, he sensed something was off. He sensed danger. But before Nagito could react, he felt hands on his back shoving him into the car, and he heard the door slam behind him. What...? Nagito thought.

It all happened at once. Hands seeming to come out of nowhere suddenly grabbed Nagito. Nagito instinctively tried to rip his wrists out of their grasp but they were strong and held on. So he did the next best thing. Opened his mouth and tried to scream, but before he could make any noise he felt a cloth being pressed against his mouth and nose. The cloth was soaked with something, and the smell burned his nose. It was some sort of sleeping drug Nagito recognized.