the lake | komahina

8

the next day

i woke up and the white-haired boy was sleeping, my head still on his lap. trying my best to not wake him up since he needed sleep, i got up.

i got a piece of paper and wrote on it:

hey nagito,

it was fun hanging out with you but i'll be going back home now, thank you for everything! ♡

—hajime

hopefully that wasn't too cringey.. i left it on the desk and changed into my own clothes, leaving the outfit the other boy had given me on a chair.

nagito's mother was downstairs drinking a mocha already. 'are you leaving, hinata?' she asked, taking a sip.

'yes, thank you for letting me stay.' i said, bowing. 'you're welcome here anytime, and.. if there's anything serious going on at home, let us know, okay?' she raised her eyebrows.

'of course.' i nodded and walked out the door, getting on my bike and heading to the place i'd rather go anywhere but: my house.

i knew i couldn't stay at nagito's place forever, even if i wanted to. getting things "cleared up" with my mother was also important.

my whole body was shaking furiously as i got off the bike and unhurriedly knocked on the front door. it opened almost immediately.

'HAJIME!' she yelled, embracing me in her arms. she noticed how much i was shaking and let go. 'come in.' i walked inside and sat at the kitchen table.

'i'm sorry.' she apologised. it seemed like every time she did this it just ended up happening again, but.. at least things were peaceful for a while.

i simply nodded, not making any commentary. 'you can continue with therapy if you think it's helping, it's just... i thought... i don't know...'

you thought i was an asshole.

'if you wanna date a boy then.. uh.... okay.' she just didn't want me to run away again. this woman was too lonely to lose me so she had to do this to make sure i wouldn't leave.

pathetic, honestly, but i'd been dealing with this these types of situations for years. it still hurt just as much each time it happened, though.

'do you wanna say anything?' she asked in a pleading voice. 'it's fine.' was all i said before walking past her to get orange juice.

'you- okay.' i could tell she was about to snap (again) but stopped herself and instead walked to the living room, putting on a show.

'my "friend" and i kissed, by the way.'

i didn't dare to look at her when the words came out of my mouth, instead walking to my bedroom whilst sipping orange juice.

nagito's pov

a few years later

hajime and i had been on a few dates since the years beforehand and we were doing pretty well.

of course his mother didn't exactly fancy the fact that we were together but hinata didn't care and continued being with me.

sometimes i wondered how he could even love someone as horrible as me. he was so much better than me and how could he know i wouldn't just..

forget him one day?

i couldn't forget him though. hajime was on my mind 24/7; how could i? i attempted to tell myself that but deep down i knew one day it would be inevitable.. if i'd be alive for a while.

recently, it had gotten worse again—my dementia. i'd been forgetting things all the time. some weren't important, but others were.

either way, it was tearing me up inside. i was tired all the time and even puked sometimes after barely eating because my hunger levels were low.

not only was it impacting me, but my boyfriend and parents too. neither of them would be so upset every time i brought it up.

so it wasn't spoken of too often, but inside i was getting weaker. but today i couldn't afford to be weak because hinata, chiaki, and i were going somewhere.

sure, we went to places quite often, but today we were going somewhere different—an art museum. i'd always found them interesting.

it'd be both hinata and nanami's first times going to one of these and i had hope that they'd like it. it was pretty fun, after all.

we all agreed to meet up at 11:00 am in the car park of the place, so that time came around and i headed there.

a/n:
sorry for the short chapter, i'm just working up to the "important" parts.