Phantom Thieves of Hope - A Danganronpa X Persona 5 Story.

Chapter 62: That Gamer Girl and Me

Beautiful Ruin - Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

The reality was that despite being best friends and having a strong bond that persisted even through his transformation into Izuru, Hajime and Chiaki hadn't actually known one another for very long. A couple months at most before he'd decided to sign his life away on the project.

As a result, he'd never had the chance to meet any of Chiaki's friends, and even more importantly, he'd never met her family or been to her house before.

This wasn't just a first experience for him, but a first experience for Komaru, Kaede, Shuichi, and Toko too. Makoto and Monomi had already been to her house, but at the time, it was a more desperate situation, and her parents weren't home, so they hadn't stuck around for long.

Kyoko was unable to make it today due to the cases that required her attention. Since she'd put a lot of them to the side to focus on Hajime's case, she had a bit of catching up to do, so the Phantom Thieves left her to her own devices.

Even with all that in mind, it didn't stop Hajime from feeling nervous about today. Why couldn't they have just played video games at the Thieves' Den instead? They had everything they needed there. Why her house of all places?

Still, Hajime couldn't easily back out now, even though he'd never really had much room to consent to the Phantom Thieves plan. But it had worked out well so far, so he'd continued rolling with it.

Because he didn't have identification, he'd waited at the Thieves Den for Makoto and Monomi, who also gifted him some new clothes and a coat that he'd bought with the Thieves' personal funds. He felt a little sad that the money was going to him, but Makoto assured him that since he was a member of the team now, it was fine. Then the two of them hopped on the train to head to Kichijōji.

Makoto and Monomi led Hajime down the streets until they arrived at Chiaki's house. Though they'd only been there once, Monomi fortunately had a good memory. It was ironic for a bunny that had amnesia, but at least they helped find the way.

However, if Hajime had any sort of confidence about this "group date," it was practically shattered the minute he saw Chiaki's home. It wasn't as big as Kaede's home, but it looked almost as expensive. He'd known for a long time that Chiaki's parents were rich, so this didn't come as a surprise, but as a very normal boy from a very simple background, simply staring up at this place left him with all sorts of nerves.

"Yeaaaaahh...This was a bad idea..." Hajime groaned, cautiously turning and making his leave.

"Hajimeeeee...!" Monomi poked her head out of Makoto's hood, putting on a voice akin to a disgruntled mother. Hajime sighed and stopped walking.

"Sorry..." he shook his head, though not turning back, "it's really stupid. This is the first time I've played games with her in literal years, and we're doing it at her house with her parents around. How could I not feel intimidated?"

"Hey, man," Makoto said to him, "I know this might not help, but we're all in this together, ok? The rest of the gang should be showing up pretty soon."

"You two never met Chiaki's parents when you came around last time, did you?" Hajime asked, "Did she ever mention what kind of people they are?"

"Chiaki told me that her dad is the CEO of a video game company, and her mom works with him. All I know besides that is they're pretty religious, but they never taught her what Hinamatsuri was," Makoto told him, "Other than that, I just assumed they'd be a lot like her. Pretty low-key and agreeable. So I don't think you have much reason to worry."

"Even so, I-" Hajime tried to say something, but was suddenly cut off by some nearby cheering.

"Yahooo!" Kaede waved from a distance, striding towards them alongside the other 3 Phantom Thieves, "We all happened to get the same train on the way here! Sorry if we're late!"