S.O.S (KomaNami Fic)

t h r e e - sting

After last night, Chiaki went back to the Hospital without getting caught. She meant to fall asleep, but as soon as she attempted to, someone knocked on the door.

I looked over at the clock.

8:30 am already? Chiaki thought in disbelief.

"Come in." The gamer yawned out. The door opened in response.

The door creaked open, and there, stood Hinata. "Chiaki!" He exclaimed.

He had a big dopey grin on his face, and it took everything Chiaki had in her not to laugh at it.

Hinata ran over and squeezed the gamer in a big hug. "I've missed you so much!"

"That's so sweet of you to say, I have missed you as well." Chiaki returned the hug. She wasn't sure, but it looked as if Hinata leaned in for a kiss, and then stopped himself?

Even if he had, would she have kissed him back?

Hinata cleared his throat. "I see Mikan returned your game-thing for me,"

Chiaki nodded. "Ah! Yes, thank you for kindly giving it back."

He smiled. "No biggy." Suddenly, his smile faded into a worried look. "Hey, did you sleep well last night? You look more tired than usual."

The gamer nodded, stifling a yawn. "I'm fine."

"Well, anyways. Get dressed because everybody is waiting for us at the diner!" The ahoge-boy beamed.

"Like.. A reunion..? Isn't that going to be sort of awkward? You know, between he victims and culprits?" Chiaki blinked.

"I didn't think about that, but whatever, just get dressed." He said before the door shut.

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The walk to the Diner was extremely nerve-wracking. What would everyone say? Would they still act the same? Or would there be distance?

Eventually the pair came across the diner and strolled inside.

It was incredibly loud, and busy, as usual.

Ibuki was standing on a table strumming an air-guitar as Mahiru and Hiyoko cheered her on, with Mikan frantically making sure she wouldn't fall.

Peko and Fuyuhiko were off sitting in a booth, chatting.

Nidai and Akane were arm wrestling over a hamburger.

Sonia and Gundam played with his hamsters as Souda tried to include himself in their conversations.

Off in the back, Chiaki noticed Komaeda, watching the others, but sitting alone.

She approached, leaving Hinata with Souda. Chiaki took a seat in front of the boy.

"Ah, hello, Nanami-san." Komaeda smiled.

"Good morning." The gamer waved.

"I'm glad everyone is back to their usual doings, nothing has changed, all has been forgiven, what true hope!" Komaeda beamed with delight.

Chiaki puffed out her cheeks. "Don't start acting all weird."

"My apologies, I didn't mean to make a fool of myself in front of such a beautiful, talented soul."

Chiaki bit the inside of her cheek out of frustration.

"I just can't help it, when I'm able to witness true ho-" Komaeda was cut off by a slight sting in his cheek. It took him a minute to realize that the girl had struck him with her hand.

Chiaki gritted her teeth, her hand hurt. "Why?"

Komaeda was very confused. His hand rose up in instinct to hold his burning face. "What..?"

"Why is that all you ever ramble on about? Is talent the only thing you see in anyone, or anything?" Chiaki spat, not caring if the others around her noticed. "Do you not see anything else in a person? Like their feelings? Or how they respect others..?!"

Komaeda didn't respond. He didn't know how. All he knew, was that he hurt her, and that was not his intentions at all.

"Did you even mean what you said last night?" The girl stood up from the table and frantically walked out of the diner.

Hinata ran after her.
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"Hey! What was that all about?!" The boy said, finally catching up to the girl at the beach.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Chiaki huffed, not turning to face him.

Hinata grabbed her wrist, forcing her to look at him. "You can talk to me."

"I know that. It's just Komaeda, he doesn't understand anything but talent and hope!" The gamer girl ranted.

"Maybe he'll realize what you meant. I mean you did smack some sense into him, literally." Hinata shrugged.

"I just.. I  just want him to see that he's not any different from us. He's the same. He has a talent, a soul, a personality. I can't understand why he has to deprecate himself the way he does.." The girl looked down at her shoes.

Hinata didn't know how to feel about the situation. "..You must care for him a lot."

Chiaki frantically looked up. "N-No! It's not like that! I care about all of my friends, including you..!"

Hinata smiled at the comment. "Thank you, Chiaki." He shuffled his feet for a moment. "I should probably get back to the diner, I left Souda just kind of standing there." He scratched the back of his head.

"I hope you guys make up, I mean, you and Komaeda, that is." Hinata said with a wave, as he started to walk back towards the diner.

Chiaki smiled softly, slowly waving back.

"Me too."