On the Beach at Night [Nagito x Reader]

Chapter 12: Note

"(Y/N)?" a voice spoke.

"Is she gonna be okay?" this time it was a different voice.

"What should we do about her?" more voices. (Y/N) tuned them out. All she could focus on was the body on the ground in front of her.

"Hey...(Y/N)? We need to start the investigation. Do you want us to take you back to your room?" this time she recognized the voice as Chiaki.

"No...I'm not leaving him." (Y/N)'s voice was empty. She could feel everyone's worried eyes on her, wishing they would look away.

"We shouldn't leave her alone," she heard Chiaki say to someone else.

"I'll stay." A voice spoke up. It was Fuyuhiko. She heard the footsteps of everyone leaving the warehouse, and soon it was quiet again. She remained kneeling next to Nagito, still unwilling to move. Although it hurt to look, she knew it would be her last chance to ever see him. The thought alone was enough for the tears to return.

"I know what it feels like," Fuyuhiko said softly, "to lose someone you love." (Y/N) remained silent, so he kept going.

"Sorry...I know I'm not really good at this kinda thing. But..."

"How?" (Y/N) barely choked out the words.

"What do you-" before he could finish his sentence, she interrupted him.

"How do you go on?" How do you keep living?" her voice almost sounded hysterical, like her sorrow had now transformed to anger.

"You just...do. That's all you can do." After a moment, he continued. "Peko died to save my life. If I just give up and die, then what was the point?!" he raised his voice. "I still think about her every day. I probably always will, no, I definitely will."

(Y/N) was still silent. She didn't want to think about moving on or living a normal life when she was only centimeters away from Nagito's lifeless body.

"Nagito was a crazy fuckin' bastard...but he loved you. I hope he got a chance to tell you that before he..." Fuyuhiko cut himself off. Before they could continue the conversation, Hajime and Chiaki returned to the warehouse.

"Hey, (Y/N). While we were investigating Nagito's room, we found this." Hajime reached out his hand and revealed a small folded piece of paper with her name written on it. (Y/N)'s hands were shaking as she grabbed the paper from him and put it in her pocket. She was too afraid to open it right now. Suddenly, the class trial announcement rang throughout the room.

"Well, I guess it's time." Fuyuhiko said.

"No." (Y/N) was quick to respond.

"We have to, (Y/N) ..." Hajime said worriedly.

"No!" she yelled this time. "No, I won't leave him!" Hajime tried to grab onto her arm, but she yanked it away.

"I don't wanna have to do this, (Y/N), but if you don't come with us, Monokuma might do something worse..." He gestured at Fuyuhiko to help him. Together, they each grabbed an arm, but she was defiant. She tried to shake them off and put up a fight, but she hardly had any energy left in her. All she could do was sob uncontrollably as she realized this was it. This was goodbye.

Goodbye, Nagito...

--

Nagito's plan was like nothing any of them could have ever imagined. The rope, the knife, the spear, the fire...he inflicted all the wounds to himself to throw everyone off during the class trial. The real cause of death was poison. Poison inside of a fire grenade that was thrown by one of the six remaining students. Nagito created an unsolvable case. Or at least, a case (Y/N) wished was never solved.

Nagito relied on his luck to weed out the traitor. He counted on the traitor being the one to throw the poisoned fire grenade. The traitor was Chiaki. Nobody wanted to vote her as the killer. That involved relying on Nagito's luck. If they were wrong, they would all die.

"This isn't like the other times," Chiaki said calmly. "In the other trials, you voted by doubting your friends. This time, you'll vote by believing in me." Her smile was gentle, which made it even more difficult to grasp the idea of voting for her execution. But in the end, that's what they did. They voted, and the results revealed that Chiaki was the unknowing killer of Nagito.

"I wish I could have explained everything to you guys, but I couldn't say anything no matter what." She explained.

"I don't understand..." Hajime said.

"Even if you want to fly, you can't, right? Even if you want to swim where you please, you can't. Due to the nature of my existence, I will never be able to betray the Future Foundation."

"So in the end, Chiaki was the traitor...and everything went according to Nagito's plan..." Kazuichi mumbled sadly.

"About that..." Fuyuhiko chimed in. "Was that really his goal? To kill the traitor? If so, isn't it strange? We almost lost. We definitely would have lost if Chiaki hadn't said anything"

"Thaaaaat's right!" Monokuma loudly interrupted. "Nagito said he was going to weed out the traitor, but he never said he was going to kill the traitor. In fact, he wanted everyone but the traitor to die!" he laughed his familiar laugh.

Nagito wanted all of us...to die? (Y/N) couldn't wrap her head around the idea. Everyone began talking over each other, arguing in disbelief that Nagito could do something so twisted.

"...It's okay." Everyone turned their attention back to Chiaki as she spoke. "It's not just Nagito's fault. If the circumstances had been different...he probably wouldn't have taken things so far." Even moments before her execution, Chiaki still defended her classmate. She was always so calm and caring of everyone. (Y/N) remembered all the times Chiaki stood up for and comforted her when she was upset. And she was about to be executed.

"Okay that's enough! Leave the talk for later! Because...it's punishment time!" Monokuma cheered.

"H-Hold on! Just a little more...just a little more time..." Hajime pleaded

"Wait?! Are you serious?! There's no way I'd agree to wait!" Monokuma responded.

"B-but I haven't..." his voice was shaking.

"I'm sorry Hajime..." Chiaki said sadly. "Regardless, there's nothing else I can say. I'm not allowed to give any more information than I already have," she looked towards the ground as she spoke.

"N-no, it's not that. I don't want information. I want-" but before he could finish, he was cut off by Monokuma, signaling that the execution was going to start. (Y/N) saw the way Hajime was looking at Chiaki. She saw the despair in his eyes as he watched her wave her last goodbye before her punishment began. It wasn't just the despair of losing a classmate, it was something more.

You love her, don't you, Hajime? (Y/N) thought to herself. After the execution was over, Hajime fell to his knees. He looked lost, like he had so many things he wanted to say but no one to tell them to. (Y/N) knew this time, she had to be there for him, just as he had done so many times for her. The wound of losing Nagito was still fresh and watching Chiaki's execution felt like ripping off the scab. If she couldn't be strong for herself, she had to be strong for her friends. She dropped down beside Hajime and embraced him for a moment before attempting to help him up off the ground.

"C'mon, let's go back." she whispered. She kept one arm wrapped around him after they stood up. It felt familiar, walking back to the hotel after a trial, silently side-by-side. Halfway through their walk, (Y/N) suddenly stopped moving.

"Are you alright?" Hajime asked. He watched her reach inside her pocket and pull out the piece of paper he had handed her before the trial. She inhaled deeply as she carefully unfolded it. It read:

Don't forget the promise you made.

--

"but you have to promise me one thing: when I die, will you write a song about me?"

"I promise I will, but you aren't going to die here. I won't let you. We'll make it off this island, okay?"