On the Beach at Night [Nagito x Reader]

Chapter 17: Inside

Nothing (Y/N) did helped to calm her nerves, not even drinking her cup of coffee. She watched the ripples spread across surface of the dark liquid as she unsuccessfully tried to steady her hands.

"Are you sure you still want to do this? It's not too late to change your mind." Izuru questioned her. She could feel his eyes on her, which made her more self-conscious about how visibly nervous she probably looked.

"Y-yep. I'm sure." she barely squeaked out.

"I assure you, there is nothing to worry about. I will be monitoring you the entire time. If anything gets out of hand, I can pull you out." He tried reassuring her, but somehow everything he said only added to her anxiety. All she could manage to do was nod.

"Are you ready to get started then?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright, so allow me to explain what will happen. Once you enter Nagito's subconscious, you will be put into the world that he has created for himself to hide from the trauma he has experienced. I do not know what this world will be like, so you'll have adapt to it quickly to ensure he doesn't reject your existence. Now, while you are within this world, all I need you to do is..." he paused for a moment. "I need you to pretend to be in love with Nagito."

"You're joking, right?"

"No." He stepped closer to her before continuing, leaving very little space between them. "This is essential to the plan. You must get him to fall in love with you. How you do it is completely up to you. But when it does finally happen..." he leaned in close to her ear and whispered something.

"No! No, I can't do that! What if I—" she practically yelled at him. She could not believe he would ask her to do something so careless.

"I will not let anything bad happen to you. I wouldn't ask you to do it if I wasn't one-hundred percent confident with the outcome." As soon as he finished speaking, he caught her off guard with another unexpected embrace. When she realized what was happening, she wrapped her arms around him in return and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Is that Hajime again trying to comfort me?" she asked him.

"No." his voice was almost a whisper. "Not this time."

--

"This might hurt a little," he apologized to her in advance. (Y/N) was now seated in one of the blue pods next to where Nagito was currently being held. Izuru gently lifted her arm and firmly inserted a needle into her vein. She winced at the burning pain that shot through her, but it was over before she could give it a second thought. Suddenly, all her previous anxiety faded away and she started to feel lightheaded.

"Listen to me, (Y/N)." he demanded. "Do not forget your goal. You must make Nagito fall in love with you." She wanted to respond, but instead, she just mumbled incoherently. Her limbs felt like they were made of jelly as she struggled to keep herself upright. A pair of arms supported her from behind, slowly lowering her down into the pod.

"When you remember why you wrote the song, you'll know it's time to do what I asked." His voice sounded like it was farther away than it really was.

The last thing she saw was Izuru's mismatched eyes staring down at her from above, followed by a blinding blue light. And then darkness.

--

Nagito Komaeda was late for homeroom yet again. Through an unbelievable chain of bad luck, he found himself in the Nurse's office for what felt like the thousandth time this week. His bad luck never bothered him though, because it meant only one thing: good luck was on the way. As soon as Mikan finished dressing his wounds, he hurried off to class. But not before experiencing one more spout of bad luck.