On the Beach at Night [Nagito x Reader]

Chapter 29: Party

"Hajime, what do you think of this?" she handed over the notebook to the newly short-haired boy sitting on the floor below her. She was still in Hajime's room, draped across his bed on her stomach. Nagito sat cross-legged beside her, eagerly watching her scribble from over her shoulder.

"I really like the melody, but..." he pressed his lips together for a moment. "don't you think that key signature is a little sad?"

"I guess it is." she frowned.

"What if you tried this instead?" He reached his hand out, gesturing for her to hand him the pencil. She complied, and he quickly scrawled down a few changes. "I just think Chiaki would want to hear something happier."

"You're right," she took the notebook back and analyzed his alterations. "I can work with this. Thanks, Hajime."

"You guys know what the music sounds like just by reading the notes?" Nagito asked without expecting an answer. "That must take so much talent...I wish I could hear it too." He was smiling, but there was a slight sadness behind it. (Y/N) realized he must have felt left out this whole time and immediately felt a twinge of guilt.

"We could go to the music room and work on this instead. It would probably be easier to have a piano nearby for this anyways." she suggested. "Hajime, you'll come too, right?" He nodded in agreement.

(Y/N) continued composing the song once they got to the music room, occasionally using the piano to test out some of her ideas. Hajime sat nearby, offering his input when necessary. Nagito seemed more content now that he was able to listen to something other than (Y/N) and Hajime's conversations filled with musical jargon. Even so, his boredom began to take over and he decided upon exploring the music room. There was a bookshelf, mostly full of sheet music and classical music CDs, which didn't particularly peak his interest. Nearby, there was a door that he assumed to be a storage closet of some sort. After he opened it, his assumption was proven correct. It was dusty and dark, but he could make out the outlines of different sized boxes and cases strewn about. There was one case in particular that caught his eye.

"Hey (Y/N), Hajime! Look what I found in this closet." he called out to them.

"A violin?" she asked. "I didn't realize we had one of those on this island."

"Yeah! You guys should play a duet." he suggested excitedly. (Y/N) and Hajime looked at each other before silently affirming the idea.

"That would be nice. It wouldn't take long to write a violin part." Without any hesitation, she jumped right into it.

--

The day of the party came faster than (Y/N) wanted it to. Although her song was finished, the anxiety of playing for other people was slowly creeping in. They decided to have the party on Chandler Beach near the beach house. It was close enough to the diner that Teruteru could easily bring over food and they also found an electric keyboard in the music room's closet to use for the performance. There were only a few last-minute preparations to do, which some of the other students were already taking care of. (Y/N) was left alone with her thoughts and her violin, waiting for the time to pass. In an attempt to keep her hands and thoughts busy, she started unnecessarily tuning it.

"If you keep that up, you're going to break a string." (Y/N) was interrupted by a pair of arms encircling her waist from behind.

"I know. I'm just anxious, I guess." She sighed.

"You shouldn't be. Everyone is excited to hear your song." Nagito spoke cheerfully.

"I just write the songs. I don't perform. I can't do this. I can't!" she groaned. Without taking his arms off of her, he gently turned her around to face him.