Despair: Become Hope // komahina

Chapter 06 : A Solemn Silence

A/N: Woah? Three chapters in two days? It's more likely than you think. This is seriously the most I written in a short span of time in a while lmao

Anyway, I'mma stop rambling so you can enjoy this story. Feel free to leave a comment uwu

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Protect Nagito.

The new objective lingered in his mind as Hajime immediately rushed into Junko's bedroom.

He had remembered putting away a gun in her nightstand's drawer earlier on when he was cleaning, and so he pulled the drawer open and grabbed the gun, making sure it had bullets in it. He perked his head up in concern when he heard another terror-stricken scream emit from outside.

Hajime hid the gun behind his back, and walked out of the room in a cautious manner.

"Please stop!" Nagito shielded himself with his thin arms as he braced for impact from another object lunged at him. But it didn't happen.

"That's enough!" Hajime shouted, pointing the gun towards Junko. "Leave him alone." He threatened the woman in a commanding tone. His crimson eyes were narrowed as he looked at her— for once— in utter hatred and disgust.

Instead of stopping immediately, Junko simply scoffed.

"What are you doing?" She spat in the deviant android's face as her voice laced with venom. "Ordering me around like I'm your servant? How despairing..." Junko pulled a sad pout before yanking Hajime's hand holding the gun towards her head with a sadistic grin.

"You have the guts to not listen to my orders," she mocked. "Let's see if you have the guts to shoot me then, tin can."

Silence fell upon the two.

Hajime was hesitating to pull the trigger. On one hand, he'd finally be able to end Nagito's pain and suffering once and for all; and yet, was it worth the price of having to take someone's life?

"... You're not gonna shoot me, huh?" Junko shoved Hajime and swiftly grabbed the gun from his grasp, flipping the tables with Hajime now at gunpoint. "Pathetic," she mumbled with a smirk, sparking another new emotion inside Hajime's program.

Fear.

Barely being able to stand, Nagito lunged himself at Junko, knocking her to the ground and the gun flew out of her hand with it. "Hajime!" Nagito beckoned towards the android, struggling to keep Junko down with his weak strength. "The gun! Now!"

Without wasting time, Hajime ran and clutched the gun tightly from the floor. Junko broke free from Nagito's fruitless attempts at keeping her down to the ground, and pinned the android to the ground.

She grabbed a hand around his throat, blocking his airway tract, causing slight malfunction screens to appear in red in his vision. Junko punched him in the face repeatedly, making blue blood gush out from the corners of his mouth and from his nose.

And even through all that, Hajime held onto the gun like it was their last string of hope.

Hajime struggled to get Junko off her, with his objective ringing in his program like a blaring siren.

Protect Nagito.

Protect Nagito.

Protect Nagito.

Hajime used his free hand to keep Junko away from punching him, or at least buying himself enough time to position the gun just between their chests.

"I'LL PUT YOU BACK INTO YOUR PLACE, YOU PIECE OF PLASTIC!" Junko bawled in a high-pitched voice, grabbing the closest object to her with her left hand, and brought it up to slam it down onto the android.

"Hajime...!" Nagito shrieked in panic.

A deafening gunshot echoed throughout the room. Junko paused as she felt a warm liquid trickle out from her chest, exactly where her heart was. Her arms went limp and the object slipped through her hands, falling right beside the android's head. Hajime laid underneath her in shock, still gripping the gun in his hand tightly.

She turned around, starting the feel the life drain from her body along with her blood flowing out from her gunshot wound. With dilated eyes in distress, she glared at the albino on the floor.

"Y-You... shit..." were her last words before she finally toppled to the ground, dead.

Crimson stained the crooked wooden floor from where her lifeless body laid. Blood had also gotten onto Hajime's uniform which he noticed when he began to get up from the floor.

He paced towards the sobbing pale man with soft steps, as though he were a mother approached a crying child.

The android reached out a hand and grazed it against Nagito's wet cheeks to dry his tears, causing him to flinch in response. His hysteric sobs calmed down to quiet weeping, as he frantically wiped his tears with his hands. Nagito had hit a few lows in his life before, but this was his lowest low yet.

He felt so vulnerable. So weak. So helpless.

"Shhh," the android cooed in a soft voice, pulling Nagito into a hug. "Everything's gonna be alright now. You're safe now," he whispered into the albino's ears reassuringly. Hajime rubbed circles on his back to soothe him, to calm him down. And it seemed to work.

Nagito returned the hug, wrapping his arms around the AX400 with hesitance before clinging onto him tightly like a koala. And for the first time in the 22 years he's been living, he felt a warmth spark inside his chest. The same warmth he felt the last time he hugged his mother.

Hajime rocked him in his arms back and forth, mumbling comforting words to the crying man. Nagito's faded green eyes had become red and puffy from all the crying, and his throat was sore from all the screaming and shrieking just now.

"H-Hajime..." Nagito croaked in a raspy voice, looking up and gazed deep into his crimson eyes.

"Thank you," he breathed, his shaky voice hiccuping every now and then.

A putrid smell of iron wafted across the room, as the android picked up the nauseating stench of blood from his olfactory sensors. This caused him to widen his eyes in sudden realization that the both of them could get caught if anyone found out about Junko's death.

Hajime was the first to break the hug between them, a glint of wariness in his eyes. "H-Hajime, what's wrong?"

"We can't stay here," he said, grabbing the other male's shoulders.

"We have to leave this place. Now."