Despair: Become Hope // komahina

Chapter 21: Baking

DATE: DEC 13TH 2038
PM 01 : 38 : 14
FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN

It's been two weeks since Hajime and Nagito came to Fukushima.

Since then, life's been pretty nice. They accompanied Aoi to the orphanage and played with the kids there, sometimes even bringing little treats they made for them to eat during some of their visits.

The two of them had been living in Aoi's home for a while until they moved to Hokkaido with her a few weeks from then. At least, that was their plan until Hajime suddenly proposed something else out of the blue one morning.

"Hey Nagito, what if we stayed in Fukushima instead?" The android suddenly blurted out.

The albino almost choked on the pancakes he was eating, and Aoi nearly dropped the coffee jug in her hand.

"What do you mean, Haji?" Nagito asked.

"What happened to going to Hokkaido?" Aoi questioned and raised a brow. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm forcing you to come with me, but what made you suddenly change your mind about that?"

"Well, for one, I find it nice living here," was the android's response. "Over the past two weeks, I have looked around this town for any jobs that I can do for financial support. And surprisingly, I actually found quite a few job offers in the area despite Japan's high unemployment rate."

"Maybe it's because the people in this area don't really use androids as much compared to everywhere else?" Aoi set down her coffee and took a seat at the dining table.

"Point is, I think living here in Fukushima wouldn't be too bad," Hajime said. He then faced Nagito who was sitting beside him. "But of course, it's completely fine if you're not okay with it, Ko." He added, placing a hand on the albino's.

Nagito pondered in thought for a moment.

"If you need time to think about it, that's fine too—"

"Okay, let's stay here then," Nagito said, cutting off the android mid-sentence. Hajime had to take a moment to process what he just said a second time, and maybe a third time. He didn't expect him to give an answer so quickly.

"Wait, are you sure?" Hajime asked to confirm again. "You don't need to rush an answer for me. I can wait."

"I guess living in a place like this wouldn't be so bad," Nagito shrugged with a smile. "And besides, as long as I'm with you, it'll be fine."

"Aww, you guys are settling here to set up your love nest? I'm so happy for you." Aoi chimed in and interrupted their small moment. Nagito's face lit up red like a Christmas light as he quickly began his flustered ramblings, of which amused both Aoi and the android.

"Ah, I just remembered I have something to do right now," Aoi got up and began picking up her stuff. "Why don't you guys bake some cookies that we can bring to the orphanage later on while I'm out?" She suggested.

"Maybe I can help you with that?" Hajime said. He began getting out of his chair before Aoi quickly ushered him to sit back down.

"Oh no, you two lovebirds stay here and do the baking," she said. "You guys are gonna have a nice bonding time, and you can't change my mind about it."

Hajime couldn't really grasp what baking had to do with having a bonding time with the albino. But Nagito knew this was another of Aoi's shenanigans to get the two closer and closer.

Just last week, when they were at the orphanage playing with the kids, Aoi intentionally threw a snowball at the albino to make him think it was Hajime who did it. They ended up getting into a snowball fight, surprise surprise.