Despairing Hope [Goodbye Despair: Danganronpa 2 x Male Reader]

Introductions - 2

"..."

"Hey, are you listening?"

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The spiky haired boy only blankly stared up at Komaeda. Luckily, though, he did sit up from the floor, lifting a hand to his head, wincing lightly. God, this dude looked like he saw a ghost. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Komaeda asked, to which the guy only glared at him and mumbled, "Leave me alone."

Komaeda didn't seem offended at all, explaining, "Th-there's no way I can leave someone alone when they look that pale." Average Joe simply let out a sigh, groggily glancing at me too. He didn't say anything though and continued to look around, most likely taking in his surroundings.

After a few moments, he murmured, "That rabbit thing said we're...on a tropical island." Komaeda continued to stare with worry at the guy but still confirmed his thinking. "...Yeah, you're right." Then there was silence. I wondered if I was supposed to say anything. Even if I did, it wasn't going to be evolutionary.

"What's...your name?" The kid blinked before slowly standing up from the floor, looking down at me and replying, "Hajime Hinata. Sorry I don't really...know what to say."

(What a happy photo 😃)

I waved my hand as if it was swatting away his worries and Komaeda gave Hinata a close-eyed smile. "That's understandable. We're all feeling that way too." He stood up as well, brushing himself off as he did so.

"What's your talent, Hajime Hinata?" Hinata seemed to be done with observing the area and turned to Komaeda with confidence but that soon turned into frustration and he changed the topic, shifting his gaze to a propped up camera. "Hm. Is that a camera...? ...A surveillance camera?"

His face turned pale again as he exclaimed, "Are we...being monitored or something?!" I went to take a closer look at the camera while Komaeda crossed his arms and corrected, "I wouldn't say we're being monitored... I think we're just being watched for our safety..."

I found that the camera was on but Komaeda's thoughts were probably the case. "The camera's on but it's not really doing any harm. Are you camera shy, Hinata?" Hinata seemed as if he wanted to argue his point but just shook his head.

The poor dude must've been on edge and I can't blame him. I would be too if I had more of a gut intuition, but it seemed that was taken away along with my competing skill. Komaeda frowned and looked at Hinata with sympathy, probably assuming the same that I was, asking, "So, how are you feeling? Are you calmed down now?"

He looked to the side as he continued, "Um...I understand your confusion after everything that's happened. We haven't introduced ourselves either..." I glanced at Komaeda and he gave me a light smile, probably wanting to go first. I nodded and he unfolded his arms, putting one on his hip and waving with the other. "I'm Nagito Komaeda. Nice to meet you."

"Ah, along with my introduction...I guess I'll also tell you both about my talent so you guys know why Hope's Peak Academy chose me." He crossed his arms once again and sighed, glancing down at the floor, stating, "Well, even if I tell you, in my case, it's a pretty disappointing talent..."

Hinata looked confused, wondering out loud, "A disappointing talent...? What do you mean?" I was curious too. All talents are pretty cool, even- "I'm lucky." -the Ultimate Lucky Student...could this be considered calling it? I felt a stupid dad joke come into my head and I had to cough it off.

However, Hinata still was oblivious. "...What are you talking about?" Komaeda chuckled awkwardly, putting his hands out in front of him in a dismissive manner, saying, "It's not a joke or anything... That's my actual talent. I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student... At least that's what I'm called anyway."

I turned my head to see Hinata's reaction but he was still dumbfounded, slowly repeating, "Ultimate Lucky Student?" I decided to put my knowledge of Hope's Peak Academy to the test and explained, "Yep. There's a country-wide lottery every year and an ordinary student is chosen to attend the Hope's Peak. They're given the talent 'Ultimate Lucky Student'."

Komaeda finished happily, "And that lucky winner happened to be me." Hinata's expression was one of conflict and Komaeda didn't stop himself from pointing it out. "Your face looks...troubled." Hinata inhaled sharply and shook his head, muttering, "Oh, no...I'm not troubled or anything."

I furrowed my eyebrows and scowled, raising my fist to lift my chin, imitating his pose and grumbling, "No not troubled at all." Hinata turned to me and dropped his frown arguing, "T-that's not what I look like!" I snickered to myself but Komaeda gave Hinata a look of forgiveness.

"It's fine. I have mixed feelings about this, too. I never thought an average, talentless, high school student like me would ever enter Hope's Peak Academy," He stated, looking down at his hand in some sense of irony.

I snorted and grinned at Komaeda, proudly putting my hands on my hips, jokingly asking, "But would you rather have good luck or always lose at everything you try?" Komaeda lifted his eyes up and looked into mine, confused. "What do you mean?"

Fighting off something inside of me telling me to stop, I nervously chuckled and muttered, "You know...my talent." I swear, every time Komaeda was surprised, so was I. Why was his surprise so surprising to me? "Aren't you the Ultimate Genius?" He recalled, however that recollection was completely off.

Hinata just watched, completely baffled, as I laughed again, waving my hand in the air. "I have some friends that go to Hope's Peak. They must've spread that about me to make me feel better. I'm actually the Ultimate Loser."

Compared to an understanding silence such as the one the three of us had when Hinata was just getting up, this one was tensed, and it honestly felt pretty suffocating. Looking at Komaeda's face only made the feeling worse because he just looked so...disappointed.

Was I not supposed to say that?