AN: Well, as I'd announced, here's the second of my two current multi chapter works for Danganronpa, this time featuring another ship that is near and dear to my heart. There's a criminal shortage of Hinazumi stories around, so I thought I could try to remedy that a bit. Like my other Danganronpa stories so far, this one is canon to the same AU. I hope that you enjoy, and please leave a review to let me know what I've done well and what I can improve on!
Disclaimer: Danganronpa is the property of Spike Chunsoft Co. Ltd.
A Most Hopeful Meeting by Chance
Chapter 1: Tragedy Averted
Normally, life in the reserve course was fairly tame and boring, at least compared to the apparent wild antics that the main course students seemed to regularly engage in. And, Hajime Hinata supposed, it made sense. After all, most of the reserve course students paid through the nose to attend Hope's Peak, and even then they had to maintain nearly impeccable academic records in order to remain enrolled. If you slipped up and didn't perform up to the high standard expected of the school, there were always hundreds of other applicants clamoring for spots at Hope's Peak, so any student could be easily replaced at a moment's notice.
However, that dull atmosphere of quiet drudgery had changed recently with the arrival of the latest member of the reserve course: Natsumi Kuzuryuu. To say that the effect that her arrival had had on Hajime's class was like kicking a hornet's nest would have been a tremendous understatement. Her confidence and good looks should have won the support of most of the members of Class 1-A, but she'd made it abundantly clear that she thought that they were nothing but trash, resulting in isolation from most of the other students. But, she seemed to prefer things that way. In fact, she only ever bothered to speak with two people in her class given the chance. One was Hajime himself, who Natsumi apparently spoke with because they were the only two students in the reserve course who still clung to the hope of making it to the main course someday.
The second person was… well, therein lay the problem. Sato, whose first name Hajime had never heard from anyone, always seemed to be in heated argument with Natsumi. Apparently, the two had attended the same middle school, and had even been involved in the same club. But instead of being friends, the two clearly hated each other's guts. Natsumi had declared that she would do anything in order to get a spot in the main course, and apparently she had her eye on one particular student: a redheaded girl, Mahiru, if Hajime's memory served correctly, who also had some kind of history with both Natsumi and Sato. She'd been able to temporarily defuse the situation between the two, though it hadn't lasted long, and Hajime wasn't sure that she'd be welcome in 1-A again; Natsumi had openly suggested that the girl considered herself superior to those in the reserve course, playing on their envy to make the reserve course an unfriendly place for her.
Things had only continued to spiral down from there. Every day had brought new shouting matches between the two girls, but today something had changed. Sato had accused Natsumi of scheming up ways to hurt Mahiru, and whatever Natsumi had retorted with clearly struck a nerve with Sato. She'd tried to slap Natsumi, with Hajime barely catching her arm in time. Apparently, that was the last straw for Natsumi too, who calmly informed Sato that she'd signed her own death warrant. And that was what had led Hajime to his current task.
Trailing after Natsumi, afraid of what she might do if left alone, Hajime found her leaning against the outdoor railing, gazing longingly at the main course building in the distance. It was a look that Hajime recognized well; he was sure it was the same one that he'd worn on several occasions as he looked at Hope's Peak through the window during class It might not be the nicest thing to interrupt someone when they so obviously wanted to be alone, but Hajime needed to try and sort this out before things got too out of hand. "Natsumi!" he yelled out as he ran over to his classmate.
She turned her head towards Hajime, irritation gleaming in her eyes. "Now what?" she demanded.
"I know that you and Sato don't get along," Hajime said, trying not to pant after his run over, "but still. You can't threaten people like that!"
Natsumi scowled at that assertion. "What do you care?" she demanded, "You're just some rando from the reserve course. I can do whatever I damn well please.
"They're not going to scout you," Hajime warned, "In fact, once they catch wind of this, they'll probably kick you out!"
That certainly got a reaction. "Shut up already!" Natsumi spat at him, "You don't know a thing! I'm getting that transfer no matter what!" Tears began to well up in her eyes, and Hajime knew just how much this apparently meant to her. She'd mentioned that her brother was enrolled in the main course as the Ultimate Yakuza, and she apparently fancied herself as the Ultimate Little Sister. Obviously the school didn't consider that to be a talent, or at least not one deserving of a place in the main course, and Hajime supposed that Natsumi felt that her brother was leaving her behind. "I've got talent," Natsumi continued, though her voice sounded much less confident, "I know I do."
Hajime's eyes opened a little bit wider. He and Natsumi were more alike than he'd thought. Even though she acted cocky and pretentious towards her classmates, in the end she knew that she wasn't all that special. She wanted to be though, just as Hajime did. Apparently realizing how vulnerable she looked, Natsumi quickly wiped her eyes and turned away, the scowl returning to her face.
"Why does this matter to you?" questioned Hajime. He needed to confirm that his suspicions were correct. "Why is the main course so important?"
"My brother is the Ultimate Yakuza," she said, surprisingly replying without any hesitation, "If I'm not his Ultimate Little Sister, I'm left behind." She paused for a moment before finishing. "Not on my watch," she said, her voice little more than a whisper. "Screw that!" she said forcefully, as if trying to dispel the doubts that plagued her.
There's more to life than just talent. The words of Chiaki Nanami, Hajime's friend from the main course, came to the front of his mind. Was this what happened when one allowed themselves to be consumed by thoughts of talent? But it was really impossible for someone with talent to understand what it was like to not have talent at all. Seeing the world move forward, with others finding success while you were left in the dust, was the most despairing feeling Hajime could think of. "I get it," he said softly, surprising Natsumi, "Feeling like you're left behind must be the worst thing ever." Natsumi glared at him, expecting him to continue his explanation. "But I…I don't think you have to be a top student, or an elite," Hajime explained, obliging Natsumi's unspoken request.
"What does that even mean?" Natsumi demanded, incredulous, "In this world you either make the cut or you don't. The end."
"You love your big brother, don't you?" Hajime asked rhetorically, as he already knew the answer, "Talent isn't even a factor. Just stay with him and make memories together!" He could hardly believe what he said, considering that something deep inside him didn't believe his own words.
"My brother deserves the very best!" objected Natsumi, "That includes all of the people around him. I want him to be proud of me." She cut off, staring gloomily ahead as she continued softly, "Not down from above. I want to stand by his side." She laid her head onto her arms. "As soon as I'm the Ultimate Little Sister, I can be with him again, no problem."
Hajime had nothing to respond to that with, and Natsumi's demeanor indicated that she considered the conversation over. He turned to leave. It was almost time for his daily video game session with Nanami, and he looked forward to it as usual. Making his way back downstairs, he retrieved his belongings from his locker on the first floor and made for the exit. But, before he could make it out of the building…
"Ah, Hinata," a voice called out, flagging Hajime down. Turning, Hajime saw one of the reserve course faculty, not his own teacher, but one of the other normal staff hired by the academy to handle the reserve course students. "I need you to clean the first-floor classrooms," the man told Hajime, "Class inspections are coming up, and we need to look our best if we're going to receive any additional funding next year.
Hajime couldn't believe it. Was this guy serious? Of course he was. The reserve course students were seen as a dime a dozen, and the school expected them to always do as instructed, even if the task was a menial one like this. It certainly helped them save money on custodial staff. Plus, Hajime wasn't sure whether or not this particular teacher knew just how tenuous his own status as a student at Hope's Peak was, even compared to the other reserve course students. So, declining this "request" seemed like a bad idea. "Yes sir," Hajime replied resignedly. And he'd been so excited to meet up with Nanami again today. Oh well, there was always tomorrow he supposed.
With a sigh, Hajime went into room 1-A and surveyed the damage. Fortunately, it didn't look like anything out of the ordinary, just the usual dust buildup and dirt on the floor, as well as a few scattered items that would need to be put away. Walking over to the corner of the room, he opened the blue storage locker in the back which stored the cleaning supplies. Grabbing the broom, he started sweeping up the mess. The quicker he could finish this up, the sooner he could leave.
After around thirty minutes, Hajime put the last of the cleaning supplies back into the locker and closed it back up again. He hadn't scoured every nook and cranny of classrooms 1-A and 1-B, but he'd done a thorough enough job that he was confident that no one would complain about it. By this point however, Chiaki had probably already figured that he wasn't coming today and had likely returned to her dormitory. This day definitely hadn't been particularly great for Hajime. But, at least now he could go back to his room and try to relax for a while. Tomorrow would be here before he knew it, and he could always meet up with Chiaki then…
A loud crash echoed from upstairs, jolting Hajime out of his thoughts. He froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Was there an intruder in the school? Maybe someone had accidentally knocked something over. Maybe…
As the horrible thought crossed his mind, Hajime took off running towards the source of the noise. Sure, Natsumi had threatened to kill Sato for her actions earlier, but certainly she hadn't meant it. But, he hadn't seen or heard anyone else leaving the school, and he had to at least check. His heart pounded, and he fervently wished that his gut was wrong about this. Bounding up the stairs to the second floor, he slipped on one of the steps and barely managed to catch himself by grabbing onto the handrail, pulling himself up and continued his sprint. Most of the classrooms on the second floor were closed, their lights off as the faculty had locked them up for the evening. The music room, however, was wide open, and Hajime could hear grunts and gasping sounds slipping from inside.
Barrelling into the room, Hajime was met with the sight that he had feared, though not exactly how he had imagined it. Sato was kneeling on Natsumi's chest, her hands grasped around the shorter girl's throat. Natsumi gasped for air, her face beginning to turn blue from a lack of oxygen. Nearby, the broken remains of a fish tank littered the floor, evidently the cause of the crashing noise Hajime had heard earlier.
To say Hajime was shocked would have been an understatement. Even though Hajime had seen Sato trying to hit Natsumi earlier, he'd imagined that it would be the Yakuza who would be the aggressor. Not taking the time to ponder this, he ran headfirst towards the two girls, tackling Sato and pushing her off the shorter blond-haired girl. The two tumbled to the floor, with Sato letting out a groan as she struck the floor hard. She glared at Hajime, and he was unnerved to see just how… unhinged she looked, her eyes looking crazed and filled with murderous intent. The look was gone in an instant, replaced with confusion. "Hinata?" she asked incredulously, "What are you still doing here?"
"I got stuck cleaning the downstairs classrooms, then heard a commotion coming from up here," Hajime explained, "so I came to investigate. Looks like it's a good thing I did."
Nearby, Natsumi began to recover, coughing and wheezing as oxygen once again flowed into her lungs. She wheezed for a few seconds, then seemed to realize what had happened. Her face filled with rage as she hauled herself onto her feet, and Hajime watched as her hand slipped into her pocket to fish out a switchblade. He had no idea how she'd managed to get THAT into the school, but this was not a good sign. As she flipped the blade out, Hajime leapt to his feet and, as she began to lunge towards the now prone Sato, quickly grabbed her by the arm and held her in place.
"Bastard!" she barked out loudly, "Let go of me! That bitch tried to kill me, so she's a dead woman!" She struggled to break free of the boy's grip, but Hajime clung on as if his life depended on it.
"Natsumi, just stop," Hajime said softly, "no one is going to die today." Realizing that he wasn't going to let go, she stopped trying to break free and alternated between glaring at him and staring hateful daggers at Sato. The black-haired girl had gotten to her knees and was now looking at Natsumi with a wary, yet completely unrepentant expression on her face. It made it clear that she still very much wanted to kill the Yakuza but wasn't certain about what to do now that a third party had intervened.
Hajime himself wasn't actually sure what his next move should be. He'd managed to separate the two girls, and for the moment there wasn't any danger, but that could change in an instant. Clearly, neither Sato nor Natsumi were ready to let this incident go, and there was only so much that he could do. "Natsumi," he said, "Let go of the knife."
The girl glared at him again, and an expression of shame filled her eyes as she reluctantly let the weapon drop to the floor. Being bested by someone that she considered to be beneath her wasn't doing her current mental state any favors. But, the weapon was out of her hands, so that was an improvement. Cautiously, he let go of her arm, and she pulled it away quickly, though she made no move for either the knife or Sato.
"So, Hinata," Natsumi said acidly, "what are you going to do now?"
That was a good question. "I suppose that I need to let the school know what's happened here—"
"No!"
Hinata blinked in surprise as both girls yelled in unison. So, there was at least one thing that they could agree on. "If you tell them, they'll expel me!" Natsumi implored, her face now showing signs of panic.
"They'll expel us," corrected Sato. She too looked disturbed at that prospect, though she was keeping her emotions hidden better than Natsumi.
"Well, what else am I supposed to do then?" asked Hajime, "This has gone too far now. Someone needs to help you two work this out, because otherwise you two are going to just keep on fighting until one of you does die."
Both girls were silent at that comment. Then, Sato spoke, her voice low. "Maybe… maybe Mahiru could help?"
Natsumi laughed darkly at that suggestion. "Koizumi? That goody two-shoes, really? You only want to bring her into this so that you can spend more time gazing at her."
"It's not like that!" protested Sato, her cheeks flushing, "Besides, she at least knows both of us. And even though we never got along, things never got this far back in middle school. You can't deny that she knows how to take care of people and help others get along. Besides, I know that you still respect her, even though you're jealous that she got scouted by Hope's Peak and you didn't."
The blond-haired girl's face darkened at that last comment, but she said nothing further in protest of the idea. Sato turned to Hajime again. "Please, at least give this a chance. We've worked too hard just to get tossed out, but…" She stared down at her hands for a moment, as if just realizing how close she'd been to actually murdering Natsumi just a few minutes earlier. "We do need someone to help settle this. Otherwise…"
The fear of being kicked out of Hope's Peak, even if it was just the reserve course, was something that Hajime could definitely empathize with. But, that look that he'd seen in Sato's eyes, then in Natsumi's, made him question if anything could keep them from plotting against each other. He knew that this should be reported to the school, but then the two would likely blame each other for their expulsion. That would likely make the situation even worse. At least this way there might be a chance, however slim, of getting these two to cooperate for once. And he'd seen this Mahiru manage to defuse a similarly hostile situation before, even for only a short time.
He sighed. "Alright, we'll give this a chance," he said, "but if anything like this happens again, the school is going to have to know." Fishing around in his pocked, he pulled out his cellphone. "What was her phone number?" he asked Sato.
In her room in the Hope's Peak main campus dormitory, Mahiru Koizumi, the Ultimate Photographer, frowned slightly as she sifted through the pile of photographs in front of her. The pictures themselves didn't bother her, though she often wished that she could take photos of more serious subject matter, but rather it was what they indicated that was troublesome. She'd managed to make some great friends during her first few months at Hope's Peak, including Hiyoko Saionji, the Ultimate Traditional Dancer, Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse, and Ibuki Mioda, the Ultimate Musician. Their varied and colorful personalities made life at Hope's Peak far more interesting and enjoyable than it otherwise would have been.
But, as much as she loved her new friends, there was something missing when she hung out with them. None of them seemed much interested in photography, or even tried to learn more about it, despite the fact that taking pictures was Mahiru's favorite activity. It wasn't as though it upset her that her new friends didn't share her interest, but she had gotten used to having people around who had at least a fraction of her own passion for photography. Maybe that was why she'd particularly enjoyed being able to meet up with her friend Sato and why she always looked forward to the time they spent together. When she'd found out that she was also attending Hope's Peak, even as a reserve course student, she'd been delighted to know that there would be at least one familiar face nearby.
In fact, it made her feel rather proud to see that three people out of her middle school's photography club had managed to make it to Hope's Peak: herself, Sato, and, most recently, Natsumi Kuzuryuu. Mahiru had been far less excited when she'd heard that she would be attending Hope's Peak with her, since the girl had always made it quite clear that she thought herself better than everyone around her, Mahiru included. In fact, when Mahiru had been scouted as the Ultimate Photographer, Natsumi had griped, "Hope's Peak must really have lowered its standards if they let someone like you in, with your 'amazing' pictures of peoples' smiles." That had hurt a little bit, though Sato quickly reminded Natsumi that her brother had been chosen in the same batch of students as Mahiru.
That seemed to have begun the now bitter feud between Sato and Natsumi. The two had never really gotten along, but ever since that day things had escalated out of control. Mahiru remembered that the two had nearly come to blows the last time that she'd visited Sato, and she'd had to throw herself between the two to stop them. There wasn't much that she could do though, other than to tell her friend that she shouldn't fight with Natsumi. Hopefully, if they left each other alone things could settle down a bit. She'd actually thought about checking up on Sato this evening, and maybe even introducing her to her friends from the main course, though she wasn't sure how they'd react to mingling with someone from the reserve course.
Suddenly, Mahiru's phone began vibrating, indicating that someone was calling her. Picking the phone up, she checked to see who was calling, but didn't recognize the number. Hopefully it wasn't some idiot sending out spam. Clicking the answer button, she brought the device up to her ear. "Hello?" she said questioningly.
"Is this Mahiru Koizumi?" asked an unfamiliar male voice on the other side.
"This is," she replied, "May I ask who's calling?"
"My name in Hajime Hinata, from the reserve course, Class 1-A." That caught Mahiru's attention; that was the same class that both Sato and Natsumi were in. A sinking feeling began to form in her gut as the voice continued. "Your friend Sato has been involved in an…incident. Could you come over to the reserve course building as soon as possible?"
Mahiru had to struggle to bite down the panic that was starting to form inside her. An incident? Was Sato hurt? Was she… Pushing such speculation from her mind, she tried to find out more specifics. "What kind of incident?" she asked.
"It's better if we discuss it in person," the man replied, "But Sato's alright, if that's what you're worried about."
A wave of relief spread throughout Mahiru. At least Sato wasn't hurt, though whatever had happened was still serious enough for them to have called her and requested her to meet them in person. It could be some kind of prank or setup, but she felt like she could take care of herself reasonably well if that was the case. After all, it seemed like it would better to trust this guy and regret it rather than not trust him and regret it if something bad had happened. "I'll be there in a few minutes," she said, already moving to put her shoes on.
"We'll meet you in the music room on the second floor," Hajime said before hanging up. It took just a moment for Mahiru to finish slipping her shoes on, and then she briskly headed out the door. The trip to the reserve course building didn't take long, though it felt like an eternity as speculations drifted through the photographer's mind. The orange sunset cast a warm glow throughout the Hope's Peak campus, and normally she would have taken her time and snapped pictures of some of the best views, but currently she didn't want to waste any time. The doors to the reserve course building remained unlocked, and she hastily made her way into the building, past the classrooms on the first floor, and up the stairs.
The fact that only one room currently had its lights on made it easy to identify the music room. Hesitantly, Mahiru approached, slightly anxious about what she might find. To her surprise, however, upon reaching the threshold of the room, she was greeted by the sight of Sato sitting next to the piano at the edge of the stage, and Natsumi leaning against the wall by the window, about ten feet away from the black-haired girl, glaring daggers at Sato. Between the two stood a young man, a few inches taller than any of the women, crisply dressed in the black uniform of the reserve course. The only really notable feature about him was an odd tuft of hair that stuck out from the rest; other than that, he seemed remarkably…normal.
Seeing Mahiru enter the room, Sato looked over at her, and a flash of guilt crossed her face as she looked away. Something was clearly bothering her, and Mahiru had a feeling that she'd find out exactly what sooner than she'd like. The boy, Hajime she presumed, straightened up, a somewhat grim expression on his face. "Thanks for coming," he said as he walked over, "My name is Hajime Hinata."
"I'm Mahiru Koizumi," she replied curtly, "so what is this about? You said that something had happened with Sato?"
Hajime's eyes looked down, signaling his discomfort. "You're not going to like this, but…" He straightened back up and looked her in the eye. "I stumbled onto Sato in here a half-hour ago. She was trying to kill Natsumi."
Mahiru's blood ran cold at that statement. Her friend… had tried…to kill someone? "H-how could you know that for sure?" she asked, unwilling to believe Hajime's words, "I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if you saw them fighting but…"
"She was on top of Natsumi, with her hands around her throat," Hajime insisted, "If I'd gotten here just a little later, she would have died." He indicated to the ground nearby, where the floor was littered with glass shards and the damaged frame of a broken fish tank. "I only came up to check because I heard that falling and breaking."
The photographer didn't have any response to that. If what he said was true, then there could only be one logical conclusion. Turning to Sato, she whispered out, "Sato…Is this true?" She desperately wanted to hear her friend deny it. She didn't want to believe that her friend could possibly have tried to kill someone.
"It's true." Sato admitted quietly, "I was…so tired of hearing her trash talk you and threaten to force you out of Hope's Peak. I was sure that she would have killed you if I didn't do anything, so I wanted to make sure that she could never hurt you again."
"Stupid bitch," Natsumi grumbled, her voice loud enough to be heard by the others in the room, "I might not like you two, and I might talk smack, but there's no way I'd be dumb enough to try to kill either of you. I'm going to make it into the main course, and there's no way that'd happen if I kill someone."
Sato's eyes narrowed, then widened as she realized that Natsumi was, apparently, being completely honest. As if now realizing exactly how far she'd sunk, she crumpled to the floor and started shaking. "I…I…I really did almost kill Natsumi, didn't I?" she mumbled, staring blankly at her hands, "What have I done? How could I have gone this far?"
Sato's behavior was deeply disturbing to Mahiru. She'd never have thought her friend capable of attempting murder, and apparently, she herself hadn't either. Kneeling down, she started to put her arm around her friend to comfort her, but stopped mid-motion, unable to make herself touch Sato so soon after finding out what she'd done. Instead, she looked up at Natsumi, then Hajime, a questioning look in her eyes.
"I was going to tell the school administration what had happened," Hajime explained, "but that would mean certain expulsion for both of them once everything came to light. So, they convinced me to let you try to sort this out. You have history with both of them, right? I was hoping maybe you could help sort things out."
Mahiru didn't know how to respond. She'd tried to keep Sato and Natsumi in line before, and it hadn't worked at all. She was just a photographer; she didn't know how to make people get along. She wasn't a leader like Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Princess from her class, and she didn't know how to guide people towards a mutual goal like the Ultimate Team Manager, Nekomaru Nidai. All she had were her photos, and those couldn't possibly do anything to fix this mess.
No, wait…There was a conversation that she'd had with Nanami one day when Mahiru had persuaded all the girls from her class to get together to fix some desserts and to talk and hang out afterwards. Along with everyone else, Mahiru had been surprised at how quickly the gamer had gone from a relative wallflower to becoming Class 77-A's representative, and they were curious to find out what had happened.
"I thought my games were all I had, and they couldn't be of use or interest to anyone else," Chiaki had told them, "I couldn't possibly use them to make friends. That's what I'd convinced myself of. But Miss Yukizome showed me how wrong that was. If I loved my games so much, even if I was by myself, how much more fun would it be to share them with all of you? That's why. As long as you're doing what you love, and sharing it with the people around you, you shouldn't be afraid of not being able to make friends. They'll either see your passion and enjoy it with you, or at least know who you really are."
Nanami had won over the whole class by sharing her games, and the passion she had for them, with everyone. Maybe, just maybe, Mahiru could do the same thing with her love of photography. If she could possibly keep Sato and Natsumi from each other's throats, it was at least worth trying. She stood up, trying to exude an aura of confidence that she couldn't quite make herself feel. "All right," she said assertively, "I know what we're going to do. From now on, the four of us are charter members of the Hope's Peak Academy Photography Club!"
The other three stared at her incredulously, and for a moment Mahiru wondered if she'd made a mistake. But no, she'd decided to try this plan, and she needed to stick by it. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Natsumi snarked in a deadpan, "Why would I ever want to be in a photography club with you again? What, are you that eager to show off and rub your pictures in my face?"
"No, of course not!" protested Mahiru, "but you loved photography back in middle school, right? You wouldn't have joined the club back then if you didn't. And you were at least willing to work with us for the club, right? Maybe this will give you and Sato the opportunity to work things out? And think about it, this might give you a chance to impress the school officials if you're still trying to get into the main course next year."
Apparently, that thought hadn't occurred to Natsumi, and she seemed to be thinking deeply about the idea. But, another voice threw out another note of protest. "Why do you want me to be a part of this?" Hajime questioned in disbelief, "I don't know anything about photography. In fact, the only camera I've ever used is the one in my cellphone!"
"Jeez," Mahiru groaned, her face looking slightly disgusted, "That's no fun at all. Pictures on phones can't really capture the scene properly. I know!" she said, her face brightening back up, "I'll teach you how to take real photos. It's great! I'm sure you'll love it, and you'll need to be able to handle a camera if you're going to be part of a photography club!"
Hajime protested, "But I never agreed to—"
"Hey, hey!" the photographer said, cutting off Hajime, "So, we'll have our first official meeting in front of here tomorrow afternoon. Does that sound good to the two of you?" she asked, looking at Sato and Natsumi.
"That sounds great," said Sato as she stood up. She still looked rather unsettled, but she had at least recovered enough to control herself. It wouldn't be pleasant to have to be around Natsumi even more than usual, but at least she could spend more time with Mahiru this way.
After some consideration, Natsumi frowned, her face clearly showing her unhappiness with the situation. "I guess that'll work," she said disdainfully, "But just so you know, I'm only agreeing to this because I want to do everything I can to get into the main course. I still think you're an idiot and a worthless goody-goody."
Mahiru gave a broad but forced smile. "As long as it gets you there, that works for me," she said. Letting the smile drop, she glanced around the room again. "You two should probably leave now," she said, "Someone's bound to come looking through here before the lock the building up for the night, and I'm sure they won't be happy when they find this."
The other three students realized that she was right; it was getting late, and it was impossible to think that no one would stumble across the mess that Sato and Natsumi had made in the room during their fight. They wanted to be sure to be long gone before that happened. Natsumi quickly skulked out of the room, and Sato followed a short while later, giving one last look back at Mahiru before departing. Hajime also began to make his exit but was stopped by Mahiru. "Hinata," she said, "I wanted to have a word with you before you leave." He stopped and as he turned to face her, a thought flashed through Mahiru's mind. Impulsively, she grabbed her camera and brought it up to her face. "Wait, first, just stay there, right there," she said, "Now, say cheese! Just kidding!" She snapped the picture, the whole sequence of events having occurred in only a few seconds.
Hajime blinked his eyes to recover from the camera flash. He hadn't been expecting that, though maybe that was his fault. After all, he was speaking to the Ultimate Photographer. Mahiru quickly checked the picture and grinned. "Yep, I guess this looks good enough. You sure do have a dumb looking face though."
"Is that really what you wanted, to take my picture and tell me how I look?" asked Hajime, "I'm sure that I would have looked more professional if you'd given me the time to prepare."
"You don't really capture what a person truly looks like if you give them time to pose," Mahiru said, disagreeing, "If you want to capture the essence of your subject, you have to take a spontaneous shot. Besides, I just wanted to get a picture of you, since I don't have one yet, and we're going to be working together for a while."
Hajime gave a sigh. "I still don't understand why you're insisting I be part of your new photography club," he said, "And you didn't even consider whether I wanted to be a part of it or not. I have other things that I like to do you know."
"I'm sorry about that," Mahiru said, looking away, "I should be thanking you for intervening rather than causing you more problems. But, I can't watch them all day, and you're even in their class, so it makes sense for you to help out and let me know if anything else comes up." Suddenly she glared at Hajime and stuck out her finger, poking him in the chest. "Besides," she said in a more aggressive tone, "you are a boy, right? It's a boy's job to make sure that the girls are safe, so from now on I'm counting on you to help me make sure that neither of those two try anything like this ever again."
Her sudden change in tone threw Hajime off balance. He'd thought that photographer was just a laid back, soft-spoken girl, but apparently she had enough steel in her to take charge when she wanted to. And she did have a point; he'd been the one to stumble onto this fiasco, and he'd pulled Mahiru into it as well instead of just going to a teacher. So, it was sort of his responsibility to help her out now. "Alright," he conceded, "I'll help keep an eye them for you, and help you out with your club idea. I hope that it works, because those two have some major issues."
Clasping her hands behind her back, Mahiru gave a warm smile, closing her eyes as she did so. "Thank you," she said sincerely, "This means a lot." Clearing her throat, she continued, "Anyways, well then, I'll expect to see you here again tomorrow." With that, she turned and hastily made her way out of the room, leaving Hajime by himself.
Now alone, Hajime considered the events of the last hour or so, and wondered what exactly he'd gotten himself into. Besides now being the appointed caretaker of Natsumi and Sato, he was now expected to be part of a photography club, even though he didn't know the first thing about photography? He supposed that he'd have to text Nanami and let her know that they'd have to change their meeting time for playing video games, if he'd even have the time to meet at all. Sighing and shaking his head, Hajime made his way out of the music room. At least tomorrow couldn't possibly be as crazy as today had been.
AN: Well, I finally got through this. This chapter really didn't want to work with me, particularly since Sato and Natsumi don't get enough time for in depth characterization, and the events surrounding the Twilight Syndrome Murder incident are seemingly contradictory between Danganronpa 2 and Danganronpa 3. I tried to get them to mesh as well as possible, but I'm certain that there are still going to be some inconsistencies. I wanted to write these characters well, since the Hinazumi ship has a special place in my heart, but trying to get the story started was quite tricky. I can only hope that this turned out satisfactorily. I'm sure some people are going to be disappointed that there hasn't been anything super sweet in either of my stories yet, but a setup like this requires proper pacing. Those moments will get here eventually, but the characters have to develop some more first.
I'll try to update this on a biweekly basis, as I'm alternating between this and When He Smiled, but I can't promise that the updates will stay this constant. I'll have law finals coming up before long, and might not have as much time to write. But, I do plan on regularly updating these two stories as much as possible.
I'll see you at the next update!