chapter one

A gust of wind blew from behind him, making his scarf slap him in the face as the wind carried it forward. Naegi shut his eyes, a little startled by the little woollen ends of the scarf whipping him in the face, that he'd lost concentration of the kite he was supposed to be flying.

From beside him, Maizono giggled. Like Naegi, she had chosen a scarf and jumper combination, however her scarf didn't wave in the wind and left her unaffected by the mischief of the gust. Her grip on her kite didn't loosen, and it continued to dance in the air gracefully, riding the small gust of wind so effortlessly.

Naegi's on the other hand, was erratically jolting from side to side due to the winds, and it didn't made it any better that it was very close to where trees of its height were waiting to catch the origami masterpiece in their branches. Comparing the two kites in the sky, it was quite comical to think that both of them were riding the same light breeze that the world had to offer.

Another heavier gust of wind, blew both kites forward unexpectedly. Maizono was quick to react, planting herself into the ground while holding onto the handles steadily, while her kite remained attached to her line, and yet still managed to dance in the air. Naegi's however, was not so fortunate. His reaction time was a little slower than Maizono, that by the time he'd dug his heels into the ground, the kite had snapped off from the string and sailed through the air, taking off on its own course.

"Looks like you got unlucky there," Maizono said with a cheeky tone. She had began rolling her kite up, but kept her gaze into the sky where she watched Naegi's blue crane kite disappear over the trees.

Naegi's face had fallen, and he had dropped his head miserably. Once Maizono had finished wrapping up her kite, she walked over to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go look for it, maybe we can fix it?"

Naegi seemed a little hopeless at that, but gave her a smile and a nod of his head. "Yeah, maybe."

The two left the park side by side, as they followed the direction of where the kite had sailed. Along the way, Maizono had stopped some people as they were coming their way, asking whether or not they'd seen Naegi's kite fly by. Every time she asked, Naegi's felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment, and remained red even after Maizono had said goodbye to them.

"Oh look, there it is," Maizono said, pointing upwards. Naegi followed her finger to the large tree right on the sidewalk, and gulped when he saw the familiar blue kite stuck at the very top of the tree. And needless to say, it was a long way off the ground to go get.

Maizono had insisted that they got it back, because otherwise it would be littering and Naegi was too pure to allow such treachery to occur. The two stopped right under the tree where they looked for a way to get the kite back. The thin white string of the kite dangled below the thin paper creation, which caught both of their eyes and Maizono looked over at Naegi with a smile.

It was obvious to him what she was implying, and he was very sceptical of doing it. "No way, that's unsafe!"

"You'll be fine, Naegi-kun," Maizono said with a smile. "It's not too high, and if you fall I'll catch you."

The sheer mention of being caught by Maizono caused Naegi to flush. He was aware that he was a fair bit shorter than her, but even then he didn't know if she was strong enough to even catch him from such a height. And he was too embarrassed to let it happen.

"O-Okay," he said meekly, stepping forward. He saw a large branch above his head, perfect for the start of his climb and jumped into the air to try and grab ahold of it. Only, he missed, and his jump was nothing more than a hop that got him not even two feet into the air.

Maizono giggled and stepped forward. "I'll help you," she told him, extending her arms. "Here, Naegi-kun. I'll lift you up."

Naegi was hesitant. "Uh, do you think it will work?"

"Don't be silly, it will be fine," she said in response, giving him a positive smile. "I'm your friend, you can trust me."

Well, she had him there. Naegi took a deep breath, before Maizono put her hands up his arms and began lifting him up. Immediately, he noticed the strain in her face and went to protest for her to put him back on the ground when she let out a rather forceful grunt and sat him atop his shoulders.

To say Naegi was stunned was an understatement. The trunk was right in front of him and he could most likely wrap his arms around the branch from here and hoist himself up but he was too held up on how Maizono managed to lift him up onto her shoulders.

"Can you reach?" Maizono called out beneath him, snapping him back to reality. He looked at the thick log in front of him and nodded his head.

"Yeah." He reached his arms out for the branch, Maizono beneath him stepping forced in order to get him closer to the trunk. Naegi got both his arms over the tree and began swinging his legs up to get him fully on the branch. But that didn't exactly work.

Maizono chuckled, and worked from the ground to help push Naegi's legs up on the tree. Once Naegi was fully on the log, still crouched down and breathing heavily, she smiled. "Now you just need to climb."

He nodded his head and tried standing up. He used the base of the trunk to steady himself, as he spotted the branch he needed to use to climb up. Naegi helped himself up the first branch, and the second branch where he was getting closer to the string that would help him pull the kite down.

"You got this, Naegi-kun!" Maizono cheered from the ground. Before he could stop himself, Naegi looked down to smile at his friend when he noticed how far off the ground he'd already climbed; which wasn't far but definitely looked like a long drop.

Now he felt pretty much petrified.

"You can do it!" Maizono cheered again. "You're almost there!"

That thankfully managed to soothe his nerves and Naegi felt himself nod. He kept his head level or above and helped himself up climbing the last branch, where the string of the kite dangled right in front of him. Only, just further out over the branch. That would mean he wouldn't have any steady support if he walked over to retrieve it.

"I'll catch you if you fall!" Maizono called from the ground. "Don't worry about it!" It was like she read his mind.

He took another breath before pushing himself off the trunk and concentrated all his thoughts on his balance, as he made his way over the branch. His feet moved slowly forward, arms out wide steadying him. A thinner branch ran alongside him, which he was brush his hand into if he felt unbalanced, gripping onto the thin twig for support. It supported him somewhat, though he still wasn't in reach of the string.

He shifted slowly further, feeling the branch underneath him adjust to his weight, which made him very anxious. Naegi's breaths became more rapid and heavy as he drew closer to the string, and further along the branch. The string was, thanks to his good luck, dangling right over the end of the branch he was standing on.

Maizono followed along with his steps, making sure she could be there if Naegi does lose his balance.

Naegi reached out to try and grip onto the string, and fortunately wrapped the thin white thread up in his hand, and gave the kite a nice tug so it could dislodge itself from the tree and fall down into his arms. But fortune did not favour him as the string snapped, and the thread fell down over his head. The kite was still up there.

Even Maizono didn't know what to say in response to this, and shared the same look of surprise and disappointment that Naegi had. Turning a little red herself, she looked away and hid her face underneath the scarf. "Maybe we should go."

Though his morals and perfect record would be challenged, Naegi had to agree. "Yeah, I'll get down."

As he pivoted on his foot to head back to the trunk for a more safer getaway, a loud snapping sound shocked both him and Maizono and they looked at each other with wide eyes, knowing very well where the snap came from. Naegi managed a small smile before the branch gave way and dropped beneath him, his body going down with it.

At this moment, it felt like time slowed down. Maizono rushed to try and catch Naegi, but was also at risk of being crushed by the broken branch. Her arms were outspread as she readied herself to catch him, whilst Naegi snapped his eyes shut, not wanting to watch what would happen next.

He somehow started to feel as if he was falling slower, but still didn't dare to open his eyes. His other senses were completely blocked, and he couldn't tell what was going around him other than the fact that he was falling and would probably end up bedridden for the next couple of days after this.

An odd gust of wind ran past him, at first pushing him down a little before it shifted to his right. His skin stood on an end, and before he knew it he had stopped falling and had landed safely in a warm set of arms.

His eyes opened, finding Maizono looking up at him with quite the relieved expression. Seeing him away, she cocked her head to the side and flashed him a grin. "I knew you could do it." Unsure of what she meant, Naegi went to ask but noticed something appear out of the corner of his eye: his blue crane kite.

Sitting up in Maizono's arms, to which she responded by setting him on the ground, he grasped the kite that was lodged between his arm and his body curiously, wondering if maybe it had fallen while he was falling off the branch. Speaking of that branch, was Maizono okay.

"I'm fine, Naegi-kun," Maizono told him with a smile. "The log didn't come anywhere near me."

"H-Huh?" Naegi said, surprised. "How did you know…?"

"Because I'm psychic." Maizono giggled, before waving a dismissive gloved hand. "Just kidding!"

Naegi nodded his head, and looked away from Maizono as his cheeks started to heat up. His eyes skimmed the ground below him, and looked over at the branch he was once standing on. The thick width of the branch had been sliced right through, causing Naegi to raise his eyebrow curiously. Did…Maizono do that?

"Naegi-kun," Maizono began, and Naegi shot up to look right at his friend. She was smiling politely at him, and tilted her head once they made eye contact. "Can I put you down now?"

"O-Of course!" Naegi flushed. "S-Sorry, Maizono-san."

Maizono simply giggled as she put the luckster on the ground. Naegi stood in front of her head, down as he looked at the kite in his hands. He was still rather confused; how did the kite suddenly find itself in his hands when the string had already snapped?

He looked up to see Maizono tucking back a lock of her hair, looking past him in the direction of the park. "Maybe we should head back to school," she suggested. Naegi nodded his head silently, as Maizono took initiative and began walking back.

He trailed behind her, holding the kite close to his chest still going over how he got it back in his mind. Curiously, he lifted his head and looked behind him at the tree where he spotted the rugged split of the branch that he'd snapped. That didn't make sense, considering the branch he'd noticed was cut through cleanly. Even if someone had cut through it, where was the other half of the split log?

Still not satisfied, he took a step back towards the tree and looked briefly for the other half of the sliced log. Still, he saw nothing.

Sighing to himself, he turned his head back to the path and went to catch up to Maizono when he heard the sounds of rustling leaves, and snapped his head back to the tree. He scanned the tree closely, thinking it may have just been a bird when the wind came back and blew away some of the low hanging branches, exposing a boot.

Naegi's eyes widened. Someone else was in the tree!

"Hey!" Naegi called out. "Is someone up there?"

There was not a response, and the wind had died down to cover up the boot once again. Somewhat determined to find the identity of the person in the tree, Naegi walked in closer, but still remained hesitant in case it was someone dangerous.

He noticed movement from underneath the tree's layers and realised that whoever it was was trying to get away. "H-Hey!" he tried speeding up to catch the person before they disappeared. Whoever was hiding in the tree was climbing it up quickly and swiftly, the tree barely rustling at all.

As Naegi made it right under the tree, he heard the person pounce and stepped back to see where they were jumping off to. His eyes widened when he saw the figure leap into the air, wearing a surprisingly familiar school uniform. The figure turned their head, and looked down into Naegi's wide hazel eyes with their pale blue eyes.

And once again, did those eyes look familiar to Naegi. And for the briefest of seconds, Naegi thought he saw some pink dust their cheeks as they turned away, disappearing over the building. Naegi was left standing gaping at what he'd saw.

Whoever that was must go to Hope's Peak Academy. And whoever it was, he already had a clue to their identity through their eyes. Pale and blue, that's what they were.

"Naegi-kun!" Maizono called out from the end of the street, waving her hand. "The bus is almost here!"

Naegi left his thoughts and chased after Maizono, running as fast as he could to catch that bus. But as he ran, he already began to list down mentally questions he had for the mysterious figure on the roof. He took a seat next to Maizono on the bus, resting his head against the window.

Maizono smiled at Naegi as he stared at the window, and looked back down at her lap. She remained silent as the bus took off towards the school, and unknowing to everyone around her, her cheeks turned the faintest of pinks.

i love awkward!naegi and his relationship with maizono. i think they are really cute friends aw

hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my first danganronpa multi-chap story c:

- blue