Two timid knocks at his door, a moment of silence, and finally a third knock that was even quieter than the first two.

Hajime Hinata not only heard the gentle knocks — he also recognized the pattern.

"Come in, Mikan," he called calmly.

Mikan Tsumiki cracked open the door to Hajime's quarters and leaned slowly around the door to peek at him. She saw him sitting on a yoga mat on the floor of his room with his legs folded, his eyes closed, and his hands on his knees.

"Oh!" she yelped. "I'm so so s-s-sorry, I can come back-"

"Please, stay," he told her calmly.

"But I d-don't want to distract from your meditation... "

A small smile appeared on Hajime's face, and he opened his eyes to reveal their differing colors.

"You won't distract me," he assured her in a quiet, confident tone. "In fact, your presence calms my mind."

She giggled shyly at the compliment, stepping gingerly into his quarters and shutting the door behind her.

Mikan stood by the door and watched him quietly as he shut his eyes and resumed. She felt lucky to just admire him while he breathed deeply and said nothing.

After two minutes passed in silence, Hajime spoke first. "What's on your mind, Mikan?'

"Ahhh... " she began timidly, "I just w-wanted to know where we're going next... "

"I've set course for Ghana," he told her, keeping his eyes closed. "A group of unofficial despairs with robotic Monokumas under their control have invaded and taken HOPE City. There's not much strategic reason for them to hold it, but its name and purpose give it plenty of symbolic value, and there are innocent workers that they've taken hostage."

"I see," Mikan said glumly. "How many of them?"

"Reports indicate approximately 50 despair loyalists controlling between 15 and 20 Monokumas," he answered. "112 hostages are being held in one of the central buildings. Not much of a problem," he concluded.

Mikan smiled with admiration at his confidence. "That's less resistance than we faced in Cape Town, right?"

Hajime opened his eyes again, this time turning his head to focus on her. "Significantly, yes," he confirmed. Then he stood up, giving her a gentle smile. "Is that the only reason you came to see me?" he asked.

Mikan looked down, averting her eyes from his gaze. She spoke softly as she admitted, "I... I really just... wanted to see you again."

"I told you that you're always welcome," Hajime responded.

"I know, I know," she muttered. "But you're just so... you're busy with important stuff." Her eyes lifted to meet his, but her expression remained sad. "I'm sorry for disturbing you."

Hajime shook his head. "There's nothing to be sorry for." He took a step towards her and held out his right hand. "Besides... I wanted to see you, too."

Mikan clapped her right hand over her mouth and blushed visibly. Even so, she reached out her left hand in return. Hajime took it gently, pulling her slowly over to stand on the yoga mat with him.

Once they stood on the mat together, Mikan finally lowered her right hand from her mouth. Even blushing and visibly sweating, she smiled joyfully at him, barely containing a nervous giggle.

Then, in an instant, her face grew serious. "OH!" she suddenly yelled. "This is a yoga mat!"

"It is," Hajime confirmed, eyeing her curiously.

"Yoga has been proven to reduce stress, increase stamina, effectively treat muscle pain, and even alleviate some psychological problems," she told him, suddenly sounding authoritative. "In fact, long-term practitioners have shown significant musculoskeletal improvements and even increased the gamma-Aminobutyric acid levels in their brain, which helps regulate both the nervous system and muscle tone. Would you like me to show you a few poses?"

Hajime grinned and chuckled. "That sounds great," he told her. "Go right ahead."

Hajime knew the others didn't really understand the dynamic between Mikan and himself just yet. When it recently became clear to the rest of their former Remnants that Hajime Hinata and Mikan Tsumiki were a newly minted couple, at least Ibuki, Sonia, Nekomaru, Ryota and the Imposter all approved enthusiastically of the relationship. Their support was appreciated, although Hajime wasn't sure if Ibuki and the Imposter's claims that their pairing was "obvs" or "inevitable" were really genuine. Mitarai in particular seemed happy for Mikan.

Akane and Teruteru seemed to neither understand nor care — or, in the latter's case, only cared insofar as he could envision and fantasize about their private activities.

That left the remaining seven, all of whom seemed to react to the development with varying degrees of confusion. Fuyuhiko openly inquired as to what was appealing about Mikan; Hajime thought the question insulting until he considered that perhaps his friend was just struggling with the development of his own burgeoning relationship. Peko, for her part, raised her eyebrows quizzically and cocked her head slightly, but she said nothing aloud. Hiyoko seemed scandalized by the new relationship. She spewed some typically vile insults at Mikan for a few seconds before Hajime slammed his hand onto the table in front of her and glared at her with such fury that she shut right up. Nagito furrowed his brow thoughtfully, then murmured about the union of two despairs having the potential to bring hope, which seemed like an overall positive reaction. Gundham said something about the dark fates bending to make unusual bedfellows upon the tempestuous sea (which Hajime interpreted to mean that he found it weird... probably).

To her credit, Mahiru was already trying to get Hiyoko to cut the insults before Hajime took care of it definitively. She only flashed a vaguely disapproving frown to Hajime at the time, though they ran into each other in one of the ship's passages later that same day, and she stopped him to say that she was glad Mikan had someone like him in her corner. Kazuichi's initial reaction was much more pronounced: he yelled "WHAAAAAAT?!" at the top of his lungs when the news first broke. However, he later told Hajime privately that, although he didn't understand how the two of them had come together, he was still happy for his friend.

In his own mind, Hajime had to wonder how Chiaki would've felt. But then, if Chiaki were still alive, none of them might be where they were today.

Mikan let go of Hajime's hand and stepped a few paces away, spreading her legs half a meter apart and extending both her arms into the air as she prepared to exhibit her yoga routine.

Then she frowned and looked over at Hajime. "Oh god," she muttered, turning pink once again. "You already know all of this stuff, d-don't you? Th-that's why you laughed!"

Hajime held up his hand and shook his head. "It's not like that," he said. "Just because I was given all of these innate talents, that doesn't mean I already have all the knowledge necessary to make use of them." He smiled affectionately at her before continuing, "Besides, I really like hearing the way you explain and do things — even the things I already know."

Mikan's face twisted into a nervous smile, but she was still blushing. "O-okay!" she said. "In that case, I'm gonna do my best!"

She turned her head forward, a determined look on her face, and spread her arms apart in the air, each pointing up at about 45 degrees. "This is a Sun Salutation," she told him. Hajime grinned and nodded.

Next, Mikan bent forward, placing her palms flat on the mat with her legs still extended straight. "Downward Dog," she explained.

At this point, Hajime's expression took on a look of concern. If Mikan was going to contort herself into a variety of poses, he couldn't help but wonder how long before she'd be tumbling head over heels. She did have a history of that sort of thing, after all.

She laid down flat on her stomach, then placed her forearms to the sides of her chest, pushing up slightly to arch her neck and back. "Cobra pose," she noted.

Suddenly, Mikan lifted her legs into the air and jerked both arms straight backwards towards her feet, keeping only her stomach on the floor. "Reverse Locust!" she declared triumphantly.

Hajime raised his eyebrows, genuinely impressed that she was not only doing a difficult pose, but also had not collapsed into a compromising position... at least, not yet.

Bending her knees, she tilted her calves towards her backwards-stretched arms, grabbing her own ankles. She angled her head slightly down before providing the next label. "Bow pose," she said, sounding like she was straining.

From there, Mikan let go of her ankles and moved her arms forward, pointing her head down towards the floor and stretching her arms past her head, placing the palms on the ground. She pulled her knees inward, sitting her rear on her heels so that her back providing a straight angle down, pointing through her arms. "Child's pose," she said.

At this point, Hajime was looking at her with disbelief and shock on his face.

Finally, she pulled her feet in so that she could find purchase on the ground, then pushed herself upright, standing quickly and reaching her arms up at two 45-degree angles. "Back to Sun Salutation!" she announced happily.

Hajime clapped, both pleased and impressed. "Wow, Mikan," he told her. "You were so... so graceful. Phenomenal job!"

Mikan quickly pivoted to face him, putting her hands under chin and smiling so hard that her eyes looked like they were squinting. "Thank yooou!" she said gleefully. She swung her arms down to her side once more. "I hope you can try some of those whe-"

As she stepped towards him, Mikan suddenly caught her foot on the mat and stumbled. She cried out as she tumbled into a forward roll. Hajime reached out with his hands as she flipped over, catching the backs of her calves before her feet and legs could slam into his chest. When he looked down, he saw that he was looking right between her legs and into her skirt, and she was facing upwards at him with her back and head on the mat below.

Hajime quickly turned his head to the side. "Sorry for looking," he said quickly. "It was an accident."

Mikan shut her eyes tight and looked as though she was about to cry. "Oh god, I'm so embarrassed!"she wailed.

"Don't be, it's not your fault!" Hajime insisted. Keeping his eyes averted, he lowered her legs gently to the side, bringing them to the floor. "Are you okay, though?" he added, genuinely concerned. "Are you hurt at all?"

"I-I'm fine," she said quickly.

Once he had her laying on the ground safely, he brought his attention back to her. She looked upset, but he couldn't help but smile broadly and let out a small laugh.

"Wh-wh-why? Please don't laugh at me!" she told him, looking horrified.

"It's not that," Hajime told her sincerely, "It's just that you're so amazingly unpredictable! It's part of what makes you so wonderful to be around."

Mikan still looked somewhat ashamed, but now she seemed more baffled than anything. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice still quivering.

"The experiment to make me the Ultimate Hope left me capable of seeing so many patterns of behavior. When I was solely Kamakura, I was bored by the fact that everything followed a predictable path. And yet... you did all of those yoga poses gracefully and skillfully, you never missed a move, and then you flipped end-over-end because you took a single step. For all of my talents, I can't foresee when you'll stumble. Or when you'll laugh, when you'll cry, when you'll show anger or confidence, when you'll appear timid and shy... "

Mikan clambered onto all fours and pushed herself upright as he spoke. She turned to face Hajime, but she kept her head lowered. "And that's good, right?" she asked hopefully.

Hajime stepped closer to her, putting his hands on her waist. "Everything about you is good, Mikan."

She jerked her head up to look at him, her face beaming with joy. She leaned forward and placed her right hand onto his chest while draping her left arm over his right shoulder and placing her left hand on the back of his neck. As she leaned in, she spoke in a hushed voice as she told him, "You calm my mind too, you know. Being with you makes me feel... stronger. Safer."

Hajime pulled Mikan even closer and pressed his lips against hers, kissing her gently. As they pulled apart, he whispered back, "You are safe with me." He leaned away from her, staring into her eyes before he spoke again. "You shouldn't need me around to feel strong, though. You're incredible all by yourself. You should feel more confident around the others."

Mikan giggled shyly. "Um, well, I've gotten more confident around Hiyoko lately!" she said proudly. "And I think she's been a little nicer, too."

"That's great," Hajime said approvingly. "I'm plenty sick of seeing her push you around."

"I still think that's thanks to you and the strength you've given to me, though," Mikan continued. She raised a finger to her cheek thoughtfully before continuing. "Uh, that is... thanks to you and the fact that I killed her that one time?"

Hajime exploded with laughter at her nonchalance. Mikan grinned at the sound, giggling right alongside him.

As his laugh trailed off into nothing, Hajime stared at Mikan Tsumiki with a mix of surprise and delight. "I imagine that having someone you bullied for years turn around and virtually murder you does serve as a powerful teaching moment," he replied with a large smirk. "Not that I'm advocating murder as a solution, of course."

Mikan shrugged it off. "I know it wasn't okay, but I wasn't in my hea-uh, m-my right mind."

"Or you were too far into your Despair," Hajime noted. "But do you see what I mean? I couldn't see that coming!" he told her happily.

"Wait, d-do you mean the virtual murder, or me talking about it?" Mikan asked uncertainly.

"Ah... both," he confessed. "But right now, specifically the second one. You're full of surprises! It's addictive for me. You're my personal drug."

Mikan put both arms around Hajime's neck now and rocked back and forth playfully. "Mmmmmm sooooo, do you have any surprises for me?" Mikan inquired suggestively.

"Well, that's possible," Hajime said, feeling weirdly nervous.

"We have time before we get to Hope City, right?" Mikan added. "Did you know that sexually active people have stronger immune systems? Sexual activity can also benefit hormone balance, and it affects your heart in the same way as cardiocentric exercise. Plus orgasms can-"

"I get the idea!" Hajime interrupted, blushing.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Mikan replied, grimacing a bit "I didn't mean to m-m-make you uncomfortable... "

Hajime looked away from her shyly. "To be honest, I'm only uncomfortable in a really aroused way," Hajime admitted, feeling embarrassed.

"Oooh!" Mikan said with delight. "In that case," she added, giving her voice a sing-song tone, "You can do whatever you wa-aant with meeee..."

Hajime returned his focus to her, locking his eyes with hers before telling her, "No, I want you to do whatever you want. You're not something to be used, okay? Just... you get to decide what you like, all right? Nobody else."

Mikan's smile went from mischievous to affectionate. "Well, what I want and like is you. I want to make you happy."

"You already make me happy just by being yourself," Hajime assured her softly. "Besides, I want the same for you."

Mikan bit her lower lip, and tears started to drip from her eyes. She said nothing, just kept her arms around him and stared at him.

"What's wrong?" Hajime asked her with concern. "You know you don't owe me anything, understand? We don't have to do any of that stuff! I'm just happy to be near you!"

"It's n-n-not that," Mikan insisted shakily. "I'm just... I'm s-s-so happy... and I'm scared, too, because... becausebecause I love you!"

Mikan pulled herself into him, slamming her face into his shoulder as she sobbed loudly. Hajime wrapped his arms around her back in return, holding her tightly against him while she cried.

"It's okay," he told her. "You don't have to be scared with me. Because I love you, too."

Mikan lifted her head and pressed her mouth against his, kissing him so hard that Hajime could feel her tears against his own cheeks.

When she pulled back, she smiled at him through her tears. "You gonna stay with me, then?" she asked quietly.

Hajime smiled right back at her as he reached over to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "Today and always," he said lovingly.

I wanted to do a little HinaMiki because Tsumiki's ending in Island Mode always melted my heart. Plus Mikan deserves to be happy in general. Plus Hajime deserves to find someone else after losing Nanami (TWICE!).

I feel like "Remnants at Sea" could be an entire series of one-shots, honestly. They don't even have to share continuity with each other, but the idea of looking into the SDR2 cast in their post-DR3 lives as they travel the world on their shared mission of atonement... that has an appeal. I don't know if I'll ever do that, but it could be cool.