Hinata was trying very hard not to laugh. Really, truly, he was putting in a lot more effort than someone would have thought for him! He should get some kind of medal for how hard he was trying to not laugh! At the very least, if there were any Hidden Monokumas around, they should just jump out at him and submit in awe of how amazing it was that he wasn't laughing at this very moment!
Unable to contain himself any longer, Hinata took a deep, deep breath, and turned to his companion. He needed to deal with this somehow. Talking about it was the only way he could think to do it.
As soon as he saw the other boy's face, he sniggered. He couldn't help it.
"K-Komaeda..." Hinata Hajime cleared his throat. He could do this. He was An Adult who Could Do This thing and Do It Seriously in an Adult Way because That Way What Adults Did. They also capitalized the important parts of their internal monologues, just like he had just done.
... C-Come on, he was being serious! He was! Really!
The white haired boy he had addressed turned to him from across the small room, cheerful looking as ever, and tilted his head ever so slightly.
"Yes, Hinata-kun? What seems to be troubling you? It isn't a lack of hope, I hope?" Komaeda laughed lightly at himself, or maybe he was laughing just because that was the kind of thing he did. Hinata was never too sure when it came to this guy.
Seriously...
Shaking his head, Hinata rolled his eyes. Was that supposed to be a pun, or genuine?
Holding up what had triggered the reaction in him in the first place, Hinata tapped it and looked at his classmate for explanation.
It was a CD case. A CD case with a black Monokuma wearing strange clothes on it on the other side, to be specific, but what had Hinata bothered wasn't that. It was the name of the track that he had known beforehand was supposedly the song that was all but essentially and one hundred percent the theme song for the young man smiling at him over there.
"'Abnormality on the Girls' Front Line'...?! Seriously?! That's what your song is called?!"
Komaeda looked at him as though he was upset that the sun had risen again in the morning.
"I am an abnormality, Hinata-kun." He shrugged, before briefly touching his neck. Almost like he was looking for something that wasn't there? Weird. "Say, are you into 'pet play,' Hinata-kun? Ah, but don't misunderstand, I only want to know because I want to know what the interests of hopeful people like yourself are like. I would never dream to be able to take part in hope-filled activities with people who spread hope like..."
Mentally tuning out Komaeda's ramblings, Hinata sighed, already regretting asking. He shook his head, smile taking a turn for the cynical. He had no idea what the heck Komaeda was going on about... which wasn't really that different from the usual, so he supposed he couldn't complain too much.
Although, now that he had the CD here, he was kind of curious about something. They hadn't found what they'd come to this weird storage room for, which was the CD Usami needed to bring the island's background music back online, but Hinata really did want to pop this one into the stereo and see how it sounded before they left.
"Anyway, let's give it a listen..." Pressing the buttons on the machine and listening to the quiet whir of its processing everything, Hinata waited.
He wasn't really sure what to expect. Loud, chorus, epic, maybe? Something grand, something creepy? That would fit Komaeda. Like... misguided hope. Tragic, you know? Hinata could totally see a song that was meant for his classmate to be like that. He couldn't help but smile, crossing his arms and nodding, as he considered his brilliant analysis of what Komaeda's theme song was going to be-
"Ahahaha, did it just get warm in here, Hinata-kun?"
Wha... Wha... What.
What... What was this?
What what what what what was this?!
It had a slow beat... A drawl, sort of, maybe... Like... Velvet. Hinata imagined... Velvet, and a stage, and... It was... kind of... jazzy? And who was that woman crying out "Aaaaah!" and "Yeah yeah!" in English? Why was a song like this associated with Komaeda of all people?!
And, you know what, now that Komaeda had said it, it actually really had kind of gotten hot in the room for some reason!
"Komaeda..." Hinata took a deep breath. He had to get a hold of himself here. This was just... not logical. There was no reason in the world this person had any place being associated with such a thing. Not a one. Even less reason for the air conditioning to have simultaneously stopped working when they had started listening to the song in question, but that was besides the point and most certainly not related to the song in any way. "Why does the song that's your theme song sound like it belongs in a sleazy bar on the shady side of town?"
His classmate chuckled.
"Hmmmm! Now that's quite a question, Hinata-kun. Tell you what." Komaeda held out his hands in that way he did, smiling brightly at Hinata. There was something about it. Something that made Hinata thing about a collar for some reason. There was something very wrong about this song. "I'll answer that if you tell me why you know what a song that would be playing in such a bar sounds like. It sounds like there's quite a story behind that opinion of yours."
It didn't take much thought for Hinata to decide to drop the topic.
As far as he was concerned, Komaeda was an abnormality on every front line.
