I don't own SDR2 or it's characters.

I was listening to Bruno Mars' "Count on Me", so I suggest you listen to it.

Special thanks to Tall on the Inside, because she has become a huge inspiration for me when it comes to write DR fanfiction (please go check "A Challenge On Infinite Earths, it's super great and well, Hinanami, enough said), thanks for reviewing! Also to that lovely guest~

This chapter is for Feralis. Thanks for all your support; you have no idea how grateful I am.

Komaeda was pretty sure he was a lucky guy. Thankfully for him, Nanami didn't come back for the rest of the day. He was about to exit the classroom after bidding goodbye to his fellow classmates when he felt a cold hand roughly stopping him.

"You" the raven-haired boy said, ice dripping from his voice "Show me around."

"Uh, excuse me Kamukura-san, but I'm in a hurry. I owe you one, I promise you I'll show you the school tomorrow, ok?" Komaeda said, giving him an apologetic smile.

"I shall hold to your word then. I'll be expecting you." Izuru said, leaving the room silently. Nagito noticed the frightened looks of the few people left.

"A-are you okay, K-komaeda-kun?" asked a timid Tsumiki, deeply frightened by Kamukura's cold aura

"I'm fine, Tsumiki-san, don't worry!" Nagito laughed, plastering a fake smile. The last thing he wanted was that the purple-haired nurse had another nervous crisis, given how fragile she already was.

"If y-you feel sick, d-don't hesitate to come to the office, o-okay?" she meekly answered, running out of the classroom in a hurry "Probably for nurse duties" Nagito thought.

"Komaeda-san, do you perhaps know the reason for Nanami's absence?" the blonde princess, Sonia Nevermind, asked politely as always. "I wanted to know if I could study math with her this Thursday"

"Sadly no, Sonia-san. I promise you I'll tell her to text you as soon as I see her" he smiled apologetically at the petite girl. He wondered how many times had he smiled like that today. "Probably countless times", he bitterly thought.

"It's okay, thank you Komaeda-kun, see you tomorrow!" she smiled, while following her boyfriend, Tanaka Gundam outside the classroom, leaving together as always (much to the dismay of a certain hot pink-haired mechanic).

Komaeda fished his phone from his school bag and typed the only number -apart from his- that he knew by heart.

Beep. Beep.

No response.

His heart started to beat faster with nervousness. Why wasn't Nanami picking up her phone? "She never leaves my calls unanswered!" he thought.

Walking eventually became running and he was going as fast as he could to reach home as soon as possible. Maybe Chihiro had taken her home. But what if he didn't? His mind suddenly started to make the worst scenarios regarding Nanami.

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay!" he repeated in his mind, like a mantra.

Just as his house came in sight, he noticed a moving truck parked right in front of Nanami's house. He felt his heart dropping to the ground.

"Oh, Nagito honey, glad you came back early! I've got news for you!"

His mother's words cut his train of thoughts. He looked at her, and saw her smiling. "Well, if she's smiling…that means it's something good, right?" he thought, trying to comfort himself.

"Nagito-kun."

That voice. He left out a breath he didn't even knew he was holding in.

"Nanami!"

"I can't believe this, Nanami"

Whether he said that to himself or to her, he wasn't sure. But the fact that right now she was resting her shoulder while sitting on the floor, leaning on his bed, was too much for him to process. Of course he has hanged out with her like this countless times but living under the same roof on a permanent basis? That went beyond his wildest dreams.

Turns out, they were going to live together. For Komaeda Nagito, this was pure, utter luck. Not that it was something unusual for him. He was a luckster after all. It was that 'talent' that let him enroll with Nanami into Hope's Peak. It was also that talent that made him end in the same class with her, sit in front of her, be with her to protect her all the time. Not to mention the fact that they were neighbors and childhood friends. That she was practically part of her family. And maybe, part of his heart too…

He couldn't help but feel guilty with himself. He shouldn't be mentally dancing with joy. Those thoughts made him feel like a jerk, since she was feeling all depressed and sad.

"I know, Nagito. I miss them so much…" Nanami spoke absent-mindedly, almost to herself, as if he didn't want to sadden him.

Apparently, Chihiro was selected as a special intern in the headquarters of an important programming company based on Tokyo, based on his incredible talent with programming at such young age. The company offered him an apartment, a great pay and an important position once he graduated high school. They transferred him to Tokyo's Technologic Academy, an important tech-based academy where he'd spend the last semester in order to graduate and immediately work as an active employee. However, he decided to take Usami with him to have her under his care, even finding a nearby kindergarten and a day-care for her. What broke Nanami's heart the most was that he did not told her when he was notified, shielding on things like "What about your friends?" and even using Komaeda's friendship with her as an excuse for not taking her with him.

"Do you want to stay as far as possible from me? Do you perhaps…don't love me brother?"

"They even gave him a car…I wonder, will he be able to come visit me often?" the pink-haired girl sighed. "Poor Ishimaru-senpai…" Nanami trailed off, letting out a yawn.

"Why so, Nanami?" Nagito inquired, trying to make small talk to distract Nanami from being so sad. "It's the least I can do", he thought.

"Well, even I noticed it, Nagito! How could you not? It's obvious senpai's got a crush on my brother, imagine how heartbroken he'll be when I tell him!"

"Wait, Chihiro didn't tell his friends he was leaving?"

"I…I don't know" Nanami softly mused. "Honestly, I didn't talk that much with him…and I don't think he wanted to talk to me"

Nagito suddenly took Nanami's hand, successfully grabbing her attention.

"Then talk to me. Tell me everything you want. Whenever I'm sad, you always let me tell you what I feel so, this is the least I can do to see you smile again" he smiled lovingly, squeezing her hand lightly. Nanami could feel tears welling on her eyes.

"Nagito, please never leave me. Promise me, please?"

His heart skipped a beat. For Nanami, he would go get her the moon and all the stars if she wanted.

"Oh, by the way, Sonia wants to study math with you."

"Way to ruin the moment, you big dummy" Nanami chuckled.

The white-haired boy threw her arm around her shoulder and stood like that in silence, noticing Nanami fell asleep without further talk about his brother. He then contemplated her peaceful, sleeping face. "You'll tell me later, princess. Now rest"

He suddenly froze. How could he forget about Kamukura? Certainly he did not want to worry her more that what she already was. Fear made him shiver slightly.

"We'll deal with that later. Remember I'll be here to protect you always. I promise."

A/N: I'll be posting soon some drawn references regarding classroom, seat arrangement, Nanami and Komaeda's house, etc.

Also, I kinda felt like Komaeda turned into an Overly Attached Boyfriend for a second when he was trying to reach her by phone, hahaha~

As always, I love feedback. Thanks for reading!

questions? hinanami-hime tumblr