"It was one of those days when I was thinking too much, too fast. Only it was more like the thoughts had a mind of their own and going all by themselves at a hundred miles a second, and I was just sitting back, feeling the growing paranoia inside of me."
― Sasha Mizaree

Chapter 3

Komaeda's luck has been great lately. Ever since he'd officially become friends with Naegi about a month ago, nothing bad had happened to him or to anyone close to him lately. And therein lay the problem. Komaeda possesses a cycle of consistent good and bad luck. Whenever something extremely lucky happens to him, something extremely unlucky is bound to happen soon after. While his talent seemed to protect him from death, he'd been kidnapped more times than he could count and come out unscathed, it had also caused him great suffering and had killed many people around him including his parents.

But for the past month, he'd had nothing but good luck. Not only had he become friends with Naegi, something he desperately hoped for, but he had also joined her inner circle and thus gained himself more friends, which was something he still wasn't used to. Well if you exclude Togami Byakuya the Ultimate heir who'd only scowled at him every time he'd see him. But then again, it seems Togami was like that to anyone who wasn't Naegi so maybe he should just count himself lucky that at least the heir wasn't ignoring him anymore.

For the first two weeks of May, whenever Komaeda joined Togami and Naegi for lunch (Naegi insisted) the heir would immediately clam up and focus all his attention on Naegi and pretend he wasn't there. Naegi would scowl at him and Togami would scowl right back, though not with the same menace he would show Komaeda.

Komaeda took in it stride, he was used to this kind of behavior from some of his classmates anyway. Not that he blamed them, someone with a lame talent like his shouldn't even be allowed in the same school as these embodiments of hope. He was just a stepping-stone for them, they were all meant to rid the world of despair and he was just a lowly peasant who was just lucky enough to see their hope firsthand.

Oops. Komaeda checked himself. He was practically drooling now. He was getting off topic. He always became this way whenever he talked about hope. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He could go on and on about hope later. Right now he had to remember past events.

After two weeks of the silent treatment from Togami he was pleasantly surprised when the heir gave him a nod upon seeing him. Komaeda's eyes had widened and he turned to see if anyone else was behind him because surely Togami wasn't referring to him…right?

But upon further inspection he noticed he was the only one there. Still, he couldn't help but look back at the blond haired boy and point at himself just to clarify. Togami scoffed and turned away. At his side, Naegi was trying not to laugh and confirmed that yes, Togami had referred to him and that he was done throwing his tantrum to which Togami flicked her forehead.

Komaeda had looked back and forth between the two and let out a small smile. It seems he had been accepted. And with that, the next few weeks seemed like a dream to him. He didn't remember the last time he'd smiled this much. Togami was finally talking to him, he was friends with Naegi the Ultimate Hope and some of his classmates were even talking to him without much disgust anymore.

All in all it was one of the best months of his life, which was why he was starting to get worried. He'd completely forgotten about his luck cycle. He'd had nothing but extremely good luck lately so it was only a matter of time before something really bad happened. Either to him or anyone close to him. He sincerely hoped not.

Perhaps if he did something bad for the next few days it would counteract the really bad luck he was bound to get soon.

He was so busy contemplating ways to make that happen that he didn't notice where he was going. It seems he had wondered out the school gates and had made his way to where the reserve students took their classes. That's when he noticed two people sitting by the water fountain. He knew one of them, Chiaki Nanami the Ultimate Gamer from his class, was sitting by the water fountain playing a game console and making small talk with a guy next to her. She was wearing her usual cream-colored hoodie, and a white shirt with a red ribbon tied to its collar. Her short pink hair blew in the breeze, and she was wearing her long black tights.

Komaeda didn't know the guy next to her though. He'd never seen him. The guy had short, spiky brown hair with an ahoge that reminded him of Naegi. He was wearing a simple white shirt with black jeans and red-and-white sneakers. It seems they hadn't noticed him yet so he decided to stay hidden by the bushes when he heard running feet.

Komaeda and the two talking by the fountain all turned to look in the direction of the trees where they heard the noise from and out came Naegi in a rush. She immediately skidded to a stop and looked back in the direction where she had come from. From what Komaeda could see from his hiding spot, Naegi was panting hard and…was that? Yes. She looked scared. Her hair was in disarray and her dark blue long sleeved shirt had a small rip on her shoulder. She put her hands on her black knees and he noticed her tights had a small tear in them as well. She was just pulling out her IPod from her black shorts before someone called out to her.

"Naegi? Are you alright?" Chiaki asked looking at her worriedly. Naegi jumped and turned towards them. She offered them a shaky smile.

"I- yes. I'm fine Chiaki. Just got a little spooked." Naegi said while looking in the direction she had come from again.

"Are you sure? You don't look too good. You can tell us, we promise we won't say anything, right Hinata?" Chiaki asked the boy next to her. He nodded his consent and they both turned to look at Naegi expectedly. She hesitated and chewed her lower lip. Finally, she sighed.

"Well, it's nothing really. It's just…lately …it feels like I'm being followed." Naegi said softly.

From his hiding spot, Komaeda's eyebrows shot up. During the first 3 months before he officially became friends with Naegi, he had followed her around, only so he could see her hope firsthand mind you, but she had never noticed. Ever since he'd become friends with her though, he had stopped those kinds of activities.

He didn't like this though. Whoever was following Naegi around was making her uncomfortable and he couldn't have that. Naegi was supposed to always be smiling and affecting those around her with her infectious personality. If this kept up, she might fall into despair. And as much as he wanted to see that just so he could see her overcome it and let her hope grow stronger; he remembered he was her friend. He reminded himself of how much he had gained thanks to her and how he couldn't allow this.

Naegi was his friend, and although every part of him wanted to be more than that, he would just have to settle with this. He'd keep her safe. He suspected this was why Togami had finally acknowledged him. Little things like making sure she didn't walk on the side of the cars or making sure she ate properly or making her smile when she looked down were some of the things Komaeda did for her. Togami had figured out that Komaeda would do anything to protect her from harm just like he himself would. He couldn't betray that trust.

Komaeda looked back at where the three were seated. It seemed Chiaki and the boy next to her, Hinata, he reminded himself, had seated Naegi in between them and were trying to make her spill more information.

After making sure Naegi was safe for the moment, he cautiously made his way in the direction Naegi had come. It was pretty easy to see the direction she'd come from, some of the branches from the trees looked like they had been pushed aside.

Upon further inspection, he noticed two sets of footprints. He knew the smaller set of Naegi's boots but there was definitely another bigger set behind hers. It seemed Naegi had been right. She had been followed. Curious, he decided to follow the trail. It looked like Naegi had been coming from the library before the bigger set of footprints started following her. Naegi had almost been outside the school gates when she had noticed though, that's when she took a right and started running to where the reserve students took their classes. The bigger set of footprints had followed before they stopped and noticed she wasn't alone. That's when the footsteps took a turn and gotten inside a car, if the tire tracks were any indication.

Perhaps he should let Togami know about this. It would be better if either he or Togami were with her at all costs. Naegi had mentioned that Togami was a good fighter and although he himself wasn't all that good at it, he could probably pull it off with his luck. He decided to let him know tomorrow. If Komaeda remembered right, the heir always went to Togami industries on Friday so he would be busy.

Decision made, he made his way back to Naegi and the others by the fountain.

Naegi wanted to be wrong. Perhaps it was just her imagination and she hasn't been followed after all. Yeah right, she thought. If the labored breathing she heard from behind her while she ran was any indication, she was definitely being followed.

The question was why though? Why her? Had she done anything to upset anyone lately? She didn't think so and if she did, had she done something so bad as to warrant this kind of behavior? Naegi shook her head.

Stop it, she told herself. If Togami were here, he would tell her to calm down, take a deep breath, and retraced her steps. If Togami were here, she would be at ease. He'd probably believe her without a second thought, take charge and do everything in his power to find the culprit. But he wasn't here. Togami had more important things to do. Things like learning how to take over Togami Industries when his father retired. It would be selfish of her to call him and tell him to hurry back just because she wanted to be near him. And he would. He would drop everything he was doing and rush to her side just liked he'd done countless of times over the past few years since they'd known each other.

It was then that it started to dawn on her on how much she wanted to be near Togami. Over the past few weeks she had been feeling odd around the heir. Whenever their gazes locked, Naegi would flush and look away.

She didn't understand what this was. She'd never had a problem looking Togami in the eye before. And he certainly hadn't gotten uglier recently. Perhaps she was coming down with something?

"Naegi?"

She hoped not. Naegi had never gotten sick before. The most she'd had was a runny nose that one time, but other than that she was healthy as can be.

"Is she ok?"

She was getting off track though. She could figure this out. She just had to think back to the past encounters she'd had with people over the past few weeks when she started feeling followed and see if she'd done something to set anyone off.

"Ah, don't worry about her. She's gone off to her own world again. Allow me."

Now let's see. She started having a feeling of wrongness about three weeks ago. Who had she interacted with that day? Hmm. Think Naegi think.

She was so busy trying to remember her past encounters that she was completely caught off guard when hot air was blown into her ear.

"Jesus fuckin Christ!" she cursed and lost her balance by the fountain. She would have fallen in, had it not been for Komaeda and Hinata clutching both her arms.

Wait. When had Komaeda gotten here?

"Komaeda! That was you wasn't it?!" Naegi said as she rubbed her ear. Great. Now she had goose bumps.

Komaeda laughed. He was wearing his usual knee-length dark green zipper hoodie with a jagged-cut tail and black skinny jeans with the usual wallet chain with the cute skull charm, she thought so anyway, and the same black and white converse shoes he always wore. His white messy shoulder length hair only made his pale skin seem paler.

"You were off in your own world again. Chiaki even poked you a few times but you didn't react at all. I figured my way would work better." He said shrugging his shoulders. Naegi pouted. Komaeda was always teasing her, but having him here helped calm her down a bit. Komaeda had this calming aura about him. It seemed that he and Togami were some of the few people she actually felt completely at ease with, excluding her family of course

She offered him a smile. "Right sorry," she said rubbing her neck sheepishly. She then turned towards Chiaki and Hinata and was surprised to see the latter laughing.

"Is something funny?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "You're Hinata right? I'm Naegi Makoto."

Hinata tried to smother his laughter.

"Right right sorry," he said in between laughs. "Its just, you just look like this delicate little thing that I was surprised to hear you curse. I had this whole outlook of you being all delicate and fancy and how I wasn't going to get along with you, but now..."

"But now…?" Naegi asked with a smile.

Hinata returned her smile. "But now" he said dragging the word. "I think you and I are going to be great friends."

"Best friends" Naegi said her smile getting wider. "We'll be braiding and doing each other's hair in no time, just you wait."

Hinata put his hand on his chest. "Oh my god. Get out of my head." He said seriously.

And then the both burst out laughing. Chiaki was looking at them both like a proud mother and Komaeda was fiddling with a strand of his hair but he had a content smile on his face.

After that, introductions were made. It seemed Hinata Hajime had been chosen by lottery to attend Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Lucky Student. Komaeda and Naegi were both surprised at that. After all, that title already belonged to Komaeda but it seemed this was not the first time two students had the same title.

They were already four months into the school year but Hinata would be transferring to the 77th class which Komaeda and Chiaki were both from this coming Monday. So two more days then.

Naegi was glad for the distraction. She didn't want to worry her friends over something she wasn't completely sure of. If she told them, they'd probably worry about her. She didn't want that. She appreciated it but it was better for them to just enjoy their school life. She could handle this.

However…

Komaeda turned towards her and Naegi knew just by the way he looked at her that he had not been fooled by the interruption.

"So," he said while crossing his arms. "What's this I hear about you being followed Naegi-Chan?"

Well crap, Naegi thought.

And here is chapter 3. Please read and review! Tell me what you think! Id love to hear your thoughts! Until next time