"Throw a damn punch already!" Hajime had not retaliated against her assault. Rather, he was leading her around the beach as he avoided anything and everything she threw at him. He could see every move she would make beforehand, making it seemingly impossible to touch him.

"I won't." he refused to fight back. Akane quickened her movements after he denied her demand. She felt even more insulted. He was refusing to fight back, and was dodging all of her attacks with little to no effort. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You already have!" he lost focus, surprised by what she had said. In his state of confusion she took advantage of his negligence. Her left arm shot out, clasping onto his right shoulder. Pinned, he couldn't get out of the way when her right fist came down on his stomach. She released her grip after contact, and he backed away a few paces to let out a few hoarse coughs. "All this time, you've been ignoring me, and that hurt!"

She bolted at him again and tried sweeping him off his legs. He was still trying to catch his breath, barely managing to hop over her kick and stay on his feet. He was still winded, breathing breaths that brought pain at each inhale.

'I've hurt her already?' he thought as he regained his composure, blocking a punch aimed at his face. She said that he had been avoiding her earlier, and he wouldn't deny that. But he was truly saddened to hear that she was hurt by it. He would never dream of hurting her in any way, yet he already had.

He was becoming lost in his thoughts, taking a heavy kick to his ribs. He jumped back to try and gain some space, but she wouldn't let him get away so easily. Again, she blitzed him, this time landing a pair of punches on his chest.

He cocked back his right fist, ready to fight back. But he couldn't bring himself to throw a punch. He lowered his arm, taking another hit from her as he did. He needed to think of another way to resolve this. Taking another hit, this time from her knee, he knew there wasn't one.

He finally threw a punch at her. His fist landed on her stomach, with enough force to stun, but not hurt her.

"Just let me say what I have to say!" Hajime tried again to reason with her.

"Shut up and fight!" Akane was beyond reasoning with.

'I'm more afraid than ever.' he readied himself as she charged at him again. They fell back into the same routine, Hinata leading Akane around as he dodged her attacks. It wasn't as easy as it seemed, however. She was making up various attacks, each more complex than the last. Although she wasn't landing many, most only missed by a fraction of a second.

"I'm sorry, alright! I'm sorry!" he yelled.

"Sorry for what!?"

"For avoiding you all this time, I really do regret it."

Akane grabbed and lifted him by his collar. He let her do it, guessing he'd be able to get a few words out if he did.

"What're you talking about!" even in her hands she didn't let up on him. She dragged him to the nearest palm tree, pinning him by his shoulders. His lips parted to answer her question, letting out only air when she kneed him in the gut.

"I was...nervous!" he brought his right leg up, pushing his foot against her stomach to push her back. She looked confused now. She ran at him mindlessly, swinging her right fist. He sent out his left, catching it. The same happened with her left. They were now face to face, her fists held closed by his hands.

"Like hell you were!" Akane, unable to hit him, pulled him towards her. He was unable to do anything when she slammed her own head into his. Their foreheads now resting against eachother, they were eye to eye. "What would you have to be nervous about!"

He felt a warm line of blood run out of his right nostril. His heart beat resonated loudly in his eardrums. Now was his chance. All he had to do was say it. All he had to was tell her.

"I was...I thought that..." he cloud feel her breath on his face. "I thought that you would reject me, if I told you how I felt..."

"W-What?" she pulled her head back to get a clearer view of his face. He smiled at her, the line of blood from his nose was now dripping off of his chin. She stammered, thrown off by what he had said.

"I love you, Akane..."

Her eyes went wide and her heart started racing. His words echoed over and over again in her head. She couldn't speak, but wanted him to. She wanted to hear him say it again.

"You what?..."

"I love you..." she gasped when he let go of her hands and fell forward. Her arms hooked under his, holding him up as his head rested atop her shoulder. "Please tell me you feel the same..."

"I've been worried for no reason...I feel like an idiot." she laughed. "I...I love you, too."

"You thought-"

"That you wouldn't feel that way about me? Yeah...I did."

"I'm glad I could prove you wrong." he could finally feel the weight coming off of his body. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, I think we need to clean you up first. Then, maybe...we can go tell the others."

"I think I could've won that fight, if I had tried."

"Oh, shut up."

With newfound confidence in himself, Hajime pulled away. And with great happiness, he leaned back in, lightly kissing her on her lips.

In the end, their problems weren't as complicated as they thought they would be. They didn't need to argue. They certainly didn't need to fight. The entire time, they had felt the same. All they needed to do was admit it.


"What the hell are we supposed to do!?" Soda was panicking frantically. He paced back and forth, while on the side, Fuyuhiko was struggling to maintain his composure. Before them, one of the pods in the control room was opened, the body that was inside was nowhere to be found.

"What you need to do, is shut the fuck up, and calm down!"

"And how am I supposed to do that!? I was only gone for an hour! And when I came back, HE is gone, and there's a goddamn SEVERED ARM on the floor!"

"I said calm down!"

"We're gonna die, aren't we!? I don't want to die!"

"Pull yourself together, dumbass!" a stinging slap came across Soda's cheek, effectively calming him down.

But he had every right to be so afraid. In the short time he had been away, Komaeda Nagito had disappeared. He was gone, and it was a mystery to where his intentions would lead him.