"Come on! It's not right if you don't hit me back!"

"Sorry. I think I'll just stay down here for a bit."

In his current bout of sparring with Akane, Hajime had taken a blow to the chest during a lapse in his focus. His thoughts were currently on what was to happen later in the day, when he would attempt to wake one of his comatose friends.

"Get up, we just started!" she lifted him off the ground by his shoulders, placing him back onto his feet before taking a few steps away. His head was pointing to the ground as he was wading through his thoughts, so he didn't see it when Akane charged at him again. As quickly as the last time she took him down, she swept him by the legs, and he was on the ground yet again. "Fight back, Hajime! You promised you'd be my sparring partner, right?"

He let out a flat sigh, remembering exactly when the words "I promise" had left his mouth yesterday. Looking over he shuddered inside, seeing her look at him disappointingly as she stood over him again.

"I did promise you that. Sorry, I guess I just can't get my mind off today's plans." that was all he needed to say to get her to sympathize with him. She let out her own flat sigh before extending her arm and offering her hand, lifting him off the ground again. "All right then...lets go."

"Go where?"

"I made a promise, right? Just don't complain when I pull my punches."

"Thirty four, thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven,"

"Could you stop that? Whatever that is."

Soda had been able to tolerate Komaeda's vocalized counting for a few minutes, speaking as his patience wore away. The Ultimate Lucky Student sent him a look along with a full smile, giggling as his lips came together and shut. He stopped speaking, but his counting continued, turning into a slow nodding of his head and taps on the wall he leaned against.

"What are you...what the hell is with the counting? Can you stop, making, noise!" the mechanic clapped along with his last three words as he threw them out like stones. Nagito looked him in the eyes again, falling silent as he mouthed the numbers he was counting in his head.

"I'm counting up to an hour, because by the time I'm done, Kamukura will be here!" Hajime did say that he would be in the control room by noon, and he was clearly excited for what would happen when he did. "I think I've counted twenty minutes already,"

"Well I KNOW you have, because it's twenty past eleven!" he yelled again, pointing at the clock that was hanging on one of the walls. Nagito looked up at it and laughed before he started staring at it, his eyes following the seconds as they went by.

"Hn!"

Fuyuhiko shot up from his bed in a cold sweat, his chest seemingly rising faster than it could fall. The sudden rising of his body did not help him either, as a quick jolt of pain hit his head along with a wave of dizziness. He flinched from the pain, clamping his eyes shut while he leaned over, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He leaned over, his left arm reaching down to the floor near his bed, his hand searching for the glass of water he had left there. The only thing he could think of to remedy his splitting headache was to drown it with water. And as soon as his fingers made contact with the tall glass he gripped it tightly and pulled it to his lips.

His idea was working, his pain lessening as he drank, lines of water flowing down his chin as his mouth overflowed. He emptied the glass in good time, gasping for air as he finished.

But it wasn't enough.

He swung his legs over, standing up and stumbling towards his bathroom, going for the sink. In almost a single motion he plugged the bowl and started running cold water. He jittered as it filled up, his now pounding heartbeat thumping in his ears, building his headache back up.

As soon as the sink was filled he stopped the flowing water, and plunged his head into the small pool of the substance. It felt electric almost, relaxing him, slowing his heart rate. He resurfaced with another gasp of air, his face dripping wet as his tongue lapped up the water on his upper lip. Catching his breath he leaned back over the sink and started drinking again, bringing water up with his palms.

"Hah...hah..." he turned around and went back to his bed and let himself fall on his back, eyes now to the ceiling as his fingers dug into his sheets. Slowly he could feel himself relaxing as his deep breaths slowed into a calming rhythm, and his eyes became heavy once again.

"The time!" until he remembered the deadline he had been given. He rose in a flash, scrambling on his feet to get dressed, sloppily throwing on his clothes, as he took a glance at his alarm clock. He let out a loud curse once he read the time, five minutes past noon.

"Dammit, I hope he's as punctual as I am."

"You have to calm down. Breathe."

Whomever it was that was speaking, sounded so calm, so collected. However, that voice sounded ever distant, lost in the ringing that they heard more than anything else. They could not be seen either, hazy vision still adjusting to the light overhead.

The only thing they could gain a solid grasp on was their confusion. What was this? What was happening? They started to panic, warranting that person to suggest that they breathe again as they stepped closer, leaning over them.

"Can you hear me?" they sounded louder than before, but they still couldn't be seen clearly. All they could make out were the bright red eyes, unfamiliar to them completely. "Can you move?"

They could, although it was a little tough. They felt stiff, or rather, weak. The person above asked the last question again when they didn't respond, and received an answer in the form of the light shuffling of their hips.

"You can move, that's good. So that means you can hear me too. You look confused, though. You can't see clearly, can you? Here, I'm going to sit you up."

Now that they weren't staring up into bright lights, clear vision was slowly returning to them. And their eyes went wide when they saw who it was speaking to them.

"Y-You..."

"You don't recognize me? That's odd. Komaeda didn't seem to have any problems remembering me."

"No...I...you're Hinata...Hajime. But you look different."

"Tell me, what's the last thing you remember?"

It was an odd thing to ask so quickly. They were silent, thinking about the answer impulsively.

"Before waking up...all I can remember...is things going dark. But before that, I was...I was talking to–"

Across the room, the doors flew open with a crash. They struggled to raise their arm, pointing a finger at the person they now saw standing in the doorway.

"Him." Their finger was pointing limply at Fuyuhiko, who was now standing still, staring them eye to eye. He had gotten there a few minutes too late. He had missed his deadline.

"Well, isn't this just great? I knew you could do it, Kamukura!" Nagito exclaimed through the tense silence, bringing a few angry glares his way.