My second Danganronpa fanfic and it's Hinanami again! Look it's a cute pairing, what do you want from me? Once again, I hope you enjoy, even if it's not as light-hearted or long as last time!

''I love you Hajime.'' The words left Chiaki's mouth bluntly and suddenly, with only a hint of nervousness in them. They were followed by a small gulp as Chiaki's hands shook a little, her fists clenched slightly. But no matter how much time passed, there was absolutely no response, everything around her was silent. But that wasn't surprising, she was alone in her room after all. ''I see, so I can say it.'' Chiaki's body relaxed a little and she unclenched her fists, before sitting on her bed. ''That's so strange.''

She wasn't practicing confessing, at least, she wasn't doing so in the traditional sense. She wasn't testing to see if she could confess to Hajime, she was testing to see if she would be able to confess to him in the first place and it seemed like the answer to that was yes, which heavily confused her. ''…Why am I allowed to do something like that?'' She leaned down onto her bed until she was laying down on it fully.

After all, she wasn't intended for that kind of purpose. Her purpose here was to help everyone get their hope back, to become normal people once again and then let them leave so that they can return to a more normal life, an actual real life. She was supposed to restore hope to everyone, so why was she allowed to do things that would cause despair, like confessing to Hajime. Since even if doing that would give him temporary happiness and hope, it would just ultimately end in despair. Because she couldn't leave with him, because she couldn't be with him. ''And, it's not like they can return.''

Not after what everything had happened. All the class trials, Monokuma, the murders, the despair…there was no way for this world to be restored to the way it was without something extreme to be done and if that were to happen, she would probably be someone or something else, if she was here at all. There was nothing for Hajime to return to even if he would be able to. If she confessed and he answered, they could only be together for some fleeting days until the program would come to an end and once it did…

There would be nothing left.

''And that wouldn't be fair to him.'' Since in the end, he would be the only one who would truly suffer, and he has already gone through so much. Four class trials, nine people dead and the revelation that he never had an Ultimate Talent to begin with, he was just a reserve course student. As much as she thought that that wasn't a problem for her, it was clearly a big problem to Hajime and one that caused him to suffer even more despair. For her to add onto that burden, she couldn't do that to him. Not just because she wasn't meant for that, but because she couldn't allow herself to hurt him.

''…This is even harder than dating sims.' Chiaki said with a deep sigh. In dating sims, there were right and wrong answers and depending on how she answered, she would get a different kind of ending. Somehow, she always ended up getting the worst ones, no matter how hard she tried. But at least, there was always a chance of getting it right, a chance that it could lead to a happy ending that the player could be proud of, an ending where the couple got together. In here, there was no such chance. There was only one definitive ending and it wasn't a happy one, it couldn't possibly be.

Of course, her easiest action would be to just ignore the situation. Interact with Hajime as a friend and try not to cause anything romantic to even come up, but she wasn't sure if she could even do that much. Since there was nothing that could guarantee that Hajime wouldn't try to confess to her, if he in fact liked her, and if he did that, she wasn't even sure what she could do or how to answer. Since either way, she would be causing him despair. If she answered his confession honestly, it would lead to despair later down the line and if she lied about her answer, it would cause despair in that moment. And she already didn't like lying more than she already had. To him and to others.

''Maybe I just have to avoid him completely.'' If he couldn't be with her, then there was no chance of anything ever happening, confession or otherwise. She didn't want to do that, she never would, but if it was the only choice, then maybe she would have to try it. Maybe she could even try to lock herself in her room? Nagito was of course a concern, but as long as he didn't do anything too drastic, there shouldn't be any more class trials and as such, no reason to go out. ''I do have games here.'' She would just have to play them without Hajime. She should be able to do that, right?

*Ding Dong*

Chiaki turned her head towards the door when the doorbell rang. She wasn't exactly sure how long she had been in her cottage now, thinking and wondering about these things to herself. At least she hadn't dozed off like she so often did, but hopefully she hadn't made anyone worry. She lifted herself up from the bed, took tiny steps towards the door and opened it up to reveal the very person she had been worrying about, Hajime.

''Hey.'' He greeted, his voice more than a little tired. Looking up at his eyes, Chiaki could see some dark bags underneath there and she wasn't surprised. in the funhouse, they barely managed to sleep because of the hunger and after the most recent execution, leaving just seven of them left, it was even harder to properly sleep. She managed it, but then again, she was taking all of these things differently.

''Hey.'' She greeted back. ''Can I help you with something?'' Chiaki asked, managing to get a smile on her face that seemed to make Hajime a bit more nervous than before. He scratched his head a bit as his eyes shifted around, as if he was worried that he would say something stupid.

''Want to…want to play something together again?'' Hajime asked, surprising Chiaki a bit. Usually, she was the one who asked for him to game, while he asked to show her around the island. Seeing her surprise, Hajime quickly elaborated. ''It's just, we weren't able to really do any of that in the funhouse, so I was just wondering…'' That would explain it. Despite its name, the funhouse had been the place where Chiaki had had the least amount of fun on this entire island and she was sure that applied to everyone. It would definitely be nice to get some gaming done after an ordeal like that, forget about the class trials for at least a little while. That's what she wanted to say.

''That sounds nice, but...'' Chiaki started saying and she could see that Hajime's smile faltered a bit immediately. Seeing that, it was obvious Chiaki couldn't do what she had planned to do. Refusing to hang out with him, distancing herself so that he would feel less despair in the end…she couldn't do that to him. She didn't want to do that to him. Even if it was the path of less pain, she just couldn't. That would be lying to his feelings and her own. ''How about we take a nap together instead?''

''A nap? Together?'' Chiaki wasn't sure from Hajime's tone if he was more surprised about the napping part or the together part. Either way, he definitely looked flustered about it and a small blush had appeared on his cheeks.

''…I just thought that you looked tired. So, why not nap together?'' Chiaki smiled yet again, a reassuring smile that was exactly what Hajime needed to see at that moment. At least to Chiaki, his face looked lot better when she said that. In that small act alone, she might've given him hope.

''If that's fine with you, but where should we nap?'' Hajime asked. His eyes inadvertently glanced towards the bed in Chiaki's room, but he quickly focused back on Chiaki herself. She wasn't the type of person to suggest napping there! Chiaki placed a finger on her chin as she thought about it.

''…I don't know.'' She eventually said, which made Hajime honestly chuckle a bit.

''You suggested it and you don't even know.'' Hajime managed a little smile. ''I guess we could just walk around and then when we find a good place, we can just nap.'' Though really, any sort of place was a good place to nap if Chiaki was with him. Her calming presence was just so unlike any other person that he had ever met in his life.

''Let's go then.'' Chiaki left her cottage, closing the door as she did. After that, the two of them started leaving the hotel area.

''Try not start napping on the way.'' Hajime said with a small laugh, which made Chiaki laugh as well. She kept on smiling, talking and walking with him, but on her mind, there was just one thought.

''I'm sorry Hajime. I'm being selfish right now, but even if it's just for this fleeting moment, I want to feel hope with you.''

And that's it! I do feel my writing isn't as strong when it comes to sadder stuff, but this idea was stuck in my head, so I wanted to write it down! Hopefully it was still a nice read!

For anyone interested, I do have more fanfic ideas and not all of them are Hinanami so keep an eye out!