[-x-]

Mahiru finally arrived by his door. She rang the doorbell and waited until he opened it. Fidgeting with her skirt, she was worried sick. It has been two days since she's seen him in person or gotten a message. He was off the grid for 48 hours and everyone has expressed their concerns, especially her.

The entrance swung open. "Oh hey, Mahiru."

Hajime looked miserable. His bags have become darker and his skin tone mimics those of Gundham's. "Don't just 'oh hey' me, I haven't heard from you in over two days!"

"Has it really been that long?"

"Do you never check the time?" She groaned, not knowing what to do with her boyfriend.

"Look, the exams are coming up and I really need to not mess it up." He tried to justify himself to her but she wasn't buying any of it.

"Can I come in before we have this discussion?" Placing her hand on her hip.

"O-Oh, yeah. Sure." He walked in as she followed.

Everything was out of whack. Plates of food, empty cups, countless water bottles littered on the floor and oh god, endless amounts of papers scattered all around the floor.

His desk was the single most cluttered part. A mess of opened books and research papers were on it as well, as was his laptop with a barely lit display.

"Hehe, it's a bit messy right now but I promise I'll clean it up when you leave."

"Don't give me excuses like that, you know I can tell whenever you lie to me." She deadpanned.

"I tried…" He sat on his bed and patted it, inviting her to sit down on the least disheveled part of the room. She knew he hadn't touched that bed ever since he made it days ago.

"Question… When was the last time you slept?" She eyed him thoroughly as she plopped down on his bed.

"Two nights ago… wait wait wait, I know that sounds bad but I promise I've survived worse than this."

"Like that makes it better, you jerk!" She was furious. "You shouldn't ever do this to yourself!"

"I know…" He sighed, knowing full well that she was going to react this way. "It's just… I can't not do this. This is a requirement for me."

"Hajime Hinata, there has never been a requirement for you to push yourself this far!" Jabbing her finger on his chest. "See how no one else is doing this for an exam!"

"But theirs is different from mine. Mine was specifically crafted to be extremely hard for a graduate student in uni to pass, let alone a kid in his second year of high school." He fired back.

"Yes but do you really have to go through these lengths? You have another week and a half to study. Why don't you spread it out instead of going all out from the get go?"

"The thing is… I am spreading it out as evenly as I can, my workload is just way too big."

"No one in our class thinks you are, Yukizome-sensei doesn't think you are, the other classes don't either. As for me, I really don't think you're tackling this properly. I mean, have you had any breaks at all besides going outside to get some food?"

"Some moderate ones where I go and read a book." He evaded her gaze at that moment.

"And what sort of book…?" She pried further.

"A psyche book…"

"Is there anything else you're leaving out?" Raising an eyebrow.

"A biology book…" He noticed her glare and caved in. "And a thermodynamics book… there, that's everything." She flicked his forehead. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You call that a break?!" She finally yelled at him. "Do you even know what that word means?"

"Interrupt one's activity for a period of time." He said robotically.

"And have you been doing any of that, dictionary man?"

"I'll admit, not really."

"'Not really?' That's all you can say after you're exerting yourself to your body limits? I don't even think you'll make it in the exam by that point."

"I calculated the amount of energy I need to actually make it there with enough brain power to finish the test."

"Oh my god…" She facepalmed. "I swear I'm gonna kill you before you can even step foot in the exam room."

He chuckled nervously. "Genuinely, though, I'm fine. I mean I'm not the best in the best physical or mental condition but as long as I'm functioning, I can do this."

"No can do, mister…" She shook her head and pinched his ear.

"Ow ow ow ow."

"You need to sleep and give your body some rest."

"I can't! I just drank a double espresso shot an hour ago." He argued.

"Why would you go ahead and do that…?"

"Because I was very close to a breakthrough for my optics study. I figured out that light actually trav- Ow!"

"Don't break my brain too please, you're going to give me a headache if you give me another lecture on physics. Math always finds a way to short circuit my head."

"O-Oh okay, then what do you suggest we do? I can't exactly sleep until this runs out and I eventually crash."

"I'm very very surprised you haven't."

"Well, it's because I time my caffeine intake to be at the right time so that I never crash and my blood doesn't stop being in overdrive."

"...Of course you did that…" She sighed heavily, Hajime of all people would know how to calculate that. "As for your question. You are going to take a break and you will get out of this damn room. That's an order." She said with the most serious tone she's ever voiced out.

"B-B-But, I'll die if I see the sunlight! OW!" She pinched even harder.

"No buts! I don't want to hear any of it! Now go dress up and let's get out of this room." Pointing towards his bathroom door.

"I haven't showered yet though." He mentioned.

"Then go take a quick bath! If you don't come out of that bathroom in the next ten minutes, I will drag you out." She reddened as she uttered those words but kept her composure.

The now blushing boy didn't respond and rushed to the bathroom, locking the door in the process.

"I swear he's going to be the death of me someday…"

[-x-]

The photographer was fiddling around her phone as she texted the class' group chat about her encounter with the ever elusive Hinata.

Some of them had a very positive view on it, mainly Nanami, Soda and Komaeda. They were ecstatic to know that she's gotten through him and he was now going to be able to get some fresh air.

A few were a bit more mean, well one blonde in particular sent a message that wrote "Why not just let this guy rot in his room? It's not like this caveman was doing anything else in class aside from reading his books anyways." The girl definitely deserved a bonk in the head for the comment.

The rest of the class were happy that he was coming back to class. Lunchtime is just about to end. She excused herself from her usual group to come and seek out her hiding boyfriend.

The sounds of the water hitting the ground finally stopped. Hajime was bound to get out of it any minute now. Closing her phone, she decided to gather up the plates and place the cups on top.

The door opened to reveal Hajime. There was something awfully different, his spiky hair was gone, replaced by a straight combed down version. Kind of like the detective in the 79th. Though, the most off putting part was that, his ahoge was gone.

"Uhh, Hajime, did you magically make your cowlick disappear? Or do you just style it that way?"

"This is just how it looks like when I apply conditioner. It's why you still see it when I enter the pool. It's weird I know but it's just how my hair works."

"We've been dating for half a year and I have never seen that. It's so jarring, I never wanna see it again."

"O-Okay? That's a bit harsh." He looked down in shame.

"If you go to class like this, I feel like someone wouldn't recognize you." She said.

"Do you people just use my ahoge as an indicator instead of my face?!" He demanded.

"Some probably do, I don't personally. I get it though, your facial structure is pretty common so the only thing that really stands out is your cowlick."

His mind blanked out and he dragged his feet towards the door as his head was lowered. He didn't need to know about this, he thought his classmates would know him well enough by now. That really left him wounded.

"I just had to say it." The girl caught up to him. "It's not guaranteed but that's why we need to test it, no?"

"Haha… Surely no one would. Right?" He passed the doorway and into the hallway. She simply didn't answer for his sake. She's just glad that her boyfriend wasn't slowly dying inside his room.

They slowly walked to the main building of the school. A few students were eyeing the boy out weirdly. It was a look of recognition but not fully knowing if it was actually the right person so you end up staring at them without realizing it.

Hajime wasn't taking it well. "Maybe I should go back and comb it up."

"I don't think you'll need it, look, those people aren't even in our class so of course they wouldn't instantly recognize you."

"Oh hey! Mahiru!" Someone called them out from the side. It was Kaede walking with the avocado man himself, Amami.

"Hi guys, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"Yeah, that class camping trip ended up being longer than we intended when half of us got lost. Kokichi threw even more fuel to the fire, literally, by suggesting that burning the forest would attract the rescuers attention. Lo and behold, he almost burnt down the entire thing, the only thing that stopped it was the lucky rain."

"That sounds terrifying to be in. Being lost in the forest is one of my biggest fears, it's super scary."

"Yeah, it was…" Dreading ever stepping foot into the woods again. "So, who's this guy? Don't think I've seen him on campus before."

Hajime flinched. "G-Guys… you don't recognize me?"

"I kinda do? You look really similar to Hajime, though, more pale and lacking his trademark."

"I gotta go." The boy bolted it to the staircases, his arm covering his leaking eyes.

"Wait up!" She ran ahead to catch up. "Talk to you guys later!"

"See ya, Mahiru!" The girl waved.

"Huh, weird guy." The adventurer shrugged.

"Yeah, we're the rumors of Hajime having a sibling actually true?"

"Could be, anything can really happen these days, plus it makes sense that he'd be with Mahiru of all people." They continued their trail to their own classroom.

The two of them made it to class in record time. Not once has she ever had to sprint to class in her life. Her punctuation wouldn't let it fly, it was either she couldn't make it because she was sick or that she was in class 10 minutes before the bell even rings.

He slid the door open to find everyone staring at them. A few were even eyeing him out. They both entered the classroom and stood in front.

"Hey guys." He thought that they were just surprised to see him in person again after locking himself up. "Been a while hasn't it."

"I don't recognize you, are you perhaps another transfer student?" Sonia asked, curious.

"Huh, didn't expect there to be another one like Hajime since we don't even have spots anymore. But welcome to 77-B!" Kazuichi grinned.

"A fresh face around here is nothing but a blessing. Hehehehehehe…" Teruteru tapped all his fingers together as he plotted something.

"Hmph, another mortal being. The Overlord of Ice cannot be impressed with such a meager amount of mana." Gundham dismissed him entirely.

"Another playmate, how good are you at fighting games?" Chiaki pointed at him.

"With another student added to our roster, our hope is going to be even more blinding than those of the 78th!" Nagito hugged himself.

And it was at this point that he was starting to believe that his ahoge was all that people remembered him for.

"Y-You guys can't be serious r-right?" Hajime was scratching his head.

The door opened again to reveal their teacher with her usual agenda in hand. "Oh? I wasn't told about this at all. Is this a friend of yours, Mahiru-chan? Not sure why he's in our class randomly but hey, I don't mind teaching an extra student since we have Hinata-kun's chair vacant."

Hajime couldn't handle any more and his brain shut down. Luckily, Mahiru was there to catch his fall.

"At least he's finally resting." She shrugged. "Akane, can you help me drag him back to his room?"

"Not sure why we have to carry some random bozo but okay."

"We'll be back in 10 mins, Yukizome-sensei."

"Alright. Where's Hinata-kun though, didn't you say that you convinced him to come to class?"

"Actually." She leaned the boy on the podium and raised a bundle of his hair up.

"OHHHHH." The class collective laughed and simultaneously felt bad for the scholar.

[-x-]

A quick HinaZumi one shot for yall since again, this is the best pair in all of Danganronpa and that I need more time before I tackle another VA chapter. Not to mention, this helps me just relax instead of worrying about the bombardment of final exams I have next week.