Komaeda woke from a restless sleep, wanting nothing more than to collapse back onto his pillow and sleep all day. He almost considered phoning in sick. His aunt wouldn't care enough to notice he wasn't really ill or make him go to school. In fact if he stayed home all day she probably wouldn't notice him. She only ever spoke to him if she wanted something, usually cooking, cleaning or sowing. In the end he forced himself to get out of bed and put his clothes on. He was just going through the motions of his morning routine from muscle memory though. His head was a million miles away. He couldn't stop thinking about the night before when he realised his feelings for Hinata. He had decided straight away he wouldn't tell Hinata. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing the look of utter disgust on Hinata's face. He was terrified he might accidentally give something away though. One little slip and it could all be over.

He shook his head in front of his bathroom mirror and grabbed the bench top with shaking hands. He took several deep breaths and managed to calm himself down just a bit. He had to appear normal. If Hinata saw how on edge he was he would start asking questions. Questions Komaeda couldn't answer.

He walked like a zombie to the bus stop that morning. His being the first stop he had to get there early, around 6:30. Fortunately, being first also meant the bus was empty when it arrived so he could sit anywhere he liked. He usually just slid into the seat beside the driver up front. For the same reason as Naegi, to prevent being tripped on the way out. He usually leant against the window but he decided to sit on the aisle this morning. He was worried about Naegi after what happened on the bus ride home the previous evening and decided to save the window seat so he'd be able to sit there and not risk being stuck at the back near Enoshima. The bus rolled slowly through town, stopping here and there. The seats of the bus were claimed one by one. Komaeda tuned out and found his mind returning to his worries about Hinata, or rather, his feelings for Hinata. He was just going to have to pretend like everything was okay, make polite conversation, smile and not get too close to him. He would need to avoid any situation were he might become flustered. It wasn't like he was in a romcom or something, if he was careful he wouldn't, for example, trip and fall on top of Hinata, or accidentally touch his hand reaching for the same thing or walk in on him getting changed. As long as he could avoid awkward situations like that where he'd have a hard time hiding his feelings, then he would be fine.

"Naegi." Komaeda called softly when he saw the young man getting up the steps.

"Morning Komaeda." Naegi smiled. Komaeda scooted over and allowed Naegi to sit down. "Thanks for saving me a seat."

"I was worried, you know, after last night."

"Ah…" Naegi sighed, his face dropping.

"Uh!" Komaeda cried. Great, now he'd ruined the mood.

"It's all good, in fact, I'm feeling good about today." Naegi grinned, looking genuinely happy. Komaeda smiled in relief, glad he wasn't too upset. Trust Naegi to bounce right back. It was something he really admired about the younger boy. Komaeda wished he had the strength to pick himself up as often as Naegi did. Naegi seemed to sense his distress and placed a hand on his shoulder. They smiled at each other. Naturally the peace couldn't last. Eventually they reached Enoshima's stop and she and her sister got on.

"Morning losers." Ikusaba said, stone-faced as always. Unlike with Kirigiri, Naegi couldn't read any hidden kindness in Ikusaba's eyes. He seemed to get the feeling she felt lonely, underneath it all. It was obvious she cared deeply for her sister though.

"Hey." Enoshima grabbed both their shoulder's harshly. "My sister addressed you, it's rude to ignore someone like that." She squeezed her nails into them painfully for emphasis.

"G-good morning." "Good morning." They both stammered out quietly.

"You're little body guard not joining you today?" They knew of course she was referring to Hinata.

"Hinata's mom drops him off to school." Komaeda said.

"What a shame, so you losers are by yourselves." Enoshima said.

"Hey!" The bus driver yelled angrily at the two girls standing in the middle of his isle. "Sit down!"

The girls were obviously unhappy they didn't get to mess with them longer. They headed back to find some seats. Naegi and Komaeda breathed sighs of relief. Seemed they were in the clear. The rest of the ride was uneventful and as soon as they got to school the two losers shot off the bus so fast they didn't even touch the steps, just jumped straight onto the pavement. They ran into the school and headed straight for their lockers. Being in different years, their lockers were in different parts of the school so they said their goodbyes with a promise they'd meet up again for lunch. Komaeda waited at his locker for Hinata to show up. He tried to school his expression into something normal. He didn't want to give any indication to Hinata that there was something wrong. He couldn't let Hinata suspect he had feelings for him, no matter what.

"Hey!"

"Ah!" Komaeda jumped. "Yes, hi, hey, hello, yes hi." He stammered out. He squeezed his eyes shut and fought back a blush.

Idiot. Way to act normal. He scolded inside his head. Hinata just laughed.

"You're kind of weird you know?" He smiled and patted Komaeda's shoulder. Komaeda smiled, suddenly feeling calmer. The effect Hinata had on him was amazing. All he had to do was smile and all of Komaeda's fears just melted away. "Anyway, we should head to class." Hinata said. Komaeda nodded and they walked together. Once they were there they sat together and decided to try out a mobile game Hinata had downloaded recently. Hinata loved games. He owned every console on the market and had played all the top tier games throughout the years. Sadly, he never managed to rise through the ranks and become a champion at any of the games. Try as he might, he always ended up being average. The game on his phone was pretty much a mobile version of air hockey. He managed to beat Komaeda most games but on the occasional game Komaeda did win he beat Hinata without Hinata scoring a single point.

As their other classmates entered they briefly looked at Hinata and Komaeda then went about their business. It was still confusing to them why anyone would want to be Komaeda's friend but at this point they were used to it and everyone had pretty much decided that Hinata was strange too.

Throughout class, Komaeda kept sneaking looks at Hinata. Now that he'd realised how he felt, he couldn't help but notice how cute Hinata was. His eyes were a soft green, just like Komaeda's but much brighter and full of life. His hair was spiky and fluffy with a sharp ahoge. His muscles showed perfectly through the tightness of his shirt but Komaeda couldn't look too long without becoming hot and flustered. He tried to focus on the teacher and banish all impure thought from his head. It wasn't easy though, Hinata stuck close to him throughout their morning classes to make sure no one messed with him. Their classmates were less inclined to do anything with Hinata hovering around. Unlike Komaeda, Hinata wasn't afraid to fight back.

While they were walking to lunch together, Komaeda had to keep catching himself from drifting off into a daydream and not actually listening to what Hinata was saying. He was venting about his dad and the pressure he was putting on him to get into a good university. Komaeda had no doubt Hinata would be able to manage it given how hard he worked. He seemed to spend most of his evenings studying. A thought suddenly occurred to Komaeda. Did Hinata want to study and get into a good university or was it just because of his parents? He didn't have long to think about it, they made it to the cafeteria and went to sit at their usual table. Naegi was already waiting for them. He had his lunch out but hadn't started eating, he was being polite and waiting for Hinata and Komaeda to get their food out too.

"So, did everything go okay last night?" Naegi asked, once they all settled down.

"Huh?!" Komaeda dropped his fork and suddenly began freaking out for some reason. "It was fine, normal, we uh… I gave Hinata some bandages and we had dinner." He was blushing and rushing his words. Naegi eyed him suspiciously. Why was he freaking out so much? Hinata was giving him a weird look too.

"Right, what he said?" Hinata said.

"What movie?" Naegi asked.

"Ghostbusters."

"Oh yeah, that's a great movie." Naegi smiled. The three fell into a relaxed conversation about what kind of movies they liked. Naegi and Hinata got into a fight over what the best Star Wars movie was. It was quite possibly the best lunchtime the three of them had had in a while.

Near the end of the lunch period. Everyone's conversations were interrupted as Enoshima stood up on her usual table, her stiletto boots making her so tall it was impossible not to notice her.

"Attention students of Hope's Peak! I have an important announcement to make." Everyone immediately gave her there full attention, even the table of outcasts. It was in nobody's interest to ignore Enoshima, not if they wanted to make it to the end of the day with their sanity intact. "This Friday I am throwing a party at my house and everyone in our school is invited." The whole room went into an uproar. Enoshima's parties were famous. She lived in a big mansion with all the best luxuries and she was always able to get an amazing band or DJ, not to mention great drinks. Everyone began chatting excitedly. Serval students pulled out their phones to check shopping websites, wanting to plan the best outfit for the night.

The only people not excited by her announcement were, of course, the school losers. Hinata just went back to his lunch, not caring about anything else, he probably wouldn't go to the party so who cared? Komaeda and Naegi did. They were both freaking out. Enoshima throwing a party was one of the worst scenarios for them. She always used them as an opportunity to publicly humiliate them and they knew this time would be no exception. Why did they just not go to the parties? Well, Enoshima knew how to make a threat. The last time she had a party she'd assured Naegi if he wasn't there she would hack into the school network and change his grades to be so terrible he could kiss any future goodbye. So he went to the party. He'd had rotten milk and eggs poured over him in front of everyone. No doubt this would be even worse.

Eventually Hinata noticed how pale and shaky they both looked.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "It's not like we'll have to go to this party."

"Yes we will." Naegi sighed, staring at the table in frustration.

"If we don't go she'll… She'll…" Komaeda couldn't finish. He was shaking. Hinata touched his arm in an attempt to comfort him but he flinched violently.

"Enoshima always likes to humiliate us at her parties. It's one of her favourite things to do." Naegi explained. "So of course she does whatever she can to ensure we show up. Once, when I didn't come, she had some people beat me so bad I was in hospital for several days." Naegi shuddered.

"Seriously?!" Hinata gasped, both horrified and outraged.

"It's not the worst…" Naegi mumbled, glancing at Komaeda. Hinata felt sick. Whatever Enoshima had done must have been horrible. "She killed Komaeda's dog."

"What?" Hinata couldn't believe what he was hearing. Enoshima had murdered Komaeda's dog just because he didn't go to a party? What kind of psychopath did that?

"I—" Komaeda looked like he was going to throw up. "I need to go." He ran from the cafeteria. Hinata and Naegi were both frozen in their seats, too shaken up to move. Enoshima's gaze followed Komaeda as he fled the room and a smirk formed on her face.

Hinata stared at Naegi with wide, horrified eyes.

"I don't think it was planned." Naegi mumbled, as if that made it better. "She drove to his house the day after the party he didn't go to and I assume she had something planned to punish him for not coming but then… Komaeda was playing with his dog in the yard and I think she just decided in the moment that it was an even better punishment… She drove up onto the lawn and just… Hit his dog with her car. I… I don't really know what happened after that but Komaeda didn't come to school the whole next week, when he did return he looked horrible. He was walking around school like a zombie. He didn't speak, he didn't look up, just stared at the ground all the time. His eyes were… so dead. He was like that for weeks."

"What happened to Enoshima?" Hinata asked.

"She claimed it was an accident. I don't think any of the kids at school believed that but everyone's so terrified of her they went along with it. So the adults believed her when everyone vouched for her. Komaeda didn't speak out against her, I'm sure he was too scared too."

Hinata felt his fists clench so hard his nails broke his skin. How dare she! How dare she! He felt such overwhelming anger swell within him. Followed by overwhelming frustration as he realised there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could say would comfort Komaeda and there wasn't anything he could think to do to get revenge on Enoshima. Komaeda wouldn't want him to do that anyway, he'd become paranoid she'd just make life worse from them and those fears would not be unfounded.

"I need to go find him." Hinata said, getting up. Lunch would be over soon anyway and he and Komaeda would have to return to class. Naegi didn't feel like staying at the table on his own so he followed Hinata.

"Any idea where he might go?" Hinata asked.

"No but… You know him better than I do…" Naegi said. "Sorry, I'm pretty much useless."

"That's not true." Hinata said. He paused to think, what did he know about Komaeda, he likes games, sowing, reading— His thoughts ground to a halt as he remembered Komaeda's shelves bursting with books. "I have an idea." He took off running and Naegi had to hurry to catch up. The two of them arrived at the library, Naegi stumbling in after Hinata, trying desperately to catch his breath. There was no one else there aside from the librarian who looked up at them briefly then immediately returned to her phone screen. Hinata and Naegi began looking amongst the rows of books and tables but there was no sign of Komaeda. They were almost ready to give up when Hinata suddenly spotted what appeared to be a fluffy white cloud, indoors and behind a filing cabinet. He gestured to Naegi and they both approached softly. Komaeda was tucked away behind the filing cabinets next to the computers, his legs drawn up and hiding his face. He was shaking all over and letting out muffled sobs. Hinata's heart broke to see his best friend so, well, broken. He didn't hesitate to pull him into a hug. He didn't say anything, just kept holding Komaeda who began to soak Hinata's shirt with his tears.

"Lucky…"

"Hmm?" Hinata didn't quite catch Komaeda's muffle.

"That was her name." Komaeda pulled away from Hinata so he could talk easier. "My dog."

"I'm so sorry." Hinata said. What else could he say, it was horrible. "I can't believe…" He didn't know how to say it.

"She was smiling. I remember screaming when she hit Lucky and then… She was smiling at me, saying how sorry she was and she told me I should make sure to always do what she says if I don't want anymore accidents to happen."

"She's a complete psychopath." Hinata growled. He placed his hands on Komaeda's shoulders. "I swear, Nagito," Nagito's eyes widened, it was the first time Hinata used his first name, "I won't let her hurt you, ever again."

"Why?" He asked. "Why do you go to so much effort for someone like me? I'm just, pathetic trash."

"Don't you ever talk like that about yourself." Hinata growled. He pulled Komaeda close and clutched him so tightly, as though he were afraid he might lose him. "You're one of the most friendly, kind, fun and interesting people I've ever met." Komaeda leaned his head on Hinata's shoulder and began to cry again.

Would you still say that if you knew the truth? That I'm in love with you? He thought.