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Another Hajime chapter this time. Until now, the story has been mostly told from Byakuya's perspective, but I'm gonna branch out with more POV characters rather soon-ish.
Chapter 11: Adjusting the Focus
Before the questioning this morning, Hajime had come up with a bunch of different theories about Nagito's behavior. That he was misunderstood and just tried to defend himself. That he was selfish, desperate, afraid, or… well, he had even mentally prepared himself to find out that the guy was just plain evil. But no. It was neither of those. Nagito was actually just batshit insane and Hajime was officially a terrible judge of character. Well, at least he could rule that out as his possible talent, he thought cynically. No Ultimate Intuitive Person for him.
He sighed. What a terrible morning. It certainly didn't manage to lift his spirits after the disaster that was yesterday's party. At least Teruteru's motive was a bit more understandable. That didn't justify his actions either, but worrying about his ill mother was something most people would be able to relate to.
It made him wonder about his own family. He hadn't given them too much thought before, if he was honest with himself. He had been a bit preoccupied with his own side of the problem—getting kidnapped and thrown into this dangerous situation wasn't exactly something you could just not worry about—but what about his parents? How did the situation affect them? Did they even know that he was gone?
Okay, that was a stupid question. An entire class of students had been abducted from the most prestigious school of the entire country. Of course they would have been informed about the situation. They were probably worried sick about him. He wished he could let them know he was alright somehow.
Not enough to murder someone, of course. He wasn't in any imminent danger and his parents had been fine when he'd last seen them, so there was no reason for any drastic measures. He did have to wonder, though. If he had been in Teruteru's place, knowing that his mother was very ill and waiting for him to come home, would he have been strong enough to wait patiently for a solution that may or may not present itself sooner or later… or would he have done the same?
"Hey!" He turned around when he heard someone call out. He had been walking aimlessly around and somehow ended up on the central island near Jabberwock Park. When he looked who was behind him, he saw Mahiru coming towards him, looking stern. "What are you doing?"
"Huh? I… uh… nothing. I was just…" For some reason, he suddenly felt guilty about his previous thoughts, even though they hadn't really meant anything.
"Jeez, never mind. Let me rephrase the question. What's got you so down?" She put her hands on her hips.
"What? I'm not…"
"Come on, you're not exactly subtle about it. You look like a puppy that got scolded and kicked out of the house."
That… was clearly an exaggeration. He didn't look that bad. Hajime shook his head. "You make it sound worse than it is. I'm fine. It's just… well, this morning was a bit rough, don't you think?"
Mahiru started tapping on her hip with one finger. "Even if it was, being depressed about it all day won't help anyone. Besides, everything turned out okay, right? Everything is resolved for now and everyone is still alive. And we should keep it that way. That's what's most important here, so don't forget that."
Well, she did have a point. In the end, things could have been a lot worse. They had to lock away two people, but that didn't mean things couldn't get better from here on out. After all, Byakuya himself promised to take care of them and he seemed competent enough to succeed. Maybe he was just overly dramatic about this. Besides, those thoughts about hypothetically ill parents did nothing but make him feel insecure about himself. "Yeah… you're right."
She gave him a tight smile. "Exactly. Now, stop being pathetic and cheer up a bit. You're not the only one who's affected by this. We all have to deal with the situation, so man up and don't make it harder for the rest of us. Besides, I can't possibly take your picture if you look so grumpy."
At first, that last statement surprised him. Then, the thought of her trying to use that excuse to get him to smile actually made him laugh. Faster than he could react, she had raised her camera and snapped a picture.
"Wha— Hey! I didn't think you were serious about that!"
Mahiru laughed. "Of course I was. You need to capture the cheerful moments, especially when people feel a bit down. They serve as a reminder that there were happy moments too," she said, more seriously again. She shrugged. "Yeah, things might not be peachy, but as long as you can still smile, it can't be too terrible either."
Oh. He hadn't thought about it this way. "That's true…"
Mahiru nodded. "See?" Looking down at the camera, her features softened. "It's a good picture," she said. Then, she appeared to be a bit flustered as she quickly added, "I mean, the silly face you're making is really funny."
"Hey, don't take pictures like that," he said, a little self-consciously. "Can't you delete that one and retake it? I won't make a silly face this time."
She quickly put the camera away and wagged her finger at him. "No way. I never erase a photo once I take it. That's my policy. Besides, photos that were taken in the middle of a moment are much more meaningful than the ones people pose for. Those are staged, so they barely capture the essence of the person's character. Photos are like external memories. You don't just delete a memory to replace it with one that makes you look better."
"I guess…" Hajime reluctantly agreed with her. He still kind of wished she wouldn't take weird pictures of him.
"Don't worry, I plan on taking pictures of everyone, not just you," she assured him. "I want to keep a record of our life on this island. Well, specifically the good times we had."
"That's a pretty nice goal," he said, genuinely impressed. "You've got to show me your photos later."
She blushed a little. "I barely even took any yet… But fine, once I've got enough to really paint a complete picture, I will."
"Okay, I'm looking forward to it."
They reached some sort of strange pause in the conversation where neither of them seemed quite sure of what to say next. Finally, Hajime cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "So… I guess I'll go to the park for a bit. Would you like to come with me?"
Without quite looking at him, Mahiru shrugged. "I don't really have anything else to do, so sure. Only for a little while."
They started walking in silence, before Hajime asked her a bit more about her photography and learned that it was her mother who inspired Mahiru to take this path. She seemed to be at ease talking about this subject, so the conversation became more lighthearted. He was about to answer when they entered the park and Mahiru held up her hand for him to stop.
Confused, he came to a halt and looked at her. Mahiru's eyes were trained on a spot further into the park and with an amused smile, she pointed her finger to indicate the reason why she wanted him to be quiet.
He followed her line of sight and saw what she meant. He shook his head in disbelief. Chiaki was leaning against a tree, fast asleep. Trust her to sleep anywhere.
On her toes, Mahiru crept a little closer until she was satisfied with the distance and snapped another photo. Hajime joined her quietly, whispering, "Isn't it rude to take a picture of someone who is asleep?"
Mahiru shrugged half apologetically. "But she looks so happy."
He looked back at the gamer and he had to agree. She did look quite peaceful with her legs drawn to her chest and her head resting on her knees, the hint of a smile on her face. She had to be quite relaxed to be able to sleep like that in a place like this.
"Should we go somewhere else?" Hajime asked, feeling suddenly uncomfortable when he realized he was watching a girl sleep. Because that wasn't creepy at all.
Mahiru bit her lower lip as she looked at him and back at Chiaki. Eventually, she shook her head. "No, I think we should wake her up… Look, I'm not trying to be pessimistic here, but we're still in a killing game. Besides, there's this bear running around. It just doesn't feel entirely safe to leave her here alone, you know what I mean?"
Oh. "Yeah, of course." They had to come back to this topic eventually, hadn't they? Hajime kind of wished they hadn't. It was bad enough having that threat loom over him the entire time.
Having made up her mind, Mahiru went over to Chiaki, squatted down before her and started to gently shake her awake. Chiaki opened her eyes blearily, blinked a few times and let out a huge yawn. When she spotted Mahiru next to her, she lifted her head from her knees.
"Good morning," she greeted, still with a sleepy expression.
"It's almost noon," Hajime commented dryly as he came closer.
Chiaki blinked at him slowly. "Oh, is it?" She stretched herself before she slowly stood up, dusting off her skirt. "Why did you wake me?"
Mahiru seemed unsure how to answer that, so Hajime filled in with a, "We weren't comfortable letting you sleep outside. Why didn't you go to your cottage instead?"
Chiaki rubbed at her eyes. "I was too tired to walk back." Then, as if just remembering made her tired all over again, she yawned once more.
"Well, even if you're tired, you really should go back next time. Monokuma could appear at any moment. It's not exactly safe outside," Hajime echoed Mahiru's words from before.
That made Chiaki smile. "It's nice of you two to worry about me. I'll try to go to my room next time."
"Try?" he muttered under his breath, as Mahiru made a disapproving sound.
"You shouldn't sleep leaning against a tree anyway. You'll have back problems before you know it," she said.
"Okay." From Chiaki's tone, it wasn't clear whether she was accepting the advice or just didn't feel like talking about it anymore. She looked between the two. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, we were just walking around," Hajime said. "Mahiru told me a bit about her photography."
Mahiru looked a bit shy as she raised her camera a little. "I took a photo while you were asleep. I hope you don't mind."
Chiaki then nodded, with a knowing smile on her face. "Of course not. I remember having to replay the Beach Course in Pokémon Snap to get a picture of a Snorlax, because the professor wouldn't accept any photos of it when it was asleep. Only the ones that showed it awake. If I had to criticize the game, this would be one of the reasons. I always preferred it when it was asleep. Being awake doesn't fit its character."
"Pokémon Snap?" the photographer asked. From her slightly lost expression, Hajime could see that she was just as clueless as he was.
"Yeah. Do you know the game?" Chiaki suddenly looked more alert. As Mahiru shook her head, a portion of the excitement fell off her again, but she explained it anyway. "It's all about taking pictures of Pokémon in different environments. I'm sure you would like it."
Mahiru smiled. "That does sound like a nice game."
"Right? It's too bad they never made a sequel." Chiaki's sigh was full of regret. "If you ever get around to it, you should definitely try it out. It's old, but still a lot of fun."
The other girl looked a bit at a loss. "Uh, okay… I'll give it a try if I ever get the chance."
Chiaki nodded, apparently satisfied with the response. Then she stretched again, her joints popping as she did.
"See? That's why you shouldn't sleep outside," Hajime reminded her.
"But it's so peaceful," she said. "And the fresh air made me tired."
He really couldn't argue with that. It really was peaceful. If they hadn't been forced to participate in a killing game, this island would have been a nice vacation spot. Okay, maybe not Jabberwock Park. At least the way it was now. He looked over to the huge bomb-shaped countdown in Monokuma's tasteless design. That thing kind of ruined the mood.
"What do you think it counts down to?" Mahiru asked, and he saw that she had followed his gaze. The timer showed 18 days, 18 hours and 26 minutes.
Hajime shrugged. "We can't possibly know, can we? It could mean all kinds of things."
Chiaki pulled up her hoodie and tightened the strings. "If this was a video game, it would most likely explode when it reaches zero."
"Don't say things like that," Mahiru reprimanded her. "We need to think positively. It could just count down to the end of the killing game and once it hits zero, we're going to be able to leave."
It wasn't impossible, he wasn't going to deny that. But considering it was Monokuma who put it there, Hajime didn't think this was going to be the answer. He couldn't imagine the bear planting a huge countdown in the park if it didn't serve a more sinister purpose. However, he wasn't going to ruin the mood by bringing that up.
He shook his head and said, "We have no way of knowing anyway. Come on, let's talk about something else."
"Like what?" Chiaki asked, side-eyeing him.
"Like, what are you going to do once we get out of here?" he said after thinking about it for a moment.
"That's obvious, I'm going to go see if my father is doing okay. That man is so helpless sometimes," Mahiru said with a frown.
Hajime smiled. Of course, it wasn't just him or Teruteru. They were all worried about their families. It was only natural. "He's probably worried about you too. I'd also want to see my parents as soon as possible. Tell them I'm alright." He turned to the gamer. "What about you, Chiaki?"
She shrugged. "The same, I think. I also wish I could check if the new games that were released lately are any good."
Hajime shook his head incredulously. Her fixation on video games seemed a bit excessive at times. Still, it had to be nice to be so passionate about something. Everyone just had their one hobby or passion that was on their mind almost constantly. Except for him. No matter what he thought of, he didn't really feel as excited about it as he imagined he should be if it was his talent. He really wished he would figure it out already, but he quickly banned the thought from his mind. This wasn't the time to think about it. They were supposed to focus on the positives.
They ended up sitting down in the shade of the trees together and chatted about all kinds of things until Byakuya entered the park. The second he saw the group, he strode over to them purposefully. "There you are," he said when he was close enough, his eyes trained on Hajime. "I was looking for you."
Automatically, he sat up straighter. "Why? Did something happen?"
To his relief, Byakuya shook his head and he felt some of the sudden tension fall off him at the gesture. "No, I just wanted to talk to you about something." Byakuya let his gaze sweep over Mahiru and Chiaki. "Since you're here too, I might as well inform you that all future breakfast meetings will be mandatory. We will meet between 7 and 8 a.m. in the hotel's restaurant. Try not to be too late."
The girls exchanged a curious look but nodded to show they were okay with that. With a sigh, Chiaki leaned her head back against the tree. "That means we have to get up early every day."
"You shouldn't be sleeping all day anyway. You're going to miss out on life," Hajime told her.
The gamer pouted.
Without reacting to their comments, Byakuya then asked, "Would any one of you know where Sonia is?"
They all shook their heads and Mahiru said, "I don't think either of us has seen her since we split up earlier."
Byakuya clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Fine. We shall look for her then. Hajime, follow me."
With that, he already turned around and walked away. Hajime needed a second to process the command, before he scrambled to his feet. "W-wait!" With a look at the girls, he said quickly, "Sorry, looks like I have to go."
Chiaki smiled and waved at him. "We'll see each other later."
"He really should learn to be more considerate of others. Don't let him boss you around too much," Mahiru just said with a roll of her eyes.
Hajime caught up to Byakuya, who walked at a surprisingly fast pace, in a light jog. Just in time for them to leave the park together. "I've already checked the beach before coming here and I doubt that she was at the hotel when I left," Byakuya said, as Hajime fell into step beside him. "We should continue our search at the airport and the supermarket."
Hajime nodded. "Alright." Then a frown found its way on his face when he imagined the island's layout in his head. "Huh? Did you skip the ranch?"
Byakuya glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "There was an emergency at the beach that required my immediate attention."
"An emergency?" That didn't sound good.
"I'll tell you when we've found Sonia. I would prefer it if I didn't have to repeat myself."
"Oh, okay." He couldn't help wondering what might have happened, but it appeared that Byakuya had already resolved the issue. He could wait for the explanation.
They didn't find anyone at the airport, but at the Rocketpunch Market, they stumbled across the princess, who was trying to politely escape Kazuichi without much success.
She perked up hopefully when Byakuya called out to her. "Yes?"
"I want to speak with you. Kazuichi, you need to leave."
"No way! I was here first!" Kazuichi immediately protested. "Why are you butting in anyway? Can't you see that I'm talking with Miss Sonia right now?"
"I can't tell you how little I care," Byakuya said dismissively. "If you could hurry up; I don't want to be here all day."
It was quite apparent that the mechanic's resolve shrank a bit, but he seemed unwilling to let it go yet. "I can stay here if I want to," he said. His determination grew a little stronger when he added, "Besides, Hajime's here too. Why can he stay?"
"Because I explicitly told him to partake in this conversation."
Unfortunately, that seemed to have been the wrong thing to say. "What? That's super shady! Two guys cornering a lady? Like hell I'll leave!"
Yeah, they really weren't getting anywhere, were they? Even Byakuya seemed to accept that, as he heaved an exasperated sigh and said, "Fine. The supermarket is probably not the best place to talk anyway. You can stay here; we will take this to the airport."
That was a good point. The other students were far more likely to come to the supermarket to grab something than they were to randomly hang out at the airport.
"If you're going, I'm going too!"
Thankfully, Sonia herself now tried to convince him and it had more of an impact on him than anything Byakuya had said. "Kazuichi, would you please let us leave alone? I am sure that Byakuya has something important to discuss with us."
Upon hearing that, Kazuichi visibly gave up, his shoulders slumping. "Well… okay… but I'll stay close by and if they try anything funny, you just need to call for me and I'll rescue you!"
"Uhm… what exactly do you think we're going to do?" Hajime asked, not sure whether he wanted to know or not.
He didn't get an answer either way, as Byakuya said, "As long as you're staying out of this, I don't care if you're slinking around the area. Also, be sure to come to breakfast from now on."
"Uh… huh?" That last comment threw the mechanic off somewhat and they could leave without further discussion.
Sonia seemed to relax a bit as soon as they arrived at the airport.
"What is it you wanted to speak to us about?" she asked.
Byakuya looked between them. "I got the impression that the two of you are quite reliable. Am I correct?"
Hajime blinked. What? Where had Byakuya gotten that idea from? Was it because he had stopped Nagito from stabbing him yesterday? But that had been an instinctive reaction. Anyone would have done the same…
Sonia on the other hand nodded. "Of course."
"Good. I have a very important job to assign you. You will—"
"Hey, uh, wait a second. I don't know about that…" Hajime interjected. He didn't even know where Byakuya was going with this. What if he wasn't good enough for whatever he was supposed to do? If it was that important, wouldn't it make more sense to ask someone else? Sonia was obviously suited for the job, but why would he choose someone who didn't even know his talent?
"Hajime! Straighten up and stop hesitating! You need to have more confidence in yourself!" Sonia cut him off abruptly. Her tone was so commanding and authoritative that he found himself complying almost automatically. His mouth snapped shut and he squared his shoulders before he could think about it.
At his stunned look, her stern expression turned into a friendly one. "There is no need to doubt yourself. I agree with Byakuya's judgement of your character. I, too, see you as a reliable person. Therefore, you should believe in yourself as well."
He could feel his cheeks become hot and he stumbled over his words. "Alright, sorry. Uh, I mean thank you."
"Well?" Byakuya asked. It felt like he was trying to scan him with his eyes.
Mustering up his confidence, Hajime said, "Okay. I'll do my best."
Byakuya nodded once, approvingly. "That's what I would expect you to do anyway. I wanted to assign you two as my assistants."
"Assistants?" That was something he hadn't expected.
"Yes," Byakuya confirmed, "Since we cannot stay together in a single group at all times, I cannot keep my eyes on everyone at the same time. Especially when I need to take care of Nagito and Teruteru. And this morning showed that there are more troublemakers that could use monitoring."
"What happened?" Hajime asked, his curiosity finally reaching a peak.
"Akane and Nekomaru got into a fight at the beach." At their shocked faces, he elaborated, "They both said it was only a sparring match, but they didn't show any restraint and could have easily inflicted serious injuries on each other and on bystanders. In fact, Akane did get injured and I had to send her off to see Mikan."
"That is troubling," Sonia said.
"She is not the only one. Fuyuhiko has made it very clear that he has no intention to cooperate with us. Hiyoko provokes people left and right. There are some people that are just unpredictable."
"So, you just want us to keep our eyes open for any trouble?" Hajime asked.
"That would be the gist of it, yes. There are too many students running around unsupervised. If a problem arises, I want you to step in and resolve it or at the very least get me involved. You will report to me directly at the end of each day. If necessary, I might ask your help with other tasks and errands. That shouldn't exceed your abilities, or am I wrong?" Byakuya asked that while giving him an expectant look. His piercing gaze made Hajime a bit uncomfortable.
"No, that's fine," he said.
Sonia nodded enthusiastically. "You can count on us!" Her voice was so full of conviction that there was no room for further doubt. Hajime felt a smile creep on his face as her confidence spread to him.
"Good. If you ever feel like the problem is more than you can handle alone, I want you to tell me immediately." Byakuya hesitated for a moment, then he added, "Even if you are unsure whether your observations are truly indicative of trouble or not. If you see someone behaving a little strangely, even if their actions might seem mundane and not worth reporting—do it anyway. I want to know everything that's going on around here. It's better to be safe than sorry. In order to protect you properly, I need as much insight into everything as possible. Understood?"
They both assured him that they would do just that. Hajime had never doubted Byakuya's leadership qualities but seeing the thorough measures he took to keep them all safe felt reassuring. And if he could contribute anything, he would do his best to support him. He still didn't know why Byakuya asked him of all people, but Hajime was sure that he had his reasons.
"You've already heard about it, but attendance at breakfast is going to be mandatory from now on," Byakuya continued, "which leads to the first task I have for you." He faced the princess directly. "Sonia, I want you to go to the hotel and check up on Akane. I sent her to go there with Gundham, so that she could get treatment. Make sure she actually did and that her wound is taken care of. And while you're at it, both Akane and Gundham, as well as Mikan need to be informed about the new breakfast rule. I want you to handle this."
"Alright. You can leave it to me!"
Byakuya nodded in satisfaction, then turned his head to look at Hajime. "I would like to leave Peko to you. Tell her about the arrangement. Also, could I ask you to engage her in conversation for a while, if possible?"
"You want me to spend time with her? Why?"
"She hasn't really been involved with anyone until now, has she? She seems rather elusive. I would like to get an idea of what you think of her. I haven't been able to judge her character properly yet," Byakuya explained.
"Do you… do you think she might hurt someone?" he asked, carefully. Personally, he couldn't imagine it. Peko seemed so calm, like nothing could make her lose her composure. Then again, he had completely misjudged Nagito as well.
"I don't know about that, which is why I would like to get a better picture and your opinion on her. She is the Ultimate Swordswoman. That means she would be able to easily commit murder, if she wanted to." When Byakuya saw Hajime's hesitation, he added, "It's just a precaution."
Well, it couldn't hurt. He wasn't going to go around suspecting her of planning a murder or anything. He could just spend some time with her to get to know her better. That was all Byakuya asked him to do anyway, right? He nodded slowly. "Sure, that won't be a problem."
"Excellent. The rest will be informed by me, you don't have to concern yourself with that. Meet me in my cottage, about twenty minutes before the nighttime announcement, to report back to me."
What a weird turn of events, Hajime thought to himself as they went their separate ways and he left to look for Peko. He certainly hadn't expected to be asked to take such an active role in Byakuya's plans, but he would be lying if he said it didn't feel good to be considered helpful. He did feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea of spying on Peko… in a way? It wasn't exactly spying, but… Oh well, it would be fine. Byakuya being a little extra-cautious wasn't exactly a bad thing. It just showed that he took his job seriously. And Peko was his classmate, so spending some time together was completely natural. Just because Byakuya asked him to tell him about it afterwards didn't mean he couldn't just interact with her normally.
Besides, he was a little curious to find out more about her. She seemed like an interesting person after all. He found he kind of looked forward to this.
A/N: Since I'm a sucker for short previews, I decided to give you guys a teaser for the next chapter:
"Do you know who Junko Enoshima is?"
