"Hiiiiiinataaaaaaa, you enjoyed some laser-tag like, way back when. Jus' sayin'."

Hajme heaves the pack of his shoulder. Something plastic digs into his shoulder, heavy and lingering. He nearly stumbled due to the weight when the worker had dropped the pack onto his shoulders, but, at the time, Kazuichi helped him. Now, the mechanic stands with a sharp grin, hands on his hips and watching him struggle.

"I was nine," Hajime responds, lifting the straps around his shoulders with a single finger, then looking at it experimentally. "I was nine, an idiot, and a kid that couldn't shut up."

Kazuichi flinches, then pouts, crossing his arms across his chest. He's not in his jumpsuit, which looks a little strange to Hajime, but it finally gives his eyes a break from the straining yellow, which is nice. Instead, he's dressed in a tight-fitting white shirt and slacks, with the bulky gear standing stark against the color of his shirt.

"Well, yeah, c'mon, dude, it's my birthday party," Kazuichi scrunches up his nose. "Either way, you loved it last time you played laser tag."

He doesn't respond, instead looking around.

There are two reasons why Hajime doesn't want to be here. One, obviously, is the fact that laser tag's childish- although, the numbers of either team say otherwise. There's about little more then twenty people in this room, some of which are completely unfamiliar to Hajime, and others which he's only seen glimpses of. Apparently, some of them here are apart Kazuichi's class. Almost all of them came here. As strange as Kazuichi is, his class treated him decently. Much more decently then others from his friend's childhood.

Of course, there's not only Kazuichi's class. Apparently, there was other people here as well. A small amount, but a group nonetheless.

Two, the only person he knows there outside of Kazuichi is Nanami Chiaki, who taps her gear quietly. He can't read her lips but she's mumbling to herself as she checks the heavy pack and the gun that's attached to it. There's some people he doesn't even want to look at in fear of triggering their temper; more specifically the short but threatening boy that lingers in the corner, arms crossed over his chest.

"C'mon. I think everyone's just 'bout ready."

Kazuichi runs his hands over the front of the gear, marveling it and exploring it with the touch of his hands. With his shoulder, Hajime nudges him, then jerks his chin to the front of the room. A tall guy with long hair seems to be handing out the last of the packs, fitting the last one over someone who Hajime can't even see over and towers over the rest.

The room falls into darkness when the tall man hits a switch along the side, but the white things in the room glow. He remembers this from the last time he played, when he had a fascination of how the whites of his eyes and teeth glowed, but now, Hajime merely tucks his arms across the bulky gear, then uncrosses them.

Next to him, Kazuichi looks like a light-bulb.

"Welcome to Laser Tag," the man says, his hands fiddling with the remote control that he grips tightly. The screen above him lights up with a rotating model of the thing everyone wears- the laser tag gear. "In case you haven't played before, there's two teams. Red and Blue, which is told by the color of your gear." Another click of the button.

Everyone's gears light up, with the orb of light on their torso. Hajime looks down at the red highlight in the middle of the pack, then spares a look at Kazuichi, who also has a circle of red in the square of his chest. In the room, conversation ripples as people check out one another. Hajime doesn't even look around for other people on the red team because he doesn't care.

"So, basically, you guys have an hour to rack up as many points as possible. Points are obtained by hitting the gear on the shoulders, where the straps are, chest, or back. You aim your gun and pull the trigger to shoot. If you get shot, your light turns off for about fifteen seconds, and you can't use your gun for five seconds after you get shot."

On the screen, the model spins, the shoulder straps, chest, and back lighting up yellow.

"Your team can lose points by accidentally shooting one another, or multiple traps laid throughout the maze. The game will be split in two, with a ten minute break in the middle. So you're here for an hour and ten minutes, basically. Uhh... you can't take off your packs during the game, don't go open any doors outside of the doors labeled with 'exit', which are there if someone needs to leave. When the music starts, the game starts."

The door that Hajime hadn't noticed previously opened. In contrast to the instructing worker, the man's short and sturdily-built, and stands with his posture straight and formal in the doorway.

"Uhhh... Nagito's team, the blue team, you guys go first. At the end of the game, we'll have statistics for everyone."

Everyone with a pulsing cobalt blue light moves, making their way around the others of the red team. The person in front wears an easy-going smile, with pale eyes, skin, and hair that glows in the room. Chiaki's among them.

Hajime sweeps a quick hand across his chest again and covers the red light momentarily, and the entire room is thick. There's mumbles here and there due to socialization between others, but he doesn't join them and instead watches the door again.

When they enter the maze, it would probably be alive with smoke, smog, lights, and the smell of spirit. Again, it's been a while since he's even thought of what it was like to play laser tag when he was nine, but all he remembers is adrenaline, with childish excitement and the sound of beating feet against his ears.

On the screen above the door, Hajime can vaguely make out the maze with smoke and colors, blaring lights flashing through the white smoke to make it red or green or something. He can see black walls, stairs, the floor speckled with colors, and people wandering around the walls experimentally, still cluttered in the group.

"Oh, yeah," the taller instructor is still there (the shorter one went in with the other team) fiddles with the remote controller again, antsy fingers dancing and tapping across the slim surface. "Uhhh... you guys will get about five or so minutes to introduce yourselves to one another. There's like... nine or ten of you on each team."

Just as he says that, an arm hooks around Hajime's neck, and he finds himself stumbling along, trapped against Kazuichi's wiry arm and him yapping off in the brunet's ear. Yeah, Kazuichi's his friend, but that doesn't mean he can just drag him off like that.

"Hey! Hey! Mioda! Mioda!"

Oh god no. He's heard about the wild girl, with her blazing horns of color and voice that shakes most people to the core. He claws at Kazuichi's forearm in response, digging fingernails into the skin, but Kazuichi only lets out a hiss and looks down at him, to which Hajime averts his eyes and busies himself with looking at Kazuichi's orange socks (really?).

Everyone around him is smart enough to wear somewhat dark clothes but Kazuichi stands out like a beacon- and so does this girl. She's dressed in white clothes probably, so standing next to them makes Hajime want to go blind instead of look at them for another second. When Mioda turns her gaze on him, pink eyes alight with fire, he's on the verge of backing away. She opens her mouth, a screech of words starting-

Thankfully, the instructor beckons the red team to the door. "Kazuichi's team, please."

The maze is silent up until the rest of the team filters in, and suddenly the lights are flashing and ow, they're about as bright as Kazuichi's fashion sense. When his friend leads them down a hallway with green paint flowered all across the floor and stops right in front a staircase that's constantly showered in yellow light, he can clearly see him bounce on the balls of his feet. Hajime moves so that he doesn't blind himself.

"Uhh, so, uh, hi, I'm Kazuichi, the best in mechanic in the city," the pink-haired man boasts, jerking a thumb to his chest. He's confident, Hajime notes as he notices Kazuichi winking at one of the girls. Maybe he'll notice the protective person standing right next to that girl. "'m pretty rad on the field."

Hajime notices people's eyes on him. "Hajime."

Next is the girl that Kazuichi had dragged himself over to earlier, Mioda, who spins excitedly as she shines. "Mioda Ibuki, here to knock off your socks! And shirt! And pants! She's got the talent to do just that, yup yup yup!"

No wonder why he's friends with her, Hajime thinks. She suits him.

"Kuzuryuu," the boy crosses his arms. Although he's shorter than Hajime by a decent amount, the aura around him scares him half to death (like, jesus christ).

"Fuyuhiko," Kazuichi amends, then makes his way around Ibuki and nudges him. In response, Fuyuhiko nails him with an elbow in the gut (he has easy access to it) and the glowing shirt of Kazuichi's creases as he leans over, groaning.

Fuyuhiko doesn't look like an open guy, but Hajime guesses that he's a classmate, with the way they act around one another. Hopefully Fuyuhiko isn't as unapproachable as he seems, because Hajime senses that he's going to see more of him, with the way Kazuichi's eyes twinkle at the sight of him. Like he's a bit lovestruck.

"I'm Asahina Aoi, but you guys can call me Hina!" The girl that the mechanic had winked at earlier when he had introduced himself lifts one hand in a wave. She seems more bubbly then the rest (maybe excluding Ibuki), with blue eyes that sparkle brightly in the darkness of the maze. "This is Sakura-chan!"

"Greetings."

The soft rumble makes Hajime almost flinch, and it scares Kazuichi more. His friend yelps, pedals backwards, then digs his nails into Hajime's shoulder. In response, he spares his friend a look.

"I am Oogami Sakura."

"Sakura-chan," Aoi nods, beaming up at the other with a smile.

With a start, Hajime realizes that Sakura's a girl- a girl that could snap his spine and every bone in his body if she wanted to, it looks like.

The rest of them go around in a circle- quickly, because Fuyuhiko mentions something about the game starting soon.

There's a girl who looks like she can murder him as easily as Sakura can, blending easily into the background if not for the red light in her chest and the harshness of her eyes, which matched the blinking light of her gear. Her name's Peko, apparently. Then there's this guy- Makoto- that stands out as much as Hajime does- not at all. Last but not least is the guy that towers over everyone from earlier- he's about as tall as Sakura. According to Kazuichi, that's another one of his classmates (so is Peko), Nekomaru.

Hajime makes a note not to go near any of them.

"Uhhh, on the other team, all that I know is that there's Komaeda- you'll see 'im almost immediately since he's gonna be white and glowing, and he has this kind' wheezin' laugh because he's sick and shit. Then there's 'wari, who's like, wild and crazy. If you do see her, she'll probably shoot you as much as possible. Then there's Nanami, who's a gamer, and she's kinda like... a strategist, I guess? 'm not sure if Koizumi's there either, but if she is, so is Saionji. Saionji's too shorter for you to see, I guess. And Tanaka-" Kazuichi scowls. "Tanaka's there too. He looks like some emo. You'll recognize him."

He's heard of Tanaka before, but the lingering hate that shivers in his friend's voice surpasses Hajime. Instead, he just looks down and taps the heavy plastic gear again, eyes darting sideways. There's a light that flickers every few seconds, sending green dots scattering across the dark surface. Hajime wonders if it's one of the traps the worker mentioned.

"The traps are the red lights," Kazuichi's bouncing on the balls of his heels again, pink-eyes glowing. Paired with the way his white shirt lit up, someone could permanently scar their eyes looking at him. "I dun' if they've changed or somethin', but that's how- shit."

The music started playing. Flashes, a holler from Kazuichi, and Hajime's running and running hard, up the stairs by two. He doesn't even think about the sneakers hitting the speckled surface, he just runs. He hopes that everyone behind him has split up or else the team's completely screwed.

There's some pretty crap American music playing over the speakers, so Hajime scowls at the dark ceiling. "Seriously? You can't even choose good music?" His hand is resting on the gun, and he hefts it, looks at the red light on the middle of the barrel (did it even have a barrel? It's really small), then wraps his fingers firmly around the handle. Crouched behind a wall near the stairs, Hajime glances up at the rail that runs around the upper level.

He stands, aims the gun, and looks for a target. It's only a moment later when something on his chest vibrates and out of the corner of his eye, he can see the red light on his armor has gone out. About a minute into the game and he's already been shot. A great start. Maybe it's a better idea to work with someone and cover each other's back.

According to the worker, his gun isn't supposed to work for five seconds. Hajime tries to pull the trigger and surprise, nothing happens. The gun just hums in his hands, but Hajime's already moving on, searching for the person who shot him. For a second, maybe even less, he can barely see something blue, but it might be the goddamned flashing lights that cause the smoke to be different colors.

The light on his chest hasn't turned back on, so Hajime crouches again, then tries to move along the upper level. Judging by the sound of shoes on the lower floor, there was probably only one or two people around on this level. Instead, he moves along, keeping low and shuffling. In response, his back protests, but Hajime stays in the same position until he rounds a corner. By now, his chest plate thing has turned back on again, but irritation ticks through his mind.

"Hinata!" The whisper is sharp.

"What?" Apparently, his irritation leaks through his voice as well, because Kazuichi flinches. Is he supposed to be this worked up over laser tag?

"Have you shot anyone yet? Might've hit Fuyuhiko by accident, prolly why he yelled at me."

It strikes Hajime how at easy Kazuichi is, a grin stretched tight across his lip. His shirt is hiking up for some reason, exposing some skin near the curve of his waist, but Hajime tries not to get distracted by that. This is Kazuichi's battlefield- gear, smoke, crappy music, and a land where you could hide, a land with doorways and crevices and traps. Kazuichi knows this place like the back of his hand.

In fact, a little circle is next to Kazuichi's shoulder- just wide enough to shoot through. As he crouched, the brunet's suddenly glad that he decided to wear a dark blue shirt (courtesy of his mother) instead of blaring like a lightbulb for wearing white.

"I haven't shot anyone," Hajime replies. "Although, I've got hit once."

"Don't be so glum," Kazuichi says. "I've 'ready hit a couple here and there! I've got yer back, Hinata."

"Thanks...?"

He's expecting Kazuichi to yell at him, but Hajime's surprised by the happiness in his voice. Then again, the mechanic's not the threatening type: a scaredy-cat sometimes, yes, but someone who did try his hardest.

"So all ya gotta do for me is try," Kazuichi offers him a fist. "Promise?"

"Promise."

He grins again, shark teeth glowing, and then turns around, peeking through the hole. Gun in hand, Kazuichi seems to find his target, then shoves the gun towards the hole. There was still space for him to see around, which he uses to fire.

Hajime, in response, experimentally aims his gun at the floor and pulls the trigger. A red dot appears on the ground and when Hajime moves the gun side to side, the dot does too.

Kazuichi whistles from his spot. "Damn, Owari's got a good body. The gear hides it. Whoa."

Hajime's tempted to yell out to someone to turn up the music so he doesn't have to hear that, but Kazuichi chuckles, a deep noise in his throat. "Nailed it. There's one point for our team."

Hajime's not sure if he should feel disappointed in himself (Kazuichi's doing a lot better than him) or proud of his friend, but he tilts his head, looking through the hole as Kazuichi removes his gun from it. "Uhh... do you wanna cover each other's backs? Like, it's three minutes into the game-"

"Two," Kazuichi corrects, "There's a pattern to the lights. And," he flashes a grin. "That'd be aweeeeesome!"

"So... are we just going to chill out here?"

"There's a bunch'a spots around the maze that we can hide in. I know a couple spots here 'n there where we can fire without them knowin' where we are."

His back is cramping again, so Hajime straightens. In an instant, Kazuichi's gear blinks then turns off. He's hit. Whipping around, Hajime searches for a red light and finds it at the end of the hallway. Without hesitation, he aims and pulls the trigger. He can't see the dot ghosting over the gear, but a moment later, the red light goes off.

"Fiend!" The other person barks. The voice is deep; Hajime can't link it to anyone that he knows.

"Tanaka," Kazuichi mumbles. It seems that he knows the other, but something flickers in his voice.

Hajime can hardly identify the outline of the 'enemy', with pale skin.

"Tanaka's there too. He looks like some emo. You'll recognize him."

That's what Kazuichi had said earlier. Tanaka does look almost emo, and Hajime can only identify him by the bulky outline of his gear and the paleness of his skin.

Hajime hasn't been shot yet, but he points the gun at Tanaka again, a laser point appearing on his chest, paired with a thin stream of light. The instant Tanaka's gear would turn on, Hajime would shoot him again. There's no movement towards the other's gun, apparently the sharp glare of his eyes threatened the other enough.

"I do not come in peace. Had I been accompanied by my fellow warriors, you would have been blown to dust!"

"Yeah, whatever," Kazuichi stands next to him, probably glowing to anyone that was looking at the upper level, but Hajime's the only one who's pack is glowing, that is, until Kazuichi's turns on again. Hajime side-glances at him, and there's something hard in Kazuichi's eyes.

"The Dark Queen Sonia has requested that I shoot you for every time you have wronged her and her own actions."

Kazuichi's eyes flash again. Hajime keeps his gun on Tanaka's chest (no, this is not the time to think about how Tanaka's shoulders are quite broad). He's seen this look on Kazuichi before: it's hurt. Whatever Tanaka said, it stings. The look is so familiar, almost too familiar. The mechanic had looked at the bullies that had hurt him in his younger years, when he couldn't fight back.

"Sh-Shut up, Tanaka!"

Sudden movement. Hinata's gear gets hit, but Kazuichi is already shooting, Tanaka's turned hard on his heel and sprinted away, and the brunet goes after him, sprinting. "Stay here!"

The music is pulsing in his ears, hard and unsteady, and yes, this is perfect for this. Hajime doesn't know what's overcome him, but the little thing at the back of his brain that labeled itself as Kazuichi's friend flared with overprotectiveness. Something happened between them that spikes the air with something heavy, and if this guy was a douchebag to Kazuichi, Hajime's sure as hell protecting his friend.

"You're a warrior!" Tanaka barks over his shoulder. "Perhaps, I will draw your blood and you will beg to come to the great Tanaka Gundam's side!"

Hajime hefts the gun again, but he notices a single dot on the side of the wall while he's running, and he just about screeches to a stop and falls flat onto his back. "Shit," he curses.

He usually doesn't have such a foul mouth, but hell, the stupid thing hurts when it digs into his back. Hajime winces, having the breath knocked out of him, because damn, the thing hurts like hell.

"Oh... that doesn't look too comfortable, haha... are you all right?"

Hajime opens his eyes, and is almost immediately greeted by something glowing, and he grimaces and looks to the side. The song is still the same, which means that he;s only been closing his eyes for a second, but the tiredness lurking behind his brain says otherwise. Is reality bending?

"He's on the other team," the glowing thing says. There's movement.

He groans and sits up.

"Hinata-kun," a softer voice greets. Hajime glances over to see Chiaki, standing with her hands locked behind her back. "Are you okay...?"

"Yeah. I was just following around Tanaka," he rubs his back, a sharp ache in his ribs.

The glowing thing (which Hajime identifies as an actual person) hasn't said anything yet, but he's standing next to Chiaki, watching him with pursed lips. Both of their gears are on, and so is Hajime's. They're on the opposite team, but haven't shot him yet. Probably pity because of how sharply Hajime fell on his back.

"You're observant," the glowing person says. "You noticed the laser despite running after Tanaka-kun..."

Komaeda. Kazuichi said that right? That Komaeda glows because of his pale skin? And he's the one that walked out first in the room with the gear when they said Komaeda's team.

"Well, that's certainly remarkable," the white-haired male tilts his head and chuckles a bit, which sounds like he's almost wheezing or whistling through his teeth. The sound is weird to Hajime's ears, almost like he's sick or coughing, but Komaeda seems fine except for the whites of his hair, which is completely white excluding the red tint at the ends that Hajime can see due to the lighting. "Komaeda Nagito, although I doubt my name will be of much use to you, haha..."

"Hinata," Hajime says as he jams the laser tag gun into the holster near the side. It had fallen out when he fell, and he took to it as a method of distraction. "Just Hinata is fine, I guess..."

Chiaki watches him for a moment, then shoots him quietly. "... sorry... it's still a game, Hinata-kun..."

Hajime doesn't even mind at this point; he's still staring at the darkness of which Gundam disappeared into, wondering how the blinking lights, bright smoke, and color of the gear hasn't showed him where Gundam is yet. Something nudges him in the back of his mind; Kazuichi should still be where he asked the other to stay put, and Hajime's hustling, hustling, hustling.

"I can't stay for long," he says over his shoulder. "... someone like Kuzuryuu would probably think I'm betraying the team or something..."

"He would," Nagito murmurs in agreement, then laughs lightly again. It's a nice laugh, he can give Nagito that, smooth and easy like a breeze, and it settles the chills he gets while looking at him. "That would be quite unfortunate for you, wouldn't it...?"

Without responding, Hajime jogs as lightly as he can without the gear digging into his shoulders. Just as he rounds the corner, something sharp scratches into his shoulders.

"The hell you doing?!" Fuyuhiko spits in his ear. Hajime winces as he's yanked down to Fuyuhiko's height and shoved against the wall.

"Ow...!"

"What, are you trying to make our team lose? Fuckin' hell, I knew I didn't trust the looks of you. The nerve of Souda, makin' friends with people like you..."

There's a fire in Fuyuhiko eyes that Hajime doesn't really link to him, but it's there, flickering and raging and hot. It's enough to make his chest curl with fear. The other didn't look like much, but Hajime doubts that the gear wouldn't stop him from beating Hajime to the dust.

Fuyuhiko peeks around the corner again, then hefts his gun, eyes narrowing. "Should just shoot you, geez..."

"Listen, I'm not trying to betray our side!" He turns his palms up, but already the Kuzuryuu is looking away from him, aiming through one of the panels that flips when you touch it. There's the click of pulling the trigger, and the blond must have hit someone, because he pulled the gun away from the open square with a satisfied smirk. "I was chasing after Tanaka and fell and they found me... okay?"

Fuyuhiko opens his mouth to respond, but his gear blinks and turns off. Accusing eyes whip towards Hajime and he holds up his hands, his empty hands, and the Kuzuryuu turns his gaze to find another subject of prey.

"Got 'im!" Someone howls from above and Hajime glances up. He just catches a glimpse of tan hair that flashes yellow in the light, and they're gone.

Gritting his teeth and scowling, Fuyuhiko looks up. "I didn't want to play this fuckin' game... but now I gotta 'cuz it's gonna ruin my reputation if I let myself be beat without some revenge...!"

With that, he darts off. Hajime's left with staring at empty space.

OoO

It's about twenty minutes into the game, and he's already gotten hit three or four times outside of the first five minutes of the game. Yeah, Hajime's retaliated by hitting some others once or twice, but he's about ninety-percent sure that's he's doing more harm to his team than good. Nagito's been a solid two times out of those, and Hajime hasn't even hit him yet, and that simple and pleasing smile of Nagito is beginning to bother him.

He's also gotten hit by a girl named Owari that Kazuichi had mentioned earlier, and Makoto accidentally hit him as well. In return, Hajime's shot two girls named Koizumi and Saionji.

"How much longer until the break?" Hajime whispers to Kazuichi.

"Not much, the smoke's supposed to come in soon," he says. "It distorts shit. I'll see if I can trigger it any earlier or somethin'."

Normally, Hajime wouldn't feel comfortable when someone digs through a control panel located on the far right side of the maze, but the other looks like he kinda, sorta, maybe knows what he's doing. Hands darted across thin metal wires, tapping, searching, pulling, doing whatever mechanics did. Hajime's perfectly content with leaving Kazuichi how he is, but the mechanic's gritting his teeth, sharp edges raking against one another. If anything, he looks hurt like he did when they encountered Tanaka.

Now, that he's gotten a closer look at Kazuichi's face, there's a name he can put to the look. Jealousy.

"That Sonia that Tanaka mentioned..."

Kazuichi freezes. Hajime studies his face, looks for a reaction, and then averts his gaze to the ground. "Sorry. I'll go shoot some people. Uh... keep in there, okay?"

He tries to push something akin to a smile onto his face, but when Kazuichi doesn't even look at him, Hajime leaves the area with his heart dampened and heavy in his chest- then immediately comes to someone who has the exact opposite of a heavy heart.

"Hajiiiiiime-chan!" Ibuki cheers, punching one portion of his gear. "Yikes! Spikes! Pikes! That's some ditzy gear you have on there! Ibuki's just about crunching for another punch at it!"

"Not so loud," Hajime hisses, grabbing her and putting one hand over her mouth. From what he's seen so far, she probably won't shut up, even if she did have a muffle; that inkling thought proved true when Ibuki started to speak in muffle through his hand. "There's other people on the other team, Mioda. Don't be that loud."

In response, she licked his hand.

Hajime snatches his hand back to his chest like she had thrown-up on him; she basically has, and now there's her saliva on her hand. Gross.

"Are you out of your mind?!" He says in a sharp undertone and wipes his hand on his pants several times until the brunet's completely sure that his hand is dry.

"She was just doing a call! Like a mating call! But a calling call. Or maybe a calling calling call. What's the difference between a call, a calling call, a calling calling calling call, and-"

"You're scare 'im half to death, Mioda," someone else remarks, and Hajime just about jumps out of his skin because no, it's not her scaring him half to death, it's them-

Nekomaru appears around the corner, towering over the rest of them, and Hajime has to bite down on his tongue. Somehow, electricity sparks from the man's eyes, but they're ghostly in the smoky light, so they don't give the three away.

"See? Reinforcements! And Hajime-chan said he didn't believe in Ibuki!"

"I never said I didn't believe in you-!"

"Now, to ambush!" Ibuki punches the air, and lifts her gun, tongue sticking out slightly between her lips.

"Bullying a girl? Not cool, Hinata..."

"AMBUSH!" She does everything but shriek, diving to the side, "Ibuki's ears have failed her! How could they?" She yanks at her ears.

Hajime fiddles with his gun for a moment, mind racing. He aims and fires at the glowing figure of Nagito that had somehow appeared without them noticing. He aims and fires, but Nekomaru's already taken care of Nagito, shooting the white-haired boy before him, and Hajime's stream of light glances across the large man's gear. "Sorry!"

"You're fine, Hinata, at least you admitted your mistake! HUAH!" Nekomaru finishes his sentence with a bellow, and a body leaps out of the smoke, pouncing on him.

"Old man!"

"Another contestant!" A girl yell so- probably Ibuki off on the sidelines.

Hajime whirls as something flashes at the corner of his eye, but it's smoke, smoke, smoke creeping up on the corners, billowing and encasing the entire area. Hajime can hardly see through the flashing lights that dance and wave through the cloud, and they sting his eyes.

Has Kazuichi activated them earlier, or is this when they are supposed to go off?

His hand finds the gear of someone, and Hajime identifies it as a shoulder pad- as he brings the two of them closing, squinting for a glimpse of light (he sees an orb of red), then sees a face.

It's Peko, from the beginning, with curt words and a simple nod. Her eyes are bright and sharp even through the smoke, defining, the only sign of life in her body.

How many people are even here?

Peko makes it six, doesn't she?

Hajime tries to find another body in the crowd, and the smoke is already beginning to thin; he sees distorted shapes through it. A giant shadow flicks at the corner of his eye and Hajime shoots the instant he sees blue light, to which he receives a human yelp.

"Got you, Nagito-chan!" Hajime can hear Ibuki yell out. There's a thump and a hiss, the speaking of someone with a softer tone, then a quiet cry.

What the hell is going on?!

He needs out of the smoke. Already, he's beginning to panic because of loss of senses- sight, direction, basic logic- Ibuki's over there, but suddenly she's over there and Hajime's head spins.

The brunet finds himself running and smacks clear into a wall, using his hands to ghost across the surface, to guide him.

"Concerning the fact that we only met minutes earlier, I wasn't expecting this situation," a breezy voice says and Hajime almost immediately flinches and pulls away, but his hands are locked tight by bony fingers around his wrists.

".. Sorry...!"

"It's fine," by now, Hajime puts a voice to face, and he can just imagine the simple and small smile the other wears on his face. "This smoke is deluding everyone, haha... whoever created it is truly a genius..."

"Yeah, but a genius seems more like an enemy when you're on the receiving side..."

"I suppose- oh! I'm still holding your hands... sorry about that."

The trap around his wrists finally disappear, and Hajime rubs them. "Do you know a way out of this smoke?"

"Souda-kun's played around in this maze before, there is a few spots where the smoke doesn't reach," Nagito says. He doesn't seem to even be trying to shoot him- Hajime would try, but he doubts he could even aim through the smoke if nothing was wrong. Nagito unsettles him, causes a tingle to run up his spine and wrap around his neck.

"Do you... Can you lead me there?"

"Of course. I don't find a problem with it."

A hand finds his shoulder and bony, jagged angles grip onto it tightly. Nagito tugs him in some direction, who knows where the hell where, but Hajime has to put his life (not life, maybe, but the pride he usually hides is starting to bite and snarl every time he gets hit) in Nagito's hands and trust him.

Damn him. Both of them. Damn Nagito. Damn Hajime himself.

The smoke starts to thin again when they go around twists and turns, and Hajime's about tired of having his elbow bump things and the sharp angles of his body bruise. The lazy glow of Nagito's pack is now visible, but orbs start to flicker at the corner of Hajime's vision, taunting him and teasing him. There's two blues that he sees next to each other, like they're guarding each other's back, and a couple of singular red and blues that he sees.

"Nanami-san has my medication," Nagito sighs. "I can't extend myself that much without being by her side..."

Hajime's tempted to ask, but he bites it back in the middle of starting to voice it. Instead, he focuses on the back of Nagito's head, the outlines beginning to become visible. "Uhh... Did Mioda hit you or something?"

"She tackled me, more specifically. I hit my head against the wall, haha."

Hajime hopes that he hasn't taken notice of the jerky clicking of him trying to pull the gun out. Now that Hajime can see him, he doesn't mind the idea of shooting him- and his pride is rising again, memories of Nagito shooting them flickering and revealing themselves in his mind.

"She's uncontrollable."

"Most definitely," the other agrees.

Hajime pulls the trigger. A small stream of light glances across the floor, then travels up Nagito's leg. Eyes dart to the side and identify a wall he can hide behind, speckled with white. Lights of green and yellow flash against the floor and wall, everywhere, on Nagito's pack and his body and across Hajime's clothes, jumping away frantically.

With that, he allows it to ghost over the back of the pack, then takes off running.

When he reaches his hiding spot, l Hajime can hear of Nagito is a soft 'oh'. A solid block rests a distance away from Hajime, and he leaps over it with a quiet grunt, lands with his feet ringing, and takes off again.

He still wants to be avenged, it's not enough, he wants to win. Hajime's not one for childish games but adrenaline leaks in his blood and pounds in his ears to the rhythm of the music.

OoO

He's just about avoided getting hit at all ever since he shot Nagito, and he's seen his teammate Makoto once or twice, as well as Hina. As for the blue team, he avoided getting hit by Saionji, who spat insults at his back, ones that cause cold sweat to bead at your neck. He's also avoided Chiaki twice now.

Now, breaths billow out of him, coughing and spluttering as Hajime tugs the pack from his throat and loosening the area. The stupid thing now almost seems familiar to him, the weight seeming like nothing.

He's still breathing hard from running from Saionji, and the last time he ran that hard was Nagito- whom he hasn't seen since he shot him. The thought was unsettling.

As he steps, breath ragged, through the maze again, panels of the walls turning underneath his hands and doors opening as Hajime navigates through them, the music had faded to a dull thud. The maze is eerily silent for being the power-induced last few minutes of the first around.

Turning a corner, Hajime stops.

The guy hasn't noticed him yet, but he wears the pack uncomfortably, constantly shifting and picking at it with a frown. "Totally uncool, man."

He realizes with a start that he's speaking to him. "You're concerned with that?"

The other shrugs. He's dressed in a sharp and eye-alluring white shirt that glows, with a pattern of red at the corner of it. Hajime would look closer at it, but it blinds his eyes almost and makes black dots sparkle, so he instead focuses on his face, where piercings glitter on his ears and how small green lights flash and blink across a head of red hair. Hajime's not sure if Kazuichi's given him a name, but by the way this guy slouches and seems to be settled pretty comfortably, he's been here for a while.

"Man, I thought this'd be cool 'cuz Maizono's here, but apparently not," the male upturns his palms, releasing a sharp sigh. "Unfair."

"I'm gonna-" Hajime takes a step back, then another. "Go?"

With that, he leaves the red-haired guy behind.

A knot started to form in his stomach, unease curling through bone and muscle. Hajime looks behind him but nothing's there, just his own mind festering in cold blood. The music is still there, turning low and soft, but lights still sweep across panels and walls and stairs of black.

Hajime reaches a corner, and sighs. His muscles relax, tension coiled up tight in him then unwinding.

Thump.

Definitely a sound.

Hajime's hands travel down the thick wire and locates the gun again. What used to be a calm, seemingly tranquil area of the far edge of the maze (or at least, that's what Hajime guesses, seeing the exit sign a few black panels away) becomes highstrung. His eyes dart side to side, and-

Thump.

Hajime's back hits a wall, ow, but there's a pair of lips that press to Hajime's own and he can't kick or fight or anything because his stupid heart melts in his chest. The kiss is almost gentle, tender, and Hajime can't remember the last time someone has treated him this way, because all he remembers is sharp retorts and a silver tongue from his family, his friends, because he's too petty or irritated constantly.

Then he shoves, and shoves hard. The brunet just glimpses a head of wispy, glowing hair before it disappears, and Hajime's left with confused eyes and heart.

That's Nagito.

Anger rises in his chest. Hajime turns and kicks the wall so harshly that his toe aches.

OoO

The worker pulls the pack off Hajime's shoulders, and Hajime rubs it for a moment. Kazuichi's waiting for him with a soda can in hand, and he's laughing at (or with, he can't tell) Ibuki as she gestures wildly, hair flying. As the brunet goes off to him, he flicks a glance over the room, seeing the ginger guy from earlier, clearly trying to flirt with a blue-haired girl as he scoots closer.

She's not paying any heed to how he's grinning and constantly taking looks at her face, instead giggling into her hands.

"Hey, Hinata!"

Kazuichi waves him over, and Hajime sits down next to his friend. The spark in Kazuichi's eyes is back again, his contacts glittering as he looked at Hajime with a grin.

"D'ya get anymore shots?"

"Ibuki shot Nagito-chan! Like, pow-ow! Or maybe it was more like fisk-fisk! Wach-wach! What does a gun even sound like?"

Hajime scooted away from the over-energetic girl and takes a juice box that his pink-haired friend offers to him. "Hey, so who's the others?"

Without warning, Hina, who Hajime learnt was in the class below Kazuichi's (the 78th, he thinks?), flops down next to him, stretching one arm above her head (Hajime has to basically slam his knee into the mechanic's knee to stop him from staring).

"Well, from my class, there's Oowada-kun-" she points out a man with a strange hairstyle. It sticks out far in front of his face, beige-colored with dark-haired hair sweeping towards the back of his neck, "Kuwata-kun," the ginger, "and Sayaka-chan!" the blue-haired girl.

"Well, for us there's Koizumi, Saionji, Tanaka, Nanami, and Owari. Oh yeah, and Komaeda. Then, out of us, there's Mioda, Hinata, Kuzuryuu, and me, Souda! Oh, yeah, and Pekoyama. S'not like she speaks that much though." As he talks, he juts his thumb towards the person he was pointing out, despite the fact that they had all introduced themselves at the beginning.

Hajime finishes his juice box and crushes it in the palm of his hand. The plastic (or cardboard, whatever it is) hisses once before it gives in, and Hajimes goes to toss it away without another word. It smacks cleanly against the rim of the trash can, and as he turns around, Hajime spots the person he's not sure if he was looking or trying to avoid.

Nagito.

"Ah, Hajime!"

Now that looking at him doesn't blind him, Hajime easily tosses a look in his direction, eyes narrowing. Nagito waves with one hand, a simple smile stitched into his lips, then takes a couple of steps to get right next to him. Like Kazuichi, Nagito holds a green can in his hands, and he catches glimpse of the brand name: Dr. Hopper.

"I'm sorry, but what was that?"

"Oh? This? Why, it's a drink I rather enjoy- but someone like me shouldn't be allowed-"

"No. In the maze," Hajime's voice lowers to the whisper.

Nagito blinks. If he's trying to irritate Hajime, it's working, because he can feel his heart churning in his chest like something was frothing in it.

"You kissed me."

"Oh, that!" Nagito chuckles softly, his words slow and steady. "Owari-san just mentioned that you're around quite often... she offered the suggestion to me during the first few minutes after we encountered you, Mioda-san, Pekoyama-san, and Nidai... you're many things from what I've seen of you, but stupid isn't one of them, so I had to surprise you."

He curls one finger around a strand of hair, thoughtfully humming as he wraps it around and around. "I'm afraid I've always been like this. Besides... I don't have anything to fear or even to be concerned about... an action like the one in the maze is nothing."

With a light hum, seeming to think that the conversation is done, Nagito turns his back and goes to sit next to Chiaki. Hajime's left with his lips pressed tightly together. He hasn't felt the need for vengance in a long time, plus it's not really him, but Nagito had kissed him in the maze just long enough for him to crave more, and it truly, really, completely irritates him.

OoO

When they slip back into the maze, the weight on his shoulders is nothing, and he holds the laser tag gun with ease. The second round is more intense, from what he can gather from previous experiences, and already, sweat lingers heavy on the air.

This time, the red team had gone first, so Hajime moves throughout the maze. Once the blue team enters, the music will turn on, and it'll transform the dim area into a battlefield. Already, the walls are shifting- the worker mentioned that there's traps throughout the maze now, and that the walls can move.

"All right!" Up ahead, Kazuichi waves his arm around, and tries to push the tremor out of his voice, "So, you guys might'a heard, but there's gonna be traps here in the maze. S'not anything special- the red lights that ya ca see-" he points out a thin stream of light that's cast from one of the lights up above, and Hajime focuses on the red dot that jumps from surface to surface every twenty seconds or so. "They're the trap lights. If you get caught in 'em for more than a couple of seconds, it'll take points from our team."

Figures. Kazuichi'd know this place like this like it's the back of his hand.

Everyone nods, and there's the sound of shuffling as shoes scrape across the floor, lazy and noisy. They depart in different directions, and Hajime slides through thin and narrow slits of the maze, behind his friend.

"I saw ya talkin' to Komaeda. What was that about? Girl drama?"

"As if," Hajime shoots back.

Kazuichi chuckles and the petty thing called a heart in his chest warms.

The maze ripples with life, probably because Ibuki's in it- she's, no doubt, the loudest out of all of them. Kazuichi and Hajime take shelter in a little nook, where they can see a diamond of the maze. Kazuichi sits and fiddles with his gun, and Hajime keeps a watchful eye out for any blue orbs he sees. There's a sharp rise in murmurs as Hajime assumes the blue team enters the maze, and they only have to wait another minute until the music starts playing.

"You staying here?" Hajime asks the mechanic.

"I work well in places like this," Kazuichi flashes a toothy grin, one that is sharp and razor-edged in the glow of the maze. "Can prolly snag a shot or two."

Hajime opens his mouth to say something, but he just barely catches the hovering red dot that quivers on a white-specked wall. Once he clearly angles his face towards it, it flicks away.

In the next instant, both of their packs blink out. Hajime grits his teeth and fires a sharp look upwards, only to see Nagito lazily flick his gun side to side, letting the thin stream of light flash across multiple surfaces.

"Again, Hinata... I thought that you would try and seek me out first. Well... I'm sure expectations can't always be lived up to... disappointing."

Every passing minute. Every goddamn passing minute, he gets creepier.

He smiles down at Hajime again, but the smile doesn't reach his eyes. They're grey, flat discs that reflect the neon lights of the maze and are shrouded in a dull green. "I'll go now, before your guns turn back on again, haha."

With that, he's gone.

"I've got him."

W-Wait, Hinata-!"

The brunet is already half-way up the stairs, sneakers harsh against the floor, inhaling and exhaling in a mix of one second The pack lifts and falls into his shoulder, moving up and down as he runs to the end of the second floor, eyes cutting across the entire maze for any sight of the white-haired teenager. He sees Akane with Nekomaru, wrestling on the floor (at least, he hopes they're wrestling), and Kuwata a distance away, but Nagito's no where in sight. Hajime doesn't stop paying attention to his senses, for they tickle and twitch at every light that sweeps throughout the arena.

If Nagito wasn't his main priority previously, he is now.

Without thinking, he hops over the wall down to the lower level, and lands sharp on his ankles, crumbling with a groan. Hajime's irritation is spiking and spiking big- he used to think that he wasn't to quick to anger, but Nagito's gone and pushed all those little buttons and festered under his skin. Guess it depends on the person.

And ow, that landing probably screwed up his joints. But Hajime struggles to his feet, then flops onto his backside, regretting everything, including how hard he had kicked the wall when Nagito had kissed him. His hair's messed up, the small slivers of bangs at the front of his face sweeping into one another and bunched up, and Hajime leans against the wall, sighs, and looks up at the ceiling, where lights pulse faintly, like they're stars across a dark night

"Damn you, Komaeda!"

"Ah, those were the words I was expecting. Hm... my classmates treat me rather nicely, no matter what I did or how I did it... you know the explosion during the exams, right? That was my fault, but I was let off with merely a suspension while my poor upperclassmen were expelled. Perhaps I should have been punished more- they would have done great things had they stayed in the Academy."

There he is, again.

His posture is almost polite, hands locked behind his back, and head tilted to the side in slight curiosity. Had his joints not been hurting, Hajime would have tried to break that posture, but he just aims a sharp look at him. "You're interesting, Hinata. What makes you tick, I wonder...? Everythng about you is different than my classmates... the way you move, the way you speak, your mannerisms... it's all different."

"Shut up..."

Hajime pulled himself to his feet, staring at Nagito (he can't say that Nagito isn't attractive, he's more on the gorgeous side, but the flatness of his eyes ruins the image). The warmth of Nagito against his own lips and he just stares at him, stares.

"You injured yourself," he says.

"Yeah. Thanks for noticing."

Nagito extends one hand to Hajime. The brunet's gaze flicks down to it, then swings his arm around to clasp it. With a small tug and a little struggle, the white-haired teenager pulls him to his feet.

"Your friend, Souda- he helped me a while ago, much like this. I could not walk... I wonder if they're okay with me going through the exit with you to get treatment?"

Hajime glances sideways at him, quietly helping him along. The glow of the exit sign stands stark against the color of the maze, and Nagito helps him through it. The worker they saw at the very beginning, the one that led the blue team into the maze, is sitting on a bench, looking at his hands, and Nagito waves to catch his attention.

"Excuse me my friend is a bit injured..."

OoO

Nagito had stayed with Hajime while he was getting his foot tended to. The worker said he might have injured it past just landing harshly on it, and now, they sit in the lobby. A TV screen shows the two of them how the game's going.

The door opens.

"Hinata!"

"Too- tight-" Hajime grunts out, and Kazuichi just barely retracts his arms from around him- he probably would've lost his breath.

People filter in behind him, without gears and beaming smiles on their faces, bright and gleaming and it immediately lifts the room's mood. Hajime sees both of the teams interacted with one another; Ibuki punches Kuwata's arm with her teeth poking out of the crack between of her lips in a smile.

"Attention, attention!"

Everyone's attention aims upward.

"The winner is the red team!"

Kazuichi whoops and punches the air; he's shaking Hajime's shoulder with the other hand and he just smiles at his overexcited friend, and Ibuki screams, so loudly that it makes almost everyone wince, and there's people smiling. It's not just the red team, the blue team are nudging their friends on the other team and congratulating them.

"Congratulations," Nagito notes. "I decided that I like laser tag. Does anyone happen to have a birthday coming up soon?"

Half the room's eyes dart to the back of Peko, who is quietly getting a bottle of water from the vending machine. She doesn't seem to notice.

Hajime knows that this won't be the last he sees of Nagito.