✧ Chapter 33 ✧
[ Everyday, Hopes to Survive ]
✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

[ Three years ago ]

Nagito threw the door of the staircase open, turning around just in time to see a part of the ceiling fall away. With a loud crash, it blocked the door he had just exited from, barricading himself from the people chasing after him. His heart beat wildly as he leaned against the wall.

Find Hinata-kun.

That was all he needed to do. It sounded like a simple task, but it was impossible in this labyrinth of hallways. A sharp pain shot up his leg, nearly making him stumble. He then realised that his right foot was bleeding, leaving a trail of pink blood on the floor. There were so many things happening at once, it was confusing.

He looked up when he heard shouting and furious yelling on the other side of the wall. He needed to get rid of the evidence and maybe cut the wires which were connecting his head to his heart. Literally.

On the left side of his head, near his temple, were a series of grey and silver wires. It trailed down to connect directly over the place where his heart was. Komaeda wasn't sure why that was needed, but everything seemed to have a reason. His arms and legs were covered with small welts, as if he had been stung by insects.

But of course, it was done by those mad scientists. The people who insisted that everything was for the sake of getting rid of love. He needed Hinata to get out of this..

He was his hope. His love. And there was no way he was leaving the hospital without him. Nagito slowly unclenched his fist, gazing down at the fragments of glass resting on his palm.

A blue glass necklace, one which Hinata gave him when they started dating a few weeks after they met. Love at first sight, as people would say. Nagito took a shaky breath, analysing what he needed to do. Find Hinata. Get out alive. He reminded himself again.

Carefully trying not to catch the wires against anything, Nagito held the railing and descended down the staircase, the chain around his neck rattling against the floor. Each step felt like torture... but he needed to keep going. He recalled faintly that the doctors were keeping Hinata in a room called the Quarantine...

"Separate the experiment to the Quarantine. This one," the doctor nudged Nagito with the side of his shoe, making the white haired boy glare at him, "Let him stay here. If he objects, kill him."

His memory was so fuzzy.. so confusing. So messy, that it felt as if he had spent the last few years in a coma. But in reality, it had merely been a few days in the hospital, after they were brought in by Monokuma.

He stopped, seeing a blue sign on the wall which read, 'Quarantine'. This was where he needed to go.

The white haired teenager leaned against the wall, taking shallow breaths as he wrapped an arm around his stomach. When was the last time had he eaten? Hours? Days? Whatever it was, he was starving.

Behind him, he could hear shouting and more people calling for him. It was probably due to his luck that he had managed to escape from that room unharmed. So far, it has been keeping him alive.. which was a good thing and a bad thing.

"If my luck is good for now..." he muttered as he used the wall to support himself, "Something bad is going to happen.. just don't.. let it happen to Hinata."

Thankfully, the hallways seemed to be deserted. There was a eerie silence in the air, and the use of the red lights overhead did not help the situation. Nagito felt as if he had just stepped into a scene of a horror movie.. he should know, since him and Hinata had watched a lot of those back in the Academy.

He turned to look behind him, unsurprised to see that he had left his bloodied footprints behind. No time to lose..

Nagito gasped when his right arm, which he was using to rest against the wall, pushed a door open. He fell sideways, landing on the hard marble floor with the loud thump. "Ugh.." he held his head, pain shooting through his body.

He looked up...

And his eyes widened.

A few feet away from him, was a huge, full sized, raised glass container.... with something. The green eyed boy picked himself up from the ground, clutching his right arm and walking forward. As soon as he stood in front of the glass, he pressed his hand against it, narrowing his eyes and looking at the object in the tank.

Wait...

It wasn't an object.

Nagito stepped backwards, his vision blurring again as everything tilted and shifted. There was now a bloodied handprint on the side of the glass, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that there was a person in the glass tank..

The figure had long, black hair, with his arms strung up by thin wires.. he didn't seem to be drowning, despite the liquid he was in. The male seemed to be in a deep sleep, his eyes closed and dressed in a simple hospital gown. Around his neck, was a chain which kept him anchored to the bottom of the tank. Nagito could see that the person was breathing, since there were bubbles which trailed from his lips.

It seemed to be normal water, but illuminated by the red lights at the bottom of the tank. He tilted his head slightly. The person looked eerily similar to Hinata. Somehow.

"Hinata-!" he hit the glass, flinching when his arm bounced back. Whatever this glass case was, it was strong.

Thinking quickly, Nagito turned his attention to the rest of the room, assessing the situation. All around him, everything was cast in harsh red light. Papers strewn everywhere and folders scattered on the floor. He then noticed a small tag at the bottom right hand corner of the tank.

"Izuru Kamukura.." he muttered, reading the two words out loud. "Test subject is in captivity. Proceed fabrication process with caution." he looked at the person they called as Izuru, "What have they done to you..?"

He placed his hand against the glass again, trying to see if the other person would respond. However, Izuru didn't seem to open his eyes.

What were these people in the hospital doing..? Human experimentation? Something sinister was going-

He yelped, feeling someone grab his wrist. Instinctively, Nagito pulled away, backing right against the glass. In front of him was...

"Hinata-kun?" he whispered in a rather hoarse voice as the brown haired teenager stared at him for a moment before pulling him in for a hug. "Komaeda.. I thought I lost you.." Nagito wondered if he was seeing things or.. Hinata's eyes seemed strange.

He hugged him back, relieved to see Hajime alright. "Hinata.." he started to say, pulling away from the hug, "Is it really you?"

"Of course it is!" Hajime laughed with happiness, but there was an obvious look of worry across his face, "Why did you say that? And why are you in this room? Wait.. what the heck is-?" he seemed to have noticed Izuru.

Amazingly, even though Nagtio had hit the glass, the person in the tank didn't react.

"You.." The lucky student shook his head, "You don't remember what happened?"

Hajime looked at Izuru, his weirdly coloured eyes narrowing slightly as he regarded the drifting body, "I.. I don't know what happened. I might have a small theory-."

"Tell me now, please," Nagito insisted, "Just tell me what's going on!" he faltered when Hajime cast him a look of distain, his left eye, instead of it's usual green, was a bright crimson colour.

He stared at the mismatched irises, stunned. "They experimented on me, Komaeda," Hajime rushed on, "The doctors tried to take my personality. My memories. Everything. But they forgot one thing.." he rested his hand against the glass necklace strung around Nagito's neck.

"After many attempts, they were frustrated. They locked me away. But shortly after they did that, I heard that they had somehow managed to create something powerful. I quote, 'Kamukura will serve as a replacement'." he looked up at Izuru.

"They tried to kill me afterwards, since I had done my job as a test subject. Of all people.. I don't know why they picked me."

"I do," Nagito interjected, grabbing Hajime's hands and holding them in his, "You're the Ultimate Hope.. and there's nothing stronger than that."

Hajime smiled, "There is something stronger than hope, Komaeda. Love." with that, he leaned in and kissed him. If Nagito wasn't running for his life, he would've savoured the moment.

The two teenagers held their kiss for a few seconds before the white haired boy pulled away. "You're you." he said, as if he still didn't believe that it really was Hajime.

"Ye- why do you say that? Is something.. wrong?" Hajime frowned worriedly, his eyebrows furrowed. His eyes were so... unnerving. They suited him, but it was still a strange sight to see. "No, nothing," Nagito gave him a reassuring smile, taking his hand, "Let's go before they find us."

"Komaeda.. one more thing.." Hajime started to say when they heard voices on the other side of the door.

Before Hajime could finish his sentence, the door in front of them burst open. He felt the other student let go of his hand to stand in front of him.

"How did he manage to escape?" He heard the guards mutter amongst themselves, "Forget it." a rather childish sounding voice spoke up through a small walkie talkie, "Kill that white haired doggy and bring the subject back to Quarantine. The doctors have to remove the fault in him! Now fire! Pew pew!"

"If you want to hurt Komaeda, you have to go through me." Hajime growled as he stood in front of the white haired boy. The lucky student noticed that his left eye was glowing with faint red light.

"Very pathetic, subject," the guard scoffed, and raised a gun, "Now follow us or we'll shoot- ACK-!"

Hajime had grabbed Nagito's hand and pushed the guard away. Even though he could see that the brown haired teen barely used any force, the guard was thrown backwards, slamming against the wall. Nagito winced, hearing the crack of bones.

"Don't talk, just run." Hajime instructed to him, his eye blazing with a crimson hue. "But how did you do that?" the white haired boy asked stubbornly, his hand gripping the other student's tightly. The two ran down the hallway of the hospital as alarms blared.

"Technology," Hajime replied simply, "I promise to explain everything soon. Do me a favour and keep quiet."

Nagito immediately shut up, since Hajime had told him so. If he was a piece of trash.. he might as well obey what other people said. "You're not a piece of trash, Komaeda-kun." Hajime said suddenly.

"Huh?" The green eyed student looked at Hajime, who was running beside him. "How did you-?" He winced with pain, feeling a sharp stab of electricity-like pain jolt up his leg.

Without hesitating, Hajime scooped him up, bridal style. "The doctors," Hajime explained, his tone full of disgust, "They experimented on me, and even tried to kill you." his tone went softer, "I won't forgive them."

"Stop right there, you two!"

Hajime skidded to a stop, as Nagito looked in front to see a silhouette of a rabbit. It stepped forward, brandishing a tree branch and fixing it's magenta eyes on the pair.

"It's time Monomi interferes!" the rabbit exclaimed with a look of excitement on her face. "Ta-da! I'm hereeee!"

♥ End of Chapter Thirty-Three ♥

Clarify:
Hajime could enrol into Hope's Peak because of his talent, Ultimate Hope. On Dangan Island, Hope is normal, but Love (duh) isn't.

I initially wanted Hajime to be the Ultimate: *wait for it* Serenity

(I totally don't watch Johndeawesome- I swear-)

But I was like: Nah.
So um. deal with it. Yeah?
ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣◇￣)┘

XD And, thank you so much for reading so far, and- your comments really make me laugh so much, I really really appreciate it so much. <3 (And yes, I know. This is supposed to be Saiouma. What in the world was going on through my mind as I write this Komahina chapter? Oh right.. it's important later on. EVERYTHING HAS A PURPOSE :) 

P.S You guys have a purpose in this life too, so don't give up.! uwu <3 

Ciao ciao!