New Hope

New Hope - Chapter Sixteen

For a second there was pure silence.

"W... what...?" Hajime muttered, before he got to his senses, wider awake than before, and glanced at an embarrassed Mikan, entwining her hands within her nurse apron.

"Mikan, I..." Hajime trailed off. "I... appreciate that you really care about me, not many people do, but... but..." He took a deep breath. "But I don't reciprocate your feelings."

"...!" Mikan didn't speak, but her widening eyes and then small smile gave away her emotions perfectly.

"Mikan, I'm sorry, but-"

"No, seriously, it's okay Hajime." She muttered to him. "I... honestly kind of expected a refusal - especially after what I've done... and with such fierce competition..."

"Competition?" Hajime asked. Mikan glanced at him, confused, before letting out a small chuckle.

"Oh! You have no idea what I'm talking about...?"

"Anyway, how's Nagito?"

For some reason, that question made her laugh louder. "He's in the next bed over, he's currently asleep though. I'll pull the curtain back so you can see him."

She gently pulled back the curtain, and once again Hajime was faced with Nagito's peaceful expression. No worries, no anxieties.

"Nagito..." Hajime muttered. He turned back to Mikan. "What happened?"

"What do you mean, Hajime?"

"I - I don't remember anything after I asked you to collect information on Nagito."

"T - That long ago? But... but you were up and working until extremely recently! I didn't do anything serious to help fix Nagito, and it was all entirely under your direction!"

"I... fixed Nagito? But I was asleep?" Hajime was extremely confused. "Wait..." All of a sudden, he remembered that person he saw flash before his eyes. Izuru Kamekura.

"That wasn't me... that was Izuru..." Hajime muttered, and as soon as the words left his lips he knew them to be true. "It must be some weird thing that happens when I tap into too much energy..."

"Oh! That makes a lot of sense actually!" Mikan said, causing Hajime to glance at her, confused. "Between when you asked me for Nagito's info and now, you hadn't spoken to me, or anyone else for that matter. I found it quite concerning, but I was focusing more on Nagito at the time, so I didn't pay much attention to it."

"Huh... maybe this 'other me' - Izuru - can't speak?"

"Maybe... There's also something else."

"What do you mean, Mikan?" Hajime asked.

"I - I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, but I was distracted by Nagito, and then... well... confessing to you, and..."

"Mikan! What's the 'something else' that you mentioned?"

"Your eyes... They're back to how they were in the game."

"What...?"

Mikan quickly handed him a small hand mirror. It was just as she said - his eyes were back to their original olive green. It was honestly incredibly comforting for Hajime to see, and for the first time in a while, he truly felt like himself.

He took a deep breath and stood up.

"Okay, I'm feeling a lot better, let me examine Nagito." He said, starting to break into his talent once again, for medical knowledge.

However this time, something changed.

"Ah! Hajime!" Mikan gasped, stumbling back from him slightly, before calming down and reaching back for the mirror, motioning for him to sit back down. "Hajime... please try something for me."

"O - okay?" He said, sitting back on the bed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Release your power like normal."

"Okay...?" He obliged and did so. Mikan hummed in response.

"Now go back into it."

"Okay...?" He once again obliged and heard a sharp intake of breath from Mikan. It was too much. "Mikan, what's going on?"

Instead of talking, she simply turned the mirror back to him. One eye olive green - the other bright red. In surprise, he relinquished his hold on his power, and watched as the red eye slowly turned back to green.

"... What...?" Hajime muttered, confused.

"It seems as if when you 'tap into' your abilities, it changes your eye colour..." Mikan muttered.

"Well, at least both my eyes aren't red now." Hajime said smiling.

"Well... that just makes me wonder what your red eyes are reserved for..." Mikan whispered fearfully. Izuru Kamekura... the man with the red eyes... As much as Hajime feels the need to respect him and look at him similarly to a teammate - a part of him - he couldn't get over his fear of him.

"Yeah... I wonder..." Hajime muttered, glancing out of the nearby window.

He swears he sees Izuru Kamekura instead of himself as his reflection for a second.

Hi guys! I'm uploading this chapter during class XD

Hey, guess what - New Hope has surpassed 1K views!! This is amazing, I'm so so happy and thankful for the support you've all given me. I hope you guys continue to give me support in this story, and in any future Komahina stories (I fully intend to write a Komahina High School AU at some point) that I write. 😊

Anyways, it seems like Mikan has finally realised Hajime is taken XD

Oh! And Izuru is here now! I know there's this whole thing about Hajime with different eye colours, but I haven't seen anything aside from the first two games, so my personal opinion is that when he's not tapping into his power, his eye colour is olive green, when he's tapping into it it's red and green, and when Izuru has control then his eyes are red, if that makes sense...

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! It's amazing how much support and love this story has been given, its probably been one of the best parts of 2020 for me haha! See you guys tomorrow!!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊