Danganronpa 2: ReCaptured

Home Far Away From Home: Part 22

Mahiru shrieked, jumping back, pulling her hands away, and staring at him in shock, her face red.

"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!?"

"B-Because...that's what I meant...?"

"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!?"

"Wh-What do you mean, 'how are you supposed to know'!?" Hajime asked. "It's pretty straightforward. I'm asking you if you'd like to spend some time alone with me tomorrow. Just the two of us, going around, having a nice day. Which seemed to...prompt screaming."

Mahiru couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Since when had Hajime been such a straight shooter!? This was the guy who had always been brooding and reserved, especially when she was around! Was it the same Hajime, or was he an imposter!?

"I...I-I-I-IIIII-IEEIEIOOOO..." Mahiru stuttered, her face growing redder and redder by the second. "I don't—! This is—! Why—! Are you—!"

She couldn't form a single coherent sentence. Hajime blinked, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh jeez...I really broke you, huh?" he sighed. "It's fine. Just.. get your thoughts in order."

He gave Mahiru a minute to recover, which took a surprisingly short amount of time, because within a few seconds, she was glaring daggers at him.

"Are you screwing with me!?" she screamed.

"Wh-What!?" Hajime jumped.

"You're screwing with me!" Mahiru accused, her finger pointing into his chest. "You're just teasing me, aren't you? Is this your idea of a funny joke? Huh!?"

"N-No, that's not it at all!" Hajime stuttered. "I'm sorry if I upset you. That's not what I intended."

"Aagh...DAMMIT!" Mahiru groaned. She had NO IDEA how to deal with this, and that frustrated her. "What the hell, Hajime!? When did you turn into a Casanova!?"

"I-I don't know, I was just being honest...!" he exclaimed. "And 'Casanova' is a bit much, isn't it? I'm not the one who's making a big deal out of all of this."

"Th-That's...entirely fair..." Mahiru considered, blushing like a schoolgirl.

"Look, I don't wanna pressure you or anything, okay?" Hajime continued. "It's okay if you don't want to; I completely understand. But...I think we'd both be really happy if you said yes. And it's not just about what makes us happy, y'know? You're a wonderful person, and I'd love to get to know you better."

"U-U-Um..." Mahiru stammered. "O-O-Okay, listen. First things first, let me ask...WHY are you asking me this? Now would be a really weird time for you to admit that you have a crush on me."

"I'm not stupid," Hajime rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna deny that I don't find you very reliable, attractive, and good as company. But after the things I did, as well as...what happened with the Tsumioda couple...it's not like I'm going into this gung-ho or anything."

"...Tsumioda?" Mahiru parroted.

"Mikan and Ibuki. It's like...a couple name some of us thought of. It didn't really catch on before we lost them both, but...whatever, that's not the point," Hajime briefly explained before continuing. "The point is, I've been deliberating this for a good long while now. At the very least, it started to come to a head after you scolded me for my peeping tom behavior and gave me that chance to redeem myself."

"And you want to take me on a date to make up for that?" Mahiru scratched her head. "How does THAT work?"

"Because you and I have issues. And you're someone I care about a lot, and you're the last person on this island that I want to have issues with," Hajime answered. "Most of what I've done in recent times when it comes to our relationship as friends is screw it all up, and I've been trying to think of ways to fix it all. Eventually, I decided that the best thing to do to fix things was to...start from scratch. You know? Like, pretend we just met and try again. So, this is me trying again."