Hopelessly Obsessed (KomaHina)

3: Dove

Chiaki's POV:

I lay on my bed, soaking in the last remnants of golden afternoon light that drifts through my bedroom window. My eyes feel dry and stiff as I stare at the roof, must be because I've been playing video games for pretty much the entire day with barely any breaks. Oh well.

My mind drifts back to my conversation with Hinata-kun from a few hours ago. Hinata-kun is my good friend, but he can be really dense sometimes. Komaeda-kun was clearly bothered by something and Hinata-kun didn't even notice. Well, it's not like anyone really does notice when Komaeda-kun seems upset or scared. I noticed it within a few weeks of us all meeting a year ago, in our first year at Hope's Peak. The way he would randomly get extremely anxious and pull on his hair, eyes quickly flicking around the room, seemingly looking for an escape. Because of his bizarre mannerisms, the other's simply brushed him off as "weird". But...but it feels deeper than that. It feels almost like what he was like. And I was almost too late for him.

I had tried to get Komeada-kun to talk to me before, but that conversation went nowhere. But I'm bored, so I may as well try to talk to him again. I pull out my phone and find his number in my contacts. He hesitantly gave it to me at the start of last year, I just wanted everyone's number, but he seemed shocked I wanted anything to do with "someone like him". I usually text people instead of calling people, but I don't really think about that until the number is dialing. Oh well, it shouldn't matter. Probably.

Ring, ring, ringing...Is he going to pick up? I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't. That's fine...but...but what if he's-?

"Nanami-san?"

"Ah, Komaeda-kun, you answered. I didn't think you would, actually," It's fine, he's okay. Probably. I mean, he's talking to me right now.

"Well, I'm not really doing anything right now, so...i-is there something you wanted?" He seems calmer than before, but his voice still has that nervous edge that goes unnoticed by everyone else but seems so obvious to me.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. I was walking a bit behind you when you bumped into Hinata-kun. You seemed really worried about something, is everything okay?"

All I hear is silence for a few seconds. Talking with him like this is difficult, I can't read his expression.

"Yeah."

"Hm?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." I don't say so, but I cannot express how much that sounds like a lie. Maybe he's been spending too much time with that Celeste person in the class under us. They do play cards a lot.

"That's good," 'It's probably better not to force him to talk,' I think. "You know you can talk to me whenever, though."

"I know," he almost whispers, "Thank you Nanami-san, really. Um, I've got to go now..."

"Okay, I'll see you later," I say to him as gently as possible. That sure was a quick escape. He really is a lot like him.

Speaking of which, I've gone to see him in a while. I should probably do that; he must be lonely. After all, no-one else knows where he is or why. I hope he comes back soon. He could probably help Komaeda-kun a lot better than I could.

Hajime's POV:

The street isn't very crowed, there are some people scurrying along the footpaths and occasional car driving along the road, but other than that, the foot traffic on Main Street is light. I would much rather be relaxing at home after a boring day at school, but we ran out of milk and apparently it's too difficult for my mother to get some more herself.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a dove perched in a nearby tree out of the corner of my eye. It looks beautiful, the orange light that precedes dusk shining gloriously behind it. Birds are so lucky; they could just fly away from any situation. If only I were that gifted by nature. I'd much rather be relaxing in a tree than being forced to live in the frame of this society.

"Ah, that's a rather beautiful bird there, isn't it?"

A female voice with a French accent cooed next to me. I jump a little, I didn't even see them there.

"Ah, um...Lundenburg-san?"

"Just call me Celeste, Hinata. I thought I had told you that before." A small smile spread across their pale pace as they turned to me. "Could it be that you are fascinated this dove, like how a prisoner shackled to isolation looks at the magnificent wings of the people of the outside world?"

"Could you...not speak in poems? I'm too tired to process anything you just said," I say, and it comes out dryer than intended. However Celeste just laughs and cups their ch­eek with one hand before saying: "You seem jealous of a bird, Hinata."

"And?" I say, scratching the back of my neck. "Who isn't? They can just fly away from anything."

"Ah, that desire to escape...reminds me of a friend of mine," they say, seemingly in a trance.

"Friend? You barely even talk to anyone...well, Enoshima-san and Shirogane-san share your interest in fashion, but...actually, you talk to Komaeda-kun a lot."

"Interesting, that is indeed who I was referring to. Ah, do not worry. I am like you too." Their expression darkens before they elaborate, "sometimes we hate our own lives and no matter how much we try, we cannot change what is already written."

So...Komaeda also has a desire to escape? Interesting...that's two people today suggesting he's deeper than he seems. Whatever, it's getting late and I still need to buy that milk. "Yeah, cool," I say, "I've got to go now."

Celeste only smiles a little as I walk away. Why is everyone talking about Komaeda in cryptic riddles today?

A/N: I hardcore headcannon that the classes from THH, SDR2 and DRV3 are all friends. Anyway, research indicates that mosquitos are attracted to people that have recently eaten bananas.