“MMMHHHHHH” 

Chiaki slammed her heel on Nagito’s foot and punched his chest with her elbow. Her strength was enough to loosen Nagito’s grip. Quickly Chiaki ran towards Hajime but after she took a single step, Nagito grabbed her arm, pulled her back and angrily stabbed the knife into her throat.

Chiaki’s eyes widened from pain, when Nagito released her she simply fell to the ground like a stringless doll.

“BAAASTAAAARD!” cried out Hajime, tears filling his eyes, rage consuming his body. 

With the knife in hand Hajime lunged towards Nagito. Nagito responded by aiming and throwing his arm forward to stab him but Hajime was quick to dodge to the left. Hajime then swung his knife, his slash cut through Nagito’s clothes and sliced his shoulder.

In pain Nagito jumped away, turned around and went through the curtain, Hajime followed him. Nagito jumped off the stage and ran as quickly as he could. Hajime jumped off from the stage as well and took a step to chase after him but he hoped, he hoped that he could save Chiaki.

He turned around, climbed back the stage and went past the curtain. Chiaki was still on the floor, there was now a pool of blood beneath her head. Hajime sat down next to her. 

“Ch-Chiaki, it’s okay, e-everything is gonna be alright.”

Hajime tore apart his shirt and made a long cloth. He tried placing the cloth on Chiaki’s neck as she twitched occasionally, fear in her eyes. He placed the cloth upon her neck, blood still gushed out beneath it, the cloth immediately turned red. He tried wrapping the cloth around her neck, tying it hard enough that the blood loss will stop but not hard to suffocate.

“Chiaki, you’re going to be fine…y-you’re-”

Hajime tore another piece from his shirt and when he looked at Chiaki’s eyes he could see that her frantic movements had stopped. The life in her eyes was slowly starting to fade away.  And soon she closed her eyes.  

“Ch-Chiaki?” 

Hajime brought his bloodied hand towards her neck slowly. When he touched her neck, he realized…there was no pulse. 

“N-no.”

He pulled his hand away and diverted his eyes from Chiaki’s body that was losing it’s luster by seconds. His body shook, tears formed in his eyes.

I-I couldn’t protect you. I’m so weak…I’m so sorry, Chiaki.  

But strangely, In Hajime’s vision glittered a light source.

“Huh?” 

It was as if Chiaki’s body had turned into a lamp. Soon, the light slowly started to fade away and everything returned to normal. Hajime looked at her in shock. Before long Chiaki opened her eyes.

“Ch-Chiaki?” gasped Hajime.

Chiaki turned her head towards Hajime. Slowly she pushed the ground with her hands and pulled herself up weakly. She placed her palm on her head, looking tired, perhaps more than usual.  

“W-what happened? Whe…where is Nagito?” she asked in a dazed manner.

Hajime couldn’t hold back a smile and a tear. He immediately leaned towards her and hugged her. 

“Thank goodness, you’re alive.” said Hajime with a smile as tears trickled down his cheek.  

“Umm” mumbled Chiaki, a bit taken aback by his behavior. 

Hajime pulled himself back and sighed.  

“H-Hajime, you can’t go ahead and just kill yourself. That’s…honestly stupid. There is no way Nagito would let me go off free just because of a promise.” said Chiaki while she pouted.   

“I know…I’m sorry. I just…I didn’t know what else to do.” mumbled Hajime awkwardly.  

“It’s fine. I’m glad you care about me” said Chiaki with a smile. 

Hajime nodded. He got up to his feet and offered his hand to Chiaki. Chiaki grabbed it and got up.

“Say, how did you revive like that? Is that some sort of a setting in the neo world program? You definitely should have-” 

“What are you talking about?” asked Chiaki with confusion. 

“You don’t know? You were bleeding out and I seriously thought you were dead. Then your body lit up with yellow light and you revived.” said Hajime. 

“Huh? I definitely think I was bleeding. But a yellow light?” said Chiaki in a confused tone.  

“What happened to your wound? let me see.”  said Hajime. 

Hajime closed his face on Chiaki’s neck. Her throat, clothes were all still bloody. The cloth Hajime applied to the wound was still wrapped around her neck. Hajime pulled it off and the wound…was gone. 

“It vanished. The stab wound on your throat, it’s gone.” said Hajime in disbelief. 

“That’s definitely strange. But I promise, I’m not hiding any secrets from you this time Hajime. I genuinely don’t know what is going on. I should have died with all of the Monomi copies. But I don’t know why I woke up at Hope's peak.” said Chiaki earnestly. 

“Right. But isn’t the current mastermind who is controlling Monokuma responsible for your revival just now? Also, if people were going to revive like this after they have been stabbed, what is the point of killing 4 people in this war? Wouldn’t they just revive?” asked Hajime question after question. 

“It’s better that we don’t assume anything about the death game just from this. Maybe it was just luck or maybe there is a hidden rule Monokuma did not mention to us. But considering I can freely talk about being with future foundation as well as the traitor. Maybe there was a setting change in the neo world program. Or maybe we’re not in…neo world program…maybe.” said Chiaki. 

“Right. Anyways, I’m not gonna test our luck like this again. I’ll definitely be more careful and protect you this time” said Hajime brightly. 

“Sheesh. You’re starting to sound like Kazuichi” said Chiaki and sighed. 

“H-hey, I was just trying to be nice. That’s uncalled for.” mumbled Hajime. 

“Hehehe, It’s just new, that’s all. I might get used to it.” said Chiaki with a smile.      

Hajime smiled back. Together they got out of the titty typhoon and went back to Jabberwock park on the first island. 

Unfortunately, nobody was there.