This is the first full digital art piece I’ve done in a long time and it feel so refreshing!! Since school is out for me I’ve had a lot more time recently to work on digital art so I was super happy to work on (and finish) this piece!!
At first, Hajime assumed it was just another person passing by, heading to their dorm. But when the footsteps stopped right outside the door, he felt his blood run cold. Then came the sound of the doorknob turning, and a voice followed soon after.
"Huh, I guess I must've accidentally left my door unlocked this morning. Just my luck." Whoever it was stepped inside, leaving a soaking wet trail where they walked. Hajime's heart nearly burst, the feeling of footsteps shaking the ground beneath him was far more unsettling than he would've hoped. He tried to stand up on unsteady legs, but was quickly knocked back down when a bag dropped down next to his hiding spot. And then he heard the door shut.
He was trapped.
The boy who had entered the dorm went over and rummaged through a few drawers before walking into the bathroom, and shutting the door behind him. Once again, Hajime attempted to stand up. His legs were sore and he wasn't ashamed to admit he was shaking a little. He used the wall to support his weight, finally able to stand up again. Although, he wasn't sure he'd be able to walk very fast, let alone run. Slowly, he staggered his way out from under the table and over towards the bag that had been dropped nearby. But of course now was when his luck had decided to run out. The bathroom door opened, and a tall, lanky boy stepped out, dressed in a baggy t-shirt and slim-fitting jeans. Hajime just stared at him for a moment, and if the situation had been different maybe he would've stared a little longer. He snapped out of his daze when he felt his face turn red, realizing that the boy was walking straight towards him. Hajime guessed that he was probably coming to get something from his bag, which meant that it was probably best to hide back under the table. But as he glanced at the distance between him and his salvation, it dawned on him that he probably wouldn't make it in time. So he opted to keep going towards the bag, hoping that he could find someplace to hide there. However, when he reached it, it became clear that his options were severely limited. He had assumed he could climb up and hide in the side pocket, but his body protested him on that one. So instead, he just flattened himself against the side of it and made sure he was as close to the wall as possible.
He felt the ground beneath him tremble, and he sucked in a breath as the boy knelt down to rummage through his bag. Hajime didn't dare steal a glance, partly because he knew it would be terrifying, and partly because he didn't wanna risk being seen.
"Where did I put my phone again?" the boy mumbled to himself. Hajime felt his heart drop when he realized that there was a beaten-up flip phone in the side pocket right next to him. But that couldn't possibly be the actual phone this guy used, unless he was crazy. But apparently this guy was crazy.
"Ah! There it is.” In that moment Hajime bit the bullet and decided to steal a glance, and he immediately regretted it. As soon as he turned his head, his eyes locked with the other boy's. He felt terror shoot through his veins as a suprised and awed expression slowly crept it's way onto the boy's face. But of course, it only got worse. His own face paled as he saw a hand slowly reach towards him. He tried desperately to move, but his body wouldn't listen. He was frozen in place.
A jolt shot down his spine when he felt the boy's fingertips brush his leg. What surprised him however was when the hand flinched backwards, and for a brief moment he thought he had a chance to escape. But that hope was crushed under an iron fist when the hand approached him again, this time scooping him up without hesitation. Hajime felt fingers the size of tree trunks wrap around his body, holding him gently, but firmly in place. He fought desperately to get away, pushing with all his strength at the hand that was trapping him.
"I guess my luck really isn't that bad after all. For me to find such an adorable little treasure,” the boy said, mostly to himself. Hajime felt his face flush red. He wasn't 'adorable'! How dare this person say such a thing! It was humiliating, he just wanted to be treated like a person again, because that's what he was. Wasn't he? He certainly wasn't in a human body anymore--despite how much he wanted to be--but he was still a person. Right?
"Hey, stop squirming little guy. I'm not gonna hurt you," the other boy half-whispered to him. For a moment Hajime paused, the sound of his voice alone calmed him down immensely. But as soon as he realized that, his face turned red and his efforts to get away were instantly doubled. The other boy sighed, a small disappointed frown crossing his features.
"Oh, right. I shouldn't have assumed you could understand me," he mumbled, mostly to himself. That set Hajime off. Of course he could understand what this guy was saying, but that didn't make his words any less ridiculous. This dude had come out of nowhere, picked him up, and now expected him to calm down? Hajime felt anger rising in his chest, quickly pushing past any ounce of fear that was there and drowning it out with rage. And in that rage, he found himself yelling out,
"Put me down!" The other boy was snapped out of whatever train of thought he had, and gave a surprised glance at Hajime. Hajime, on the other hand was seething with anger, his hands gripping tightly at one of the fingers that held him in place.
"Oh! So you can talk!" The boy's eyes lit up with wonder, which only served to make Hajime angrier.
"Of course I can talk! I'm a human too, ya know!" he retorted, pointing up at the other, who giggled in response.
"I hate to break it to you little one, but I don't think you're human.” The other boy said, as he brushed one of Hajime’s wings with his finger, causing Hajime to flinch away from the touch. Hajime felt his heart drop. He was human, he had to be! But another glance around at his current predicament forced him to come to terms with his harsh reality. Hajime Hinata was no longer human. And that fact scared him more than anything else ever could. His shoulders slumped and he felt his wings droop.
"Aw, don't look so upset about it. Being human isn't that great anyways," the other boy said in an attempt to cheer him up. Hajime crossed his arms, an agitated expression beginning to seep onto his face.
"Being human is better than..." he paused. What would he even call himself? A fairy? No, that sounded too childish. He'd heard a few of the researchers use the word 'sprite'. He supposed that fit better.
"It's better than being a sprite," he said, finishing off his statement. The other boy looked at him with amusement.
"And what would a little sprite like you know about being human?" Hajime knew he was only teasing, but his words still hurt. He sighed, mumbling out a retort.
"More than you'd think." He didn't elaborate any more than that, figuring it'd probably cause more harm than good.
"Is that so?" the human questioned. Hajime responded by shooting a glare up at him, to which the human giggled. That laugh shot through him like a bullet, and not in a good way. He so badly wanted to shoot out a snarky comment, but he withheld his quip. He'd just be wasting his breath anyways. It's not like it would make him seem more threatening to this guy anyways.
Hajime had long since stopped struggling, finding that it was useless to waste his energy. Not that he had any to waste anyways. He was tired, in pain, and he just wanted to go home. He found himself relishing in the thought of laying down in his bed. But he quickly shook those thoughts away, not wanting to let his guard down any further, especially around this guy. The human reached his other hand up to poke Hajime's shoulder. He flinched at the sudden movement, but after realizing there wasn't any ill intent behind the action, he relaxed again. Although he was still just as uneasy when he saw the human’s face light up ever so slightly.
Then came the loud sound of a knock at the door, which caused Hajime to flinch again. He really hated how loud everything was. The other boy looked nervously between him and the door before casting a glance to the side. Hajime followed his gaze to see the table that had once been his refuge, more specifically, the drawer. Once again he felt his blood run cold at the implication, this person couldn’t possibly be thinking of locking him in a drawer. But when the human began stepping over towards it, Hajime knew his fate was sealed. He still struggled to get away though. The drawer was pulled open and Hajime closed his eyes to brace himself for his inevitable descent. But when the human raised him closer to his face, he looked up at him in curiosity.
“I hate to do this to you little one, but it’s all I’ve got for now. I don’t want to risk anyone else knowing about you. I’m afraid of what they might do,” the other boy whispered to him, before carefully placing him in the bottom of the wooden drawer. With one last concerned glance, he shut it, and Hajime was plunged into darkness. The shifting of the ground beneath him as the drawer closed caused him to stumble and fall onto his side. But as soon as he recovered, he shot up and ran over towards the wall, banging on it with his fists. He rammed his side into it a few times as well, although subconsciously he knew that with his size, it’d never open. He took a deep breath and began backing up so he could get a running start, when he heard voices.
“Can I help you?” the human from earlier said, probably to someone outside the dorm room.
“Yes, we have lost track of one of our experiments. It escaped earlier tonight and we haven’t been able to track it down. We were wondering if you may have seen it.” Hajime knew that voice all too well. It belonged to one of the researchers who had been running tests on him. He was frozen in place, he didn’t dare make a sound. He could feel himself begin to shake. He was doomed. He’d let himself get caught and now he was going right back to where he came from. He’d be under complete lock and key from now on, with no hope of ever escaping the harsh tests and scrutiny he’d been subjected to back at the lab. His eyes started to tear up. He couldn’t go back, not after he’d worked so hard to escape.
“What did it look like?” the boy questioned, and Hajime felt his knees buckle underneath him.
“About 2 and a half to 3 inches tall, humanoid appearance, with a few minor physical differences. Most notably pointed ears and wings.” This was it, all his hard work was going to be erased, and all because he made one or two stupid decisions along the way. He was-
“Ah, sorry my incompetence truly is dismaying. I haven’t seen anything, but I will let you know as soon as possible if I do. Sorry to trouble you with my uselessness ma’am.” Now Hajime was silent for an entirely different reason. Complete and utter shock. He was still reeling when the door shut and he heard footsteps coming towards the drawer. He immediately snapped out of his trance and ran over to the wall, once again beginning to pound his fists against it. The human tapped the outside of the drawer, startling Hajime. He slid the drawer open and Hajime looked up to see a smirk planted on the boy’s face.
“So, you are an escapee huh?” Hajime felt his blood run cold. He could clearly hear the joking tone in the guy’s voice, but it was still terrifying nonetheless. The human reached down towards him, and Hajime scurried back to avoid it. He backed into the far corner of the drawer, shooting a glare up at the other boy, and another at his hand for good measure. The boy giggled and continued reaching towards him anyways, much to Hajime’s frustration.
“I don’t think I caught your name, little one. I mean, not that it matters much anyways, since you seem to respond to ‘little one’ just fine.” Hajime felt the hair on his neck rise, and a shout sprung out from his chest.
“I’m not a pet you asshole!” He was fuming, and he honestly should have been more careful with his words. He was much more surprised however when the human didn’t react with anger back.
“Oh my, no no! Little one, I never meant to insinuate such a terrible thing! I really am utterly worthless if I can’t even treat a house guest with the respect they deserve.” Now Hajime just felt guilty. He didn’t want this guy to feel bad, especially since he sounded so genuine. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as Hajime had originally assumed. He wasn’t quite sure how to apologize for what he’d said, so instead he opted to leave that problem for future Hajime, and go around it for now.
“Hajime. My name, it’s Hajime,” he said, stepping out of the corner a bit. This seemed to brighten the human’s mood back up again. Hajime saw him smile, not a nervous or apologetic smile, but a real, genuine smile. He tried his best not to flinch or squirm when the human gently scooped him up and out of the drawer. He was raised up close to the boy’s face, and heard a half-whisper slip out from his lips.
“I don’t think I properly introduced myself yet either. I’m Nagito Komaeda. I’m glad to meet you, little Hajime.” Hajime supposed he was glad too, but all he gave was a nod. He was much too embarrassed to speak, the close proximity alone was making his face turn red. Not that he minded it though. And for the first time in weeks, Hajime felt a genuine smile spread across his face.
To say Hajime was exhausted was an understatement. He had been running non-stop for the past hour, and even then he doubted he had gotten far from the lab. His entire body ached, and frankly, he was in no condition to be exerting himself this much. He was severely malnourished. And after the drastic genetic change his body had just gone through, he was surprised he hadn't collapsed ages ago. To make matters worse, he didn't even know where he was. He'd never been to this side of campus before, and it certainly didn't help that he was only a few inches tall. The sheer size of everything around him was jarring, even the grass--which by the looks of it had been cut quite recently--came up just above his shoulders. The world he thought he knew had been ripped out from under him, and he was left reeling, stumbling around blindly in this foriegn place. All he knew was that he had to keep going, he couldn't stop even for a moment or else he'd risk getting caught. The researchers had probably realized he had escaped by now, and if they found him they'd likely take every measure possible to make sure he couldn't get out again. Then he'd definitely have no hope of ever seeing the light of day again, which is why he had to keep going. If he could find somewhere safe to hide, if he could find someone trustworthy. Someone like Chiaki. She was trustworthy, she'd understand. Hajime steeled himself, a new sense of determination filled his veins. He looked around at the buildings, which from his point of view were a little hard to distinguish from one another. There was what he assumed was the main building, which if he guessed correctly, was where most of the classrooms were. He doubted he'd run into any help there as the school day had long since been over. However there were also the dorms, a part of the main building that had rooms and living accommodations for the students. Or at least that's what Chiaki had told him. Either way, he'd have to find a way into the building first. So with a new goal in mind, Hajime changed his course and began running towards the building. His lungs burned, his legs were on fire, and he could feel his side starting to cramp. All logic said that he shouldn't keep going, but Hajime had never been one to put logic before his own resolve. After all, that's the reason he'd made the mistake of signing up for the Kamakura project in the first place. He had been too blinded by his own tenacity, failing to see that it had all been far too good to be true. He shook those thoughts out of his mind, now wasn't the time to be beating himself up for past mistakes. He couldn't go back and change what had happened, so why dwell on it? Even if those actions had led directly to his current predicament.
He hadn't been too far away from the building, since he'd pretty much come from the other side of it. It was a distance that normally would've taken someone 10 or 20 minutes to walk, but it had taken him over an hour to run that far. And that was with his wings beating frantically behind his back to propel him forward faster. His wings, that was another thing that had changed along with his meager size. He had also gained pointed ears, and heightened senses. He'd just been using them to help him run faster, but if he was being honest, he really had no idea how to fly, and frankly he didn't want to take the risk of trying.
Hajime set his focus back on the task at hand, taking a moment to slow down and check his surroundings again. There was a door quite close by, so he steered his path towards it, feeling more energized than ever. But his energy quickly faded as he realized that he had no hope of opening it and getting inside. His pace slowed to a jog and he stopped beating his wings, finding that they were also quite sore. Coming to a stop a few feet away from the door, he looked up at it in dismay, as if it had directly betrayed him. His breathing was heavy and ragged, but the adrenaline in his veins still flowed strong. A huff of frustration escaped his lips, and he was about to give up, when he heard voices, two of them. And they were approaching quickly. Hajime ran and ducked out of the way just as the door slammed open and two people came out of it.
"Geez dude, can’t you talk normal for once?!” a boy with crazy, bright pink hair whined to his friend. The two of them were in sweats and carrying trash bags.
"How dare you mock the way in which I speak! Careful with your next words, mortal," the other boy replied, his voice somewhat muffled by the magenta scarf that covered part of his face. Hajime was frozen in fear, still mostly stunned that he was able to make it out of the way in time. He quickly snapped out of his daze however, and rushed towards the door, which was slowly closing. He darted inside just before the door shut completely. That had been the second close call of the night. He breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that he'd somehow found a way in. He took a moment to take in his surroundings before once again continuing forward, picking his pace back up into a run. The ceiling towered above him, and although he knew it was just a hallway, the space felt way too open, so he kept close to the wall. Assuming that those two students were from the main course, this part of the building was probably the dormitory. In that case Hajime had pretty much struck gold. All he had to do next was find Chiaki.
As much as Chiaki loved talking about video games, Hajime remembered her talking just as enthusiastically about her classmates. She'd told him all sorts of outlandish stories, ones that Hajime definitely wouldn’t have believed if anyone other than Chiaki had been telling them. From her stories, he'd learned most of their names, though he'd never actually seen any of her classmates. Of course there were some whom he had vague ideas of what they looked like, based on small details that Chiaki had dropped here and there during their talks. He missed her, he missed their afternoons by the fountain, he missed her stories. Hell, he even missed losing at every video game they played together, as frustrating as it was sometimes. He just wished he'd gone back to say something to her before signing up for the Kamakura project. What would he have said though? Goodbye didn't seem right at the time, but he was starting to feel like that would have been easier than having to explain it all now.
He was stirred from his thoughts when the wall he'd been running along disappeared. He paused for a second before realizing that the hallway had just ended and opened up into a small common area. There was a TV that sat on a table towards the center of the room, surrounded by chairs, beanbags and a couch. There were sloppily-folded blankets draping over the backs or arms of the furniture and pillows strewn haphazardly about the place. It looked messy, like someone halfheartedly tried to put everything back but fell asleep before they could finish.
The odd thing was, no one was anywhere to be seen, which made Hajime a little uneasy. He'd seen enough horror movies to know that this was not the time or place to let his guard down. He shifted his focus and saw that there were two hallways on either side of the room, and one more adjacent to him. He could see another open room through the hallway in front of him, so he assumed that that was where stuff like the laundry room and cafeteria were. If he was right about that, then the other two hallways probably led to the dorms. He knew he didn't have much time to find out which room was Chiaki's, so he'd just have to head down a hallway and hope she came out of one of those rooms. He was closer to the right hallway, so he figured he'd start there. Once again picking his pace back up to a run, Hajime decided to suck it up and ignore the wall this time, running straight towards the hallway. The uneasy feeling of being out in the open returned, but he pushed it down and tried to drown it out with a mantra he'd been repeating on and off since he escaped the lab.
'I won't get caught. I won't get caught. I won't ge--'
His internal chant was broken by the faint sound of two people arguing. It was coming from behind him, so he didn't worry too much about it until he heard the sound of the door opening. Which is when he realized that if those two students on trash duty were from the main course as he'd assumed, that'd mean they'd have to come back. Hajime immediately felt that energy from earlier come rushing back, this time fueled by fear. His wings beat behind him harder than ever. Thankfully he had been close to the hallway already, so it didn't take much to close the remaining distance. He ducked around the corner, and stayed close to the wall as he kept running. He couldn’t stop now. If they saw him, he’d be screwed. He had to find somewhere to hide, and fast. Then he saw it, his opportunity. A door that was cracked open just wide enough for him to slip through. His wings were beating so furiously that he swore he felt himself lift off the ground a bit. He skidded to a stop right in front of the open door, looking behind him towards the sound of the two boys bantering. He peered into the room to see that no one was in there, he took one last glance over his shoulder before quickly slipping into the room.
He jogged along the wall for a few more moments, making it underneath a small bedside table before his body finally collapsed. He dropped to his knees, breathing heavily. Hajime wanted to keep going, he really did, but he just couldn’t. His body hurt too much, and as much as he tried, he couldn’t will himself to move. He heard the two boys' voices pass the room he was in and carry on farther down the hall. Only at that moment did he finally let himself relax. His breathing was slowing, but his heart was still beating out of his chest. He placed a hand to it and leaned his head against the wall. A sigh escaped his lips and he closed his eyes, deciding he would let himself rest for a little bit. For the next few minutes all was silent, the air was still, and if Hajime focused hard enough he could imagine he was back in his room at home. It was peaceful, and for those few moments his mind let him have the illusion that he was back at home and this had all been a bad dream. But he knew that that wasn’t his reality, and yet as easy as it was to know that it was fake, he still felt comforted by it. In those minutes, that illusion was all he had to cling onto. He smiled to himself, maybe if he just believed hard enough he really would wake up at home. He let himself get lost in that thought, holding on so desperately to that hope, and for a brief second he had that hope in his grasp…
