Chapter Text
Hinata smells something fishy. It isn’t that he’s in the dining hall, joined by his fresh new group of friends, but something else. Something that’s been eating away at him since he first encountered the dubious behavior.
Last month, he made his transfer to Hope’s Peak university. It’s a large campus, enough for him to have spent those first few weeks walking circles to find his classes. He’d been worried about more than tardiness, but about his social life; he’s not a freshman, and the usual method of finding one’s place in the crowd had passed. By some miracle, he got lucky. Souda, childhood friend and past partner in skipping school to hang out at the comic book shop, shared his fall semester’s calculus class. He ragged on him for not keeping in touch, Hinata pleaded innocent by way of medical student. The two were fast friends once more and Souda, ever the failed playboy, invited him to a party he promised would be loaded with ‘hot babes.’ Hinata figured he’d help introduce him to the crowd– get his foot in the door.
At that party, he met a number of faces he can now reasonably call friends, too. There was Chiaki Nanami, a short chubby girl whose eyes never left her switch lite, but could hold a conversation like you’d always known her– she hardly even bumped into walls. There was Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, an even shorter guy with the temper of a bull in a field of red flags– he stuck around a girl twice his size in height and muscle mass, looking at her the way Souda did twelve packs of canned coke (longingly). Gundham Tanaka, who looked to have crawled his way out of a shonen manga and into the nearest pet store– Souda had initially tried to steer Hinata clear, but curiosity got the best of him.
Then there was Nagito Komaeda. Or more precisely, Nagito Komaeda and Junko Enoshima.
When Souda was done parading him around, he’d bumped into the wispy haired woman at the drink bar. She held a can of something shiny silver and yellow, but he didn’t place it as alcohol. She smiled at him, he smiled back, and something clicked into place. It was as if all the worries and anxieties and burdens of fitting in– of fearing being too much or too little or out of place, dissolved in her presence. She radiated calm in a way that calmed him too, just by being in proximity.
“Hajime Hinata.”
“Hm?”
“Oh- sorry. My name is Hajime Hinata. I’m a transfer student, I’m just trying to get to know everyone better.”
“I thought I didn’t recognize you! Haha, happy to know I haven’t lost it yet. I’m Nagito Komaeda, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Hinata-kun.”
The honorific struck him as strangely friendly for a first meeting, but he didn’t mind it. The opposite, really. She seemed pleasant, more laid back than the rest of his introductions so far. And if he was being honest, she was a pretty sight. She had delicate, sharp features, and a smile that made him feel dizzy despite the fact that he hadn’t had anything to drink yet. He didn’t see a boyfriend nearby, so maybe…
“Nagi-chaaaaaaaaaan!” a shrilly voice called out from his right. And like that, the moment had been ruined. Komaeda’s gaze turned downward (embarrassment? shame?) as an arm came to sling around her neck, long red talons extending from her fingertips. “Where’s my drink, huh?”
“Ah, I was just about to pour you a glass when-”
The woman interrupted.
“When you started bothering this poor boy?”
“Yes.” Komaeda’s voice was now solemn, subdued. Hinata felt offended for her, if she wasn’t going to be for herself.
“Don’t keep me waiting. Apologize to him and then get momma her juice.” Hinata tried to stammer that she really didn’t need to do that, but it seemed his input wasn’t necessary.
“I’m sorry for wasting your time, Hinata-san.” No more friendly -kun? “Please, enjoy the party.” Komaeda continued what she’d been doing before he’d gotten there, but this time with that monster of a woman hovering around her. When she handed her the drink, something was muttered that he couldn’t catch, then she patted Komaeda on the cheek and pulled her away back into the crowd. Hinata was dumbstruck.
What the fuck?!
Nanami, probably sensing his unease, explained that that had been Junko Enoshima. He asked if they were girlfriends, quickly covering up his incredulousness with promises that he’s cool with stuff like that, he’s not bothered by lesbians, but just by Enoshima’s… everything else. Nanami responded, and the quote sticks in his head til this day, “sort of.” She quickly made a detour in conversation and brought him over to the living room where they were setting up a game of Mario Kart. He didn’t see Komaeda for the rest of the night.
Now, in the present day, Komaeda sits across from him at their table. Souda is on his left with Kuzuryuu on the left of him, and Nanami and Tsumiki (a fellow med student who also knows Nanami) beside Komaeda. He’s gotten to know them, and plenty of other students they associate with, better within the month he’s been here. Komaeda joked that he’s so milk toast, he blended in seamlessly. He wasn’t offended by that– compared to the rest, his personality feels decaf. They keep him entertained, though, and especially when they have to drag him by the heels away from his studies. He thinks he likes it.
“Mmgh. I think I need a nap more than I need to go to developmental psych,” Nanami says, grogginess seeping in her voice as she takes a bite of beef.
“That’s ‘cause you stayed up til fuck knows when playing that gumball game.”
“Gumball game…?”
“Nanami-chan is playing Kirby Star Allies again! She’s amazing, I get shivers just watching her.”
“Don’t you get shivers from bein’ all bohemic?”
“It’s anemic, asshole.”
“I only have eight more games until I’ve replayed the entire Kirby series.”
He does like it, he has to admit. It’s bliss until the smell of fish and too much hairspray returns.
Brrr. Brrr.
“Ah! It’s Enoshima-san. I’ll be right back.” Komaeda walks away with her phone to her ear and Hinata grits his teeth. He watches, waiting for her to be out of earshot, and finally says what he’s been meaning to say for the last four weeks.
“Okay, so is anyone else going to tell me what’s up with that?”
“Wh-wh-whats up with- um, what?”
He nods his head in the direction of Komaeda and the table goes silent. Souda, in particular, lets out a distressed squeak.
He’s felt it since the beginning– they all turn a blind eye to whatever sort of abuse Komaeda is going through. He didn’t want to pry into the life of someone he doesn’t know that intimately, especially when everyone else seems to pay it no mind. But he genuinely fears for Komaeda’s safety. He’s seen that… that crazy bitch hanging around her! She always tears into her for every little mistake, always insults her, always embarrasses her, and when she’s around, always controls her. Komaeda is hardly her own person when Enoshima’s there and he refuses to pretend that’s healthy. He doesn’t know how to approach this, or how to let Komaeda know he’s here for her if she’s struggling. He wants desperately to be a safe space, to finally free her from the reigns of insanity Enoshima’s got her in. He’s especially tired of the way no one acknowledges it.
“Come on. You can’t possibly act like the way Enoshima treats her is okay.”
“Hinata-san…”
“I mean it! Think of everything you’ve seen. Can you even imagine what you don’t?” Souda makes another, increasingly hysterical, squeak.
“Then ask her,” Kuzuryuu deadpans, refusing to look him in the eyes.
“What?”
“If you’re so fuckin’ curious, ask her yourself.”
“He’s right, Hinata-san,” Nanami concurs. “You should ask her about it.” Mikan trembles a little bit beside her and Nanami rests her head on her shoulder, not unlike a therapy dog.
The tone changes when Komaeda comes back, something that looks to be a practiced act.
“Sorry to so rudely make an impromptu leave, but I have to go,” she says (definitely nervous) as she collects her plate from the table. “Enjoy your lunch! I’ll see you guys tomorrow, luck permitting.” She walks off in a hurry, and Hinata notices she leaves her earbuds behind in their case.
“...I’ll ask.”
----
Hinata is in the same dorm hall as Komaeda, he’s even been to her room, so he knows where to look. In his hand, he clutches her pastel green earbud case– returning an item is a pretty good excuse to talk, right? As he makes his way through the halls and up the stairs, he attempts a gameplan of what to say.
“I noticed you seem a little anxious.”
“You can always come to me if you have a problem.”
“Enoshima… fucking psychotic, amirite?”
He settles on just letting the conversation flow naturally, or, as natural as this kind of thing can go. Komaeda can be a bit jumpy, he doesn’t want to startle her. He wants to make her feel at ease… the way she always does for him.
When he gets to her door, he stills.
He can hear something going on in there. Actually, he can hear Enoshima.
Thwack!
“What’s wrong? I thought whores could take a little beating?”
Smack!
“Oh, you’re crying? You’re gonna cry cause I hit you?”
SLAP!
Hinata has heard enough. He rattles the doorknob to find it unlocked, slamming the door open and storming in.
“THANK YOU MISTRESS!” Komaeda wails before she can realize Hinata’s presence.
“I- I….”
“Hello Hinata.”
Hinata’s grip goes loose and the earbuds clatter to the floor. Enoshima sits on the edge of Komaeda’s bed and Komaeda is draped over her lap, ass out. She’s wearing a metal collar with a chain that dangles to the floor and her face is… well… mortified? Hinata stammers, Komaeda stammers back.
“Get up and pull up your pants,” Enoshima says dryly– bored. Komaeda does as asked, shuffling around in the process to pull her tight jeans over her slender legs– the chain clinks.
“The… um,” Komaeda doesn’t seem in a place to form words, but she attempts it nonetheless. “Your pay is on the dresser. Please take it and… and leave.”
Hinata has to sidestep to let Enoshima out of the room, and she closes the door before he can make an escape.
“Earbuds.”
“Wh-?”
“I came to return your earbuds.” Hinata is certain his face is a very bright shade of red; Komaeda isn’t fairing any better. Her eyes flicker to the floor where the earbuds lie, a soft oh on her lips.
“So. You and Enoshima?”
“Enoshima-san is my dominatrix.”
Hinata feels like dying.