...Useless.

It was damn useless, Hajime Hinata decided, to try and sleep right now, despite the fact that it was about midnight. His mind kept reeling back the the earlier events of the day, playing them over and over again – the trial, and the execution of Mikan Tsumiki... so much had happened that finding the dead bodies of Ibuki Mioda and Hiyoko Saionji felt like years ago, even if it was just hours before.

Now it was quiet, and glancing out his window, at the stars glittering in the night sky and the gentle sway of palm trees in the breeze, it really did seem like a peaceful, beautiful tropical island. If only.

With a heavy sigh, he lifted himself from his bed and quickly walked to his door, opening it and stepping outside. Perhaps a walk would clear his head a bit. At the very least it was better than lying there staring at the ceiling. Nearly dragging one foot after another, he began to aimlessly tread to some unknown location.

Whenever a murder and trial happened, he found it hard to sleep that night. But this time it was much more so – who could Tsumiki had been talking about? It was clear that she had remembered their forgotten memories – what could have changed her so drastically? Why couldn't she have told them? What could have driven Mikan Tsumiki, someone so frail but with such a pure heart whom wanted nothing more than to take care of others, to a double murder without showing any kind of remorse? Who could she have remembered that pushed her to such things? Did he know that person? What if he was actually drastically different than how he was acting now, what if something happened to him during those times he couldn't remember that changed him, what if –

"Hey, Hinata-kun. I've never seen you out this late before."

A sudden voice broke him away from his thoughts, and he whirled to the side to see who else would be wandering this late at night.

"K-Komaeda!" He stammered, a bit startled. "What are you doing here?"

"A walk," Komaeda replied. "I suppose you must be up to the same?"

"Yeah." Glancing around, it came to Hinata's attention that he had winded himself up at the seashore, the waves calmly splashing onto the sand some fifteen feet away from them. "I can't sleep."

"I see."

It was then that the two stood in silence for a moment, neither of them looking at each other, their gaze fixated on the slow motion of the waves on the beach. It hit Hinata now that Komaeda could very easily kill him, and no one would be around to see. ...But no, Komaeda wouldn't do that. No, in a minute or two he'd probably offer that Hinata kill him instead. And for all Hinata knew he already had a knife or something hidden in his coat, since he was just that lucky. In fact, right about now he would probably say something like –

"I really am lucky though! Running into Hinata-kun of all people in the middle of the night like this. Now I won't be lonely. The bad luck of earlier was most certainly worth this, then..."

"I don't understand you," Hinata said suddenly. "How could you say something like that? Is losing three of our friends really worth just meeting me here?"

For a moment, Komaeda said nothing, simply looking over to meet Hinata's gaze briefly before turning back to the ocean. "You know, Hinata-kun," he then began, "if you wanted to –"

"I'm not going to kill you," Hinata cut in. "I don't care what good of an opportunity this would be. I don't care what kind of situation in might be – I'm not killing anyone on this island."

"You say you don't understand me," Komaeda replied, suddenly looking at Hinata with a smile on his face, "but you knew exactly what I was talking about before I even finished."

"Th– that's..." Hinata stammered, throwing his gaze to the side while trying to think of some kind of response. "That's not about understanding you. You've just suggested that enough times already it's hard not to know when it's coming."

Komaeda laughed a little; an empty, hollow laugh. "I suppose. And you know... the earlier bad luck that led to the good luck of me being able to meet you here tonight wasn't that the others died. Those deaths came from pure despair... while horrible and unforgivable, the good luck that will come from it will be something much greater than meeting you here tonight... ah, I can't wait to see it..."

A part of Hinata wanted to ask, wanted to know what kind of other bad luck there had been today, another part of him wanted to figure it out for himself, and another part of it wanted to let it go and stop trying to understand. "That not what Tsumiki said, though. She said that she didn't kill because of despair... but because of that person. For the sake of 'love.'"

"What she said can't be fully trusted," Komaeda replied quickly. "She had been completely consumed by despair. She was nothing short of Super High School Level Despair... and I'm sure she would have said anything to bring us to that kind of despair as well."

Again there was a small silence before Hinata spoke again. "I thought you said though that it wasn't just despair, though. When Nanami asked you –"

"Forgive me, Hinata-kun," Komaeda said. "...A lot happened. Perhaps I'm remembering some things wrong..."

"I don't believe that," Hinata responded. "That's not like you at all."

At this, Komaeda said nothing. His gaze was still firmly affixed on the water, and the two stood in a silence. Hinata's mind began to drift as his eyes watched the flow of Komaeda's messy hair in the sea breeze – the thought that he had been almost dead on a hospital bed nearly a day ago seemed surreal. The despair fever really had affected him much more than the other people... was it because of his luck? Or was it because his body was already weak? His too-pale skin seemed even lighter in the dim moonlight. Maybe it was a bit of both?

Still watching his hair flutter in the breeze, Hinata began to wonder if Komaeda did this often – these night time strolls. Or was he just having trouble sleeping tonight, like Hinata? Perhaps he was even pondering the same questions. On that line of thought, Hinata's mind reeled back to what Tsumiki had said before her execution, anything to give him some kind of information – and then he remembered.

"Didn't Tsumiki say something to you?" Hinata asked suddenly. "When she said that she killed them not out of despair, but out of love for that person... you told her you didn't get what she was saying."

At this, Komaeda visibly tensed a bit, but still didn't reply. Hinata tried carefully to remember exactly what she had said –

"She said that... you didn't understand because you had nobody you loved. And that... you're not someone who gets forgiven by others."

"And she was right, wasn't she?" Komaeda replied swiftly, turning to face Hinata, the same empty smile still on his face. "Everyone... everyone here hates me. Nobody will forgive me for what I've done – but it doesn't matter. It's all for the sake of hope. And if I had someone that I love... it doesn't matter if they would never forgive me, too."

There was a pause while Hinata looked at him carefully, until Komaeda's gaze dropped and went almost wearily back to the water. "This... is the bad luck you were talking about, right? The fact that she said those things to you."

Komaeda gave no reply. A silence began to stretch until Hinata spoke up again, his voice just a bit softer than usual. "Komaeda... listen. Everyone here's... stressed. And you have caused some problems." He paused, eyes drifting to the ground as he bit his tongue. When he looked back up, he found Komaeda staring at him, very still, his expression completely unreadable. "But... that doesn't mean no one will forgive you. ...I... think that I could forgive you, in time."

Komaeda's mouth opened a bit, and then promptly closed. The silence returned, but their gazes remained firmly locked on each other.

Eventually Hinata turned back toward the inland. "I'm going to go back."

A moment passed before he heard Komaeda's voice behind him. "Sleep well, Hinata-kun. Thank you for talking with me."

Hinata looked over at him once more – he thought there may have been a small smile on his face, and for a split second he met with his shimmering eyes – shimmering? Why –

But he didn't give himself time to ponder it, and instead began walking quickly back to his cabin.

what is this, we just don't know. Idk it got grossly ooc like moreso than the rest of it at the end but whatever its my first ""finished"" piece of dr fanfiction so. also i didn't proofread so i'm sorry for mistakes