So, I was editing Antagonist the other day, and after a brief conversation with my friend, I realized that I may or may not have killed Hajime due to alcohol poisoning. And I forgot to give him a hangover ._.

Ah, well. I have too many plot holes in that story. Whatever.
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Hajime clenched his fists tighter, avoiding Nagito's lingering gaze as he followed the girl below. His palms were slick with sweat, and the back of his throat felt abnormally dry, forming a lump.

He ran his tongue over his dry lips, attempting to calm the ball of anxiety growing within him.

His olive eyes trailed the girl, who was now leaping over discarded material on the sidewalk, the pack of ruffians still trailing after her like a pack of hounds.

Nagito had silently walked over next to Hajime, his pale hand on his scythe, gripping it tightly while he watched the scene unfold before him.

The young fleeing girl rounded into a corner, out of Hajime's sight. With a brief glance at Nagito, the two were airborne.

The hood over the girl fell away, revealing a long braid that flew wildly in the wind as her pace quickened.

She skidded to a halt as a child emerged from the shadows, her porcelain face covered in soot and dust.

"Can you help me find my mommy?" She asked, tugging on the older girl's cloak.

Footsteps increased in a crescendo, and Hajime could sense panic and fear radiating off of the girl's body.

"It's not safe for you here. Do you know where you last saw your mother?" The older female asked in a tender voice, taking the small child by the wrist.

"I don't know. Mommy said she'd be back..."

With a sharp tug on the girl's arm, the two disappeared into a building.

"We can't do anything to stop it if that's what you're wondering," Nagito said solemnly.

For every second he watched, Hajime's stomach flipped the slightest, waves of nausea overwhelming him.

The ruffians kicked open the door to the building, and crouching in the darkest corner of the room were the two females.

"Hurry!" The older one hissed at the terrified little girl. "Your mother should be two buildings down."

She sent the child down a ladder, whipping a gun out right after she'd done that.

"You ready to die?" One of the cocky men laughed in her face.

"You're the one to say, mafia cunt." She cocked her gun and was about to shoot when a dark blob ascended from the window.

"Miss? I don't know where to go."

Several guns clicked behind her, and without thinking twice, the female shielded the child with her body as the bullets made impact.

A scream erupted from the little girl, and from the sky, Hajime jerked in Nagito's grip, attempting to tell the albino to put him down.

Sour bile rose in his throat. Hajime's stomach couldn't handle it anymore.

Once he was on the roof, he retched, the contents of his breakfast spilling out.

Nagito stood silently at his side.

"I told them not to..." Hajime gasped, burrowing his head between his legs. "I specifically told them not to kill children younger than fifteen."

Hajime had never been able to kill anyone around his age, even if they did piss him off. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Not since that event...

As a mafia lord, he knew that his weakness would bring dire consequences, but since he was the Don, everyone had to obey his commands.

Ever since he died, he never looked back at what he'd done in his life. Deaths? They were quick and easy, usually done by someone else rather than him. He never gave a second thought about it. He had all the authority, with anyone in the mafia at his beck and call. What he said was law.

But now, after he'd seen this... this gruesome death of an innocent fourteen-year-old who was trying to DEFEND a child from the mafia, he didn't know what to do anymore.

To make matters worse, the people who had killed her was part of his mafia. Well... it wasn't his anymore.

What was this feeling called again?

This heavy weight in his chest consisting of regret and despair.

Guilt.

Guilt twisted in his gut, coiling around his chest and squeezing him until he couldn't breathe.

A cold hand upon his shoulder made him look up, his eyes wide, his expression one of a lost child's.

"Come on, we need to return to the Afterlife to send the soul to His Majesty." Nagito said soothingly, a hand placed on Hajime's back.

Hajime felt pathetic.

Weak.

Hopeless.

The exact opposite of what he was supposed to be.

"I don't want to go back." He growled, masking his unstable emotions.

Nagito stepped backward due to his sudden aggressive behavior, his hand leaving the small of the brunet's back.

"Just... not now. I don't... I don't want to..." He trailed off, the words clogging in his throat.

How had such a short time in the Afterlife reduced his confident demeanor to such a state? He hated looking helpless, and especially in front of someone he'd known for a long time. It debilitated him.

"Where do you want to go then?" Nagito helped Hajime up.

"Somewhere silent, with no disruptions. Anywhere silent is fine. Just not here. Or back in Hell." Hajime mumbled, brushing back his bangs to cover the pearls of tears that were forming at the corners of his eyes.

With unexpected gentleness, Nagito scooped up Hajime, his hands supporting the back of his knees and his back.

"No complaining." Nagito averted his gaze.

Hajime, too, turned his face away from the Grim Reaper, forbiding him from seeing his shattered mask.

"You can let it all out, you know. The whole point of your sentence is to make you feel guilt. The more you feel, the faster you get to move on." Nagito reminded Hajime.

"I don't want to move on." Hajime replied bluntly, staring at the buildings passing beneath them.

"Why not? Won't you like to start a new life?"

"That just means starting another crappy life and having to deal with it for another few decades. Plus, I have my reasons."

"But it's also my job to see to the fact that you reincarnate. So if you end your sentence early, you get to leave me and the Afterlife. Isn't that what you wanted from day one?" He laughed lightly, yet the brunet could make out a twinge of sorrow lacing his words.

Hajime stayed silent. It was too risky to tell Nagito his real intentions of staying.

"Well, here we are."

It was a small hill, just located outside of the bustling city. From a distance, the crashing sound of waves could be heard.

The soft evening breeze tickled Hajime, wrapping around his ankles and body, easing his nerves.

The golden rays of light encompassed him, filling his body with a benign warmth.

How come he had never found this place before? The atmosphere was perfect and silent, just the way he wanted.

The Grim Reaper sat next to him, his eyes glued to the giant yolk in the sky.

"I found this place when I was with a soul once." Nagito spoke up, his gaze meeting Hajime's.

"Her life was saddening, and I was sympathetic, so I let her have one last wish. Funny enough, just like Tina and Arielle, she didn't ask for her family or friends. She just wanted an hour here. Just one. I never saw anything so beautiful in my life." His eyes softened.

Exhaustion gripped the mafia lord halfway through the albino's explanation, and his body sagged against Nagito's shoulder.

A smile tugged at his lips when he felt Nagito run his thin fingers in his hair, a feeling he had once known. A mother's touch, some would say.

But to Hajime, it was more than that. It was a touch of reassurance, of comfort and relief. It was a touch that reminded him that he wouldn't always be alone. He wasn't the only person in the world that would have to deal with his troubles. He would always have somebody that would be there to support him, to lean on when life threw him in the dumps.

The weight in his chest disappeared momentarily, leaving him to his empty thoughts.

His consciousness slowly slipped from his grasp, and he succumbed to sleep.
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Yeah, so uh, kinda rocky at the beginning, eh? This is why I never like taking breaks. Whenever I do, I come back and everything is like sjdkjskdjskdjk.

So I added in some fluff as an apology.

I also may be writing some shorts when I'm gone on Friday to Sunday since I can never do anything productive in the daytime hahaha.

I'll leave now-