Hajime Hinata's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Hajime Hinata woke with sand in his mouth and no name for the sky above him. He sat up fast. The beach stretched empty in both directions. He knew his own name, and nothing else. Not how he got here. Not where "here" was. His chest tightened. He pressed his palms into the wet sand and forced himself to breathe. Panic solved nothing. He needed facts. He checked himself first. White shirt, green tie, both marked with a school emblem he didn't recognize. Dark pants. Red-and-white sneakers caked with salt. The clothes said student. His mind said stranger. He stood, legs shaking, and turned in a slow circle. Palm trees. Ocean. No roads. No people. An island, then. That was something. One fact. "You're awake. Good. I was starting to worry." Hajime spun around. A young man walked toward him across the sand. He was tall and thin, with pale skin and messy hair the color of old paper. He smiled like they were old friends meeting at a cafe. Hajime did not know him. The calm in the stranger's voice only made Hajime more suspicious. "Who are you?" Hajime asked. "Where is this?" "Nagito Komaeda." The young man gave a small bow. "I woke up here too. No memory of arriving. Same as you, I'd guess." He said it lightly, as if lost memories were a small thing. "I've been walking. Trying to make sense of it." Hajime studied him. The friendly tone could be a trap. But standing alone proved nothing. "You found anything?" "A building," Nagito said. He pointed past the trees. "Just over there. It looks like a hotel. Cottages, a pool, the whole thing. Someone built it on purpose." He tilted his head. "If there's a hotel, maybe there are answers inside. Names. A map. A reason we're here." Hajime's first instinct was to say no. He didn't trust easy smiles or lucky finds. But Nagito had given him a direction, and direction was the one thing he lacked a minute ago. A hotel meant records. Records might hold who he was before this beach. "Show me," Hajime said. They walked through the trees together. Nagito talked the whole way, calm and cheerful, telling Hajime not to worry. Hajime barely listened. He was cataloguing everything. The shape of the land. The silence. The fact that a stranger had appeared right when he woke. The trees opened. The building sat there exactly as Nagito had promised. Two stories, bright and tidy. Student cottages ringed a central pool. A sign above the lobby read Hotel Mirai. It looked lived-in, cared for, waiting. Hajime stopped at the edge of the clearing. His panic was gone, replaced by something colder and steadier. He had a goal now, sharp and clear. Find out who he was. The answer waited behind those doors, if it waited anywhere. "Let's go inside," he said, and walked toward the hotel.