#I hope to see the married Hajime and Chiaki together sometime! <3

[asaka-lucy-dr-rc]

*This is a fan art of Ultimate Ask Blog (@ultimateask).

I didn't know until today that there was a story after Chiaki and Hajime got married in the blog, but as soon as I saw it, this image came to my mind and I drew it on impulse. (I have a drawing in progress and would continue to work on it today, but I couldn't help but draw this RIGHT NOW! 😆)

There is no story posted about the married Hajime and Chiaki actually being together (maybe?), so how they look is totally my imagination, but it made me inexplicably happy to think about their loving married life.

For those interested, here are the original posts:

[novatoast]

How Hajime/Nagito fit the 7 beats of Romantic Comedy

The first beat of romantic comedies is listed as the chemical equation, but we'll come back to that point later as it concerns who the protagonist and love interest are as people and danganronpa spreads this set up throughout the story or splits it into free times.

Meet Cute: The Catalyst The inciting incident that brings the two together and into conflict; an inventive but credible contrivance, often amusing, which in some way sets the tone for the action to come.

Danganronpa 2 begins with Hajime's meet cute with Nagito, it even shows it twice right at the start. They have been put on a tropical island without memory of how exactly they got there, the situation is so stressful that Hajime passed out. Nagito was the only one to be there when he woke up: being the first person Hajime sees once he wakes up. Hajime remains skeptical of the situation while Nagito shows him around making light hearted jokes to ease the mood and reminding Hajime that things could be worse (as they do become later).

A Sexy Complication: Turning Point Traditionally occurring at the end of Act 1, a new development that raises story stakes and clearly defines the protagonist’s goal; most successful when it sets the protagonist and love interest at cross-purposes and/or their inner emotions at odds with the goal.

The first turning point happens with the first trial: Nagito's willingness to die and drag others down with him for something conceptual like "hope" shocks and disturbs Hajime. At first Hajime doesn't want to believe it, but he's forced to accept that there's this side to Nagito that is a danger to himself and everyone else. The easy going nature of their relationship up to this point is then broken.

The Hook: Midpoint A situation that irrevocably binds the protagonist with the antagonist (often while tweaking sexual tensions) and has further implications for the outcome of the relationship.

The midpoint of their relationship arc is a period split between chapter 2 and 3. In chapter two Hajime finds out that Nagito was tied up for what he did in the previous chapter but he doesn't feel like he can face him: except then Mahiru pushes him to take over a duty to feed Nagito onto Hajime. Forced to face him again Hajime interprets Nagito's words as malicious and tempting. He gets fed up pretty quickly and leaves the food on the floor because he has to for the sake of not accidentally killing him but that's it.

Nagito being tied up and disappointed Hajime wont feed him is pretty sexy gotta say

In chapter 3 Nagito catches the despair disease and Hajime is far less reluctant to help. Once more Nagito is in a vulnerable state and Hajime is involved in his well being. Though Hajime wonders why he should be concerned about someone like Nagito it's notable that no one asks Hajime to check up on the other sick characters. Akane and Ibuki aren't deathly ill but it's completely optional for Hajime to visit them at all. So the daily life centers around Mikan and Fuyuhiko updating Hajime on Nagito's condition or asking him to check in on Nagito himself. In this state from Nagito we get the infamous lie "All alone with Hajime, huh... I cant stand being in the same room as you. [...] I don't want to see your face anymore." but while Hajime is much more willing to help out in this chapter he still flees from this sort of confrontation.  

Kind of funny how in chapter 2 Hajime runs away from being alone in a room with cute girls in swimsuits and he runs right to the body discovery, then in chapter 3 Hajime runs away from something close to a love confession right into a scene that leads to the next body discovery.

Swivel: Second Turning Point Traditionally occurring at the end of Act 2, stakes reach their highest point as the romantic relationship’s importance jeopardizes the protagonist’s chance to succeed at his [or her] stated goal–or vice versa–and his [or her] goal shifts.

Hajime is somewhat willing to put up with Nagito again by chapter 4, they aren't buddy buddy like they were at the start but they are approaching tolerance. This time the relationship hits a breaking point from Nagito's perspective when he goes through the Final Dead Room. Nagito finds out the horrible truth that in the memories everyone forgot they had become known as Despair, a terrorist group that only acted in the name of despair. This shatters Nagito's faith in the remaining survivors as he doesn't believe they are worthy of his idea of "Hope" if they were capable of falling so low. He doesn't show his cards in chapter 4 so his anger is shown through insulting everyone's intelligence and Hajime's status as a normal guy, but its the Despair thing that sets him off. The one thing he cannot forgive.

We do get a confirmation that Nagito still has feelings for Hajime, but we move on to the next beat here:

The Dark Moment: Crisis Climax Wherein the consequences of the swivel decision yield disaster; generally, the humiliating scene where private motivations are revealed, and either the relationship and/or the protagonist’s goal is seemingly lost forever.

Hajime is torn up about the reveal that he's just a reserve course student, meanwhile we head into chapter 5 where Nagito has decided to forsaken any relationship he could have had with Hajime for his idealistic goal of eliminating despair from the world for the sake of hope. The sentimental feelings still exist, which Nagito even points out when he asks Hajime to come with him to the hotel by reminding him that they used to explore the island together. But then Nagito blows up the hotel and his plan kicks into effect that leads to his death and the attempted murder of everyone on the island except for the only one who is innocent.

But because it's all just a game this isn't the end.

Joyful Defeat: Resolution A reconciliation that reaffirms the primal importance of the relationship; usually a happy ending that implies marriage or a serious commitment, often at the cost of some personal sacrifice to the protagonist.

The story of Hajime and Nagito comes to a conclusion with the anime and 2.5 OVA. Nagito's plan had failed and once released back into the real world Hajime set out to revive the comatose members of the 77th class at the end of the game. The OVA brings us back to the beginning by showing Hajime hovering over Nagito, being the first person he sees once Nagito wakes up. But they aren't back to square one, they are actually beyond that because now Hajime understands the good and the bad of Nagito and he chose to revive him knowing all that Nagito is capable of. Nagito's toxic mindset had been defeated by Hajime's determination and he gets a second chance with the story ending on a happy note for the whole class. One of the final scenes in the final episode of the anime leaves us with Hajime and Nagito eating together and smiling, Hajime had just had a final word with a vision of a girl he could have loved before he leaves her to be at Nagito's side. They are going to be okay.

2.5 OVA also has a scene with interesting framing. Here Hajime is inviting Nagito onto the boat, behind him is Peko and Sonia. Where the camera isn't facing is Nagito flanked by Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi. In romantic comedies you'll sometimes see beta couples, pairings that exist alongside the main couple to provide a foil to the mail relationship, often the best friend of the protagonist. Fuyuhiko and Kazuici as survivors had the longest time to get close with Hajime and spend significant time with him in the game compared to like Gundam or Nekomaru. In the dream world Nagtio seemed to be best friends with Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi as well even if that's not real reality (yet). By this framing we have Hajime/Nagito placed in between two beta couples: Fuyuhiko and Peko's absolute devotion to each other and love that has a pretty steep obstacle to overcome but they should be capable of it after events of the game and then there's Kazuichi and Sonia where it was a one sided obsession but Sonia has decided to tolerate Kazuichi. Hajime/Nagito is framed somewhere between tolerance and true love. They aren't married or in any sort of relationship, but the future (represented by a boat crossing a sea, refer back to Hajime's speech at the end of 2 about the future being an ocean you can drift anywhere you want) is a journey they are embarking on together.

This brings us back around to point number 1:

The Chemical Equation: Setup A scene or sequence identifying the exterior and /or interior conflict (i.e. unfulfilled desire), the “what’s wrong with this picture” implied in the protagonist’s (and/or the antagonist’s) current status quo.

So what do Hajime and Nagito get from each other that they are lacking alone? From his free times and everything we learn about Nagito we can see that what he really needs in his life is normality. Nagito's life thus far has been unstable and its taken a toll on his mentality, to be loved and understood by someone as normal as Hajime can bring him back down to earth. Hajime throughout the game kept running from things that were too difficult for him to deal with, but he kept getting pushed into dealing with someone as difficult as Nagito over and over again. What Hajime really needed was to feel confident in himself, and while the final push in that character development came from Chiaki, we've seen that Nagito can help Hajime relax in stressful situations with their first free time and we've seen Hajime acknowledge that Nagito has helped them as much as he's troubled them in the 5th trial. Nagito can be a handful to deal with, but he's also a great supporter. Nagito may want to be important himself but he gravitates towards a cheerleader role that puts Hajime in the limelight he has always desired to occupy.