It should also be noted that Chiaki was the most amicable towards Nagito in comparison to the rest of their classmates. Meanwhile, Nagito idolizes Chiaki as their class's hope once she's chosen for their class representative. Izuru, Hajime's alter ego, is also moved to tears by her death despite usually being stoic, which also makes him decide to check whether hope or despair is more unpredictable, resulting in Killing School Trip. Chiaki is also able to recognize Izuru Kamukura as Hajime despite his changed appearance and not seeing him for months. Part of the reason why Hajime wants to go through Izuru Kamukura Project is to become someone he'd be proud of being around Chiaki. The two end up bonding through gaming together. In Despair Arc, human Chiaki and Hajime's tragic relationship is one of the main plots of the season. With that, Hajime is the only member of the trio remaining in Chapter 6, although AI Chiaki reappears in the finale to encourage Hajime. Not knowing the traitor's identity, he leaves part of his case to luck to decide the culprit, getting Chiaki tricked into unknowingly poisoning him. After Nagito learns the truth that everyone except the traitor is an Ultimate Despair, he prepares a case in which he wants the traitor to survive the trial alone. In Chapter 4, Nagito chooses to explore the Fun House with Chiaki and Kazuichi, also making the latter suspicious of Hajime potentially being the traitor.

Nonetheless, in Chapter 2 Hajime and Chiaki investigate together a lot again and Nagito helps them at one point. After Nagito's true nature is revealed during the first trial, his relationship with Hajime changes. Chiaki also helps and the trio quickly become this game's most useful characters during the investigations and Class Trials.

Nagito immediately becomes the deuteragonist supporting our protagonist, Hajime, by helping him meet everyone else, as well as while investigating the murder. We first meet the trio in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

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