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He extends his hand, asking Shuichi to hold it.
"Let's look at the stars, you and me", Kaito gently says.
Shuichi reluctantly takes his hand. After Kaede died right in front of him, he was reluctant to feel love again. He doesn't want to feel it again. The attachment. The pain of being torn apart. He hates that feeling. But he takes his hand, like he knows that Kaito's going to survive.
"The stars are beautiful, right?", Kaito says, still holding Shuichi's hand.
Right now, Shuichi tries to free himself from Kaito's grasp. But the latter never lets go.
Shuichi has seen many people die, all because of his detective work. Kaede always told him to reveal the truth. But the truth hurts.
And what hurts even more is that he's falling for Kaito.
"Kaito, I really like you", Shuichi says one night, when they were alone with each other. No Maki. Shuichi liked Maki, but he wants to spend the night with Kaito for just a little while.
"Yeah! I like you too!", Kaito replies, smiling.
Kaito embraces him tightly. Shuichi looks at him like someone going mad, but he embraces him back. He was warm, unlike Shuichi, who was cold after many days.
"That's a lot of blood!", Shuichi exclaims. Kaito is a coughing mess in front of him, covered in blood. Everyone looks at Kaito with a worried expressions, including Maki.
"Don't worry, I'm fine", Kaito says, covering his mouth in an attempt to cover his sickness up. But it's no use. Everyone has seen it.
Shuichi's heart stops when he notices that Kaito is giving him the cold shoulder. He hasn't moved on from the trial, hasn't he?
As he tries to move slowly, he hears someone call his name. It was Kaito, he was in the bathroom. They make up, but Shuichi's feelings for Kaito are still there.
Shuichi's heart sinks as Maki confesses to Kaito. Then that means he can't confess to him. He didn't want to sound desperate, so he stays there, crying with the others.
~~~
He wakes up, panting. He was sweating. He hates these dreams. He always hates them. It remembers his time in that damn academy that made him miserable. He walks to his drawer and takes out a box of cigarettes and a lighter.
He goes outside to smoke. He never kept in touch with Harukawa and Yumeno. He's already suicidal with those memories in his mind. He doesn't want to look at the people who survived with him.
Shuichi stopped caring about his feelings or his life. He's just waiting for death. Death so he can be with the people he had loved and lost.
It was still night. It's the perfect time to kill someone. Or rather, himself. He finds a bridge, and he throws his cigarette into the water below.
Shuichi climbs up the bridge. The dreams he had with Momota, Akamatsu, Kiibo, aren't dreams. They'll always be nightmares. Nightmares that are disguised in beautiful colors. Once you unravel them, it becomes a horrible monster.
"I'll see all of you again." Shuichi feels the wind on his hair, and it feels so good. But facing death is better.
He jumps, smiling to himself. Shuichi waits, as he drops to the river beneath the bridge. Water fills his lungs, but he does not move. He just simply closes his eyes, waiting for his life to flash before his eyes.
It finally did. It wasn't his life, per say, but his fabricated one. Those bears wasted his life and time for Danganronpa. Fuck it. He's been wasting his life, even though he wanted death.
His heart stops beating, and when he opens his eyes, Kaito is in front of him, smiling.
"Hey, Shuichi", he says happily.
Shuichi smiles, then cries, all of his emotions pouring out.
"Nice to see you again, my love."