Work Text:
Shuichi stared at the lone piano, a sorrow look in his eyes. Soft music, Debussy's "Clair De Lune," filled the air. It only reminded him once more that Kaede was actually gone. There was no changing that, and that was the cold, hard truth.
The detective started to think about the class trial... Kaede didn't deserve it, he thought. She was only trying to kill the mastermind, so that we wouldn't all have to die! And... I was the one who brought her to her death. Tears started to form in his eyes once more.
He started to imagine the pianist in the room, sitting down in front of the piano. Delicate and skillful fingers pressing on the keys to make music. All at the same time, telling him, "It's gonna be okay." Turning around, flashing him a bittersweet smile, and then looking back at the piano.
Shuichi could feel the tears finally leak from his eyes. Simple crying turned into a horrid sobbing. The wet droplets rolled down his face, dripping onto the ground and partially on his clothes. Then, he could imagine Kaede's voice once more...
"Don't fall into despair! You'll only be giving into the mastermind's plans! So, please, Shuichi... Look forward and keep hope."
Shuichi's eyes widened. He looked around the room. Still nobody there but him. He took a moment to think about what he had just thought about before finally trying to steady out his breathing. One, two, three. One, two, three... Then he wiped off his tears. Glancing on last time at the empty piano, he turned and left the room. He carefully closed the door behind him and left to the dormitory.
xxx
"You finally got rid of that emo hat! Is this 'cause Kaede died or whatever?" Kokichi exclaimed as Shuichi entered the dining hall.
"Quiet, you male!" Tenko scolded him. "Learn some manners, why don't you!?"
"Oh, huh, you're not wearing your hat. I didn't even notice," Kaito said casually.
"And you could stand to learn some manners too, you insensitive jerk!"
"N-No, I just... felt like it was getting in the way is all... You don't have to stare... I just took off my hat, it's not a big deal..." An embarrassed blush appeared on the detective's face. Awkwardly, he sped walked over to the table and sat down at the only empty seat left.
"Nee-heehee," he heard come from beside him. He looked to his right to find the Ultimate Supreme Leader sitting right next to him.
"What is it, Kokichi...?" Shuichi asked.
Kokichi only stared at him for a while before saying, "Are you really that upset over her death?"
Shuichi just looked down at the table. "Of course I am... I'm also upset over Rantaro's death... What kind of question even is that?"
The purple-haired boy just shrugged and casually smiled. "Well, I mean, you only knew both of them for a few days."
The detective balled his hand up into a fist, digging his nails into his palms. "Even if I only knew the two of them for a few days, they were still one of us. They were both caught up in this strange situation with the rest of us, and they both didn't want to participate in the killing game. And Kaede..."
Kokichi raised a brow at the other. "And Kaedeeeee? What, did you like her?" There was a strange bitterness in his tone.
The taller of the two shook his head. "I liked her as a friend but if you're asking if I had a crush on her then no... I can't crush on someone that quickly."
"Wow! Such wise words!" Kokichi's eyes sparkled at him, which only caused him to sigh, slightly exasperated.
After a while of pointless discussion, Kirumi walked in and served everyone their breakfast. Shuichi thanked her normally. Kokichi smiled and said, "Thank you so so so much, Mom!" The maid just gave him a tight smile and moved onto the others.
While Shuichi was taking a bite out of a rice ball, he noticed Kokichi turning to him out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head a bit to look at him with a questioning expression.
"You know, you look really nice without your hat," the small boy spoke out of nowhere. "I can finally see your eyes."
"E-Eh—?" The detective choked on his food a bit.
"Shuichi, are you alright?" Kirumi asked him, voice raised a bit in awareness.
Shuichi started to cough until he could finally breathe normally again. Clearing his throat awkwardly and taking a small drink, he was then able to answer with a nod. Most of the eyes that had shot over his way returned to their original places. Most.
"Geez, I didn't know that you'd react like that," Kokichi deadpanned. "Hm... I wonder if I should start doing that more often, hm?"
"N-Not... That's not funny, Kokichi." Shuichi glared at the smaller boy, a dark red blush on his face. "You should really start to eat now." You seem abnormally thin, he thought, but decided not to say out loud.
"How can I? I still have those images of Kaede and Rantaro in my head, I would just throw up!"
It seemed like everyone heard that, because right after that was said the entire table grew quiet.
Slowly, Kokichi placed his hands behind his head. "...Nee-heehee, that was a lie. But I'm sorry if I made any of you all lose your appetite."
"I think that it may be of your best mind not to bring that up," Kirumi told him.
"Yeah...! It's not like we really need to remember something like that!" Kaito growled. "Especially not while we're all trying to eat!"
"You're so inconsiderate and disrespectful!" Tenko shouted. "But, I guess that's only expected... from a degenerate male."
Kokichi frowned, face growing red. "Why are you all getting so angry at me? It's not like we should completely forget about them!" He turned away and groaned. "Now that's what I would call disrespectful..." he whispered, but Shuichi was able to hear it since he was right next to him. Even then, the he was still wondering whether or not he actually heard that right.
"...Oh, but it's not like I care," he claimed. "I'm an evil supreme leader, as you all know, so I'm used to death."
The entire dining hall was quiet. No one dared to speak. Some just cast unsure glances at each other, others glared at Kokichi.
"Hey, hey! What's up with the dull mood? It looks like you all could use a comedic relief, am I right?" Monokuma's shrill voice wasn't welcomed, and it was definitely far from one of the things that they would have liked to hear at the moment.
When the black and white bear saw that no one was paying him much mind, his face started to turn red... somehow. "Alright!" he shouted angrily. "I'll just jump straight to the point! As a reward for doing so great during the class trial, I'm giving you all prizes!"
"Mhm!" Monophanie spoke up. She and the other Monokubs walked into the dining hall.
"Look at all these nonsensical prizes that Pops has prepared for youse!" Monosuke piped up.
The Monokubs held up a red gem, an ocarina, an old passport, as well as a hexagonal crank.
"...What is all this crap?" Kaito asked, being the first one out of the students to speak up. "What are we supposed to do with this?"
"Hmm..." Kokichi hummed. "While you all are figuring this stuff out, I think I'm just gonna go now." He waved at everyone and walked out of the dining hall, as if nothing awkward had just happened. His plate still remained untouched.
xxx
Shuichi had just finished using the prizes from Monokuma to unlock new areas around the school. He found some new Ultimate labs, and he started to wonder about what everyone's labs would look like, starting with his. He went through each student until he finally got to Kokichi.
Kokichi...
He then realized that he wanted to go find the boy. He was... curious about what he had said earlier that morning. The detective part of him wanted to interrogate him about it, (along with many other things the smaller boy had said and done before), even if the other part of him knew that he probably shouldn't expect anything more than lies.
Shuichi wandered around outside first. He couldn't find Kokichi anywhere. He walked over to the dormitory and knocked on the boy's door. "..." No answer. He sighed and left the dormitory, opting to go check the academy building.
He traveled downstairs first. There was nobody in the game room, nor in the A/V room. Then he checked... the library... The detective honestly wasn't quite sure if he wanted to see the place where one of his friends had died again, but then he rationalized that he would need to grow stronger than that if he were to be trapped in the academy for a long time.
"Hello? Is anybody in here?" Shuichi asked, just barely stepping into the library. He got no response. He walked inside some more, eventually finding himself in front of the moving bookcase. He looked up at it, feeling himself wilt a bit.
Our plan failed... Kaede... He shook his head. Kaede and Rantaro are gone, and I can't change that. I should just leave the bookcase alone, then. I don't want to somehow repeat anything...
Shuichi looked over at where Rantaro had died. All of the blood was gone. Rantaro's body was gone. It was as if nothing had ever even happened there.
A seed of sorrow was placed in his heart. He knew that he didn't want to make himself cry again, so he made haste to leave.
The male searched the first floor of the academy. He ran into a few students who were just wondering around, but when asked if they had seen Kokichi, they just said no and gave him a weird look. He would just thank them for their time and run away with an embarrassed blush on his face.
Shuichi then walked up the stairs to the second floor. He looked out of one of the windows, and judging by the sun, he inferred that the afternoon was growing old, and soon it would be evening. Then night would come, forcing everyone to go back to bed and go through another day...
He sighed. He was starting to grow tired of searching for Kokichi. Was he really even worth wandered the entire school grounds for...? What if Shuichi had passed him? What if the smaller boy had already moved to one of the places he had checked? What even kept him going? After all, he didn't know the other that much or for that long.
Shuichi started to walk once more. He was beginning to ask himself if he should just give up, go find Kaito before the day was over, and then try to find Kokichi the next morning in the dining hall (assuming that he would even be there)—but then he heard something. It sounded like music.
He followed the music over until he got to... the Ultimate Pianist's lab. Now at the door, he could hear that the music was a soft piano piece. Could the ghost of Kaede be in there, playing away like she would if she were still alive...? No, probably not, he thought. He didn't even believe in ghosts... so someone definitely had to be playing in there.
At first, Shuichi felt angry. How dare someone use Kaede's piano? Kaede wasn't even able to play that often... But then, as he listened in on the piano piece, he began to calm down.
He recognized the tune after a few more seconds. The detective remembered one time when the pianist had excitedly dragged him over to the lab and told him about a certain song that she liked to play... Kaede had played "Gymnopedie No. 1" absolutely beautifully. She never skipped a note, and was always in tempo—well, even if she wasn't doing something right, it wasn't like Shuichi would know.
"It's a nice, slow calming piece. It's called 'Gymnopedie No. 1' and it's by Erik Satie!"
Shuichi smiled sadly, remembering his friend. Then he shook his head, temporarily clearing the thought out of his mind so that he could instead focus on the playing. The person inside the room wasn't Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist, but they still played well. It also seemed like they had some sort of style while they pressed down on the black and white keys.
Shuichi waited outside the door, not wanting to disrupt whoever was inside. The music was enough to entertain him until he noticed that the song ended. Then he knocked on the door. "Hello...? Who's in there?"
"..."
The boy tried knocking again, but he still got no response. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He then sighed... until he noticed a piece of paper being slipped out from the crack underneath the door. Shuichi picked it up, reading the text that had been written there in small, neat handwriting.
"What do you want?"
Shuichi patted himself, despite knowing already that he didn't have any sort of writing utensil on him at the moment.
As if reading his mind, the person on the other side of the door rolled a pen to him from underneath the door.
The detective mentally thanked the person and wrote below the writing that was already there: "I was just looking for someone."
Then he slid it under the door, along with the pen. The pen was immediately pushed back out, but the paper was picked up. Not too long after did the paper get sent back.
"Well, whoever you're looking for, good luck on finding them. I'm not the person you're after."
Now Shuichi knew why the pen was rolled back to him. Sighing, the boy drew an arrow on the front side of the small paper before flipping it over. He wrote: "Neither of us are sure about that. What's your name?" The paper was slipped back. Then...
"No. Now have a good dayyyy! Begone, you stalker! :D"
Shuichi grumbled. Is this why they aren't speaking? Anonymity? he wondered. Getting more frustrated, he decided to respond. "How am I a stalker!?" Just like before, the paper was slipped under the door and then back to him.
"Cuz you were listening to me play without notifying me. Yeah, I could sense you outside the door!"
"That... shouldn't be possible..."
"Whether it is or isn't possible doesn't matter. I do mean it though when I wanted you to leave. Don't you have better people to go to?"
Shuichi then thought about the possibility of Kokichi roaming around somewhere while he was getting distracted by some anonymous pianist. He sighed quietly before slipping his response to the other person underneath the door: "I'll just continue to look for this person, then. Have a good day."
The person on the other side of the door began to play "All Star" very loud and obnoxiously as he left.
After that, the detective made a very quick sweep of the rest of the second floor that he had discovered while using the prizes given to him from Monokuma. Kokichi wasn't there either. At this point, Shuichi had forgotten why he was even trying to find the boy in the first place.
So Kokichi is able to make me this confused without even interacting with me... He sighed. I guess that's just Kokichi.
Shuichi walked back over to the staircase. He glanced over at the nearby door that was decorated with piano keys before his curiosity grabbed hold of him. Hand on the doorknob, he turned, and opened—
"..."
"...Really?" The boy just rubbed his temples, using one hand to run through his raven colored hair. There was seriously nobody in there.
Shuichi exited the room, closed the door behind him, and walked down the stairs. Once he was down there, he noticed Kokichi casually leaning against the side of a wall, far back in a hall opposite to where he was currently standing.
Frustrated, he ran over to the small boy. "Where were you!?" he shouted.
Kokichi turned around at Shuichi who finally stopped himself from moving, right before he ran into him. "What do you mean?"
"I was... I was looking for you the entire... day," the taller of the two panted.
The little leader smirked. "What for, hm?"
"I wanted to ask you... about what you said this morning."
Kokichi dropped his smirk and just blinked at the other.
"You know... In the dining hall?" Shuichi finished slowly.
Kokichi stared up at the detective with his round, childish eyes. "I remember saying a few things while I was in the dining hall, so you'll have to be more specific."
Shuichi nervously glanced away. "U-Um... You have to know what I'm talking about. The thing that made everyone go silent... about Kaede and the killing game."
All of a sudden, the purple-haired boy widened his eyes, seemingly in remembrance. "Oh! That! What about it?"
"...Do you actually care?" He glanced back at the other, who tilted his head in confusion. "When the others were trying not to bring Kaede or Rantaro up. I believe you told them that we shouldn't forget about those who died, and... and that, um, they were the ones being disrespectful by trying to sweep it under the rug—"
"Um, I don't remember saying anything remotely like that!" Kokichi snapped.
"...That's a lie."
"Nee-heehee, you sounded so confident just then. What makes you so sure about that?"
"Ah, u-um..." An embarrassed blush dusted itself on the detective's cheeks.
"Aww, you act so bold, but then you stutter!" Kokichi looked up at Shuichi like a teacher would to a toddler. "How cuuuute! Are you still getting used to being confident? If you need help with confidence then you can go to me 'cause, as you can see, I'm full of it, y'know!"
"Can't you just... answer my question without making it so complicated?"
"The truth, huh? Well here it is, my wholehearted truth is—!"
"This is an official announcement from the Ultimate Academy! It is now 10 p.m.!"
Both of the boys looked up at the nearest monitor. The screen was on to show four Monokubs sitting on their normal couch. It's the nighttime announcement, Shuichi realized. Wait, how did the time even go by that fast?
"Aw, so it's nighttime now, huh? Maaan, and I was just about to tell the truth!" Kokichi then placed his hands behind his head. "Well, that part doesn't bother me. It's more just bad luck for you! But I really wanted to spend more time with you..."
Shuichi let out a shaky sigh. "Let me guess. That's a lie as well?"
"Mm... That's for you to figure out, Mr. Detective!" He then turned around. "Welp, see ya!" He waved at the other boy and ran off to the dormitory.
"I guess it's impossible for him to ever be direct," Shuichi muttered under his breath. After a while of contemplating all of his decisions up to that point, he followed after the supreme leader to the dormitory.
Out of the academy building he went. After a while of walking, Shuichi eventually found himself at his dorm. He pulled out his key, unlocked the door, and entered. He clumsily closed it behind himself before he went over and collapsed onto his bed. It was only then when he realized the extent of his exhaustion.
Settling under the covers, the detective immediately fell asleep.
xxx
Shuichi groaned as the morning announcement played and woke him up from his sleep. He walked exited his dorm room and walked outside, not really sure about how to go about his day. He couldn't help it when his mind wandered over to the anonymous pianist that he had heard yesterday.
I wonder if they would even still be there... Probably not. Despite that, he found himself traveling to the Ultimate Pianist's lab. If there was nobody there then he would allow himself to look around.
Upon making it to the second floor, the detective was surprised whenever he heard music coming from inside the lab already. He quietly tried the doorknob but it was locked. Sighing and resolving to waiting until the song was over, he slid down with his back against the door and just listened to the person inside play.
"It's called 'Tears of the Night'!"
That's what Kaede had once told him. He figured that she must have introduced him to every song that she had stored in her brain. He was honestly surprised that he could remember most of the songs that she had told him about.
Shuichi had gotten so lost in the music that he only grew aware of his surroundings once more when something poked his butt from underneath the door. He let out a yelp and jumped back a bit, looking at the crack under the door. There was a pen sticking out, and soon a piece of paper was slipped out to him as well.
"Good morning, Shuichi! What brings you here at this time?"
He was frowning, still upset about being poked so hard, but the note just gave off such a cheery vibe... He dropped the frown and just let out a slightly exasperated sigh as he wrote back, "I didn't know that you were going to be here... I was just curious. Why won't you tell me who you are?"
He slipped the paper underneath the door and heard some quickly scribbling noises on the other side of the door. Then he got a reply.
"Why should I? It's much more fun like this in my opinion."
"Ugh, whatever... But I just wanted to say, nice playing just now."
There was a slight pause before Shuichi heard the other person write their response. "Really!? Aww, thanks, you make me blush! ^-^"
The detective blushed a bit once he read his reply. He tried to write but his palms had gone sweaty, causing him to drop the pen that he was given. He frantically patted around the ground, trying to look for it. He thought that he could hear some quiet, muffled giggling from the other side of the door.
Finally, Shuichi found his pen and wrote his response. "It's no problem, really." He slipped it under the door. The paper was only halfway under when the person from the other side pulled it away and started scribbling on it.
"Hey, do you want to hear me play some more?"
"I'd love to!" He hadn't meant to sound that excited but he really did want to hear the pianist play some more.
"Any specific song that you'd like to hear or nah?"
"You can choose."
Shuichi could see that the paper was pulled back, but there were no scribbling noises. Instead, he heard a few single notes being played, and a few chords being tested out. Then the song started.
The song had a sort of melancholy vibe to it. The notes never came to an abrupt stop, but instead, they just flowed into each other. It was almost hypnotizing. Minutes felt like hours, but then the last few notes faded out and it suddenly ended all too soon.
There was a knock on the door and then the paper was slid back to Shuichi: "How did I do? I haven't played that one much, so..."
"I think that it was beautiful.." The detective blushed a bit, swallowed his nerves, and slid it back. Not long after did he receive a response.
"Thanks! But it kinda feels like you're flirting with me. Is that on purpose?"
"..."
The person on the other side giggled some more, yet Shuichi still couldn't figure out who was there.
"You never fail to entertain me~ Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you left me alone for the time being. But if you reeaaallyy like me then you can try and come back. If you're lucky, I might not be here!"
'Might not'..? Shuichi repeated in his mind. He decided that he wouldn't question it though. Instead, he just wrote down a farewell on the piece of paper and slid it underneath the door. He looked back once more before walking away.
xxx
"Hey, where are you going, Shuichi?"
"Hm?" Shuichi turned around, finding Kaito following him up the stairs. "Oh, uhm... I was just going up to the second floor."
"Yeah... At this exact time... Every day... for the past week." Kaito gave his friend a weird look before continuing. "...What are you even doing up here, bro?"
The detective could feel a nervous sweat start to form. What's there to hide, though? he asked himself. You're just listening to a mysterious person play piano in a dead person's lab... Kaede... He suddenly snapped back into reality, and quickly tried to think of a smart way to reply.
"I... walk up here."
That's perhaps the most stupid thing that I have ever said in my entire life.
"You know what I mean," Kaito groaned.
Out of nowhere, music suddenly started to play and fill both of the boys' ears. Shuichi tried to keep calm, but when he looked over, he noticed that his friend had a slightly terrified look on his face. "Are you, uh... Are you okay?"
"Is that coming from Kaede's old lab? I-Is there a gh-ghost in there playing her piano? Or is her ghost in there!?"
"..." The detective got some bad flashbacks, seeing Kaede's dead body being hung above the giant piano... He shuddered and shook his head, as if it were some way to get the memory out of his mind.
The music stopped suddenly, and Kaito walked over to the door. He tried the handle but it wouldn't move. Then he bent over to pick something up from the ground...
"Shumai, you're back!" he read out loud. "I've prepared a special playlist for you today!"
Shuichi's eyes widened and his face grew red. "I'll just, uh, take this." He harshly grabbed the paper out of Kaito's hand.
"Hey, what is this...? Is... Is it actually Kaede!?"
A knock came from the door and another piece of paper was slipped out to their side. This alone was able to cause Kaito to yelp while Shuichi hurried to pick it up.
"UM, I don't think that I invited him to hear me play, now did I? These are private concerts just for you, Shuichi!"
"Sorry... He kind of just followed me here and I couldn't stop it... But I would still love to hear the songs that you picked out...!" He slid his message back to the person inside.
"So you do know about this..." Kaito mumbled. "So it's not a ghost... Unless you can communicate with—"
"No, it's not ghosts," Shuichi cut him off. "They're just an anonymous pianist who plays for me..."
"Maybe you could find out who they are?" the astronaut offered. "To me kind of sounds like a nice set up for some romance stuff... Who knows, Shuichi, maybe you could get a girlfriend while we're stuck in here!" He wiggled his brows, causing Shuichi to sigh.
Hethen looked back down at the ground and picked up the latest note that read, "To Kaito Momoron: leave." Chuckling a bit at the bluntness of the message, he passed it over to the addressed person.
Kaito read it and threw it to the ground. "Never mind, then! Screw them, they sound a bit like Kokichi!"
Shuichi started to wonder about the possibilities of Kokichi actually being the one behind the door. Playing the piano for him, joking and flirting with him through the notes that they shared...
The astronaut picked a new note up off the ground. "Of course not, I have tits..." he read aloud, voice growing to be a mumble.
Maybe it isn't Kokichi then. The detective sighed. "Can you please just play? You can pretend that he isn't even here."
"..."
No note was slipped under the door, but instead the piano started to play. Shuichi could instantly recognize the song: "This Is Gospel." "This Is Gospel" then turned into "Emperor's New Clothes," so on and so forth...
Once the musically medley was over with, Kaito looked over at Shuichi with his nose scrunched up. "What... kind of music was that? I've never heard something like that."
A new note appeared. "I bet you recognized all of the songs in there. You did, didn't you!? I know how emo you are, so I spent all night making this! It was supposed to be something special for only you to hear but then Kaito somehow got wrapped up in it..."
His heart fluttered a bit at the thought of someone taking the time to make something just for him... But then it caught up with him that this anonymous person stayed up for an entire night.
"I loved it! But I feel bad that you stayed up just to make it..."
"It's fine! I was already up scheming some other things, anyway. Oh! But I really need to get going now, so if you all could, like... leave?"
Shuichi would be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed about the abrupt end, but he didn't want to waste anymore of the pianist's time if it was something really important. He wrote a quick "see you later?"
"Sure! Or hear you later, since you still haven't figured out who I am. I'll be looking forward to it, Mister Detective! <3"
Shuichi blushed and made sure to hide the note from Kaito. Everything seemed to be going well... but that thought started to change when later on that day, Gonta knocked him out cold.
xxx
Nearly midnight. Lights were off. Shuichi couldn't stay still in bed.
Rantaro gets hit in the head by a mysterious figure. They're blackened, so any details that could distinguish their identity can't even be seen. Then his body gets thrown into the tank that Himiko just left during her underwater escape trick. The piranhas then eat his body up along with Ryoma's, staining the water a dark pink and only leaving behind two skeletons and Ryoma's handcuffs.
Shuichi points at Kaede and then Kirumi. Monokuma, who stands off to the side, giggles as Kirumi runs for her life, screaming in desperation. She runs through crowds of people who are all yelling at her and holding up signs with the most awful messages on them. She finds a rope and climbs up it, hoping it will lead to the exit. Up at the top it a trapdoor, and she quickly opens it.
The view then gets flipped, and Kirumi is suddenly falling down to meet Kaede on a giant piano. Vines with sharp thorns drop from the ceiling and wrap around both of their necks. They get suspended, and play a song together. It sounds horrific. People in the audience start throwing rocks at them, and eventually, some start to throw moving circular saws at them. All throughout the torture, the two of them can only stare at Shuichi with nothing but spite in their gazes.
By the end of the show, Kaede and Kirumi are just barely recognizable. The piano lid starts to close, blocking the view from the mangled corpses. It finally shuts with a loud thud—
Shuichi shot up in his bed, breathing heavily with sweat covering his entire body. Just last morning, he had his "heart stolen" by Kokichi. Then later that day, Ryoma was found dead. Even later, Shuichi sentenced his friend, the reliable and trustworthy Kirumi, to death. He could have never guessed that that would happen...
Shuichi curled up into a ball, running his hands through his own hair. He shut his eyes closed, as if that was a way to escape the terrible killing game that he had been thrust into. In the back of his mind, he can hear a piano playing. He thought that he wouldn't want to ever hear or even see another piano again, but... the song that replayed in his mind from his memory was beautiful. It was calming...
All of a sudden, he hopped out of bed and found himself walking out of the dormitory and to the academy building. What am I doing, he thought, yet making no effort to stop himself. If I'm hoping that the anonymous pianist will just so happen to be there then I'm flat out pathetic.
Shuichi sighed and continued to walk, the tears that had threatened to spill starting to dry up. Maybe I could just go in there and play one of the records in there... Music is supposed to be calming. Maybe I can make myself pass out or something like that...
He eventually made it to the Ultimate Pianist's lab. As expected, there were no soft melodies dancing around in the air. Just a still silence.
If the pianist isn't in there then the door shouldn't be locked... Shuichi placed his hand on the doorknob and, like he expected, it was unlocked. He opened up the door, but right as he did so, he registered the first note on the piano being played.
The detective stopped in his tracks. The person sitting in front of the piano continued with the start of their song, seeming to be hyper focused on playing. It left Shuichi wondering if he should just leave or wait for them to finish.
He opted for the latter, despite knowing that it was probably best for him to leave. He was tired, and that was his excuse for every poor decision he would make that night.
All of a sudden, the pianist's finger slipped and played the wrong note. They grumbled to themselves in frustration and flipped their sheet music back by a page. While doing that, however, they must have seen Shuichi's shadow at the doorway...
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Any bit of sleepiness that Shuichi still had was torn away from him at the scream, and it even caused him to fall back on his butt.
"..." The pianist looked down at him for a second in silence before bursting into laughter. "Haha, oh my god, haaah... That's just too great!"
Shuichi's eyes widened when he heard the person laugh. He recognized it—it was full of pure happiness, and it just had a childlike vibe to it—the pianist was... "K-Kokichi...?"
"Yep. It's me! I bet that I wasn't the person that you were expecting now, huh?" Kokichi made his way over to the fallen detective and offered his hand to him. Shuichi gladly took it, and soon he was back on his feet.
"Kokichi, you... you were the one who always played... for me?"
"Of course not! I can't play piano at all!" He walked over to the piano. "Watch me." He laid his fingers on the keys and pressed down, a god awful bunch of notes making themselves be heard.
"I saw you start to play though."
"I may have tried to play this time, but those other times that you came to the door? Those were just recordings that I found from over there." The boy pointed over to the shelves full of discs.
Shuichi let out a lighthearted chuckle. "Ah, um, I'm fairly sure that you wouldn't be able to find 'This Is Gospel' in there, Kokichi."
"Aw man, you caught me! But may I ask... why are you even here so late at night? Or early in the morning... It is a little past midnight, y'know."
The detective's gaze dropped to the floor. "I had a nightmare..." he whispered. "I thought that maybe the piano would soothe me... Ironically enough, there was a piano in my nightmare... C-Can I talk about it...?"
Kokichi walked back over to Shuichi. "Hmmm? Me? Of all people? Do you just like me that much?"
"..."
"Go ahead," Kokichi said while holding onto Shuichi's hand.
The taller of the two blushed at the contact, but he gripped onto the other's hand tightly as he opened his mouth to speak. "I... I saw the people who died... And then I saw Kaede and Kirumi... g-get executed together..." His breathing hitched a bit and he started to tear up. "They both s-stared at me... a-and they h-hated m-me, a-and..."
Kokichi noticed Shuichi begin to tremble. Slowly and carefully, he wrapped his arms around him.
Shuichi stiffened once he realized that he was being hugged, but after a second he began to hug back. "I-I'm sorry for... for b-bothering you like... th-this..."
"Shh... You're not bothering me." Kokichi looked off to the side. "If anything, I'm probably bothering you..." he whispered.
"...What does that mean?"
"You know what happened. The Insect Meet and Greet, what happened after the trial..."
Shuichi pulled away from Kokichi's embrace and looked at him. The moonlight that flowed in from the windows made something in the small boy's eyes glisten, and it was then that Shuichi realized that the supreme leader has some tears of his own in his eyes.
He brought his hand up to wipe away the tears with his thumb. This only caused Kokichi to look back at him with a confused look on his face.
"...What are you doing." The question came out more like an accusatory statement. He sighed and placed his hand on top of Shuichi's which was still resting on his face.
"You're sad as well..." the detective mumbled in reply. "I suppose we should both calm down... It's quite late and we should both get some rest... We've had a long day, you especially."
Kokichi shook his head, eyes still a bit watery. "First of all, I'm not sad about anything! An evil supreme leader such as I can't afford to waste time on emotions!" He wiped at his own eyes for a second before continuing, "But, second of all, I guess we should try to get rest... I need the energy so that I can continue to create evil plans for my organization once we get out of here!"
Shuichi nodded at him.
"Oh, wait, didn't you say that you came here to hear the piano?"
Shuichi nodded once more.
"I guess that I could try and play a bit for you, like a live concert!" Kokichi's eyes lit up before his expression fell. "I can't believe that you're forcing me to do this. I'll be expecting a reward once I'm done!"
Shuichi opened up his mouth, about to contradict him before he stopped himself. I should just go along with it. I'm starting to feel tired again, so I shouldn't be thinking too much about it anyway. He sighed. "Um, okay... Play whatever you want to." He then walked over to sit against a wall, positioned to where he would be able to see Kokichi perfectly.
"Alright then! Relax, get comfortable, and just hope that I don't purposefully mess up a chord just to mess with you!" The pianist sat down in front of the piano and flipped through some of his sheet music, furiously scribbling a few notes down while he did so.
Shuichi had to admit, it was kind of cute seeing the boy so enthusiastic about playing.
Kokichi slowly let his hands fall down to the piano keys. And then he began to play.
Shuichi immediately recognized the song. It was "Clair De Lune." He let a bittersweet smile cross his face and he closed his eyes, drinking in all of the sweet music. Really, he thought, Kokichi is just... amazing at playing the piano. I never would have expected this from him... Well, I'm not even quite sure what I do expect out of him, but... He opened his eyes once more. From this angle, he could see how the moonlight flooded in through the window and illuminated Kokichi and the piano. Deft fingers carefully reaching out to hit all of the right keys on time.
...Kokichi never ceases to surprise me.
He felt himself start to grow tired. As the song continued, it only seemed like he was getting pulled closer and closer to sleep...
Kokichi finally finished the song. He looked over at Shuichi. His eyes were closed, and it seemed like he was sleeping. Well, he thought, I can't just leave him here by himself, now can I? He quietly stood up from his bench and made his way over to the detective.
He sat down next to him and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. Then he leaned his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes. "Goodnight, my beloved..." He started to fall asleep when all of a sudden, he felt something shifting.
Shuichi sleepily turned his head a bit to kiss the crown of Kokichi's head. "Mm... Goodnight..."