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I’m no good for you, this heart ain’t built for two.
(KeiSou Week; Day 1: “Maybe in another life, this could’ve worked out”)
It was the second night of their questionable imprisonment and Keiji is desperately trying to hold on before stress gets to him. And if watching everyone else having fun while he sits in the background is what the medicine is going to be, then let it be.
It’s the night hours of the second day, and it’s a bit livelier than he intended it to be. Keiji was sitting in the main lobby drinking a sub-par coffee that Safalin made for the adults. If Keiji wasn’t such a nice, friendly policemen that wasn’t trapped in an unescapable killing game, he would probably comment on how strange the coffee tasted, but he didn’t dare to say anything. Once he finished his mug, the policeman looked up to quickly observe the room; Sara and Gin were playing together, Nao and Reko were sharing about their interest in music and art, Q-taro and Alice were casually having a conversation of sports, although Keiji can easily tell that Alice was not interested at all (but that didn’t stop Q-taro to keep on talking about his baseball career), and Kanna was sitting alone on the couch fiddling with a folded piece of paper.
Wait.
Where’s Sou?
It’s not weird not seeing Sou, but it IS weird seeing Kanna alone. Kanna usually wasn’t by herself, especially during free time like this, she’s usually glued to Sou’s hip all the time. Keiji wasn’t one to usually pry into Sou’s…. “Personal life”, but since he had nothing better to do, why not do his job and investigate for a bit.
Keiji sat his mug down on top of the coaster, dusted off his clothes, walked across the room, and knelt next to Kanna with his classic “friendly policemen” smile.
“Hey, Kanna. I hope I’m not bothering yo--” Before Keiji could even finish his greeting, Kanna made a small squeak noise as she almost fell off the couch. Even Keiji was caught off guard with her sudden outburst.
She got up quickly got up and wiped off her skirt, and looked up at Keiji. “O-Oh, Hi, Mr. Keiji. S-Sorry that I scared you.” The young girl smiled lightly, but the detective could still tell she was a tad shaken from his “sudden” appearance.
“Oh, it’s all alright. Actually, I should be the one to say sorry. Your friendly policemen snuck up on you and scared you that badly.” He jested, “Anyways, are you busy, Kanna? Because I actually have a really important question for you.”
Kanna titled her head slightly to the side, her face expressed both confusion and nervousness. She tucks away the piece of paper she had into her hand and hid it behind her back. “O-Oh, you do? What is it?”
Oh. She’s definitely hiding something.
Keiji centered himself and laughed to himself. “Oh, well. I was sitting from across the room and noticed that you were all alone? How come you’re not playing with Sara or Gin? Or even with Sou?”
“O-Oh, uhm…” She stares at the ground for a few moments before finding her words. “W-Well… I just wanted to sit in here and uhm….” She’s beginning to trial off, her body language becoming more closed off due to nerves than before.
Before he spoke, Keiji placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “Haha, don’t be too stressed. I’m just asking a question. Your friendly policemen would feel bad if he kept on making you feel this nervous around me.”
Kanna smiled weakly, nodding her head. She began to fiddle with the paper behind her back, but she hasn’t brought it in front of her just yet. Guess Keiji has to do a little bit more detective work then.
“So, you wanted to just sit here, huh. Can’t say that I don’t like doing that either. Although, I wonder why Sou left you alone. You two have been together since the first floor. So I figured you two would be playing together or--” Before Keiji could finish, Kanna begins to slightly pout, and began to start gathering her ‘fighting’ words.
Kanna continued to stand, but it was obvious that whatever she was hiding was on the verge of being outed. In a way to defend either herself or Sou, she speaks up suddenly in a slightly defensive loud tone. “S-Sou needed to do a big kid thing, so he told me to sit here and wait for you to talk to me so I can give you th—” She stopped speaking, her face now a bright red hue.
Bingo.
Keiji stood up and looked down at Kanna and smiled to himself as he cracked the “Missing Sou” case. “So, Sou was the one who told you stay here? And he gave you a piece of paper to give to me?”
The little girl jumped up in shock. “ H-How did you know it was paper?”
Keiji laughed again. “Well, that was just a guess, but it was because I saw you with a piece of paper earlier.”
The young girl slumped a bit once hearing what the detective had said, it was a bit obvious that she felt like she failed her green haired friend. After a few moments of silence between the two, she finally takes her hand from behind her back and presented a crumpled piece of paper. “H-He asked me not to read it, so I don’t know what he wrote. B-But he wanted you to read it….” She held her head down as she spoke, staring at her feet as she waited for the taller man to take the destressed paper.
Keiji felt almost bad for causing this much distress on something this small towards Kanna. He just wanted to figure out where the hell Sou is, not make Kanna almost piss herself by scaring her and then making her upset at herself. Keiji finally takes the paper from her and pockets it quickly. He knelt down again and places his hand on her shoulder once more. “Thank you, Kanna. Sorry I hassled you all about this piece of paper. I can see how much you’re dedicated to Sou.” Keiji wasn’t even sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing himself, but it seemed like it cheered Kanna up right away when her head perked up.
Kanna beamed at Keiji and smiles. “S-Sorry for not giving it to you right away… Sou said once I was done I could go to his room and get ready for bed, so… I’ll see you tomorrow! Bye, Mr. Policeman!” Kanna waved off as she walked away to the rooms, leaving Keiji by himself with the mystery paper.
‘Well, it took me a bit to get this thing, so I guess it’s time to read what the paper says’, Keiji thought to himself as he began to unravel the paper.
Keiji sat down and processed what was crudely written on the paper.
‘If you’re reading this, then I’m assuming you got Kanna to give you this. Well then, Mr. Policeman, Come meet me in the ruined corridor. Let’s get you to have a little bit of fun. No trading of tokens have to be done.
See ya later, copper.
- S’
Keiji could but be both annoyed and, in some strange way, intrigued. He didn’t expect something like this, especially from Sou, but that wasn’t stopping his boredom to explore this. Before heading off, he waves to the ones heading to bed a good night and begins his adventure with Sou.
….
“Alright, Sou. You had Kanna be your pigeon messenger, so here I am.” Keiji and Sou were now standing face to face in the ruined corridors, Sou leaning against a wall and Keiji standing straight up with his arms crossed.
Sou’s expression looked more surprised than anything when he asked his question. “You’re really gonna have to ask, huh?” Sou bounced himself off the road, and he begins to walk up to Keiji until there faces were barely touching. “It looked like you were bored, so I thought I could… Well, fix that.” The smaller man began to push Keiji through a destroyed room that is away from any peering eyes, but Keiji was not going to deal with this.
Before things could take a turn for the worst, Keiji grabbed Sou’s hands with just one of his own, flipped their positions, and pinned the smaller boy’s hands above his head against a wall. It caught Sou off guard, his breath slightly hitching while the fast movement took place. The two stood there, in complete silence, as Keiji looked down on his trapped pray.
“So…. Going to take the lead, huh? Can’t say that I’m surprised. I can easily say that you’re a natural leader… So this should be easy for you.” Sou only smiled innocently, like a little kid who didn’t know better. His words sounded so genuine too, like this was all a game to him.
Keiji could only just sigh. He can’t believe Sou, out of all people, was doing this to him. He’ll be honest, him and Sou never we’re the best of friends during this killing game. Yeah at first they were buddy-buddy, but even Keiji knew there was something hiding underneath. Since the first main game, they been on edge with each other, and only spoke once or twice. The only time they actually spent time together was a late night dinner, but it was only a few words traded. Keiji enjoyed their time together, he got to know him as a person and not just this mask he puts up. He knows Sou is a good person, underneath his chaotic demeanor... But, he doesn’t want another mistake to happen because of his ‘detective instincts’. He just couldn’t take that risk. As much as Keiji wants something to keep him…. Occupied, he….
Finally, Keiji dipped down to Sou, lips lingering close to Sou’s ears. “I appreciate the offer, Sou. I really do, and that’s coming from your friendly policeman.” Keiji smiled against Sou’s skin, and he could feel his body tremble lightly. “But….. As Keiji, the guy who you’ve only known since a few days ago, I only have one thing to say before I let you go.” The detective took a deep breath, gathering his final words for the night before letting his grip go on Sou’s slender hands.
“Maybe, just maybe, in another life, this could’ve actually all worked out. We could’ve had fun. Too bad, I guess.”
The taller man stepped back from his ear, his grip now loosening on Sou and letting him go. They’re eyes are now meeting one another. One looks fine, the other is trying hard not to show any sort of emotions.
“H-Haha… Of course. I saw this coming, of course. I just wanted to have some fun with you. No hard feelings, right? Water under the bridge from this point forward.” Sou’s façade was the same as before when he first pursued Keiji. Smiling. Just like a little kid. But this time it felt…. Different.
“Of course. Pretend this never happened, right?”
“Pretend that what never happened?” Sou grinned.
Keiji laughed to himself. ‘He caught on fast’, Keiji thought to himself.
“Well… It’s pretty late, and I need to do some more attractions with Kanna in the morning, so, I’ll guess we’ll talk again some time before the main game, right?” Before he could finish, Sou began to walk off before Keiji could reply, beginning to wave his hand while walking down the hallway.
Keiji didn’t reply to him, he just simply brushed off his clothes and waved back before he began to walk back to the lobby as well. Well, despite this being one big goose chase, he had least had an…. Interesting night with Sou. Well, back to his black, and probably cold, coffee.
.…….
Only a few moments had passed since the evening with, well, has passed. Sou was now in his room, changing out of his clothes and into some simple sleepwear that were supplied to everyone. After he neatly folded his clothes, he locked his door and flopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling, smiling to himself before he broke the silence.
“’In another life….. This could’ve worked out.’” He repeated to himself, his smile beginning to disappear as the words settled in. “Haha…. Too bad….. It’s like this 0.00% lingering above me plays more than just my life…. Well, I least I tried.”