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You sat alone on the rooftop of the dormitories, finding solace in the cool of the night. It was quiet, but a peaceful quiet. Not the suffocating quiet you were victim to when you were holed up in your room. You could relax out here.
It crossed your mind once or twice that being alone during this killing game probably wasn’t a good idea, but you figured that since you were so close to the dorms, if something were to happen you could scream and be saved. Or you could push the attacker off the roof. It wasn’t a foolproof plan or anything, but it put your mind at ease a little. You came out here to stop thinking about the killing game, after all.
You found yourself feeling hopeless. Two… Two people were already murdered. People that for a short while, you considered friends. It’s unfair, disgusting, and despicable. This whole “game” is despicable. Toying with human life like this… You started to get worked up again, anger and sadness coming back in a wave. You clenched and unclenched your fists for a minute to try and calm yourself.
You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, standing up and stretching your arms to your sides to feel the air against your skin.
Cool air, night sky, quiet breeze…
“Hey (Y/N)! What’re you doing up there?”
Kaito Momota.
You jump at the sudden voice, not realizing that someone was outside with you. You didn’t even hear the front door of the dorms open. When did he come out? How long had he been standing there? You glared at him from the rooftop, putting a hand over your fast beating heart.
“Oh, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare ya.”
You rolled your eyes, hoping he couldn’t see. “It’s fine.” You called back, loud enough for him to hear but not too loud that it would echo or wake anyone up, “I was just getting some fresh air.” “Fresh” was probably a lie, being trapped in a dome most likely meant that the air was recycled.
Kaito smiled, “Really? Me too!” He put a finger to his chin in a quizzical way, “But why on the roof?”
You shrug at him, “It’s fun? I like high places.”
He lights up, clapping his hands together. “Like a cat! That’s cool!”
You let out a laugh, muffling it behind your hand. “Yeah. Like a cat.”
There was a quiet moment before Kaito called to you again, making you look down at him.
“Would it be okay if I joined you?”
You tried to hide your surprise with a quick nod, “Yeah, sure. The ladder is around the back.” He gave you a thumbs up before making his way through the grass to get to the back of the building. You took a seat on the roof and waited for him, your back turned to the ladder. You didn’t think Kaito liked you very much, so you did find it kind of odd that he wanted to hang out with you.
What if he’s going to kill you?
You heard the ladder rattle, which made you jump out of your thoughts. You glared at the ground. You shouldn’t be thinking like that. Being skeptical of everyone around you will only lead to chaos. You pushed those thoughts out of your head as Kaito got to the top, having claimed the ladder fairly quickly.
“Damn, how’d you do that on your own…” He commented absentmindedly as he hoisted himself onto the roof. You turned to him, watching him almost trip on his slippers. You had to hold in a laugh.
“Are you calling me weak?” You said it teasingly, but he flushed and shook his head.
“N-no! No… Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” His smile was kind, apologetic. It made you smile, too.
“It’s okay. My legs are a lot stronger than my arms. It was harder than I thought it would be, but I managed.” You gestured for him to come next to you and take a seat. “The stone’s a little cold, but it’s better than standing.” Kaito took a second to think before he got an idea. He quickly removed his jacket and laid it down on the floor, spreading it out enough for the both of you to sit. He gave you another smile, “There! Now we can both be comfortable.” You thanked him as you scooted yourself onto the soft material of the jacket, bringing your knees up to your chest to take up the least room as possible.
The second Kaito sat down, his head was turned up to the night sky. You looked over at him, but then turned back, not realizing how close he was sitting. Surely there was more room on the jacket… You peeked a glance at him again. The way he looked up at the stars… you could only describe it as longing. You found it sort of bittersweet. You realized your quick glance went on for too long and you turned away from him again, directing your attention to the sky, too.
You’re more than aware of the romantic implications of this scene, but you try your best to ignore it to keep from embarrassing yourself.
“Do you know any constellations, (Y/N)?”
You shake your head slowly, “No, not really.”
The sky was clear for the most part, which made the stars sparkle more. It was beautiful, but truthfully, you knew nothing about it.
When you turned back to him, he was looking at you with excitement.
“Can I tell you about them?” His eyes were sparkling and he looked so happy, you figured it would be flat out cruel if you said no. Plus, it’s a good distraction, if not also mildly interesting.
Kaito pointed out a constellation, told you its name and a bit about it, and then when he was satisfied rambling about one, would move onto the text. It was a lot of information at once and you believed you probably wouldn’t remember it or need to remember it after tonight, but nevertheless, you listened.
“That one’s Aries. You at least know that, right?”
At this point, you were both lying down on the jacket. Kaito was pointing at the sky, but you couldn’t really tell where it was.
“Yeah. The ram?” He nodded, dropping his hand back onto his stomach. He explained the parts that he knew about it before pointing to another, “That’s Taurus. I don’t know much about the zodiac part, to be honest. Just the names and where it is.”
You realized you weren’t looking at the sky for that one. Just at him.
You blinked, “Oh? Sorry, I missed it.”
He chuckled and put his hand out towards you. For a second, you were confused, but then you realized he was asking for your hand. Your cheeks flushed a little as you lifted your arm towards him. He gently took your wrist and you pointed your finger to the sky as he guided your hand to trace over Taurus.
You went quiet again, cheeks red as you stared up at the sky, still pretty unfocused. This made it very hard for you to ignore the “romantic implications.”
His hand lingered for a few seconds, but then he let go, letting both of you drop your arms. You closed your eyes and took a few deep breaths to try to calm yourself down, wanting to break the awkward silence but not confident enough that your voice won't come out as a squeak.
Thankfully, Kaito spoke first, “I think that’s all of the constellations visible tonight… Thanks for um… listening.” He gave you another smile, looking almost regretful, and it melted your heart.
“Thanks for telling me about them. It’s really cool!” You are not going to let him regret telling you about his interests. “I didn’t know there were so many constellations. I thought it was just the little and big dipper.” He laughed, that excited smile returning.
“There’s even more than those! If… If you’re around tomorrow, I’ll be happy to show you more.”
You felt his excitement rubbing off on you and you smiled with him, “I would love that.”
For the next few days, right after the nighttime announcement, you and Kaito would meet on the rooftop. He would talk about the constellations, different stars, and planets, and other astronaut related things, while you would talk a little bit about ballet whenever you got a chance. Unlike him, you weren’t as passionate or as talkative, so you didn’t mind him carrying the conversation, but sometimes he’d ask you a question about your talent. It made you happy that he cared enough to ask.
But one night… you didn’t show up. Kaito sat on the roof, waiting for you. He laid back and watched the stars for a few hours, but you never showed up. It wasn’t uneventful, he got some stargazing in, but not being able to talk to you upset him. He got a little worried at the idea that you… No. It’s better not to think like that.
The next morning, Kaito waited by your door before the morning announcement to greet you. It took you longer than usual to get up and out the door that morning, but Kaito waited for you.
When you walked out the door and saw him leaning against the wall, you raised an eyebrow.
“Where were you last night? Is everything okay?”
Your expression changed from confusion to worry, “Oh my god, I’m sorry. I fell asleep a bit early.”
Kaito frowned, “Well that’s fine, rest is good for you! But… I was worried.” His gaze moved to the floor when he spoke, uncharacteristically nervous.
A grateful smile graced your lips, “Thank you, Kaito.”
“Really though… is something wrong?”
“I just had… a bad day yesterday. That’s all.”
Suddenly he jumped up, putting his two fists together and sporting the most determined look you’ve ever seen on him.
“I’ll make sure you feel better! Meet me on the rooftop tonight! We have to conquer the bad days, Kaito Momota style!”
You had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but you found yourself looking forward to tonight.
Kaito met with you that night in your usual roof spot, looking just as energetic as he normally is. You’d say it’d make you angry if you didn’t find it so endearing.
“I brought snacks!” He dug into his pockets and pulled out a couple of bags of chips and some candy. “I raided the warehouse.” His smile was wide and proud as he sat down besides you and handed you some of the snacks. You thanked him as you halfheartedly grabbed a bag of your favorite chips and opened it. You didn’t eat dinner with everyone, so you were glad he brought some food, but you still weren’t sure if you could stomach anything.
You ate slowly, not saying much. It was silent between the two of you, besides the occasional rustle of the chip bag.
After a bit, he spoke up, putting his food down and going into his jacket. He held onto something as he spoke, “So… When I was thinking about ways to cheer you up… I stumbled across this!”
He pulled out a circular device from his jacket pocket, which you immediately recognized as a portable CD player.
Your surprise must have been evident, because his grin grew. “I found these when I was rummaging around in the warehouse! I thought we could have a dance party!”
You gig
gle, “Oh, I can’t really dance…”
Kaito’s eyes widened in shock, “What? How?! You’re the Ultimate Dancer!”
“I’m the Ultimate Ballet Dancer, Kaito.”
He looked at you with a confused frown. Kaito didn’t know the difference, but that didn’t matter right now.
“W-whatever! Just get up-” He stood up and bent over you, taking you by the wrists. You grabbed onto his as he hoisted you onto your feet. In the process, you dropped your chip bag and you pouted, but went ignored. “-And dance!” You took a slight step back, noticing a significant lack of distance between the two of you after he helped you up.
You placed your hands on your hips, “What are we even going to dance to? There’s no music.” At this point you were just being a sourpuss on purpose, not really in the same joyful and careless mood as Kaito.
He smirked once you said that and went back into his jacket pockets. Jesus, how much stuff does he keep in there?
“I thought you would say that… So I found this!” He pulled out a CD case and handed it to you. “They were stacked up next to the players.” You took it and looked over the front cover. In big, bold letters the front said “ MONOKUMA’S MAD MIXTAPE. ” You laugh and pop it open. The CD itself had a sticker on it with a shitty drawing of Monokuma, with the same writing. There wasn’t a track list anywhere.
“So… did Monokuma make this?”
“Probably?”
“Do you even know what’s on it? It could be… Satanic chanting. Or a brainwashing podcast! Or worse-” you pause, looking up at him in the eye with a wide, terrified stare, “-Country music.”
Kaito let out a loud laugh, but shook his head and handed you the portable player, too.
“It won’t hurt to try! Nothing could be worse than that video…”
Being reminded of that made you freeze. That stupid song on loop, loud and annoying. It made your head hurt just thinking about it. And it didn’t stop, not until… until…
You felt pressure on your shoulder that made you jump out of your trance. You looked up to see Kaito, worried, with a hand on your shoulder. You shift the music player and CD into one hand, placing your now free hand onto his.
“I’m sorry, (Y/N). I shouldn't have brought it up.”
“It’s okay, Kaito.” You smiled at him in a hopefully reassuring way, but then you noticed you were crying. You reached up to wipe away your tears.
Before you could say anything else, though, Kaito dropped his arm from your shoulder and leaned down a little, wrapping his arms around you. You got stunned into silence as he did so, pulling you into a gentle but firm hug.
You had to hold back more tears. It felt so… comforting. And foreign. You slowly put your arms around him, hearing him say a few more apologies, but you dismissed each one with a shake of your head.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault…” Really, as tragic as it was, it was no one's fault. No one but Monokuma. You cried and mourned over their deaths already, but there was nothing else you could do.
The only thing, you thought, is to prevent this game from continuing.
You looked at Kaito while you were backing away, watching the worry dissipate from his eyes as you smiled at him.
You opened the CD player up and placed it on the floor, then opened the CD case and popped the CD in. When you closed it and pressed play, the first song that came on something upbeat and pop-y. You beam, happy that it isn’t satanic chanting or country.
“Shall we dance?” You ask him in a dramatic, over the top accent and you both laugh together. Kaito bowed to you in a similar fashion, making you giggle, “We shall!” Even though he was trying to appear “elegant,” his energy and excitement was still ever-present.
That night, the two of you spent hours dancing around the roof like a couple of dorks, and it was (in your and Kaito’s opinion) the best night ever.