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The tide lapped at the beach as the stars hung heavy overhead. The air was thick with the silence of night and the buzz of unseen insects. Kazuichi tucked his knees against his chest and rested his chin on them, staring out at the bleak expanse of the sea.
Everything had gone wrong ever since they’d woken up on this damned island. He’d been excited first—his first school trip ever, and to an exclusive island resort no less! Nothing but sandy beaches and pretty girls, as far as the eye could see.
But then the killing had started. First Byakuya and Teruteru; then Mahiru and Peko; and now Ibuki, Hyoko, and Mikan.
He dropped his chin to rest his forehead against his knees, hiding his face. He just wanted to go home. He couldn’t kill anyone—he didn’t have the guts for that—but still.
“Hey.”
Kazuichi screamed, scrambling backward until he ran into the palm tree behind him. “I’m sorry! Please don’t kill me!” Heart pounding, eyes swimming with tears, he held his hands out to block an impending blow…but none came.
“Calm down, will ya?” Fuyuhiko stared down at him, hands shoved in his pockets. “I saw you sitting out here and just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“R-right.” Kazuichi lowered his hands, willing his heart to slow down. “I’m okay. Yeah. I’m good.”
Fuyuhiko snorted. “Yeah. Sure.”
He didn’t leave. Kazuichi scrubbed his sweaty hands on his legs and tried to shift around to a more comfortable position. Fuyuhiko wasn’t looking at him anymore, just out at the empty horizon. Hands in his pockets, brow furrowed in a scowl that didn’t belong on a kid’s face, shoulders set like he expected danger around every corner. He wasn’t the most flamboyant of their group, but Kazuichi didn’t doubt that Fuyuhiko could take most of them down without breaking a sweat.
But he looked strangely lost tonight. Just one small figure against the vast unknown around them. Kazuichi cleared his throat, then ventured a question of his own. “How about you? You okay?”
Fuyuhiko sighed, taking that as an invitation to drop down into the sand beside Kazuichi. He sat cross-legged, hands resting on his knees, shoulders squared like a mob boss reviewing his subordinates.
“It’s just fucked up, you know?” Fuyuhiko finally said. “All this killing and shit. It’s one thing when you’ve got a reason for it, but why’d they do this, huh? Why us? What’d we do?”
“I don’t know.” Kazuichi was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to deserve this, even with his missing memory. Fuyuhiko was a yakuza, and probably had more enemies than he could count despite his young age. Nagito was definitely the kind of guy to get himself into trouble like this. Even people like Nekomaru and Akane could have made themselves enemies, but Kazuichi?
He was spectacularly unimportant. His old man probably hadn’t even noticed he was missing yet—or else he was happy about it.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he whimpered, pulling his knees close again to hide his face in them. Tears were prickling his eyes, and the last thing he wanted was to show weakness right now.
But he was weak and small and pitiful. Spectacularly unimportant. Remarkably useless. Even his stupid talent was useless here—there were no engines, no gear, nothing he could use to help their escape. The best he could do was try to stay out of everyone’s way and hope they let him escape with them.
“It’ll be okay.”
He didn’t dare look up when Fuyuhiko spoke. He didn’t deserve this kind of sympathy—the other guy really shouldn’t be wasting it on him. He should be saying things like this to the girls. Or Hajime. Hell, even Gundham…the dude was a creep, but at least he wasn’t worthless.
“We’re gonna get out of here, okay? We’ll find out way onto the next island and there’ll be something there…something to get us outta here.”
Kazuichi shrugged. It didn’t matter anyway. He practically had a target painted on his back already. No one really wanted him around, and it wasn’t like he was any good to the team.
“Don’t lose hope, all right?” Fuyuhiko’s hand on his shoulder startled him, and he looked up. He knew the other guy could tell he was on the verge of tears, but there was an odd hint of sympathy in Fuyuhiko’s visible eye. “Come on, let’s go back,” he said, holding a hand out to help Kazuichi stand. “You look like the kinda guy who doesn’t really want to hang around in the dark like this.”
He grimaced, taking Fuyuhiko’s hand to pull himself up. “Is it that obvious?”
“It’s a little obvious,” Fuyuhiko agreed. “Everybody’s got something, man. It’s okay.”
Maybe…but Kazuichi had a lot of somethings. He shifted awkwardly, not quite ready to make eye contact. “Hey, uh…thanks. For that.”
Fuyuhiko turned away, hands stuffed back in his pockets. “We still need you, all right?” he called over his shoulder. “Don’t forget.”
“Right.” Kazuichi wrapped his arms around himself, head down, trudging through the sand back toward the hotel and another restless night. “Don’t lose hope…right.”