Chapter Text
Being dead is like being asleep.
Kaede isn’t even fully conscious. It feels like she’s drifting down a lazy river, both cold and hot at the same time. Her skin and brain feel like melted putty, condensed into a hapless shape.
Occasionally, a ghost of thought flickers to life in her mind, causing her throat to tighten as that persistent cold heat turns from pleasant to threatening. In those fleeting moments, Kaede will faintly wonder something, then slip back into the river. She is only able to remind herself of the answers when she briefly emerges once more.
Who am I?
…
Kaede Akamatsu. The…the Ultimate Pianist.
…
Where am I?
…
Oh…right. I died.
…
How long has it been?
…
Kaede has not known the flow of time since she took her final breath above that piano. She only knows the flow of the ghostly, lazy river of nothing she drifts upon.
Being dead doesn’t feel…
…like being dead.
I feel…sleepy.
Like a dream…
Oh, like Cristofori’s Dream, by David Lanz…
The ethereal notes hum to life around her, as enchanting as she remembers it. But even if she had the energy and soundness of mind to hum along, even if she had the energy to tip-tap her fingers over an imaginary set of keys, Kaede doesn’t know if she has a body to do so.
…
When did she stop moving?
Kaede finds the means to open her eyes. The supposed afterlife is void. Not white, not black, not gray. Just…void. The realization that she is no longer drifting is jarring to her, and she finds the means to move by shifting her weight from one leg to another (so she does have a body after all).
Pins and needles. But this is the most alive she’s felt since dying.
If this is the afterlife…is Rantaro here?
Kaede, with all the calculated slowness of Chopin’s Nocturne in C# minor, swivels her gaze across the void, hoping to see some color- any color would do. But there’s nothing. No one is here but her.
A sound reaches her.
If she was an animal, her ears would be swiveling toward the noise- a quiet sob, like an out-of-tune piano key.
There- a silhouette! Kaede breaks into a sprint. The silhouette grows and grows until she can make out the finer details- fluffy sterling hair, skin pale as death (that was certainly the case), tears falling into nothingness.
The silhouette- no, the person. The person is short in stature, shorter than Kokichi, even. He cries into his palms, wiping away at his eyes in vain.
Kaede manages to find her voice. “Hey…are you okay?”
The boy’s head shoots up, and he looks at her with wide glassy eyes the color of lilac. She gives him a tentative smile.
“H…hello?” He whimpers, unsure if she’s even real. (She’s having the same dilemma.)
“Hi there.” She replies. “What’s your name? I’m Kaede Akamatsu.”
The boy hiccups, not even acknowledging her question. “I- why did I- why did I have to die?”
She doesn’t reply.
“I thought it was over. I thought we were friends. Why did the killing start again?”
Kaede’s horrible, sinking feeling is only proved true by his question. This boy, too, suffered in a killing game. She puts her ghostly hands on his shoulders.
“I know how you feel. It’s…terrible, isn’t it?” Kaede says softly. “But at least…it’s over now. We aren’t in pain anymore, and there’s no more dying once you’re…dead.”
Her words seem to sober him up a little. He’s pretty brave, standing up straighter and slowing his tears despite the tremors in his body.
Kaede nods approvingly. “Good. Take a deep breath, and think about…a nice song! A nice song to calm you down. Like Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven!”
“Y-you’re weird.”
“Wow, thanks. I know I am, but there’s nothing wrong with that.” Still, the weak jab makes her laugh slightly. The boy manages a shaky smile.
They see it at the same time: light, beckoning them forth. So this really is the afterlife, Kaede thinks as she stares into yet another colorless void. The boy’s grip on her sleeve tightens.
“K-Kaede, what is that?”
“I…don’t know.”
“It looks scary. Do we really have to go there?”
“Well,” Kaede swallows, wishing she had a heartbeat to race against her ribs. “I don’t see anywhere else we can go, little guy.”
“Natsu,” he mutters. “My friends call me Natsu.”
“Okay, Natsu. We’ll go together, alright?”
He nods, holding on to her tight. Kaede leads them onward, humming Moonlight Sonata and using her free hand to mime playing the piano as she moves. The light begins to envelop them, chasing away the void, and Kaede swears she feels her still heart flutter, like a moth to a flame.
When there is no more void, only light, she and Natsu are left alone together. It is silent. She can’t find her voice anymore, can’t hum the rest of the song, and her hand feels frozen in time.
Then, it feels like they’ve tipped backwards, and they fall.
No sounds escape them. Kaede can’t see anything. She can only feel a small hand in her own, falling into nowhere alongside her. At the very least, she isn’t alone.
Her own thoughts bubble up and betray her.
Shuichi…everyone…I want to see you again.
She isn’t sure when she closes her eyes.
Rantaro…is this what happened to you? Were you alone, and afraid? I’m sorry…
Down.
Down.
Down…
Her back hits something softly with a shh.
There is no pain. No fanfare. Just a gentle shushing on the breeze.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ———⊱ ◯ ⊰——— ⋆⁺₊⋆
When Kaede’s consciousness begins to return to her, she feels a tickle on her cheek. She turns her head and gets a faceful of soft, fluffy grass. The wind is blowing, and the sun peeks out behind a bundle of clouds.
It’s pretty. Like Clair de Lune by Debussy. I never got to play that song for Shuichi…
She stares up at the clear sky. A finger enters her vision and pokes her cheek.
“Kaede?” Natsu squeaks. “You’re warm.”
She blinks. Her own hand reaches up and grasps Natsu’s finger. Warm.
Her heart quickens.
Her heart.
Kaede sits abruptly, wide-eyed. “What-?”
She’s shaking. She touches her own face, puts her hand over her heart. Warm. Beating. Alive?
Natsu leans closer to her, wrapping himself around her arm. “There’s people over there.” He whispers anxiously.
Kaede’s heart (her beating heart!) practically jumps into her throat as she squeaks out an embarrassingly off-key note and looks toward the north horizon.
There is a building in the distance. As red as a fiery dawn, with a sign over the entrance that she can’t read from this far away. It reminds her of the prison she died in.
Closer than the building are two silhouettes. Kaede can make out the colors red, blue, and brown. They are people, and they are getting closer. Running.
Natsu actually moves in front of her, still shaking. Kaede squeezes his arm for comfort. They’ve barely known each other for…an hour? A day? She isn’t sure, but he’s her friend. She won’t let any harm come to either of them. Not anymore…
The two people- girls- slow their pace about ten feet away from Kaede and Natsu. They seem a little out of breath, brows raised in surprise. The girl with blue hair smiles and waves. The brunette next to her steps forward.
“Hey,” the girl says. “Were you guys in a killing game, too?”
Kaede nearly collapses in relief. People like her, here in this strange place. People who look at her with kindness and empathy. People who understand.
She manages to smile back. “Yeah.”
The brunette offers them her hand. “I’m Aoi Asahina. But you can call me Hina!”
“Kaede Akamatsu,” she says, taking Hina’s hand as Natsu, relaxed, cheerfully waves back at the blue-haired girl. “What is this place?”
“I’m not really sure, to be honest.” Hina replies. “We’ve been here for a while, but all we really know is that the killing game is over, and the building over there is our home.”
The grass is feather-light against her skin as she walks with Natsu, Hina, and Sayaka. The sign becomes readable as she gets closer, black and white, stark against the red brick.
Renee Dawn’s Academy.
Welcome home.