Shuichi sighed and laid down on the long grass in the maintaince area of the school... It was nighttime, so the exisal wasn't working here...
And I don't have to worry about bugs. He thought reassuringly to himself, remembering Gonta's dissatisfaction at the lack of bugs. Shuichi had always wanted to just lay in long grass, feeling the cold night wind run through his hair. But he couldn't help but remember his mother would scold him over it. He couldn't help but chuckle at the memory...
At least he had some memories that weren't stolen. He took a deep breath. The Nighttime announcement had to of been a few hours ago... Despite the events of today, he couldn't bring himself to sleep... He lifted up his hand to block the bright moon in the sky. His hat obscured his eyesight a tad, but he didn't mind.
"... Kaede.." He whispered her name, moving his hand faintly. She had just been with him that morning. "... Damnit..!" His hand fell down to his face, knocking his hat off. "... Damnit.." He choked out another curse.
"Shuichi?" A voice made him jolt, but he quickly wiped away the tears that were forming in his eyes. He sat up and looked over at the voice. A short girl stood on the sidewalk, her eyes brimming with worry over the young detective. She had long wavy gentle red hair, with a hint of pink near the tips that she styled to lay over her shoulder. A white cashmere beret was on her head, a large brown button decorated on it. Her outfit was very theatrical. Her white outfit was long and wispy, almost ghost like with the nighttime feel. The shirt was open shoulder, with greek like decorations at the end of the holes. Asides from that she wore just normal leggings, although there were tears here and there from the struggle of that day. She had on a cute, but handmade button necklace as well.
She blinked, confused. Her face was slim, freakles splattered across her nose. Her eyes were a bright blue, almost silver. "What are you doing?"
"Ah..." His mouth opened to say her name, but he froze. Her name was Kaida Kakinoki. He couldn't help but remember when her and Kaede met...
"Ahaha~" The memory came flooding back to him. Kaede's laugh was nice to hear, even in memory.. She had just met Kaida and they both hit it off, which wasn't hard for the bubbly Kaeda. "Our names are so similar!" She said excitingly to the girl. "Although you're much cuter."
Shuichi opened his mouth to interrupt but the girl laughed.
"I wouldn't say I'm cuter." She said what Shuichi was going to. "And Kokichi and Shuichi's names are similar too."
Well that was true. Shuichi frowned, not sure if he felt comfortable with that one.
"Yeah but-" Kaede fumbled over her words and looked to Shuichi and then to Kaida. "Not this similar."
"Yeah, I know." Speaking of the little devil, Kokichi interrupted them. "Kaeda, Kaida. Like that's not gonna get annoying fast. Hopefully one of you gets killed off fast."
Kaida giggled, it looked as if she wasn't fazed by the 'killed off' comment. "We'll get used to it." Kokichi just shrugged and continued on his journey to the Dining Hall.
"Uh.." Kaida frowned, feeling uncomfortable at the silence. "Are you okay?"
"Oh! Uh-" Shuichi blushed and reached for his hat, placing it on his haed. "Ye-Yeah..."
Kaida's face twisted into sympathy and she walked over to sit down next to him.
"I'm.. sorry about Kaeda.." Everyone knew that him and Kaeda were really close, despite only knowing each other for a few days. The first Class Trial had left them all a little stunned and.. full of despair. Kaida took a shaky breath.
"Um... I just.." Shuichi was sturggling with the words trying to escape his mouth. "I just can't help but wonder if it was the right thing to do..."
"If you hadn't of, we would of been dead." Kaida frowned. Despite how much she liked Kaeda, she wasn't sure if she would die for her. "Including you."
".. But what if I'm.. we're not worth it.."
His sorrowful words left her silent. She wasn't very good at consoling the grieving...
"... How's your cheek?" She asked instead, moving her hand over to his face.
"Ah!" He had to fight himself to not recoil away. "I-It's okay-"
"Kaito was stupid for punching you." Kaida frowned, remembering that idiot. "I mean, we were all..." She took a shaky breath and then flopped down onto the grass. "Tensions were high, is all."
Shuichi glanced down at her. Kaida was... a scary force to be reckoned with. He couldn't dream she would be dangerous, but her title as Ultimate Actress would prove to be hard to fight against in future class trials...
Future class trials? Shuichi found himself disgusted at the thought. "No that's wrong!" He suddenly shouted to himself, making Kaida jump.
"I-.. I'm pretty sure Kaito was stupid-"
"No not that." Shuichi frowned at his hands. "It's just- I won't let Kaeda die in vain- I won't let there be anymore class tirals... I'll get us all out here."
W.. Where did that sudden burst of energy come from? Kaida blinked at him, a little stunned at the switch. She took a breath before smiling at him.
"That's right!" She sat up. "She wouldn't want you sitting here, wishing to die in her place. She would want you to fight! Kick Monokuma in the balls!"
Shuichi laughed nervously. Kaida had been quite well spoken before now- that was weird.
Suddenly as if on cute the black and white bear popped out of the long grass with a hearty "RAWR".
Kaida's scream echoed all the way to the garden and she latched herself onto Shuichi, who had let out a similar screech.
"Puhuhuh- Already found yourself a rebound, eh Shuichi?"
"Wh-Wh..wh.." Shuichi's face was a bright red, but whether that was from his girly scream or Monokuma's remark was a mystery.
"I-It's not like that!" Kaida snapped at him. For a moment she had to stop herself to not kick the bear.
"Really? Because to me it seems like you two have been rolling around in the grass if you know what I mean~"
Shuichi blinked, still a little too stunned from the scare to process what in the hell was happening. Kaida crossed her arms and glared at the monochromatic bear.
"Now you're just trying to get a reaction out of us. Why would we hook up here if we were gonna hook up anywhere?"
"Be~caaause~" Of course Monokuma had a response for this. "Everyone knows public intercourse is far more exciting! Ba-dump~ Ba-dump~ Shrouded by the grass as your instincts take over~" The bear's face reddened and he began sweating profusely. "Who wouldn't want that?!"
Kaida rolled her eyes and stood up, dusting off the grass from her leggings. "Anyway.. I'm heading back to the dorms."
"Oh that reminds me." Shuichi ignored Monokuma and turned his attention to Kaida. She could see the detective determination in his eyes. "Why were you out so late?"
"I don't feel comfortable sleeping in normal clothes." Kaida looked down at her outift. "So I was looking in the warehouse for pajamas... And well- it turned into a scavenger hunt by the end of it. The warehouse is huuuge."
"You could always sleep in the nu~ude~" Monokuma egged on. Kaida shot him a glare and the bear looked a little dejected, before making his exit.
"What counts as normal clothes..?" Shuichi asked.
"I just wanted a t-shirt. But I wasn't able to find any. I was getting a little scared being in the school by myself at night so I can't say my search was thorough."
"... Well." Shuichi stood up, dusting himself off. "I can let you borrow one of my shirts for the night?"
"Would you?~" To be honest Shuichi had imagined for her to decline. After all sharing a shirt seemed more like a boyfriend thing.. In the end Shuichi's face turned red instead. "Aww." Kaida laughed at him. "Lookit that blush~" With that his face reddened more and he had to avert his gaze. "It's just a shirt." She turned to head back to the dorms. "Nothing else."
"Ye-Yeah, I know..!" He couldn't help but raise his voice as he raced to catch up with her. Even if he wanted, right now there was only one girl on his mind...