Yukiteru Amano had always been emotional. Some even called him a crybaby. Years ago, the other kids had bullied him relentlessly for his weaknesses. They drove him to retreat into himself and choose isolation over ridicule. He'd gone for years without having or making friends because he didn't want to get hurt when they inevitably turned on him and mocked him.
He didn't feel any shame about crying now, though.
Standing on the rooftop of police headquarters, facing a death by either the armed cops behind him or the hard pavement five stories down... it seemed like a damn fine time to cry.
Yuno had tried to comfort him. She'd smiled, leaned in and kissed him. And then she pushed inward on his arm, shoving his body sideways, and made the decision for him.
As he felt himself tilt sideways and plummet, he felt a sick sense of relief. At least falling was the faster choice. And at least if he was going to die young, a mutual suicide with someone that loved him made for a memorable way to go.
It was a long way down from the top of Sakurami Police Headquarters, but it passed for Yuki in mere seconds. He had almost no time to prepare for what seemed like inevitable death before a fwa-lump sound enveloped him and he opened his eyes to see Yuno there in front of him, a satisfied smile on her face.
They were atop a beige canvas covering the top of a truck. More importantly, they were alive — just as Yuno had clearly expected them to be.
Before he could say anything to her, Yuno ordered him "Move!"
She wasted no time in grabbing Yuki's wrist and leaping down to the pavement, pulling him down from the truck with her. As soon as his feet hit the ground awkwardly, she instantly turned and dove back underneath the truck, yanking him with her.
Yuki yelped "Erk!" as he felt himself jerked down onto his back with a thud, then pulled underneath the back of the truck.
Yuno cringed in sympathy. "Sorry!" she stage-whispered. "I hope I didn't hurt you, baby... "
Yuki rubbed his eyes with one hand, still trying to get the tears out of them while also getting his bearings. That entire maneuver of hers took maybe a second — too fast for Yuki to be comfortable. He felt like he'd damn near gotten whiplash.
Once his eyes could see clearly once more, he looked over at his companion and asked, "Yuno, what the hell?!"
"Shhhhh," she warned him. She had flipped her phone open and was checking it. "That guy up there, Nishijima? He's definitely gonna look down here and try to spot us. He's probably doing it right now. I didn't want him knowing where we're headed, so we had to disappear — mess with his head a little."
"Mess with his head?" Yuki repeated, still confused. He shook his head quickly, attempted to focus, and opted to ask the easiest question. "Where are we going?"
"Beats me!" she confessed. She sounded oddly cheery about her lack of a plan. Yuno continued, "Somewhere far from here, at least... okay. That should be long enough."
"Long enough for what?" Yuki demanded.
Yuno didn't answer, because she was already climbing out from under the truck. "Come on, Yuki!" she called back. "We need to get going before Nishijima has the cops on the ground floor crawling all over us!"
Yuki grunted as he crawled out from beneath the truck and got back to his feet. Once he was upright, Yuno pointed to a line of trees surrounding a park that was caddy-corner to the northwest of the police HQ. "We'll cut through the park," she said decisively. "Let's go!"
Yuno took the lead, with Yuki jogging at a fast clip behind her. He nervously glanced towards the double doors of police headquarters — still closed and free of police at the moment — as they made their way out of the parking lot.
As the pair ran across the street, Yuki noticed that blood was running down Yuno's left arm from the spot where one of the officers had grazed her.
"You're hurt," he observed between breaths. "We need to bandage that up."
"I know," Yuno said firmly. She was all business now — totally locked into combat mode. "We don't want them following a blood trail right to us."
"That's not what I meant," Yuki retorted. He felt offended by her assumption, but only for a moment before she looked back over her shoulder and flashed an affectionate smile.
"It's sweet of you to worry about me," Yuno said to him as she ran. Somehow, she didn't even look winded. "I've already got an idea to stop the bleeding," she assured him.
On the other side of the road, Yuki continued to follow Yuno as she hopped over the sidewalk, stepped onto the adjacent grass, and ducked into the line of trees at the edge of the park. Once Yuki made it beneath the shadows of the wooded area, he hazarded another look back. This time, he saw the doors to the station burst open, with three cops quickly emerging. Yuki didn't see if there were more behind them; he quickly returned his focus to Yuno.
She was sticking to the outer rim of the park, where the exterior line of trees kept them in the shadows and hidden from obvious sidewalks and street lamps. Unfortunately, that also meant that Yuki was struggling to see where he was going at times. The best he could do was try to follow her movements as he went.
With each step, he could feel the handle of the pistol he took from one of the officers digging harder and harder into his side. It was held against him by the waistband of his pants, and the cold pain it provided was a constant reminder of the cop he'd shot in the stairwell.
Yuki felt nauseated as he repeatedly relived the moment in his mind. Oh god, he thought. Did I really kill an innocent police officer?! Forget the diary users — The police will kill me now. Even if I live long enough to be arrested, I'll get the death penalty for sure! Was this Kurusu's plan all along? Threaten to kill me just so Yuno would attack him, and we'd be forced to escape? Turn us into fugitives so that we're fair game for every cop in town?! God damn it, why did he betray us?!
Yuki swallowed hard and tried to ignore the thoughts swirling in his mind. As he watched Yuno deftly maneuver between two trees, he knew she was his only hope for getting out of this.
I've got to put my faith in Yuno, he thought. Whatever else is going on with her, I know how much she cares about me. She's cares more about protecting me than herself, and she's never let me down before.
After half a minute of struggling to keep pace with Yuno, he tripped over an exposed root, pitching forward slightly as he made a grunt of surprise. He regained his footing without his hands hitting the ground, but he had to pause for a second to steady himself.
Yuno quickly noticed and doubled back a few steps to be by his side as he recovered. "Sorry sweetie," she said quietly. "I'll try to call out obstacles from now on."
"It's... it's okay," Yuki told her as he tried to catch his breath. "I'm just not so good at running in the dark."
He reached into his jacket and began to take out his phone, but Yuno grabbed his wrist quickly and held it firm. He looked at her with confusion and asked, "What? Shouldn't I check the future?"
"You can't," she answered. "The light from your phone could give away our position. You've got to think more strategically."
"Oh, um... right," Yuki said sheepishly. He let go of his phone, and Yuno simultaneously released his wrist.
Jeez, how can stay so sharp at a time like this?! he wondered.
Yuno's attention was immediately drawn to something over his shoulder. She turned her head slightly, tilting the side of her head towards Yuki without losing her focus in that direction.
He followed her gaze to find absolutely nothing waiting behind him. At least, nothing that he could see.
"Uh, Yuno?" he inquired tentatively. "What is it?"
She responded in a whisper, "I thought I heard—wait, there it is again!"
At last he realized that she'd only tilted her head so as to focus one of her ears in the direction they'd run away from. When Yuki did the same, he faintly heard a deep, guttural yell of some kind. "I hear it, too," he told her... although he didn't know what exactly he'd heard.
"Damn it," Yuno whispered. "They brought out the dogs." Yuki immediately knew she was right. Thanks to her pointing it out, he could now recognize the sounds in question had been the echoing barks of multiple dogs far behind them.
Yuno looked down at her wounded arm with disgust, obviously irritated by the line of blood now dripping down to the end of her fingers. "Bet they can smell this from a kilometer off," she said sourly.
Looking around quickly, she spied a building with concrete block walls and a wooden roof that was about 30 meters away from where they stood. It was also, unfortunately, out in the open and pretty well-lit courtesy of a floodlight standing in front of it Regardless, she pointed at it and told Yuki, "There. Head for that restroom. No time to waste!"
She grabbed Yuki's right hand in her left and took off like a shot towards their new target. Yuki was able to keep pace with her now, which told him that she was clearly slowing herself for his benefit.
She kicked the ladies room door open and quickly scanned the stalls. Yuki paused outside. "Uhhh..." he muttered.
When Yuno looked back at him, her face instantly transitioned from a hardened look of concentration to a soft, amused expression. "Jeez, Yuki, really?" she said, cracking into a warm laugh. "You're gonna get shy about the ladies' room at a time like this?"
Yuki shrugged and blushed a bit. "Well... yeah, kind of?" he confessed. He stepped inside while he was admitting his discomfort, but that didn't stop the feeling from lingering. "This isn't cool," he explained, feeling embarrassed. "I mean, I don't wanna seem like a pervert... "
As the restroom door closed behind Yuki, Yuno giggled and shook her head at him. "You're such a gentlemen," she said affectionately. With a smile, she headed into one of the stalls.
"W-wait," Yuki said. "Are you taking a potty break, 'cause I can-"
"Not hardly," she answered. Yuki barely had time to take in his environment - a concrete floor, pale seafoam green stall walls and doors, a pair of white pedestal sinks, and a tiny window along the back wall with some thick, wavy-patterned glass for both natural light and privacy - before Yuno stepped back out of the stall, now holding a large wad of toilet paper in her right hand. She looked back to Yuki and smiled again as she began wrapping around the paper around the wound on her left arm. "This will stop the bleeding until we can find something better," she assured him.
"Oh," Yuki said. The solution seemed obvious now, yet he still felt impressed that she was able to think of it. "I gotta ask: How do you stay so calm when things like this happen? Every time someone's after us or we're surrounded by trouble, you take charge... and you always know exactly what to do."
Yuno was the one blushing now. "I don't know exactly," she said shyly as she glanced away. "I just... I do well under pressure, is all."
"No kidding," Yuki said in a deadpan tone. "I mean, back on the rooftop. Did you see the truck below us before you jumped? I never noticed it."
"My diary told me that one," she said. "It said you'd be completely safe if we jumped, and we were. No Dead End for me, either, so I knew I'd survive it, too."
"B-but even if you survived you still could've gotten hurt," Yuki said. "What if you'd missed the center of the canvas and broken your legs on the edge or something?"
Yuno shrugged. "So?"
Yuki shook his head in disbelief. Just like back at the Omakata cult with sixth or at my house with fifth — she always prioritizes me above herself.
She can't really be willing to risk her life all because of a few words we exchanged after class one day, can she? There's gotta be more to it...
"Speaking of diaries, this would be a good time to check them," Yuno advised as she removed her phone from her the pocket of her jeans. "We need to make sure can make a clean break back into the trees without the cops catching us." She turned her phone to show Yuki its contents and gave him a sweet smile. "Looks like my Yuki's in the clear!"
Yuki smiled a little bit back at her and took the cue to withdraw his own phone from his jacket.
It read:
"6/12 22:09
Yuno's been shot! She's still breathing. Police are cuffing her."
"Oh crap," Yuki said aloud. He looked up at Yuno with fear in his eyes. "They're gonna shoot you!"
If you found this, then thanks for reading! I currently expect this to last round four or five chapters that will take us through the gap between the night of 6/12 and the evening of 6/13 on the show, so I hope you'll stick around.
