Danganronpa – A Story of Growth and Love

Chapter 7 – Musical Attraction

(Shuichi's POV)

Finally, the ceremony was over and done with. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, I was just really uncomfortable being around so many people. Some of them were intimidating, whereas others were irritating. Maybe if I got to know some of them, things would be a bit better, but I was really nervous. Before I came to the academy, I was always nervous around large groups of people. I decided that the best course of action now, would be to head to my dorm room. Once I get there, I should be able to relax for a while, and mentally prepare myself for tomorrow.

As I was walking over to the dorms, I held my cap over my eyes whenever I passed multiple people. I hated being so nervous, but I couldn't help myself, it was just apart of who I was. Just as I was about to reach the hall going to the dorms, I heard footsteps coming from behind me, lots of them at that. Without even thinking, I rushed to the nearest stairwell to hide. I looked out from my hiding spot and saw most of the students from classes 77, 78, and 79, all heading towards the dorms. I couldn't understand why, that is until I grabbed my phone from my pocket and checked the time. It was 4:58 pm, and from what I remember from the ceremony, the headmaster said that the dining hall would be serving dinner from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. I guess they were all going get some food before heading to their respective dorm rooms.

I could've walked right past the dining hall and went to my room, but my damn nerves kept me from moving. I could slip past the dining hall without anyone noticing me, but if someone saw me, what then? I hated how nervous I could get, and I honestly wanted to solve this problem. I was an Ultimate Detective, yet I was afraid of large groups of people. How would I be able to work with clients or police if I was to scared to walk past a crowed room?

Before I could make myself feel any worse, I decided to wait a bit until a bulk of the students went back to their dorms. That way, I'll be able to get my room with little chance of running into anyone. For now, I decided to explore some of the upper levels of the academy, since most of the students would be at the dining hall. After a bit of exploring on the second and third floor, I started to calm down a bit, but I decided to see what I might find on the fourth floor. But as soon as I reached the stair well, I started hearing some sort of music. It was faint, but it sounded quite lovely, and the melody itself sounded familiar to, I just couldn't remember the name.

Before I knew it, I found myself at the entrance to the music room on the fourth floor. I wanted to see who might've been playing this song, but I was nervous since I might interrupt them. As I was contemplating on what I should do, I heard some voices coming from the stairs. They could've been staff members, but I wasn't taking any chances. Without thinking, I opened the door to the music room and rushed inside, quickly closing the door behind me.

As soon as I was inside, I took a quick look around the room, only to be shocked as to how the whole place was set up. The entire place was more of a concert hall rather than a classroom, and the only noticeable instrument was the large piano on the stage at the back of the room. The idea of having an entire class watching one person preform on stage was not something I was found about. If I had to preform with others, then maybe things would be better, but I didn't really know many of the other students at the moment. Before I could think of anything else, I saw the curtain near the stage move. I could've been imagining things, or it could've been the person who was playing the piano just a few minutes ago. Maybe they were backstage looking for something?

With only one way to find out, I walked over to the curtain leading to back stage, only to be met with a girl bumping into me, knocking me to the floor. After recovering from my brief daze, I looked up to be greeted with a girl with blond hair and pink eyes. She looked at me and asked, "Are you alright?"

I took a moment to respond, before saying, "Uh, yeah. I'm fine."

"Oh, thank goodness! I'm glad your ok, uh…?"

"Oh right, my name. I'm Shuichi, Shuichi Saihara. Nice to meet you."

The girl smiled at me and said, "Shuichi, that's a nice name. My name is Kaede Akamatsu."

She looked familiar at first glance, but when did we meet? After a quick bit of remembering, I remembered where I saw her. We met each other at the opening ceremony this morning, we just hadn't introduced ourselves properly. After introducing each other to one another properly, I stood up and offered Kaede some help up, which she accepted. Once we were standing, I decided to ask Kaede what she was doing. "So," I asked, "what brought you to the music room Kaede?"

"Oh, I was here practicing. I'm the Ultimate Pianist, so I need to practice often. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you see Kaede, I was exploring some of the other floors of the academy, and when I was heading up here, I heard you playing. It sounded really good by the way."

"Aw, thanks Shuichi! That's really kind of you to say."

"What was the song you were playing? I swear I heard it somewhere before."

"The name of the song is Clair de Lune. It's a personal favorite of mine, so whenever I need to practice, I often play that song."

"Wow," I thought, "she really knows her stuff. I bet she would have no problem preforming in front of a live audience."

"So, what about you Shuichi? What's your ultimate?" Kaede asked.

"Oh um, I'm an Ultimate Detective, but I'm just a beginner though."

"That sounds so cool Shuichi! I bet you must have a lot of interesting stories about some of the cases you solved, right?"

"Nothing to special Kaede, but if you ever wanted to hear a story, I wouldn't mind telling you one."

Kaede smiled at my response, and she had such a sweet look in her eyes. She seemed to be a nice person, but one question still lingered in the back of my head.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you up here so late?"

"Wait…, late? What time is it? she asked.

I took out my phone to look at the time, and responded with, "It's 7pm."

Her eyes widened as I said that, and said, "It's already 7pm!?"

"Yeah. When did you come up here exactly?" I asked.

"It was right after the opening ceremony finished. I knew the academy had a piano, so I knew I had to try it out. I guess I got so into my practice that I lost track of time."

"Don't worry about it Kaede. I'm sure these things happen to everyone. I know it's happened to me whenever I'm reading a good book."

Before either of us spoke another word, both of our stomachs growled. We looked up at one another, each of us now having slight blushes on our faces. I guess it was time to grab some food. I asked Kaede if she would like to join me for some food. She smiled and agreed, with a slight blush on her face. After Kaede collected her things, we walked down to the dorms to grab some food before the dining hall closed.

After a quick walk, Kaede and I reached the dining hall with plenty of time to spare. As we went and grabbed some food, Kaede asked if I could sit with her, since she still wanted to talk with me some more. I was more than happy too, so we quickly found an empty table to sit down at, and then we started to get eating. While we were eating, we made some small talk, asking one another about where we went to school before, to favorite movies, and so on. I even found out that we were in the same class, so now I didn't need to worry about not knowing anyone. It felt nice to have someone to eat and discuss with, and Kaede was good company to have.

Once we were finished, I offered to walk Kaede over to her dorm room, as thanks for the nice conversations we shared. She simply smiled at me and said, "Of course, thanks for offering Shuichi!"

After about a minute of walking, we were at Kaede's room. As she unlocked her door, I decided to ask her something. "Hey Kaede?"

"Yes Shuichi?" Kaede responded as she turned around to talk to me.

"I was just wondering; do you think we can hang out after class tomorrow?"

"Sure!" she said with a smile, "That sounds like fun Shuichi!"

I felt a smile grow on my face as she said that. I can't believe she agreed. "Thank you Kaede." I said, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow than. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Shuichi!"

As she closed her door, I headed over to my own room, feeling great about the what just happened. I made a new friend here at the academy, and I felt great that my first friend was Kaede. Throughout all of our conversations today, I didn't trip over my words or feel incredibly nervous. Maybe things won't be so bad here after all…, hopefully.

Notes:

Done with yet another chapter! I had to rewrite a good chunk of this one, but I think that was for the best. I want to make sure that everything flows good in the story, so looking over everything again is never a bad thing. In the next chapter, Shuichi and Kaede will be hanging out, not just with each other, but with some new classmates as well. Hopefully things will turn out okay for Shuichi, but as long as Kaede is there, everything should be alright. Thanks so much for reading this one!