The audition videos are like a glimpse into another world. In a way, they are.
"Hi, I'm ******* ******, number eight-eight-five, and I'd like to compete in Danganronpa." Says the face of Maki, with the voice of Maki and the cheery eyes he'd never find in Maki, who's fast asleep by his side. The light of the video illuminates her face, and he hears her say Kaito's name like a prayer. Shuichi unpauses the video. "I'm a big fan, I've watched it for as long as I remember. My parents always said I'd have a talent for it, and I've practiced being a murderer for a long time."
A pause, and then an uncharacteristic smile on that not-Maki's face.
"I mean, I've never murdered anyone, but I think being an Ultimate Assassin would be cool. I know, I know, it's cliche, almost every season has had an Ultimate Assassin, but I could disguise it as being the Ultimate Childcarer or something. My little cousins would love to see it!"
This girl isn't has - she has none of the characteristics of Maki. She's a stranger in her skin. She's a clone. She's a twin. She isn't the Maki he's come to know.
The video ends. The next suggested video is of Kaito's audition, but Shuichi has seen that already, and the wound it created still stings too much. Shuichi shut down the television and curled by Maki's side, listening to her mutter Kaito's name like a prayer, petting her hair to see if she could calm down. In her sleep, she fought against something. Monokubs, Shuichi would say.
Sometimes she'd tell Shuichi her dreams - at the execution, taking a knife and plunging it in Monokuma's robotic body, then turning it to Tsumugi. At the execution, assuming Kaito's place at last minute. At the execution, kissing him for the last time.
Shuichi also misses Kaito, a silent pain he has no proper words to voice. He also wished he'd done something at the execution, something more than apologize and hold his hands and say it wasn't fair that he was dying. He misses Kaede, too, as brief as it was, and he misses Kokichi. The three deaths he left behind are open wounds, pulsating with pus and grief. He wishes he'd have the guts to try something, to try and save Kaito from the impossible, to try and take Kaede's place in the execution, to try harder to befriend Kokichi instead of - of whatever they had.
In the end, they did nothing but try and hold each other upright, Maki's eyes full of silently falling tears, and Shuichi wishing he had his hat with him, just so he could hid himself from the world for a moment. In the end, Kaito had died with a smile on his face for having one small victory against Monokuma.
Maki woke up with a muffled yell, her hand going to cover her mouth, and her red eyes stared into Shuichi's pale green ones.
"Nightmare?" He asked, and she gave him a quick nod. "I'm just about to go to sleep, but I can make keep you company for a while."
"No. You go to sleep, and I'll keep guard." Maki replied, voice muffled, but Shuichi simply nodded. The two adjusted themselves better on the couch - the Danganronpa Team had paid them well, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because it was in the contract they had signed, and now they lived comfortable lives, away from the world that had made them want to kill to stave off boredom -, with Shuichi resting his head on Maki's shoulder.
She turned on the tv, and the video playlist was gone. In its place, the newest season of Danganronpa - the people hadn't turned off because they wanted the survivors to live, they tuned it out because they had grown bored with the game. He closed his eyes, willed his ears to not listen.
Maki changed the channel.