shuichi, kokichi, and kaito cheating on their s/o + they get back together (drv3 spoilers!)
shuichi has always had a huge spark in his heart for kaede, and you knew this without a shadow of a doubt. inspirations were always drawn from their conversations, and shuichi always seemed happier after every interaction. you took this for close friendship, though, and nothing else. you two kept your relationship private from the others to keep from any meddling, specifically from kokichi or tenko, so kaede had no knowledge of your love... but she didn’t feel such a thing for him, right?
a spark is a spark, however, and they fly.
it was unexpected, to say the least, when you found the two kissing in a classroom—not even the messy, desperate kind the media depicted between friends holding off for too long; it was chaste and lovely. when they pulled away, not even a trace of toughness ensued apart from swollen lips and a nervous chuckle from your lover.
kaede looked absolutely embarrassed when she saw you in the doorway, clearly having made the first advance, but nothing could compare to the paling of shuichi’s skin... no, not even pale, not such an underestimation: gray. skin, gray as rain clouds burning underneath the weight and letting go into rain—excuses. weightless excuses.
“it was a spur of the moment decision, s/o...! kaede kissed me, and you know that she doesn’t... know...!” shuichi tripped over his steps to you, but the pink tint on his cheeks led you to believe he’d kissed back. no, not a belief, not something as abstract as that.
truth. lies forgotten like he’d forgotten you for her, like leaves churned through colors again and again, leaving behind greens for yellows and yellows for brown and browns for none.
you certainly felt left behind in that moment, and you decided to return the favor by... getting away. you got away. away to think and clutch at your chest and softly cry.
shuichi became unavoidable in the succeeding weeks, as you couldn’t stay in your room all day with only a stomachache to excuse.
he attempted conversation. you left him behind time and time again. he attempted explanation. weightless. kaede attempted explanation as well. it’s not her fault he liked her better; after all, she had no clue. you left her behind with assurances that you held “no grudge”.
lies. lies like saplings planted for a cause no one truly cares for, just for public appraisal. it’s unfair, you quietly realize, that they are fated to be hurled through colors as well for a fate their mother, nature, did not choose.
kaede was always the sapling, always the sprouting star and motivator. always liked, never frowning.
be kaede, you urged to the mirror. be her.
you smiled more despite shuichi’s looming presence at the other table, behind you as you clustered together to watch kokichi’s latest intervention, curious for new, terrible lies, and even in your own mind. he never left, never once.
gone, gone, gone. winter had come and taken her leaves, but they would never grow back.
as she was beautiful and limp and lovely and hanging and dead, you reached for shuichi’s hand.
he took it, and maybe, just maybe, you could be his spark.
his jests and toothy grins, the things you had fallen so head-over-heels for would snap your heart in two.
those lips had been against yours so many times for so many nights, pulling away to whisper until morning broke. uncontrollable giggles broke out in filled bundles of inside jokes and fingers itching to tickle, itching to touch.
you loved his hands. pale and small as they were, they fit into yours so perfectly that you knew he was yours.
was. a was is always a was, as pasts cannot be changed for anything, for nothing and no one regardless of riches or beauty.
the same bed you’d held each other in found itself filled before you could even crawl under the covers after a long day. kokichi, asleep, and rantaro, awake.
he’d been awake for the pain and asleep for the joy and affection, grasping onto the negatives of everything around him to irritate until it flared up into hatred from nearly all of his peers. flaring fists thrown, flaring scoldings, flaring feelings.
you believed you fell under the latter.
your emotions overwhelmed you. rantaro prodded at kokichi, but the grinning, awful, hated imp stayed asleep despite all the negatives happening around him.
when it was you, he never sank his teeth into the pain. your pain.
you wondered then, hand to your mouth to choke back the shock, why he would hurt you so terribly.
rantaro’s calls for you landed on rushed ears. everything was too loud in your own mind for you to make anything out.
you expected kokichi to harass you the next day. you expected some puns about how stupid you are.
you didn’t expect no sight of him at all.
then the next day, he was nowhere to be seen.
two days to a week, a week to seeing him in the dining hall. bags were seemingly under his eyes for probable days. his eyes were red from excessive rubbing.
quiet as a cat, he walked over to you with a forced smile.
“sorry i didn’t wake up. i was having the nicest dream of you, like, ever.”
you expected him to say something dirty, but the next thing that came out of his mouth was pure as unblemished snow not yet melted.
“i don’t remember all that much, but you were pretty happy.”
were. the tense cut into you like a knife. sure, you certainly hadn’t been at your best for the past week, but... you didn’t want him to think you were on the brink of death.
you whispered back, hugging your arms around yourself, “i don’t want that to be a were for forever, you know.”
crimson. narrowed crimson was all you could see, framed by pitch lashes and furrowed brows. her dark, tied back locks of hair made her weaponry gleam more. her words would always be sharper than the metal, however.
she was ghastly. she was beautiful. she loved kaito with all of her heart.
her mere presence intimidated you beyond all as though the shadow of her words took form and cornered you, trapped you. every threat of harm took you aback despite its normality. hardly anyone took their energy to bat an eye at her cruelty but you.
it knees you in the stomach every time you hear the words. you know she positively revels in the affection she never had, but... why is she so outwardly horrible towards it?
why is she holding hands with him if she is so aggressively against it?
you yell at her. she attempts to keep her signature cool, but you caught her at a bad moment for that. she yells back, about how kaito wanted such a thing. you yell at him. he’s flustered. not the flustered you hold so close, no, most definitely not that. he’s ashamed.
he stays, too shocked at the situation to even move.
you hate yourself deep within for daring to have the thought that came to you next.
he’s slated to go in the trials to come, yet you don’t even realize a thing.
you do realize, however, with the title of blackened slapped onto him, that you will never see his smile when he reaches his love, his true love. romance never suited him, and you know that, but adventure was his calling. his life. his dream.
before he goes, blood spilling down his chin, you reach out for him with maki’s bloodcurdling cries drowning you.
“...i’m sorry about your dream. i... forgive you.”
his smile breaks your heart.
“it won’t be a dream for much longer. besides, my second dream is standing right here.”
when he’s gone and your tears will serve you no good, you reach out to touch maki’s shoulder.
she’s in pain, you realize. she loved him just as i did. he was her dream.
maki pushes you away with venom unforeseen even from her.
she was hurt. she was beautiful. she was hopelessly, dangerously in love even when he was gone.
a tinge of pity fills your heart.