Experiment 5308-O.K.

Maybe Not

Saihara wiped each tear that dripped down Ouma's cheeks, the latter sitting in his lap. They sat in the mostly-deserted hallway. "Why did she have to die?" Ouma whispered. He had spent almost an hour crying in the school.

"Everyone dies in the end," Saihara smiled. "Perhaps her death was a message."

"No, it was my fault," Ouma sobbed. He wrapped his arms around Saihara's neck and pulled him close. His face buried into the taller man's shoulder as Saihara idly fiddled with his scarf. "She wanted to feed me... I led her to her locker... If I refused to eat then she'd be alive!" Harukawa would have passed away later on, Ouma knew that, but it hurt to know he killed his best friend two days after meeting her again.

The bluenette pushed Ouma back a little to smile at him. "If you stay by me, no one else will get hurt." Ouma nodded and began apologising profusely, hugging his new and only friend as tight as he could. He never should have left in the first place, he belonged at Saihara's side. "I'm getting my stuff and then we can go home." Ouma nodded.

Ouma nodded and let Saihara pick him up before setting him on his feet. The two made their way to their classroom without issue. Only thirty students at most remained in the school. To allow the police a calm investigation into Harukawa's murder, all students were ordered to go home early for the day. Everyone doubted that she had some type of flammable object or homemade bomb in her locker, and it seemed the police believed so too.

They interrogated the entire class, including Ouma (who sat there without speaking a word. The police wrote him off as being in shock and let him go). When the two reached their classroom, Saihara moved forward to pack his bag. Ouma idled and gazed around the room. His eyes landed on the desk beside Harukawa where her textbooks lay, along with the worksheets she wrote to help him learn...

A polaroid sat atop his unfinished worksheet. Neither he nor Harukawa left that there... He approached the photo and picked it up, eyes widening slightly. It showed Harukawa and him studying in the classroom, but scratches obscured her face until she was almost unrecognisable if it weren't for her red thigh-high stockings and long pigtails.

Tears filled his eyes as he noticed a note written beneath the photo. 'Maybe you shouldn't abandon those who love you.' Ouma frowned and glanced at Saihara who battled with a broken zipper on his pencil case. He couldn't murder someone, right? Did he kill Harukawa by spending time with her over Saihara?

"What's wrong?" Saihara asked as he finished packing his things.

"N-Nothing," the petite man muttered as he crumpled the photo in his hand and chucked it into the garbage. He shoved his papers and pens into his plastic bag. 

Saihara approached and wrapped him in a tight hug. "I won't let anyone hurt you." He broke the hug, only to trap Ouma in a tight grip, holding the small man's shoulders as they left the classroom. Even if he wanted to, Ouma wouldn't be able to pry himself from the iron grip, he was too lost in his thoughts. Did something kill Harukawa over him and Saihara having a small fight? If that were true, who would go so far? What kind of sick joke was someone trying to play? Momota wouldn't kill his girlfriend because of jealousy... Except if Ouma was the target? Life was proving to be disgustingly difficult.

The two managed to reach the gate, but someone called Ouma's name before he could take a step from the property. He turned and gasped in fear. Saihara's hand shot out to cup Momota's closed fist a hair's breadth from Ouma's face. Ouma yelped and jumped backward, only for someone to grab his arms and pin them behind his bag. His plastic bag fell to the ground with a thud.

He watched two students grab Saihara. One had deep-green hair spun into two chain-like pigtails with a purple headband. The other had long, wavy, strawberry-blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. They both seemed female, but ever since Saihara educated Ouma on gender identity, he knew not to assume. All he knew was that the two long-haired students were also in his class.