Uhhh if you saw me accidentally publish this and then unpublish it yesterday, no you didn't.
Kokichi's POV
After barely even convincing, Shuichi promised he'd get me a present and show up to my birthday party, even offered to help with the decorations!
"Yay! Thanks Shumai! You're the best! I love youuuu!!!" I beamed, saying the last part as a half joke since I did love him, but I couldn't tell him that..
Shuichi shuffled his feet awkwardly, but not saying anything. My eyes trailed to the journal I had been crying about before Shuichi walked in on me.
Speaking of which, why did Shuichi have that journal? A whole journal dedicated to me. I know I thought it wasn't that bad earlier, but now that I really thought about it, it was pretty creepy.
"By the way, Shuichi" my voice still sounded childish, but now there were hints of curiousness in my tone that made Shuichi's attention turn to me.
"So, about.. this?" I picked up the journal holding it with my index finger and thumb as if it were contaminated with germs. Shuichi looked away, eyes full of shame and embarrassment when he spoke.
"Well... I just.. I knew something about you was off inside and outside of the killing game, I just couldn't really put my finger on what exactly it was, so I made a journal to study you and your actions.. sorry if it freaked you out... I just wanted to try and understand you better."
I was speechless.
I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not.
Was he....?
He probably is and I'm just overthinking...
Don't get too attached. He'll leave just like everyone else.
I decided to trust my gut and not get too attached. I positioned my hands behind my head and began speaking. "Nishishi~! Am I that important in your life?" I asked, obviously just teasing for fun.
But then I heard Shuichi mumble, "Yes.." I froze, a bit surprised now. Did he actually say that or did I imagine that? I probably imagined it, I mean who would actually care about me.
I fake yawned and pretended the stretch, trying to seem unbothered. "Oh wow look at the time! Its 12 o' clock and that means its time for you to finally stop stalking me as if I'm your crush and go to bed! Or am I actually your crush?"
Shuichi blushed and looked like he was about to respond with yes, I panicked and cut him off before he could respond. "Neehee! I'm just joking dummy! Anyways I need to go attend a meeting with my secret organization! Cya loser!"
I effortlessly waved goodbye, slightly feeling down after mentioning D.I.C.E knowing they weren't even real and it was all just made up for the killing game.
I settled on taking a walk to get my mind off of things for a while and calm myself down after what happened. During the walk I got a few weird looks by some strangers.
That was probably because of the killing game, since I was wearing my usual white outfit with my checkered bandana. I had a lot of duplicates of the outfit but I didn't mind, to be honest I liked it.
It would make sense the get stares, since Danganronpa is really popular, and I mean worldwide popular. Its really well known and I wish it wasn't.
I decided to explore an alley way for fun, maybe I'd see a cat or two. It was a bit tight, since the buildings were a little close together. It made my claustrophobia act up a bit, but I calmed down as I spotted 4 kittens all snuggled up next to eachother at the end of the long, slim area.
It was really cute, I crouched down in front of them, making sure I didn't disturb or wake them up. I gingerly reached out my hand and began petting one of them. Its back slowly rose and fell as it breathed.
As I gently pet the kitten, I heard footsteps come up from behind me, I felt my breath hitch with fear and I could feel my body temperature rise with panic. I shut my eyes tight, hoping they would think I didn't notice them and they would just leave.
But they didn't. They didn't leave and they wouldn't. They just watched me and I could feel their breath hit my shoulder after they sat down behind me. I could feel their eyes wander all over me, it was scary.
"I know you're aware I'm here." The stranger spoke. It was a man, he sounded to be in his late 30's, but he didn't sound like he had any intentions of doing weird things.
"What do you want from little ol' me? An autograph, maybe? Just a little warning, I don't have the best handwriting. Is that ok with you?" I asked, just trying to annoy the man at this point, still not turning around.
Then I heard him get up from sitting. The sound of his footsteps faded, and I let out a sigh of relief. But before I could get up and leave to avoid more trouble, I looked over my shoulde, only to see him approaching again, this time with another man.
In a childish voice, I sighed and yelled, "Did your friend want an autograph too? Wow I'm reaallly popular aren't I? Are you gonna tell me there's merch of me next?" I just wanted them to leave.
But they wouldn't stop walking. When the first man got close enough, he raised his fist and punched me, knocking me onto my rear. Still a bit stunned, I spoke again.
"H-how rude! You could have asked for an autograph nicer than that!" I said, still joking around and ignoring the pain in my left cheek. Then the second man approached, he was smoking a cigarette but then took it out of his mouth.
Before I could process what he was gonna do, he pressed the still lit cigarette up against my neck, leaving a burn mark. I let out a yelp of pain, gripping at his arm to try and get him to pull away but I wasn't strong enough and he continued.
The other man watched, letting out small chuckles as I continued to scream with pain. Could someone really find something like this funny? I stopped screaming, at this point I was just trying to ignore the cigarette. Small pained whimpers left my throat instead of yells.
When they noticed I wasn't screaming anymore, the second man threw the cigarette to the side. He looked over to the first man, I assumed he was waiting for a signal because after the first man nodded they both started to kick me.
They kicked me everywhere. My arms, my legs, my hands, my stomach, and more. After they kicked my stomach a third time, I coughed up a few droplets of blood and then vomited. They sat me up against the wall and took a photo of me before leaving.
After they left, I slowly got up, limping ever so slightly as I walked out of the alley way. As I limped on the sidewalk, I saw Shuichi at the end of the street, waiting by a stop sign. Probably waiting for a bus.
I was gonna turn around and go the other way, but I was unfortunate and Shuichi saw me. He called me over. I sighed and put on a fake smile as I tried my best to cover up my my limping.
"Oh, are you stalking me here, too? Geez Shumai, maybe you should get a job." I joked. Shuichi blushed and responded with, "Well, no, I was just gonna go to a nearby coffee shop. Wanna come with me?" He asked, obviously just trying to be nice.
I put my hands behind my head and nodded. "Yeah sure why not?" I replied, giggling. I wondered if I would ever get to confess to him.
Shuichi's POV
As me and Kokichi strolled down the sidewalk, laughing and chatting as we made our way to the coffee shop, I noticed Kokichi was limping and had burn marks on his neck, along with bruises across his hands and some on his face. There was also dried blood on his mouth that didn't seem too old.
"Kokichi, why are you limping? Did something happen?" I asked, worried. He dropped his hands from behind his head and giggled. "Oh, this? I just tripped and fell thats all! Why? Were you worried 'bout meee~?"
I stared at him. There were burns on his neck, how could he have gotten that from simply tripping and falling? I was gonna bring it up, but then felt someone holding my hand. I looked down and saw Kokichi's fingers intertwined with mine.
I blushed and felt my body temperature rise with embarrassment. I looked back up at Kokichi. He didn't even notice he was holding my hand which made it not as awkward. And if I was being honest, I didn't want him to let go.
"Shumaiiiiii is this the right shop?" He whined, pointing to the coffee shop infront of us, still not noticing he was holding my hand. I nodded, still blushing.
Almost instantaneously as I walked into the coffee shop, a group of girls pointed and yelled out my name, rushing to get as close to me as they could. I just stood there, very uncomfortable with what was going on.
"Are you Shuichi Saihara from the killing game?" "Omg it's Shuichi from Danganronpa!!" "Can I get a selfie??" They bombarded me with questions. I slightly pushed them away and asked for more space, trying to be as polite as possible.
"Sorry! We are your biggest fans!!" They claimed, letting out squeals of excitement. "What about me?" I heard Kokichi ask, sounding a bit sad. The group went silent, their smiles now replaced with uncomfortable frowns.
Then, one of the girls spoke up and broke the silence. "Oh, uhm, you're ok I guess... Anyways," the girl looked back over at me. "Can I get a selfie with you?" She asked.
I looked past her at Kokichi. I could see the absolute heartbreak on his face as tears began welling up in his eyes. Even though I didn't answer, the excited girl wrapped her arm around my neck and took a photo anyway.
"Thanks! It was such an honor meeting you! Cya!!" with that, the girl left along with her other friends. Without realizing at first, I felt my eyebrows furrow in frustration and anger.
After the group left, I glanced at Kokichi. He pretended like he wasn't phased and was acting like he was admiring his nails. "Ya done flirting with random girls?" he joked in a bored tone.
"You act like I wanted to take that picture with her" I defended. Kokichi rolled his eyes, and when he did I could see how glossy his eyes looked from how he was holding back his tears.
"Uhm.. anyways, what do you want me to order for you?" I asked, getting out my wallet. "I'm good, coffee isn't really my thing." He said, still sounding as bored as he could.
I sighed and just decided to go with it. I ordered my coffee and sat down across from Kokichi. He still looked a bit hurt from what happened with the group of girls, but I could sense something else was bothering him.
"So, mind telling me where you got those burn marks from?" I asked, desperate to get an answer out of him. "Its nothing, two men just attacked me is all." he answered, as if it were a normal thing to say.
Now alarmed, I stopped drinking my coffee and asked, "Who? Did you know them? What did they look like???" Kokichi looked almost freaked out by how many questions I was asking. Then I noticed I was getting a bit too aggressive.
"Calm down Saihara, I don't know who they were.. why do you even care? No one else cares about me so why should you?" It took me a good second to register what he had just said. Did he really think no one cared about him?
"..I care because I know you deserve love and affection just like everyone else." I said, slightly blushing. But it was true! I really did believe he deserved that stuff. Everyone deserves it no matter how good or bad they are.
Kokichi stared at me with disbelief written all over his face. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom..." he said, before getting up and walking off. I could see visible tears in his eyes.
About 7 minutes passed and Kokichi came back with his eyes red and slightly puffy, but not that noticeable. His voice trembled as he spoke. "Shuichi... can I go home..?" He asked, sounding heartbroken as his voice cracked.
"Wanna stay at my dorm tonight?" I asked, not wanting him to hurt himself if I left him alone. I could see the absolute dread on his face but he accepted anyway. I guess I made the right choice because I could tell he wanted to hurt himself by the look in his eyes.
When we got to my dorm, I lead him into the spare room, but Kokichi just stared at the bed, fidgeting with his fingers. "Is something wrong?" I asked.
"I feel like they're gonna come back and hurt me again." Kokichi mumbled. "Who?" I was confused and didn't know who he was talking about.
"The men who hurt me.. the ones who beat me up and gave me the burn marks.." he said, still mumbling, but now loud enough to the point where I couldn't hear him more clearly.
I knew this would be a weird thing to suggest, but I said it anyway. "Do you wanna sleep in my bed tonight? With me?" Kokichi looked back at me and noticeably hesitated before nodding.
Poor Kokichi. Whoever hurt him and gave him those burn marks is gonna pay. And I will make sure to find out who they were.
2410 words! This took a while to write and I'm sorry about that. Also the next chapter might take a while to be released because I am going on vacation in a few days but I'll try to get it out when I can!