Requested by @Friendly_artist. Enjoy!
Fic title: Cupid's Killing Game
Y/N's POV
Surviving for such a long time had been a miracle.
To survive so long with Nagito Komaeda was even luckier.
Either way, we still had more trials to go through. I wasn't even going to pretend that Gundam's trial was the last one because that would be giving myself false hope, and to give someone false hope is downright unfair. Borderline cruel.
I spent a lot of time at the farm, setting up targets and shooting the best I could. It was like a therapy, a very bad yet very cheap excuse for therapy. Though that didn't stop the sleepless nights, it was something to wake up to and that was enough for me.
However, one evening I simply couldn't wait. The stars still shining, I grabbed my bow from the corner of my room and made beeline for the farm. I fiddled around with an arrow in my hand, spinning it around my fingers.
That's when I heard a rustle nearby.
Instinctively and in one swift movement I slipped the arrow onto my bow and pulled my arm back, scanning for the danger in a defensive pose.
"I-I'll shoot." I swore, glaring around.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Were I to die you'd be executed."
The voice was familiar enough for me to lower my bow slightly, and saw a spritely face peek at me from the darkness.
"Ah, Nagito, g-good evening."
"Look," he said, showing his hands, "No weapons."
"Ah... right." I lowered my bow, taking my arrow and fiddling with it once again, though not nearly as confident. "What's up? What are you doing out here so late at night?"
"I figured I'd be alone, but I suppose not. I'm just sorting things out, thinking, working through life." He stepped closer, almost too close. I almost liked it. "You know how it is."
Nerves suddenly consuming me, I paced backwards awkwardly. "Ha ha, yeah..." I continued to twiddle with my arrow.
"How about you? Not to be rude since trash like me isn't one to talk, but walking around with a weapon could be deemed rather suspicious by the others." He raised an eyebrow before smirking. "Though I suppose I'm not one to judge. Fear is a powerful manipulator."
"Wh-What? No no no, I was just doing target practice. It helps me cope with..." I struggled to find a term, "...this."
"But you have no target."
"Oh." Was all I could muster before silence engulfed us. Nagito... I'd liked him for quite a while for obvious reasons, those reasons being that he was charming and different rather than just another face in the crowd, and the last thing I wanted was for him to suspect me for something as drastic and despairing as murder.
"Y/N? As much as I would hate to cut this short since talking to someone as talented as you is truly an honour, but I'm afraid I must depart."
"Oh," I said, "May I ask where you're going?"
"It will all make sense. Please, do not be upset with me."
"Wait, what?"
"Trust me on this one."
Without another word and leaving me in both a stunned and flustered silence, he walked away. Summoning up the courage to do so, I grabbed his arm and tried insisting that he watched me practice.
He agreed.
He stood there, enthralled for however long I practiced for, staring intently as my arrows hit a log which I used as a temporary target due to my forgetfulness.
He muttered something under his breath.
"Huh? What was that Nagito?"
"I-I know trash like me has no right to ask, but... c-c-can I try? C-Can you teach me?"
I smiled widely. "Of course."
I handed him my bow, my prized possession, and showed him how to position the arrow and how far to pull it back and the other basics one needed to know to arch well.
He did rather well, probably due to his exponential amount of good luck, and he seemed rather pleased with himself when he heard my praise.
His expressional fell into a crestfallen look of disappointment.
"N-Nagito?"
"Apologies, but I should be going. I have something vital to attend to..."
"W-Wait! We could—"
The SHSL Lucky Student was long gone.
The next morning, myself and the others found his series of videos. His clues. His plans. I'd taken my bow just in case. The last fact mentioned is the most important.
When we burst into where Nagito had revealed as his hiding place, all Hell broke loose.
Flames were engulfing the curtains. Fuyuhiko and Hinata were screaming at all of us to get put the fire out, and that's when I saw Nagito.
He was bloodied. In pain. His chest rose and fell shallowly yet with enough depth that I knew that he was alive, afraid, but making every effort not to call out.
His hand was clasped against a course rope, which lead up at a spear.
"Y/N!" Fuyuhiko barked at me. "Don't just stand there! Put out the—!"
Chiaki lunged two fire extinguishing grenades at the curtains, and I took that small amount of time to stop fiddling with the arrow in my hand and position my bow, readying three arrows and hoping that Nagito's luck would rub off onto me.
Nagito's chest collapsed to a stop, and his hand released the rope.
Three clatters, all in a row. That's all I heard, and then a loud metallic clunk against the cold floor.
I hadn't even realised that I'd squeezed my eyes closed shut from the adrenaline. Blood pounded in my ears.
I peeked open my eyes.
The spear was lying dejected next to Komaeda with two arrows scattered around it which had ricocheted off of the terrible thin spear. One arrow had stuck into the spear.
Then I noticed that Nagito wasn't breathing.
As soon as I'd realised the above and raced to his side, muttering, "I'm sorry, Ko, I'm so so sorry."
Quickly cutting him free with one of my arrows I dragged him away from the smoke and a strange smell hit my face.
Needless to say I got out of there rather quickly, dragging Nagito behind me.
"Please don't be dead." I begged. "I need you."
Fuyuhiko, frantically shoving me out of the way, told me sternly, "Where's Mikan when you need her." He turned to me. "I've seen worse. Sonia and Kazuichi probably know more than me about this shit. We'll take him there and hope his luck didn't let him down."
I sat in Nagito's dorm on his bed, which Sonia and Souda had agreed to use as his make-shift recovery room. I stared at his unconscious and hopefully living body. It seemed fragile, almost like a porcelain doll. Or maybe a torn up puppet cut from its strings.
"Y/N? Y/N?" Sonia asked. "It's Nagito. He's breathing again."
The sigh of relief that was swept around the room was audible.
"We've done all we can," Souda chimed in, "Mind if we leave him here with you? I'm so tired."
"Sure." I responded absentmindedly as I stared at his barely stirring body.
Everyone filed out of his dorm and let the door click shut with a satisfying click.
As if on cue, Nagito's eyes opened.
I immediately hugged him, tearing up.
"Y/N?" He mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his bandaged hands. "What happened?"
"You... You don't remember, do you?"
"I don't know if that was just a dream or not. Am I dead? Did it work?"
I just hugged him tighter. "I should have helped you. Who did this to you, Nagito?"
"It was me. I was hoping the killing game wouldn't go on if nobody could figure out that I was my own killer?"
I sobbed louder.
"Hey. Hey hey hey," He said, "I guess I screwed up my one shot, huh?"
"Ko, come on."
"I mean, my aim wasn't really to live but I'll take what I got."
"Really, Ko?" I said, breaking into a teary laughter.
"I guess we'll just have to march out of here with high hopes."
"Is now an appropriate time for a confession? I don't even care if you decline, I just want you to know how much I love you."
"Glad my feelings are requited. At least now I can realise that arrowmantic story can happen in reality."
"I love you so much right now but those puns make me realise just how much I love you."
Word count - 1447.
Ahhhh I hope you liked this—