EDIT: See final chapter
Requested by @narutobama. Enjoy!
Fic title: The Anthropologist's Mistake
Shuichi's POV
Just because I was in a killing game didn't mean I could stop honing my craft. After all, the school was centred around talents and improving our skills, so I decided to go to the calmest student I knew.
Korekiyo.
There was hardly any competition, much to my regret. Kaede would always get distracted, Kokichi would pull pranks on me while I tried to work, Kiibo often crashed if he watched me work from being unable to process the information, Kaito would be Kaito, you get the idea.
Korekiyo... I never really liked him. I got vibes off of him and definitely would be risking my life by talking to him. The first blood perk scared me straight, too, and I feel like a guy like Kork wouldn't scared of something like that.
And this lead me to be facing the door to his Ultimate Lab, positioning my fist to knock on the door.
I scrunched up my face and knocked thrice in a rhythmic pattern.
No-one answered.
For a moment, I was relieved. This was an excuse to go and talk to Amami or Kirumi instead. I felt too awkward to approach them before, since they were busy, but now I'd rather take my chances with them.
As I turned to leave, I make the sick connection in my brain that if Kork is out, he could be doing any number of things. More specifically, he could be murdering someone.
I drew a deep breath and started walking through the grim hallways, the floorboards under my shoes creaking with protest.
"Oh, Shuichi..." Mumble an ominous voice from behind me. I winced and turned around, spinning on one foot.
As expected, he stood there. His yellow eyes seemed both warm and threatening like a fire, and his eyebrows lay stagnant above them. Through his mask, I could tell that he was smiling.
"Hey, Kork." I smiled, repressing my cringe and walking towards him.
"Was there something you required from me?" He asked in his low voice. His bandaged hand was delicately holding his olive green cap.
"I mean, not really, but, I mean like—" I spluttered. I paused to compose myself - he was an anthropologist, so he wasn't one to judge. He was too smart to do something so trivial. Well, okay, everyone who is a qualified -ologist is too smart to do something so trivial.
"I just wanted to ask if I could catch up on some work with you? I never like doing it alone."
He hummed for a second. "I see." He remarked, moving his tall, spindly figure from the doorway and deeper into the cave that was his Lab. "Well, come on in. You don't know who's lurking about in the shadows."
Korekiyo's POV
Shuichi, like may of the students at this self-proclaimed 'academy' intrigued me. I'd always had the desire to speak with him, and now seemed a perfect opportunity. If I am being entirely truthful, I was developing romantic feelings for the talented detective.
He sat down and I started brewing some tea.
He took out a pile of books and a few pens, before getting down to business. Silence swept itself neatly over the room.
I poured myself a cup. "Care for some tea?"
Shuichi glanced up an nodded. His hands were trembling.
I smirked under my mask, before frowning. This beautiful and incredibly talented human being being so timid hurt my heart.
"Shuichi, there is nothing to be afraid of. I am simply an anthropologist, simply watching a talented human being, simply existing as you are. The killing game does not change those simple facts."
He chewed on the end of his pen and began writing. "Thanks, Kork." He mumbled.
I smiled. "I'm just glad to be of assistance."
Then, as I stirred my quickly cooling tea, we heard mechanical whirs.
I took my katana gently from its stand and held it unsheathed and in a defensive form. I stepped towards the closed door, when three metal claws raked their way down the door.
My eyes widening, I barked at Shuichi to hide.
Shuichi, though, grabbed a katana and made beeline for the spot beside me.
We backed away from the door as if flew off the hinges, revealing a flood of furious Monokumas.
I trembled and began stabbing madly. Pink blood spewed from the Monokumas as myself and Shuichi fought against the scraps of metal.
We were both panting, panicking.
"We can't—"
Shuichi began as we kept stabbing wildly.
My wrist became loose and my katana was lunged into Shuichi's chest. He fell to the floor, and the Monokumas fell around us.
Monokuma appeared on our screens. "Well well well, looks like a murder appeared just before we managed to tear you all to shreds. Anyway, one person has died, so here's a grace period for the filthy murderer to cover up their crime before the other students find them! Upupupu~"
Shuichi was dead. Shuichi was dead. I couldn't take the blame. i had to tamper with the evidence.
I drew a shaky breath and started throwing everything around running to the boys bathroom.
"I'm sorry, Shuichi. I'm sorry, you know how much I love you."
—timeskippidy skip—
I woke up. I woke up from it all.
I sat up. Where was I? I couldn't feel my feet. I couldn't feel anything.
Well, I could feel emotionally.
I took a second to recollect my memories as I took in the surroundings on the academy.
Oh, I was dead.
My alibi of using the restroom proved false after Kokichi testified that I wasn't there when he was. Thus, an execution ensued. My body still tingled from the salt.
And so, I was a ghost. Many questions ran through my mind. Was my sister a ghost? What about Shuichi?
Shuichi... Shuichi!
I ran as fast as my wavering legs would carry me, which became more of a stumble since I wasn't entirely used to running without feeling the weight of my upper body on my legs.
I kept staggering nevertheless.
And, to my pleasant surprise, I saw Shuichi staring at his dead body. He turned to me.
Then, all of the words I wanted to tell him escaped my voicebox. I felt mute. The only words that escaped were, "I... I'm sorry I love you."
He paused, mortified.
"I mean, I'd gladly like to try something if we weren't dead."
I sighed. "We're not dead. This is just the beginning of our new life."
Word count - 1097.