Kaede's POV:
I get up and look outside to see who might have been outside of my room...
...and I see Miu running away with her head held down.
Me: "HEY! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"
I start to run after her.
Shuichi: "What? Kaede, what's wrong?"
He starts to run after me.
Me: "MIU WAS STALKING US FROM OUTSIDE OF MY ROOM!"
Shuichi: "WHAT?"
It doesn't take long for him to catch up to me after that. When I look ahead, I see that we're quickly growing closer to Miu. She stops outside of her dorm and she starts to take out her key. Shuichi sees this, and he jumps forward, grabbing her key out of her hand and sliding to a stop on the ground.
Miu: "EEP!"
Me: "MIU! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
Miu: "I'msosorrypleasedon'thurtme!"
Me: "ENGLISH, PLEASE."
Shuichi: "What were you doing outside of Kaede's room? Why were you stalking us?"
Miu: "W-when you ran off, I started t-to feel bad for what I said. I wanted t-to make sure that you were o-okay! When I heard your conversation, I knew instantly that Shuichi isn't the Mastermind! I wanted to apologize, but I didn't have the c-courage to after everything that I said! P-please forgive me!"
Me: "You... wanted to apologize?"
She slowly nods her head.
Me: "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"
Miu: "Don't be... I don't deserve it..."
Shuichi: "Everyone deserves Absolution."
Miu: "Y-you actually forgive me? After everything I said about you?"
Shuichi: "I don't hold grudges. I usually tend to forgive people the moment they apologize."
She laughs this off.
Miu: "You know, you really are one of a kind. Thanks. I'll let Kiibo know about this. He seemed to be upset by it too. I don't think he REALLY believes that you're the Mastermind. He probably just sees that the theory of you being the Mastermind is more sound than any of our other theories. You know about his logical side."
Me: "It's not sound or logical at all!"
Miu: "Neither are any of our other theories."
Shuichi: "Fair enough."
Me: "I don't know why we even needed to create theories in the first place."
Shuichi: "Yeah, it's not helping anyone. It's just driving us apart."
Miu: "Yeah... sorry about that..."
Me: "As long as you steer clear from making any more theories without actual evidence, then I'll forgive you."
Miu: "I promise I will."
Me: "Good. Now live that promise."
I grab Shuichi's hand and we walk back to my room. When we get there, Shuichi sits down on my bed. He places one hand on his cheek, looking deep in thought.
Me: "What are you thinking about?"
His eyes turn to me. He looks like he had just woken up from a daydream.
Shuichi: "It's nothing."
Me: "No, tell me!"
He smiles at me gently, seemingly happy that someone is caring for how he feels.
Shuichi: "It's just... I don't really understand how I'm feeling right now."
I walk over and sit down next to him. I lean my head on his shoulder and look him in the eyes. If anyone else were to at him like this, I'd honestly be surprised if he wasn't to die on the spot. However, he seems to be comforted by my eye contact.
Me: "Well, then describe them to me! I'm your girlfriend, so it's kind of my responsibility to try to understand and help you through your emotions."
Shuichi: "Thanks, Angel."
I give him a small kiss on the cheek.
Me: "You're welcome. Now, go on."
Shuichi: "A warning, this may sound weird to you. So, I just forgave Miu, Kiibo and everyone else who accused me of being the Mastermind. And I was telling the truth when I said that. I really do forgive them. However, even though I forgive them and I'm willing to move past it, I still just feel..."
He closes his eyes and hangs his head down. He's probably just looking for the right word to use. He opens his eyes, and he turns his head so that he makes eye contact with me. The corners of his eyes are wet with tears.
Shuichi: "Betrayed..."
Me: "Shuichi, that's not weird at all. Just because you forgive them doesn't mean everything is suddenly sunshine and rainbows, it takes time to let go completely. And you have every right to feel betrayed. You were betrayed, and by friends as close as Kiibo, for God's sake! Don't be upset at yourself for not letting that go, because you shouldn't. Not yet, at least."
Shuichi: "...Yeah. Thanks, Kaede..."
Me: "Of course! Now, how about we get some lunch? You look like you're hungry, and I know that I am."
Shuichi: "Sounds great."
When we reach the cafeteria, almost everyone is already there. Kiibo and Kirumi are staring suspiciously at Shuichi. He clings tighter
Me: "Got a problem?"
Kiibo scoffs and looks away. It seems that Miu hasn't talked to him yet. Kirumi sighs and tilts her head down.
Angie: "Why are you two so upset?"
Me: "Seriously? You have the NERVE to ask that?"
Shuichi: "You t-told everyone that I was the m-mastermind..."
Angie: "Oh yeah! I did say that, didn't I?"
Me: "Uh, yeah! You did!"
Tenko walks over to us and pulls us aside.
Tenko: "First off, I'm sorry for blaming Kaito in there. Secondly, please bear with her. Angie... she usually speaks what's on her mind without thinking of the consequences."
Me: "Trust me, I can see that."
Tenko: "You're really bitter about this."
Me:"Gee, I wonder why? Oh yeah! Maybe it's because my lover is being accused of controlling the entire killing game!"
Shuichi: "Kaede, you're taking this out on the wrong person..."
Me: "I... you're right. I'm sorry for lashing out, Tenko."
Tenko: "No, I would do the same if Angie was being accused. But anyways, I don't think that Angie meant any harm when she did this. Please, if you can, forgive her..."
Shuichi: "I already have forgiven her. However, I'm not ready to let it go, as selfish as that may sound."
Tenko: "It's not selfish. I would prefer you to let go of it, but I understand why you can't at this moment. Emotions are still running high, after all."
Shuichi: 'Well, thanks for understanding..."
Tenko: "You're lucky that you're not a degenerate like Kaito. If you were, then you'd be out cold on the floor right now for these feelings."
Shuichi lets out an exasperated sigh. I think that he wants this conversation to end quickly.
Shuichi (Under his breath): "Don't you think that's a bit harsh...?"
Me: "Thanks for the talk, Tenko. I think that we should go back and eat."
Shuichi looks at me with a grateful expression.
Shuichi: "Y-yeah. I'm kind of hungry..."
Tenko nods and walks away. I flash Shuichi a questioning glance.
Me: "You seemed desperate to get out of that talk. What's up?"
Shuichi: "I'm sorry. I'm just feeling kind of uncomfortable talking about this. I already told you that I don't like holding grudges as it makes me feel petty. I'm not necessarily comfortable telling people other than you about this because I kind of feel like they'll judge me for these feelings. I feel like I could speak my mind to Kaito and Maki because they're close friends, but even then I'm still not completely comfortable with it. You're the only person that I can share my mind with completely openly. I don't think I was even able to speak my full heart and mind to my Uncle before we were taken to this cursed Academy."
He turns a little red when he admits this.
Me: "So I'm the first person that you really trust? Aw, that's so sweet... and kind of sad..."
Shuichi: "Heh, it's funny how I came to trust you in two months more than I trusted anyone in my life for years. Whenever I would keep feelings away from you, you always seemed to be able to instantly tell. Then, you would refuse to do anything until I told everything to you. Eventually, I realized something."
Me: "And that is?"
Shuichi clears his throat before he says...
I can't help but burst out laughing when he says this. Not only was it a great impression of the infamous quote, but he was right! I end up laughing at myself as I realize just how stubborn I am sometimes.
Shuichi can't help but suppress a chuckle as he tries to continue. After a couple of minutes, he finally manages to recover. However, I'm still cackling like a witch!
Shuichi: "There's no use trying to hide my emotions from you, so why should I bother to hide them? Eventually, following this mindset made me realize that you didn't judge me for my emotions. That was a comfort I had never experienced before. That's when I really started considering you as a friend, and later it helped me to realize my true feelings for you."
He leans in and gives me a small kiss on the cheek.
Me: "That's... (giggle) hilarious! I guess that my stubbornness has paid off!"
Shuichi: "Never let anyone tell you that being stubborn amounts to nothing. We've both seen how that's nothing but a lie."
Me: "Yeah, no kidding! Now, let's go eat!"
I'm still giggling like a drunkard when we go to our table.
Maki: "What's got you worked up?"
Me: "Shuichi just told me something funny."
Kaito: "Ooh, I wanna hear it!"
Shuichi: "It was kind of an inside joke..."
Me: "You wouldn't get it."
Saying this just makes me laugh more.
Shuichi: "I think that after everything that transpired in the library, she needed a good laugh."
Kaito: "Makes sense to me!"
He turns to Maki.
Kaito: "See, Makiroll? Laughing is good for you! So laugh every once and a while, okay?"
She turns to give him a death stare, but she is met with an innocent and caring smile from Kaito. This causes her gaze to turn from the glare of a mighty tiger into that of a small kitten. Though, I've never seen a red cat before...
Maki quickly turns away to save whatever pride she has left.
Kaito: "Oh, by the way, you two... I'm sorry about what I said the library. I originally had no intentions of pointing fingers, but once Miu called out Maki... I kind of snapped..."
Me: "That's good enough of an excuse for me!"
Shuichi: "You seriously expect me to be upset after saying something like that? I would probably snap too if someone blamed Kaede."
Me: "I definitely snapped when they started calling out Shuichi!"
Shuichi: "I don't think that I would start pointing fingers in response, but I still understand your side of it. You were just looking out for her. It would be wrong of you to not say something, seeing how close you two are."
Our comments only make Maki grow more and more red by the second.
Maki: "I-I'm sorry too... I saw how you were suffering as everyone accused you, Shuichi, and I wanted to draw their attention away. I ended up calling out Kokichi to pull you out of the crossfire, even though he's turned over a new leaf. He didn't deserve it. He's no longer so much of an evil supreme leader as much as a leader with a love for practical jokes."
Me: "I definitely forgive you for that, but I think that you should apologize to Kokichi."
Shuichi: "Agreed."
She gives us a quiet nod.
With the apologies out of the way, we continue our lunch.
I hope that everyone else is as open to apologizing as Kaito, Maki, Tenko and Miu were.
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Okay, I just couldn't keep going without having Kaito and Maki apologize, and I was originally planning to have Kiibo apologize with Miu. I'll probably tie that into next chapter somehow.
As usual, thanks for reading!