Here, Let Me See

2: How Bad Is It?

To Shuichi, it felt like this hospital was a maze. Every corner he turned to go down another hallway, just seemed to look like the exact some one he came from. Rantaro had only went ahead by a few seconds- he even walked. So far could he have gone?

Just for a minute, Shuichi stopped by the reception desk on the floor he was on. "Sir, are you alright?" The lady who was sat at one of the computers stood up and held onto Shuichi's arms, thinking he was about to faint. "R-Rantaro... R-Rantaro Amami, please. W-What room... is he in?"

The lady turned around, away from Shuichi, signalling a co-worker to head over to her computer. "U-Urm, he is in room 30 on Ward 8. It's only upstairs."

Shuichi signalled the lady to let go of him, as he limped towards the elevator.

...

As the elevator doors opened up, the teens grey eyes caught a small glimpse of blonde hair- swaying in the distance. "K-Kaede! Rantaro!" The girl with the blonde hair, Kaede, turned around. As she noticed Shuichi running towards her, she used her right arm to pull back someone. Rantaro. "What? Here to tell me your views about Kokichi too?"

"N-No ! I just- I didn't understand what you meant back there. I thought that... I thought it would be alright if you told me what happened from the monitors perspectives?"

Rantaro glared at Shuichi for a moment, deciding wether or not to believe him. Kaede just looked between the two, hoping that the avocado-like boy would accept the others request.

"Alright then, sure thing. I'll explain in my room, okay?" The 'detective' nodded but in his mind was jumping around, grateful that Rantaro didn't see him like he had done with the others. "So, you believe me when I said that they didn't see what I did?"

"Y-yeah of course. You've been out of the game longer than anyone else, so that means you know more too. And willing to listen to everything but-"

"-But?" Rantaro interrupted, "There are no 'buts' to what I'm gonna say. Kokichi had his ways and reasons to why he acted the way he did."

He was right. Shuichi remembered the board the Ultimate Supreme Leader had in his room- the one he wrote on to determine who was what and why. For example: Shuichi recalled that Kokichi didn't know whether trust him or not. Hence the question mark next to 'Trustworthy?'

"I'll listen from start to finish. Honest."

...

Rantaro sat down on his hospital bed with Shuichi on the other end- as for Kaede, she sat on the chair beside them.

"After I died, I had surgery on my head. But straight away, I knew something was up because, well... you know, I am the 'ultimate survivor' and this wasn't my first rodeo. However, I was injured this time, so I recognised the situation. The scientists and doctors were different unlike last time, but they said I could monitor everyone if I was up for it. So I agreed.

When watching the first trial, I got to see how caring and trustworthy everyone was. The others in my last game were not. But to see you and Kaede and everyone else putting in so much effort- I just had to keep watching. And then, Kokichi. What he said about 'luring the blackened out' and 'lying is sometimes good'... well, something along the lines of that... he was right. And his tactics worked.

Even after Kaede was executed for 'killing me' I didn't believe it. Neither could Kokichi. After Kaede died, that's when Kokichi got the whiteboard. Not only could I see things, but I could hear too. He was certain, so positive, that Kaede wasn't my killer and that she had been framed.

And after Ryoma, Kirumi, Angie, Tenko, and Korekiyo, he kept getting more frustrated and upset.  There would be nights he wouldn't sleep at all because he was so determined to end all of it. But then came along Miu's plan to kill Kokichi.