Morpheus - A Drv3 fic

Dike

Shuuchi opened his eyes to blue hued light streaming in through the small window in his dorm room. The air was cold in his room as he quickly got dressed into a warmer outfit. He pulled a black zip up hoodie over his shoulders, wondering why the hospital never turned the heat up high.

He walked out of his room and made his way to the cafeteria.

Shuuichi thought about the night before. Maki was really mad at him, and he didn't know what to do. Part of him said he should apologise, another part said he shouldn't have to apologise. Maki shouldn't be so upset over who he chooses to spend time with. But at the same time, Maki had a point... Kokichi was not a good person in the game. Even though he had good intentions, he did bad things, Shuuichi couldn't deny that. Maki's apprehensions were fair, but he felt like maybe she should give Kokichi another chance. Shuuichi had had the chance to see a better side of him lately, and he thought if Maki could see that too, maybe she would hate him as much... and if Kokichi apologised. Kokichi really needed to do that. But then again, Maki probably did too.

"Hey Shuuichi!"

Shuuichi jumped as he was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by Kaede waving at him. He hadn't noticed he already reached the cafeteria.

"A-ah, hey Kaede." He stuttered. Shuuichi grabbed a plate from the buffet table and began getting breakfast.

Shuuichi sat down next to Kaede at the table, seeing Maki across from him. Their eyes met for a moment. Maki glared at him and turned away.

"What's with you and Maki?" Kaede leaned over and whispered.

"I... I'll tell you about it later" Shuuichi whispered back. He didn't know if he wanted to tell Kaede or not — afraid she'd be mad at him too — but he reminded himself that he could trust Kaede, and it would be fine.

Kaede frowned, but didn't press it.

The rest of breakfast passed in relative silence, with Shuuichi and Maki avoiding each other's gaze whenever possible.

—---

"So what was up with you and Maki?" Kaede asked, sitting down next to Shuuichi on her bed.

Shuuichi sighed. He avoided Kaede's gaze, staring at the wooden piano in the corner of her room.

"I... I've been spending some time with kokichi lately. In his hospital room. Maki... Maki found out and she wasn't happy. She kind of yelled at me a bit..." He said.

Kaede frowned. "I'm not surprised... Maki isn't really a fan of him, from what I've heard..."

"From what you've heard?"

"Yeah, well, I was... gone before things got too bad between them, you know." Kaede said. "I only know what the staff told us afterwards."

"They told you about all that?"

"We asked. They intended to just tell us the victim and the blackened, but we just couldn't understand why some people would... you know, so we asked. We know a bit more than you'd expect." Kaede explained. "We don't know everything, though. When we asked about the third trial the staff just said 'you don't wanna know'..."

Shuuichi laughed uncomfortably. "Yeah, you really don't want to know about that one..." he tried not to be visibly uneasy.

Kaede sighed. "So that's why Maki's not talking to you, then? I can get where she's coming from... I never want to wholly hate people, but even I wouldn't exactly be... totally friendly with Kokichi. Especially if I had those same experiences Maki did."