After Despair and the Path to Hope

You're Safe Here (Just Not Inside Your Head)

Rantaro isn't quite sure what's inside his head.

He knows that it's dark in there. He knows that it's dark and empty but nothing else about the demons lurking in its depths.

He mulls over his issues while nursing a cup of coffee, taking periodic sips from a liquid long-since gone cold.

"I didn't expect to see you awake."

Ryoma pushes open the door to his room, and Rantaro casts a glance at the clock on the wall.

3:24

Shit.

"You can't sleep either?"

Korekiyo emerges from his room (an area which appears more like a cultist's room than one for the Ultimate Anthropologist) fully dressed. His hands are smeared white with chalk, likely from drawing a sort of vigil circle.

"Oh, Korekiyo," Rantaro smiles. "What are you working on?"

"Kesesese," Korekiyo smirks, turning over the chalk in his hands. "A circle within which to perform a ceremony! A ceremony... to restore that which was lost!"

A seesaw, Tenko's bright pink blood spilling all over the floor, and Rantaro watching like the helpless idiot he is, unable to stop a damn thing-

"What would that be?" Ryoma asks, pulling his cap lower over his eyes.

"I refer to the gap in our memories," Korekiyo supplies, and Rantaro breathes a sigh of relief.

Except - wait. Shit. That's bad.

"Ah, maybe that's not such a good idea," Rantaro suggests. "Maybe you forgot for a reason..."

"Rantaro's right," Ryoma mutters. "There are some things I know I wouldn't want to remember... maybe I forgot even worse things already."

"Humans are strange," Korekiyo mutters, mostly to himself. "Is it so wrong to seek answers?"

"It is if the answers are just going to be worse than the questions," Rantaro retorts. "How do we know what yo-we forgot?"

Ryoma stares at him; he must have caught that slip of the tongue, but says nothing.

"Hrm... I shall have to find others to help, in that case," he mutters.

"Ah, you could use Gonta, Miu, and Shuichi," Rantaro suggests.

If he can't stop him, then he can at least make sure nobody else dies a painful death by seesaw.

Korekiyo stares at him for a moment, calculating.

"That sounds wonderful," he smirks, and Rantaro isn't sure whether or not he's made a terrible mistake.

"Pfft. What's with you?"

Miu leans over the back of the chair, staring at the person who just entered the classroom.

Maki glares at her in retort, a hand on the gun at her side. "Try me."

"Come on, let's not fight!" Kaede protests, quickly darting in between them. "We're all friends here!"

And there it goes, that goddamn flutter of her heart whenever Kaede says a single word, comes nearby, is.

They haven't talked, and Maki knows she should move on, but a part of her pleads for it not to be over.

(Don't let it be over)

"Tch," Miu smirks, strolling over to Kaede's side. "You're no fun, Kaede."

A devilish glint in Kaede's eyes are the only reply, and Maki aches at how those eyes once belonged to her.

Miu leans in, almost to scold, and then they're kissing.

...

Maki sprints out of the classroom, ignoring Kaede's shout of 'wait' in favor of the tears streaming down her cheeks, the only emotion she'll let herself show.

Her heart, so battered and broken and shattered still works, and all too well.

Too damn well, because now she feels too much.

Is it the same flutter in her heart as when she sees Kaito? Maybe. Does Kaito feel that way about her?

Is this some sort of sick need for gratification, to prove that she can be loved?

Yes.

No.

Her love for Kaito was written into her character. Being with Kaede was a rush, breaking the script, changing the lines to fit.

But now... does she want to return to the rails?

"Hey, Maki-Roll!"

Kaito rounds the corner with all the bravado of the Ultimate Astronaut, and immediately wraps her in a hug.

"Do you want to die?" Maki mumbles into his shirt, and Kaito barks out a laugh.

"You're funny," he whispers, threading his fingers through her hair. "What's wrong? You never let me hug you."

And there it is, that same fluttering when she was with Kaede.

But is it?

When she thinks about Kaede now, she just feels hollow. A memory.

Perhaps seeing Kaede kiss Miu finally severed those hanging threads pulling them together. Cutting apart the feelings that strangled her heart.

This feels real and all too strong, and she's almost afraid of what being with Kaito could mean.

But when she looks into those eyes, those bright eyes with the universe in their depths, she can't bring herself to complain.

Her lips meet his, and for a second, everything is right with the world.

He stares at her for a second, pulling away with surprise.

"...you don't like it."

Maki states it as a fact, trying in vain to twist out of Kaito's grip.

"Maki."

Kaito's hands wind around her waist, burying her head in his jacket. "I can't believe you're the one that made the first move."

Maki could practically cry with relief.

She's not alone.

This broken heart of hers has found its other half.

"I love you," Kaito murmurs into her hair, and Maki allows herself to smile.

Finally, she can be happy.

Perhaps the script may have been written for her, but as long as she's happy, the script doesn't mean a thing.

After all, life is what they make of it.