Profound Consequences~ Oumasai

Couldn't Protect Them

Kokichi's POV

Did I impress him in the trial? Shit if I know. Watching Kirumi die was painful. I mean it wasn't. I don't care. I really don't. I couldn't protect them anyway.

You're lying to yourself

Maybe, but I still don't care.

We all walked back to our dorms defeatedly. In spite of races events, a I could think about was the confession. What I told him... and what he did. My face warmed.

Monokuma had announced nighttime hours a while ago. I tried to sleep, but my thoughts formed a cacophony of noise that reverberated in my skull, bouncing ear to ear, setting it alight. Before my mind knew it, my feet were walking out the door and towards Shuichi's. I knocked without knowing what to say. To my surprise, he answered.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I.. well... couldn't sleep... and um..." I took a deep breath. "What do we do now?"

"About what?" He asked.

I tried to alude to that confession. "Y'know... after the meet and greet."

He turned a little red. "Oh... come inside, let's talk about it."

I followed him into his room, which was much neater than mine, and sat down on the bed next to him. Without thinking, I pulled a lock pick out of my pocket and began to fiddle with it. ¨So anyway, what do you think?¨ I asked.

¨I mean, we're in a killing game. It might be better to ignore this.¨ Shuichi said.

Ï was a litttle startled. ¨But!¨

Shuichi chuckled a little. ¨I don't really want to either. If that's what you mean, anyway.¨

I got an idea. ¨Lets go halfway. We'll keep things under raps and not tell anyone, unless things change and we decide....¨

¨Sounds good.¨ We sat next to each other awkwardly for a bit. ¨Do you have any idea what time it is?¨ Shuichi asked.

¨Time to sleep?¨ There aren't really a lot of clocks, the only time we see times are on Monokuma files. ¨But, I don't really want to.¨ I said. "Let's have a sleepover! Pwetty pwease, Saihara-chan..."

"Fine." He said. "But uh... ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?" He picked up a pillow off the bed and swung it at me. I rolled and grabbed another pillow. We swung back and forth until we were both too tired to continue. We laid on the bed, breathing hard.

My eyes fluttered closed as I rested. I felt something on the top of my head, almost like... a kiss. I opened my eyes.

Shuichi blushed hard. "I-I thought you were asleep and.... and... um..."

I laughed at his awkwardness and leaned forward, kissing his cheek. "We're even now, aren't we?" I said, smiling.

Shuichi looked down, attempting to hide his beet red face. "I guess so."

I remembered something. "It's probably like 2 in the morning by now. Maybe we should get to sleep." I said. We laid down next to each other, and Shuichi rested his head on my shoulder, before we both fell asleep.

That night, I dreamed of DICE. The members staking their reputations, and sometimes their lives, for me and my pranks.

There was this one guy in the town we lived in. He didn't like our crew, to say the least. And so, I decided we would pay him a little visit and tp his house. Not much. We got there and set to work.

This guy I'm talking about, he was a really grumpy old redneck, and he loved his guns. So much that when he saw us, he fired off a warning shot. Only he missed. And hit my second in command. We rushed him to a hospital, but it was too late. I tried to convince DICE to disband... I couldn't protect them.

"Kokichi..." I woke to a start as Shuichi shook me awake. "It's morning... time for breakfast."

I groaned and pushed his hand away.

"Come on, get up!"

I rolled over. "Just ten more hours...." I moaned and rolled over.

"You have ten minutes." He said. I fell back asleep immediately.

Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and walking into the dining hall. It was already full of everyone else. They all were somewhat melancholy. Meals weren't nearly the same without Kirumi's cooking. The look on their faces... and I couldn't protect them either.