Symphony

Chapter 1: Like Nothing Ever Happened

Shuichi Saihara's P.O.V

It was pitch black, apart from three slots of light shining in. I was in a locker. I pushed the locker door in front of me, and the next thing I knew I was collapsed on the floor. I flinched with pain for a moment.

I looked up and saw a girl. She had blonde hair that fell onto her shoulders, and lilac eyes brimming with curiosity. It was Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist. She was standing in front of me, alive and well.

I wanted to tell her everything, how much I missed her, how happy I was, but I quickly realized that she wouldn't understand me. I had to act how I did before, otherwise, I might not like the outcome. I stood up slowly, pretending to be shocked.

"Do you have any idea on what's going on?!" Kaede yelped, completely confused as to what had happened.

"I don't, I'm in the same amount of confusion as you are," I responded, knowing very well what was happening.

"Okay, well then the next best thing to do is to stay calm!"

I was expecting a few certain monsters to show up after that, and they did. They explained our situation, told us to explore the school and get accustomed to our new classmates. It was happening in the exact same way it happened the first time.

They left after explaining, which left Kaede and me in the room alone. "Hey, are you an Ultimate student too?" Kaede looked at me, patiently waiting for an answer.

I paused for a moment, then I responded. "Y-Yeah...I'm Shuichi Saihara. I'm the Ultimate Detective..err well-"

"What? You're a detective? That's amazing!" She looked starry-eyed when she said that, which in turn, made me blush lightly.

"Ah, well, I'm more of an apprentice. I just happened to solve a case, and well, people call me that now," I corrected her. If I were to be honest, I wished I didn't have to introduce myself all over again. But it could also benefit me, knowing what would happen next and being able to plan out how to prevent certain things.

As I expected, she assured me that what I did was something not many people could do and that I should be more confident in myself.

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself! I'm-"

"Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist" I accidentally blurted out.

She paused for a moment, then looked at me in a confused manner. I flushed pink with embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry! I just knew who you were from...your performances," I tried my best to make it not look like I was a stalker or weirdo, but I think I just made her more uncomfortable. I already ruined her first impression of me. Great, just great.

She then spoke, breaking my train of thought. "You've seen one of my performances?! Wait, which one? Were you investigating something? Where did you hear about me from?-" She was just bombarding me with multiple questions at once, so it was overwhelming.

She finally stopped asking me questions when she noticed how red I was from all of them. I thought I might've gotten better with my interactions with people, but then again Kaede isn't just anyone.

"A-Ahh! I'm so sorry! I guess I got slightly carried away," She looked down at the floor, looking slightly embarrassed at losing her composure. I accepted her apology, of course. She then suggested that we look around the academy, trying to find a possible way out. She also mentioned that If we find any other students, we should talk to them.

I nodded and followed her out of the classroom. I immediately felt anxious when we stepped outside into the hallways. The air felt heavy, and I started to recall all that had happened here. All the murders, all the executions. I almost broke in tears until Kaede spoke abruptly.

"Oh! There's someone over there!" I looked towards where Kaede was pointing, and I saw her.

She had long blue hair and equally blue eyes. She was Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer. I utterly despised her, but I tried my absolute hardest to not shoot her a glare. She was the one that was behind all of this, she was the Mastermind. Not only was she the Mastermind, but Tsumugi framed Kaede for a murder that she did and executed Kaede even though she was completely innocent. That was the second biggest reason I loathed her. She was the one that took Kaede away from me. I will never forgive such a cruel, heartless person like her. We did our introductions and left.

Time had passed, and we eventually introduced ourselves to everyone except for two people. Himiko Yumeno and Maki Haruwaka, the other two who had survived with me.

Kaede and I eventually found them, talking to each other. I found this very weird, as they never were close enough to just start talking to each other before the killing game began. Everything else was almost the exact same as the first time, except for this. When they saw us approaching them, they went completely silent. Maki and Himiko stared at me for a little while until Kaede once again broke the silence.

"Do you three all know one another? You all keep staring at one another. Did something happen?"

Maki replied with a quick "No," and left the area.

Before she left, she looked back at me with her intense red eyes for a brief moment, then left with her long, brunette hair trailing behind her. Himiko followed and looked almost sad when she left. I had a feeling those two knew a lot more then what they were leading on.

Kaede then spoke again. "Saihara, are you sure you don't know those two? Please be honest with me." She looked at me with reassuring eyes.

I wanted to tell her about it all, but she probably wouldn't believe me and it could potentially ruin my chance at saving everyone, so I didn't.

"No, I have no idea who those two were," I replied.

Author's note: When speaking to other characters, they will refer to them using their last name, as it is very polite to do so. If they are related to one another or are lovers, they will use their first name. So that is why Shuichi refers to characters first name when thinking, but refers to them using their last name when speaking.