super short one shot, saihara/kaede

ndrv3 spoilers, watch your step

reincarnation au

Shuuichi reaches for her, his arm stretched as far out as he can-but it's useless. Kaede slips away from his grasp, away, away, away.

(She didn't mean to kill Amami, she didn't want to do anything but find the mastermind. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't-)

He sees her eyes, her trembling lips, before she's gone.

Shuuichi turns away. He can't look at her body swinging around on a noose, though his classmates are enraptured by the horrifying performance.

When he turns to duly face the execution again, all he can see is Kaede's terrified expression, the fear and acceptance at the prospect of dying.

He can't unsee anything now. It's too late to help, too late to do anything now and-

No. Kaede had faith in him, and even if she was hanging there, limp and lifeless, he still had to do something. There was still a killing game, still something he had to.

He lets himself pretend for a second Kaede was still alive, still around to bring hope to this hopeless, rundown school.

(He can almost, almost hear her voice cheering him on. Almost.)

Shuuichi is walking with Tenko when he catches a glimpse of blonde hair, lilac eyes, and a sweet smile. He stops, turning back to look at the person.

Tenko stops besides him. "Did another cute guy catch your attention again? Tenko doesn't have all day."

When he thinks about it, Shuuchi can no longer remember the exact color of her hair, the shade of her eyes, or what her smile looked like. He can't remember why she caught his attention, why he felt so familiar in that moment, why he had an inexplicable urge to run after her.

He looks, but he can't see her anymore.

He turns back to Tenko, who looks exasperated.

"Sorry, it's nothing."