The Final Truth

The Final Truth - Chapter Eight

Shuichi laid down on his bed. He felt little motivation to move, little motivation to speak, little motivation to breathe.

Little motivation to live.

His thoughts were of Kokichi. They were always of Kokichi. His smile, his laugh, the bright aura he always seemed to bring the emo detective. The others always seemed irritated by him, and for a while Shuichi did too, but... but there was always something about him that kept him there, that kept his thoughts returning to Kokichi.

But now, it was too late.

And Kokichi was gone. Forever.

Shuichi sighed and stood, not even glancing at the intimidating black notebook on his desk, instead heading out of the dorm, and into the gardens. He sat down on a bench and felt the wind whip through his hair, ruffling it slightly. He shivered against the cold air and hunched up, trying to gather as much warmth as he could.

He glanced to his left and noticed a small table with a couple of garden chairs next to it. It would look the same as every other table nearby, but underneath the table was a small stain of dried blood - the same blood Kokichi had lost when the two of them had played the knife game together.

The knife game... Shuichi sighed as he remembered it. Why would Kokichi even attempt something so dangerous - and then he wouldn't even let Shuichi do it. And then after...! He said all those strange words...

... I stole your heart, so now I'm satisfied!...

... how is it that only Kokichi can make him feel like this...?

Tears sprung from Shuichi's eyes as he realised he had to adjust that sentence.

... how was it that only Kokichi had made him feel like this?

This feeling... this warm feeling that sparked in his chest at the thought of his deceased friend... a feeling he will never get again. One lost to the ages.

His tears streamed down his cheeks and splashed onto the cold stone beneath him as the warmth that used to flutter in his chest like butterflies every time he saw Kokichi now turned into buzzing wasps, stinging and stabbing him over and over again as he clutched his stomach and hunched over in pain, continuing to cry at the loss of... of...

... of his-

"Shuichi?"

"Ah- Keebo?" Shuichi's thoughts got cut off as the friendly robot sat down next to him on the bench and glanced at him worriedly. "Is... is something wrong?"

"Are you okay? It seems like you have been crying."

"O - oh... it does?" Shuichi mutters, wiping at his eyes. "I was just thinking about... about-"

"Kaito?"

"... Kokichi."

"Kokichi? I thought Kaito was your best friend, logic says you should be thinking about him, and not-"

"I know, I don't understand it either." Shuichi interrupted. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to hear about what he 'should' be doing. He didn't want to hear everyone's assumptions that Kokichi meant nothing to him. Because they're all wrong. Kokichi meant something to him... he meant everything to him.

He just... didn't know why.

He wiped at his eyes again and smiled gratefully at Keebo when he passed Shuichi a small tissue. He dabbed at his tears, and binned the tissue, picturing the tissue not as a tissue, but as a small bandage strip, as it fluttered down into the dark abyss of the outside bin.

... did Kokichi's wound on his finger finish healing? He had checked on it once afterwards, but only once, and then it hadn't healed yet. It was a weird thought but... Shuichi hoped it had. Kokichi may have passed away but writing with a cut finger was never easy and... in his final moments, Shuichi wished for him to be as peaceful and pristine as possible.

For a few more moments, Keebo and Shuichi sat together in silence, before Keebo broke it once again. "So... what's your opinion of Kokichi?"

"What's yours?" Shuichi rebutted, with a slightly hostile tone to his voice.

Keebo flinched slightly, confused, but calmed down and answered Shuichi's... question. "I... I think Kokichi was... an interesting character. He was annoying - very annoying - but he also... he also cared about us. I genuinely don't think he would have purposefully harmed any of us."

Shuichi found himself nodding along with Keebo's words. "You were the only other one who seemed to believe in Kokichi's final words, weren't you?"

Keebo glanced at Shuichi curiously. "Only 'other' one? Do you believe in his words too?"

The detective only nodded in return and turned his head away from Keebo and back towards the table, a slight sigh in the back of his throat, trying to signal that the conversation was over - but Keebo wasn't done.

"You never answered my question - what do you think of Kokichi? What's your opinion of him? Who is Kokichi, to you?"

"Who he is... to me?" Shuichi quietly muttered. "He... Kokichi..."

He smiled softly, feeling slightly bittersweet.

"He's my mystery."

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! There's no Kokichi in this chapter but I more wanted to express how Shuichi is feeling right now, as normally I just tend to focus on Kokichi. I hope I was able to portray them all well XD

And don't worry, next chapter will have more Kokichi in it XD

Oh also! I have a Wattpad writing server on Discord if that's something you'd be interested in. I tend to be quite active over there, so if you wanna chat or meet other people who most likely use Wattpad or read fanfics then that might be a good place? The server invite is on my profile on Wattpad, so feel free to join whenever! <3

Anyways yea! - hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all again soon!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊