Beta Memories One Shots: Book II (REOPEN)

Beta! Rantaro Amami: The Ghost of Kaede

Rantaro was sleeping peacefully in his bed at the Academy until he heard a loud thump that shook him up. He jolted upwards, scanning every corner of the dark room. His heart was racing out of his chest as the gears in his brain stalled.

'No...not now...' He thought as he suddenly felt the room drop in temperature, seeing his own breath as he exhaled.

Rantaro held a dark secret. He kept it hidden in the depths of his soul, but from time to time, it would re-emerge to haunt him.

Not wanting to deal with it, he tried to sleep through it, but the thumps got louder and earth shattering at times. He wasn't surprised that the others didn't wake up to the madness. No, this was his own burden to deal with.

"Whoever you are..." He hissed. "Please just wait until morning! I don't want to yell and look like a crazy person."

It stopped, leaving nothing but silence as an owl hooted outside his window. His nerves were too rattled to fall back asleep, but he laid back down. He hugged himself tightly, trying to calm himself down.
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A few hours later, Rantaro woke up to the front door closing.

'K1-B0 and Shuichi must have left for breakfast...' He thought groggily.

He couldn't keep his eyes open and he soon drifted into a dreamless sleep. Little did he know, the cold draft came back in as a mist began to form in the corner of the room.

The spirit materialized into a human form...more specifically, Kaede Akamatsu, as she sat on the chair in the corner. She blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out where she was. It wasn't until she noticed her see through hands that it dawned on her: she was dead.

"What...what the?" She whimpered as she subconsciously placed her hands on her head.

She felt a dent at the back of her skull, making her stop cold. She was bludgeoned to death. She also noticed her voice was scratchy and she felt rope burn marks on her neck. Kaede was paralyzed with fear, not remembering a single thing that happened.

"Mmphhh..." Rantaro mumbled softly in his sleep as he turned around. Kaede froze as she watched his body move, completely unaware that he was there.

'Why am I in his room for?' She thought as she stood up quietly. 'I need to get out of here.'

She ran to the door and when she grabbed the doorknob, she was shot back into the chair. Shaken, she stood back up and grabbed the dresser to balance herself. However, she made so much noise that it woke Rantaro up.

"Huh?!" He gasped as he sat up, eyes wide awake. At first, his vision was too blurry to see anything, but it didn't take long for him to find out what was going on. He found Kaede's semi visible form leaning against his dresser in fear.

For a moment, no one said a word to each other. It felt like an eternity of awkward silence until Rantaro gave out a shakily sigh.

"K-Kaede? You...are here?"

"B-but...HOW?!" The ghost screamed. "W-w-what happened to me? Why am I-I here?"

Immediately, he tried to give her a hug, only to phase right though her and crashed into the chair. Kaede backed away from him in complete shock.

"Are you okay, Rantaro?" She asked as she knelt down to his level.

He groaned softly as he rubbed his head. "Y-yeah...I am fine. Just took a while to remember how to handle this."

"Huh? What do you mean? You have dealt with ghosts before?"

He nodded slowly as he stood up. "I...it's...this may sound ridiculous but...it's kind of my curse."

"A curse?!"

"Yes...it was one of the things that I still remember from my memories. It was a long time ago when I was exploring a tomb. It was the last thing I remember, actually...before I found myself at the Academy."

"That doesn't explain why I am here!" Kaede yelled. However, she calmed herself down. "I would have thought that I would..."

"Yes, but you have some unfinished business. Whatever it was that crossed your mind last was left unsaid." Rantaro explained. "It is my job to speak on behalf of the dead."

Kaede looked down to the ground. She didn't know how to explain her final thoughts before
Kokichi killed her.

Kaede looked down to the ground. She didn't know how to explain her final thoughts before Kokichi killed her. It could have because it was more of an embarrassing confession...to someone she didn't know that well.

"What if I choose not to? Do I end up in limbo forever?" She asked as she choked on her tears, kneeling down onto the ground.

"Yeah, pretty much. You would be stuck to me until I get your message." Rantaro answered sympathetically.

He had seen ghosts who were too scared to cross over to the afterlife, but Kaede was the one that broke him. He knelt down to her level and he could see the light that was left immediately faded away from her eyes. He wanted to comfort her but he knew that it wouldn't work.

She sighed shakily as she hugged herself. "I...I want you to tell Shuichi something."

"Hmm?" Rantaro raised his eyebrow.

"Just tell him...it wasn't his fault that I died. Tell him to keep going. We will see each other some day." She said, a small smile growing on her face.

"I...I promise." Rantaro reassured her.

She nodded slowly just as she began to fade into a white light. "You better keep your promise!"

She disappeared afterwards, making Rantaro's heart warm up. He had never felt that way after saving a life like that, but he assumed that because she was his classmate.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Rantaro?" K1-B0 called from the other side of the door. "Are you okay in there? Shuichi and I brought some food from the cafeteria."

"Okay! I'll be right down." He replied as he stood up. As he got dressed, he smiled to himself, knowing he did a good deed.
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The End

A/N: Just to be clear, this won't be part of the story. I won't be implementing the ghost powers in the main story because...it is just weird if he continued doing it throughout. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this story.