[Shuichi Saihara has taught me many lessons but one I will focus on in this part is the lesson of "being calm is contagious"]

 To explain in more detail, Shuichi Saihara has taught me that if you are able to stay level headed and calm it helps the people around you be calm as well. I have used this in many scenarios in my own life.

I have used this when talking to my sister when my other sister was being rude to her and kind of controlling of her life. She has always been in the position where my other sister is envious of how well my youngest sister or Yasa-San is able to keep her assignments in order. Anyway, I was comforting her one day when my other sister Shodo-San was being rude to her again, this time to the point it made her start to cry. 

I followed her up to her room and rubbed her shoulder. She said to me "Why does she always treat me this way," She let more tears fall. I calmly said to her, "This is the way she decides to let her emotions out, you are crying at the moment and that is how you choose how to let them out," 

"Know that crying is a perfectly good way to let emotions out, it's better than some harmful ways of letting them out. I hope that one day she is able to figure out better ways to let her feelings out so it's not always coming to you," She looks over at me calming down a bit. "Know that talking about it is another way to let these emotions out, I'm here for you and I want to listen okay? Even if you may think it's a foolish thought, I would love to hear it and share that moment with you," 

She smiled up at me and said, "Thank you, that really calmed me down," She said before she was able to calm down to be able to go back downstairs.

There have been other instances where this has been helpful to me, for example, one time my mother was driving me to school, while we were running late. She asked me how I was able to stay calm even though I was going to be late for school. I simply responded, "Because I know that it is dangerous to be worried while driving, and what's the point of getting worried when staying calm will let you get there safely and on time," I also thought to myself. 'The people would also be able to tell if you were rushed or not.'

This is because if someone is running late and they run into a meeting breathless and flushed it shows that they were late, and the only thing they are going to be focused on is how they were late and how they are embarrassed because of this. But if they calmly acknowledged they were late and went there with the mindset that it wasn't going to be a big deal being a few minutes late. They would then walk in calm and composed and ready for the meeting making it seem like they were there and ready the whole time.

[Shuichi has also taught me that sometimes you can't let your emotions get in the way of your feeling towards others and your own judgment of their own actions.]

This being because in the trials he was able to take all the evidence he was given to be able to find the conclusion. Even in the fourth trial where the culprit, Gonta who was very loved by all of them...Shuichi was able to still come to the conclusion.

This has helped me when I am at home and even when I am in school. People are always so quick to judge others, but I always try my best to not make any final judgment before I have all the information I can get (that is legitimate of course). This helps me to be able to meet some people I would have never met if I didn't give them a chance. I have met a lot of people because of the opportunity I give them, a chance.

I have mentioned before that I have been in a Mental Hospital and I don't regret the people I met there. They have taught me that you never know both sides of the story no matter what other people are telling you. All people have their own side of the story and you need to keep in mind that they do. Also, keeping in mind that good people can do bad things. 

There are a lot of people I know who always put a lot of trust in people just because of the fact that they seem nice--but then when they see who they really are they get very hurt because of how that broke their idea that good people can't do bad things.

I saw a quote a while ago that said "people never notice when bad things happen to bad people, because they only notice when bad things happen to good people, because they believe they don't deserve it" This quote has a lot of meaning, because a lot of people let some peoples pain pass off as complaining or even as not meaningful because of who they are. When in actuality that person's pain is very real to them. Sure, you may believe they deserve it, but keep in mind...if it was someone close to you instead of that person, would you act differently then?

[Shuichi Saihara has taught me that you always need to keep you mind open and give people a second chance]

All of you probably know the scene where Shuichi tells Kokichi he is going to be alone forever. 

{Here is the scene if you haven't seen it}
SPOILER WARNING

Shuichi: Kaito has us by his side, see? But no one wants to be around you.
You're alone, Kokichi. And you always will be.

Kokichi: Ahaha! You're talking about friends? Friends don't make this game entertain--

{End}

I will go into Kokichi's actions as well as the lessons he taught me in another part. But in this one, I will just be doing Shuichi.

Shuichi in this part said some pretty harsh words to Kokichi, and they even hurt me personally because of the times people have told me these exact words because of my lies. I do respect Shuichi because throughout the game he gave Kokichi chances even though a lot of the other gave up on him after the first few times his persona kicked in.

Shuichi also heard out what the killer's motive was even if the others turned away and didn't listen. He wanted to seek out the truth and I believe that he was interested in Kokichi because of how mysterious he was because of the way he surrounded himself with lies. 

Using this in my own life I was able to give my best friend another chance after she hurt me pretty badly because of how she had gotten a 19-year-old online boyfriend. Now I believe because of wanting to start over regardless of what happened in the past, we have been able to make a better start to be able to make a stronger bond.

I have also heard from some of the older people I have talked to and been around how giving others another chance can be good and can be bad. One person in a group I go to has made a very untrusting persona with his friends through the time he had been drinking...but now he is trying sobriety and it has been going well for him so far. He mentioned that he has been trying to gain back that trust and how it is incredibly hard.

[That brings me to my last point. Shuichi has taught me that it's okay to cry and it's okay to let your walls down to trust others.]

This is because all of my life people have been lying and not holding up to their word making me have overarching unbelief when people tell me anything or promise me anything. This has made it hard for many to get close to me or feel like they are making any progress to get close to me.

I have been trying to make more friends and talk to more people, and all I can thank is Shuichi's relationship with Kaede, Kaito, Maki, and Kokichi's relationship with DICE. All of these made me realize something I have forgotten because of the bullying and abuse that I have been confronted with.

That I love to have friends and I love being able to be there for others. I was a major narcissist when I was a young child and I pushed that all out when I made this new version of me to adapt to the situation I was in as well as what the people around me wanted me to be. In this process, I have forgotten who I used to be and who I really was, but being able to hang out with friends and joke around I feel like I am still connected with my younger self.

I want to thank the people that consider me a friend of theirs because they do have to deal with my obnoxious words and constant lies. I want to thank some of the online friends I have because of the patience they have with me and because they are there for me when they can be.

I want to be able to have a big group of people who are there for each other and want to be able to hang out and try new things even if it's something they have never done before. A group of people that make the group feel like they belong, and a group of people who want to change, and people who aren't afraid of change.

Shuichi has helped me a lot and I have to thank him for helping me be able to adjust to life after getting out of the hospital as well as life after being exposed to my close friends and parents (as well as their friends). It has been hard for me but Shuichi has made it easier as well as helping me feel less alone.

Thank you Shuichi Saihara,
for everything,

-SK