Ouma's POV:

"Do you think she wants Bok Bok Choy?" Kiibo asked as I shrugged. I didn't know anything about cooking, the most I could ever accomplish seemed to be making things edible. That was back when I had two eyes that could read labels, I don't dare to even think of trying to make something other than a bowl of cereal or toast now.

"I guess she would, it's kind of hard to run groceries when half the list isn't very specific like what's 'some vegetables' mean? She doesn't even say what she's using them for so I don't know what kind to get!" Kiibo ranted frustrated. It was true Aunt Mayumi was never known for being clear on what she wanted or what she needed and only seemed to get frustrated whenever someone didn't understand what she meant.

But my pity for him was depressingly low because despite my protests Kiibo still dragged me to the store with him, apparently, this was so we could 'bond' or something similar. He was probably just paranoid from what had happened at school though, I didn't have the heart to tell him that sometimes the rest of the district was worse. It never occurred to me what little Kiibo likely saw over the years, the student body though probably didn't need to bother hiding their actions in front of the teachers.

Saihara's Aunt...well she certainly never received any reprimand for anything she ever said to me, so I doubt anyone would ever lecture them over me. If it had been Chiasa though...

Still, this was a bit safer than most stores in the area. It wasn't a gas station already a good sign, from the admittedly long list of gas stations DICE and I had harassed with prank calls and the occasional shoplifted from over the years, the graveyard shift employees I'm sure are out for blood now from the years of abuse. The store Kiibo and I had come to though was on the opposite side of the district from the school, and the store from the sound announcements loudly advertising the organic food made it clear DICE and I likely didn't stop here often, we never could have afforded this regularly. If we ever did go here it wasn't to target them for pranks, instead, we just bought the few supplies we couldn't find at Daiso here.

I hadn't come back to the store since middle school, so the employees probably don't have any sort of grudge against me but that didn't do anything to stop the nerves inside of my body as I traced over the bandages on my hands.

I just wanted to go back to the house.

Kiibo continued to try and grab the items from the grocery list, though it was becoming closer to a scavenger hunt at this point with neither of us at times being able to tell what a certain ingredient even was.

It might as well have been written in a different language, google so far had been our sole saving grace for deciphering the list, and finally our now three-hour-long trip ended.

Or should have ended.

"Oh wait," Kiibo said abruptly, I raised an eyebrow hoping we didn't forget something again. "I was going to get pomegranate..." he muttered conflicted. 'Where is it?' I asked making sure not to drop the basket on my lap, the only advantage to having a wheelchair. "It's on the other side of the store, we can just check out its nothing" he insisted quickly.

...

'Just get it, I can wait for a bit' I assured him, "what? No really you don't have to, it's nothing" he argued. 'What's one...ok whatever a pomegranate is going to do? Just get it and come back it will be five minutes, if you run maybe three' I countered.

"I don't have to" Kiibo started but I groaned slightly 'just go already' I signed getting annoyed, finally after a beat of silence Kiibo ran off.

I told myself I would be fine as he ran off. This was a nice area, and I had never harassed the owner here. Nothing was going to happen if I'd already been in the store for so long.

I was used to being alone, what would five minutes do? It was much more bearable even rather than having to have Kiibo push the wheelchair around everywhere and feeling useless at the fact I couldn't even move.

Instead, the second he left a slow chilling sensation entered through my body. The voices and whispers of those around me overwhelmed me, what were they saying? Was it about me? The noises just fell into manic laughter of panic as I tried to keep calm.

It's all in your head, if you can't even keep it together for five minutes how do you expect people to ever trust you again? Don't be clingy and annoying, that's why people keep leaving you. You're not allowed to do that to Kiibo too just because he lives with you.

"Is it really him?" A voice called out ringing above the others, her voice was feminine and older and sent a feeling of dread down my back. "Shame, isn't it? If it wasn't for that hair color I wouldn't have even recognized him" another one lamented, this one of an adult male yet it also sounded vaguely familiar.

I...where do I recognize this voice...? Wait...no it can't be...can it?

His footsteps approached me before I had time to properly prepare myself, as the figure seemed to move to meet me at eye level. "How the mighty have fallen Tsuki" Tsuki's father said in a tired voice. I felt a cold sweat drip down my brow, as my worst suspicions were confirmed.

"You look well," he said, though the way his tone was clearly meant he was disappointed. Unsure of a safer answer I just nodded in agreement. "I haven't seen you in quite some time, it was the funeral wasn't it?" He asked condescendingly.

"No. No that couldn't have been it, because you didn't come to my daughter's funeral. You didn't attend any of the funerals for your supposed friends, instead, you hid away from your crimes didn't you?" He accused, I had a hard time finding a rebuttal.

'I was in the hospital, I'm sorry' I apologized, but a part of me felt like it was empty. There was so much more I should have apologized for, not just missing the service but the fact the service had to happen at all.

"Tell me, boy, do you have any appreciation for what you've been given?" He asked, I paused confused at the question when has life given me anything it didn't take away?

Seeing my confusion he just groaned, annoyed by my incompetence it seemed.

"Your life. You should've died that day had things gone to your plan. Yet here you are still, alive and breathing and yet you act as though you've suffered a fate worse than death if the rumors are correct.

"They tell me you act as one of the dead, a walking corpse of a remnant of a memory. A sullen face with eyes that are devoid of life, yet I see none of that when I look at you.

"You look like someone who has just grim acceptance, so tell me, are you happy and grateful to be alive? Are you content at still being here in the land of the living? Tell me those rumors of you trying to join my daughter are false. Because even if you had died I doubt you would make it to heaven.

"Have you found some sort of realization or awakening through the deaths of your friends? Share some wisdom even, you had to have learned something from this. "Otherwise my daughter's entire life was wasted on you, answer honestly if you are even capable of that," He asked.

I paused as I took in the gravity of his words. A lesson? Some kind of moral? Tsuki always loved those kinds of stories, the ones with tragedies that always somehow taught her something or the characters. A lesson to keep on in day-to-day life.

But maybe that's the difference between fiction and reality, sometimes there is nothing to learn. Only lose.

In remorse I shook my head, he sighed.

"Well, it seems I had too much faith, you're just a worthless child aren't you? Fate chose you to live for a reason, at least you aren't a liar anymore...still remember this well for I'll only say it once.

"You live your life, and never once are you allowed to forget my daughter or any of those other children. You aren't allowed to forget them and how you didn't change their fate, so you better live every day in atonement for this great sin you committed." He concluded and walked away without another word.

...
...
..all I listened to was the sounds of sprinklers on the vegetables, the crashing of grocery carts, and the cries of small children misbehaving. The day-to-day life as his footsteps faded away, and the noise I focused on as I tried to keep myself grounded as I sat there dumbfounded.

Never allowed to forget...I held onto my hands, hands I knew had long ago been tainted from that crime, from every mistake and every little thing I didn't do leading up to that final moment. It wasn't just the fire where I could have prevented the use of that broken outlet. It wasn't just when I had received the threat over the phone, if I had just gone with my gut and told the group we wouldn't have been so careless. The rooftop, Genkei's eye was all because I didn't protect Riko despite her being one of my best friends and betraying my own bias towards logic rather than emotion. There were so many ways I could have done better, be better.

But I didn't, and I didn't even have to suffer the consequences, instead, I just continue to spread misery with every breath I took, useless pathetic you don't deserve to be alive still-

"Sorry it took me a while Kokichi, I just-oh gosh what happened?" Kiibo asked, concern lining his voice. 'Someone was standing next to me with onions' I told him, "wait isn't that only when you cut them? Oh, the wait was that a lie?" He asked.

'Let's just finish up and go home' I offered, "Kokichi I don't want to just be on the sidelines anymore...if we go home will you please just explain what's going on?" he asked. 'Just drop it, I'm fine alright?' I quickly signed before thinking, shame ran through me instantly but...I didn't regret it as I lowered my hands and folded them in my lap. A clear sign I was done talking, a message Kiibo seemed to reluctantly accept as he sighed, "if...if that's what you want..." he agreed hesitantly, I nodded as we finished our trip in silence, Kiibo practically ran out of the building.

Running...'why did you want pomegranate? Aren't you unable to even eat food?' I asked curiously, Kiibo chuckled sadly. "I can't still, but...well I want to try and look normal, and pomegranate seeds are easy to get rid of so I can try and pretend to snack around other people, makes me look human I guess..." he reasoned. 'I don't know many people who snack on pomegranate seeds' I countered as a new thought sprouted inside of me. 'Your sign language is really improving, you could barely understand what I was saying a week ago how are you improving this fast?' I asked.

Kiibo paused again, before he laughed dryly again, "well...I am a robot. I talked to my parents the day Saihara left, and I asked them to help me install a feature to make me understand languages faster, it's working a bit better than I thought though. Iruma wants to take me to Europe so I can learn how to speak french, apparently, it's appealing for some reason" Kiibo explained.

Oh no...

'But you wanted to be more human...' I questioned confused, "there are some things more important...I was stubborn at first when you woke up. When you couldn't speak with me anymore, I wanted to learn sign language the same as everyone else. But unlike Momota I just couldn't learn fast enough or even that well...now that Saihara and Momota are gone, I figured it would help us both feel a bit more normal if we could both communicate in the same way.' he reasoned.

I could barely contain my shock, Kiibo was purposefully making himself less human just to try and make me feel normal...'I appreciate it a lot, it gets kind of lonely when I can't talk to a lot of people. I'll try and speak more though if I can someday' I promised though part of it felt like a lie. Kiibo however gasped, "really?" he asked excitedly, it was almost like he was a child.

"Oh gosh, no pressure but I do miss your voice a lot and your jokes, I...I want to be able to hear them again" he admitted wholeheartedly as I smiled a bit, the rest of the journey back home was filled to the brim with small talk and the occasional jokes toward our other classmates...it felt normal. Something that I could easily have done with DICE, Saihara, or Momota, instead of the more forced calm behavior from before. It was like a breath of fresh air, though he didn't bring up the store again, maybe for his own guilt. Some part of me felt bad about that, but there were just some things I could handle on my own and unlike with Saihara I'm going to make that clear now. Maybe then at least I won't have to blame myself if things go sour again. 

Finally, we reached the house, with Kiibo putting away the groceries and me putting away the few that had braille labels or the ones where I could guess needed to be refrigerated.

The shuffle around the small kitchen nearly led to many near misses, but the mindlessness of the task nearly made me forget about the day's events...so of course that had to be ruined. "So...what happened at the store?" Kiibo asked cautiously.

I sighed disappointed, 'nothing happened' I repeated trying not to show my annoyance. "Was it those people from school again? Were they at the store?" Kiibo pushed, I shook my head before adding 'it's nothing you can help with'.

Kiibo however just seemed to get more annoyed at my insistence, "I'm sure I could if you would just tell me. You don't need to do things by yourself anymore, I don't want to overstep my boundaries but if someone threatened you or someone purposefully hurt you I think I need to know" he reasoned.

You don't have a clue what you're talking about or promising...

'I met with the parents of one of the DICE members, see nothing you can do about it because you didn't know DICE' I lamented hoping that would be enough to finish the conversation or scare him off the topic.

"I knew Otome though, and I know you" Kiibo argued calmly. I froze at the mention of Tsuki, DICE had been a banned topic for years so why...

The world is revolving around you today, isn't it...?

'Then you and that guy have something in common' I concluded, "what do you mean?" Kiibo asked, 'you both lost Tsuki, it was her father and like you, her father is annoyed with me so you can't really say anything without being a hypocrite' I told him.

"A...wow." Kiibo said dryly, "ok, I'll wait for you to tell me. I'm sorry ok though, for all the years I left you alone with this...I can't make up for the past, but I'm going to try to be better alright? Whenever you give me the chance, you'll see. It's a promise" Kiibo vowed and without waiting for a response he left the room and I was the one left in stunned silence this time.

~-~-~

I buried myself under my covers finally, trying to sleep away the confusing day as conflict set inside of me. Change? Is anyone really capable of that?

Mom changed...but not for the better. I guess I'm a bit different too but I don't know what to make of that. Maybe we're all just lying to ourselves when we say we're getting better or that we can become better people.

I sighed as sleep yet again evaded me as I listened to the soft distant chirping of nearby birds as I heard a soft knock.

"Hey...hey Kokichi uh...I got this letter in the mail just now, it needs me to go somewhere and...do you want to come with me?" Kiibo asked cautiously. His voice sounded weary like it always did yet that seemed to just get on my nerves as I ignored him.

Kiibo however, ever patient, waited a few minutes before calling out to me, "I don't want to leave you alone but Mom and Dad are going to come home soon so...they'll be here soon. Tell them I went to the bridge if they ask ok?" Kiibo asked.

The bridge? Confusion filled my mind as I considered approaching the door and letting Kiibo inside to explain and yet...instead I wrapped my covers further around myself as the warmth made me drowsy.

Kiibo seemed to have given up on this bonding though as without another word he left the house and only the closing of the door signaled his absence.

Sleep evaded me as I tossed and turned begging for numbness and the brief absence of my thoughts and mind as the sound of the ticking clock slowly but surely drove me mad.

A cold feeling of loneliness filled me, the same feeling inside of the store as I laughed bitterly to myself when I wondered when exactly Kiibo had become so important to me. Maybe he always was, but I didn't realize it. Like with...like with Saihara.

When he comes back...when he comes back I'll be better, I'll be nicer to him. Maybe we can be friends or something...

Maybe if I had been smarter I would have realized Kiibo never told me what time we would be back by. Nearly thirty minutes after he left Harukawa was at the door, she even let herself inside. The only explanation she gave was that Kiibo called her ahead of time to 'watch over me' and he even hid his house keys underneath a flower pot.

When Kiibo came back we would have a long talk about burglars.

Harukawa however seemed unusually tense, we didn't say much as I moved downstairs to absentmindedly listen to music from the house's sound system, and Harukawa was likely reading.

If I had been smarter, I would have realized how odd it is to invite someone over without even waiting for them to arrive. But like an idiot I had faith Kiibo would come back soon, he never left for long with how overprotective he could act at times.

But one hour turned into two, which turned into four when my Aunt finally came home. She like me was surprised by Harukawa's presence, as she never left the entire four hours despite it likely about to hit curfew but she didn't say anything about that. She just briefly explained the situation and Kiibo's absence before heading back outside, the roaring thunder in the distance warning us of rain.

Aunt Mayumi explained a broad spectrum of emotions for the next two hours, at first annoyance because Kiibo usually told her ahead of time about his plans. Then anger at how late it was on a school night, and how he didn't even bring an umbrella with him despite the weather warning of rain. Then worry when she noted the occasional flooding our streets had in rain, especially in this season, then finally fear where she became silent. She registered the silence I knew that but she didn't ask me any questions...until it was 11:30.

Kiibo never stayed out that long. He was in Tsuki's words 'too pure' to break a rule like that. None of the events was typical Kiibo behavior as finally, my Aunt broke when even my Uncle, notorious for staying at work late to work on projects managed to come back before Kiibo did.

That was the final straw.

"I don't care I'm going to find our son!" My aunt finally screamed from the kitchen, grabbing keys in a rushed panic as I heard rushed running out the door, not even waiting for approval or anyone to question her actions.

I wondered if my mother ever did anything like that for me.

"Mayu! Mayu!" My Uncle called, then he paused. "Kokichi, Kokichi me and your aunt, need to find Kiibo...will you be fine here for a few hours? Can you call someone to pick you up from school tomorrow? It might be a long night..." he asked concern in his voice.

"If you can't I'll stay with you" he promised though I sensed his amount of hesitance when making that promise. Of course, he would, his child is out there and you're just his nephew.

....'I'll ask Saihara' I lied.

"Saihara?" He asked, "huh, well good we'll be back soon alright?" He promised as he left following after my aunt.

If I was smart I wouldn't have ignored the fear and anxiety that hung in his words and the atmosphere of the house.

Hour nine, and no word came back as I listened to random audiobooks, stories of the heroes that Tsuki had treasured in life that now seemed dull and lifeless as the weather outside. As lifeless as the days following her death had been for me...and maybe Kiibo. Maybe if I had any compassion we could have talked about her more.

Hour twelve, and I was considering sleeping away the rest of the night, but the nerves were determined to not let me go.

I kept repeating the words Kiibo had told me before he left, trying to find any hidden meaning or some lie that he managed to pass by me. Bridge.

He was going to the bridge, the bridge as if it was different. Maybe...maybe he's going to the one he thought Tsuki died from.

Guilt flooded my mind as I considered what he might have meant truly, I begged to be proven wrong but with every hour it only seemed to cement. That this time Kiibo had needed me, Kiibo had needed someone to be that hand to catch them from over the edge.

And instead, I let him fall.

Hour fifteen was when the police came, knocking and pounding at the door till I opened it. Those emotionless words they likely had been trained to deliver, the way the hour was transferred to an unreadable blur with every passing statement.

At hour fifteen and thirty minutes was when I remembered why my mother left me that day.

And hour sixteen in that hospital again was when my aunt and uncle were officially declared dead, dying from a hit and run in the harsh rain of that night.

In the back seat was an already dead Kiibo. A Kiibo I knew they must've been hoping to rush back to their home lab for some miracle.

They didn't get one.

Maybe the world had run out of miracles over the millennia because humanity never stopped praying and begging for their wishes to become reality. Maybe the universe had grown tired of us wishing for things instead of taking control of our own destiny.

Whatever was the case it left Kiibo Idabashi with no hope left in this world and left him wanting to join another. His wish had come true to the chorus of rain and my cries and begging for lies and masks and to wake up from this dream- this agonizing long nightmare.

At exactly sixteen days since Saihara turned his back and left me behind. Sixteen that number was the highest our class total had this year, now it was down to thirteen. That number was once twenty-five, I had mourned each of those dwindling numbers and my wishes to join those rosters were never granted.

Hour sixteen was when I officially had no one left in this world.