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flydotnet · 5 years

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Shuichi Saihara and the Mystery of the Neverending Melody

Summary: Ever since he was a child, Shuichi has heard the same melody, an experience he didn't share with anybody. This is the story of how and when he found out why it was.

Fandom: Danganronpa V3 (AU) Ship: Saimatsu/Saiede/Saiaka/y’know the drill

Wordcount: 3.2K words

Notes: Once upon a time not too along ago, in a place not so far away... My giftee was (unknown to me, due to the rules of the exchange) @xoxorandomfangirl! Glad we could rejoice in some good ol’ Saimatsus. This is... a weird trip. It's a soulmate AU with a twist! God, the plot barely makes sense in this story, it's a disaster and a half haha. I hope both aren't too out of character, that'd be super embarrassing, especially with some of my ~veteran experience~. Anyway! As I expected, I had... more or less zero idea who this would be for, so I went wild and, as a result, this story is... weird and I guess kind of impersonal? I still hope you like it pal!

Written for the @saimatsugiftexchange

AO3 version available here.

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It first began when he was a little boy. After his parents (or, rather, their butler or maid) would have left his room, Shuichi would hear the serene notes of a piano in his now quiet room. He used to believe it was someone playing said instrument in a nearby room: after all, his mother owned a piano, a family heritage he had been told by the family’s most loyal butler, she could have very well been playing it, or asked someone else to do so for her husband or herself. Truth be told, Shuichi didn’t know much about his own house.

He never mentioned to his parents, or anyone for that matter. He was afraid of not getting believed. He had read somewhere before that, sometimes, you were just cursed to hear the same music over and over again for the remainder of your life until you’d find the one true way to break the curse and liberate your soul from going insane from the repetitiveness of it all and the loneliness it’d bring upon you. Again, Shuichi was but a little boy, and he was afraid of the curse too, more than he had ever been about the darkness of the night. Maybe that, if he ignored the song, it’d just go away… He figured he had grown out of believing such mythos, like the existence of the tooth fairy, of the soulmates his parents claimed to be in front of the cameras, and the curse of some piano music stalking him.

He wasn’t weirded out by the myths, despite how much he’d hear about them and the number of stories he’d end up collecting in his mind with time. When he was a child, his parents would buy him a lot of story-focused books with urban legends like these plastered all over the pages. He’d watch, like every kid his age, series and movies about sirens, fairies, werewolves, vampires, soulmates with specific birthmarks, mermaids and haunting music. They usually ended well, turning darker as he got older and got to watch more grotesque content. The happy siren marrying the sailor she had first enchanted had become a tragic, death-riddled version of itself.

Shuichi didn’t believe a lot of them, despite hearing the music. Someone at school once told him it was someone searching after him and, when they’d get close to him, he’d hear the music. While she thought it was his Princess Charming searching for her beloved, he only found it creepy to think about: it was essentially being followed around your entire life until someone, possibly with malicious intent, would find you. How was that supposed to be reassuring?

Speaking of the never-ending song, it got eerie when he’d start hearing it again when he was a teen. He had moved places entirely: to keep up with the demand for their services, his parents were mostly overseas, or at least far from home, and he had since moved in with his uncle Shinichi and the latter’s wife. Neither of them owned a piano, there was no such instrument in their house. If he let his soul get too carried away in its first instincts, he could almost feel the crescent-shaped mark on his chest itch.

Still, there was a rational explanation to that mysterious phenomenon, as there’s always been to various other enigmatic occurrences. When he absentmindedly mentioned this fact to his uncle and aunt, Auntie Ran mentioned that their neighbours had a son around Shuichi’s age who played the piano. It may have been this guy all along, so he shook the idea of being haunted or cursed away. There was always rationality to everything in life. There wasn’t anything to worry about…

…that was, until he’d start hearing the melody where there was no piano nor the possibility of someone playing it, and especially in times where he shouldn’t have heard it.

He figured he’d just play it in his mind to soothe his own soul when finding himself in dire situations. When he was very sick and seeing things that weren’t, when he was about to fall, only for something to retain his body before it’d break itself, when the car he was in almost got hit by another. The serene melody would always play, albeit quicker than before, and he’d feel better or get out of the situation safe and sound. It must have only been him but, deep down, a part of his sceptic mind was thankful for it…

A part of his brain couldn’t compute anymore when, on an urbex trip with his best friend, the serene music reached his ears. Around them, nothing but the rests of life that once was: they were in the middle of an abandoned hospital, torchlights in their bags, a camera in his hands. Kaito noticed something was bothering him, so he immediately popped the question to the latter, making Shuichi feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. With how rational Kaito was despite his silly appearance, he’d surely never believe him. Still, he owed his friend the truth, so he went for it anyway. While Kaito didn’t outright laugh at his face, his eyebrows still twitched in disbelief. He then proposed the idea that there could have been a piano in the premise, just well hidden and, while that wouldn’t make too much sense, nothing was impossible in urbex. Someone could have brought their instrument with them, or put in a wireless speaker to play with the visitors. It wouldn’t have been his first time seeing that happen, at least.

In the end, there was no piano in the old hospital, nobody else but them, and they found no speaker, even with Kaito’s best efforts. They both decided to believe they just hadn’t seen it. It could have been hidden in some rubble, after all, leaving shortly thereafter.

Little did they know that, by trying to follow the music, they had avoided an unfortunate encounter with a murderer hiding behind the rubble of what had once been.

Still, the phenomenon kept on. It didn’t scare him in the slightest when he was staying over at his uncle’s, finding himself get soothed by the serene notes played by his neighbour. It didn’t scare him when he was sleeping over at Kaito’s grandparents’ place. In fact, he wasn’t scared of it whenever he was with someone else, because, even if they didn’t know what he was talking about and didn’t hear the music, they helped him rationalize it. He must have had a sensible hearing, like his mother apparently was. She’d sing for her own scenes; he must have inherited something from her except for his long eyelashes and slender figure.

The melody would actually change every time he heard it. It’d be subtle differences he’d notice more and more: an octave higher, an octave lower. It must have been him, but it’d differ depending on his mood. If he was sad, he’d hear solemn, yet optimistic notes. If he was trying to focus, it’d subdue and become background noise. If he was happy, it’d hear triumphant sounds. If he was embarrassed, the air would be comical and he’d feel easier, encouraged to take it easy. Hiding in some bathroom stall had never felt this comfortable.

Now, the issue rose its head when he also realized he was always the only one to hear it in the unlikeliest place. The moment he realized that fact turned his entire life upside down: he was all alone in one of his family’s secondary residences, enjoying some time separated from the rest of the world during the holidays, without a butler nor a maid. Just him, all on his own, with the sound of his footsteps echoing through the empty corridors. For how weird it seemed to literally anyone around him, Shuichi took great pleasure in some voluntary solitude. Someone like him just needed moments where he could cool down from how heavy socialization could get.

Alas, he wasn’t all alone in this villa: the piano was playing. Haunted and anxious at the idea that a burglar could have step foot there, Shuichi braced himself and started making his way to the music room of the house, just to make sure it was just all in his mind again. He let himself get guided by the notes: the louder the calm symphony was, the closer he felt to the source. For a burglar, they sure were a gentleman to only play the piano instead of robbing the place out of its fairly pricey electronics and other luxurious expenses. His parents weren’t materialistic people to begin with anyway.

Bracing himself one last time, he breathed in and out, and proceeded to open the door to the music room. The notes were at their loudest yet remained eerily peaceful, undisturbed. Time to see what the face of his musician, impromptu visitor was…

Shuichi’s jaw almost dropped to the floor when his eyes laid upon the piano. It suddenly felt like a fever dream.

On the bench in front of the keyboard sat a blonde girl around his age, fingers moving almost on their own as she closed her eyes, too much into her music piece to notice someone entering the room, he quickly guessed. She wasn’t dressed any oddly by any normal means, albeit very formally for a robber: a mauve dress reaching to her ankles, only leaving her ankles bare, with a trail sitting diligently at her feet, with matching gloves covering most of her arms. Even her hair seemed nowhere near ready for quick action and housebreak: it was a fancy hairdo, with strands all over her back and shoulders. Her profile was, you could say, divine.

Now, how she had gotten herself there was a complete enigma to Shuichi. Even his uncle would have a ton of troubles trying to decipher what in the flying disorder was happening before his eyes. A girl his age had somehow broken into a high-security house dressed for a ball… only to play the piano and leave everything else intact in her stead. Surely he had to be hallucinating it all, stuck in a fever dream and barely realizing it. It was unreal to say the least.

Eventually, the piece ended, and the girl opened her eyes, revealing pink irises glancing right into his. God, she was beautiful in all the meanings of the physical team, but seriously, what the hell? Who was this woman, what was she doing there, playing the piano? How and why? She couldn’t have possibly been the cause of all the music he had lonelily heard all of his life, could she?

“Ah,” she spoke up before he could even phrase a single thing in a coherent sentence, “I see that you have found me at last. I’ve lost our little game of hide-and-seek!”

Okay, now that was getting a tad creepy and way too cryptic for his liking.

“Who… Who are you?!”

Shuichi didn’t want to scream that like some angry drunk guy stumbling upon his own imagination, especially when the empty halls and rooms resonated this badly; yet his voice decided to do so anyway. Sometimes, his body could ask for his consent, but apparently it didn’t want to know anything about his desires. He’d have dwelled more on it if he wasn’t staring right at a girl playing on his mother’s piano with a slight smile and shimmering eyes.

“Well, I kind of expected you to ask me that first-hand. My name is Kaede. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Shuichi!”

Okay, what the fuck. How did she know his given name? What in the hell was that evasive response? And she still hadn’t only replied to most of his interrogations! Was she making fun of him, on top of stalking him with piano music of all things? He didn’t know how to phrase anything without sounding like a future murderer or a maniac.

Still, “Kaede” quickly noticed he wasn’t convinced by just having her name. She simply hummed and resumed the conversation (if conversation this weird situation even was).

“I’m certain you won’t believe me, but we’re soulmates! Have you never heard the myth of hearing music everywhere you went until you’d meet your one true person? It doesn’t even have to be about love!”

“…you’re kidding me, right?”

She didn’t seem quite that happy with being questioned, instead shrugging with a slightly displeased expression. She ought to have had a knife hidden under her dress.

“Why would I joke about that? I’ve waited seventeen years to meet you!”

She rose from the bench, hair and trail flowing behind her, floating in the air like wind blew in the room. He had to admit it: she was absolutely stunning and, frankly, didn’t seem too mean aside from being… weirdly playing the piano in an empty house.

“Hold up”, he still said, rising a hand. “How did you break in? Why aren’t you, I don’t know, stealing anything?”

“Why would I steal anything? I’m not here for items, I’m here for you!”

“Still, how did you make your way here?”

Kaede seemed bothered by his question, looking aside with an awkward smile.

“Weeeeell… It’ll sound unbelievable, but I can go through walls when I want!”

“…you really got to be kidding me.”

As if to prove her point, she walked past him and, indeed, made her arm go through the wall behind his back. He felt a shiver go down his spine with a cold sweat.

“O-okay… And how do you do that…?”

He may have been terrified to see such a display without a proper forewarning.

“I’m a goddess!”

How far could this girl push his willing suspension of disbelief?

“Gods aren’t real, no? That’s old mythological stuff.”

“Yet you have one right in front of you!”

He supposed she could go through the walls and play the piano wherever he went…

“Wait, that means you’ve known me since I was a little boy, right?”

That had the most unfortunate implications ever.

“I… actually never saw you until now.”

The situation kept growing weirder and weirder.

“Wait, what?! How do you know I’m “the one”, then?!”

She pulled down the right side of her dress, revealing a part of her breast and, most importantly, a crescent-shaped birthmark. With her other hand, she pointed exactly where his was, on his right.

“…so, all along, all those legends were true? God, I must be dreaming all this.”

Kaede looked annoyed.

“I thought you’d be happier than that to know you’re linked to a goddess in such a way!”

Only then did it hit him.

“Wait. You’re the one who was playing this song I’d always hear, right?”

“Yeah. That was me trying to locate you, but most of the time, you’d be in trouble…”

“So, in short, you’re also the one who saved me when I was in harm’s way.”

“I tried my best back there! I couldn’t lose you before we’d meet, right? That’d have been anticlimactic!”

It felt like being revealed the truth after a lifetime of lies and he, honestly, didn’t know how to handle it, or even if he could. That must have been when he felt her soft, warm touch around his body.

“Hey, are you okay?!” She asked, frantic, as she carried him like a firefighter around, until she found the nearest bedroom to put him on the bed.

Words had escaped his mouth, head spinning in dizziness.

“I suppose that’s a lot to take in…”

She picked a chair and sat on it, right next to it, her fingers hovering over one of his hands.

“I… I don’t know what to say…!” Shuichi laughed, still half in disbelief. “That stuff’s just insane!”

“I can only imagine so.”

He took a deep breath and tried calming himself, if not just to stabilize his swimming field of vision for a moment.

“So… You’re some kind of goddess, right?”

“Yeah! I’m a deity of music! My father is the god of harmony and my mother is the goddess of technique and precision. My twin sister is the goddess of the harp!”

Okay. That made… some coherence, at least. It wasn’t entirely hazardous pull after hazardous pull.

“But, like, does that mean you were in love with me since I was born?”

“I didn’t know who you were for real until today! I just knew your name, where you were and things like that, but I couldn’t see your face until you’d see mine first. It’s the thing with being a goddess with a mortal soulmate…”

She seemed saddened by that fact.

“That’s a thing that happens, sometimes?”

“We deities have a few different soulmates in our lifetime. Sometimes, our bond to them is so strong the mortal get to ascend, but it happens very rarely. You’re my first soulmate, though! I’m a very young goddess by our standards!”

“You’ve waited for me for seventeen years, right?”

“Yeah! I hoped you were a good guy, and I’m not disappointed. I’m sorry if I’ve scared you with my attempts at finding you.”

“It’s… it’s fine. Now I know it’s not a stalker with malicious intentions, at least…”

Kaede put one of her hand on his. It was only now that he was noticing she had somehow changed into something much more comfortable-looking: a pink toga-like dress with an untied hairdo. He supposed that was part of her powers…

“If you don’t want me around, I can always go back to where I come from. But, if I’m to be honest, I’d rather discover the mortal world with you.”

“N-no, not at all, you don’t bother me!” (Now that he was getting over his emotions, he realized she seemed like a nice sport all around. He could get used to her magical shenanigans later down the line). “I just have a question to ask.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you take a human form? I don’t want to introduce you to Kaito as my invisible friend who can go through walls…”

Her expression, which had been serious and determined until that point, broke into a laugh.

“I like that title, though! Anyway, yeah, I can take human shape and pretend to be a mortal. I’ll just have to use a bit of my goddess magic to give me some officialness.”

“And you don’t mind that?”

She shook her head. “Nuh-huh!”

“That’s good…”

Shuichi felt a wave of fatigue suddenly washing over him before yawning. That was a lot of emotions…

“It’s getting late,” Kaede noted as she looked outside, the pale moon lighting the otherwise pitch-black bedroom. “I guess you want to sleep.”

“Wouldn’t be against it for sure… But I think you have a lot to tell me.”

“Oh, it’s no problem! I’ll be back in the morning then, when you’ll be all rested up! Goodnight, Shuichi.”

“Goodnight…”

He fell asleep before her fingers had even left his, still dressed for the day. Maybe that it was all just a dream, an absurd dream of absurd proportions. For now, it was a soothing experience, so he figured he may as well enjoy what was left of it until he’d wake up…

When he woke up, it was to the smell of breakfast and the sight of a now-familiar smiling face with blond strands of hair cupping her cheeks.

#danganronpa v3 #saimatsu #shuichi saihara #kaede akamatsu #saiaka #saimatsu gift exchange #my writing #oneshot #ao3 link

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