One hour. 

Shuichi had one hour to prepare before the trial. 

He kept going over and over the facts of the trial in his head, even going saying some of the facts out loud. As hard as he tried, he couldn't focus on it. He just couldn't.

He closed his eyes in order to calm himself down. He took a deep breath and focused on the sound of the clock in his room ticking. 

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on his door. He awkwardly pulled himself up from his bed and walked slowly towards his door, walking like a zombie.

He raised his hand up towards the door handle slowly then twisted it open. He was confused about who he was greeted by. The yellow sleeved, white haired, Atua loving, Angie. 

This amazing as hell artwork was done by MeikoKai this is the first time that I've asked Angie to be drawn for an artwork and I have to say that it is perfect and they drew it perfectly. Absolutely perfectly. She looks so freaking cute and Shuichi.. well, he looks perfectly confused. Please go follow their Instagram! - shslyaoishipper 

................................................................................................................................................................

To start with, Shuichi was confused. "Angie?" 

The artist smiled back at him and waved. "Shuichi! People are looking for you! I asked Atua to look after you and he told me that this is where you would be! Nyahahaha!" 

Shuichi simply looked back at her with another puzzled expression. "W-What? Everyone's looking for me?" 

Angie nodded, "Mm Hm! It's time for the trial!"

Shuichi started back at her wide-eyed. He had only closed his eyes for a few seconds, it couldn't of been an hour. That was impossible. He backed into his room to check his clock. 

6:03pm

Shuichi started down at it in disbelief. An hour had really passed. 

"Nyahahaha! There's no reason to look so scared! You gotta live every day like it's bright, cheery, and fun!...So says Atua." Angie smiled, repeating her usual Atua laced response as it was the solution for everything. 

"I'll meet you there Angie." Shuichi's tone was one of extreme depression. He wasn't ready for this trial. He wasn't ready to go through all of that again, he knew that he wasn't strong enough. 

Angie smiled gleefully before running back to outside the trial grounds. Shuichi took three deep breaths, each one shakier than the last. He clenched his hands into fists and left the room, making sure to lock it after him. 

As he approached the rest of the students, a few of them greeted him neutrally, others slightly more nervously than they should of done. 

Shuichi smiled back at the majority of them but mostly kept his head down towards the floor, trying as hard as he could not to have a panic attack. 

*Psssssssss wumpth* 

The lift to the trial grounds opened. 

Shuichi looked up and he instantly hated the situation that he was in. This.. this gave him too many bad memories. 

Kaede. 

Kirumi. 

Korekiyo.

Gonta. 

Kaito. 

Tsumugi. Keebo..

He slowly started to move forward. With every foot that he placed forward, he harder it was. Not because of the physical aspect of actually walking but because the memories.. the flashbacks just wouldn't stop. 

Before he knew it, he found himself standing inside the lift with Kokichi standing next to him. He closed his eyes and rested his arms down at his sides. He took a deep breath in then a deep breath out. He knew that this was completely his fault. Instead of preventing a murder he might of orchestrated one. He started to feel tears well up in his eyes. But no, he couldn't cry, he couldn't let Tsumugi see this weakness. 

He promised that he would never let another murder occur but here he was in the elevator, about to go down to the trial grounds.

All of a sudden, a warm sensation spread throughout his body. He snapped his eyes open and looked around. Shuichi redirected his gaze towards his hand as he was hit with a sudden realisation.

Kokichi had wrapped his hand in his..

"Kokichi..?"

The taller boy looked down at him, tears regretfully in his eyes, with an extremely worried and sad look on his face. In return, the smaller boy didn't say anything, he just smiled. The smile wasn't a fake one however. Shuichi had learnt to recognise lies and fake smiles but this one was entirely honest. It wasn't a lie. 

Shuichi had to do this. He had to do this for Kokichi.. and of course for Himiko. 

Shuichi looked forward and closed his eyes once more. He took one last deep breath before gripping onto Kokichi's hand as tightly as he could.

Kokichi was rather surprised that the detective had accepted his gesture. But they both gripped onto each others hands as if their lives depended on it. 

Maybe it was because the only thing that kept them going was each other. 

No, that was definitely the reason. 

.

.

.

SaioumaTrashBag drew this three part comic strip. Awwwwwww *dies* my favourite panel is either the first one or the second one. Ohh, but the first one is really good as well! Ahh. It's beautifully drawn and I can't decide which one I love the most. Which is your favourite? And please go follow them on here and on Instagram - supreme.detective.shumai

................................................................................................................................................................