Manga spoilers ahead, please read at your own discretion!

❋ Shoko doesn't remember much after it's confirmed that Suguru's murdered the villagers, but it's a night she never cares to repeat. All she remembers is the sensation of standing rooted to the spot for hours, until the soft light of dawn illuminates the village in all its gory detail, wanting to tear her eyes away from the scene, but being unable to.

❋ She does remember being escorted into a car and driven away, after it's clear that she won't be of any further use in the investigation. She presses her forehead to the coolness of the window and tries to sink into the arms of sleep, but her thoughts won't allow her the peace that she desperately craves.

❋ The car means to drop her off at school, but even as she's battered and exhausted, Shoko has no desire to return. She doesn't want to be the target of sympathetic gazes and apologies, as though apologizing over and over will undo what has already been done. She asks the driver to drop her off at Shinjuku, and tells Suguru where she is.

❋ At first, she thinks he won't come. She works through one pack of cigarettes. Then the next. She's about half-way through her second pack when she sees Suguru – he greets her with a smile and a wave, as he's done so many times before, but all Shoko can feel is a single, sharp twinge of despair. It's an effort to talk to him, and even then, her voice is raw and hoarse, and she knows it isn't just because of the smoke.

❋ After meeting Suguru, Shoko does not go back to school. She does not answer any calls. She walks and walks, fleeing the anguish that will hit her soon enough. She walks until sweat courses in rivulets down her face and body, and rubber legs force her to stop.

❋ Shoko's the one who cleans Suguru's room after he leaves. The entire school, and Yaga by extension, acts as though Suguru's never existed at all, and Satoru is grieving, his wounds much too raw, and a small part of her doesn't want Satoru to hurt anymore. Suguru's done enough damage, she thinks. So one afternoon, Shoko packs Suguru's clothes into cardboard boxes, stopping ever so often to press a shirt to her nose to inhale the familiar smell of his skin, and though her throat tightens painfully, and her eyelids are sheets of fire against her eyes, she doesn't cry.

❋ Nights are spent in Suguru's room, wrapped up in his sheets. The sheets still smell like him, but she doesn't know how to make it last. One day, she'll wish for one more inhale, and the smell will exist only in her memory. One night, the door to Suguru's room opens. She can feel Satoru watching her from the doorway. In response, Shoko shifts, freeing up space on the mattress. Silently, Satoru climbs into the bed with her.

❋ Shoko pierces her ears after Suguru leaves. His belongings contain earrings, the simple black studs he's always worn, and Shoko claims them as hers. She rarely takes them off, and wearing them somehow makes her feel as though she's a little closer to him.