Work Text:
The silence was loud yet deafening throughout the entire building in which sixteen--or fourteen-- particular students from Eden's Garden academy were confined in. Considering the events that had taken place all over, the silence was reasonable. Two classmates taken away too soon yet only one was grieved by majority. Majority,
--excluding the one that passively grieved the other; known most probable as Eva Tsunaka.
It was no secret that the debater and the mathlete were fond of each other. After all, it wasn't hard to spot a smile or friendly banter among the two if you were observant enough. Above all, it did make sense, considering the mutual understanding within each other and the forced isolation of the two. The duo who had been highly overlooked which resulted in a break that was bound to happen.
The two that managed to build a room of trust now ended in a broken space desolated and left with one.
---------------------------------------
Knock knock
...
Knock knock
"...What?"
"It's Kai. Can I come in?"
"Do you need anything?"
"...No. I just felt the need to check up on you."
"Did someone tell you to?"
"What? No. I came here by myself!"
"...That sure is unlike you."
"Just let me in, Man."
"...It's not like the doors have locks on them."
With that, the doorknob slowly spun, until the door itself distanced from the frame, revealing the pink haired guy to the blonde. "Hey." Kai leaned on the door frame, a hand on his hip. Damon watched him, clearly not amused as he leaned back at the headboard of his bed, crossing his arms.
"...So?"
"Huh?"
"You've checked up on me. You can leave now."
"Seriously?" Kai stood back up and walked over to Damon, sitting on the edge of his bed. Damon slightly shifted and looked away from Kai, clearly not interested in any sort of consolation that he was gonna give him. "You didn't show up at the dining hall today. Again." Kai seemed to notice Damon's slightly annoyed demeanor and kept his gaze low.
"Why would I? It's useless to do so, it's not like we talk about anything important."
Kai's gaze shifted to the floor before looking back into Damon's eyes. "Well..."
"Tozu came in unannounced. He started talking about... Wolfgang, and Eva. He says he'll get rid of their rooms in a few days for, 'Space' or whatever."
Huh?
Damon finally made eye contact with Kai, his eyebrows slightly furrowed
"What do you mean?"
"...He's destroying their rooms, Damon. I came in here because I thought that maybe you'd want to take one last look around them."
One last look...
"...I'll think about it."
-------------------------------------
Damon stood in front of what used to be Eva's room. Holding in a deep breath, he twisted the doorknob open and was met with a room layout similar to his. It was particularly dark, and Damon could spot a few things in his field of vision. A chalkboard with writing, her messy desk full of math instruments, shelves lined with notebooks and paper, and silly posters with stupid math puns. Damon recalled Eva telling him that she disliked her room and saw it as a mockery of her own talent; Damon couldn't deny that she was right.
Very slowly and observant, Damon walked around her room. He tried to make out what was written on the chalkboard, but the chalk was smeared and he could only make up a few words. Generator, Frame, and ...His own name?
That's strange. Why was his name there? It was no mystery that the chalkboard was full of Eva's brainstorming for her murder, but Damon couldn't quite make out any reason why his name would be there. Was this related to her betrayal?
Damon walked up to her bed and to his surprise, was met with a small box and an envelope laid neatly on top of it.
Huh? What was this? Did Eva leave these here?
Scared of what the letter might've had to say, he picked the box up first. He gently opened it and it revealed none other than Eva's feather. Damon let out a small gasp and took it into his own hands. It felt weird, seeing the feather in his hands rather than the red headband he was used to seeing. He sat on the bed before completely collapsing his whole body onto it, staring up at the ceiling with the feather still in his hand. His mind was racing, full of many thoughts.
"Damon? Hey, can you hear me?"
Damon groaned as he moved his arm out of his eyes, only to be met with a familiar girl, and that familiar girl was Diana. He was confused for a short minute. What? When did she get here? Did I fall asleep? "...Diana?"
"You're awake!" The girl gave him a tired smile. "I didn't expect to see you here, after all, you missed Tozu's announcement about the room wreckage and I was thinking of telling you about it."
Damon sat up. "...Well, Kai beat you to it."
"I'm aware of that now." Her smile slowly fades away. "I saw the feather... and the letter. Have you read it yet?"
"No. I didn't."
"Well, you really should. After all, it's for you.
"Wait, what?"
"Um.. I'll leave you to it. I just wanted to see Eva's room one last time but it seems you were here first. Anyway, she really liked you, so it'd make sense for these to be laid out for you." Diana smiles at Damon again before making her way to the door.
"...If you need anything, don't be scared to talk to me, okay?"
And with that, she was gone.
With no further hesitation, Damon reached out for the letter and was surprised to see that it was addressed to him.With no time to waste, he carefully opened it and took the paper out. It was handwritten neatly, obviously by Eva. He sat on her bed and began to read through the letter.
To: Damon.
If you are reading this, I am dead. As much as I didn't want to write this to weaken my belief that I wouldn't lose this trial, Tozu told me that I had to write a letter to someone in here if I did lose. The person I chose was you. I was mainly hoping that you would never have to read this, but since you are right now, I think it gives me the chance to apologize. I'm sorry about everything, and if I had built up the courage, I would've told you about the stupid traitor perk. It is only reasonable of you to think that my actions were selfish, and I painfully cannot deny that. In my honest opinion, this is stupid. Everything in here is stupid, trusting you was stupid.
But I'm glad I did. I never understood why you tried to be so understanding and so gentle to me, but I never thought that was stupid. I wish I would've known if you genuinely trusted me too considering the fact that I had to write this letter, but I hope that it tells you that I did trust you. There's so much I wish I could say, and I wish I would've been able to talk about it with you instead of writing this death letter, but look where we've ended up.
I hope you at least loved me as much as I loved you. You were always willing to talk to me and engage in my weird conversation topics. I appreciated you for that--in fact, I appreciated everything you did for me. You made me feel less alone and that was something no one has ever done.
Thank you, I love you, and I'm sorry.
Eva Tsunaka
Without realizing it until now, Damon finally felt the hot tears desperately trying to pour down his cheeks. He sighed, and blinked, and everything escaped. If this was how Eva really felt, it hurt more. It hurt more because he never knew Eva had felt the same way. It hurt more knowing that if they had more time, they could've worked something out. It hurt because there was nothing he could do about it now.
He took the feather and adjusted it on him just as Eva did. It may have looked strange and out-of-place for him, but he didn't care. All he wanted now was to keep living, to prove that he could find a way to end the game for her sake, and show Tozu the realization of how inhumane this was.
With one final sigh, Damon left everything in Eva's room exactly how he found it. The only difference was that the tiny box was now empty.