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“Hey you two! It’s been a while. What brings you guys here so late?” Kaito’s apartment door swung open to reveal the Ultimate Astronaut, hair flat and unspiked, wearing a bathrobe and, of course, galaxy-print slippers.
“We missed you,” Maki blurted before Shuichi could respond. It had been two weeks since they’d beaten Danganronpa and everyone got pulled out out of the simulation. They’d all been moved into apartments close to the studio while they readjusted to daily life, but not all of them had readjusted as quickly as Maki, Shuichi, and Himiko had. Kaito and a few others had barely left their rooms.
“Yeah,” Shuichi admitted, “we haven’t really seen much of you and, well, I was talking with Maki, and… we were wondering if you wanted to do some training? For old time’s sake?”
Kaito’s cheery grin fell. “Oh. That’s… I dunno. I haven’t really been feeling the best. Besides, I already did a ton of push-ups today, so it’s-”
“What if we just went stargazing?” Maki asked.
Kaito looked down at his slippers and mumbled. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
--
“Who’d’ve thought it’d be dark enough to see the Milky Way! Look!” Kaito had his neck craned up as they made their way to a clearing in the woods. It seemed like Team Danganronpa had built their studio as far from civilization as possible - there wasn’t even a halo of light on the horizon to suggest that there was a nearby town.
While Kaito was changing out of his robe and into actual clothing, Shuichi had run back to his apartment to grab a couple of blankets. Maki had gone scouting earlier that day around the studio for a flat, open area to train in, and they figured it’d be as good a place as any to lay down and stare up at the sky. They’d spread the blankets out over the scrubby grass, and were now laying on them with Kaito in the middle. None of them said a word as they took in the dazzling display of stars above them.
Finally, Shuichi broke the silence. “We actually have a surprise for you, Kaito.”
“Huh? What’s that?”
“We spent the last couple of days memorizing the constellations.” Maki explained.
“It was Maki’s idea, actually.” Shuichi added. “We figured since you’re so passionate about space, we should get to know it a little bit better.”
Kaito didn’t reply at first. “You guys-” his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “That means I’m gonna have to quiz you, you know!”
“Of course you would do something like that,” Maki huffed.
“Let’s start with the easy ones, then! Which constellation are those,” Kaito pointed to 3 bright stars in a neat row, “stars a part of?”
“Uh… even kids know that one. That’s Tsuzumi Boshi, the drum.” Shuichi answered.
“But you’re gonna say it was a trick question, because it’s Orion on star maps.” Maki jumped in.
“Hey, c’mon! I’m not gonna trick you! How about that blob of stars right below Orion?”
“That one is definitely a trick question!” Maki elbowed Kaito in the ribs. “That’s still Orion.”
“That’s the Orion Nebula, isn’t it?” Shuichi turned to ask Kaito, who was rubbing his side.
“Ow! I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less from my sidekicks. Alright, let’s try… what’s that W-shape? Right in the middle of the Milky Way,” Kaito gestured, his finger tracing along the blurry stripe that spanned the sky.
“Cassiopeia,” Maki and Shuichi answered at the same time.
“Alright!” Kaito laughed. “Maybe I should make it harder. Can you guys tell me what that blob below Cassiopeia is?”
“Hmm… it’s in the Andromeda constellation,” Shuichi thought aloud.
“Andromeda,” Kaito repeated, almost to himself.
“It wouldn’t happen to be as easy as Andromeda Nebula, would it?” Maki asked sarcastically. Shuichi quietly wished he’d studied more of the individual objects, rather than just the star patterns.
“Nope!” Kaito said suddenly. “That’s gotta be the Andromeda Galaxy. Bet you two didn’t know that’s the closest galaxy to the Milky Way.”
“Wow, that’s a whole galaxy? It’s… kinda small.” Shuichi admitted, impressed and underwhelmed at the same time.
“Well, of course! Galaxies are really far away. Let’s try another one, then. See that really bright star, almost overhead? And the stars surrounding it. What constellation are those in?”
“That bright star is part of Lyra,” Maki responded.
“But the stars to the… left, I think those are part of Draco.” Shuichi said.
“I really can’t pull one over on you guys, can I?” Kaito mused, before the group lapsed into silence again.
.
.
.
“Hey, Kaito?”
“What’s up, Shuichi?”
“You don’t… actually know these constellations, do you?”
“What? Of course I do! I’m Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! I know the stars by heart!” Kaito dictated passionately.
“It’d be kinda dumb if he didn’t, Shuichi,” Maki said.
“H-hey! Even if I didn’t, which I do, it’s not a requirement to be an astronaut! But I like to go the extra-”
“It’s ok, Kaito. You don’t have to keep pretending for us.” Shuichi tried to comfort the astronaut-in-training, who had visibly deflated.
“It’s that obvious, huh?” Kaito murmured. “I shoulda known the Ultimate Detective would see right through me.”
“I-I’m sorry. I actually should’ve realized sooner. Before we asked you out here and everything. We spent so much time stargazing after training, that I just assumed - but I should’ve figured it out when Gonta said that he’d never seen the stars at our school before, I should’ve asked you about it, because you of all people would’ve-”
“Hey, Shuichi?” Maki interrupted. “Shut up.” Shuichi sat up to look over at her when something caught his eye - the starlight reflected in a single teardrop rolling down the side of Kaito’s face.
“Is everything alright, Kaito?” Shuichi asked, carefully.
“Me, of all people.” Kaito let out a sound that sounded halfway between a laugh and a sob. “The Luminary of the Stars. The Ultimate Astronaut. Some astronaut I am, huh? I don’t even know the constellations. I feel like I barely know anything, but I guess that makes sense. You know the astronaut exam is just a physical exam, right? That’s all I passed. I lied about my age. I lied about having a degree and a job and a pilot’s license. And now I don’t know if I can pass it anymore, because I don’t even know that I ever did.”
“So what if you did or didn’t do that stuff? That’s all in the past, and it’s fake anyway.” Maki said. “Just memories that Team Danganronpa gave us.”
“But that’s the thing. I remember it. I remember it so vividly. I remember teaching myself Russian, I remember trying to learn the solar system and the stars and the constellations, because I remember wanting to be an astronaut. I remember wanting to walk among the stars more than anything. What am I supposed to do if I can’t reach for that anymore?” Kaito took a shaky breath. “I thought, y’know, I thought about the same things when I figured out I was dying. Back in the game. But I thought I could at least save you guys. I still had something I could do with my life. I couldn’t even do that right, could I?”
“Hey, hey.” Shuichi reached out to rub Kaito’s shoulder. “We’re out now, we're safe, and we can do whatever we want.”
“That’s the thing, though!” Kaito sat up suddenly. “I have this drive inside of me to be an astronaut, but I can’t. It’s not possible for me anymore, if it ever was,” he added angrily. “The game screwed with my body. And even if I train as hard as I can and build my body back up, I can’t fix what they did to my brain. I don’t think I’d ever be able to live trapped anywhere for months on end like I’d be on the International Space Station. Hell, I don’t know if I’d be able to handle the rocket launch. So what’s left for me? What am I supposed to do?” Tears were streaming down his face like meteors, and Kaito wiped furiously at them with the sleeve of his jacket. “I’m always gonna love the stars, but I’m never gonna be up there with them.”
“You can stay down here with us, then.” Maki whispered.
“I think we’d miss you too much if you left us,” Shuichi paused, holding back from saying again. “We could even teach you the constellations, if you want.” Kaito sniffled, considering their offer.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”