Love and Lies [Saioumami]

I'm Just Overreacting

Kokichi stared at his shoes as he stepped onto the porch of the Saihara-Kirigiri household with Rantaro, Shuichi, Celestia and Kirigiri. "Ah, hello everyone! It's so good to see you all. Please, come in and make yourself at home."

"Thank you, Uncle Jin." Shuichi gave his uncle a lively hug before pulling Rantaro upstairs towards his bedroom.

"Who might you two be? I don't think we've been introduced. You can call me Jin." Jin held out a hand that Kokichi and Celestia shook. 

"I'm Kokichi Ouma, and this is Celestia Ludenberg. A pleasure to meet you, Sir."

"Ah Ouma, I was told you love Panta so I bought a case for you. It's in the fridge if you ever want one, help yourself."

"Oh, thank you!" Kokichi grinned as he skipped inside after Kirigiri led him and Celestia towards the living room as Jin returned to whatever he had been doing before everyone arrived. "Kirigiri, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, it's about that question you asked me a few days ago. You asked about an orca and a compass, correct?"

"Is this about your soulmarks Kokichi?" Celestia asked, receiving a nod as an answer.

"Ouma, although I couldn't find anything relating to a compass, although there is something to do with the orca. Shuichi has a plushie called a Helping Yacchi. It makes him feel safe when he has his anxiety attacks, so don't make fun of him." So, Shuichi is the orca? 

"Thanks, Kirigiri."

"Oh and Ouma?" He hummed in reply, "hurt him, and I'll kill you."

"Got it." Kokichi turned and hurried upstairs, away from Kirigiri's threats. "Knock knock, ya'll better not be fucking." He announced before opening the door to reveal Rantaro and Shuichi sitting on the bed talking.

"Oh hey Kokichi, sit down." Rantaro tapped the duvet next to him.

"As long as you've cleaned the sheets since your last tug session Shuichi!~" Kokichi giggled, taking a seat in between Rantaro and a flustered, tomato-faced Shuichi. Rantaro stood, leaving the room for no apparent reason. "What's up with him?"

"He, uh, needed to use the bathroom earlier." Hmm, that's such an obvious lie, but what reason would he have to hide the truth?

"Hah, probably got hard thinking about you!" Kokichi shoved Shuichi with a gentle elbow.

"N-no that's not it!" He stuttered, waving his hands haphazardly in front of him.

"Hm, I guess you're right." Shuichi looked relieved that the conversation was ending, that was before Kokichi's mouth grew into a grin spreading from ear to ear. "He must've gotten hard because of me then! How could he betray you like that?!"

"Kokichi stop!" The boy took pride in Shuichi's rosy face, covered by Shuichi's hands as his embarrassment overwhelmed him. Rantaro reentered the room, throwing a bottle of Panta at Kokichi and locking the door behind him. He stared at the scene before him with a blank expression.

"Uh... what'd I miss?" 

"Oh, just me telling Shuichi that you got hard by being near me. Nothing special." Kokichi's grin never faltered as he took a large swig of Panta, idolising his favourite, carbonated grape drink.

"O...kay... Kokichi we need to talk about something serious if you remember?" Rantaro took his spot on the other side of the leader. "What's wrong? Whatever's going on we're here to help, we're your best friends Koki."

"You mentioned Kaito. What did he do to make you avoid me?" Shuichi added. 

Kokichi huffed, "what makes you think Momota is involved?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe when you said 'It's Momota' earlier today?" Rantaro rolled his eyes.

"I'm going home," Kokichi mumbled, having enough of the conversation. Standing from his position on the comfortable bed, he attempted to make his way out of the bedroom. Before he had a chance to take another step, Rantaro grabbed the collar of his jacket and yanked him backwards, choking the smaller boy for a second as his back collided with the bed. Once he was lay flat on his back, Rantaro pinned him down by sitting on his waist.

"No, you aren't. Tell us what's happening. If Kaito is hurting you then we need to know. I'm not letting a repeat of last time happen." Certain words resonated in Kokichi's mind due to the unfortunate familiarity of the situation. His brain went into protection mode, his regular, cocky facade fading in an instant.

"P-please don't hurt me!" Kokichi whispered, crossing his arms in front of his face to prepare for an impact that never came. Instead, he felt the weight on his lower area lift as Rantaro got off of him.

"Kichi..." Shuichi hesitated, unsure of how to react to the sudden switch in personality. "Why would we hurt you?"

"I-I'll tell you what happened," Kokichi mumbled, fiddling with his fingers as he sat up. "Momota... Wants to beat me up."

"What's new?" Rantaro interjected, not reading the room.

"He thinks I'm going to abuse Shuichi." Kokichi continued, ignoring Rantaro's comment.

"Why would he think you'd abuse me? I know you two don't like each other but you haven't given him reason to believe that have you?" Shuichi retook his seat next to Kokichi, wrapping a calming arm around him as he leaned the supreme leader's head into his shoulders.

"Momota said you have two soulmates, and you think I'm one of them. He doesn't think I'd be a good boyfriend." No one said anything, silence allowed the words floating around the room to penetrate their ears. Without warning, Shuichi jumped to his feet and grabbed a killer whale plushie, fumbling with the bedroom door lock before storming out of the room with a tremendous rage.

"We won't let anyone hurt you Koki, you know that right?" Kokichi nodded in response, not trusting his voice. "You never let Momota's insults get to you, what else happened?"

"Nothing. It wasn't like he said it to me either since he didn't actually see me, but it's just the assumption that I'm an abuser. You wouldn't like it either if someone called you that, right?" Rantaro shook his head, taking his turn to wrap an arm around Kokichi's shoulder. "I thought that if I stayed away from Shuichi, Momota wouldn't decide to take things into his own hands. He punches pretty hard when he wants to."

Rantaro said nothing more, causing anxiety to build up in Kokichi's stomach as he realised what he'd said and done. "I-I should go home." He stood up with no resistance from the adventurer as he rushed out the door, past Kirigiri and Celestia and towards his house. Kokichi cried as he ran, tears flying behind him as he made his way towards his version of hell on Earth.