The wingman nobody asked for

Hey, help me out for a little?

Since his uncle was going to be working all day and it was far too cold to walk out alone, Shuuichi had found himself relying on the public bus. He disliked public transportation but he had no choice in this situation. He sighed as he sat down on the bus seat, clutching the briefcase to his chest. Kiibo was so lucky, professor Iidabashi always stayed home so he can easily pick up Kiibo during the winter. Shuuichi opened his briefcase for a moment and pulled out a pair of earbuds, carefully placing one in each ear before he pressed the attached play button. He looked out at the window that was positioned behind him. The scenery was simple. Trees and grass being obscured by fluffy clouds of snow yet the sky looked surprisingly clear. It was actually pretty pleasant. However, this wasn't time to look at snow, he had to pay attention to every street sign he saw. He didn't want to miss his stop, he clearly didn't want to walk out in the snow.

Shuuichi noticed the bus stop for a moment as more teenagers went in. This must be the stop before the public school. He noticed as a small, red-headed girl sat next to him. She wore an abundance of cutesy pastel colored clips with a puffy, bright colored winter coat. She looked like she was about to fall asleep as soon as she plopped down on the seat. Shuuichi looked away and back at the window. Just a few more stops. He placed his phone in his pocket as he took off his hat for a moment. He disliked being spotted without his hat on but his ears were getting a little sweaty from being under the cap for a majority of the day. It won't hurt to take it off for a bit. The bus was too crowded anyway for anyone to spot him. He sighed as he held onto the cap in his hands. His arms were getting a little sore from clutching the briefcase so he placed it next to him, not caring if the strap freed itself from his shoulder.

As he looked out the window, he noticed the sign with the name of his street coming closer. This must be his stop. Shuuichi looked over and saw that the girl had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He gently nudged her awake and at least gave her the cue that he needed to go soon. When the bus stopped in its tracks, Shuuichi got up, put his hat back on, and began to walk out of the bus. When his foot hit the pavement, his eyes widened in realization. His shoulder felt light, too light. He forgot his briefcase. It was probably too late to get back on the bus. He reluctantly took one step at a time, completely nervous and dumbfounded at what he has done. When he was about to gain his composure and take the short walk to his home, he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey, I think you forgot something."

Shuuichi turned around. It was the same green-haired boy that he has been seeing for the past week. He looked surprised as he saw that the other boy was holding his briefcase. "This is yours, right?" The boy asked as he held it forward. It was definitely Shuuichi's. It was the same leather black case that had a small, silver star pinned on one of the pockets. "Y-yes.. thank you.." Shuuichi stuttered as he accepted the briefcase. "Really, it's no problem! I'm guessing you live around here too?" The other boy asked. Shuuichi slowly nodded. Why was he being so friendly? He hoped it had nothing to do with the dare or whatever. "I-I live across this street.." Shuuichi said to him as he began to face the road, which had some cars roaming on the surface. The small light had the red hand, restricting any pedestrians from crossing the road. "That's cool, I live around the corner. I guess I'll see you around someday." The boy said as he began to turn away from Shuuichi. For a moment, he looked back at Shuuichi, his green eyes indicating that he had something to say. "I know you're a little unsettled around me and that's understandable. Don't let this whole dare nonsense bother you, alright?" He said calmly as he turned his head away and began walking down the sidewalk. Shuuichi nodded, despite the other boy being long gone. Quickly slinging the strap of his briefcase over his shoulder, Shuuichi walked across the street as soon as the light turned white. Shuuichi made his way to his home, unlocking the door, and settling down as soon as he was secure behind the locked door. Even if it still unsettled him how they keep running into each other but he didn't mind it really. At least he was kind.

Shuuichi began to go to his room, making sure to take his phone from his jacket pocket. He went to his room to change out of uniform and put on some simple home clothes. After neatly hanging the uniform in his closet, he went to get the homework he needed to start on. He couldn't afford to waste more time thinking about such a trivial matter. He didn't even know why it bothered him so much to begin with.
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Rantarou had to take the bus alone that day. Kaede had to stay after school for piano practice for her recital and Kokichi stayed home because he felt like it, mainly because he was upset that it wasn't a snow day. As Rantarou got home, he decided that maybe he shouldn't tell Kaede and Kokichi about what happened. Especially Kokichi, he wouldn't let him live. One of these days, Rantarou sworn he was going to fight the purple gremlin.

Rantarou took off his shoes and placed them on the mat and closed the door behind him, locking it. "I'm home!" He called out and he got a chorus of "welcome home, big brother!" From 11 of his sisters. He had 12 younger sisters and they were all step except two that were biological, they're twins. Rantarou's parents worked very often so Rantarou was usually the one that took care of all of them, though it was a little difficult to take care of 12 kids all at once. Rantarou went upstairs and carefully opened the door of the room of the sister that didn't go down to greet him. She was a recluse that just stayed in her room so he usually had to go and greet her himself. "I'm home!" He said to her from the crack of her door and she swiveled to his direction from her computer chair and lifted a headphone from one of her ears. "Welcome home, big brother.." she murmured and turned away. Rantarou made sure to close the door and went to his own room. He remembered the first time she came into the family. He forgot to close her door after he greeted her and she ran into his room screaming "DAMN YOU, YOU USELESS OLDER BROTHER! HAVEN'T YOU HEARD ABOUT CLOSING A DOOR?!" She had to apologize later. Rantarou couldn't help but to always be amused at that memory.

After he had changed, Rantarou went on with his day. Doing work, caring for his sisters, talking to his friends. He always ended the day with looking at the sunset from his window as he prepared to fall asleep. He wondered what the next day will bring him. Maybe tomorrow would mark another convenient meeting for him and that black haired boy. Rantarou really didn't care at this point, he wasn't doing any harm. In fact, Rantarou rather enjoyed helping him out, though it's always coincidental. Perhaps Kokichi's prank had ended up making him a better person.

He chuckled at his own thought. Oh what was he thinking? It's getting late and the sun was completely down, the cloak of the night sky had taken over. Rantarou began to bury himself in his sheets.