(Shuichi Harem) Oops...

Chapter 8

Things were actually going smoothly. Kokichi, Shuichi, and Rantaro made a pretty good team. In about an hour, the three had created a poster for their English class. Problem was, they were in Kaede's house, so every time pianist passed by the trio, she would give them a look.

Her sister Kami, however, found this extremely amusing.

"Honestly, why is she still letting you do the project in her house if she's not in it?" Kami asked them.

Rantaro shrugged. "She's still gonna get a grade whether she participates or not. Maybe she doesn't want a zero."

Shuichi looked at the clock. "Oh shit, I think I have to go."

"Already??" Kokichi sighed sadly. "And I'll have to drive you home too."

"Well, all things aside, we did finish the poster. I'll keep it for tomorrow," Rantaro noted.

"Okay. Tell Kaede that Kokichi and I left if she asks." Shuichi told Rantaro. He nodded vigorously. 

"Have fun, you two. I'll see you tomorrow." Rantaro gave Shuichi that soft smile he had and waved the pair off.

---

When Kokichi parked his car near the driveway to Shuichi's house, he noticed something off. "Is your garage usually open?" He gestured to the garage and pointed, where it was clearly open with Shuichi's uncle's car parked inside.

"U-Um..." Shuichi hesitated. This was not good. Had his uncle come home early?

Kokichi read the expression on the detective's face easily. "Wait..." He glanced at the garage again. "That's your uncle?"

Shuichi didn't respond. He stared at the ground. "I'll... I'll have to tell the truth that I left the house! A-And he'll be so mad!!" he exclaimed. 

"Oh, c'mon, don't act all pessimistic like this again," Kokichi groaned. "You don't have to tell the truth, y'know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You realize that you're talking to a professional and compulsive liar, right? Besides, lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off." Kokichi smirked at the taller one. "Just say... uh..." He trailed off, in fact not sure what to say despite seeming so confident in his abilities.

"So much for 'professional liar,'" Shuichi muttered under his breath.

"Just say that you left to the library to study!" Kokichi exclaimed suddenly.

"Yeah, right. I don't have my own car."

"It's not that far. A lot of people ride their bikes there, or even walk."

Shuichi looked at the liar's face. He wasn't sure what he saw, or what he was supposed to see. Kokichi was really trying to help him, he could see that much. Shuichi decided not to be a bitch to the kid and comply. "Fine. You have a good idea."

"Okay. Soo, I'll see you tomorrow!" Kokichi waved.

"See you..." Shuichi opened the door and got out of the car. He hoped that lying would get him out of the bad situation he was already in. He hoped his uncle didn't see that Kokichi didn't drop him off.

Most of all, Shuichi hoped that his uncle wouldn't catch on to the fact he was lying, because lying is usually not what Shuichi Saihara resorts to. However, since his uncle worked as a detective, Shuichi was well aware of the fact that his uncle probably was a good lie detector nevertheless.

He glanced back behind him. Kokichi was gone.

Lovely.

He used his key to unlock the door and stepped in his own house. His uncle glanced up. Shuichi noticed bags under his eyes that he hadn't seen before. He saw this as a good thing. Maybe if his uncle was super tired, he wouldn't realize he was lying.

"Why are you here late? Your shift is only in an hour," his uncle asked, taking a sip out of a mug of coffee.

"Ah... I was studying in the library." Shuichi didn't know if it was super obvious he was lying. He stared at his uncle who was blankly staring back.

"Well, at least you were studying," he muttered incoherently.

"Um..." Shuichi thought of steering the subject away from him. "How did your case go? I-It was shoplifting, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Shuichi usually asked his uncle about the cases that he had to review and investigate. Technically, his uncle wasn't supposed to talk about it until the results came in, but Shuichi was always overly curious so his uncle would often describe every part of the investigation in detail. How he narrowed down suspects with clues he found from the crime scene. Or maybe how he tested powders that were found and comparing them to the ones on the suspect. No matter what it was about, whether Shuichi knew exactly what his uncle was talking about, he would listen with great intent. In fact, it was one of the few things Shuichi liked about his uncle.

"Did you find the culprit?" Sometimes, his uncle would say a name of the person convicted for the crime; other times, it would be disclosed and he wouldn't be allowed to say.

Shuichi's uncle nodded again. "He... The culprit was a high school student. They were a senior like you. Odd, don't you agree?"

Shuichi thought for a second. Usually, when his uncle says "don't you agree", it was more so that Shuichi had to agree otherwise they would get into an altercation.

"I guess so." Maybe it was even someone Shuichi knew. "What was their name?"

"Oh, I don't exactly remember. They did look quite eccentric. Their hair was poking out like this." His uncle moved his hands to Shuichi's hair and made random tufts of  it point almost horizontal to show him what he meant.

"Wow, that's... I have a fri-- I mean, I know someone with hair like that," Shuichi replied, thinking of Kokichi.

His uncle continued to think of the name of the suspect.

"Um, it's fine if you don't know the name. I was just wondering..."

"No, wait. It's on the tip of my tongue. Go get ready for your shift and I'll continue thinking."

Shuichi started to leave, wondering why his uncle was acting a bit nicer than he usually did. He was almost to his room when his uncle remembered the name of the suspect.

"Kokichi Ouma."

The dark-haired student turned around, not knowing what his uncle meant. "You know him?"

"Of course I do, he's the culprit. He's the guy who shoplifted."

Shuichi's eyes widened, but he looked away.

The... culprit...?

---

A/n

Hi! Sorry for updating a bit late. I just finished finals last week, but school's finally out, so I'm going to be updating a lot more than before. I hope you liked this chapter, so don't forget to vote if you did!

Also I just saw I had 400 followers!! Thanks guys!