The New Motive

Everything He Didn't Have To Say

It was somewhere between early and mid evening as Shuichi made his way down the halls of the academy, intending to put as much distance between himself and the Ultimate Pianist as he could.

Now, the bluette never liked to see himself as a hateful person, but he had certainly never felt the way he did towards Kaede right then towards anyone else before. And that wasn't necessarily a good thing. For her anyways.

He tried to put the encounter out of his mind as he moved swiftly down the corridors to see his roommate, but it didn't work as well as he'd hoped.

. . .

"Ouma!" Shuichi called, a little louder than he had meant to, still upset about his recent conversation, as he entered the room.

"That's my name," the violette smiled, getting up to greet the taller at the door, "so don't wear it out."

"Ouma, please. This is serious. I have something I need to tell you."

"Oh, alright. It's not about the hat thing, right?"

"The . . . ? Oh, that. No, it's not. Actually it's about something else."

"Cool, but I think I already know."

"What?" the taller asked curiously.

"It's alright, Shumai. I totally support you. No matter what. And I promise you that that's not a lie."

"But how did-?"

"Irima."

"Iri- what? I'm confused. She was in her lab. There's no was she got here and back before I did and-"

"No, of course not. The bitchlette's busy working on something else. I didn't use her. I borrowed one of her gadget things," he explained. Shuichi still seemed confused by this, however, so he continued.

"You remember when you told me about . . . MIBAIR, was it? The one little shit that caused the power outage? Well, I decided to bug her about it and to get me to leave her alone she gave me a prototype to test run or whatever. I'll have to send it back in a bit, though. I think there's a distance thing between it and the remote."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I couldn't entirely pick up everything you and Piano Girl Wannabe were talking about so I tried to get a little closer without you guys seeing it, but it short circuited or some shit and crashed,I guess."

"So, . . . When did it cut out? How much did you hear?"

"Basically up until Blondie Piano Pants started going off about how she was pissy you didn't pick her. You were whispering a lot so I didn't get everything you said, though. I just got your coming out moment and honestly, I thought it was adorable. You're so cute when you're shy."

"Well, . . . At least that part's easier now," he sighed with relief.

"Yeah, but considering, you know, . . . everything else that's happened . . . I guess, it was kinda obvious."

"Yeah, I guess. But . . . that's not all I had to say."

"Oh," he said intrigued, "do tell, Mr. Detective."

"Well, . . . I mean you probably remember . . . earlier this week . . . Right?"

"Mm? Which part? There was certainly a lot. Are you referring to the breakfast in bed fiasco or, let's see," he continued, thinking back on the past few days, "maybe the time you dragged me with you to the library?"

"I didn't drag you. Besides, I thought you had a nice time."

"Of course I did, silly," he laughed, punching the taller's arm playfully. "I was just kidding. I did have a pretty good time. Mostly because of you, but you get the idea."

"I, uh, yeah." The shorter violette sat in silence for a while, deep in thought and Shuichi didn't want to disrupt him. He had a look on his face that let you know something was on his mind, but he was also the kind of person you knew wouldn't give you a straight answer, even if you did ask.

To be honest, the bluette almost didn't want him to remember. But at the same time he didn't want to have to be the one to bring the incident back up.

It had been several minutes and Shuichi finally decided to nudge Kokichi lightly. He'd drifted off into his own thoughts and was slightly surprised when he realized where he was and looked back up at the other male, smiling.

"Sorry 'bout that. Did I worry you?"

Shuichi didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. It was like someone was holding him underwater, doing everything in their power to keep him from saying or doing anything stupid that he'd regret later.

"Hey, you okay there, Shu?" he asked, waving his hand in front of the other's face.

He just nodded 'mm-hmm' and looked at him quietly in response.

"Are you mad at me, Sai-chan?"

"I- no. Why would you think that? I was just thinking."

"'Bout what?"

"About what I was going to tell you," he mumbled from beneath the shadow of his hat, unsure of how to reapproach the situation subtly enough that he didn't have to say much, but obvious enough that the other would remember and understand what he was talking about.

"Which was?" He had somehow managed to move quickly enough to sit in front of him and look at him in the eyes, avoiding the hat completely, grinning happily.

"Well, . . .  the morning after the power incident . . . when I told you that I . . . When I told you that I liked you."

"Well, yeah. How could I forget?"

"Well, afterwards, . . . you sorta . . . you know?"

Kokichi looked confused, so Shuichi continued softly.

"When you tried to . . . But then Kiibo . . . And . . . ?"

"When I tried to kiss you?"

"I," the others bluntness about the situation made him get all nervous and flustered again making him tirn away and bite at his lower lip, blushing all over again, "yeah, that."

"I'm sorry. I just . . . you seemed okay with it at the time and I wasn't thinking about it."

"It was fine, Ouma. Really. It's not your fault," he said defensively.

"So . . . ?"

"So?"

"So the offer still stands?"

"The offe- oh! Well, I mean, . . . I wouldn't be against it," he smiled, still blushing and avoiding eye contact with the other male.

And that's when everything changed.