𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 | 𝕠𝕦𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕒𝕚 𝕙𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕤𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕝 𝕒𝕦

Chapter 16

"Kaede! Y-You're here..?"

The pianist giggled, nodding. "Yep, alive and well!" Her smile was infectious. Shuichi almost started crying, he was so happy to see her. 2 whole months and 2 low-key traumatic accidents without her was starting to take a toll. Obviously.

"Uhm, why are you here with Rantaro? Mikan drove me here because I can't really do things yet... anyway, she said Rantaro was gonna bring you here on a date? What happened to those feelings for Kokichi?" Kaede asked, playing with the rim of her skirt.

He bit his lip. "W-Well I-I uhm.. I-I didn't-" He paused. "..H-How did you figure that out? I-Is it that obvious!?" He started trembling, thoughts invading his brain. She shook her head. "No, you're actually doing a pretty good job of hiding it! You see, I recovered pretty quickly thanks to Mikan being the Ultimate Nurse! I was actually awake when you told me everything, I just thought you'd tell me more if it looked like I was asleep... Sorry, Shuichi, but secrets aren't secrets!" She smiled nervously, giggling a bit. She's doing that a lot. He sighed. "Props to Mikan, only 2 months is a fairly quick time to recover..."

"...Kaede? Didn't think I'd see you 'round here after what happened, welcome back." Rantaro greeted behind them holding 2 drinks and a thing of popcorn. She smiled, waving. "Hi! Long time no speak, huh, Rantaro?" He chuckled. "No kidding. Our whole school thought you died," He pauses for a minute, shifting uncomfortably. "..Well, I was gonna watch a movie with Shuichi, but since you're here you can join if you want." She smiled, taking a seat next to the detective. This earned a frown from the adventurer, but since it was dark, it went unnoticed. "Thanks! I'll buy my own snacks when the movie starts since the lines will be shorter."

...

"Not to, y-yknow, cause a feud or anything, but... That movie was shit. And I don't like to swear.." Shuichi muttered, eating some leftover candy from their movie. "Oh, come on! Give the directors some credit, I thought it was okay at least!" Kaede laughed, clutching her stomachs a bit but hiding it. Obviously, Shuichi noticed.

"Kaede, you weren't eating when we were watching the movie... Did you hit a major organ? O-Or is it something else?" Shuichi asked, knowing very well what the answer was. With a wound as deep as Kaede's was, there was no way she'd be able to eat normally. Maybe not even breathe for that matter. She looked confused, but then shook her head. "No, no! I-It didn't hit anything too important thankfully, I-I just can't..." She bit her lip, putting a hand on her chest and slowing her breathing. "I'd rather not talk about it..." Shuichi nodded in understanding.

Rantaro gently grabbed her shoulder, sliding it down to rub her back. "Wanna head home? It's getting dark. Didn't expect that bad of a movie to be that long," Kaede nodded, following Rantaro to his car since Mikan drove her here.

Shuichi stayed behind, however. He pulled out his phone, dialing up a number he hadn't talked to in a while. "..Hey. Can you meet me at the theater near the school..?"

.....

"Hi! How can I help you?"

The girl walked up to the reception desk, eyes to the ground. "..I'm here to see a patient. Last name Ouma, first name Kokichi." She mumbled, messing with her hoodie sleeve. The receptionist nodded, looking through the computer. "Room 107. Take a right through that door and it's the 4th door on the left." The girl nodded, walking over.

It was kind of strange to her that he was open for visiting after only 4 or so days. A bullet to the head would do some pretty major damage to any normal person who didn't know what they were doing...

...But maybe Kokichi did know what he was doing. He had records of her being an assassin, not that it really had to do with anything, but maybe with that knowledge he gained access to things related to weapons and such. She sighed, locating the room and walking in.

To her surprise, Kokichi was awake. Just barely, though, and he had all sorts of medical equipment attached to him. He looked over, his eyes glazed with a sense of... sorrow?

"Hey, Maki-roll. Didn't expect you to be the first person to visit me, nishishi!"

She bit her lip, clutching the ends of her sleeves. She went and sat down on the chair in the corner of the white room. "I'm guessing you recovered so quickly thanks to Mikan, right?" He nodded. "Yep! Mikan is amazing!" She scoffed, crossing her arms. "...What exactly did you do with the gun to recover so quickly? No rookie would know where to aim in order to survive a gunshot."

Kokichi giggled. "Straight to the point, I see! Wellll.. it was magic! The bullet was a fake and it never actually hit me!" She sighed, glaring. "Tell me or I'll make sure you actually die next time." Kokichi bit his lip, but continued smiling. "Smug thing to say in a hospital, Maki-roll! But if you realllllly wanna know..." She kept glaring, pulling out a pen and paper.

He cleared his throat. "Really the only thing the bullet affected was my memory. Mikan said the tendons weren't nearly as damaged as she thought they'd be and that I'd have to go to physical therapy to remind myself how to walk or something, I don't really remember what she said but the damage is much better than she thought! She said it was a miracle, nishishi~" He finished, giggling.

Maki scribbled down something before looking back up at the now crippled supreme leader. "Is that it?" Kokichi looked up in the air in thought, then shook his head. "There's a few important things I can't really remember but those can be taught easier than learning how to walk, so I'm all set!" He paused for a second, biting his lip. "Uh.... Shuichi is gonna be coming soon, right? Assuming you're here for interrogation purposes and not because you wanted to?"

Maki had to admit she was a little surprised he was able to tell, but nodded. "...Yeah, he'll be here." She scribbled down a few more notes before packing everything up, getting ready to leave. As she was approaching the door, Kokichi called out to her, surprisingly. "Wait, Maki! As your Supreme Leader of Evil, I command you to stay put and chat with me until I don't feel like it!" "Why should I? It's not like we have anything interesting to talk about." She continued towards the door, but was once again stopped by Kokichi.

"We could play a game! Yeah, let's do that! How does 2 truths and a lie sound?~" He giggled. Maki sighed, rolling her eyes and sitting back down. "Fine. But I need to get back to work in a little bit." Kokichi smiled. "Yaaaaay! Okay, I'll start..."

...

It was around 11 pm when Shuichi got home. He had a good conversation with somebody he hadn't spoken to in a while and managed to get some sense of closure about Kokichi's condition in the hospital.

He took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves. It never really hit him how much he missed Kokichi, despite his immaturity. He missed the way he'd comment on his breakfast in the morning, how he'd always pester him to play games in the middle of the night, the way his expression softened when he was serious in those rare occasions...

Without really knowing when, he started crying. Crying for Kokichi, who could be dying in the hospital right now. Crying for Mahiru, who he'd never see again. Crying for Kaede, and Miu, and himself for being rude enough to go on a date with Rantaro when he knows how he feels for Kokichi... He just couldn't handle it. He curled up on the couch and just sobbed. Hopefully it would make him feel better.

"...Shuichi?"

He jumped, looking up to see Kaede's face illuminated in the lamp light of the dark house. "K-Kaede...? Wh-Why are you here?" He composed himself the best he could, trying to hide the fact that he was crying. Kaede walked out of the bedroom that formerly belonged to Kokichi, leaning against a wall.

"Rantaro thought it would be best if I stayed with someone for a while in case I needed to go to the hospital immediately, and suggested I stay with you since you had a spare room..." She bit her lip, realizing how insensitive that must've sounded. Shuichi just stared. "Wh-Why are you awake? Shouldn't you be getting sleep?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I heard you crying and wanted to come help. That's what friends are for, right?" Shuichi smiled softly, helping her to the couch (despite her insisting she can walk on her own). They sat down and just watched funny shows and rom-coms until they fell asleep. It was peaceful. It was something he had longed for ever since Kaede's incident. He closed his eyes, deep in thought. He never wanted this to end.

And maybe it won't.

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pussy

Word Count: 1557