𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤, 𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 |ℍ𝕒𝕜𝕦𝕓𝕒 𝕊𝕒𝕘𝕦𝕣𝕦|

八: ℝ𝕚𝕧𝕝𝕒𝕣𝕪

You stared blankly ahead at the chalkboard, seeing the complex mathematical formulas written on the board, but not comprehending them.

Today was your first day back at school ever since Saguru died. It was odd, having to return to normal life and pretending that everything was ok. The moment you set foot into the school, you were bombarded with people asking you if you were alright and classmate after classmate expressing their condolences. You secretly wanted them to shut up, but you had to be polite. You had plastered a fake smile onto your face and nodded, accepting and thanking them.

The formulas written in white chalk blurred as you continued to space out even more and more. You stared out the window into the blinding sunlight. There wasn't a single cloud in the pure blue sky.

You absentmindedly drummed your fingers on your desk and fidgeted with the stuffed animal hiding in your bag with your other hand. The school didn't allow toys to be brought to school, but you kept it a secret. It was the only thing helping you get through this time. But you knew that sooner or later, you'd have to move on.

Your fingers wrapped around your pencil tighter.

What a load of crap.

People expressed condolences for loss, yet they expected you to recover from it in due time.

Nobody ever fully recovers from loss, you thought bitterly. The scars are still there, even years later.

"Miss (y/n)?"

Your head jerked up at the mention of your name. The teacher was pointing to a problem on the board.

"What's the answer to this?"

You froze, feeling the eyes of your classmates on you. You hadn't been paying attention at all to the lesson.

Crap.

You attempted to look busy by rifling through the pages of your notebook and desperately trying to solve the problem in your head.

"The answer's the square root of three," whispered a voice in front of you. You looked up to see the back of your classmate Kaito's head.

"T-The answer's the square root of three?"  you said, hesitantly. Your teacher looked at you suspiciously but nodded anyway.

"Correct."

She turned away and resumed the lesson. You heaved out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Kaito."

He shot a wide grin toward you. "Don't worry about it," he whispered. "Anytime."

He turned around, focusing on the lesson and leaving you to stare at his backside, along with the wild bird's nest that was his hair.

Anytime, eh...?

It suddenly dawned on you as you were on the verge of spacing out again. You gave a violent jolt as you sat up straight in realization.

Wait a second... didn't Saguru suspect Kaito of being Kaito Kid? And even though they were rivals, they had a begrudging yet mutual respect for each other. Maybe he knows something...

As quietly as you could, you tore out a sheet of paper from your notebook and scribbled a note onto it. Once you finished writing, you crumpled it up into a ball and tossed it over Kaito's shoulder. It landed on his desk and he shot a glance at it, confused. He looked back at you, the question clear in his eyes. You held a finger to your lips and flicked your eyes toward the teacher, then back at him.

Kaito slowly turned around and opened the crumpled ball of paper to reveal a note in your handwriting.

Kaito, could I talk to you after school? I've got a favor to ask of you.