Misguided ( discontinued) (reposted)

Shrimp Chips

A/N My gf came up with the 'eating noodles of her head part' so h ah a yes she's funny 😎

(Shuichi POV)

I got up early today, which is weird because I usually like to sleep in. I guess I'll make use of my weekend before I have to go back to hell. Only one more week until break... God, I can't wait. Even if it's just a week or two off for freedom, I'll take it. Anything to get my ass out of the situation I'm in.

It's maybe around 6, so my uncle should be leaving for work soon. I guess I'll just wait until he leaves, I think I want to walk around outside. I unplug my phone from its charger, and check everything. I scroll through a few photos of Kirigiri, of course. I'd do anything to eat the cup of noodles off of Kirigiri's head. Anything.

Closing my photos, I notice the email spam has started to slow down. Hey, less emails and texts than last week... That's an improvement! I look through the emails from my classmates and try my best not to let them get to me. Hm..? Oh, Kokichi sent me an email. I trust him, so I open his message without even thinking. I quietly read over the email.

Hey Shuichi! I'm really sorry for this email, I don't wanna bother you.

It's Kokichi from school, and I was wondering if we could meet up tomorrow?

You seem like a really cool person and I'm really excited to be friends with you :)

Just lmk if you wanna, please don't feel pressured to reply or accept!

-Kokichi

I haven't hung out with any friends outside of school before. It's always just me and Maki talking a little after lunch, which is nice, but we've never made an attempt to go somewhere together for fun. If i'm going to be honest, i'm a little nervous, but excited too of course!

Blinking, I start typing out my reply.

To: Kokichi

Cc:

Bcc

From: Shuichi Saihara

Re: aa sorry for the email

—————————————————————————————————————-

Hey Kokichi, sorry for not getting back to you sooner haha- Yeah, i'm free later today,

so i'd love to meet up! Thank you so much for the other day by the way, that means a

Whole lot! Also tell your dads i said thank you to them, they're super cool :)

I'm fine wherever, so if you have anywhere you want to go, lmk!

-Shuichi Saihara

—————————————————————————————————————-

Ew I sound so formal, I'm only sending an email to a friend, not a teacher. Well, being polite is important, I wanna make a good impression. Then again, i don't think running over him in the middle of the hall was a good impression at all. I probably shouldn't mention it around him again.

The sound of a car starting snaps me out of my thoughts- He left. I still kinda want to spend time outside today, I feel so lazy, and I doubt Kokichi is going to be awake for the next four hours to reply.

I should probably go buy some of the small groceries we want, like snacks and extra stuff. There's a gas station about a mile away from here, so i'll just walk. I quickly threw on some clothes- dark grey sweater, black jeans, and boots. I don't really want to stand out, I've had enough attention for the rest of my damn life.

After brushing my teeth, I splashed some water on my face and messed with my hair a little bit so I wouldn't look like an absolute train wreck. I'm not the best looking person out there and i'm well aware of that fact but being even slightly presentable always feels important to me when i'm in public and i'm not really sure why.

I did put makeup on so my face wouldn't look that beat up, it would really suck if someone got worried and called the cops to make sure i'm okay, because in reality it's just a bunch of stupid school shit that i need to fix on my own.

I noticed my face looks less swollen, it just hurts like hell if I touch it. It's good that it's starting to heal, which i'm happy about, because then I can allow myself to talk to my uncle again because cutting him out even for a short amount of time makes me feel bad because he's done nothing wrong.

I make my way through the dark house to the front door, grab the spare house keys, and lock the door behind me so nobody can break in, because that would really suck. I shove the keys in my pocket, and I start walking to the gas station for the snack run. It's September 6th and tomorrow is my birthday. Might as well treat myself I guess..

It was still pretty dark outside, and it was most likely going to rain. That doesn't really bother me to be honest, rain is kinda pretty, and while getting rained on bothers a lot of people, I still dont mind. I mean sure, your hair gets wet, but if you change clothes when you get home you should be fine. I also have a tendency to not get sick even if it's cold, so that may be another reason.

The air is cold, and sometimes while inhaling it burns my nose. The dead grass on the right side of the sidewalk is frosted with dew that froze over, which makes it kinda pretty to look at. The air also smelled like car exhaust which was pretty revolting.

About 16 minutes later, the small gas station was in view- the worn down fuel dispensers next to warn down cars on a worn down looking lot. My point is, this place looks really worn down. Then again, so do most gas stations. They all have food in them, so as long as the bathroom floors aren't covered in shit then i'm fine with what i get. I'm sure these stores are hard to keep open, so I respect it. Shrimp chips always taste the same anyways.

The door jingled as it opened. The cashier looked up, his expression unchanged. "Welcome to the Ghetto Gallon." His voice cracked a little bit at the end of the sentence. The gas station definitely looked like the outside, but it's well.. A gas station. Again, food will taste the same out of the bag from any place. I took in my surroundings-

The concrete floors looked dirty, almost murky. Windows were covered with cigarette and vape ads. Posters of various kinds behind the cashier- Most likely more cigarette ads. The neon open sign was low on battery, and made the room seem somewhat creepy.

Most importantly, food was lined up in racks, and drinks were on the wall in a fridge. Let the snack run commence.

I navigated my way through the small isles. I grabbed a few things, and walked over to the checkout counter. I handed the cashier who quickly rang them up. He gave me the total, and I handed him the money, as he pushed the snacks back towards me.

I grabbed my stuff, and went to the door to leave. I reached my arm out, and pushed the door open. It was about to rain, and I doubt I'll beat the rain, but it's fine.

I turn a corner and almost stop in my tracks, before I quickly retreat back to the front of the gas station- What the hell are the chances I think I'm cursed... Fuck.

Rantaro was alone, leaning against the wall- smoking a cigarette.