Chapter Text
“Shumaiiii~” Kokichi called, skipping into Shuichi’s dorm room as if it was his own.
Shuichi was seated at his desk, he glanced up from the book that he was currently reading once hearing the others voice, he looked surprised to see him. The purple haired boy closed the door behind him and grinned wickedly at the detective.
Yesterday, Korekiyo had been executed for the murders of Tenko and Angie. Everybody had been keeping to themselves, they were all grieving the loss of three of their friends but Kokichi still had all of the energy that he usually did.
Shuichi had noticed this many times, Kokichi was usually pretty relaxed after each murder and execution, he could identify the shorter boys false tears and had become aware to when he was lying.
The two had grown close from the time that they spent together. Kokichi would hang off Shuichi during some of the investigations, he also came to bother him most nights when everybody had gone to sleep.
Shuichi was embarrassed to admit that Kokichi Oma had squirmed his way into his heart. His thoughts consisted mostly of Kokichi, ‘What is Kokichi doing today?”, “Should I go check on Kokichi?”, but the main question that rattled around in his head at all times of the day, “Is Kokichi in danger?”
The purple haired boy hadn’t made a lot of friends during this killing game, he always riled everybody up to the point where Kokichi would have to exit the room before somebody throttled him.
What if somebody went too far? Shuichi’s stomach churned at the thought of somebody even attempting to murder Kokichi.
It was hard, being infatuated with The Ultimate Supreme Leader. He kept this crush to himself, if he spit out his secret to Kaito or Maki they’d assume that Kokichi was manipulating the detective in some sense.
“Shuichi! There’s some urgent matters that we must attend too!” Shuichi raised an eyebrow, Kokichi walked over to him and sat down on his bed, he stared at him and didn’t say a word until the detective sighed and gently slid a book mark into his book to later pick up where he had left off.
Shuichi turned his body towards Kokichi, giving him his full attention.
“Urgent matters?” Shuichi asked, a small smile was present on the other boys face and it made the dark haired boys irritated mood due to the sudden interruption dissolve completely.
“Yes! Very, very urgent, so urgent that I can’t even think straight! Only you can help me with these very-“ Shuichi cut him off quickly before he could drag his sentence out any longer.
“Urgent matters, yes. Well, how would you like me to help you, Kokichi?”
“Nee-heehee!” Kokichi jumped off the other boys bed and grabbed his hand. Shuichi’s face brightened at the sudden contact.
“Let’s go do something, I’m soooo boooored.” Kokichi whined, pulling the detective off his desk chair and giving him a childish pout.
“That’s all? Could you not ask somebody else?” He already knew the answer.
“That wasn’t a funny joke, Saihara! The Ultimate Detective is supposed to entertain The Ultimate Supreme Leader when that said leader is bored!” Shuichi didn’t remember ever agreeing to that, but he couldn’t say no, he didn’t want to say no.
“Okay, what would you like to do?” Shuichi attempted to pull his hand out of Kokichi’s but the other boy tightened his grip.
“Hmmm,” Kokichi put a finger to his chin and stared into the distance of the dorm room.
“Lets go for a walk!” His idea was strangely tame. Shuichi was used to playing games that the other had instigated, those games would start with Kokichi threatening to take his life and end with one hundred tied rock, paper, scissors rounds.
“A walk? Is that a hidden meaning for one of your games?” Shuichi asked, despite his suspicion he followed Kokichi out of the dorm, his hand still trapped in the others grip.
“Nee-heehee! Do you not trust me, Mr Detective?”
“Should I trust you?”
Kokichi went silent, he stared up at the taller boy with a blank expression, there was a flicker of hurt in his eyes but before Shuichi could react on it Kokichi’s demeanour changed and he plastered on his usual cheeky grin.
“Of course ya can, Shumai! Now, let’s go before anybody catches you with me!” Kokichi giggled, releasing his hand and walking ahead of Shuichi towards the dormitory doors.
Shuichi’s hand felt cold without the other boys hand clutched in his. He sighed softly and followed after Kokichi.
He had the right idea to leave the dormitory before a familiar face could spot them. Shuichi being caught with the leader would only cause gossip and a possible rift between the group.
Though, Shuichi wasn’t too bothered by them finding out. Whether he was caught red-handed spending time with Kokichi hadn’t crossed his mind as often as it maybe should’ve.
Kokichi acted as if they were lovers, sneaking around under everybody’s noses to avoid suspicion and potential disagreements. Shuichi thought that he’d brag to the other students about how close they were yet Kokichi seemed to keep it to himself, as if this friendship was meant to be hidden away from the judgemental eyes of the killing game participants.
Shuichi released an amused breath, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. Sweat beaded onto his forehead, as it always did when he spent time with Kokichi. He pushed open the doors of the dormitory, the fresh air slightly cooling his nerves.
“Finally! You were taking foreverrr, I thought somebody snatched my Shumai away!” Kokichi’s voice always held a hint of a jokey tone with every sentence he spoke, it was difficult for everybody involved in the killing game to identify what was the truth and what was a lie.
Shuichi’s face flushed which pleased Kokichi greatly, he motioned towards the courtyard and side by side they walked in a peaceful, comfortable silence.
“Wasn’t this such a great idea...? Shumai? Shuichi!” The high pitched yell of his name broke him out of his train of thought, he was anxious and he was trying desperately hard to tone it down.
“Hm? Yeah, sorry.” Shuichi replied, his gaze moving towards Kokichi who had his arms behind his head, grinning widely.
“Awe, are you thinking about me, Shumai?” Kokichi poked the other boys cheek, Kokichi Oma radiated with childish energy and just that was enough of a reason as to why he spends his free time with him.
Spending time with Kokichi felt like being in a world free of the killing game, he always managed to lighten Shuichi’s mood in the most obscure way. That could possibly be the reason why Shuichi fell for him as hard as he did.
Shuichi stopped, he felt ready to tell Kokichi. He didn’t care how the other boy responded, he needed these feelings off his conscience and out in the open. He wanted to tell Kokichi Oma that his feelings towards the short, evil leader were real.
“Kokichi..” Shuichi’s tone was an indication that whatever he was going to say was important, unfortunately for Kokichi he already knew that any serious conversation they had at this moment may create an awkward tension between the two depending on the topic.
Kokichi was aware that his feelings for Shuichi were beyond platonic, had Shuichi noticed that? He didn’t really want to know. He was prepared to shove those feelings into the ground until he eventually forgot all about them.
“Shuichi, look over there!” Kokichi diverted the conversation completely and the short purple haired boy skipped over to the small patch of dandelions that were growing near Tenko’s former research lab.
Once again, Shuichi followed Kokichi like a lamb, irritated by the change in conversation.
“Quick, Shumai! There’s so many!” Kokichi looked amazed, kneeling down near the patch he plucked one off the stem and examined it closely, he looked like a child getting a gift at Christmas.
Shuichi stood above him but was soon coaxed by the leader into kneeling next to him. It felt nice, after mourning the loss of three of his classmates and moping around for hours he finally felt calm.
“Imagine how many wishes we could make!” Kokichi exclaimed from beside him, his violet eyes sparkled and Shuichi couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Wishes?”
“Oh my god, did you not know that if you blow these little white puffballs and make a wish that it’ll come true! I’ve seen it happen before.” Kokichi shoved the dandelion towards Shuichi, He thought that it was cute how oddly fascinated Kokichi was with the flowers.
The supreme leader convinced him into making a wish, so he did as Kokichi had asked, the detective blew on the dandelion softly causing the pappus to exfoliate, they both watched as the dandelion was carried away.
“Woahhhh, that was so cool! What’d ya wish for, Shuichi?” Kokichi asked as he plucked another off the stem.
“If you tell somebody what you wish for it won’t come true.” Shuichi replied, shrugging his shoulders and cracking a grin when he watched Kokichi’s face morph into one of annoyance.
“What a load of BS! I’m going to say my wish out loud, K?”
“Sure, make sure it doesn’t involve another game of rock, paper, scissors.”
“Nee-heehee! Anything for you, Shumai.”
Shuichi could feel his face heat up, nodding his head as Kokichi thought about his wish.
“I wish... for Shuichi to join my super secret organisation!” He giggled, Shuichi should’ve expected for somebody like Kokichi to wish for something like that.
“That was a lie! My real wish is...” Kokichi quieted down, his shoulders slumped and his eyes caught Shuichi’s.
“I-I want to come to terms with my feelings, I don’t want to hide them any more.”
Shuichi sat there still, waiting for the ‘It’s a lie!’ It never came, Kokichi pursed his lips and blew at the flower in his hand. The two were silent, both staring intently at each other until Shuichi plucked a dandelion off it’s stem.
“I wish that Kokichi would listen to what I have to say instead of running all of the time.”
Blow.
Kokichi repeated Shuichi’s action, holding the dandelion close to his lips.
“I wish that Shuichi-“ before Kokichi could finish Shuichi cut him off for the second time that day.
“Kokichi, I like you.” Kokichi instantly shut up, his mouth agape. Shuichi sweated nervously, clenching and unclenching his fists as words spilled from his lips.
“I’ve had these feelings for you.. for a while now and this seems like a good time to let you know.” Nothing. Kokichi sat there silently, no reply.
Kokichi was surprised to say the least, he hadn’t expected this to be the outcome of the day, he planned it so thoroughly in his head yet a confession from the boy he adored had never once crossed his mind. Shuichi let out a breath of relief before standing up off his knees and dusting off the legs of his pants.
“I’m sorry, It’s been bugging me and I needed to say something. Today was fun, thank you.” Kokichi watched him leave, Shuichi didn’t turn back, he didn’t want the knowledge of Kokichi not reciprocating feelings.
Kokichi sat alone on the grass, the dandelion in his hand had a half head of pappus remaining.
“I wish for Shumai to know that I feel the same.”
His soft laugh could only be heard by him as he blew it out.