Sorry about the small hiatus! Enjoy this early chapter and a bit of Kokichi's toxic backstory.

KOKICHI OUMA

I opened my eyes to see his disraught face looking down upon me in confusion. My face was burning up, his doing the same as we both began to process what I just did. Oh right... I kissed him.

I fucking kissed him.

Why did I kiss him!?

Being able to make up my decisions with volition, I slowly pushed him off of me, fixing my hair with my hands and getting off the hard floor. Despite the fact that I was very subtle when it came to the topic of my feelings, I didn't seem to be so shy now.

I felt like facepalming right in front of him. There was no way I let my gaurd down that easily. I gulped, watching as he scratched his neck and turned away, supposedly as confused as I was now. I thought of an excuse, something to temporize myself out of the awkward situation. The situation I only made awkward.

"Uh- I've... gotta go."

Ahh, the classic evacuation with no explanation situation in classic romcoms that; which I was recreating now. Way to go, Kokichi.

"Wait -- Kokichi..."

Oh fuck.

He was coming straight for me, 'exactly what I didn't want. It was just like those dramatic scenes in movies where you hear the calls of your name that make you want to oh so badly reach out to them, but you know you can't because you did something so stupid that you don't even have the strength to confront them. Been there, done that. And I don't want to ever again. Not after already realizing the consequences.

I just kissed a palpably straight, debonair man and ruined my relationship with them. Suddenly, I just had the urge to reach out and give myself a pat on the back as a token of effort.

I shrugged off my thoughts when I noticed how he started getting closer. When almost close enough to touch me, I made the decision to make a run for it. A run from all of my problems and confusion.

A run from his handsome face,

Shiny teeth,

Beautiful eyes,

Cloying voice,

Kind heart...

A run from him.

. . . . .

SHUICHI SAIHARA

A frown crawled upon my face as I watched him run off as if he'd spotted a dead animal. Figuring out there was no point in chasing after him, I leaned against the cart that tripped us over, remembering our conversation. The tribulation he was most likely featuring when I heard not the faintest scintilla of truth in his voice.

Why was he hiding so much from me?

He'd already left me alone in the room but I could still feel his soft lips pouring on mine as if it were permanent. Feeling my lips, I left the storage room with a sigh, disappointed he'd left so early.

What was he afraid of...?

Me?

No, it could't be. Unless I did something so bad he couldn't stand it. But his feelings were already written in my head verbatim. And I didn't know if I reciprocated or not. I was rather... confused. We were both confused, I could tell. This might only be another reason why he would continue to avoid me.

I huffed, clearing the isle in order to find Kaede and Maki to which were snickering behind a shelf. I crossed my arms, looking at them with a rather irritated face until they noticed my presence. I guess I'd startled Kaede when she let out a small scream, backing away from me.

"Oh! Didn't see you there, Shuichi, haha..."

Maki just stared at me without a reaction drawn onto her face. Almost as if I was in the wrong. I had to confront them about what they did and how they interfered in a relationship they shouldn't have.

"You both set me and Kokichi up, right?"

Maki arched an eyebrow in a confused manner, trying to play dumb, but I wasn't fooled. Kaede nervously chuckled, already giving their plan away in stupidity. I felt my knuckles form into fists in anger. How could they do such a thing? Yes, I get they were trying to help us but that just made things worse.

"I- I can explai-,"

"No you can't... he ran away, Kokichi ran away from me because of you two."

They failed to respond, looking away from me in guilt. I sighed, putting my elbow on an empty shelf.

"I'll forgive you guys if you promise to help me get him back..."

Maki's eyes went wide, then suddenly simmered back down; a flashy smirk on her face as she crossed her arms.

"I thought you didn't want us interfering in your relationships," She said, a sound of pert in her voice.

I rolled my eyes, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Please just help me with this one thing."

She sighed, resting her back on the shelf and crossing her legs. She looked at Kaede as Kaede looked back then looked right at me. They continued this action as if sharing a mindful but silent conversation only they could understand.

Then suddenly, Maki said, "Hmm fine, we will help you. But you don't let Kokichi know."

I nodded, quite happy they were willing to help someone like me, a new case to their job.

"Could you at least tell us what happened with Kokichi in the storage roo-,"

Kaede was interrupted with Maki slapping her wrist onto her mouth in irritation.

"That is none of your business Kaede,"

"No it's fine... I'll just sum it up for you," I said nervously. "He uhh- he kissed me."

Maki's eyes went wide, looking straight at me as if I figured out a cure to a deadly disease.

"Did you like it?" She said, sounding interested in the topic.

"That is none of your business, Maki," Kaede said with a cheeky smile.

"Do you want to die?" Maki said, turning over to Kaede with a straight face as if ready to punch someone.

Kaede rapidly shook her head in fear. Was this a threat Maki said every now and then or something? Because Kaede acted as if she'd been there already. It was quite concerning to see, actually.

"So anyways... did you like it?" She said, looking back at me.

I suddenly felt compelled to answer her question, her eyes biting into my skin.

"I- I guess I liked it... I wanted to kiss him back but he already left before I could."

Kaede practically squealed, jumping up and down and taking me by the hand.

"Oh. My. God. So you like him!?" She said with a benevolent smile, slowly letting go of me.

"Yesn't."

"Huh...?"

"I- I just don't know."

Maki jumped inside the conversation, crossing her arms once again.

"Plus, even if Shuichi was sure he liked him, Kokichi has already been in two toxic relationships. I'm sure he is trying to avoid another one," Maki proclaimed. "Not saying Shuichi is abusive or anything, but Kokichi is just trying to stay safe."

I watched her words crawl out of her mouth confidently. Maki cared for Kokichi as if he were her son. How long have they known eachother to be this close? And... toxic relationships? He's never told me about that. She sighed, now looking at Kaede and shooing her with a hand.

"I need to talk to Shuichi alone," She said to Kaede.

Maki wanted to talk to me alone? Oh fuck, what did I do wrong? Or what did I say?

I'm gonna die!

Kaede slowly left the conversation as I felt like calling out to her. For all I know, Maki could be some worldly assassin ready to shoot me right then and there. She took me by the shoulder, causing me to shiver.

Tell my mom and dad I loved them.

"There's something I think you should know about Kokichi."

I sighed a sigh of relief. I guess I wasn't going to die.

"He hadn't the best relationships. I mean, yeah of course they started off great...,"

She stopped mid-sentence with a huff. I'd never seen her so sad before.

"But they all went downhill. With them telling him what to eat, drink and basically how to live... But if he didn't listen, they'd hit him, and he would never fight back."

I gasped, a shocked look occupying my face. Kokichi was abused in his past relationships? But... why? Who would ever want to hurt someone as sweet as him? I looked at the ground, guilty for whatever reason, as if I were those men that hurt Kokichi.

Maki looked up at me slowly, then continued.

"He would always come over to my house after getting in an argument with his boyfriend at the time. There was never a day where he'd come over to my house without cuts and bruises," Her hands began to ball up into fists, as her face went red in anger. "He always told me never to interfere... but do you think I'd just watch him get abused, r̶a̶p̶e̶d̶, and starved, just because 'he wasn't pretty' enough?"

Her breaths began to get heavier, as her teeth began to show.

"And that stupid smile he always wore on his face as if he was okay, when no the fuck he wasn't!" She said, now looking up at me with this angry face she held.

She softly shoved me away before saying, "If you hurt him, I will fucking murder you!"

My heart began to hiccup to the words she said. I clutched at my chest in agony. Why was she attacking me?

I just wanted to run up to Kokichi and give him a tight hug for all the pain he's been going through. Why was he hiding all of this from me?

"I'm so sorry, I should've not done that-,"

"I-it's fine. I know how you feel right now."

She sighed, looking away from me and continuing her message.

"One day... he hit me. It didn't hurt me physically of course, he wasn't all so hunky anyway. But it hurt me emotionally to see that he was mad at me. And what for? Oh, because I called the cops on his dumbass boyfriend?" She said, in a mocking tone.

"I did him a favour, for him to be grateful that I at least didn't kill his boyfriend which was my initial plan, he was actually angry at me... Saying things like 'oh, when he comes back from jail he's gonna kill me' or 'fuck you, Maki. You ruined my relationship.' How do you even call that a fucking relationship!"

She turned over to me with a sigh, crossing her arms.

"Deep inside, I know he is still angry at me, even though he keeps calling, talking and laughing with me. He just doesn't want to talk about it... I just thought you should know about this, Shuichi. 'Know about why he doesn't want anything new, y'know?" She said with an unexpected smile, patting my back before leaving the room.

Kokichi was going through all of this? I began to think to myself how I could make things better. The last thing I wanted to do was get in a relationship with him and get him even more fearful of me. I wanted to see his ex and just punch him in the face for what he did to such a sweet guy... and why?

I ran a hand down my face before leaving the tight room. Thoughts of Kokichi's past clogging my brain. It was better to quit thinking about stuff like this, there's other important things I should be focusing on. Just like helping out Kokichi.

Word Count: 2017

CHAPTER DICTIONARY:

Debonair - Confident, stylish, and charming (typically used of a man).

Cloying - Excessively sweet, rich, or sentimental, especially to a disgusting or sickening degree.

Tribulation - A state of great trouble or suffering.

Scintilla - A tiny trace or spark of a specified quality or feeling.

Verbatim - In exactly the same words as were used originally.