KOKICHI OUMA

"Kokichi, get off! What has gotten into you?" Maki yelled, pulling me off of Kaede.

I tried to get back on top of her, but Maki was far too strong. She slunged me back as my hands tried to claw at Kaede. I was breathing heavily, my face was red and my hair was everywhere. The same could be said for Kaede who was laying on the ground and looking up at me, angrily. Shuichi went over to Kaede and picked her up slowly. He looked back at me with a serious expression, and slowly walked up to me.

Now, we were face-to-face. I didn't allow myself to be intimidated by his tough demeanor. I frowned and kept my head up high, my eyes still watery as tears begged to pour out. But I refused, I wasn't going to cry over this... this... jerk!

"What... the hell, Kokichi?" He exclaimed, his tone getting even angrier.

I scratched at my arm, looking back at Kaede and realizing what I did. But there was no time to feel bad. I had to stand my ground.

I stomped on the ground with my right foot and shoved Shuichi to the wall. My tears couldn't stay in those glands any longer, I let them pour out. My heart just couldn't believe he was standing up for Kaede. It really upset me. I had a scar at the right side of my lip and a tear near my eyebrow. Was that not enough damage?

Desperately, I shouted, "Well then, fuck you, Shuichi! You jerk!" Before leaving the scene.

. . . . .

I slumped over the mini bench outside of SunnySide. Fidgeting with my hands, I looked up at the sky and tried to decipher the barely visible clouds. It was a sunny day in Autumn, all leaves bear red and some coated orange. And barely a cloud resided in the sky.

But that wasn't even about half of my worries. What I worried most about was the relationship of me and Shuichi. Had I ruined everything? Or was I just thinking too deep into it? I mean, I did unnecessarily start a fight with Kaede the other day. So maybe I was the problem. And I hated being the problem.

By this time, Togami caught me slacking on the job and resting outside on the wooden bench. He caught up to me and sighed, knowing he was going to hear some stupid sappy story from me as to why I wasn't stacking the shelves. And he sure was right.

"What are you doing, Kokichi?" He questioned, looking down at me and adjusting his glasses upright.

I slowly got up and combed my hair with my hand while using the other to shade my eyes from the sunlight. I looked at Togami for a while, refusing to answer. He needn't care about some stupid K-Drama romance situation happening between me and Shuichi. And that wasn't an assumption, It's just obvious. Togami doesn't have a heart for his employees, at all.

I rolled my eyes, looking away and riveting my eyes to some random Range Rover parked in our lot. He put a hand on my shoulder, causing me to glance towards his direction in confusion.

"I said what are you doing, Kokichi? You can't just slack on the job with no explanation!"

I looked down and then back up, through the gas stations window to see Shuichi, a smile painted on his face as he scanned items at the cash register. I sighed, clutching onto my arm and now looking at Togami.

"I... I don't want to see him!" I exclaimed, finally letting my tears burst out.

Togami was shocked and almost instantly let go of me. He turned around to see Shuichi then made an 'O' shape with his mouth as if he got what I meant. He sighed, rubbing his temples and concentrating on the ground beneath him. As said already, he had no time for stupid romance novels.

"That's no excuse!" He exclaimed. "You don't have to talk to him while you work, nobodies forcing you. And you're not even in Kaedes position today, so you don't have to be near him."

I slowly shook my head, sniffing and looking back at Togami as I rubbed my nose. I wanted to let more tears out, but I knew that had to end at some point.

"You don't understand... I lost everyone even Mak-,"

"No you didn't," Said somebody from afar.

I turned around to see Kaede and Maki walking up to us, with... smiles on their faces?

Kaede put a hand on my shoulder, causing me to scowl and swat it away. She gasped and looked away, now at Maki to motion for her. I turned around to see that Togami was now nowhere in sight. He probably had just allowed Maki and Kaede to talk me down.

"Kokichi, Kaede is here to apologize," Maki announced slowly before making her leave.

Kaede sat down on the bench that I was once sitting on. She patted the empty space next to her with her hand as a gesture for me to sit next to her. I groaned and sat down, crossing my arms to show her my confidence.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, rubbing circles onto the arm of the bench with her finger.

"Kokichi, I don't know what I did... but I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. I don't want you to be mad at me."

I turned away, refusing to forgive her. She knows what she did, she's just being arrogant. I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at the sky and brought my elbow to the bench arm. I waited for her to continue, but after a while of silence I realized that it was my turn to speak.

"I know you like Shuichi...," I spat out without thinking.

Her face went red and she flailed her hands in the air. She covered her face with her hands and shook her head vigorously. I could tell how much she was trying to hide her blush, wish made me all the more annoyed at her. She wasn't even trying to hide her crush.

"And now you're blushing. Ugh, you make it so obvious!"

"What? No! Of course I'm gonna to get flustered if somebody just outright accused me of liking someone I didn't! It doesn't need to be Shuichi, I would've reacted the same way towards anyone you said. Whether it be Kaito, Maki or even Togami!" Kaede retorted defensively.

Now, she was the one crossing her arms as she stared dead at me. She pulled out a hair band, putting it in between her teeth as she held her hair up with her hands.

"Why the hell would you think I liked Shuichi of all people?"

She took the hair band out of her mouth, typing up her hair into a ponytail. I sighed, looking down at the ground in disappointment. Why did I believe she liked Shuichi, again? Ahh right!

"Well, then explain why you are always blushing around him!" I snapped, arching one of my eyebrows in pert.

"Ugh!" She grumbled, now standing up. "He's really funny, ok? And when I laugh a lot I tend to grow red easily. It's a disorder, Kokichi!"

I stood up with her, shaking my head slowly and standing my ground. I couldn't let her win this, even if her point was more valid than mine.

"B-but you-,"

"All this time I've been trying to get you two to get together. Why would I do that if I liked him?" Kaede said, now resting her hand on my shoulder once again.

This time, I didn't swat it away. I took some time to remember all of the times she tried to help me win Shuichis heart... her and Maki. Even if their plans were sort of goofy, they were trying nonetheless. I sighed, leaning my head against her chest.

She chuckled and let her hand rub against my hair. We stayed like this for a few minutes, just feeling comforted by eachothers presence before she said the unbelievable.

"Now, you should go and talk to him."

Ha ha, reeeeeal funny. Not after what I did yesterday I'm talking to him. Did she not see the way he looked at me? It was an unforgiving facial expression, I'm not even going to try.

I instantly got off of her and shook my head, walking away to find Maki.

"Kokichi... wait!" She barked, holding her hand out to me.

"Nope! Save it! I'm not talking to him," I said, entering the building and turning around to look at her.

Unfortunately for me, I should've kept to looking forward, because I didn't realize the person I was soon enough going to bump into. And then have to talk to.

Word Count: 1481