Memories {Oumasai/Saiouma}

~ 10 ~ Are You in Love?

I turned around one of the random walls on the school roof to the corner where Rantaro and I hung out to find he was already there waiting for me, sitting with his elbows on his knees and watching the apparently very interesting floor. Upon hearing me approach, he straightened up, allowing me to see the concern plastered over his face. "So what's this emergency meeting about?" I sat opposite him, amused with how concerned he was over nothing (although he probably thought it was an actual emergency).

"I found the other person." A grin crept up on Rantaro's face. 

"You did? Awesome! Who is it?" 

"Shuichi Saihara."

Rantaro groaned and leant back against the tall fence behind him. "Well that makes sense." I raised an eyebrow at him, subconsciously tilting my head as I waited for him to elaborate on his comment. "I've overheard him gushing over joining Danganronpa a few times at the lockers." I hummed in response. We sat in an awkwardly comfortable silence for a few minutes, neither sure of what to say.

"Rantaro." I needed to ask him. I had narrowed my problem down to one thing that, unfortunately, I didn't know anything about and the only person who could help was the avocado in front of me.

"What's up lil' bro?" He kept looking up at the sky as if waiting for the sun to explode.

"First of all, lil' bro? That's new." I didn't mind it though, I've always thought of Rantaro as a brother since he acted like one to me. "Second of all... how do you know if you're in love?"

I had never, ever, in my life seen Rantaro move so quickly, he was now leaning forward and staring at me with a, definitely overkill, protective look in his eyes.

"My lil' bro is in love?  With who? Come on tell me! I have to see if they're worthy of you!" I couldn't help but chuckle. It was nice having someone who cared like Rantaro did. 

"Is your brain guacamole too? I asked you 'how do you know ', so how the fuck do I know if I'm in love with them?!" A playful pout came over my face with the ghost of a smile hiding behind it. 

Rantaro pinched the bridge of his nose, laughing quietly to himself. "Well it's different for everyone but let's see. You always want to be around them," check. "You think about them nearly all the time," check. "You ignore their bad traits," I don't think he has any bad traits though... "And you like physical contact with them," aaaand check.

Something flashed in front of my face causing me to flinch back in panic, but I instantly calmed down as I realised it was just Rantaro's hand. "Yo Grape you good? You zoned out for a minute." I sighed and nodded. "So, who is it?" I squinted at him.

"Who's what?"

"The lucky guy?" I groaned overdramatically and put my hands on my hips.

"Like I'd tell you who he is!"

"I'll find out soon! You can't hide your gay and you know it Kokichi!" I jumped up and tackled him to the ground, kneeling over him in an... awkward position.

"I can hide my gay thank you very much Mr. ISimpForEveryone!" Rantaro opened his mouth to retort but was beaten to it by someone loudly clearing their throat behind us.

"U-um, sorry did I walk in on s-something?" I know that voice. I jumped up and pretended to dust myself off, trying not to show my embarrassment.

"Nope! Just Rantaro being a dumb bitch!" Rantaro and I sat back down in our original positions.

"Oh, well hey Ra- uh, sorry, Amami." Shuichi pulled his hat over his eyes, clearly a bit distressed already with the conversation. Is it seeing Rantaro again... or anxiety?

Rantaro waved a relaxed hand in the air. "Please just call me Rantaro. Any friend of Kokichi's is a friend of mine." He smiled at Shuichi, it was pretty obvious to me that he noticed the bluenette's discomfort and was trying to calm him down without saying anything. He'd done that with me too over the years. "Take a seat!" He gestured to the bench I was sitting on.

Shuichi sat down close to me, maybe a bit too close as I found myself looking down to hide my tinted face behind my fringe. "So why aren't you hanging out with your other friends? Don't you normally hang around Akamatsu?" 

"Ah yeah I used to, but I've uh, turned over a new leaf I guess. I don't want to be around a bully." Rantaro laughed at the response but I noticed that Shuichi seemed hurt that he called his former best friend a bully.

"So you're the other Danganronpa participant aren't you? The Saihara everyone knows would never abandon Akamatsu." Shuichi stuttered out a bunch of illegible crap, I need to teach him how to lie. 

"Shuichi don't worry about it, I've told him everything." I looked back up with my signature grin on my face after I had managed to get my blush under control for once. "After all, he's like us." I waved my hand to Rantaro to tell him to explain.

"Yep! Except I remember participating in Season 52, not 53." Shuichi hummed and mumbled under his breath. I was contempt with watching him as he thought hard about something before a cough brought both of us back to our senses. I looked over to see Rantaro winking at me. 

Oh shit. I guess I can't hide my gay after all.

"So um..." Shuichi started, clearly trying to start up another conversation without being rude. It was really cute with how caring he was being.

"Hey Shuichi do you like guys?" Rantaro smirked. What the fuck?!  I leapt towards him and kicked him in the shin not caring when he shouted out in pain and doubled over in his seat, cradling his leg.

"You can't just ask people that you guacamole bitch!" I yelled at him while I flopped back into my spot next to Shuichi in a huff. If someone I didn't fully trust asked me that, I'd be freaking the fuck out. I hope Shuichi isn't upset.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay Kokichi, I'm out anyway." He turned to face Rantaro, smiling. "I'm bi, why do you ask?" Rantaro glanced at me, and I glared back.

"Well hey, join the club!" He leaned forward and held his fist out for a fist-bump from Shuichi, which he awkwardly gave. I couldn't help but smile at the sight.

I'm glad we're all getting along.