(Complete) Taking Her Place (Saiouma/Oumasai)

Sharing Secrets Over a Whiskey Manhattan

Chapter 10: sharing secrets over a whiskey manhattan

Shuichi's POV

"Shuichi and I will go get some drinks! Want anything?" Makoto elbowed me.
"Sure! I'll have a margarita." Kyoko responded.
"I'll take some kinda fancy beer." Kokichi lazily floated in the water.
"Sounds good!" Makoto yelled back. "Come on, there's a bar just to the left a little." Makoto pulled me along with him.

"So what's up with you and skinny kid?" Makoto asked.
"Skinny kid? Do you mean Kokichi?" I asked.
"Yeah, the tiny purple haired guy who was in his underwear earlier."
"What do you mean what's up with us? We're just two friends from high school-"
"Two friends from high school that walk around in their underwear together. And based on the fact he wanted alcohol, you guys are at least 21 which means it's been at least 3 years since you've graduated," Makoto said as we walked up to the bar, "two margaritas, one Guinness and whatever he wants." Makoto pointed to me.

"I'll have a whiskey manhattan." I told the bartender.
"Whiskey kid huh. Anyway, what I was saying was, you two obviously haven't seen each other in a while."
"You're right, we haven't talked since graduation, which wasn't 3 years ago... it was 6." I sighed.
"Here you go!" The bartender handed us the drinks.
"6 years, wow. And you're already at underwear status? This seems to be going far too well."

I grabbed the whiskey and took a big sip. "I have a girlfriend, who I left at the alter two days ago in order to be here today and I haven't talked to her in three days."
"Ah, of course because things couldn't be going perfect forever, could they?"
"The thing is," I took another big sip, "I don't know if I even want to get married."
"Let's sit, you look like you're gonna need more than one whiskey." Makoto patted on one of the stools next to the bar.

"I proposed to her though, isn't it like, my job to marry her?!" I can't believe I'm spilling my life story to a person I don't even know.
"Not necessarily, why'd you propose?"
"Well, she's older than me, and she really wants children. But she also wants to save herself for marriage. So I know she wanted this." I took another sip.
"So you're doing it for her? Doesn't sound like you ever wanted it." Makoto questioned.
"You think?"
"I think. How's this tie in with skinny kid?"

"I saw him leave the wedding reception as I was about to go walk to the alter and decided to follow him. Long story short we ran away together."
"Do you like him?"
"Of course I like him, I wouldn't run away with him if I didn't-"
"I mean, like like him."

I took another sip or my drink, enough to finish the rest of it.
"Another whiskey manhattan!" Makoto yelled to the bartender who then gave us a thumbs up.
"It doesn't matter anyways, he lives with this girl, her name is Miu. He says they aren't dating but-"
"Then they aren't."
"You don't understand, he's known for being a lair, we went to hopes peak and he could've easily been the ultimate lair."
"Hopes peak kids huh? Does that mean..."
"Did I go through a killing game? Is that what you're going to ask?" I said quickly.

"I went to hopes peak myself, went through one of the first games. I'm the ultimate lucky student, my wife was the ultimate detective." Makoto commented. The bartender set down the second drink. Immediately I picked it up and took another sip.
"I'm the ultimate detective of my class too. Kokichi is the ultimate supreme leader, also a huge lair. And the girl, Miu, the ultimate inventor. An ultimate inventor is way cooler than an ultimate detective!" I took yet another sip.

"But they aren't dating."
"But-"
"Did you ask him? If they were dating?"
"Yeah..."
"And what did he say?" Makoto asked.
"He said no..."
"Exactly, they aren't dating. Why do you go shoot your shot?"
"I still have a, probably angry, girlfriend who just got left at the alter on her wedding day at home." I took another sip.
"I can help with that." Makoto said standing up, "why don't we just go back to Kyoko and skinny kid, and you can go casually flirt with him some more!"
"Some more?" Makoto started walking away, as if our conversation was over, "hey wait for me!"

When we got back to the cabana it looked like Kyoko and Kokichi were deep in conversation.
"Here you go!" Makoto handed the drinks to Kyoko
"We can talk more later." Kyoko looked to Kokichi. "Shuichi! You should come in the water! It's really nice in here!" Kyoko yelled. I could see Makoto bringing his chair closer to the water.

"Sure, I'll be right there." I yelled grabbing the bag I brought and changed into a bathing suit. I walked out and decided to sit by Kokichi, not because Makoto got to me or anything. I just enjoyed being around him.

"Cheers." I said hitting his bottle with my cup.
"To what." He laughed, "To running away."
"To rekindling old friendships." I smiled.
"Oh, that works too." His face got a little red. The sun was really strong today and his skin is really pale. He's probably getting sunburnt already.

"Here!" I took my hat off and placed it in his head. I sat back and looked around a bit. I could see Makoto looking at me in the distance and Kyoko smiling at us. Could they both tell I liked him? Was I that obvious?! Does that mean he could tell? I can't like him, right? I have a girlfriend. I should call her. I can't right now though, I left my phone on the boat. Not much I'd do on it anyways.

Kokichi yawned and slumped down a bit as though he was falling asleep. I put my arm around his shoulder and put his head onto me. Maybe Makoto was right, plus I'll never know if I don't go for it... right? I put my head on his just to rest for a bit. I wasn't able to get back to sleep right away last night, so I was still a bit tired as well. I opened my eyes to water being splashed on me.

"Wake up wake up wake up!!! I was visiting with Kyoko and saw you two over here!" A super energetic and familiar voice started talking. Kokichi lifted up his head and yawned.
"Anyways, like I was saying. I saw you two sitting over here and I remembered you from the other day! I wanted to give you two a free pass to my bands concert tonight! You two seemed like big fans and it's the least I could do."
"Thank you Ibuki!" Kokichi smiled brightly as Ibuki put waterproof VIP passes over our necks.

"Oh my god, I just got a free VIP pass to an Ibuki concert!" I smiled brightly. This trip was going far too well. Somethings gonna go wrong soon. I just feel it.
"I don't wanna bother you two anymore, you two lovebirds seem to be tired, I just wanted to give you the passes myself." Ibuki splashed us again and skipped away.
"Lovebirds?" Kokichi questioned, "as if."
"Ha ha yeah, as if." I looked away and pretended to laugh.