HOSPITALITY

[012] IT'S A DATE!

tw :: brief mention of suicide; though it isn't anything major.

Kokichi sat at the edge of his bed, his crutches tucked underneath his armpits steadily as it kept his arms shaking uncontrollably.  The air conditioning blew down against him, goose bumps growing on the back of his neck and his hair swishing around his face.

Shuichi traced along his finger to one of Kokichi's posters, the leader looking up at him.  "Saihara-Chan?  I've been thinking recently."

"About what?"  Shuichi looked back, putting his hands on the wheelchair wheels and rolling over to Kokichi's bed.

"Do you want to go on a date?"  Kokichi asked bluntly, "My nurse could watch us.  We can get permission to go to the mall...I've just been wanting to get out of this hospital."

"It's always so stuffy in here, and small, it's so fucking small here Saihara-Chan.  I want to leave and...have fun or let loose or something.  Anything is better than staying cooped up in this small room all the time.  Even an un-cleaned public restroom with all the toilets filled with shit and pee would be better than here."

Shuichi firmed his lips into a line, grabbing onto the brim of his hat as he dragged it down over his eyes.  A light-red blush dusted over his cheekbones, Kokichi picking up on it and forming a shit-eating grin.  "A—alright, Ouma-Kun...let's g—go on a date..!"

As friends, Shuichi stuffed into the back of his mind.

Kokichi felt his ears grow hot as he watched Shuichi's monotone mouth forming into the warmest smiles he had ever seen Shuichi wore.  His heartbeat grew firmer and faster, his grin growing wider to cover up his reddening face.

The detective let his smile drop slowly, studying Kokichi's face with his eyebrows knitted together on his forehead.

"O—ouma-Kun?"

"Yes, Saihara-Chan?"  Kokichi asked, leaning on the palms of his hands against the bed, supporting the added weight.  "I—is that all you've b—been thinking about?  You...you look troubled."

Kokichi giggled, "What does my beloved Saihara-Chan mean?"

"I j—just..."  Shuichi gulped down the lump in his throat, "I just want you to know...that you can talk to me...  S—since we're friends."

Kokichi heart lit up, his pulse beating against his chest and his breath getting caught in his throat.  He was glad Shuichi even considered him that close after everything he had done inside the killing game.

And with that, the leader decided to bring up something else.

Something everyone in the hospital had decided to blatantly ignore.  The nurses keeping shushed about it and the students burrowing the thought into the back of their heads.

"Shirogane-San."

Shuichi blinked, biting his lip and pinning his eyebrows together firmly.  Out of all the things to spew from Kokichi, that was the last thing he expected.  "She wasn't real...we shouldn't think about her anymore.  It's only going to plague our minds with regret."

Kokichi sighed, clutching back onto the handles of his crutches.  The leader couldn't believe that Tsumugi wasn't real, their interactions were far too...human to be scripted.  It didn't sit right with him.  Tsumugi was too human-like to be scripted, right?  Someone he had hugged and talked with...couldn't just be fake.  There had to be more to it, he didn't want it to just end like that.

Kokichi wanted to find out more about her, he wanted to be the detective.  He didn't want her existence to be forgotten, that didn't feel right.

"But... What if she was real?"  Kokichi turned toward Shuichi, "She couldn't just be fake!  Don't you think there's more to it?  Everything that we talked about and went through was just completely run by an A.I.?  A robot?  They entrusted their entire game into the hands of a script?!"