Memories {Oumasai/Saiouma}

~ 15 ~ Ultimate (Unqualified) Detective

<Author's Note>

From now on there will be a lot of mentions and scenes of death, including violence and gore/blood, I won't be adding warning for these themes for future chapters as they will be involved in almost every chapter from now.

*~*~*

I took a deep breath and got up off the floor, shaking my arms to try and calm myself down. Glancing at Shuichi I saw how distressed he was, even if he was outwardly holding himself together well. I guess I didn't help by screaming in his face. I kissed his cheek and pulled Shuichi into another hug, leaning his head into my chest as I played with his ahoge. As much as he hated to admit it I knew it calmed him down when he was upset. I had no clue what to say to him, it wasn't a situation I could exactly look up advice for on the internet so I decided it was best just to stay silent.

Shuichi let out a shaky sigh and pulled away from the hug, the ghost of his touch lingering in my arms. "You should go get some rest, you've been through a lot today Kichi." 

"So have you." He shook his head.

"I have some things I need to do first." He looked up at me and gave me a pained smile, he was clearly trying to hide his thoughts, and considering the situation I didn't blame him "How about I join you when I'm done? I should be about an hour at most." I nodded in response, knowing I wouldn't get him to change his mind, and walked out the office towards the bedroom that we still shared.

Exhaustion rushed over me as I stepped into the room and flopped onto the bed. I curled up into the foetal position and silently cried myself to sleep, feeling alone.

*~*~*

I groaned as I woke up, holding the hand that was draped over my waist.

"How are you feeling?"

"How long have I been out?" Ignoring his question I turned to face Shuichi who looked surprisingly calm. 

"About an hour and a half. It's around six-thirty at night right now." I hummed as I pushed my head into his chest. "Are you still tired?" I grunted and sat up, rubbing my eyes to get them working again as I ignored his question again.

"Did I miss anything?" Shuichi sat up next to me and forced me to look at him before taking my hands in his.

"Actually, I have a proposition for you." I tilted my head, smirking.

"Damn Shu~ You want to go that  far already? I mean if you wan-"

"NO NO I DIDN'T MEAN THAT!" His face flushed bright pink as he hurried to stop me from finishing my sentence. "Kokichi, do you want to work with me on Rantaro's case? My uncle has already approved it on a few conditions, but it's completely your choice."

 My face and mind went blank, I certainly didn't expect him to ask that. "Why? What help will I be?"

"A lot of help! You've helped me solve cases in the past, you figure out a lot of things faster than I do, and I could definitely use your help. Plus you knew Rantaro longer than I did outside the game... so what do you say Kichi?" I could see the cry for help behind his eyes as he begged me to join him. He was right, I had helped him solve class trials and we had investigated murders together, it'd be really different in real life rather than the game, but the both of us can do anything together, right?

"Alright, I'm in. What are those conditions you mentioned?" Shuichi stood up and lead me back to his office.

"Well it's just a few obvious rules but I need to say them, so sorry if I say anything too boring." He pulled up a seat next to his and motioned for me to sit so we were face to face with each other. "So, condition one. You aren't allowed to talk about any details of the case with anyone that isn't working on it." Well that one was fucking obvious. "Condition two, you'll have to take about a month off from school so we can work without distraction."

Something clicked in my head. "So that's why you randomly took months off at school before!" He nodded. "I have a better idea though." His eyes narrowed in thought, encouraging me to continue. "Let's just drop out!"

I expected Shuichi to immediately shoot me down and tell me how important school was and blah blah, but all he did was hold his chin in thought. "That might be a good idea, it's legal if we both have a job so if we're working as detectives..." He trailed off in thought for a minute before turning to his computer. "I'll have to ask my uncle about it. Anyway we should talk about the case, although you probably know most of it already."

"Hey I haven't been sneaking around if that's what you mean!" I jabbed an offended finger into his chest.

Shuichi leant over and kissed my cheek. "No that's not what I mean, you'll see." He pulled the same picture from before up on the screen. I wanted to close my eyes and run away, but I survived through most of a killing game, I'd seen this all before, I could get through a single death one more time. Shuichi opened another file and started reading it off.

"Rantaro was found dead in his home's library from blunt force trauma to the back of the head. The murder weapon is a shot put ball. The only injury currently known is a broken skull presumably from the impact of the murder weapon. Everything make sense so far?" I nodded, telling him to continue. "Time of death is currently estimated to be between 10am and 12pm today, emergency services were called at 12:43pm by his eldest sister. He was with us before school though, do you know why he went home?"

I shook my head. "No idea, it's never been weird for him to skip but normally he'd tell me so I wouldn't worry."

A ping sounded throughout the room, Shuichi glanced at his phone and stood up while grabbing a notepad and shoving his belongings into his pockets. "Ready to investigate a crime scene?" I hesitated to follow him, I wasn't going to admit that no, I was not ready to investigate a real life crime scene. He noticed I was still in my seat so he came over and knelt down in front of me. "It's going to be hard, you don't have to do this, but please at least try? The body won't be there anymore if that's a worry." I nodded and smiled at him, punching the air.

"Let's do this!"

Shuichi chuckled and grabbed his hat, putting on my head. "Alright, let's go Detective Ouma."