"Shuichi, you don't have to do that you know." Rantaro told the detective again. "I want to." Shuichi said firmly and Rantaro sighed. "Could you get me a picture of...uh...who was it...Masako?" Shuichi asked and the green haired boy nodded, handing him a picture of his sister Masako.
"While I'm doing this, tell me about her." Shuichi said, almost demanded. Rantaro nodded as he handed Shuichi the glue stick.
"Well...I guess Masako was pretty average. She had enough energy and whenever she had sugar she would go crazy and most likely jump everywhere. She always used to come to me when she needed help with her homework and she always said 'if Taro or Amamo can do it, so can I!' She called me Taro; actually, all my sisters called me Taro, and only she called Amano 'Amamo' because she couldn't pronounce the 'n' when she was little. She had a soft spot for swimming, and sometimes just sports in general. She was the best swimmer I know. I think when she was around twelve she joined the swim team and she probably had a crush on the boy who was there, too, Yuta I think. I wonder if they ever got together." Rantaro explained and Shuichi smiled the entire time. "She sounds nice." He said and Rantaro nodded. "Oh they were all lovely. Azumi was a little weird, she liked to talk about arson and murder a lot...she wasn't my favourite, but before I lost her, she had learned from her mistakes."
"Oh, and what about those twins you mentioned," Shuichi asked and Rantaro pulled out a photo from his pocket with two identical girls, one of them making half a heart with their hand and the other putting up a peace sign. They were meant to make a heart but clearly one of them didn't get the memo. Shuichi laughed at the picture and gingerly took it from his hands.
"Aya and Aiko. Aya is the one with the short hair and the heart and Aiko is the one with the slightly longer hair and the peace sign. They aren't that different, they're pretty similar. Except Aya liked unicorns and Aiko liked horses. They always fought over what was better and it would always end up with Amano saying that they would settle with dogs and they would both agree. It was adorable when they got along; they would always hug each other and help each other. Oh, jeez, I miss them so much. As kids, they were a handful but I'm sure they grew up to be successful women. At least I hope." He finished and Shuichi smiled in awe. "Their personalities are just as adorable as them." He said and Rantaro laughed. "You could say that,"
Then they heard footsteps approaching them from the hall way and soon the door burst open. "I heard Aya! She the one I'm closest to!" Kamei said, out of breath. Shuichi and Rantaro looked at each other and then back to Kamei.
time skip brought to you by Masako's swimming lessons~
Rantaro held the phone to his ear while Shuichi placed his hands on his shoulders and stayed close to the phone to listen. Finally, the other line stopped ringing and someone picked up. "Hello?"
Rantaro could barely breath, it was Aya's voice. "A-Aya?" He breathed and the other side of the line went silent. "T...Taro? Is that you?!"
Shuichi nodded and Rantaro let out a sigh. "Yeah, it's me..."
"What the...?! Wh-where are you? Are you with Kam, is that why you have her phone?" She spoke fast and Rantaro nodded and just said 'mmhm' because it was so hard to process he was hearing Aya's voice again. He suddenly heard another girl talking in the back and Aya had whispered to her to come over.
"Rantaro? It's Aiko!" The other girl said and Rantaro smile. "H-Hi, Aiko!" He said, sounding a little winded. Shuichi hugged him from behind and lay his had on his shoulder close to the ear the phone was close to.
The three chatted and caught up and Shuichi listened to their conversations when Kamei tapped him on his shoulder and she dragged him away to the other room.
She shut the door quietly and she hugged him. "Kamei...he doesn't talk to me anymore." He said and Kamei patted his back. "He only hugged me last night, that's not enough. I want him to tell me himself." He started to vent and she listened.
"I'm not saying you should let your feelings for him go, I'm saying you should help him see that you like him, just take it one step at a time, okay?" She told him and he nodded.
"When do I tell hi- I mean, show him I love him?" He asked and she got up and opened to door again.
"Whenever you're ready," She told him and he looked down as she left the room. Whenever he was ready? What did that mean? Well, Shuichi knew what it meant, but how did he know he was ready? Maybe he would feel it, or something. He held his head and groaned. This wasn't a cheesy romance movie or anything, he was just a boy who had a crush on another boy who most likely didn't like him back and he was going to his crushes' sister to vent to.
"Shuichi? You okay?" He heard Rantaro ask him and he looked up quickly. "Yup! Yeah! I'm fine!" He answered quickly. Rantaro raised an eyebrow, but didn't push it. "Ooookay...anyways, listen, Aya asked me if I wanted to bring you to the park. We might meet there later since they want to see me. Aiko is coming too."
"That's perfect, actually, because I wanted to go to the park...uh...with you..at one point." Shuichi said awkwardly and Rantaro nodded. "Okay...but Aya and Aiko will be there too..." Rantaro said it as if he didn't want to spoil Shuichi's plans yet he wanted to spend time with Aya and Aiko. "Do you think...maybe I could talk to you alone at one point when we're there? I-I mean, you don't have to, it's your choice, I just-" "Don't worry about it, Shuichi, I'll talk to you," The green haired boy said and Shuichi's eyes widened. "O-Oh, really?" "Yeah, I mean, it should be important if you want to talk to me about it considering you just talk to Kam about everything now, haha,"
Shuichi's smile from Rantaro's original answer faded when he had said that. "I-I'm sorry if you...felt like I was ignoring you, I'm sorry." Shuichi said and Rantaro shook his head. "No, it's fine. We can talk at the park. We're going tomorrow at lunch, alright? Be ready." Rantaro told him. "And speaking of, we should probably start dinner since Haru isn't here." Rantaro said, gesturing his head to the kitchen and Shuichi nodded sadly.
Once again, they sat and ate in silence while Kamei had to go check up on Haru's company where an accident had happen.
Rantaro didn't mean to hurt Shuichi in any way, and Shuichi knew that. Maybe he just took his words in the wrong way. "...considering you just talk to Kam about everything now, haha." That laugh at the end, it was fake. Truth be told, Rantaro didn't mind the fact Shuichi talked to Kamei. In fact, he enjoyed how they were getting along. But his voice didn't express that, and Shuichi didn't know that.
This park visit would be the most chaotic one either boys would have.
