In Gentle Tones of Warmest White | Oumami

Chapter 5

Author's Note: The wonderful NaeGiriTrash drew Itsuki! She looks so cute in here; I love the colors and the expression! Thank you so much!

Class was... surprisingly boring today.

Well, Rantaro guessed it wasn't too surprising. After all, Kokichi, the main source of the action, was out. (Had he ever been absent? Rantaro couldn't recall.)

And it was painfully obvious.

There was no one around to stir up trouble; no one to prompt Gonta to bring his insect friends to class with him to show everyone; no one to "accidentally" knock Maki into Kaito and almost get murdered immediately afterwards; no one to harass Kiibo about his status as a robot; no one to ruthlessly tease Shuichi and Kaede whenever they sat next to each other; no one to stop Miu from making horrible inappropriate jokes; no one for Tenko to scream at for getting too close to Himiko, and so on. (The other five unmentioned classmates seemed unaffected by Kokichi's absence, but were still curious as to his whereabouts.)

Although the peace and quiet was appreciated at first, opinions quickly changed throughout the day. Gonta looked a little sad since no one was interested in his bugs, Miu had made so many jokes that she wore herself out and actually gave up half way during the day and stopped making them, and even Kiibo, who was the most bothered by Kokichi due to his constant robophobia, had made it a point to bring up how lackluster class had felt.

It wasn't as if his class was dead silent the entire time- plenty of his classmates were able to chat amongst themselves and have a good time; such as Shuichi, Kaede, and Tsumugi- who had asked him about the commotion from yesterday and he answered them in earnest (for the most part). There was merely an elephant in the room that put a damper on the overall atmosphere of the class. Rantaro found it ironic that the elephant in question wasn't even in the room- but was actually in his bedroom, probably taking a nap. He decided to keep that fact a secret from his class. (It wasn't as if he didn't trust his classmates, he was more concerned about the kinds of questions that would arise from them.)

After the unusually plain school day was over, Rantaro decided to swing by a nearby store and pick up a few things. It was all basic stuff, essential items that had run out sometime during the week and a few of the smaller foods on the grocery list so that Fuyumisa had less to worry about whenever she went grocery shopping. He noticed a refrigerator near the check out, green eyes landing on a bottle of grape Panta as he thought for a moment.

Didn't Kokichi like that drink? He vaguely recalls him with a bottle of the fizzy drink at lunch a few times. He shrugged, opening the glass door and taking a bottle. If, by any chance, his memory had served him wrong and Kokichi didn't like it he was sure one of his sisters would drink it.

The walk home was as uneventful as it always was. Rantaro was grateful that no one was looking at him, a stark contrast to the hoard of eyes on him yesterday. Then again, it's not every day you see someone being carried bridal style down the streets- he probably would've looked too if he saw someone else in his shoes.

Rantaro hummed to himself, smiling slightly as he neared his house. "Today was rather bland," He commented to himself absentmindedly.

As he walked up the small set of concrete stairs to the mahogany door (that was now starting to open slightly as it usually did), he was quick to learn that perhaps he had spoken a bit too soon.

"Taro-nii!" Eri ran out of the house and straight towards Rantaro, leaping up for a hug.

Rantaro effortlessly caught Eri, hoisting her up high into the air. "Hey, Eri," A smile came to his face as she giggled. He felt a tug at the bottom of his blazer. He looked down to see Airi, looking up at him with a smile. "Hello to you too, Airi," He hummed. "What brings you two out here, hm?"