In Gentle Tones of Warmest White | Oumami

Chapter 9

Rantaro stood idly near the bottom of the spiral stairs, his head tilted upwards as he stared intently at Kokichi, who was just standing in the hallway. He couldn't see Kokichi's face from where he was, so he couldn't tell what was going on in his head.

After what must have been a minute or so of standing around and waiting for Kokichi to move, the small boy finally started trudging forward. Once he's out of sight, Rantaro carefully makes his way up the stairs.

When he gets to the top, Kokichi's no longer in the hallway. A door is open.

But it's not the door to his bedroom.

Rantaro makes his way to the open door, peering inside.

The room Kokichi had wandered into was the office. No one really used it much, save for Rantaro himself, yet it was still spotless thanks to Fuyumisa's hard work. Kokichi was standing deathly still in the room. His back was facing Rantaro and his front was facing the small closet in the corner of the room. Kokichi took a step forward.

"Hey," Rantaro watched as Kokichi's shoulders tensed up slightly. "Thought you wanted to go change?" He leaned against the door frame, curious green eyes watching as Kokichi turned around. "What brings you in here? I'm not sure that closet back there has what you're looking for."

"My prince came to save me!" Kokichi winks, smoothly walking up to Rantaro. "How cute~! I knew you'd come back for me!"

"Why are you in here, though?" Rantaro asks again. He tried thinking of a reason why Kokichi would be in the office, but his mind drew a blank.

"To be honest..." Kokichi pressed his two pointer fingers together, twiddling them around. " I may or may not have gotten lost..."

Rantaro raised a brow. He wasn't sure whether or not to believe Kokichi. Although it sounded like a lie, his behavior throughout the day provided him with some doubts. "You got lost?"

"Yep~" Kokichi nodded. "And then I got totally sidetracked. Silly me!" He put a hand to his forehead, putting on a sudden look of exhaustion. "I've overworked myself, it seems..." He whimpered. "I'm sooooo disorientated I don't even know how to balance anymore! Catch me!" Without warning, he let himself fall backwards the ground, not giving Rantaro any more time to ponder about the validity of his statement.

Perhaps it's Rantaro's brotherly instincts that he picked up from spending time with his many sisters- or maybe it's the quick reaction time he's developed throughout the span of his numerous adventures- but in an instant, Rantaro's got his arms wrapped around Kokichi, leaning forward and keeping him from hitting the ground. He laughs slightly, pulling the both of them to stand upright. "If you wanted me to carry you, you could've just asked, y'know,"

"You know me so well~" Kokichi winked, booping Rantaro's nose with the tip of his finger.

Rantaro slid one of his arms down Kokichi's back to his legs, scooping him up with ease. "You're kind of light," He continued. "It's no trouble at all."

Kokichi pouted after hearing Rantaro's comment. "Are you calling me small?!" He whines. "I'll have you know I'm as big as Gokuhara-chan!"

Rantaro chuckled. "If you're as heavy as Gokuhara-kun, I might just drop you right here and now."

Kokichi stuck his tongue out. "You're no fun!" Rantaro watched as Kokichi suddenly winced. It was a slight movement, but he had a keen eye when it came to catching sight of those kinds of things.

"Sure, sure," Rantaro held Kokichi closer to him. "Whatever you say. Let's just bring you back to my room for now, okay?"

Kokichi let out a content hum as he nodded, closing his eyes and leaning his head against Rantaro's chest, allowing himself to be whisked away to the bedroom.