In Gentle Tones of Warmest White | Oumami

Chapter 13

Rantaro squeezed his eyes shut, awakening to the sound of his alarm. He blindly reached around his nightstand, taking a few attempts to actually locate his phone.

His eyes fluttered open as he tapped at the screen, exhaling when the bothersome ringtone finally stopped. He briefly wondered how Kokichi slept through it, before turning his head to look at him.

Surprisingly enough, Kokichi wasn't there.

Okay, no big deal. Rantaro blinked a few times, sitting up and sliding off of the bed. Kokichi was probably in the bathroom taking a shower.

As he got dressed for the day, Rantaro listened for the sound of the water running, but was unable hear any noise aside from the rustling of his clothes. Perhaps Kokichi was downstairs eating breakfast.

Rantaro could see the chair in his room from the corner his eyes. After doing laundry over the weekend, he had neatly folded up Kokichi's uniform and placed it on the chair.

It was gone now.

He turned his head towards the laundry basket, noticing the clothes Kokichi was wearing last night at the top.

His heart skipped a beat.

Rantaro left his room quicker than he normally did- almost forgetting to grab his bag and his phone on the way out. He glanced back towards the bathroom before he went down the stairs. Perhaps he was in there doing something else.

The door was wide open- he definitely wasn't in there.

As he expected, he saw Fuyumisa in the kitchen, cleaning the stove. "Good morning," He greeted, green eyes glancing around. "Do you need help with that?"

"Hello, Rantaro," Fuyumisa stopped what she was doing to smile warmly at him. "I've got it, thanks," She resumed her chore.

"Have you seen Kokichi?" His voice disguised how anxious he was starting to feel.

"Yes..." Fuyumisa furrowed a brow slightly in confusion. "He left not too long ago. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, no reason." Rantaro answered her a bit too fast. "Was just curious."

His heart instantly sank into his stomach. Fuyumisa hummed. "Whatever you say. Would you like breakfast?" She offered.

Rantaro shook his head. "No, thank you," He looked at the time on his phone, fixing the bag on his shoulder before turning around. "I'm gonna head out now." He slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"So soon?" Fuyumisa inquired. "Are you sure."

"I showered last night, and I have everything I need for the day." Rantaro answered. "There's something I want to do before school starts."

Fuyumisa took a moment before responding. "Whatever you say. I'll see you later."

Rantaro sighed, his hand lingering over the doorknob. "Yeah," He opened the door after a brief hesitation. "I'll see you when I come back."

As soon as he left the house and closed the door behind him, he found himself breaking out into a run down the sidewalk.

All in a matter of minutes, Rantaro felt himself on the verge of a breakdown. With only a few words, he found himself back on that island all those years ago, searching desperately for his sister as if his life depended on it.

He didn't know why he was feeling this way. Deep down, he knew he was overreacting; Kokichi had probably gone home for one reason or another and was doing perfectly alright. But that memory, that horrid feeling from years ago would be stuck with him for the rest of his life. There would always be a part of him that would panic whenever he wasn't 100% sure where anyone he loved was.