30 Day OTP Challenge ft. Sannochieyomi

Shopping

Warning: guns, mentioned suicide (never happened, but still mentioned), mentioned murder

***

Thankfully, Nikei's plan to pass the practical exam went off without a hitch. Nikei presented his article to the judges detailing how Junko is guilty of several crimes, and he passed his exam with his lovers. They would be able to graduate together.

But the more the days went by, the more paranoid that Nikei grew. His article that he presented got published online, and the sudden storm of people who were with or against Junko Enoshima were clashing. Nikei was nervous about the retaliation against himself, but he was more concerned about his girlfriend and boyfriend, who could be hurt in order to hurt him.

Mikado could easily defend himself and seemed hard to manipulate, but if he was suddenly taken by surprise while grocery shopping, he could end up hurting himself while defending himself. But Setsuka was planning to pursue a career as a detective, and that was dangerous because of the job itself, her gender, and the fact that she was in a relationship with him.

Nikei was scared of things being taken forcefully from him, be it his freedom, his job, or the things precious to him. His partners were filed under the last category, and the paranoia began to take hold. It was these feelings that made him show up in the living room on a weekend with a grim expression.

"O-Okay, you guys have nothing to do. That's good, perfect even," the journalist stated as he tried to keep his urgency under wraps. "Can you guys come with me somewhere? I can drive us there."

"Nik, what's wrong? You look scared, and really pale..." Setsuka immediately pointed out, standing up from the couch. 

Mikado stood up as well and stared at Nikei. "Where exactly do you plan on taking us?"

"I-I- Just get in the car, I'll try to explain on the way there," the smaller man replied, his patience starting to wear thin. His lovers were concerned, but they put on their coat and shoes and went out with him. They got into the car, and Nikei quickly started driving.

"So, Nik. What's this all about?" Setsuka questioned, looking over at Nikei.

He took a deep breath before he began. "I was stupid to not realize all of the consequences that might come from you being in love with a journalist. Ever since I did that article that detailed all of that Enoshima bitch's crimes, even citing my sources, there's a lot of people that would want to hurt me or try to mentally break me," he started to explain.

"And guessing from the way you're acting now, you're scared that Setsuka and I will end up in the crossfire," Mikado finished.

Nikei gritted his teeth at someone else reading how scared he was, but he dropped that feeling quickly. "I'm bringing you guys to a shooting range. I know that neither of you are helpless, but I think it's better to be able to use a gun and not need it rather than the alternative..."

"Which would be needing to defend ourselves, but not being able to do that," the billiards player finished for him. "Nik, I understand where you're coming from, but a little forewarning would be appreciated next time. I know that Kado can protect himself with magic, but I've had to fight off a couple people who were harassing me about my eye before. We don't necessarily need interventions."

"I know that, but-!" He cut himself off with a deep breath, trying to rein in his fear. "Right, I know you can do that. But you're trying to become a detective, right? You'll need to carry a weapon on your person to work in this kind of field, you don't know what kind of people are out there." He fell silent for a moment before adding, "Sorry. I'll warn you next time."