Midnight Waltz

Chapter Two

'How did I end up in this situation?' Shuichi thought. He was currently on the roof eating lunch, accompanied by the lost puppy that went by Kokichi Ouma. "Shumaii" 10,562. "Can I have some of your lunch?" Shuichi looked over at Kokichi with a puzzled look. They had only just met and Kokichi was already asking to share a lunch? "Come onnn! I forgot my lunch at home and I don't wanna go buy more!" Shuichi sighed, handing him a piece of takoyaki. The purple-haired boy happily ate it, emitting a childish aura as he swung his legs back and forth. Admittedly, he looked adorable like that. He wasn't quite tall enough for the bench, so he looked like a little kid on a swing that's slightly too high.

"I know I have devilishly great looks, but I'm sure taking a picture would last longer." Kokichi teased, having noticed the eyes that were on him. Shuichi flushed pink as he snapped his head away. They sat there in awkward silence. Shuichi still wondered why he felt a familiar feeling from the boy. He just wished he knew what Kokichi was thinking, maybe then he'd finally find the answer. He glanced over at Kokichi to see him deep in thought. He was still kicking his legs as he seemingly stared into the void. Shuichi slid the rest of his takoyaki over to Kokichi, bringing him back to reality. His face lit up as he jumped to hug Shuichi, successfully flustering the poor boy. "My Shumai is the best!" His Shumai..? Shuichi suppressed thinking about that and focused on Kokichi, who was now clinging on to him. They had about a half hour left of lunch, and it looked like that would be spent with a short purple-haired boy hanging off of him.

Shuichi could never have thought he'd be spending his Valentine's day with an energetic, teasing boy. Especially one he had only knew for a few hours. Yet there he sat, said boy asleep on his arm. Shuichi was thoroughly frazzled, but still let him sleep. He'd noticed very slight bags under Kokichi's eyes, signaling that he didn't sleep well. He knew the feeling, most of Shuichi's nights were spent overthinking until he finally fell asleep. He wouldn't admit it, but he also couldn't bring himself to bother such a cute sight. As Kokichi slept, Shuichi thought more about his dream. He always wondered about the roles in it, he was always the pro detective and the mysterious boy was always the thief he chased. His thought process was stopped when lunch abruptly ended, the half hour flowing away like the wind.

Shuichi gently shook Kokichi awake, with protest of course. Grumpily, he got up.

An awkward silence dawned on them as they walked through the halls of Hope's Peak. The halls were bustling and Shuichi's only friend, Kaede, was currently no where to be seen.

"Ooh~ You must really love Sherlock Holmes~"

"Why do you have my phone?!"

"For your number, duhh!" Kokichi giggled. Shuichi froze in place, not expecting that response. "How are we supposed to be best friends if we don't exchange numbers?!" Best friends, huh? Shuichi wasn't entirely sure what he meant or why he'd want to hang out with him in the first place, but a slight warmth grew hearing the word "friend". Shuichi chuckled, "Alright, fine. Just give my phone back when you're done."

"Yay!" Kokichi joyously exclaimed, finishing up his typing.

"Can I have my phone back now?"

"Nooooope!~"

And with that, Kokichi took off running, Shuichi's phone in hand. "O-Ouma!" Was all that was heard as Shuichi dashed off after him. It's safe to say he was definitely late to his next class.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Shuichi had only two or three classes with Kokichi, a much appreciated break from the short trickster. It was finally his last class of the day, and he planned to relax through it. At least, until a group assignment was assigned.

"Sorry, Saihara. You have to work with someone." The exact answer he didn't want. That left him with the one thing he really did not want to do, finding a partner to work with. There was some hope since they could work with people from other classes. Maybe he could work with Kaede.

"Sorry, Shuichi! I already have a partner.." Kaede frowned, "But maybe next time!" Shuichi sulked, he had no one else he knew to do it with.

"Shumaiii~" Well, maybe he did.

"Be my partner Shumai!" Kokichi playfully demanded. Shuichi sighed, "Sure."
"But Shumaiii- wait what"
Kokichi looked shocked, but quickly switched back to his normal childish excitement, "Yay! Shumai is gonna be my partner!"

And that's how Shuichi got wrapped into doing his project with Kokichi.

Shuichi quietly hummed as he walked to his house, relieved that his Valentine's day would finally be over. He happily opened his front door to be met with none other than Kokichi Ouma in his living room. "Why are you in my house?!" Shuichi exclaimed, "How'd you even get in?"

"Your front door was very easy to pick." The nonchalant tone of that sentence gave Shuichi chills. Kokichi held his arms behind his head, "We have a project to work on, remember?" He didn't expect to work on it so soon, but he couldn't say no now.

"Kokichi, would you quit goofing off," Shuichi asked, starting to get annoyed. Kokichi whined, "But I'm bored! We've been working on this for forever!"

"For one, this was your idea," Shuichi stater matter-of-fact, "and for two, all you've been doing is laying around drinking panta. Where'd you even get that?!"

"Fridge."

Shuichi heaved a sigh and started to clean up. Kokichi perked, hoping to talk Shuichi into something fun. Instead, Shuichi suggested that he went home since it was late. "But Shumai, I wanna stay here!"